Return to: Home / Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews / C . Film: Excellent / DVD Transfer: Very Good Label: Zeitgeist/ Region: 1 (NTSC) / Released: July 10, 2007 Genre: Documentary / China Synopsis: 3-part PBS series chronicling the founding the People’s Republic of China. Special Features: n/a . . Review: Originally broadcast on PBS in three parts, China: […]
The late, great Michael Kamen scored two iconic action films of the eighties – Lethal Weapon (1987), and Die Hard (1988) – and they were the genre’s definitive films, in fact, because they provided the template for filmmakers to imitate and composers to emulate for around a decade. Screenwriters tended to use ‘Die Hard on a plane/train/boat/chuck wagon/wobbly tricycle’ when pitching ideas to agents, and journalists liked to use the same phrases to describe what story, treatment or script the latest overpriced scribe had managed to sell for $1.5, $2.5, and $4.0 million to a sucker studio…
Even if a composer deliberately moves between genres to test the mind in scoring comedy, romance, action, horror, and sci-fi, it’s still a struggle to treat each project as unique – and that includes developing a sound that doesn’t recall prior works. There’s personal style, and then there’s old habits that can sometimes sneak into the writing process, and affect the development of themes, motifs, and the overall score..
Review of Warner Home Video’s shiny happy King Kong Blu-ray, and a quick nod to the deceased RKO Roxy Theatre…
The unfortunate cancellation of a press screening for 2001: A Space Odyssey was kind of a bummer this morning – I’ll catch it later this month at the TIFF Bell Lighbox for an upcoming Editor’s Blog – but the sudden free time allowed me to move on with other important stuff…
Connect