Matt C

Franglen was put in a tough spot with this score. He had to follow in the footsteps of his close collaborator Horner, satisfy James Cameron, while establishing his own sound. Way of Water is not a bad follow-up to Avatar. It's not an entertaining powerhouse like that score but Franglen managed to straddle the line (probably plays even better in the film!). He uses Horner's motifs sensibly but doesn't slather them on willy nilly.

Home Sweet Home Alone - John Debney It's certainly leagues better than Nick Glennie Smith's score for Home Alone 3 -- but Debney is doing a William Ross-esque job of rearranging and placement of Williams' themes wholesale for the most part (and he quotes them frequently). Even the villainous husband-wife duo get a similar woodwind motif to Harry and Marv. It's not a bad score but Debney hardly brought anything new to it. Stick with Williams' original score.

Hard Rain - Christopher Young It plays like a Young-scored Die Hard movie and quite entertaining. Unlike The Core, the album isn't too long and the clarity and depth of the recording is impressive even now. I wish Young recorded in London more, because Hard Rain sounds bigger than Drag Me to Hell and Spider-Man 3 in places.

Hellraiser (2022) It's a pretty solid franchise entry, with enough gore and creative Cenobite designs to satisfy fans. Jamie Clayton is pretty good as Pinhead, giving the character a more sensual edge than Doug Bradley but more androgynous. It's slick and clearly Hulu and Spyglass invested more money and effort than the Weinsteins did with their DTV cheapies. Director David Bruckner and his Night House writers do pretty well here, honoring what came before and putting their own spin to Clive Barker's novella. Composer Ben Lovett also respects what came before, staying in the sonic realm Young did -- weaving in the opening bars and saving wholesale quotations of "Resurrection" and "Hellbound" for maximum effect.

Bros It's not hard to see why this didn't click with audiences: Billy Eichner. Not only is he miscast in a film he co-wrote with director Nicholas Stoller, it's so easy to see why his self-absorbed bitchy character can't loosen up, let alone get laid more often. Luke McFarlane is a thankless gay extension of those leading men he plays in Hallmark movies. The typical Apatow cameos (like Bowen Yang and Amy Schumer) fall flat, but there are a few well-placed zingers here and there. Hocus Pocus 2 For all the fan demand for a sequel to a cult Halloween film, this is the best they could come up with? Anne Fletcher's direction is subpar at best, while Elliot Davis' camerawork is flat and REALLY cheap-looking. Clearly most of the budget went into bringing back Midler, Najimy and Parker -- because the movie is a Disney Channel cheapie with a slightly bigger budget. Debney's score welcomely revisits his original 1993 themes and gives the movie more life than it deserves otherwise. Any serious Hocus Pocus fan should stay FAR away from this. The three new teenage girls just weren't compelling and thinly written, while Sam Richardson is more annoying than funny.

United 93 Revisiting it over 20 years of the 9/11 attacks, Paul Greengrass did an incredible job telling the story of Flight 93. There is a handful of cinematic liberties taken (for obvious reasons) but they're minor in comparison to the emotional truth here. The fact that Greengrass consulted with the victims' families and hired airline employees showed that he wanted to do right and tell the story without sensationalizing it. You know how it ends and yet the last 15-20 minutes remains riveting, nail biting stuff. It still packs a gut punch. And hats off to John Powell for nailing the approach score-wise during spotting. The desperation, sadness and heroic final 20 minutes is almost perfectly scored.

That doesn’t bother me as much as Giacchino not quoting Elfman and Horner’s Spider-Man themes more prominently in those scenes. Elfman’s Doc Ock and Green Goblin themes got used more in comparison.

Spider-Man 3 It's still bloated, contrived and reeks of studio interference (although the Editor's Cut fixes some of that) -- but it's still an affable Sam Raimi film. He lands the emotional beats (especially the ending) and it's an easy watch. Tobey Maguire seemed a bit bored in his third go round, Kirsten Dunst doesn't have much to do (apart from playing a flaky, frustrated and jealous girlfriend), James Franco got to send off his character in a proper way. Thomas Haden Church gave a thinly written role much needed heft, while Topher Grace is miscast as Eddie Brock/Venom. I hate how Sony did Christopher Young dirty with his score. The tracking in of Elfman's material from the first two movies sticks out like a sore thumb and they didn't want to pay Elfman royalties for his material for a Young score release. Spider-Man: No Way Home (The More Fun Stuff Edition) It's still a solid Spider-Man movie that honors the entire live-action film franchise, but the 11 minutes added are a mixed bag. And compared to SM-3, Tobey's genuinely invested in playing his character and added gravitas with his scenes with Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland. There are two worthy additions: an extra scene with Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock and an extended exchange between the three Spideys on the Statue of Liberty. Everything else that was added in (like an extended montage of the trio in the basement and anything with Flash or Betty) should've been left out of the movie. Was it worth seeing again? For $3, it certainly was worth seeing in theaters again.

I've seen the movie years ago and I avoid the Horner songs unless the movie is, say, Fievel Goes West or The Pagemaster. -- Mulan (2020) - Harry Gregson-Williams I don't know where to begin with this. HGW doesn't even come close to Goldsmith's fantastic score for the 1998 animated film -- and as noted, doesn't quote any of his themes. The only motif he reuses is "Reflection" -- and it's poorly integrated into the score. It's a standard HGW action score with a Chinese flavor to it -- and he could've done better. One wonders that if Goldsmith was still alive and working when this remake began production, if he would've been approached to score this instead. And he would've knocked it out of the park.

Once Upon a Forest - James Horner Entertaining little score where Horner tended to rip himself off. There's a good dollop of "Willow", shades of "The Land Before Time", "The Rocketeer" (particularly the "Flying" cue) and even a pinch of "Krull" thrown in. The LSO gives the score more vibrancy and life, which makes it more enjoyable. Would've loved to hear "The Rocketeer" had Horner recorded it with the LSO instead of L.A. musicians.

Wallfisch starts recording the score next week at Abbey Road Studios, and the movie will likely be completed by year's end. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ezra-miller-seeks-to-save-the-flash-warner-bros-1235206763/

The movie is not complete. At all. No final sound mix, no complete VFX, no score. The directors were out of the country attending a wedding when WBD announced Batgirl was being canned. When they got back, the studio had already yanked the footage they were editing. It's a bad look for Warners. Had Zaslav allowed the directors to present a finished film to screen for audiences, a positive audience response could've changed minds.

It makes no sense. Now the unreleased F4 movie by Roger Corman I get (since they spent like $2M on it to keep the rights), but it's a completely different thing to can a $90M movie that's almost finished. Studios usually can a movie BEFORE filming starts or after the first week of shooting. There's no way Batgirl is "unreleasable." Zaslav is not a great 'tastemaker', his purview before the Discover merger was unscripted fare like "Naked and Afraid" and "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." WBD could've just sold Batgirl to a rival studio and try to recoup their cost, rather than a tax write off. And I would've loved to hear Natalie Holt's score, since she apparently met with Elfman for his blessing on using his Batman theme for Michael Keaton. But I don't think they got to the score recording phase, which is a shame.

Marvel announced two more Avengers movies for May 2, 2025 (The Kang Dynasty) and November 7, 2025 (Secret Wars) as well as announcing that Fantastic 4 (releasing November 8, 2024) will be the start of Phase Six. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/marvel-studios-comic-con-phase-5-1235185316/

Oh God. Why oh WHY do producers keep hiring this guy? This is likely going to be closer to his Pacific Rim Uprising nonsense than Black Widow.

Encanto It's a pleasant, diverting movie -- no villain, protagonist is a wonderfully imperfect character. Animation is top-notch, as is Germaine Franco's score. I've never been a fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda's songwriting but actually good here like Moana -- the lyrics of "La Familia Madrigal" are good but hamstrung by LMM's rapid-fire tempo. "We Don't Talk About Bruno" is probably the most overrated songs in the film, given its popularity in Tiktok videos.

Thor: Love & Thunder A lot of the humor doesn't land... like the first 20 minutes are shockingly unfunny. Taika Waititi just doubles down on the worst aspects of Ragnarok (like regurgitating a tired stage re-enactment joke), tired 1980s rock needle drops and it's tonally off-balance. Christian Bale is genuinely menacing as Gorr but felt like he belonged in a different movie. And while it was nice seeing Natalie Portman back, the tonal shifts keep the movie from gaining an emotional catharsis. Keep Taika away from any more MCU projects.

It is such a strong album after all these years. The recording and mastering is still aces -- I actually prefer the Batman Forever and First Knight suites over the original recordings.

There’s no dread or tension in the way it’s shot and edited. You know the guy is shark chow once his arm gets chewed off.

Jaws: The Revenge Wow, this is BAD. Incompetent script, zero tension, bad acting. This might be enjoyable if you're drunk or high -- it's worse than the old Friday the 13th movies you could heckle with your friends on TV but not enjoyable schlocky like Howling II. Michael Small's score is OK, leans too much on Williams' two note motif, and deserved a better movie.

The Man Without a Face - James Horner Just an exquisite little gem of a score. He knew how to hit the emotional sweet spot in dramas like these as well as the big players like Krull and Titanic.

Sadly, it's NOT the one with Ferguson in the bikini. That one has the best MI score by Joe Kraemer. -- The Red Shoes The movie itself is a great film, but it's that surrealistic and abstract ballet sequence that seals the deal (and the one everyone talks about). It is an amazing testament to cinematographer Jack Cardiff, the set designers and Powell and Pressburger's vision. Just exquisite. Moira Shearer is also quite ravishing.

It’s not as bad as the reviews say it is, but the subplots involving giant mutant locusts and the whole Malta sequence (basically a Bond opening with dinosaurs) show that this franchise has been running on fumes. And the whole second half is basically Trevorrow doing a “best of” compilation of sequences and homages from previous JP movies. In fact the whole big climax basically recycles JW and FK’s. It was a pleasure seeing Neil, Dern and Goldblum back in the franchise— but they didn’t get much to do. Pratt and Howard are just… there. I liked DeWanda Wise’s character a LOT, she deserved a better movie.

I hope Phoenix is working with a BETTER script for the sequel. He deserved that Oscar for Joker, but it was a LOT of heavy lifting and choices HE made on his end. I'm dreading who Phillips will cast as Harley Quinn.

Crimes of the Future It's definitely stomach churning and almost vintage Cronenberg, if you can say that. The story explores themes he probed with Crash, only instead of being sexually aroused by car crashes, surgery is the new sex. Viggo Mortensen and Lea Seydeux are excellent (Viggo's expressions as Seydeux's character operates on him as a public show is especially disturbing), while Kristen Stewart is rather underused. Howard Shore's score is fitting with the tone of the movie, you wouldn't know he scored it -- very abrasive and Neo-noirish electronic.