So I had just returned from my trip to Spain, and got pulled into an email conversation that took me about five minutes to comprehend what I was reading. Apparently, we were going to be doing the physical release in collaboration with Lionsgate Records for Alan Silvestri’s score to RED 2, and I’d be handling the artwork. Once I got the assets, I went for a clean and straightforward – albeit very, very red – template layout. I did have to …
The third album that was released today was the score album for Alan Silvestri’s The Bodyguard, which I produced and art-directed for La-La Land Records. Until this project, I actually hadn’t seen the film or heard the music beyond one score track on an old Alan Silvestri promo album. The music was surprisingly noirish and dramatic, and I really enjoyed putting the album together. For the artwork, I was able to use the key art imagery which (surprisingly) wasn’t used on …
Charles Dickens’ classic tale of redemption, A Christmas Carol, has had numerous film adaptations made over the years. Probably the best and most revered one is 1951’s Scrooge, starring Alastair Sim as the stingy curmodgeon Ebenezer Scrooge. Now, director Robert Zemeckis – who has eschewed traditional filmmaking techniques for motion-capture technology – brings us a new version of the holiday classic, re-imagined as a 3D “multi-sensory thrill ride”. That’s a bit of a stretch, really, but this 3D animated version …
After Cast Away, it was said that Robert Zemekis was going to do a project that would push the boundaries and limits of what film can do. And Tom Hanks would be involved. And it would take years to work on. The end result of all of that is The Polar Express. While I don’t think it “pushes the boundaries”, it certainly makes ample use of motion-captured performances and high-quality computer graphics and animation. Based on the (very) short-story of …
Yeah, I could talk about the rather impressive visual effects. Or the set design. Or the look of the film. Or the imaginative action sequences and camerawork. Or the cool titles, and homage in the opening sequence to the classic Universal monster films. Or the absolutely amazingly great big-action high-octane orchestral and choral score by Alan Silvestri. But instead, all of that is completely overshadowed by how absolutely terrible Van Helsing is. It’s not even a B-Movie… it’s a D-Movie. …
Oh, what ever happened to Jan DeBont? Once the best cinematographer in town, he then turned to directing with initially successful results: Speed and Twister were really cool, fun flicks. But then he made Speed 2 and The Haunting. Oh dear. For a while, he was supposed to make Minority Report, but Spielberg took over that one, and poor Jan got a producing credit. So what would he do to reclaim his fame? Well, he would direct the movie with …