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Composer Interview: Howard Shore talks HUGO and A DANGEROUS METHOD

Howard Shore | ©2011 Howard Shore

In the near four decades that have taken him from being the bandleader of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE  to walking onto the stage to accept a couple of Oscars, you could say that Howard Shore has been on a continual journey of wide-eyed wonderment, one encompassing as much tender emotion as utter insanity. In over eighty scores, Shore’s used cheerful bells to embody MISS DOUBTFIRE, reached into the percussively booming pit of a serial killer’s mind in SEVEN, given a hack director the symphonic glory of Orson Welles in ED WOOD, created the mind-blowing pulsations of SCANNERS and took the side […]Read On »


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CD Review: JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN soundtrack

JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN soundtrack | ©2011Varese Sarabande Records

If  Christophe Beck does his musical all to pump up the frequently inept robbers of TOWER HEIST  into master criminals, then Ilan Eshkeri has the even mightier job of turning Rowan Atkinson’s catastrophically inept 007 wannabe into a super agent who’ll out-Bond Connery for JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN. Eshkeri outfits himself with the comedy secret agent score checklist of a swaggering main theme, trademarked fuzz guitar, rocking exotica for the luxurious locations he’ll fight through, and lush, John Barry-esque strings, for the sinister villains and lovemaking he’ll have to endure. It’s a jacket that’s been to the cleaners many times by […]Read On »


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Interview: Lorraine Bracco and Sasha Alexander on RIZZOLI & ISLES

Lorraine Bracco in RIZZOLI & ISLES - Season 2 - "Can I Get A Witness" | © 2011 TNT

RIZZOLI & ISLES, concluding its second season on TNT tonight, is a fan favorite. Not only is the series, based on Tess Gerritsen’s novels, a snappy crime-solving procedural, but it provides a view of supportive female friendship between its leads, Angie Harmon as police detective Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander as coroner Maura Isles, that is rare on television. This season, Maura has opened her home to Jane’s recently divorced mother Angie, played by Lorraine Bracco. Both actresses, as well as series production designer Bruce Miller, are on hand in the set for Maura’s living room. The space is beautiful, […]Read On »


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CD Review: THE RUM DIARY soundtrack

THE RUM DIARY soundtrack | ©2011 Lakeshore Records

If Christopher Young isn’t going on an orchestrally raging bender in the pits of hell, then it’s hitting jazz dives with an equally hot ensemble. Over the decades, his brilliant sets have ranged from funk gnarliness for ROUNDER’s well-liquored card games, a sales convention-cum-Esquivel fiesta in THE BIG KAHUNA, and the Mancini swing for the cult spy spoof THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE, Young now gets to slam back some tunes with the notorious bar fiend Hunter S. Thompson, just the kind of guy the composer’s more outré licks were created for THE RUM DIARY. What makes this far […]Read On »


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TV Review: DOCTOR WHO – Series 6 – “The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe” – Christmas Special

Matt Smith and Holly Earl in DOCTOR WHO - Series 6 - Christmas Special | ©2011 BBC

Stars: Matt Smith, Claire Skinner, Bill Bailey, Arabella Weir, Alexander Armstrong, Maurice Cole, Holly Earl, Paul Bazely, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill Writer: Steven Moffat Director:  Farren Blackburn Network: BBC America, airs Sunday night  Original Telecast: December 25, 2011 In the 2011 DOCTOR WHO Christmas special adventure, “The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe,” our favorite Time Lord (Matt Smith) has a debt to repay to a grieving war widow (Claire Skinner) and her children (Holly Earl, Maurice Cole). Posing as the caretaker of a substantially retrofitted mansion, the Doctor has to rescue the family from a sentient forest in another time […]Read On »


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CD Review: GREMLINS soundtrack

GREMLINS soundtrack | ©2011 Film Score Monthly

If you were among the generation that saw one great genre film after the other in the early ’80’s, perhaps no signature theme signaled these pictures’ often seditious spin on kid-friendly formulas than the sweet whistling of Gizmo and the cackling, rambunctious jazz rag of what would pop out of that furry little fella if you fed him after midnight. It’s taken nearly three decades for those little devils’ music to fully metamorphose, but at long last, Jerry Goldsmith’s full score to GREMLINS is finally here to create hilariously menacing havoc. While Goldsmith was famed for scoring the far more […]Read On »


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Movie Review: WAR HORSE

WAR HORSE movie poster | ©2011 Touchstone/DreamWorks

Rating: PG-13 Stars: Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Peter Mullan, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Thewlis, Celine Buckens, Eddie Marsan Writers: Lee Hall and Richard Curtis, based on the novel by Micharl Morpurgo Director: Steven Spielberg Distributor: Touchstone Pictures/DreamWorks Release Date: December 25, 2011 Thematically, temporally and emotionally, if BLACK BEAUTY and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN had a cinematic offspring, it probably would be WAR HORSE. Using the Michael Morpurgo novel that also inspired the current Broadway hit of the same name, WAR HORSE is the story of Joey, a horse with a lot of heart and ability, and Albert […]Read On »


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TV Review: CHUCK – Season 5 – “Vs. the Santa Suit”

Zachary Levi and Bonita Friedericy in CHUCK - Season 5 - "Vs. The Santa Suit" | ©2011 NBC/Mike Ansell

Stars: Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Joshua Gomez, Adam Baldwin, Vik Sahay, Scott Krinsky, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Ryan McPartlin Writer: Amanda Kate Shuman Director: Peter Lauer Network: NBC, Friday nights, 8 p.m. Original Telecast: December 23, 2011 On the roller coaster ride that is CHUCK this season, this week’s episode, Chuck vs. The Santa Suit, you almost have to wonder if we’re headed back into that corner it sometimes feels like the writers have written themselves into. You also have to wonder how many of the old bad guys they’re going to rustle up in the next few episodes. Tonight, we have Daniel Shaw (Brandon Routh) back from […]Read On »


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CD Review: THE MUPPETS soundtrack

THE MUPPETS soundtrack | ©2011 Walt Disney Records

It’s time to play to play the music, and light the lights after way too long a spell without Muppets tunes to delight. Now innocent kids, old coot fans and spoof-loving hipsters will find equal fun in the fresh approach taken by the FIGHT OF THE CONCORDS directing-songwriting team of James Bobin and Bret McKenzie, who treat THE MUPPETS with equal parts joyful, un-ironic fun and gentle in-jokes- winningly re-creating a tuneful formula that first helped Jim Henson’s creations find an audience way outside of a children’s puppet show. Now that recipe is likely do the same for this sweet […]Read On »


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Assignment X’s 2011 Last Minute Shopping Guide

'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS Blu-ray | ©2011 Warner Bros.

Christmas is only a couple days away, which means it’s time to stop procrastinating and get out there and start searching for that last minute Christmas gift for that special someone you forgot about. To help out, we’ve compiled out annual 2011 Holiday Gift Guide in one snappy little article. Whether you’re looking for toys, books, music, gadgets or the coolest new Blu-rays, this guide will give you a Cliff Notes version of some of the cool things this holiday season has to offer for those in dire need of Christmas gifting. Happy Holidays from the Editors of ASSIGNMENT X. […]Read On »


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