John

During the mid 1990s, Spielberg was taking a well deserved break after the emotionally challenging production of Schindler's List, Lucas was still preparing the prequels and the rerelease on theaters of the Original Trilogy, and the world haven't heard about a young wizard boy named Harry Potter yet. So, Williams just scored three non blockbuster movies on that period post the success of Jurassic Park and the Oscar for Schindler, but before The Lost World.
 
I decided to revisit his scores composed during that period:
 
-Sabrina is a delight, a smaller and romantic score whose OST makes for a feel good listen. My favorite track, however, is the 10 minute The Party Sequence, but I assume JW didn't write no one of those jazz pieces, just arranged them, right?
 
-Nixon is my favorite of the bunch. Psychologically complex, alternating between virulent and sweet and noble, it paints a very nuanced portrait of the controversial former US president. We can hear seeds there of what would become JW's style during the 2000s - Nixon's anguish is similar to Anakin's anguish, and The Turbulent Years is this midpoint between the Imperial March and the Droid March.
 
-Sleepers is a very different score from what we are used to listen from JW, specially on dramas. It reminds me a little of James Newton Howard's scores for legal dramas and urban thrillers from that time, and because of that it is a score that couldn't have been composed in no other time but during the 1990s. I don't think I will be returning much to that, but it's a fine score. Actually, I wish I liked it less, so that I could make the joke Zzzzzzzzzzzzleepers, lol.

Spider-Man: Homeless

Top pic looks like a Call of Duty cutscene 

What do you mean?

Nice, i hope the cameos ar worth it and make sense...
 
I feel sad for Julianne Moore...nobody talks about her returning...and it would be nice i thinnk...and makes more sense to have another paleontologist...than a matematician... and unlike alan and ellie..she really wanted to study the living dinosaurs...

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That's a very interesting read of the fairly benign statements!

Indy, Henry, Marcus and Sallah literally ride into the sunset ... perfect, and that should've been that.  

It's a perfect trilogy.

You're right of course. Last Crusade was the perfect wrap to the trilogy, and the final scene... well they couldn't have done it any better and more satisfying then they did.

It is if you're a Fanbo!

Cremeritis!!!!!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hustlers. Surprisingly solid if unremarkable.
 
Downton Abbey. Never watched the show. Only tried this because I liked Gosford Park. It is twee and silly. Glorified Emmerdale at most.
 
Ad Astra. I'm not sure what to think of this film. I don't want to be too negative because there are quite a few things that I liked about it. It was bit different and understated which is a good thing. Sort of cast in the sane mould as First Man with Ryan Gosling from last year. The main characters in these two films almost feel like the same person and both their stories serve as introspective journey inwards. Brad Pitt is really good in this - his acting is so subdued but through it he manages to reveal quite a lot about his character. I liked the general concept and how it's put together but the film as a whole doesn't quite work. There are a couple of action sequences in there and I wasn't quite sure why they're even in the film. They felt like some producer wanted to have them in there because the rest is so depressing and they need to sell it to the large audience somehow. A lot of beats and characters that don't seem to add all that much to the story. They serve to set up the world and sometimes deliver exposition but don't do much beyond that (Donald Sutherland, anyone?). I also wish they managed to find a more subtle way of portraying the themes other than a voiceovers. It always feels bit lazy to me. Still, I'm glad real s-f films like this are being made. There were quite a few in the past decade and that is a good thing. This genre is a perfect vehicle for almost anything, no matter how big or small, and "daddy issues" is a subject as good as any. I get all of that...but it sure isn't Tarkovsky in its introspective philosophical contemplation. For all its emotional baggage, it felt oddly hollow.
 
Karol

Yeah.
 
As with any Michael Bay film, the freneticism of the camerawork - especially in a two-and-a-half-hour film - is borderline headache-inducing. But it impressively mounted, and all that anyone will ever need of Bay and his Transformers films.
 
 
Must...resist...quoting...Gimli!!
 
"42! That's not bad fo..." - No! control yourself, Chen!
 
I may need a minute...

All the action scenes are top notch. Jablonsky and team’s score is superb as well. It somehow reproduced the Bruckheimer model from the 90s. 

People like to crap on the "Bayformers" films, but the 2007 original is a legitimately solid popcorn movie with some great action. I have fond memories of watching it as a kid.

Shore was undoubtedly aware of the similarly.

How's it not a variation?

That's because its not.

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A great deal of my teen youth was spent keeping up with such sites as Badmovies.org (which sadly is pretty much dead nowadays) and bringing things like The Pit, Blue Demon, Over-Sexed Rugsuckers from Mars, Poultrygeist, Q: The Winged Serpent, Slugs, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-a-Rama, Spookies or Tammy and the T-Rex into my life. They made me into the man I am today!

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Managed to catch a couple of films at TIFF this last week. Some good, some not so good...
 

 
Ford v Ferrari
 
Not quite the thriller that the trailer promised. It's your average, sentimental sports flick, just with fancy cars and Christian Bale. It's perfectly watchable and handsomely produced but pretty vanilla. Bale's quirky performance and some fun race sequences make it a decent ride.
 
 

 
Honey Boy
 
Shia LaBeouf's semi-autobiographical screenplay brought to life with director Alma Har'el's restrained, slightly impressionistic touch. It's a little unfocused but it casts a sympathetic light to LaBeouf's public meltdowns by dramatizing his childhood trauma. And it works, largely because of the brilliant kid who plays a young LaBeouf (he also stars in Ford v Ferrari). That kid is going to be a star. LaBeouf is also quite excellent as his father. I'm not sure if it works as a way to validate his past behaviour, but hopefully it allows him to do more good work.
 
 

 
Uncut Gems
 
Every now and then, the industry comes up with an excuse  to remind us why Adam Sandler is a brilliant actor. The Safdie brothers live up the task with their follow-up to their smash indie-darling Good Times, following a wickedly funny series of mishaps by an all-too ambitious jewellery vendor. It's dark, anxiety-inducing and laugh-out funny. Hope Sandler gets some well-deserved Oscar buzz with this.
 

 
Lucy in the Sky
 
What a strange strange film. Noah Hawley, whose gift for witty visual storytelling (re: Fargo), seems to stumble awkwardly around putting together a feature film based on what's essentially a tabloid piece. Somewhere in this mess of overcooked visuals (drawing on what he played with in Legion, but with less logic - Sam Esmail was way better at this stuff in Homecoming), kitschy dialogue and half-assed metaphors (prepare for lots of eye rolling at the butterfly stuff) is a good Portman performance. But it's hard to tell when the film can't quite make up its mind between being an absurdist, over-the-top satire and earnest psycho-drama. Jeff Russo's score is basically First Man-lite. Part of me still likes some of the more ridiculous parts (like the ending), but it's a half-hearted mess with an identity crisis.
 

 
A Hidden Life
 
Hallelujah! This film is proof that Malick and his mythos thrives best in nature, as his last few duds can attest. Returning to a coherent narrative structure, and a more grounded setting, Malick returns to form with this moving portrait of a man facing a crisis of faith. This is what he's best at. All his familiar questions and lines of inquiry return, but is made all the more potent by August Diehl and Valerie Pachner as the leads. This might be the first romance that Malick has successfully sold to me.
 
A Hidden Life is not as obviously flashy as Tree of Life and other Lubezki-driven works with its visual beauty. It aims for a far more pensive quality, and plays with darkness and light in wonderful ways, especially for a film where the protagonist is essentially locked up in a chamber for half of its duration. But don't let that fool you, there are some gobsmacking gorgeous shots.
 
Of course, Malick cynics will not have their minds changed here. Expect plenty of montages of airy, swooning shots galore. He’s not really doing anything new. But A Hidden Life just validates for me, that the more expansive, "non-linear" quality to Malick's storytelling cultivates an extraordinarily emotional experience in the right room. The powerful scenes and ruminations near the film's end were accompanied by much sniffling and man-tears in the cinema. A Hidden Life is Malick's Silence, just with a more humanist lens. If he only had the guts to cut about 30-40 min from the anemic first act, this could have been a truly brilliant film. But as it is, it's very good stuff.
 
Oh and James Newton Howard's score is rather lovely, and from what I could tell, largely preserved in the film. It's led by his familiar Village-esque violin writing and a lovely motif that sounds like something out of Kung Fu Panda. The rest of the film was scored with Pärt, Gorecki and some choral hymns I couldn't recognize. I look forward to hearing it on album. 

My favorite review of Last Blood so far 

My favorite review of Last Blood so far