The 2017 Dallas International Film Festival brought many amazing films and documentaries to DFW, but few hit as close to home (musically speaking) as Matt Schrader‘s feature, SCORE: A Film Music Documentary. Schrader’s film profiles various personalities and titans in the industry to chronicle the history of film music, reaffirm its importance in our culture, and attempt to explain why certain scores continue to resonate decades later. I can honestly say I’ve been a music fan longer than I’ve been a film fan, and as such, forgive the pun, this doc was music to my ears. We spoke to Schrader in 2015 while he was in the middle of interviewing the composers for…
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Off the Shelf…’Big Hero 6′
With so many comic book properties having either run their course, or underwhelming at the box office, it’s great that fans of the genre are getting a breath of fresh air in the form of lesser-known properties. Big Hero 6, for those of you who don’t follow anything but A-list super heroes, is a Marvel property. Albeit an obscure one, sometimes it takes a horse of a different color to not only grab audiences, but keep them engaged. Given that Disney Animation has turned a corner in recent years (see: Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen) – not only embracing the digital realm but doing so with equal portions of talent and budget…
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G-S-T Review…Kingsman: The Secret Service
When it comes to Matthew Vaughn, high energy director of Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class, Layer Cake and Stardust, the man is a genre unto himself. That said, his latest effort, Kingsmen: The Secret Service, is all out excitement, a sly comedy and self-aware nod to the vintage spy thrillers. It is also Vaughn’s third foray into the comic world and, if it wasn’t clear by now, this is the guy to bring big heroes, and big action to the big screen – it’s fast paced, fast food cinema but not junk food. Matthew Vaughn’s irreverence is so finely tuned and abundant that his work is unparalleled in cinema. If, as they…
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Interview…Composers Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson Bring New Life to the Old-Fashioned Spy Game in ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’
When it comes to larger-than-life comic book universes playing out on the big screen, both Henry Jackman and co-composer Matthew Margeson are the reigning champions of super hero themes and kick-ass action sounds. Kingsman: The Secret Service tells a story of a super-secret spy organization that recruits an unrefined, but promising street kid into the agency’s ultra-competitive training program just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius. While they intended to make this score their own, they still included a fair amount of hat tips to the likes of John Barry, and David Arnold. Well, Kingsman is a movie about the spy world so some things can’t be helped. It’s a…
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CONTEST CLOSED – Win A Copy of the ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ CD Score by Henry Jackman & Matthew Margeson
Attention: CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. All winners have been notified. Thanks for your interest in Kingsman: The Secret Service. ——————————————————————————————————————————— Go,See,Talk and La-La Land Records are offering FIVE lucky fans a copy of the film score soundtrack to Kingsman: The Secret Service composed by Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson. The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released digitally and on CD on February 10, 2015 at La-La Land Records. The CD includes 3 exclusive tracks not available on the digital download release. Additionally, the Kingsman: The Secret Service CD will also be available at Amazon and other major music retailers on February 17, 2015. Read below to find out how you can win a copy from us.…
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CONTEST CLOSED – Win A Copy of the ‘The Interview’ and ‘This Is the End’ CD Score by Henry Jackman
Attention: CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. All winners have been notified. Thanks for your interest in The Interview and This Is the End. ——————————————————————————————————————————— Go,See,Talk and La-La Land Records are offering lucky fans a copy of the film score soundtrack to The Interview which includes music composed by Henry Jackman. This CD is a special release and these copies are from the limited run of 5000 units. The Interview Original Motion Picture Score was released on CD on February 10, 2015 and as a special bonus, this album release features the original score for the Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg blockbuster hit comedy This Is the End. Read below to find out how you can win…
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La-La Land Records Releases Henry Jackman’s KINGSMAN and INTERVIEW Scores
For a number of years, Matthew Vaughn, and his composer in crime have been bringing sensational comic book films to life. Vaughn would provide the visuals, Jackman the symphony, and the result is a pyrophoric myriad of energy, action and excitement. On the heels of their previous collaborations (which include Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class) is the top-notch film Kingsman: The Secret Service. The bombastic score features a sophisticated palette of throwback sounds which recall vintage John Barry about as much as they do modern composers like David Arnold and John Powell. But it’s no tribute; this stunning and pulse-pounding effort is all Jackman and co-composer Matthew Margeson making it their own…especially when…
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Interview…Film Composer Ilan Eshkeri on the Emotional Depth and Makeshift Magnificence of ‘Black Sea’
Kevin Macdonald‘s Black Sea, which hits U.S. theaters this week, features top-notch acting and, like the submarine, is air-tight, but music is also another highly effective component to the thrilling story. In addition to pulse-pounding sounds and pensive themes, British composer Ilan Eshkeri also adds a thick layer of humanity to the story about about greed, hard metals and icy depths. Best known for his film scores to Stardust, The Young Victoria and Kick-Ass, as well as his collaborations with recording artists and his concert work Eshkeri’s career is notable for its diversity; recently Eshkeri scored Still Alice starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin and Kristen Stewart, 47 Ronin starring Keanu…
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Interview…Film Composer Henry Jackman on Big Screen Heroes and Even Bigger Themes
Since 2009, composer Henry Jackman has been adding blockbuster films to his resume at an incredible rate. And there’s a reason for it – he’s extremely good at his job. Jackman has consistently been providing the modern film world with some of the most thrilling, weighty, and substantive music of the last decade. That’s high praise, but he’s certainly earned his laurels with the likes of X-Men: First Class, and things haven’t slowed down since. In just five years, the Oxford educated British musician has ascended into the ranks of Hollywood’s elite composers. This year he was tapped to create an epic, futuristic score for Disney and Marvel’s Big Hero…
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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…Captain Phillips
Paul Greengrass is known for making some rather hard-hitting films. Regardless of whether those hits land physically (see: his Bourne films) or emotionally (see: United 93) he’s a no nonsense director who tells taut and weighty white-knuckle tales about survival and the potential power of the human spirit. His latest effort Captain Phillips, the adaptation of the autobiographical novel “A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea” written by the actual Captain Richard Phillips is, in short, a tense and involving kidnapping movie. In a way it is very much the maritime counterpart to United 93 which makes Greengrass the right man for the job. We live in a…
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FourScore Match-Up #17: “Capes?? We Don’t Need No Stinking Capes”
Superman gets its highly anticipated reboot this week in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel and it’s likely to be the biggest movie of 2013. While the Big Blue Boy Scout is perhaps the most famous superhero to don a cape, the truth is there are plenty other heroes out there who are “super” without a yard a half of fabric. Despite popular belief, capes don’t make the man and to prove it is this collection of heroes, and their accompanying film scores, who save the day just fine minus any snag-prone underoos. The great Edna Mode once said that superhero outfits should be “bold, dramatic, heroic” and the one thing she insists so emphatically, “No…
