Karel Zeman’s 1961 surrealist masterpiece The Fabulous Baron Munchausen is one of the more bizarre entries in film, with its fanciful story, kaleidoscopic colors, and animation/live action mix. The logical musical accompaniment would be something as equally odd and avantgarde. […]
Clint Mansell adds cacophonous noise and jarring sounds to beautiful, classical melodies that slowly degrade as Black Swan progresses. This degradation directly mirrors the protagonist’s own descent into insanity. Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is obviously thematically appropriate. However, it is too […]
Outside of Japan, Godzilla is somewhat of a joke. This is largely due to the historical relevance missing from every other country: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and, more recently, Fukushima. Shin Godzilla is perhaps the most realistic, agonizing version of this nuclear […]
The history and study of film music is largely a European and American centric one. Even today, most Western audiences are only familiar with composers from these two areas, largely ignoring the film music produced throughout the rest of the […]
A nearly forgotten English classic, If…. is one of those genuinely provocative films that only the 60s and 70s could produce, satirizing school and religion, glorifying sex and drinking, and offering youth the dangerous idea of freedom. Marc Wilkinson’s hypnotic […]
The Proposition is a neo-western about the struggle for civilization. But, unlike most westerns, the conflict surrounding civilization is not between colonizer and colonized. Instead, it is between Australia’s criminal, lawless roots and encroaching British imperialism wishing to bring law […]
Despair rises up gradually, then suddenly, like the arms of a vice slowly closing in until, all at once, they crush everything in their grip. Lustmord’s score for First Reformed works in largely the same way. Much of the film […]
While Macbeth has undergone many iterations, Justin Kurzel’s 2015 film is the rare version that emphasizes the daunting nature of the Scottish landscape. Jed Kurzel’s score tries to bring this landscape to life and, in doing so, creates a particularly […]
By 1981, John Carpenter had already composed six film scores. Among these are his iconic scores for Halloween and The Fog. But, while both utilized synth in the periphery, they mostly relied on piano for their themes and melodies. Modern […]
300,000 soldiers trapped on the shores of Dunkirk. A rescue fleet comes from the north; Nazis from everywhere else. The soldiers know this. They also know that they have no say in whether they live or die. They can only […]
Sometimes things are not what they seem. Take Demolition Man. At first glance it’s the dumb, brutishishness you’d expect from a 1993 action movie starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. But it’s also an oddball comedy and social critique and […]
Bone Tomahawk quickly rose to notoriety due to the overwhelmingly graphic, brutal nature of one particular scene. But, despite the fame of this scene, it’s not representative of the movie. Violence is rare and ends quickly. Instead, the majority of […]