If you’re a film fan and just now getting interested in film music, we’re going to let you in on a little secret. See the happy guy in the picture above? That is Steve Jablonsky. He works in Hollywood. He writes music, big music in fact, and he’s been at the forefront of high-octane films, video games and TV shows for almost two decades. But if you’re a fan of his, or this site, you already know that. Of all the composers we’ve gotten to know over the years, Steve is one of our favorite people to talk to. Right before Father’s Day, we caught up with Steve to talk…
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Home Grown Texas Talent Interview Series – Film and TV Composer Darius Holbert Talks Peter Berg, Hulu and His Experiences in the Music Industry
Darius Holbert is an award-winning composer of music for film, TV, and new media and has written scores for a gaggle of international films and television shows. Less than a decade in the industry he’s already been afforded the opportunity to work with such film and TV luminaries as Robin Williams, Kevin Spacey, Bobcat Goldthwait, J.J. Abrams, and many more. His work has even been featured in hit TV shows like American Horror Story, Lost, The Client List, Grey’s Anatomy, American Idol, and Crash. Aside from scoring to picture, Darius has been commissioned to compose operas, modern dance pieces, and chamber works. He has appeared on a ton of records…
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G-S-T Review…Lone Survivor
Director Peter Berg sure does fancy his modern day war themed films. And why wouldn’t he? Barring Battleship, he has a knack for these heart-felt but hard-hitting and gritty stories. His true talent seems to be in these dense fish-out-of-water narratives focusing on a few key players set in a world they struggle to comprehend. With many parallels to his 2007 film The Kingdom, Lone Survivor, whether or not it was a true story (which it is), is a passion project for Berg and can almost be viewed as a companion piece. Lone Survivor, adapted from a novel of the same name (keeping the name of the book is a…
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G-S-T Year in Review – Andrew’s 2012 Wrap Up
I’m willing to admit that last year, I talked 2011 a bit more than necessary. Not that my feelings on the year were dishonest; contrary to many, I thought well of 2011, a year that didn’t contain a plethora of lasting classics but still offered a lot of excellent cinema for our viewing pleasure. But to call it a “great” year may have been a stretch, and I’m willing to admit that now in light of the fact that 2012 has, in fact, been a great year. How can you trust me on this one? Simple: I’ve written my top ten list, re-written it, scrapped that, started over from the…
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G-S-T Review…Battleship
If you feel the need to blame someone for the birth, production, and release of Battleship— as I do– look no further than Michael Bay. The proprietor of shining contemporary examples of big spectacle gone very, very stupid, Bay brought the “movies based on toy lines” movement to life in 2007 with Transformers; two sequels and a G.I. Joe film later (which itself is getting sequelized this summer), and that childish aesthetic shows no signs of abating in the near future. Battleship proves to be the loudest and dumbest toy-to-cinema adaptation yet (barring last year’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon), a soulless, pointless, hollow cacophony of trite cliches and boring…
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"The CineMagic 8-Ball” – In Theaters 5/18/12
When so many movies are released each weekend and trailers often seem better than the movie itself, what should one do? In this precarious situation, we consult the The CineMagic 8-Ball (TM) to help us see through the nebulous marketing haze. Doing so just might save us all a disheartening trip to the cinema and spare us unnecessarily springing for $7 popcorn. See what the 8-Ball says about this week’s releases… ——————————————————————————————————————————————- THE DICTATOR The heroic story of a dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed. Sasha Baron Cohen has no problem crossing the line with is jokes but that results in a split…
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Sweet Trailer…'Battleship'
Hasbro must be pleased as punch to see their toy lines expanded and adapted to the silver screen. Sure the plots to the respective stories may be contrived commercials but love them or hate them you can’t say you weren’t at least visually (or nostalgically) entertained. Next on deck, Peter Berg’s Battleship. Once a humble board game (that with or without sounds effects was a moderately fulfilling time waster) here we are with the 3rd full trailer for the film. For many this has been dubbed unofficially as Transformers 4 but that’s a knee-jerk reaction we should not debate until after you see this trailer (or read this ScreenRant interview with Taylor Kitsch). I mean this has…
