Category Archives: Films

Soundtrack Review: 21 Bridges (2019)

The original motion picture soundtrack for 21 Bridges is available now from Sony Music Masterworks. The soundtrack was composed by Henry Jackman and Alex Belcher (previous collaborations include Captain America: Civil War, Jack Reacher and Io); the pair drew inspiration from the grittier, more nuanced, and classically-influenced scores of film noir and action cinema of the 1950’s-70’s. The intensity they deliver in their score for 21 Bridges creates a unique and gripping original soundtrack hearkening back to these nostalgic movies of yesteryear while still forging new ground in contemporary composition.

Of the soundtrack, composer Henry Jackman had this to say:

“Writing the score for 21 Bridges in collaboration with Alex was immensely fun and creatively rewarding. The fact that we, along with Brian Kirk and Joe Russo, had such a specific aesthetic in mind, made it all the more interesting. The idea was respectfully to derive some influence from the Bernard Herrman-era of film scoring and fuse that influence with contemporary composition and recording techniques. I think we ended up with quite a brave and musically opinionated result. Working with Brian and Joe was a pleasure and collaborating with Alex was also fantastic since not only was he a keen student of the original’s Herrman scores, but also he is a great guitarist and bass player, with an ear for an authentic tone, all of which contributed greatly to the score.”

Co-composer Alex Belcher added:

“Writing music for film is a uniquely rewarding artistic expression. As the composer, you act as a guide for the audience, leading them through the story and giving them information they aren’t necessarily seeing on screen. Writing the score for 21 Bridges was even more rewarding because the film offered us the chance to do this sort of storytelling in a way that payed homage to some of the great film scores of the 1970’s. It was, truly, a wonderful endeavor.”

21 Bridges follows an embattled NYPD detective (Chadwick Boseman), who is thrust into a citywide manhunt for a pair of cop killers after uncovering a massive and unexpected conspiracy. As the night unfolds, lines become blurred on who he is pursuing, and who is in pursuit of him. When the search intensifies, extreme measures are taken to prevent the killers from escaping Manhattan as the authorities close all 21 BRIDGES to prevent any entry or exit from the iconic island.

It’s intriguing that Jackman and Belcher looked to the past, particularly to Bernard Herrman, when they put the score for 21 Bridges together. That would make the soundtrack a distinctive blend of past and present (Herrman’s scores almost always stood out). For that reason alone, I recommend checking out the soundtrack to 21 Bridges if you get the opportunity.

Let me know what you think about 21 Bridges (and its soundtrack) in the comments below and have a great day! The soundtrack is available for purchase now!

21 BRIDGES (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK)
TRACKLISTING –
Prelude
Radio Chatter
Mosto’s
Cocaine Shootout
Speed Cam
Aftermath
Hawk
Chinatown
That Leaves Manhattan
Meet The Preps
Pan Am Club
Close The Island
Thumb Drives
See You In Miami
Guys Like Me
Bring Him In Alive
Hostage
Coolhand
Foot Chase
Grand Central
Look The Devil In The Eye
Epilogue

See also:

Film Soundtracks A-W

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My Thoughts on: Steven Universe: The Movie (2019)

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*warning: minor spoilers for Steven Universe: the Movie

Given how much I was looking forward to Steven Universe: the Movie, part of me finds it really funny that I completely forgot the movie was getting a DVD release until I stumbled across a copy at the store. Of course as soon as I saw it my first thought was “I need to get this!” because, due to having no cable, I actually hadn’t seen the movie yet. And trust me when I say, buying the film on the fly was totally worth it.

As beautiful as the movie is, Steven Universe: the Movie is also another reminder that the story of Steven Universe is slowly winding down to a close. After five seasons of fighting evil and saving the world, Steven has grown into a 16 year-old who bears only a passing resemblance to how he looked for most of the series. Also? Steven’s voice is much, much deeper, and that took some getting used to for me.

Speaking of changes, this movie is all about change and how necessary it is, even if it’s completely unwelcome. The movie opens with Steven and the Crystal Gems completely content with the life they’ve built on Earth after the events of season 5 (which I won’t mention because I don’t dare spoil it). However, since this IS Steven Universe, it doesn’t last long, and once again Steven is forced to deal with something that Pink Diamond did in the past. This part of the story is actually really sad, and I’m having a really hard time liking Pink Diamond right now due to what she did.

Spinel, the villain for most of the story, is one of the most tragic characters I’ve seen in all of Steven Universe. She was only doing the job she was created for, and then….THAT happened to her. It’s no wonder she’s angry, she has a right to be angry. And what she does to Steven and the Crystal Gems is not only cruel, it’s proof positive that we should never take the way things are for granted, because it change, permanently, at a moment’s notice.

As with everything in Steven Universe, the movie is filled with songs that are memorable and catchy, just what you’d expect from Rebecca Sugar. I highly recommend checking out the soundtrack if you get the chance. There are songs everywhere, in fact, I almost feel like there are too many songs, because at times there’s one song, a beat, and then a second song begins. That doesn’t really bother me per se, but it might bother some.

Steven Universe: the Movie is a really fun movie. There are twists, highs and lows, and one surprise in particular had me gasping in surprise. And in the end, I felt extremely satisfied as the credits rolled. I’m still not ready to say goodbye to Steven Universe, but at least there’s still a little bit of story left to tell in Steven Universe Future.

Let me know what you think about Steven Universe: the Movie in the comments below and have a great day!

Animated Film Reviews

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My Thoughts on: Frozen II (2019)

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*warning: potentially minor spoilers for Frozen II below

I’ve been looking forward to Frozen II for a really long time, so much so that the first teaser convinced me to sit down and watch the first Frozen film earlier this year. Given how much the original film blew me away, I was really excited to see if the sequel would do something similar. And while Frozen II is a great film, I will say right from the start that it is not as good as the original.

I say that because Frozen II, a great film as I said before, doesn’t quite hit the mark with its plot. In broad strokes the story is great. Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven are pulled into an adventure that threatens the very existence of Arendelle. Going to the far north, they find an enchanted forest locked away by a barrier of mist due to something mysterious that happened over thirty years earlier. Our heroes must uncover what really happened and make it right in order to free the forest and the people trapped inside. Thus far, the story is great. It’s in the details though, where things begin to slip. The story takes some…unexpected turns. Some of them make sense, others don’t, and if you’re not closely following along you might lose track of what’s going on.

One twist that isn’t explained very well is what happens with Elsa. The film almost explains why these things are happening to Elsa, but it doesn’t quite get there. I think I understand what happened where Elsa is concerned, but I don’t know for sure, and that’s a problem. One twist in particular, at the end of “Show Yourself” (a beautiful song by the way, I was crying by the end), had me wanting to scratch my head because I didn’t understand how we got to this point. It’s almost like the filmmakers skipped over a plot point in their haste to get to an admittedly beautiful moment.

Those issues aside, Frozen II is beautiful to look at. The animation has evolved by leaps and bounds, with some startling and amazing effects that make everything feel so alive. I really like the “moments in time” and I thought it was a cool (no pun intended) concept.

As much as I enjoyed Frozen II, I hope there is not a Frozen III. There really is nothing more to add to the story at this point. We know, mostly, why Elsa has her powers, no plot threads remain unresolved. At this point, Arendelle should be left in peace. As I said before, the film isn’t perfect, but the brilliant animation and songs (especially “Into the Unknown” and “Show Yourself”) pretty much make up for it.

Let me know your thoughts on Frozen II in the comments below and have a great day!

See also:

My Thoughts on: Frozen (2013)

Animated Film Reviews

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Daniel Craig: Beyond Bond

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Soundtrack Review: Midway (2019)

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The soundtrack to Roland Emmerich’s epic film Midway is now available digitally and will be available on CD November 22nd. The highly anticipated action drama, starring Woody Harrelson, Luke Evans, Nick Jonas, and Mandy Moore, premiered in US theaters via Lionsgate, alongside the soundtrack release. The film centers on the Battle of Midway, a clash between the American fleet and the Imperial Japanese Navy, which marked a pivotal turning point in the Pacific Theater during WWII. The film, based on the real-life events of this heroic feat, tells the story of the leaders and soldiers who used their instincts, fortitude and bravery to overcome the odds.

The soundtrack for Midway was composed by Thomas Wander and Harald Kloser. Regarding the soundtrack, they had this to say:

“We agreed that the music for Midway should not be a traditional wall-to-wall orchestral score, with sweeping action cues where every change in mood and sentiment will be followed musically. We also set ourselves the goal that the orchestral pieces should be limited to the emotional moments of the film. Early on we asked our long-time collaborator Tommy Schobel to create some sort of musically driven sound design, using synth-based versions of sounds old war planes would make, but in a way so they make sense within the bigger picture of the score. When you hear these cues in the film, married with all the sound effects, it all becomes — quoting our re-recording mixer Greg P. Russel — ‘A Thing.’”

The soundtrack also features two contributions by singer Annie Trousseau. Here’s what she had to say about working on the soundtrack for Midway:

“I was asked by Harald and Roland if I had any big band songs recorded and would I be interested in performing a song in Midway. This was all happening last minute because they had just added a scene with a singer. Of course, I said yes immediately! Harald had pretty early on decided that “Jersey Bounce” would be the instrumental. “All or Nothing at All” was my top pick for the vocal track because it was the most fitting lyrically and emotionally for the film, and I just fell in love with the melody and Frank Sinatra’s 1939 version with the Harry James orchestra. What an honor to be the one singer asked to do this. We purposely did only two or three live takes of each song so we could keep the live feel. I’m very happy with the outcome. In preparation, I studied the enunciation of the era and did my best to give it that extra 1940s vintage sensibility. I was in heaven in a musical world and setting that allowed me to shine in a genre that I adore and respect so much. It’s been the best experience to work beside such amazing talents. Almost everyone in the film is also a musician! Such a dream come true for me.”

While it’s true, after listening to the score, that this is definitely not a wall-to-wall orchestral score such as what you might normally find for an epic film of this magnitude, I think movie audiences will appreciate the music just as much. It oozes with tension in various places, which makes sense given how pivotal the Battle of Midway proved to be. Everything hinged on this one fight going exactly right, and it feels like that is reflected somewhat in the musical score.

TRACK LISTING
1. Nobody Wants A War
2. Midway Main Theme
3. See You In China
4. Morgue
5. Getting Some Fun Out Of Life – Performed By Annie Trousseau
6. Pearl Harbour
7. This Is It
8. Bombing Six
9. What’s Their Target
10. Attack On Midway
11. Good Luck Sir
12. Jersey Bounce – Performed by Annie Trousseau (Instrumental)
13. They’ll Follow You Anywhere
14. Still Night Submarine
15. Above The Clouds
16. Dogfight
17. The Last Dive
18. This Is For Pearl
19. Victory Lap
20. Best Returns
21. Abandon Ship
22. Midway End Titles
23. All Or Nothing At All – Performed by Annie Trousseau

Let me know what you think of Midway (and its soundtrack) in the comments below and have a great day!

See also:

Film Soundtracks A-W

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My Thoughts on: The Great Dictator (1940)

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Film Reviews

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My Thoughts on: Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)

My Thoughts on: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

Film Reviews

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My Thoughts on: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

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Ever since I saw King Ghidorah in Godzilla: King of the Monsters earlier this year, I knew that I would have to check out the original Godzilla films (aside from the original, which I’ve already seen), and at the top of my list was Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, the film that introduced the three-headed flying space dragon to the Godzilla story. For whatever reason, I’m just drawn to this particular monster, even before I knew who he was, pictures of King Ghidorah stood out to me.

That’s just one reason I ran out and picked up the Criterion collection of Showa-era Godzilla films (expect a number of those films to be reviewed in the coming days and weeks). The very first film I saw down to watch was Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, and I was glued to the screen from start to finish. The film, like many Godzilla films I’m coming to find, features a number of monsters, including Rodan, Mothra (in larval form), and of course, King Ghidorah in his film debut. The story starts when a mysterious meteor shower comes to Earth, dropping a bizarre meteorite deep in the mountains, one that seemingly affects gravity, it later cracks open to reveal the titular monster.

At the same time, a foreign princess is presumed murdered in a bombing, only to show up in Japan claiming to be from Venus and making dire predictions about the fate of the world. I admittedly had trouble accepting the Venusian storyline part of this movie, but it does make for an interesting plot device.

Of course the most important thing for me in this movie was the monsters themselves and oh my goodness I got all I wanted and more. Before watching this film, the only monster I’d seen in the original Japanese films was Godzilla himself. This was my first time being Rodan, Mothra, and of course King Ghidorah in their original looks and I loved it all! Well, almost, I actually like Rodan’s appearance in Godzilla: King of the Monsters more than I did here, but that’s more of a nitpick than anything else. King Ghidorah blew my mind with how real he looked as he flew and moved.

I also really liked the Shobijin, the twin fairies that can summon Mothra with their (beautiful) singing. I really liked that they speak in unison and that they’re so tiny. For some reason, I wasn’t expecting them to be small, but since they are fairies, it does make sense. Their song for Mothra is beautiful.

The point I’m trying to make is that Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster is a really good Godzilla film. It has plenty of monsters, Godzilla gets quite a lot of screen time, and the final battle between Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah is really good given the nature of the special effects being used. I’m continually astounded by how real these creatures look given they’re all portrayed by men in suits! If you want to dive right into the Showa-era films, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster isn’t a bad place to start!

Let me know what you think about Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster in the comments below and have a great day!

Film Reviews

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My Thoughts on: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

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After all these years, I finally knocked a long-standing entry off my “to watch” list by sitting down and watching The Nightmare Before Christmas. Please don’t ask me why it took me so long to watch this classic, I honestly think it’s just a case of “I simply never got around to it” believe me there was nothing personal keeping me from watching this film. And now that I’ve finally seen what all the fuss is about, I’m so glad I did, because The Nightmare Before Christmas is amazing and holds up extremely well for being made in 1993.

To quickly summarize, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a stop-motion animation film set in a world where each holiday resides in their own distinct “land.” Most of the story is set in Halloween Town, where Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, is lord and master of all things Halloween. However, after overseeing Halloween festivities for more years than he can count, Jack is tired of doing the same old thing and becomes enamored of the Christmas holiday when he accidentally stumbles into Christmas Town. As you might expect, chaos ensues.

I’ve been a fan of stop-motion animation since almost before I can remember, and this film does it so well it makes the concept look easy (would you believe it took them THREE YEARS to take this film?) The movements are so fluid and lifelike, there’s no trouble believing that characters like Jack and Sally are very much real. I found myself fascinated by Sally in particular, the idea of a living rag doll that can stitch herself back together impressed me. Of all the characters in Halloween Town, she’s the only one that I don’t find “scary” in any sense of the word. Even though Sally is stitched together, the fact that she’s only stuffed with leaves inside makes it completely not scary when her limbs come off.

One sequence that especially impressed me is “Oogie Boogie’s Song” which apparently takes place in a blacklight environment that brings out a slew of colorful details in Oogie Boogie’s lair. And speaking of Oogie Boogie, I absolutely love the moment when the would-be villain comes face to face with a pissed off Jack Skellington at the climax of the film. All of that bravado is OUT the door and it is too funny to see how quickly it happens.

All told, I love The Nightmare Before Christmas, and I hope with all my heart that the proposed sequel/reboot/remake/whatever Disney is trying to do never, EVER happens. This film is pure magic and it would be a shame to ruin its perfection by creating a sequel or, God forbid, a live-action remake. The soundtrack by Danny Elfman is a lot of fun also, and I loved all of it.

Let me know what you think about The Nightmare Before Christmas in the comments below and have a great day!

See also:

Animated Film Reviews

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My Thoughts on: The Princess Bride (1987)

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There are very few movies that I would consider to be truly perfect. Films being of such varying quality as they are, it’s nearly impossible to find a film that has no flaws whatsoever and can be watched numerous times without getting old or stale. I truly believe that The Princess Bride is one such film.

For a long time I actually didn’t know what the name of this film was, or I wasn’t able to remember it. This is a movie that I would inevitably catch in the middle, often enough that I would recognize the characters, but so far in that I had no chance of finding out what it was called. Finally, I don’t remember when, I got to see the film all the way through, and I’ve been in love with it ever since. The story is based on William Goldman’s 1973 novel of the same name (an entertaining read that I highly recommend by the way), and follows the twisting love story of Buttercup (Robin Wright) and her true love Westley (Cary Elwes). The film is actually a story within a story, as the tale is presented to us as a story a grandfather is reading to his sick grandson in the present day.

I can’t emphasize enough how amazing this movie is. I need to call particular attention to “the World’s Greatest Sword Fight” aka the duel between Inigo and Westley (disguised at the time as the Dread Pirate Roberts). This sword fight is epic in no small part because Mandy Patinkin and Cary Elwes did the vast majority of the scene themselves (in fact I think the only time with a stunt double is when they jump down from a ledge using that rod and Westley does a couple flips on the way down). (Side note, Elwes and Patinkin took fencing lessons from Bob Anderson, the same sword master who worked with Mark Hamill on the Star Wars films among many, MANY other films). To this day I don’t understand any of the fencing language spoken during the fight, but it’s a lot of fun to listen to. I equally enjoy the subsequent Battle of Wits between Westley and Vizzini (Wallace Shawn, who cracks me up every time he talks). The battle is over who will walk away with Buttercup, and who will die. Westley has seemingly hidden a deadly poison in one of two cups of wine, and Vizzini must figure out which one is safe to drink. What makes this funny is that he dances around the correct answer for almost the entire time (since BOTH cups are poisoned he can’t choose either one), but never quite makes the leap to that conclusion.

Even the “scary” part of the film in the Fire Swamp really isn’t all that bad, though I do admit the R.O.U.S’s (Rodents Of an Unusual Size) scared me a little the first time I saw the film (they look pretty realistic considering it’s a little person in a suit and this was made in the 1980s). Although the scene where Buttercup gets sucked into the sand catches me off guard every, single, time! That, by the way, is the one moment of the film where I think Westley is genuinely caught off guard. Every other instance he’s able to keep the “I can handle anything” mask (no pun intended) in place, but that moment is the one time it slips and he goes into total “Oh sh*t this is bad” mode.

Forgive the repetition, but everything in this film is enjoyable. It’s not an exaggeration, ask anyone and they will tell you the same thing. From the opening scene to the final confrontation between Westley and Prince Humperdinck (I snicker every time I hear that name, because who names their son HUMPERDINCK?) every part of this film just comes together is is simply beautiful.

Now, I do have a small piece of head canon regarding this film that I want to share before I wrap up this review (for those who don’t know, head canon is your personal interpretation of something in a story that is never explicitly stated to be true and yet you believe it anyway). My head canon for The Princess Bride is the belief that the story of The Princess Bride is the story of the grandfather and grandson’s distant ancestors; simply put the story of Westley and Buttercup really happened and they are descended from them. My belief for this comes from the beginning of the film when the grandfather refers to the book containing the story as a “very special book” one that his father read to him and his grandfather before that. I reasoned that for a story to be passed down for so long, it must be based on something real, because this is how their family line started. It’s something I refuse to let go of, because it just makes sense to me.

Long story short: The Princess Bride is a perfect movie. Practically every scene is quotable, and I literally have nothing bad to say about this film. I know reviews shouldn’t be like this, but The Princess Bride is literally that good. If you somehow haven’t seen it, go see it, it’s worth it.

Let me know what you think about The Princess Bride in the comments below and have a great day!

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