Archive
GREY OWL – George Fenton
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Grey Owl, the latest work by director Richard Attenborough, is one of those rare films which suffers the indignity of not being able to find a distributor. Considering the talent both in front of and behind the camera, the American market was surprisingly reluctant to screen the film in theatres, and ultimately it went straight-to-video there (it played in Canada, and will receive a limited opening in the UK later this year). Attenborough, whose previous directorial masterpieces have included Gandhi, Cry Freedom and In Love and War, has by all accounts made a film which is visually beautiful but dramatically and emotionally lacking. Read more…
SALLY HEMINGS: AN AMERICAN SCANDAL – Joel McNeely
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
It’s pretty common knowledge that I’m not Joel McNeely’s greatest fan. In my opinion, these wild claims of him being “the new John Williams” merely on the strength of him writing Star Wars music for the Shadows of the Empire tie-in are vast overstatements. He’s obviously talented, and a very good conductor, but his scores for Virus and Soldier were both far too derivative, and The Avengers was just plain boring. There are plenty of similarly undervalued composers out there who are equally, if not more talented than he, and who deserve the opportunity to let their music shine in a broader setting. Having said that, it gives me a great deal of personal delight to report that his music for Sally Hemings: An American Scandal is quite lovely, and easily one of the most attractive and enjoyable scores of his career to date. Read more…
THE BEACH – Angelo Badalamenti
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Throughout his career, Angelo Badalamenti has been dogged by the notion that he can only write “dark” music. In the past, I myself have been too quick to dismiss him as merely “that bloke who works for David Lynch”, but recently my perceptions have changed. Since being overwhelmed by his truly gorgeous score for The Straight Story (ironically also a Lynch movie), I have begun to delve into his career more closely, and uncovered some real treasures, finding Cousins and The Comfort of Strangers to be two of his most beautiful orchestral works. It is my sincere hope that his music for The Beach inspires more people to do the same. 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…
LIGHTHOUSE – Debbie Wiseman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Good evening, ladies and gentleman, and here is the news. Bernard Herrmann has returned to film scoring, but this time he’s wearing a dress and calling himself Debbie. Okay, so I’m having a little joke at the expense of Debbie Wiseman, but please understand that in saying that I am attempting to pay her a compliment. Lighthouse, the latest score by the talented British composer, is a menacing work which could have easily come from the pen of the master of suspense himself. It is a landmark score for two reasons. Firstly, it marks the first time since Shirley Walker tackled Turbulence that one of the top female composers has written for an action movie; and secondly, it’s the first time that Wiseman herself has had a high-profile assignment that isn’t a period romance. Read more…
MY DOG SKIP – William Ross
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton:
First of all, let me say that My Dog Skip has possibly the cutest CD cover in Varèse Sarabande’s long history. Is there anything better at making you say “aaah!” than a picture of a little doggie sitting on a rug, gazing dolefully up at a toilet bowl? I have no knowledge about how this image fits in with the movie, as I have not yet seen it, and have not read Willie Morris’s “classic true story” on which the movie is based. I can make an educated guess about the film’s plot (lonely young boy makes friends with stray dog and gets into lots of adventures?), and I know the film is directed by Jay Russell and stars Diane Lane and Kevin Bacon. Best of all, though, is the fact that My Dog Skip has a truly delightful score by William Ross. Read more…
THE HURRICANE – Christopher Young
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Over the years, Christopher Young has continually found himself scoring the most dismal films Hollywood has the cheek to release, which makes it all the more gratifying to see him attached to a movie of such genuine quality as The Hurricane. Already, The Hurricane has garnered a Golden Globe for Denzel Washington for Best Actor, multiple nominations in other categories, and it tipped to be a hot property at the Oscars. Brilliant but under-appreciated composers like Young need this kind of exposure to ensure that they continue to score high-profile, worthy pictures which actually befit the excellent music Young is able to provide. Read more…
TITUS – Elliot Goldenthal
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
I was, quite literally, stunned into silence by Titus, both the film and the score. A visually breathtaking, emotionally shattering, conceptually brilliant restaging of William Shakespeare’s timeless play, Titus represents modern film making at its most vibrant. With Julie Taymor, the near-legendary director of several acclaimed Broadway plays (including the recent version of The Lion King) at the helm, and with an intriguing cast that mixes several heavyweight thespians with a group of talented newcomers, Titus is a film which has the power to shock and overwhelm, while still remaining entertaining and (comparatively) true to the original. Read more…
SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS – James Newton Howard
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
It was with a combination of surprise and great disappointment that I first listened to Snow Falling on Cedars, James Newton Howard’s fifth and final score of 1999. The word of mouth had hitherto been wholly positive, with many citing the rich ethnic textures, beautiful string themes and powerful choral passages supposedly inherent in the score. Well, I’m sorry to say that, with a few brief exceptions, I was totally bored by the whole experience, and was left wondering whether the rest of the world was listening to the same score as me. Read more…
ANGELA’S ASHES – John Williams
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
With The Phantom Menace out of the way, John Williams has finally been able to write for a film which isn’t met with the same expectations as a cure for cancer or the second coming of Christ. With hindsight, it could be said that Williams tried a little too hard to please too many masters on Star Wars, and although enjoyable and well-written, the end result came out just a little muddled. His forceful follow up is Angela’s Ashes, a beautiful, if a little downbeat score which is totally and utterly wrecked on CD by a whole load of intrusive dialogue tracks. Read more…
GIRL, INTERRUPTED – Mychael Danna
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Stories about people in mental hospitals are a great cinematic breeding ground, especially when they are true. Girl Interrupted has been described as “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest with chicks”, which is actually a pretty neat summary. James Mangold’s film effectively re-captured the sense of friendship and camaraderie that exists between the patients, the trivialities of their lives, the nuances and eccentricities of each character, and how they all rally round to help each other in times of need. Winona Ryder stars as Susanna Kaysen, a troubled young girl in 1960s America who, following prompting by family and friends, voluntarily checks into Claymoore state mental hospital to combat her “borderline personality disorder”. While inside, Susanna meets her fellow patients: compulsive liar Georgina (Clea Duvall), self-mutilator Daisy (Brittany Murphy), arsonist Polly (Elisabeth Moss), and uncontrollable sociopath Lisa (Angelina Jolie), whose anti-social presence has the greatest effect on Susanna’s rehabilitation. Read more…
GALAXY QUEST – David Newman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
With all the fan-based hoopla that surrounds many of the classic science fiction serials, it was surely only a matter of time before someone made a spoof. So enter Galaxy Quest, Dean Parisot’s spot-on parody of the whole Star Trek merchandising industry. Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman star as the three most popular members of the hit 70s TV series “Galaxy Quest”, who still make the rounds on the sci-fi convention circuit twenty years after their show was cancelled. But a group of real aliens mistakenly believe that the TV show is for real, and kidnap the actors so that they may help them fight a deadly adversary who is threatening their planet. As the liner notes proclaim, “with no script, no director, and no clue about real interstellar travel, the make-believe crew of the NESA Protector has to turn in the performance of their lives to become the heroes the aliens believe them to be”. Read more…
THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY – Gabriel Yared
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Talented Mr. Ripley is the least impressive Gabriel Yared score I have ever heard. But before you leap up and down, you should be aware that my statement is tempered by the fact that I have only heard six of his efforts to date, and that he has scored many obscure movies in his native France and across Europe, so to make such a sweeping generalization is doing his work a bit of a disservice. But, whereas his recent efforts in City of Angels and Message In A Bottle transported the listener into the realms of high romance, The Talented Mr. Ripley is less well-defined, less thematically strong, and suffers the same fate as The English Patient by completely overshadowed on album by a load of irresponsibly-programmed songs. Read more…
SUNSHINE – Maurice Jarre
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
It seems to have taken forever, but Maurice Jarre is finally back in the scoring saddle again. After enduring the least-productive decade of his entire career, and after taking the longest sabbatical of all the top film composers, Jarre’s return to form has been cemented with his score for Sunshine, an epic drama tracing the social and political history of a Hungarian family before, during and after World War II. Director Istvan Szabó’s film traces the lineage of the Sonnenschein family, Hungarian Jews whose lives alter forever with the onset of the Anschluss and the Nazi take-over of what was then Austro-Hungary. The three male members of the family are all played by Ralph Fiennes (with varying degrees of facial hair, both in quantity and success): firstly Ignatz, a lawyer and pharmacist whose “miracle tonic” makes the family a fortune; then Ignatz’s son Adam, a lawyer and Olympic fencing champion who falls victim to the Holocaust; and finally Adam’s son Ivan, whose influential role in post-War politics allows him to bury the ghosts of his past. With a supporting cast that includes William Hurt, Jennifer Ehle, Rachel Weisz and Deborah Kara Unger, Sunshine is every bit an “epic period drama”, running for almost three hours in length and featuring stunning production values. Contributing immeasurably to the latter is Jarre’s captivating orchestral score, easily his best work in years. Read more…
ANNA AND THE KING – George Fenton
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
During the last couple of years, British composer George Fenton has suddenly burst to the forefront of the film music world, after years of being considered nothing more than a talented journeyman. As the force behind the sensational Ever After and Dangerous Beauty in 1998, Fenton’s reputation as the man for the romantic drama has been cemented beyond all doubt. However, the jewel in Fenton’s lyrical crown is surely Anna and the King, a new reworking of the classic romantic tale which first captured the imagination of the cinema-going public with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I. Read more…
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