Category: Score Review

How to Score Japan on Film: Kubo and the Two Strings vs. 47 Ronin

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael W. Harris

kuboBack in August I went and saw Kubo and the Two Strings for my birthday and was struck by how well the score, by Dario Marianelli, balanced traditional Hollywood scoring techniques with an aural evocation of Japan’s traditional music culture. This was certainly helped by the fact that the titular Kubo is a shamisen playing, orgami folding, magic wielding boy, but so many times Hollywood films have substituted “vaguely Asian, but not Indian” instrumental sounds for any film set in China, Japan, or Korea. And the truth is that there are some very distinctive differences between the musical cultures of these countries.

This can be clearly demonstrated by a simple comparison between Kubo and the 2013 big budget adaptation 47 Ronin that was simultaneously awful, offensive, and also strangely entertaining. Continue reading “How to Score Japan on Film: Kubo and the Two Strings vs. 47 Ronin” →

On Monsters and Music: The Music for Shin Godzilla

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael W. Harris

shin_godzilla_posterLet me just get this out of the way: Shin Godzilla is great. It is a worthy successor to the Godzilla mantle in every way, and most importantly makes Godzilla relevant again for modern Japan. If you read any number of reviews or essays, you’ll inevitably see people compare the events of the film to Japan’s response to the triple disasters of March 11, 2011, when Japan was rocked by an earthquake, the resultant tsunami, and then the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant caused by the coinciding of both. The government’s slow response, conflicting reports, and the general chaos that followed was certainly touched upon in the 2014 US helmed Godzilla film, but in this newest, entirely Japanese produced film, it takes center stage. Continue reading “On Monsters and Music: The Music for Shin Godzilla” →

Getting Loaded at The World’s End: Compiled Soundtrack in The World’s End

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael W. Harris

One of the great things about using a song, or numerous songs, in a film is that they can immediately evoke a time or a place.  Think of George Lucas’ American Graffiti (1973) which gets so much of its power from its amazing use of music (and DJ banter) to recreate the ‘50s era, along with some great set and costume design.  Continue reading “Getting Loaded at The World’s End: Compiled Soundtrack in The World’s End” →

Look, up in the sky, it’s the 1%!!: Ryan Amon and Elysium

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael W. Harris

It is a fact that bears repeating: Elysium is Ryan Amon’s FIRST film score.  Not like first as in he did some student projects in college, or he did some low-budget straight to DVD films, no FIRST feature film score…ever.  Continue reading “Look, up in the sky, it’s the 1%!!: Ryan Amon and Elysium” →

What’s Eating Jay Gatsby?: Music and Spectacle in a Jazz Age

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael W. Harris

I feel the need to begin this review with a disclaimer: I have not read The Great Gatsby in fourteen years.  I know this figure so precisely because the first and only time I ever read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel was in the summer of 1999, the summer after I graduated from high school.  Continue reading “What’s Eating Jay Gatsby?: Music and Spectacle in a Jazz Age” →

Logan Does Japan: Marco Beltrami’s score for The Wolverine

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael Harris

Finally, after the woeful X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the world has finally been given another great appearance of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine on-screen, not counting his hysterical one line cameo in X-Men: First Class. Continue reading “Logan Does Japan: Marco Beltrami’s score for The Wolverine” →

First Impressions: Pacific Rim by Ramin Djawadi

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael Harris

One of my most anticipated movies of the summer, Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, is set to drop in a week and you better believe I will be there opening weekend.  Late last week I bought the score off iTunes and began listening to it. Continue reading “First Impressions: Pacific Rim by Ramin Djawadi” →

Much Ado About Scoring: Joss Whedon’s Score to Much Ado About Nothing

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael Harris

In my previous post (here) I detailed some of the creation behind Joss Whedon’s new film, Much Ado About Nothing and also why he decided to score it himself—namely that everything about this film was done on the cheap, so Joss decided to tackle the music himself.  The question of if he was successful I was leaving open until I saw the film.[1]  I have now viewed Whedon’s masterful Shakespeare adaptation, and am pleased to say that the score is a total success. Continue reading “Much Ado About Scoring: Joss Whedon’s Score to Much Ado About Nothing” →

I Believe That a Man Can Fly Once More: Zimmer’s Man of Steel Score

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael Harris

This summer there are a number of big tent pole, studio films that execs and fanboys alike are looking forward to (for very different reasons, of course).  From Star Trek Into Darkness and Pacific Rim to Elysium and World War Z, it looks to be a blockbuster summer.  But the one film that possibly has the largest amount of expectations and questions surrounding it is Man of Steel, the Zack Snyder directed and Christopher Nolan produced Superman reboot that was this summer’s giant unknown commodity.  Continue reading “I Believe That a Man Can Fly Once More: Zimmer’s Man of Steel Score” →