CD Review: THE BLACK CAULDRON

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/27/2012
THE BLACK CAULDRON soundtrack | ©2012 Intrada Records

Even if Disney animation didn’t exactly get their answer to THE LORD OF THE RINGS with this 1985 fantasy spectacle, THE BLACK CAULDRON did brew up the last epic genre score that Elmer Bernstein would compose for a major studio. There’s certainly no mistaking his inimitable touch during the era, as CAULDRON‘s theremin-like Ondes Martenot, playful electronics and bold, brassy statements are part of the same, tasty brew from whence the likes of SATURN 3, SPACEHUNTER and HEAVY METAL sprang. But if there’s one Bernstein score that THE BLACK CAULDRON really shares its lifeblood with, then it’s the over-the-top sound […]Read On »


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CD Review: BEL AMI soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/26/2012
BEL AMI soundtrack | ©2012 Varese Sarabande Records

Rachel Portman, the mistress of costume drama scoring, takes on the French Bell Epoque era for BEL AMI. And in the stylistically seamless company of Indian co-composer Lakshman Joseph De Saram, Portman shows off her musical trademark of dance-like rhythms and emotive, feminine strings. Her Baroque classicism very much suits AMI‘s elegant social stratification a few centuries hence, and the seductive cunning of the ex soldier who finds his way to success through society’s hemlines. Going for a tone that contrasts poetic beauty with the darkness that lies under the characters’ finery, Portman and De Saram’s music is impressively fashioned […]Read On »


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CD Review: WHITE FANG soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER
WHITE FANG soundtrack | ©2012 Intrada Records

Just like the confident bear who tangles with an upstart white wolf, Basil Poledouris’ old-fangled orchestral score was given a proper mauling by the Disney execs, who make their period Jack London adventure seem a lot more contemporary. But where it’s usually the veteran creature who’d lose the fight when thrown into the fight pit of studio politics, quite a bit of both composers’ work ended up in WHITE FANG, making the movie most notable for its stylistic clash of scores in the long run (even if Zimmer somehow went uncredited). Yet props can also be given to Disney for […]Read On »


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CD Review: BEN-HUR soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/23/2012
BEN-HUR soundtrack | ©2012 Film Score Monthly

If the granite-jawed manliness of Charlton Heston made him the anointed prince of Hollywood widescreen pictures with THE BIG COUNTRY, 55 DAYS AT PEKING and THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY, then it was Miklos Rozsa’s ability to fill the screen with equally rapturous melody that turned him into epic court composer of KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE, KING OF KINGS and SODOM AND GOMORRAH. And while Heston and Rozsa would get in the Spanish saddle together for the mighty EL CID nothing would match the other teaming of these two larger-than-life talents like 1959’s BEN-HUR, the eleven Oscar-winning picture (including […]Read On »


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CD Review: THE WAR OF THE BUTTONS soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/22/2012
THE WAR OF THE BUTTONS soundtrack | ©2012 Music Box Records

Cute kids go to fake war again in the fourth adaptation of Louis Pergaud’s 1912 novel THE WAR OF THE BUTTONS (LA NOUVELLE GUERRE DES BOUTONS), which was first made in France in 1962 before having its non-violent action moved to the Irish countryside for a 1994 version. Then in 2011, the story traveled back to its country of origin twice, which might be some kind of record for retelling the same story. For director Christophe (LES CHOIRISTES) Barratier’s version, Gallic composer Philippe Rombi takes up the musical charge from Jose Berghmans, Rachel Portman and Klaus Badelt with a score […]Read On »


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CD Review: NOWHERE TO RUN soundtrack (3,000 edition)

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/21/2012
NOWHERE TO RUN soundtrack | ©2012 Perseverance Records

Jean-Claude Van Damme would get one of his best starring roles in this successful, if now relatively unsung 1993 film that sees his ex-con step into Shane-like shoes (via motorcycle), taking on the evil mining barons out to murderously toss out attractive homesteader Rosanna Arquette and her kids. RUN‘s impressively subdued and intelligent handling can be squarely credited to director Robert Harmon, who wisely reteamed here with his HITCHER composer Mark Isham. Where the composer had handled that picture’s visceral atmosphere with ethereal, electronic tones, NOWHERE TO RUN saw Isham significantly beef up his approach with the weight of a […]Read On »


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CD Review: TITANIC soundtrack (2CD Anniversary Edition)

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/20/2012
TITANIC soundtrack | ©2012 Sony Classical

“My Heart Will Go On,” and on and on and on with the popularity of the most waterlogged movie to win Best Picture, especially for the concurrent 100th anniversary of the ship’s sinking and the 15th years since the movie’s release. So what better time to make hay of all things musically TITANIC than with multiple releases of its Oscar-winning score and song? While a four-disc soundtrack set offers copious source music and extra instrumentals, chances are TITANIC non-fanatics will be more than sated with this 2CD anniversary edition, which contains the lion’s share of Horner’s score, and, of course, […]Read On »


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CD Review: GALAXY QUEST soundtrack (3,000 edition)

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER
GALAXY QUEST soundtrack | ©2012 La La Land Records

If there was ever a geek desert island movie, and score, then it would be 1999’s GALAXY QUEST. Beyond its brilliant high-concept of throwing Classic Trek’s “ has-been actors into a real outer space adventure, what made the movie work was just how much love it really had for Kirk and company- a determination to make the premise anything but a shabbily extended SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE skit. For with just a few less degrees of satire, one could actually, almost buy these actors being on a spiffed-up Enterprise bridge, fighting Gorn to David Newman’s trumpeting theme for a cult TV […]Read On »


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CD Review: CASA DE MI PADRE soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/08/2012
CASA DE MI PADRE soundtrack | ©2012 Lakeshore Records

It’s one thing to do a clever spoof of an inane genre, but it’s a whole other feat to pull off a soundtrack that’s at once the real musical deal (en Espanol no less) while letting the listener know its tongue is firmly planted in its ear. Will Ferrell’s hilarious “Mexican” movie pulls this feat off on all fronts, particularly with this song/ score compilation that leads with the one-two punch of having Kris Kristoferson’s narration jump into Christina Aguilera’s full-blast title ballad. The earnest, well-produced tune jokes keep on coming, from El Puma’s Spanish spin on “A Whiter Shade […]Read On »


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CD Review: THE WEDDING BANQUET (Expanded) soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/05/2012
THE WEDDING BANQUET soundtrack | ©2012 Perseverance Records

Taking the kind of THREE’S COMPANY-meets-disapproving parent set-up that had made for so many lowbrow situation comedies, Chinese director Ang Lee put himself on the international film map with this gay charmer, a WEDDING BANQUET which also marked a major step up for NYC indie composer Mader (IN THE SOUP). Creating one of the first mainstream scores to notably blend Asian instruments with a hip Manhattan sensibility, Mader’s culture clash between morally old school mom and dad with their offspring’s vivacious energy deftly uses long, virtuoso passages for the poetically simple sound of ancient winds and strings, as cutely interplayed […]Read On »


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