Archive
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…
HAROLD & KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY – George S. Clinton
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The sequel to the surprise 2004 hit Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay sees the two perennial stoners – John Cho and Kai Penn – attempting to travel to Amsterdam so Harold can pursue a budding romance with his neighbor Maria (Paula Garces). After running into Kumar’s old girlfriend Vanessa (Danneel Harris) and her obnoxious fiancèe at the airport, Kumar remembers his old feelings for her and decides to try to win her back. However, when Kumar is mistaken for a terrorist, the pair are sent to Guantanamo Bay detention camp – from which, as the title of the film suggests, they must escape. Read more…
BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE – George S. Clinton
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
It’s been interesting to see how the perception of the Native American, or the American Indian, or however you want to describe them, has changed in Hollywood over the years. At the birth of cinema, movies tended to depict them the same way as the United States as a whole did: troublesome, violent, dirty savages who stood in the way of the white man’s inevitable progress across the American continent, and who had to be eradicated as necessary. By the 1950s, the attitude had softened somewhat: characters like Tonto were portrayed as subservient lackeys to the heroic Lone Rangers of the world, almost as a variation on Stepin Fetchit, or Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom. I don’t know when the perception of native Americans made its most radical shift, but the by the time Dances With Wolves rolled around in 1989, the Indian had become a noble, almost mythic figure: honorable, family-oriented, dependable, spiritual, deeply in touch with the land around him, and bearing all the qualities humanity itself aspires to have. This is certainly the standpoint Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee takes. Read more…
CODE NAME: THE CLEANER – George S. Clinton
Original Review by Clark Douglas
“Code Name: The Cleaner” is a silly, potentially entertaining little comedy that doesn’t work because it does the last thing any silly, potentially entertaining little comedy should do… it takes itself far too seriously.
Let me explain. A man wakes up in bed next to a dead (fully-clothed) FBI Agent. The man can’t remember anything, and has a head wound. There’s a case with $250,000 in it on the bed. And wouldn’t you know it, there’s apparently some people who want this man to be dead, too. Now, this man I speak of is played by Cedric the Entertainer, one of the most likable comedians in the business. It’s been hard for me to pinpoint why I enjoy watching Cedric’s performances so very much, but seeing this film, I think I’ve got it: Cedric brings an infectious enthusiasm to every part he plays, even when the part is mundane and typical. Read more…
THE ASTRONAUT’S WIFE – George S. Clinton
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Ever since the Austin Powers phenomenon took hold, the work of composer George S. Clinton has become increasingly in demand. Until the world became aware of the amorous adventures of the British super-spy, Clinton was merely the guy who wrote all that sleazy saxophone music to accompany Zalman King’s soft-core Red Shoe Diary movies, and who created all that stupid technobabble for Mortal Kombat. But there is a whole other side to his talents waiting to be discovered – like the music for The Astronaut’s Wife, a peculiar sci-fi thriller which attempts to bring together plot threads from movies as diverse as Rosemary’s Baby and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Read more…
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