Wall-E - Thomas Newman

Review of Thomas Newman's delightful score to the much anticipated 2008 Pixar release, Wall-E posted to Soundtrack Express.

North by Northwest - Bernard Herrmann

Updated review of Bernard Herrmann's classic North by Northwest to coincide with Varese's new full length re-recording, conducted by Joel McNeely.

Iron Man - Ramin Djawadi

So it's all true. Iron Man is, musically, another bland orchestral synth rock pop pile of drivel. Ugh, what a shame. While superhero scores haven't quite hit the memorable peaks of John Williams' Superman, Elfman's Batman or even Goldsmith's cheesy, but very memorable Supergirl, recently, there have been plenty of decent entries. However, that all seems to have gone by the wayside and on a ratio of film quality to music, this is pretty much the poorest. Indeed, the film itself is excellent and Robert Downey Jnr. is superb as the lead, but the music lends very little to the film itself and is no more exciting on CD.

The opening cue pretty much sets the tone, rock band, synths, orchestra somewhere in there, lots of percussion, hardly a theme to speak of. I mean, I wouldn't mind if it went from that, morphing into something memorable, after all, a build up to the main theme can be most effective. In this case, it builds to more of the same, just relentlessly on and on. The action is typical post-MV territory (one day I might not have to write that any more, but it's not coming any time soon) and there are some vague ethnic bits. There's little decent on the quiet side either. It's interrupted by the odd couple of songs which are no more or less uninteresting than the score itself. Ok, if you like loud and not particularly interesting scoring, you'll have a wet dream over it, but this is a superhero score I can happily leave. Just glad it didn't ruin the film. Une Etoile.

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The Happening - James Newton Howard

Review of The Happening by James Newton Howard at Soundtrack Express.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Film Comments

Let's face it, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was never going to quite match the expectations everyone had for it, but in fairness, you shouldn't have ridiculous expectations! After all, the Indiana Jones films are pulpy throwbacks, not fine art. That Crystal Skull is great entertainment, doesn't pretend Harrison Ford is 30 and features a sprightly John Williams score, is almost enough in my book. Perhaps the worst thing about it is that it follows Last Crusade, which seemed so final in its conclusion. Indy, dad and buddies riding off into the sunset seemed just perfect and trilogies are a tried and tested film making format. Raiders kicks it off at a visceral pace, Temple of Doom goes darker and Last Crusade is the slightly lighter, but nicely conclusive third part. Crystal Skull just feels like an appendix. The original trilogy might not have told a single story, but they worked, contrasting nicely with each other. Crystal Skull just sits at the end, after a bit of a break, feeling like an Indy film, but not an essential one.

Still, no point whinging about its faults (not that it's stopped me before) as it's a great piece of entertainment. Harrison Ford has never really been anyone other than Indy or Han Solo for me (sad but true) and so him being back on screen as Indy is just right. Karen Allen certainly doesn't look quite as feisty as Marion, even if she sounds it. Shia Le Thingy as Indy Jnr actually acquits himself perfectly well enough; I can almost see an Indy Jones Jnr film at some point, although I doubt Le Thingy would do it, but it's a potentially neat idea. Although would have to stick to a cold war setting. As noted, John Williams' score is terrific fun, if not quite as memorable as the first three, but these things are all relative. It's funny, reviews of the album have been generally positive, but because it's Williams, expectations have been sky high. Yet, when I compare it to most blockbuster scores this summer, it's still in a league of its own. It's real music, something that stands outside the film (for the most part, at least) and while relatively not as memorable, the three major themes are presented fairly strongly within the film.

I rather hope that this is the final fling for Indy, dragging it out any more just wouldn't work. I doubt Spielberg or Ford have much appetite, although given Lucas' love of flogging his franchises, it's not entirely unlikely he could work on something. Having said that, with the relative failure of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, maybe he realises the appetite for more Indy might be sated by the new film and will just stick to the 43,256,546 Star Wars related projects he has going on. Go see Crystal Skull, if you're a fan, there should be enough moments to give you goosebumps and excitement aplenty. For everyone else, see it anyway, it may not convince disbelievers of the impact Raiders had all those years ago, but only but the most pretentious will walk away without having enjoyed almost every minute.