It’s hard to believe that David Arnold’s score to The Stepford Wives never saw the light of day as a soundtrack album. Sure it wasn’t the hit film they wanted it to be, but in 2004, there were plenty of other films that under-performed at the box office and still had score albums. In any case, releasing the soundtrack was always on my list of titles at Paramount, and when it finally came up in the schedule, I was thrilled that it …
I had the extreme pleasure earlier this year of writing the liner notes for an expanded soundtrack release to one of the biggest hits of the 1990s, Independence Day. Releasing later today by La-La Land Records, I researched the film, and interviewed composer David Arnold, producer Dean Devlin, and scoring mixer Dennis Sands. (Sadly, director Roland Emmerich was out of the country and unable to get back to me in time.) The album itself is pretty kick-ass, and I’m excited …
After getting all cleaned up, we took a taxi to the TEA for the final panel, which was supposed to be “Agents and Composers”. However, Vas Vangelos had to leave town, Clint Mansell had already gone, Joel McNeely was ill and wasn’t attending the Fimucite conference at all, and Jan A.P. Kaczmarek was down in his hotel room writing music for his current film project. So, David Arnold – who wasn’t even part of the conference – was convinced to …
After the radio interview finally ended, Melinda and I headed back with Ana to the TEA where the composer panels had been going on. We ended up hanging with a bunch of folks down in the Library Cafe, chatting with Clint Mansell, David Arnold, John Ottman, Ray Costa, Robert Messinger, Vasi Vangelos, and others. At around 8:30pm, before the last panel had finished, a bunch of us were getting peckish, so we went with Pedro to one of his favorite …
2006 brought us a reboot of the James Bond franchise. Surpassing most expectations, Casino Royale was a surprise at how exciting it made a game of poker, but also helped to bring Bond back to basics, and through Daniel Craig, show us how Bond became the Bond that we all know. The next Bond film, Quantum of Solace, would be the first Bond film to pick up where the previous one had left off. At the end of Casino Royale, …
This is cool, since Intrada’s thumbnail reviews of albums are highly respected in the ‘biz. 2 CD Set of complete score for large-scale homegrown remake of legendary Japan creation, directed by Roland Emmerich, starring Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno. Gargantuan score by David Arnold underlines epic monster tale with emphasis on small motifs to tie set pieces together rather than longer melodic lines. Profuse brass, impressive array of percussion keep it all roaring. Superb booklet affords glimpse behind production, use of …
Today La-La Land Records finally announced the project that I worked on pretty heavily from December 2006 – April 2007: The official score release of David Arnold’s Godzilla soundtrack. I get credited as a “creative consultant”, as well as liner notes credit (and a thank you). It was a lot of work, and I hope you all enjoy the results!
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Hot Fuzz is to buddy-cop films as Shaun of the Dead was to the zombie movie – it takes a convention that has become overdone and tired, and turns it completely on its head, using the cliches to push the humor while still keeping the storyline fresh and entertaining. After it was determined that Sergeant Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is just too good at his job (making his peers look bad), he’s transferred to the tiny village of Sanford, which …
Only two to go, and here they are! The World is Not Enough:: Due to a horrible bit of swapped casting, Sophie Marceau now plays the spoiled rich brat and Denise Richards plays the nuclear physicist. Umm…. hello? Do I really need to say more? Okay, I will. I like that M (Judi Dench) is humanized a bit in the story, and I did enjoy a lot of the action sequences, even when they started to get overwrought. But still, …