Matt C

West Side Story (2021) I haven’t seen the original so give me a bit of a pass on this. Spielberg’s reverence for the source material is palpable and this is one film he’s done in years where his enthusiasm translates on screen. I wish the casting of the two leads had been better— Rachel Ziegler is luminous as Maria but Ansel Elgort doesn’t fit as Tony. I wish the focus had been on Ariana DeBose’s Anita and David Alvarez’s Bernardo because they absolutely sizzle together. (“America” is my favorite number in the movie.) The staging and choreography of the musical sequences are absolutely top notch—anyone who’s seen that Busby Berkeley style opening number in Temple of Doom knows that Spielberg always wanted to do this for decades. I wish WST was a home run but Elgort’s miscasting drags down an otherwise energetic and fun movie.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts It’s generic and cliched, but it’s well shot and coherently edited— and goes down a lot better than four out of the five Michael Bay ones. Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback are such an upgrade over Bay’s cast, they’re actually charismatic and likeable. Steven Caple Jr. does a good job with what he inherited, but he should’ve spotted the music better instead of obnoxious needle drops in the middle of action sequences. And Pete Davidson as the voice of a Transformer… no thanks. Bumblebee is still better overall, but this movie didn’t deserve the flack like the Bay directed ones do.

I was just listening to the OST and didn't realize Intrada had an expanded version in the works until I was internet shopping. Can't wait to hear Shirley Walker's cue on CD.

I still don't understand why McQuarrie gave Kraemer the knife after Rogue Nation. He could've asked for Balfe at the start. Balfe's MI scores are serviceable at best. Kraemer did far more in one MI score than Balfe will do with three.

Alien 3 - Elliot Goldenthal It's quite impressive as a film score, capturing the bleak tone of the story effectively but still related to Goldsmith's score. It's more atonal and disturbing but his theme for Ripley is well-done but not fully enunciated until "Adagio." His "souring" of the 20th Century Fox fanfare is incredibly effective, with the last second note sustaining and builds into an atonal crescendo, establishes the tone of the score right off. It's a hard listen but Goldenthal fans should be rewarded. Goldsmith's mostly unused Alien score is much more rewarding with repeat listens.

I highly recommend the score. I would suggest you stream or rent the movie first because part of it is in a ‘90s vein but there is a LOT of VFX and plot filler.

The Flash - Benjamin Wallfisch This is Wallfisch's best comic book film score -- yes, beating out Shazam! -- and he really poured a lot of love and effort into it. The overall quality of the score, the performance by The Chamber Orchestra of London and the emotional undercurrent of Nora's and Supergirl's themes (especially the soaring "I've Got You") overcome Wallfisch's underdeveloped theme for the titular hero. He embraces the Zimmer tones established for MOS and BvS while deftly balancing it with the vintage sound established by Danny Elfman. He plays around with Elfman's Batman theme in different arrangements and fragments, as well as in its original splendor, as well as one reverential quote of Williams' Superman theme for good measure. The way Wallfisch wholeheartedly embraced Elfman's theme here is a big 180 from Michael Giacchino's Spider-Man No Way Home score. Giacchino was too reluctant to parade Elfman and Horner's themes the way Wallfisch does in The Flash, which was the wrong approach.

The Flash Ezra Miller is a mixed bag in this long but moderately enjoyable movie. As a younger Barry Allen, they're borderline insufferable and as the older one, more tolerable. But their chemistry with Maribel Verdu as Barry's mother works and hits the same beats that Bumblebee did. However, this movie is more jumbled than that and you have the impression Andy Muschietti really wanted to do a full-blown Batman or Superman film instead. Michael Keaton does all right returning to the cowl and Sasha Calle brings well-needed presence to a woefully underwritten Supergirl (obviously she and Henry Cavill look related). The VFX were adequate and considering the flack it got I was expecting Green Lantern or A Sound of Thunder awfulness. But it looks fine. Benjamin Wallfisch's score does a LOT of heavy lifting in this film. Very enjoyable overall, the theme for Barry isn't that memorable but his Supergirl theme is. And he plays around with Elfman's Batman theme in so many enjoyable variations -- one wished he had scored Spider-Man: No Way Home instead of Michael Giacchino.

The Secret of NIMH Don Bluth's best animated film, bar none. It distills the book's story to its essence while effortlessly weaving in darker fantasy elements that were popular during the early 1980s. The animation, despite the lower budget and tighter production schedule, holds up well today and even dazzles at times (like the climatic home sinking sequence). Jerry Goldsmith's score -- amazingly his first animated film -- fits the movie perfectly. It's sad that this movie doesn't get the five star treatment it deserves, like a Criterion release.

In another Deadline article mentioning Justin Theroux joining the cast, it mentions the movie starts production tomorrow. I thought it was weird reading an interview with Elfman talking about the sequel a few days ago... but it's finally happening. Let's see if Beetlejuice 2 falls prey to the same syndrome affecting legacy sequels or whether it manages to avoid it.

Super Mario Bros - Alan Silvestri I vaguely remember the 1993 movie and how Samantha Mathis' Daisy had a good theme. Listening to it apart from the movie, the score is a bit Mickey mousing in places -- shades of John Williams in "Arrival to Koopa City" and "Mario and Luigi Arrested". The playful sax theme for the Italian brothers is reminiscent of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Death Becomes Her. It's quite a fun score even with the 40 minute album arrangement.

Darkman - Danny Elfman It's skittish, fragmented and feels like Elfman cobbled together the score from unused cues he wrote for Nightbreed, Batman and Dick Tracy. And I don't know if it's the mixing or what, the score sounds like it's being performed by a smaller orchestra than the writing demands. (Shirley Walker's conducting is still top notch BTW.) The expanded score release just makes the problems more prominent IMO. There's some good bits but they're cribbed from Batman and Nightbreed. It doesn't have its own clear identity like Raimi's Spider-man would twelve years after Darkman.

I think it was the latter. The Max teaser for the show featured Hedwig's Theme, so that will stay in the series. The closest the film scores got to a British sound was Doyle's theatrical Goblet of Fire.

I've been going to Universal Orlando almost yearly. It wasn't until last year they started selling pressed pennies featuring HP and Wizarding World. A park employee told me JKR was adamant about not doing it until recently. And there was another thing-- employees couldn't let customers spike their own Butterbeer. Talk about OCD.

I think it’s a terrible idea. Even when you put aside JKR’s toxic beliefs (and her OCD on having final say over everything Potter related like small stuff in the theme parks), telling the same story with the caveat that it will be faithful to the books is setting yourself up for failure. Passages or scenes that play out fine in the book can fall flat in a screen format— that’s what dramatic license is for. And I don’t miss annoying characters like Peeves in the films. WB is better off getting Cursed Child made into a film.