We reviewers get some strange albums floating across our desks every now and then. And Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin has to be one of the stranger albums that has crossed my path. While I appreciate Wilson and the classic Beach Boys sound, Gershwin is sacred ground and I went into my first listen with my arms [...]

Ever since the beginning of message boards, there have been film music threads about SPARTACUS. With every new announcement of upcoming CDs, someone would invariably (and idiotically) say, “I bet it’s SPARTACUS!” The holy grail of a complete SPARTACUS remained maddeningly elusive for years. But with Alex North’s 100th birthday celebration this year and the 50th [...]

I stayed away from all the hints and hype about INCEPTION. I didn’t read any early reviews of the film or any interviews with Hans Zimmer before I heard the score so that I could approach the movie and the music with fresh eyes and ears. To explain the plot, this blog post would be [...]

Fans of Dimitri Tiomkin have reason to celebrate this year. We’ve already seen the premiere of Tiomkin’s score for the 1947 film noir THE LONG NIGHT and the first complete recording of his epic THE ALAMO. Later this year we’ll have a 2-CD release of the original tracks from 1950′s CYRANO DE BERGERAC. The latest release is the [...]

The collaboration of James Newton Howard and director M. Night Shyamalan has often brought out the best in the composer, if not the director. And by all accounts, their latest, THE LAST AIRBENDER, based on the hit Nickelodeon animated series, is a particularly excruciating cinematic experience. Though I personally think Shyamalan is a one-hit wonder [...]

Let me admit right off the bat that I’m not a TWILIGHT fan. What little I read of Stephenie Meyer’s puerile prose in the first book offended me as a writer. I’ve seen the first two films and I find them to be poorly acted pabulum for the eyes and ears. And yet somehow three [...]

In the last 15 years, computer-generated animation has changed drastically, mostly thanks to the high standard that Pixar Animation Studios set with the release of TOY STORY in 1995. This was followed by an enjoyable 1999 sequel and few missteps in the Pixar canon since. Now, through its clever and heartwarming story and Randy Newman‘s [...]

John Wayne stepped behind the camera in 1960 for his sprawling epic THE ALAMO. Wayne also cast himself as Davy Crockett with Richard Widmark and Laurence Harvey as Jim Bowie and William Travis. These three men lead the small band of Texan and Tennessee volunteers in their losing battle against Santa Anna’s Mexican army in [...]

When you make a film version of a popular ’80s TV action staple like THE A-TEAM, you don’t go into it looking for a probing character study. And I certainly wasn’t expecting a subtle score full of nuance and shading. But even with those caveats, Alan Silvestri‘s score for THE A-TEAM is a disappointment. I [...]

No offense to Jaden Smith, but for me Ralph Macchio will always be THE KARATE KID. And I doubt Jackie Chan can hold a candle to Pat Morita. I vaguely remember the 1984 original as a pleasant diversion, but it’s lost in the haze in which most mid-80s films reside in my brain. So I wasn’t [...]