Archive
THE WATCHER – Marco Beltrami
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
I’m starting to get worried by the way Marco Beltrami’s career is progressing – or isn’t progressing, as the case may be. When Beltrami first burst onto the scene five years ago with the arrival of Scream, it seemed as though a great new talent in the soundtrack world had arrived. A composer with talent, a gift for melody, and who knew how to write for a big orchestra. A dozen or so movies later, and Beltrami is still scoring more horror movies than anything else, and herein lies the problem. With just a couple of exceptions – like the disco drama 54 and the Emmy Award winning Tuesdays With Morrie – the vast majority of the Italian-American’s work has been in the horror and thriller genres, and if he’s not careful he’s going to end up in the same situation Chris Young was in ten years ago: a great composer stuck in a pigeonhole from which he can’t escape. Read more…
SCREAM 3 – Marco Beltrami
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
It’s one of Hollywood’s greatest ironies that Scream 3, the final instalment of Wes Craven’s self-aware horror trilogy, has slowly become that which the first instalment spent so much time lampooning. With overly elaborate death scenes, characters who do stupid things at the wrong time, and a killer who just won’t lay down and die, the word of mouth on Scream 3 prior to it’s European release has not been good. The surviving cast members – dim-witted deputy David Arquette, spunky reporter Courtney Cox and troubled teenager Neve Campbell – have this time been joined by genre stalwart Lance Henriksen and fresh faces Parker Posey, Emily Mortimer, Matt Keeslar and Jenny McCarthy in a film which – are you ready for this? – takes place on the set of a film recounting the events of the second film’s film-within-a-film, which was itself based on the events of the FIRST film. Oh, my head hurts. Read more…
THE MINUS MAN – Marco Beltrami
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
In the UK, Hampton Fancher’s movie The Minus Man was bought by the satellite TV network Sky and shown as a “cable premiere”, completely bypassing cinema screens and video store shelves. As a result, I got to see this curious little thriller back in July, well before it opened in the States, and well before Marco Beltrami’s equally curious score surfaced on CD. The film stars Owen Wilson as Vann, an oddly mannered but seemingly pleasant enough chap who travels around middle-America in his battered pickup, getting menial jobs when he can, living in rented accommodation, and murdering people on the side. Fancher’s seemingly emotionless depiction of Vann makes the film just a little disconcerting – everything is told from his own cool and distorted point of view, blurring the line between what is real and what is purely imagined inside his own little mind. With support from Janeane Garofalo, Brian Cox, Mercedes Ruehl and singer-turned-actress Sheryl Crow as Vann’s first victim, The Minus Man is an oddball movie which will surely find a cult audience in years to come. Read more…
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