Archive
THE KING’S DAUGHTER – Joseph Metcalfe, John Coda, and Grant Kirkhope
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Back in 2013 director Sean McNamara began pre-production on a film version of the popular 1997 fantasy novel ‘The Moon and the Sun’ by Vonda McIntyre, and worked with screenwriters Barry Berman and James Schamus on the script. The story involves King Louis XIV of France – the Sun King – who is searching for the secret to immortality, having recently survived an assassination attempt. Eventually King Louis’s efforts leads to the discovery of a mermaid named Sherzad, the last of her kind, whose flesh is rumored to make the eater immortal. Meanwhile a young cellist named Marie-Josèphe comes to the court, unaware that she is actually the king’s illegitimate daughter. Marie-Josèphe and Sherzad arrive at Versailles simultaneously, and unexpectedly form a connection; later, when Marie-Josèphe falls in love with a handsome courtier named Yves de la Croix, she vows to save Sherzad from a terrible fate: ritual sacrifice during a lunar eclipse. Read more…
THE HANDLER – Grant Kirkhope
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Handler is a low-budget action thriller written and directed by Michael Matteo Rossi. It stars Chris Levine as Ryker Dune – what a name! – a mercenary-for-hire who turns against his boss Vinnie Fiore (Michael Pashan) after a job pushes his morality buttons one too many times. Ryker looks for a way out of the contract killer life for good, but Vinnie has other ideas; eventually Ryker finds himself holed up in a house as wave after wave of Vinnie’s men try to kill him. Cue the gun fights, fist fights, and bone-crunching action. Normally this is the type of film that would pass under my radar entirely; the director is a relative newcomer, the cast is full of unknowns, and the plot makes it sound like a cut-price version of any number of video-on-demand action thrillers that are released in a seemingly endless stream. The difference is that The Handler marks the mainstream theatrical film music debut of Grant Kirkhope, one of the most high-profile and acclaimed composers from the world of video games. Read more…
MARIO + RABBIDS: KINGDOM BATTLE – Grant Kirkhope
GAME ZONE REVIEW
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
I have a confession to make, and I’m not sure how well it’s going to go over. It may be OK, or it may cause me to lose some respect in the eyes of my readers, but it’s something I have to get off my chest. OK… here goes. My name is Jon Broxton and I have never played Donkey Kong. Or Super Mario Bros., or The Legend of Zelda, or any of those classic Nintendo games that are such a staple of contemporary popular culture. Growing up, I wasn’t a gamer at all, and while I was of course aware of all the various characters, I never had the experience of actually playing them, which meant that for most of my life they didn’t mean a whole lot to me. I have since become much more aware of their impact and legacy, which is how I know that Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is one of the most important game titles to be released in 2017. Read more…
SID MEIER’S CIVILIZATION: BEYOND EARTH – RISING TIDE – Geoff Knorr, Griffin Cohen, and Grant Kirkhope
GAME ZONE REVIEW
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Civilization: Beyond Earth – Rising Tide is an expansion pack which builds on the first Beyond Earth installment of Sid Meier’s extremely popular Civilization video game series, which was released to general acclaim last year. The expansion allows players to embark on new quests on new ‘biome’ planets – including a water planet and an ice planet – as they try to create and maintain civilizations in outer space. One of the most notable aspects of the game was its IFMCA Award-winning, BMI Award-nominated score by Geoff Knorr, Griffin Cohen, Michael Curran, and Grant Kirkhope, which was roundly praised as being one of the most impressive orchestral game scores in many years. For Rising Tide, three of the four composers are back (Curran left development company Firaxis for another company, Stardock Entertainment, earlier this year), and their music builds on the sound of the first game, but adds in new textures, and new ideas. The result is very, very impressive. Read more…
SID MEIER’S CIVILIZATION: BEYOND EARTH – Geoff Knorr, Griffin Cohen, Michael Curran and Grant Kirkhope
GAME ZONE REVIEW
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth is the latest installment in Sid Meier’s extremely popular Civilization video game series, in which players build a civilization from the ground up, taking turns to try to positively affect their civilization’s cultural, intellectual, and technical sophistication by conducting research, building infrastructure, and in some cases waging war against neighbors. In Beyond Earth – as the title suggests – game play takes place in the future, and in outer space. This is the 20th official entry into the Civilization series since it debuted in 1991 on the Super Nintendo, which has been consistently praised for its innovation, graphical design ideas, and music. Read more…
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