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| 11/29/09
- | We Were Soldiers: (Nick Glennie-Smith)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you value harmonious simplicity in circumstances that call for melodramatic and compelling
heroism, for this music is lovely and effective despite its obvious sources of inspiration.
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Avoid it... |
if the sum of all the perfect ingredients for a score doesn't always culminate in a satisfying
recipe, especially for a picture that transcended formula production values in its other
elements.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 11/27/09
- | Judge Dredd: (Alan Silvestri)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
on the retail album if you want some of the least expensive 40 minutes of glorious orchestral
bombast of the 1990's, a score that is as robust in stature as anything Alan Silvestri has
ever produced.
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Avoid it... |
if you have little tolerance for super-heroic themes of simplistic major-key expression,
especially if they're predictably blasted out every time Sylvester Stallone delivers one of
his painfully awful lines of dialogue as punctuation to a scene.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 11/25/09
- | Saw: (Charlie Clouser)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
only if you appreciated the ridiculously brutal tone of the film and have a taste for
extremely difficult, heavily metallic industrial scores.
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Avoid it... |
if you understand the meaning of the word "empathy."
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| Rating: | *
Read the entire review
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| 11/23/09
- | The Mask: (Randy Edelman)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you are familiar with Randy Edelman's distinctive action style and enjoy his simple but
functional combination of synthetic and organic components in undemanding structures.
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Avoid it... |
if you feel the need to be challenged by your film music, for Edelman breaks absolutely no new
ground with this effort.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 11/20/09
- | Chariots of Fire: (Vangelis)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
only if you specifically appreciated the short, but incredibly obvious contributions by
Vangelis in the disparate context of this overrated film.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect anything more substantive than the catchy title theme, for Vangelis' score as a
whole is ridiculously undeveloped for the plot and doesn't even make for an engaging or
coherent new age listening experience on album.
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| Rating: | **
Read the entire review
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| 11/17/09
- | Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery/The Spy
Who Shagged Me: (George S. Clinton)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you groove to enthusiastic and competent parody scores, in which case this product gives
you a solid survey of George S. Clinton's first two outings in the Austin Powers franchise.
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Avoid it... |
if the 1960's and 70's music of John Barry and Burt Bacharach drove you nuts in its original
incarnations, because their styles and mannerisms are bloated in obvious fashion for comedic
effect in both of these scores.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 11/14/09
- | Broken Arrow: (Hans Zimmer/Don Harper)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you wonder what Hans Zimmer would write if given a Spaghetti Western, because Broken Arrow
is his best merging of his passion for Ennio Morricone's music and his early Media Ventures
blockbuster sensibilities.
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Avoid it... |
if you love being pounded into submission by the overbearing staccato movements and bass
domination of Zimmer's later action scores, a sound that eventually had very little do with
the kind of instrumental nuances heard in this surprisingly well-balanced score.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 11/12/09
- | Two Weeks Notice: (John Powell)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if no quantity of conservatively pretty romantic comedy underscore for small ensembles is
enough to satisfy your desire
for intimate piano, guitar, bass, organ, and percussion performances of easy harmony.
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Avoid it... |
if you demand at least a minimal lasting impression to be left upon you by your film scores,
even ones as light and
inconsequential as this.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 11/8/09
- | The Terminator: (Brad Fiedel)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
on the 1994/1995 Edel album if you seek a comprehensive survey of Brad Fiedel's raw, synthetic
score or, conversely, on the original 1991 score and song combo if you seek all five major
songs heard prominently in the film and cleverly reflecting its narrative.
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Avoid it... |
on either album if you are only casually interested in the effective, but now badly dated
music for this film, because both CD albums have skyrocketed in value as they have gone out of
print.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 11/6/09
- | Queen of the Damned: (Richard Gibbs/Jonathan
Davis)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
only if you are an enthusiast of the concept and are familiar with the distinct differences
between the original songs heard on screen and the gloomy, partially orchestral underscore for
the film.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect anything remarkable to emerge from this score, for its is largely an unmemorable
collection of orchestral dissonance and electronic textures.
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| Rating: | **
Read the entire review
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| 11/4/09
- | Love Actually: (Craig Armstrong)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
on the European compilation album if you seek a strong combination of the song and score
highlights that you heard in the film.
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Avoid it... |
on the American song compilation album if you appreciated Craig Armstrong's memorable score in
the film, in which case the composer's short but sweet promotional, score-only album should be
your target.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 11/1/09
- | The Godfather Part III: (Carmine Coppola/Nino
Rota)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you are primarily in search of the vocalized portions of this soundtrack, including the
Harry Connick, Jr. song or the extensive excerpts from the opera "Cavalleria Rusticana" that
dominate half of its only album.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect any part of Carmine Coppola's original score to compete with the far more
effective and compelling thematic continuity that Nino Rota provided for the first two films.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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