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Currently On Cue:
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| 1/5/09
- | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: (John
Williams)
- Updated Review |
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Buy it... |
on the inadequate 1989 album if you are willing to tolerate substandard sound quality and only
half of the impressive, but not overwhelming music written by John Williams for the film.
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Avoid it... |
even on the 2008 expanded, remastered edition if you absolutely demand the complete score for
the film, because that set is missing more than 20 minutes of material.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 1/2/09
- | Raiders of the Lost Ark: (John Williams)
- Expanded, Updated Review |
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Buy it... |
if you're looking to start a collection of John Williams' classic scores from the height of
the Bronze Age, for Raiders of the Lost Ark is among both the best and most influential
adventure works from that era.
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Avoid it... |
on the 1995 CD album if you absolutely require more complete releases of the score, which just
happen to exist on the concurrent double-LP set or the 2008 franchise CD set.
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| Rating: | *****
Read the entire review
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| 12/30/08
- | Frost/Nixon: (Hans Zimmer/Lorne Balfe)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you're tired of hearing intellectually devoid, stagnant action music from Hans Zimmer and
yearn for him to explore intelligently stylish material of a much lesser volume.
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Avoid it... |
if you don't have the patience for a score built to subtly accentuate, rather than openly
dominate, a conversational setting.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 12/27/08
- | Milk: (Danny Elfman)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you love Danny Elfman's distinct, established instrumental and rhythmic styles, because
Milk is largely an extension of that sound into a slightly more dramatic realm.
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Avoid it... |
if the likeable personality that Elfman maintains throughout that style cannot alone yield the
kind of melodramatic weight you're expecting to hear for a topic involving so much controversy
and sacrifice.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 12/23/08
- | Cutthroat Island: (John Debney)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you define your swashbuckling pirate music by the parameters of Hollywood's Golden Age and
seek the one truly impressive translation of that sound to a masterful digital-era recording.
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Avoid it... |
if loquacious bombast of relentless and dramatic orchestral and choral intensity, consistent
in its massive scope over the course of two hours, is simply too much ruckus to tolerate (no
matter the score's status as a modern classic).
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| Rating: | *****
Read the entire review
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| 12/21/08
- | Crimson Tide: (Hans Zimmer)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you seek the vastly superior music that inspired the revolution of the synthetic
blockbuster score concept in the late 1990's.
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Avoid it... |
if you're part of the mutiny among score fans that has rejected Hans Zimmer's revolution on a
matter of principle, regardless of the strengths of his initially successful re-definition of
the genre.
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| Rating: | *****
Read the entire review
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| 12/19/08
- | Casper: (James Horner)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you seek one of James Horner's most charmingly heart-breaking lullabies, performed by
solo piano, choir, and full ensemble over the course of twenty gorgeous minutes in Casper.
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Avoid it... |
if the presence of the lullaby cannot compensate for 45 remaining minutes of merely average
comedy action and fluffy suspense writing common to both the careers of Horner and Danny Elfman.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 12/15/08
- | Apollo 13: (James Horner)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
on the promotional album if you own only a handful of James Horner's scores and are in search
of the composer at his very best.
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Avoid it... |
if the understated respect that Horner conveys in his rather short score doesn't appeal to
your need for more lavishly melodramatic efforts from elsewhere during that era of his career.
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| Rating: | *****
Read the entire review
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| 12/14/08
- | The American President: (Marc Shaiman)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you seek one of the best scores that the romantic comedy genre has to offer, brilliantly
balancing the humor of the film's story with the gravity of its location.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect the respectfully restrained underscore in between the opening and closing
statements of the title theme to be as strikingly robust.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 12/11/08
- | Star Trek: Generations: (Dennis McCarthy)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you appreciated the conservative sound of Dennis McCarthy's music for the concept's
episodes on television, for Star Trek: Generations is largely a simple expansion of that
sound.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect the memorable themes or dramatic majesty of the superior film scores that came
before and after this in the franchise.
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| Rating: | **
Read the entire review
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