Archive
SPY KIDS – Robert Rodriguez
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
There’s a saying in Britain – I don’t know how widespread it is in the rest of the English-speaking world – which states that “too many cooks spoil the broth”. What this means, basically, is that if too many people try to take part in one thing at once, the end result can be diminished by the contributions of its many creators. This old adage can be applied to Spy Kids, an enjoyable children’s action score which is rendered just a little overly-schizophrenic through the use of eight – count ’em – eight different composers. Basically, Spy Kids is a James Bond adventure story with a difference – the protagonists are pre-teens. What some people may find surprising is the fact that it was written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, the man who previously brought the world such dark, violent movies as El Mariachi, Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn and The Faculty. The plot is simple: Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino) are semi-retired spies with two precocious children, Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni (Daryl Sabara). Gregorio and Ingrid still occasionally blast off on an adventure when duty calls but unfortunately, their sabbatical has made them a little rusty – so much so that they end up being captured by the diabolical Fegan Floop (Alan Cumming), a children’s TV show host who is planning to use an army of robot children to take over the world. The only solution? The kids to rescue, armed with a load of cool gadgets and the espionage know-how inherited from mom and dad. Read more…
PROOF OF LIFE – Danny Elfman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Proof of Life: The Movie has been overtaken in the world’s press by Proof of Life: The On-Set Romance to such an extent that director Taylor Hackford’s espionage thriller has almost become an unimportant by-product of the Meg and Russell Show. Meg divorced Dennis Quaid to be with Crowe, who then left Meg to be with his cattle in Australia… it’s certainly one of Tinseltown’s more unusual love triangles. But Movie Music UK is not concerned with tabloid tittle-tattle, instead preferring to judge things on their artistic merits. Unfortunately, as far as the music is concerned at least, Proof of Life doesn’t have many. The film Russell Crowe stars as Terry Thorne, a private investigator and hostage negotiation specialist who is hired by Alice Bowman (Meg Ryan) to find her engineer husband Peter (David Morse), who has been kidnapped by guerrillas in South America. Terry and Alice head deeper into danger, locking horns with Ecuadorian freedom fighters and corrupt government officials as they try to obtain some kind of reassurance that Peter is alive, and worth searching for. However, as the two of them endure life-threatening situation after life-threatening situation, a tentative romantic relationship develops, jeopardizing both the mission and Terry’s professional integrity. Read more…
SLEEPY HOLLOW – Danny Elfman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Good news, folks! Danny Elfman is back with a vengeance, delivering a score for Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow which will have fans nostalgic for the Batman days and those in love with his new, more mature works shaking with delight in equal measure. Tim Burton has, of course, always been the greatest musical inspiration for Danny Elfman, who wrote four of the finest scores of his career for his films: Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Sleepy Hollow not only joins that illustrious list of credits, but in many ways surpasses it, because despite not being as thematically memorable, the new score is certainly the most satisfying in terms of orchestration, cue construction and intelligence. Read more…
BATMAN – Danny Elfman
MOVIE MUSIC UK CLASSICS
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
In 1989 Danny Elfman was a 36-year old newcomer to the world of film music, still better known for his days as the lead singer of the alternative rock band Oingo Boingo than his scoring exploits, which by then had included titles such as hit films like Back to School, Beetlejuice, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Scrooged, but gave no indication of the composer he would become. Then came Batman, director Tim Burton’s gothic re-imagining of the old camp Batman story that, prior to this movie, was something of a joke, known for Adam West and his day-glo costume and Neal Hefti’s kitsch theme music. To say that Burton took the Batman story in a different direction was an understatement in the extreme: instead of being a wisecracking comic figure with a Bat-gadget for every occasion, he became a tortured, tragic anti-hero clad in black leather, struggling with his own inner demons while simultaneously dealing with master criminals in a dirty, dangerous Gotham City. Read more…
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