Fame!  I’m going to live forever…This song will drive you insane.

Oh, look at her.  She is so trendy.

Honestly, I’m a little peeved by this remake of the 1980 musical film.  It’s obviously geared towards the horrible “tween” market and everyone’s obsession with High School Musical, The Jonas Brothers, Gossip Girls, and other similar trash.  I already hate the newer, groovier, bass heavy, electronic pumping,  pop mix of the song ‘Fame’ and it’s obvious attempt to be a Top 40 Hit.  And judging by the trailer, it looks nothing more than a two hour Britney Spears music video.  Which is no surprise, since the film’s director Kevin Tancharoen actually directed one of Spears’ tours.

News just surfaced from Upcoming Film Scores that the remake will get an original score from composer, trumpeter, Mark Isham.  I thought this was rather interesting.  Isham has long list of film scores on his resumé.  His most recent works include, The Secret Life of Bees, Lions for Lambs, In the Valley of Elah, and The Black Dahlia.  Other notable works include, Crash, October Sky, Quiz Show, and the Academy Award nominated A River Runs Through It.  Isham began his jazz career programming synthesizers in the late 1970s and he later became a solo trumpet player with sounds heavily influenced by Miles Davis.  I sure hope his talent as a jazz musician breaks out into this score.  I’ll be sad if he succumbs to producing an “inventive” score that sounds like some mainstream club party mix.  I don’t think he will, but who knows.  Hey, maybe Isham will win an Oscar.  Why not? Michael Gore did for the original film.

Can you believe  The Phantom Menace hit theaters 10 years ago?  That is just absurd. I vividly remember all of the frenzy behind it.  Everyone was ditching school to go see it and for months everything on TV was all about Star Wars.  My poor parents had to endlessly listen to “Duel of the Fates” and constantly remind me to turn down the volume.  I loved that soundtrack (of course the first Star Wars film is the best). So, it’s no surprise I was overly thrilled when I heard about this concert.

I had no idea Star Wars: In Concert was touring in America. And it kicks off in Orange County, California.  Even better!

The production, then called Star Wars: A Musical Journey, premiered at the London O2 Arena with over 17,000 fans in attendance.  The concert featured the 86-piece Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and choir and was led by Belgium conductor, Dirk Brosse, known for his contributions to the World Soundtrack Awards held at the Flanders International Film Festival in Ghent, Belgium.  John Williams personally rearranged his music from all six films for this performance.  And a giant 100-ft LED screen, built for the concert, will show a LucasFilm edit of the six films comprised into a two hour narrative.  In other words this production was made for me.  I can’t stand most of the films, but I love the music.  Just give me a concert John Williams’ music and I’m set.

Now if I can make the trip out to the Lord of the Rings concert…

There has been so much hype over the Tron sequel.  The movie finally has an official name, Tron Legacy, which is much better than the TR2N or Tron 2.0 titles that have been circulating.  And the “test teaser trailer” has hit the Internet with geeks drooling all over the footage.  The “teaser trailer” isn’t actually new. Some have already seen it at last year’s Comic-Con.  Apparently this footage is not in the film and was created to sell the film. If you haven’t seen it, well here it is.  Enjoy.

I thought that was fantastic. The sound effects and visuals are amazing.  I’m actually kind of glad to hear this film is joining the lame 3-D craze.  Please Disney don’t make it into some gimmicky 3-D theme park show, which I’m sure is how Alice in Wonderland will turn out.

Some other exciting news about this film is the score.  Earlier this year we learned the French electronica duo, Daft Punk has been signed to write the film’s music.  A rather interesting choice.  If I had to chose a composer, I would have picked the brilliant Thomas Newman.  Tron Legacy would have been a great addition to his already unique sounding scores.  Still, I love Daft Punk’s music. My high school years were filled with their funky beats and I continually listen to their albums.  But how will their score pan out?  I’m not quite sure, actually.  We’ll they provide songs to the film? With all of the high end sound effects, will their score be minimal and take a backseat? We’ll just have to wait, but in the meantime here is a small sample of their music.

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This next track particularly stands out to me.  I can definitely hear this type of sound in the “Tron” world.

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In any case, Tron Legacy is bound to be one unique film.  I sure hope the film lives up to the hype.

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a bit of a Harry Potter dweeb.  But I’ve only been to one midnight release.  Okay one movie and one book midnight release.  That’s it.  I don’t dress up or re-read the series 10 times, I just enjoy the books.  So, what about the movie that just made over 150 million dollars in less than a week?  As expected, it didn’t compare to the book.  However, I really enjoyed the emotional and petty bickering going on between the characters.  And of course, some of the actors save the film, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, and Jim Broadbent, a great Professor Slughorn.  The film, to me, was just pacing and going through the motions and somehow didn’t capture what I believe to be the most emotional book of the series.  It was just a filler movie for the next installment.  But, I don’t mean to undermine the talent behind the film.  Some parts of it were excellent.  I loved how they envisioned apparition and Professor Slughorn’s potions class.  The scene leading into the cave was another favorite.

What about the music?  Well first, there’s been a lot of news around the Harry Potter film scores.  Everyone has been speculating who will write the music for the next two films.  Yes two, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2.  Anyway, director David Yates, who has directed that last two films is set to direct the next two.  Many thought Yates would continue his collaboration with composer Nicholas Hooper, since Hooper has composed music for the last two films.  Producer of the Harry Potter series, David Heyman, was asked recently, if he has considered John Williams to return and write music for the films.  To much joy, Heyman has thought about it.

“We have talked to John Williams and a lot of it will depend on his schedule for [Harry Potter] seven part two. If we can make work, and that’s a big if, for his schedule and ours then yes.”

Then we learn, from an interview with Film Score Monthly, Hooper has decided to step down and not write music for Deathly Hallows.

“I actually decided I wouldn’t. It impinged on my life and my family too much to do it again. We managed to cope with two of them, and I just felt it was time to hand it on. I’ve always felt in my heart that a certain composer whose name you know well should do the last one anyway, since he started it off. As for the penultimate one, I don’t know. But sadly, no.  I felt I needed to withdraw at this point.”

We’ll wait and see.  I’ll cross my fingers for another Williams score.

So what about the Half-Blood Prince film score?  Love it, hate it?  Honestly, I’m on the fence about it, as usual.  I can’t hate it, but I’m not a big fan of it.  I want to like Hooper’s music, but I just can’t.  His themes are never really prominent, and I feel his scores for the films have been purposely understated.  However, he has had some great moments.  He did a wonderful job capturing the mystery, sadness, and darkness to Harry’s later years.  Here are a couple of my favorite cues:

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Hooper uses some heavy percussion to describe the Death Eater attacks.  This reminds me of the Goblet of Fire soundtrack although definitely not as bombastic.

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Hooper’s love themes really capture the heart wrenching emotions of the characters.  It’s beautiful, yet full of sadness and little frightening; a perfect match for the adolescent love surrounding Harry’s world.

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I love when the strings swell a bit in this cue, showing Hermione’s anger towards Ron. (I wished the birds actually attacked Ron, liked they did in the book).

A lovely guitar waltz continues the love theme later when Harry and Ginny finally kiss.  This scene doesn’t quite match the emotion in the book, but it was a beautiful rendition.  I like how the strings slowly take the stage in this cue.

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Hooper gives a noticeable nod to Williams’ themes from the previous films.  Listen for that four note motif from “Quidditch, Third Year” in the queue “Ron’s Victory.”  He really lets the orchestra have some fun here.  I wish he had more action cues like this in the film.

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A surprise cue for me was the lovely send off to the Acromantula, Aragog.  It’s a beautiful piece of music, but sadly, it seems out of place in the film.

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“In Noctem” was written early in the process to allow filming of the Hogwarts school choir sing the piece.  Unfortunately, it was cut from the film, but the music remained and provided the basis for much of the score.  Hooper described it as the “musical DNA for Dumbledore’s story throughout the film.”

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Again, like the rest of the score, these cues didn’t quite hit the mark, maybe with the exception of “Dumbledore’s Farewell.”  I’ll admit, I cried during this scene.  But that was expected, since I cried reading the book (I know, dweeb).  So even though Hooper’s scores don’t quite compare to some of the earlier works, he has made some wonderful music and was a great addition to the series.

Now on to November 2010.

The latest trailer for Pedro Almodóvar’s film, Broken Embraces was just released (Thanks to The Guardian). Wow, this film is going to be a joy to watch.  I love all of the rich colors, costumes and Penelope hairstyles.  The film is set in the 1990s and focuses on a four-way tale of love and was shot in the style of a hard-boiled 1950s American film noir.  Basically, Penelope looking gorgeous as usual.  It premiered in Spain back in March, and was shown at the Cannes Film Festival. I’ll just have to wait patiently until November 20, 2009 for the U.S. release.  The film will get distributed in North America by Sony Pictures Classics.  Here is what they said about the film:

“Broken Embraces promises to be Almodóvar’s richest work to date. He has surpassed himself here by providing Penelope Cruz with TWO great roles for her to play! Every new Almodóvar film presents us with fresh opportunities to expand his audience. To watch him grow as an artist and help him gain the popularity he deserves has been very fulfilling for us. Our adventures with Agustin and Pedro Almodóvar has been enduring and it is a relationship that is the lifeblood of Sony Pictures Classics.”

The film score is, of course, by the Academy Award nominee, Alberto Iglesias.  Almodóvar has collaborated with Iglesias for several of his films including, Volver (To Return), La mala educación (Bad Education), Hable con Ella (Talk to Her), and Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother). Iglesias  is one of my favorite composers, I love his work. The soundtrack is available for import on Amazon.com, but I’ll probably wait and the see the film first.  Sound clips of his score can be heard on the film’s official Web site.  Click under “Músicas”  and then “Escuchar” to hear the clip.  “Final y A Ciegas” is wonderful cue that features the popular Spanish singer Miguel Poveda.

Finally, sound clips are available of Nicholas Hooper’s score for the long awaited film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  It’s almost here folks.  If the film had it’s original release it would have been on DVD and Blu-ray by now. Lame.
Anyway, sound clips of the score are available here on the sidebar (just click on the Amazon widget) or you can listen over on at Amazon.com.  The soundtrack will be available on July 14th and the film will hit theaters July 15th.

Composer and film editor John Ottman, who was recently honored at the 36th annual Vision Awards with Composer/Editor of Vision, is also celebrating a film score release this month for the thriller Orphan.

Released by record label Varèse Sarabande, pre-orders are now accepted online and will ship on or after July, 21st.  Ottman is mostly known for his scores for many of director Bryan Singer’s films.  His latest collaboration with Singer was for the historical drama, Valkyrie.  Ottman has written music for several other thrillers including  The Invasion, House of Wax, Gothika, and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later.  Orphan, about couple who decides to adopt a freaky looking girl and realizes there is something evil about her, opens in theaters on July 24th.

Read on for the Track List.

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By now, most of you have seen the teaser trailer to M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film, The Last Airbender.  Still, I’m not too sure about this film.  More and more of Shyamalan’s movies have turned out to be very disappointing.  Maybe he’ll redeem himself with this one.  A film adaptation to the animated television series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, a show inspired by martial arts, mythology, and Asian art certainly sounds cool.  What can go wrong?

But, what’s even more exciting is the new score from James Newton Howard.  According to producer, Frank Marshall, Howard wrote music specifically for the teaser trailer. And what an amazing ‘teaser score’ it is.  Howard has composed a great number of some truly amazing scores for Shyamalan’s films including, The Sixth Sense, Lady in the Water, Signs, and The Village.  And now this trailer.

I can’t wait to get my hands on this soundtrack.

I can’t believe it.  June is almost over and summer is already here.  I know everyone says the “year is going by so fast,” but it really has.  Not cool.

It’s okay.  There have been a number of great film scores so far.  My favorites have been Michael Giacchino’s Up, Star Trek, and Land of the Lost (I thought it was fun).  Danny Elfman’s Terminator Salvation, Hans Zimmer’s Angels and Demons, Bruno Coulais’ Coraline, and Alexandre Desplat’s Cheri.

So, what about the rest of 2009?  Well, I’ve done some digging, and I found there a number of upcoming film scores I’ll be keeping an eye/ear out.  And being a film score enthusiast, it’s no surprise I ended up with a rather large list.

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Audio clips of the score to Michael Mann’s gangster drama, Public Enemies, can now be heard on Amazon.com.  The music was composed by award-winning composer, Elliot Goldenthal, who won an Academy Award for his work on Julie Taymor’s biopic, Frida.

The compilation soundtrack will feature seven tracks of original music from Goldenthal and a selection of jazz greats, including a newly recorded version of “Bye, Bye, Blackbird” sung by Diana Krall.  Basically, it’s a Billie Holiday and Elliot Goldenthal album.  From what I can tell, the score sounds great.  But, I can’t really get much out of three and a half minutes.  Listen for yourself over at Amazon or click on the sidebar to listen.

The film, based on Bryan Burrough’s book Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-1934, will star Johnny Depp as the infamous criminal John Dillinger, and is scheduled to release on Wednesday, July 1st.

Side note:  I figured we’ve seen enough of Johnny Depp in a fedora, so I simply had to post a picture of the beautiful co-star, Academy-Award winning actress, Marion Cotillard.