Tis the season to love film scores! And even more so if you’re a die-hard fan of Danny Elfman’s big cinematic sound. Starting today, La-La Land Records is releasing The Danny Elfman Batman Collection – an extra special 4-CD set being presented in honor of Batman’s 75th Anniversary. La-La Land Records, Warner Bros. and WEA proudly present this limited edition with a thrilling re-issue of their previously out-of-print deluxe editions of Danny Elfman’s classic, original scores to the Tim Burton-directed Batman and Batman Returns, presented together for the first time! While the programs presented on these discs are the same as found on the acclaimed initial La-La Land releases, Batman (1989) has…
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FourScore Match-Up #19: “It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got Them Strings”
This week Kenneth Branagh’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit hits theaters and marks the 11th time he and that smiling Scottsman composer Patrick Doyle have worked together in the last 25 years. The film features an amazing arrangement of strings with such diversity and complexity it’s easily some of the best pensive spy music since David Arnold’s work scoring the Bond series. And seriously, no matter what country you’re from the stellar track “Ryan, Mr. President” may be the most swellingly patriotic theme you’ll ever hear. Doyle’s works have such dense richness that they give each film an almost mythical atmosphere. One thing is for sure, he just knows how to…
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G-S-T Review…Oz the Great and Powerful
Who wouldn’t want to travel to the wondrous and imaginative worlds we’ve seen grace the silver screen? Chief among the most magical candidates has to be the Land of Oz. In this prequel to the 1939 classic, Sam Raimi shows us how the “Wizard of Oz” became so Great and Powerful. Usually it’s with extreme hesitation that one would chose to add to the mythology of property as legendary as The Wizard of Oz. Others smartly leave well enough alone. After all, the sequel and TV spin offs have yielded results paling in comparison to Victor Fleming’s film. Since going back has been done before the only place to go is back to the beginning, right? How very contemporary. The film…
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Off the Shelf…’Frankenweenie’
When Young Victor Frankenstein (voiced by Charlie Tahan) loses his beloved dog in a car accident he uses the lessons learned from his science class to bring Sparky back to life. It’s a success (to some degree) but his new experiment doesn’t stay secret for very long as Sparky’s revival brings the attention of his classmates eager to win the upcoming science fair. Similarly it raises awareness of the parents who deem the kid’s teacher a crackpot and while the parents are somewhat occupied ousting the foreigner, the kids are left to their own devices. The competing students take Victor’s experiment and recreate it to some adverse affects. With monster…
