Archive
MR. HOLLAND’S OPUS – Michael Kamen
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
I have always had a soft spot for films about inspirational teachers – Dead Poet’s Society is one of my all-time favorite films – and 1995’s Mr. Holland’s Opus is another one that offers a similar sentiment. Directed by Stephen Herek and written by Patrick Sheane Duncan, the film stars Richard Dreyfuss as Glenn Holland, a talented but struggling composer in Oregon in the 1960s who becomes a high school music teacher, intending to do the job temporarily to earn money so he can finish his symphony. At first, Holland’s students are bored, but he begins to inspire them by incorporating rock and roll and other popular music into his lessons; over the course of the next 30 years his role at the school becomes central to his identity, even as he struggles to balance his career with his personal life, most notably his relationship with his son Cole who is born profoundly deaf. Read more…
HAMNET – Max Richter
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Director Chloe Zhao’s film Hamnet, which is based on the 2020 novel by Maggie O’Farrell, is a lyrical reimagining of the brief life and death of Hamnet Shakespeare, the son of the legendary poet and writer William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes “Anne” Hathaway, musing on the fact that his passing may have inspired the creation of one of the greatest works of literature in history. The story centers mostly on Agnes, who is portrayed as a perceptive, intuitive woman with a deep connection to nature; the first half of the film looks at Agnes and William’s early courtship, their subsequent marriage, and offers a portrait of family life in Elizabethan England circa 1580, following the birth of their twin children Hamnet and Judith. In time William begins traveling to London to write and perform his plays, but eventually the spread of plague brings sickness to the Shakespeare household, and Judith falls gravely ill. Hamnet, who has been charged by his father with looking after the family in his absence, desperately attempts to help her, and asks God if he can swap places with her; Judith eventually recovers, but Hamnet contracts the plague too, and dies aged just eleven. After Hamnet’s death, the story then explores how Agnes and William grieve differently: Agnes’s sorrow is visceral and consuming, while William channels his grief into his work. Read more…
DARK COMMAND – Victor Young
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Renowned novelist W.R. Burnett had a well-established reputation for writing modern day crime stories. However, his 1938 novel “The Dark Command” was a departure, a rare historical drama, which became a best seller. Republic Pictures decided to capitalize on its success and purchased the film rights. Sol C. Siegel was assigned production with a $750,000 budget, Raoul Walsh was tasked with directing, and a team of four screenwriters was hired; F. Hugh Herbert, Lionel Houser, Grover Jones, and Jan Isabel Fortune. A stellar cast was assembled, which included Claire Trevor as Mary McCloud, John Wayne as Bob Seton, Walter Pidgeon as Will Cantrell, Roy Rogers as Fletch McCloud, Gabby Hayes as Doc Grunch, Porter Hall as Angus McCloud, Marjorie Main as Mrs. Adams, and Raymond Walburn as Judge Bruckner. Read more…
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2025, Part 7
Original Reviews by Jonathan Broxton
I’m pleased to present the latest installment in my on-going series of articles looking at the best under-the-radar scores from around the world.
This article, the seventh of 2025, covers another six scores released this year from a wide array of genres and countries, including a French documentary feature about the forgotten women of the Revolution, a Spanish mystery TV series about a pair of missing teenage girls, a French comedy film about the first African astronauts, a drama about the love affair between two of the most famous actors in French cinema in the 1960s, a horror-thriller for a film based on a mysterious short story by Edgar Allan Poe, and a Swedish historical murder mystery TV series involving a murderous bear. Read more…
SABRINA – John Williams
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Sabrina is a modern remake of Billy Wilder’s 1954 romantic comedy which starred Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and William Holden, and which was itself based on the stage play Sabrina Fair by Samuel Taylor. Directed by Sydney Pollack, the story follows Sabrina Fairchild (Julia Ormond), the shy and awkward daughter of a chauffeur who works for the wealthy Larrabee family on Long Island. Sabrina has spent her life quietly pining for David Larrabee (Greg Kinnear), the charming but superficial younger son. After a transformative stay in Paris, she returns home confident and stylish, immediately catching David’s attention, just as he is about to marry a woman whose family is vital to a major business deal. To protect the merger, David’s older brother Linus (Harrison Ford), the work-obsessed head of the Larrabee corporation, inserts himself into Sabrina’s life to distract her. His plan is to win her over and then send her back to Paris, but as they spend time together, Linus unexpectedly falls in love with her, and she discovers her long-standing infatuation with David has been eclipsed by a deeper connection with Linus. Read more…
WICKED, PART TWO: FOR GOOD – John Powell and Stephen Schwartz
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
I don’t expect that even the most ardent fans of the original stage musical could have anticipated the impact and acclaim received by Wicked, Part One, following its release just before Christmas in 2024. It received 10 Oscar nominations (winning for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design), grossed more than $750 million at the global box office, and became something of a cultural phenomenon, turning the already-famous leading actresses Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande into megastars, and raising the profile of lead actor Jonathan Bailey enormously. Read more…
THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN – Victor Young
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
During the 1950s a shift in movie making called “Hollywood on the Tiber” emerged. Rome and its Cinecittà studios blossomed, becoming a hub for international filmmaking. 20th Century Fox decided it wanted to feature their latest rising star Maggie McNamara in a romantic comedy, and chose Rome as the perfect location. Sol C. Segal was assigned production with a $1.7 million budget, Jean Negulesco was tasked with directing, and John Patrick would write the screenplay, adapting the 1952 novel ‘Coins in a Fountain” by John H. Secondari. A fine cast was hired, including Clifton Webb as John Frederick Shadwell, Dorothy McGuire as Miss Frances, Jean Peters as Anita Hutchins, Louis Jourdan as Prince Dino di Cessi, Rossano Brazzi as Giorgio Bianchi, and Maggie McNamara as Maria Williams. Read more…
NIXON – John Williams
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
I am not a crook! — Richard Nixon, November 17, 1973
I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow — Richard Nixon, August 8, 1974
Director Oliver Stone’s film Nixon is an epic biographical drama tracing the life of the 37th President of the United States, Richard Nixon. Structured as a psychological portrait, the film moves back and forth in time, depicting a number of major turning points: his humble California upbringing in the 1930s and 40s, his early political rise in the 1950s and his stint as Vice President under Dwight Eisenhower, his triumphant election victory in 1968, the pressures of the Vietnam War, and above all the widening shadow of the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up which led to his eventual downfall and his resignation as president in 1974. Stone presents Nixon as both deeply ambitious but profoundly insecure, a man shaped by personal trauma and driven by a desire for power and recognition that eventually turned to paranoia, criminality, and disgrace. Watergate, for those who don’t know, refers to an event where a group of Nixon operatives broke into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters in the Watergate office complex in Washington DC in order to illegally plant surveillance equipment, ostensibly to obtain political intelligence on the Democratic Party prior to the 1972 election. Read more…
JAY KELLY – Nicholas Britell
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
If there’s one thing Hollywood loves, it’s movies about Hollywood. From Singin’ in the Rain to The Artist, Sunset Boulevard to La-La Land, to recent TV shows like The Studio, any time a filmmaker makes a movie about Tinseltown itself, the industry tends to fall over itself to praise it. Such is the case with director Noah Baumbach’s new film Jay Kelly, which is a self-critical, satirical, but also warm-hearted and nostalgic look at the life of a major movie star suffering an existential crisis. George Clooney plays Kelly almost like a weird reflection of himself; a lantern-jawed ageing matinee idol who has had enormous success on the big screen, but has a difficult personal life – he is mostly estranged from his daughters, has no real friends, has unresolved issues and regrets in his past, and doesn’t see his assistants and managers as actual people with lives of their own, despite them mostly idolizing him. When he is asked to attend a film festival in Italy to receive a lifetime achievement award, Kelly takes the opportunity to try to reconnect with his family, rekindle his personal and professional life, and overcome his anxieties – but not everything will go to plan. Read more…
JOHNNY GUITAR – Victor Young
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Novelist Roy Chanslor was a longtime admirer of actress Joan Crawford and so dedicated his 1954 novel Johnny Guitar to her. Crawford bought the film rights and submitted a script to Republic Pictures, which agreed to produce the film with the provision that Crawford would star and Nicolas Ray would direct. Herbert J. Yates was placed in charge of production with a $1.591 million budget, Ray was tasked with directing, and Philip Yordan and Ben Maddow were hired to write the screenplay. Joan Crawford would star as Vienna, joined by Sterling Hayden as Johnny Guitar, Mercedes McCambridge as Emma Small, Scott Brady as the Dancin’ Kid and Ernest Borgnine as Bard Lonegran. Read more…
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2025, Part 6
Original Reviews by Jonathan Broxton
I’m pleased to present the latest installment in my on-going series of articles looking at the best under-the-radar scores from around the world.
This article, the sixth of 2025, covers another five scores released this year from a wide array of genres and countries, including a Japanese anime TV series set in a steampunk alternate-universe World War I, a children’s fantasy film from Germany based on a beloved novel, a playful animated fantasy film from Thailand, a superb romantic score from a French live action short film, and an epic fantasy adventure score from China based on one of the four great classic novels of Chinese literature! Read more…
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY – Patrick Doyle
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
“I come here with no expectations, only to profess, now that I am at liberty to do so, that my heart is and always will be… yours.”
Although she had always been popular, 18th century English writer Jane Austen received a new surge of publicity in 1995 following the release of adaptations of two of her best-known works: the BBC mini-series based on Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle and featuring that swimming scene, and this film, adapting her 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility. The story of Sense and Sensibility follows the Dashwood sisters – practical and reserved Elinor, passionate and romantic Marianne – after their father’s death leaves them in reduced financial circumstances. Forced to relocate to a modest cottage in Devon, they navigate love, heartbreak, and the constraints placed on women of their class in Georgian-era England; both sisters are expected to marry to secure their family’s future, and while Elinor quietly longs for the earnest Edward Ferrars, Marianne falls deeply for the dashing but unreliable John Willoughby, overlooking the steadier Colonel Brandon. Read more…
HELL AND HIGH WATER – Alfred Newman
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
The genesis of Hell and High Water lay with a story outline titled “Submarine” written in 1951 by David Hempstead. The nuclear suspense drama captured 20th Century Fox Chief of Production Darryl F. Zanuck’s attention. He commissioned a screenplay, and after three rewrites by Beime Lay Jr, then Jesse L. Lasky Jr. and finally Samuel Fuller, a screenplay, which met Zanuck’s expectations was realized. Raymond A. Klune was placed in charge of production with a $1.9 million budget with Fuller tasked with directing. A fine cast was assembled, which included Richard Widmark in the starring role of Commander Adam Jones. He was joined by Bella Darvi (Zanuck’s paramour) as Professor Denise Gerard, and Victor Francen as Professor Montel. Read more…
FRANKIE STARLIGHT – Elmer Bernstein
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
An adaptation of the best-selling semi-autobiographical novel ‘The Dork of Cork’ by Chet Raymo, Frankie Starlight is a nostalgic comedy-drama film directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, written by Raymo with Ronan O’Leary. The film stars Corban Walker as Frank Bois, a writer with dwarfism who is looking back over his life. The film charts his experiences as a child with his mother Bernadette (Anne Parillaud), a French woman who, toward the end of WWII, stows away on an Allied troop ship bound for America, but is taken to Ireland instead. There she meets Jack Kelly (Gabriel Byrne), a customs officer who eventually becomes a surrogate father to Frank, teaching him about astronomy, nurturing in him a lifelong passion and mystical obsession with the cosmos, and giving him his nickname ‘Frankie Starlight’. Later Bernadette meets Terry Klout (Matt Dillon), an American GI, and the three of them move to Texas; however, life in America doesn’t feel like home, and as he grows up Frankie dreams of returning to Ireland. Read more…
NUREMBERG – Brian Tyler
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Nuremberg War Trials, held in the eponymous city from 1945 to 1946, were a series of military tribunals convened by the Allied powers to prosecute leading figures of Nazi Germany – many of whom were close advisors to Adolf Hitler – for crimes committed before and during World War II. They were unprecedented in scope: for the first time in modern history, high-ranking political, military, and industrial leaders were held individually accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and the trials established that “following orders” was not a sufficient defense for atrocities such as genocide, mass enslavement, and the systematic destruction of civilian populations. 19 of the 24 men that were tried were found guilty, and of those 12 were sentenced to death; ultimately, the trials effectively put a pin in the final parts of war, and started the world on the long road to recovery. Read more…
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