Archive
SHAZAM: FURY OF THE GODS – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The 2019 superhero film Shazam remains, for me, the best entry into the DC Extended Universe to date. At the time, I wrote that “its playful tone is a far cry from the grim seriousness of the previous Ben Affleck Batman and Henry Cavill Superman movies, it’s much more intelligent and nuanced than Aquaman, and the less said about Suicide Squad the better. What I love about it the most is how it captures the excitement and eagerness of how an actual kid would behave when given super powers, and much of that is down to Zachary Levi’s central performance, which appears to me to be a combination of Christopher Reeve and Tom Hanks from Big.” Unfortunately the response to this sequel, Shazam: Fury of the Gods, has been less effusive, with some critics calling it “more unfocused and less satisfying than its predecessor,” despite it still retaining much of the source material’s “silly charm”. The film again stars Levi as 17-year old Billy Batson, who transforms into a super hero when he utters the titular magic word; this time, Billy/Shazam finds himself in conflict with the three daughters of the Titan Atlas, played by Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler, who want to re-claim the staff that gives Shazam his power, saying it was stolen from them eons ago. Read more…
ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the first of the three planned Marvel films for 2023, is the second sequel to 2015’s Ant-Man, and is the 31st film overall in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It builds on events from both Avengers: Endgame and Ant-Man and the Wasp, as well as the TV series Loki, and sees the titular characters Scott Lang (Ant-Man) and Hope Van Dyne (The Wasp) being accidentally drawn back into the so-called quantum realm – a sub-atomic universe that exists beneath our ‘real world’ – where they encounter an entire civilization of humans and aliens. This civilization is under the despotic control of Kang the Conqueror, a multi-dimensional being who can travel between parallel universes and across different timelines, but who has been trapped in the quantum realm, and is desperate to escape its confines. Before long Scott and Hope are drawn into a rebellion against Kang, with the fate of not only the quantum realm, but the universe as a whole, at stake. The film is again directed by Peyton Reed, and stars Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly as the titular duo, with Jonathan Majors as Kang, plus Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Kathryn Newton. Read more…
FREE GUY – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Have you ever felt like your life wasn’t real? Like you were somehow a background character in someone else’s story? That you were destined to be the hero, but no-one ever noticed? This is the basic premise of Free Guy, a new action-comedy from director Shawn Levy. The film stars Ryan Reynolds as Guy, a cheerful bank teller from Free City. He goes to work each day with his best friend, Buddy the security guard, and just seems to accept the fact that every day his bank is robbed, and murder and mayhem seems to continually happen around him. Guy’s life changes forever when he meets ‘Molotov Girl,’ who eventually reveals to him the truth: that Guy is an NPC (non-player character) in an open world video game called Free City, and that she is trying to stop Guy’s entire world from being destroyed. Read more…
FROZEN II – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
I don’t think anyone – including the people at Walt Disney – could have predicted just how successful Frozen would be when it was released in the fall of 2013. With it’s winning combination of comedy and action, strong female leads, genuinely beautiful snow-capped animation, and of course *that* song, it quickly became the highest grossing-animated film of all time (although Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs still holds the true crown, adjusted for inflation). It made its two princess protagonists, Anna and Elsa, household names, and made snowmen cool again, but it was as much of a success critically as it was commercially, eventually going to pick up two Oscars, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and even two Grammys. Of course, no studio would ever sit on all this success without trying to capitalize on it with a sequel, and so here we are with Frozen II – the first traditional animated Disney sequel to hit theaters since The Rescuers Down Under in 1990. Read more…
ANT-MAN – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A wholly unlikely new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ant-Man is the latest super hero film to hit the silver screen. Originally created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby for the comic ‘Tales to Astonish’ in 1962, this first big-screen adventure for the character focuses on cat burglar Scott Foley, whose efforts to put aside his life of crime are stymied by his inability to hold down a regular job, jeopardizing his relationship with his daughter Cassie. Talked into committing “one last job” by his former cellmate Luis, Scott breaks into a house to steal a safe, unaware that the house belongs to scientist and inventor Hank Pym, who has created a suit which will shrink the wearer down to the size of an ant, while simultaneously giving him super-human powers. Unbeknownst to Scott, Pym – who became the original Ant-Man in 1963 – has manipulated events so that he can convince Scott to become a new Ant-Man, and help him retrieve the shrinking technology from his former protégé, the ruthless Darren Cross, who has stolen it, and intends to it sell to agents of Hydra. The film is directed by Peyton Reed, stars Paul Rudd as Foley, Michael Douglas as Pym, Corey Stoll as Cross, and Evangeline Lilly as Pym’s daughter Hope Van Dyne, and has an original score by Christophe Beck. Read more…
FROZEN – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Frozen is the 53rd official animated feature in the Walt Disney canon. Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, Disney veterans who previously worked on The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas and Tarzan, the film is loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytale The Snow Queen, albeit significantly ‘Disneyfied” and turned into a full-fledged musical. The story involves two princess sisters from the kingdom of Arendelle, Elsa and Anna, voiced by Kristin Bell and Idina Menzel. As she grows up, Elsa begins to manifest powers that allow her to manipulate snow and ice, culminating in an incident at her coronation as Queen that leaves Arendelle under a blanket of eternal winter. Elsa flees from her home, distraught, but Anna resolves to reconcile with her sister. Teaming up with Kristoff (voiced by Jonathan Groff), a gruff mountain man, and Olaf (voiced by Josh Gad), an anthropomorphic snowman, Anna sets off into the frozen wilderness to find the Snow Queen with the fate of the kingdom in her hands. Read more…
A SYMPHONY OF HOPE: THE HAITI PROJECT – Christopher Lennertz et al.
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
On January 12, 2010, the city of Port-au-Prince in Haiti was effectively flattened when it was struck by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. Within a matter of seconds over 50,000 people had been killed, and over a million people left homeless. Diseases such as cholera blighted the survivors and thwarted relief efforts, and since then the humanitarian crisis in the country has reached staggering proportions, with over 250,000 residences destroyed and basic services and infrastructure left in ruins. Reacting to the global call for help, film composer Christopher Lennertz was inspired to act. Calling upon his fellow composers and other members of the Los Angeles film music community of musicians and engineers, Lennertz teamed up with the charity Hands Together to create A Symphony of Hope: The Haiti Project, a musical fundraising project intended to help the people of Haiti. Read more…
A Symphony of Hope: The Haiti Project
Last Saturday, March 26th, I had the honor attending the recording sessions for “A Symphony of Hope: The Haiti Project” at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, CA. The brainchild of composer Christopher Lennertz, the Symphony is musical fundraising project designed to help the people of Haiti in their desperate time of need.
A year after the terrible earthquake which destroyed the lives of thousands of Haitians, it was clear to Lennertz that the need for assistance was greater than ever. In response Lennertz came up with the idea of the “Symphony of Hope”, and invited 25 leading film composers to collaborate with him on a project to benefit the Haiti Earthquake Relief fund. Read more…
PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Greek mythology has proven to be a fertile breeding ground for Hollywood films for decades. From the gods of Mount Olympus – Zeus and Poseidon, Aphrodite and Apollo – to human figures such as Jason, Odysseus, Achilles and Perseus in stories such as The Iliad and The Odyssey, these names are engrained into western culture and civilization, and provide classical inspiration for storytellers across the world. When you take these myths and combine them with a very modern variation on the Harry Potter world you end up with Percy Jackson & the Olympians, a series of novels by author Rick Riordan, whose first effort, “The Lightning Thief”, has now been turned into a major motion picture. Read more…
PHOEBE IN WONDERLAND – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Phoebe in Wonderland is a family drama examining the life of a 9-year-old girl with Tourette’s Syndrome. Elle Fanning (the little sister of Dakota) stars as Phoebe, an odd and insecure little girl, whose parents (Felicity Huffman and Bill Pullman) are on the brink of divorce, and whose home-stresses manifest themselves through OCD-like behavior. However, when Phoebe discovers acting, and auditions for a part in the school production of Alice in Wonderland, she finally finds a way to cope with her life and her illness.
The film, which was directed by Daniel Barnz and won acclaim at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, has an original score by French-Canadian composer Christophe Beck. Read more…
CHARLIE BARTLETT – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Clark Douglas
“Charlie Bartlett” is a film about a high school kid (played by Anton Yelchin) who becomes something of a “psychiatrist” for the kids in the school. He gives them the occasional advice, shoulder to lean on, and prescription drugs. From the dialogue clips that are included on this soundtrack album, he also gives them a peculiar monologue about a girl experiencing her first period. Despite the presence of the wonderful Robert Downey Jr., I never had too much interest in seeing the film. What little desire that may have remained was effectively killed by this soundtrack album.
This cd is a mess. After opening with the aforementioned monologue, it gives us two quick snips of Christophe Beck’s score, which feature hand-clapping and snappy rhythms Read more…
FRED CLAUS – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Clark Douglas
Why are Christmas films always so dark and gloomy? Every year, I find myself asking this same question. Christmas is supposedly a time of cheer and goodwill and warmth and so on, but ever since Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol”, we’ve had holiday stories centered around very unpleasant people who only find redemption and happiness during the final moments. “Fred Claus” is another one of these dour Christmas tales, and one of the least effective ones I have ever seen. The movie is 45% gloom, 45% saccharine Hallmark material, and 10% worldly wisecracking. Not only is this a most unsuccessful mix of ingredients, there’s simply no humor to be found. Read more…
THE SEEKER: THE DARK IS RISING – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Whenever fantasy films come back in vogue, as they have done off the back of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, there are always some projects which look good on paper but fair miserably when the end result is screened. Such was the case of The Seeker: The Dark is Rising, based on the novel by Susan Cooper and directed by David L. Cunningham. The film tells the story of a young boy named Will Stanton (Alexander Ludwig), whose life is turned upside down when he learns that he is the last of a group of immortal warriors who have dedicated their lives to fighting the forces of the evil – who, in this case, are led by “The Rider” (Christopher Eccleston). Read more…
YEAR OF THE DOG – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of those ‘indie comedy-dramas’ which come and go without much fanfare throughout the year, Year of the Dog starred Molly Shannon, Laura Dern, John C. Reilly and Peter Sarsgaard in a film about a lonely, but content office worker whose life is shattered by the sudden death of her little dog. Struggling to come to terms with her surprisingly bitter feelings about her pet’s death, she struggles from one failed romantic possibility to another – until, eventually, she finds new meaning in her life: the animal rights movement, and specifically her intention to save a pound full of incarcerated pooches. Read more…
WE ARE MARSHALL – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Marshall University, in Huntington, West Virginia, is a fairly unremarkable higher education establishment, famous for sciences, health studies, technology and engineering, and for Billy Crystal having attended one semester there in his youth on a baseball scholarship. Unfortunately, the school is also famous for the worst tragedy in American college sports history when, on 14 November 1970, virtually the entire squad of the ‘Marshall Thundering Herd’ varsity American football team were killed in a plane crash on their way back from a game in North Carolina. Read more…
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