Tag: Harry Gregson-Williams

CAPSULE REVIEWS: Early Man, The Cloverfield Paradox , Game Night & Videoman

~ Filmic Tracks ~ Leave a comment

earlyman

EARLY MAN  composed by
Harry Gregson-Williams

Animation scores are always fun to listen to even if you don’t know what’s going on. It opens with the sweet and laid back Dug’s Theme. Prehistoric Prologue is mock horror of the finest order complete with ‘man choir’. There has to be a chase somewhere in most animations and here it’s Stadium Chase complete with those time gaps for the laps, which makes for the laughs. Royal Game Day is a joy and sounds like one of those Pathe News intro’s.
Mostly short cues, one of the longest being The Final Game , which of course is football. This gets the full orchestral treatment with the brassy heroic tones. Trophy Presentation repeats the soft, melodic leitmotif which runs through the score but here gives it a huge swell of emotion. A fitting end to a lovely soundtrack.
UNIVERSAL Label

Cloverfield

THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX  composed by
Bear McCreary

The overture slams into play, literally. A deep musical slam surrounded by busy violins, it’s an exciting opener. Converging Overload soars with wondrous I do love the way McCreary uses strings and in A message For Ava they are very moving. McCreary is always working, score after score and this one is a worthy addition to his catalogue.

SPARKS & SHADOWS Label

game

GAME NIGHT composed byCliff Martinez
Cliff Martinez

Give me a synth scores anytime. Martinez’s score is great to listen to without breaks where it melds into one mighty fine electronic soundscape. Cue of notice has to be Isn’t That Your Neighbor. It’s fun score!
It’s a fun score!

 

WATER TOWER MUSIC Label

vid

VIDEOMAN composed by Wave Shaper
& Robert Parker
 
What an absolute blast this score is. It’s a Swedish comedy/Drama about a woman obsessed with the 80’s and a VHS collector. Takes me back to my own video collection as it captures that 80’s feeling so superbly complete with drum bracking.
LAKESHORE RECORDS Label

2016 Scores Catch Up-Pocket Reviews

~ Filmic Tracks ~ Leave a comment

With 2016 well and truly gone and the voting process started as a member of the IFMCA, I am catching up on some last minute soundtracks. Starting with:-

JACKIE – Score by Mica Levi
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The filma has just been released here in the UK and Film Critic Matthew Bond in todays Mail On Sunday writes ‘…and fabulously unsettling music from British composer Mica Levi – it’s one of the must-sees of this award season’.  Levi’s score for Under The Skin was was superb as is this  her second score. It’s one of the most segmented soundtracks I have heard,  it beautifully captures the isolation Jackie Kennedy must have gone through.
There is a motif of foreboding, drooping strings heard in the opening track Intro. A stand out track is Autopsy whereby the struggle of grieving combined with duty is symbolised by the background snare drum. It’s a complex, slow score where the silence in between notes has a startling effect.
This powerfully, understated score will change my list of top scores of the year.
At just 29 years of age, I for one hope she continues to compose for film.
MILAN MUSIC

GERNICA – Score by Fernando Verlasquez
gernika

Not having yet seen the film but knowing that it tells of the conflict of an American journalist reporting on the Spanish Civil War and the enforced republic censorship rules, the  opening track is suitably called Propaganda and matches the old cinema newsreel music of unity and false victory brilliantly.
I’ve Seen War is it’s opposite with heavy truth-telling strings as does the darker Back From The War/The Picture. Reception At City Hall is exquisite and Gernika Under The Bombs at 24:57 is a masterclass in composition. Another strong Velasquez score.
QUARTET RECORDS

LIVE BY NIGHT – Score by Harry Gregson-Williams
live-by-night

Directed, co-written and starring Ben Affleck this gangster movie set in the 1920’s could have been a chance to re-identify this genre through it’s score but here Gregson-Williams applies overused thriller shades which do not set any particular tones and I found myself waiting, with each cue, to be surprised but it was not to be. An opportunity missed.
WATER TOWER MUSIC