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Before Sound in Film, There Was Music With The Social Network earning composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross a Golden Globe and The Kids Are All Right voted No. 2 in a top ten of 2010’s best soundtracks in the New York Post, there’s no better time to get acquainted with the best scores and soundtracks in film.
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The Kids Are All Right r e vi e wed by
Sallie Pritchard r ated
4.5/5 stars Nic and Jules, a gay couple, have been married for almost 20 years. But when their children contact their biological father, their solid relationship is shaken to its core. As television series like Modern Family suggest, the nuclear family looks a lot different to the way it used to. But this film asks us if we are truly ready to let go of the notion of the conventional family. Laser, the younger of Nic and Jules’ kids, seems to think he needs a father figure, prompting Joni, the eldest, to contact their biological father. But rather than being the father Laser and Joni wonder if they’ve been missing, Paul becomes an unwitting catalyst for the family’s disruption. Realising that he has children, Paul’s premature mid-life crisis ends (or so he thinks) and he believes that he is now ready to have a family. Unfortunately this seems to come at the price of Nic and Jules’s family. Director Lisa Cholodenko is no stranger to this territory. Having examined lesbian relationships in high art and the shifting
Best scores The Godfather Francis Ford Coppola , 1972 It’s the last scene that gives you chills, but it’s Nino Rota’s sweeping score that makes the hairs of your neck stand on end.
dynamics between mothers and their children in Laurel Canyon, she brilliantly tells the story of the conventional struggles of an unconventional family; children growing up and leaving the nest, the struggle to keep physical and emotional love fresh through many years of marriage, and the strain something as devastating as infidelity can cause. There’s a real warmth to this film, reflective of the family being portrayed. The film is punctuated with humour, genuinely moving moments and a realistic bond between
Only Friends on Facebook
The Social Network r e vi e wed by
Sallie Pritchard r ated
5/5 stars
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Inception Christopher Nolan, 2010 Dreams crashing down around you will never have quite the same impact without Hans Zimmer’s deft touch. The Best of the Best Bernard Herrmann Legend has it that Hitchcock wanted the shower scene in Psycho to be completely silent. After viewing the scene with Herrmann’s screeching violins and cellos, Hitchcock is said to have doubled his salary. Herrmann’s melodies have defined films such as Citizen Kane (1941), and Vertigo (1958). Best soundtracks Fast Times At Ridgemont High Amy Heckerling, 1982 The soundtrack boasts Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks and a Led Zeppelin faux pas. And the song that helped etch Phoebe Cates’s emergence from a pool into the collective memory – ‘Moving In Stereo’ by The Cars.
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Based on Ben Mezrich’s The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook – A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, a fact-based narrative account written with no contribution from Zuckerberg and some from other co-founder Eduardo Saverin, the film could easily have opened itself up to the criticism that it must by its very nature present Zuckerberg in a negative light. Not only that, but upon hearing the news that there would be a film made about Facebook, a lot of people (including yours truly), asked, Why? In David Fincher’s hands (with the invaluable assistance of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin) this film is so much more than the story of a website, or even a story of two friends who turn on each other after creating a successful venture. California’s Silicon Valley, the home of groundbreaking digital and computer technology, is littered with stories like this. Hell, so is Hollywood. What makes this film stand out is the friendship between Zuckerberg and
the characters. The performances are flawless — Benning and Moore are powerful as Nic and Jules. Mark Ruffalo is superb as the accidental villain, Paul. The music perfectly reflects the shifting emotions among the characters, with tracks from artists that bridge the generation gaps between the characters perfectly, from Vampire Weekend to Joni Mitchell, David Bowie and MGMT. And, as the title suggests, it seems the kids really will be all right.
Once Upon a Time in the West Sergio Leone, 1968 How can you look at Henry Fonda’s battleweary face any other way than with Ennio Morricone’s arsenal of gunshots, whips and guitar?
Saverin. By the film’s end, the tragedy isn’t that Mark may have screwed over his best friend, it’s that they aren’t friends anymore. The performances are brilliant, with Eisenberg and Garfield perfectly realising a relationship with dramatically shifting dynamics. Timberlake plays Napster founder and dubious mentor Sean Parker like a man who believes he’s a rock star. Eisenberg especially proves himself to be a rising young star. He’s been called a ‘poor man’s Michael Cera’ but with his natural performance and his ability to bring an endearing credibility to both dramatic and comedic roles, this role will erase this nickname. The score, composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross packs a powerful emotional punch, giving computer codes and algorithms the drama and tension they can create in both the real and virtual world. Zuckerberg has called the film fiction, but The Social Network is the best kind of fiction.
Garden State Zach Braff, 2004 In a specialist’s waiting room, Sam tells Andrew that The Shins will ‘change his life.’ Likewise for everyone who saw the film. The Squid and the Whale Noah Baumbach, 2005 As Walt attempts to repair his strained relationship with his mother, Lou Reed’s ‘Street Hassle’ provides the perfect emotional climax for the film’s subdued denouement. The Best of the Best: Quentin Tarantino What makes Tarantino such a master of the film soundtrack? Is it his use of Stealer’s Wheel for a torture scene in Reservoir Dogs (1992)? His use of surf music in Pulp Fiction (1995)? Is it the 5,6,7,8’s in Kill Bill vol. 1 (2003) or a medley of Ennio Morricone’s best work in Kill Bill vol. 2 (2004)? Or is it his use of David Bowie in his extraordinary love letter to WW2 films, Inglourious Basterds (2009)? Tarantino is a filmmaker who knows that the perfect song transcends time, space and most importantly of all, genre.
reverb magazine issue #055 — F ebruary 2011 47