Reviews

Interview: SAVING MR. BANKS composer Thomas Newman scores a spoonful of bittersweet sugar

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 01/02/2014
SAVING MR. BANKS soundtrack | ©2013 Walt Disney Soundtrack

Tuxedoed penguins, dancing chimney sweeps, a housekeeper floating in on an umbrella to tame a household of errant children – all accompanied by some of the most memorable songs to grace a Disney movie, let alone any family film in Hollywood via England history. These confections make for the enduring magic that is MARY POPPINS, a movie that’s melodiously synonymous with family warmth. However, the real story behind this heartwarming classic was anything but harmonious, especially when POPPINS decidedly Scrooge-like creator arrived in LA’s magic kingdom like a serving of castor oil – haunted by a childhood that was anything […]Read On »


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Movie Review: AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 12/30/2013
AUGUST OSAGE COUNTY movie poster | ©2013 The Weinstein Company

Rating: R Stars: Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Sam Shepard, Misty Upham Writer: Tracy Letts, based on his play Director: John Wells Distributor: The Weinstein Co. Release Date: December 27, 2013 AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY won the 2008 Best Play Tony for its debut Broadway performance, and it’s easy to see why – Tracy Letts’ script is well-constructed and cumulatively devastating. The film version, with a screenplay adapted by Letts and directed by John Wells, opens the play up somewhat by giving us some of the […]Read On »


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TV Review: DOCTOR WHO Christmas Special – “The Time of the Doctor”

By SEAN ELLIOTT 12/27/2013
Matt Smith as The Doctor in DOCTOR WHO Christmas Special - "The Time of the Doctor" | ©2013 BBC America

Stars: Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman, Peter Capaldi, Orla Brady, Nicholas Briggs, Dan Starkey Writer: Steven Moffat Director: Jamie Payne Original Telecast: December 25, 2013 Network: BBC America Well, it’s the holiday season and we have to have a Christmas Special from DOCTOR WHO, which also often means that someone is going to die. There’s a bit of a history starting with Russell T. Davies run on WHO, of having sad Christmas episodes, and the latest offering “The Time of the Doctor” is certainly no exception. “Time” is the final part of the “of the Doctor” named episodes, and I really […]Read On »


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Exclusive Interview: Being one of THE NEIGHBORS is alien to Simon Templeman

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN
Simon Templeman in THE NEIGHBORS - Season 2 - "Fear and Loving in New Jersey" | ©2013 ABC/Richard Cartwright

THE NEIGHBORS, now in its second season on ABC, Fridays at 8:30 PM, is half-hour comedy about human/extraterrestrial culture clash. The Weavers, a nice middle-class family consisting of dad Marty (Lenny Venito), mom Debbie (Jami Gertz) and three kids, move to a quiet gated community, where everyone else turns out to be from the planet Zabvron. Chief among the Zabvronians is the family next door to the Weavers. Simon Templeman plays the alien patriarch Larry Bird, who can be doleful, fretful, ambitious and wildly optimistic all at the same time. Larry is married to Jackie Joyner-Kersee (Toks Olegundoye) an they […]Read On »


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CD Review: The Best Scores of 2013 – The Runners-Up

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER
Brian Tyler / NOW YOU SEE ME soundtrack | ©2013 Glassnote

BEYOND TWO SOULS (Lorne Balfe / Sony Entertainment) Though it’s far more of an interactive movie than it is a video game, the negligible level of first-person shooter ability here doesn’t prevent BEYOND TWO SOULS from being a complete immersive experience, especially with the eerie, and rapturous quality of Lorne Balfe’s score, leveled up with the ace technical and musical production oversight of Hans Zimmer. For a heroine seemingly cursed by her lifelong bond to an invisible entity, Balfe conjures a truly beautiful theme, topped with a female voice that resonates with a wounded emotion that binds this powerfully symphonic […]Read On »


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CD Review: The Ten Best Scores of 2013

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER
Anthony Gonzalez, Joseph Trapanese / OBLIVION soundtrack | ©2013 +180 Records

THE BOOK THIEF (John Williams / Sony Classical) The kind of unabashedly thematic, and mostly melodic music that’s made John Williams into the most popular film composer of all time is often the sound of innocence itself, an unabated musical youthfulness that he’s also played to ironic effect when dealing with children confronting the unimaginable. Here it’s a genocide that’s heard, but rarely witnessed within a young German girl’s sheltered life during World War 2. Such is the devastating, gentle power that speaks volumes for THE BOOK THIEF‘s score as it encapsulates the innocence, first loves and ultimate shock of […]Read On »


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Movie Review: THE INVISIBLE WOMAN

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 12/26/2013
THE INVISIBLE WOMAN movie poster | ©2013 Sony Pictures Classics

Rating: R Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Hollander, Michelle Fairley, Joanna Scanlan, Tom Burke, Perdita Weeks, Amanda Hale Writer: Abi Morgan, based on the book by Claire Tomalin Director: Ralph Fiennes Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics Release Date: December 25, 2013 Victorian-era writer Charles Dickens was such a champion of fairness and kindness in his work that it’s easy to suppose he routinely exhibited these traits in his real life. The truth, according to many biographers, was much more complicated. In THE INVISIBLE WOMAN, based on Claire Tomalin’s nonfiction book of the same name about Dickens and […]Read On »


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Movie Review: 47 RONIN

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN
47 RONIN movie poster | ©2013 Universal Pictures

Rating: PG-13 Stars: Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ko Shibasaki, Tadanobu Asano, Min Tanaka, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Rin Kikuchi Writers: Chris Morgan and Hossein Amini, screen story by Chris Morgan & Walter Hamada Director: Carl Rinsch Distributor: Universal Pictures Release Date: December 25, 2013 In Japan, the real-life story behind 47 RONIN has roughly the same cultural impact that the Alamo has in the U.S. Indeed, there’s a name – Chushingwa – for the genre of books, plays, films, TV shows and artwork about the 47 masterless samurai, or ronin, who banded together to avenge the death of their lord, even though […]Read On »


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Movie Review: LONE SURVIVOR

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN
LONE SURVIVOR movie poster | ©2013 Universal Pictures

Rating: R Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Eric Bana, Yousuf Azami, Ali Suliman Writer: Peter Berg, based on the book by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson Director: Peter Berg Distributor: Universal Pictures Release Date: December 25, 2013 Based on the events of the 2005 Navy SEAL mission Operation Red Wings, LONE SURVIVOR depicts a relatively short but devastating clash between U.S. and Taliban forces in the mountains of Afghanistan. Director/writer Peter Berg has adapted the book by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson in apolitical fashion. We’re following the Navy, so we’re on their side, but the […]Read On »


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ELYSIUM Highlights this week in Blu-ray, DVD and VOD Releases

By PETER BROWN 12/22/2013
ELYSIUM | (c) 2013 Universal Home Entertainment

Your time is short. We know this. So in order to expedite your buying and Netflix decision making, we provide you with a list of the cool and not-so-cool titles coming out for movies, television and everything in-between. So put your feet up, grab some popcorn and check out this week’s selections. Movies ELYSIUM – Neill Blomkamp made a huge splash when he directed DISTRICT 9 a few years ago. This is his follow-up – another science fiction epic set in a distant future where the Earth is no longer the habitable place we enjoy today. ELYSIUM is very ambitious. […]Read On »


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