Either I’ve been staying on top of my homework or 2015 has been an exceptionally strong year for film scores already. From blockbuster disappointments to indie oddities and mindless action sequels, film music has once again shown it can transcend its respective dreck just as much as it can enhance the cinematic experience. With film festival season …
Jurassic World is fine. Massive blockbuster earnings aside, it’s neither contrived enough to feel like another lesser sequel nor original enough to stray too far from Spielberg’s 1993 original. That uneasy cradle — between ingenuity and brand loyalty — is where tentpole franchises and their music have come to rest. With Furious 7, Atlantic Records threw …
Film scores are pretty ephemeral to a large chunk of the movie-going populace, where music isn’t noticeable unless a triumphant fanfare or sweeping ballad draws enough attention to itself. So if scoring is already the film industry’s unappreciated middle child, how silly is a list about ones that haven’t been released yet? Very silly. Oftentimes, …
It’s been a great year for film music. I say that as someone who had to endure the laughably dated qualities of Alberto Iglesias’ Exodus: Gods and Kings and had to swallow the pill that is Howard Shore‘s latter days Middle-earth music. But it has been a great year. Clint Mansell gave us haunting, complex soundscapes in Noah, the …
Lost was a landmark series for network television, a one-of-a-kind show that producers and executives are still trying, and failing, to recreate. It’s been ten years since it premiered, on September 22, 2004 (which, coincidentally, was the date of the crash of Oceanic 815). Rather than try to make a simple Top 10 Episodes list, …
One of the more highly anticipated features of the year has been JJ Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness, the sequel to his 2009 feature that breathed new life into the science fiction franchise. One of the returning members of the project is veteran composer Michael Giacchino, who has worked on movies such as The Incredibles, …
The 52 Annual Grammy Awards was held last night and despite the show’s poor taste in nominations and awards in music, it still somehow manages to get the film categories right each year. Of course they still need to get their release dates right since the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire won the Best Compilation Soundtrack …