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© (C) 2009 Varese Sarabande
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIUM original soundtrack
CD REVIEW :
What iF Score Picks: 'NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIUM' IS ONE OF THE TOP SOUNDTRACKS TO OWN FOR MAY 2009
Also worth picking up: TERMINATOR: SALVATION, ALEXANDRA, FOUL PLAY, GREY GARDENS, INSIDE DAISY CLOVER, O'HORTEN, 28 WEEKS LATER
By DANIEL SCHWEIGER , Soundtrack Editor
Published 5/25/2009
1) GREY GARDENS
(C) 2009 Varese Sarabande
Price: $14.99
What is it?: Rachel Portman’s been the queen of costume scoring with the beautifully melodic likes of THE DUCHESS. Now she goes from riches to rags with this true, larger-than-life drama about the two most eccentric members of the Kennedy clan, for whom style was everything as their world (and house) fell apart.
Why should you buy it?: While the documentary and Broadway musical versions of GREY GARDENS took a bit of a freak show look at their subjects, Portman’s deeply heartfelt score helps give a moving, human quality to this excellent HBO production. Her talent for gentle, Rota-like themes is especially gossamer here, music that’s rich with two women’s’ nostalgia for the past they adored. Yet Portman also doesn’t forget the melancholy of the future that could have been their’s.
Extra Special: Not only do Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore become “Big” and “Little” Edith Bouvier Beale, but the actress’ also sing in their characters’ ultra-sophisticated New England accents for wonderful, pitch-perfect renditions of “We Belong Together” and “Tea For Two.”
2) INSIDE DAISY CLOVER
(C) 2009 Screen Archives
Price: $29.95
What is it?: A teen star is born, then goes nuts in 1920’s Hollywood to the accompaniment of Andre Previn’s uber-dramatic score.
Why should you buy it?: Aaron Copland’s great works like “Appalachian Spring” may have been jazzy in their revolutionary approach. But just imagine if Copland could break out into full big band swing, and you’d have an idea of the hip, classical touch that his film scoring contemporary Andre Previn brought to such soundtracks as ELMER GANTRY and TWO FOR THE SEESAW (just released by Kritzerland). But DAISY CLOVER stands as the ultimate combo of both approaches, as turbulent symphonic writing mixes with swinging movie jazz for a singing actress’ meltdown. Generously spread over two discs that offer DAISY’s complete score, source cues and original LP program, Film Score Monthly certainly rolls in the CLOVER with this salute to Previn’s formidable talent- which makes it even more a shame he left Hollywood for the concert hall.
Extra Special: Once again, WEST SIDE STORY star Natalie Wood didn’t get to use her own singing voice for this ersatz musical. But at least she gives it a college try on DAISY’s numerous takes. Yet even tunes like “The Circus is a Wacky World” don’t get boring on their umpteenth listen thank to their catchy melody. And if that’s a crazy name for a number, you’re only getting a taste of the knowing, over-the-top production value that Andre and then-wife Dory Previn gave to their songs, which would later go full-on kitsch when they entered THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS.
3) NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN
(C) 2009 Varese Sarabande
Price: $13.99
What is it?: Hapless security guard Larry Daley is back trying to keep the peace, and Alan Silvestri’s wonderfully antic music is there again to make sure it’ll be another eventual night shift.
Why should you buy it?: With a effects-driven fantasy track record that includes such scores as THE POLAR EXPRESS and BEOWULF, Alan Silvestri couldn’t be a better choice for this film series that shows how what seems to be “old-fashioned” can jump and jive with new magic. And here this practitioner of all that is great about classic orchestral scoring has even more of epically fun ball at playing a wide variety of come-to-life characters, embodying them with every style from noble Americana to swing jazz along with the MUSEUM theme we’ve come to know and love.
Extra Special: Fans of Silvestri’s work on THE MUMMY RETURNS will get a kick out of this movie’s callback to choral Egyptian action, even if Hank Azaria’s pharaoh doesn’t necessarily demand the Scorpion King’s menacing tone.
4) TERMINATOR SALVATION
(C) 2009 Warner Bros
Price: $14.99
What is it?: Danny Elfman’s put his stamp on every dark figure of celluloid mythology from Batman to Hannibal Lector, so why not take on The Terminator in his continual quest to dominate the film scoring world?
Why should you buy it?: Venturing to a nightmare future where Brad Fiedel, Marco Beltrami and Bear McCreary have previously trod, Elfman uses the growling, brassy approach that he’s recently employed in such action outings as THE KINGDOM and WANTED. Then he puts an even more ominous robot foot up it’s ass, painting a bleak, but noble sonic world for John Connor as neo-patriotic orchestrations rumble with twisted metal percussion. It’s challenging, exhilarating stuff that Elfman’s fans will doubtlessly appreciate in a score that’s definitely the most fleshed-out entry in the TERMINATOR’s musical saga.
Extra Special: While he might not be quoting Brad Fiedel’s original TERMINATOR themes at every turn, that composer’s spirit is very much alive in what Elfman’s done, a generosity of musical continuity that isn’t afraid to introduce new instrumental elements as the guitar -- which unexpectedly strums out Fiedel’s trademarked theme in a particularly soulful moment of inspiration.
5) 28 WEEKS LATER
(C) 2009 La La Land
Price: $19.98
What is it?: John Murphy first gave Rage-crazed “zombies” an alternately insane and blissed-out alt. vibe in 28 DAYS LATER. And for this arguably better sequel (and score), Murphy took his eerily effective sound to new, fearsome lengths.
Why should you buy it?: Not since Goblin’s DAWN OF THE DEAD has a progressive rock and roll approach for the undead (well, technically speaking here) made such an impact on the horror genre, especially with the slow, lethal groove of Murphy’s “Rage Theme,” a Zen-to-insanity tune that’s since been made instantly recognizable in every movie trailer with an attitude.
Extra Special: Thought WEEKS’ soundtrack has been out on iTunes, this hard-copy 28 offers plenty of new cues, including an especially gnarly bit of guitar slice n’ dice for its helicopter homage to DEAD. And topping the album off is a fifteen-minute interview with the composer, who proves to be funnily self-effacing in describing some of the decade’s most influential genre music. Rock on, Rage Virus!
Also for Your Consideration
ALEXANDRA
Russians tend to be serious about things, especially when it comes to war.
And while another country might play the plot of an old woman visiting her grandson in the middle of an occupied battle zone for laughs, rest assured that things are very heavy when that plot’s music takes place in Chechnya. Perhaps the best, backhanded compliment to Andrey Sigle’s beautiful symphonic work here is that his ALEXANDRA comes off more as a piece for the concert hall instead of the movie screen, Sigle’s flowing notes are more than potent with the kind of soaring, poetic anguish that his country’s great composers know so well. And here it’s a soothing wash of meditative, symphonic sound that’s the definition of film scoring as the new form of classical music. Prokofiev, on a calm day, would definitely approve.
EASY VIRTUE
Jessica Biel proves to be as easy on the eyes as the ears with her pleasantly rollicking redoes of any number of 1920’s Cole Porter songs like “Mad About the Boy” and “Makin’ Whoopee.” But just when you think this will be another romp in nursing home nostalgia, the Jazz Age orchestrations are hilariously applied to the likes of “Car Wash” and “Sexbomb.” And you’re quickly reminded that you’re listening to the soundtrack of a Stephan Elliot film. He’s the auteur who helped revive disco with PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT, and is now doing the same campy thing to the roaring 20’s with the help of music producer Marius De Vries. By the end of this enjoyable romp, Cole Porter ends up being as archly fun as Abba, with even MAMMA MIA! star Colin Firth giving it his golden throat all here. The fact that there’s significantly more singing talent here is EASY’s principal virtue. That, and the fact that this is probably the first time a soundtrack has audibly credited its swinging musicians by name.
FOUL PLAY (2000 edition)
Murder most foul has never been so fun in Charles Fox’s classic comedy score, which plays the film’s Hitchcockian shenanigans mostly straight, until a screwball chase to the opera brilliantly turns Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Mikado” into cop-jazz music, complete with country harmonica and the Oriental accompaniment to “Kojak, Bang! Bang!” Then you’ve got the Barry Manilow disco classic “Copacabana” and the strikingly beautiful (and Oscar-nominated song) “Ready To Take A Chance Again” to make this long-awaited CD a godsend to the many fans of this Chevy Chase / Goldie Hawn favorite, with liners featuring quotes from the composer and The Man himself.
KILL ZONE
Up and coming composer Assaf Rinde weaves a highly atmospheric crime noir tale, his music dripping with some of the most atmospheric fatalism to play death and weapons since WAY OF THE GUN. From tender guitar chords to a church organ and Morricone-style brass, Rinde does small wonders with a low budget score that doesn’t stint on quality, or melody in tracing the steps to the final shoot out. And with this impressive release, bigger guns are sure to follow for Rinde.
THE LIMITS OF CONTROL
While seeing writer-director Jim Jarmusch’s magical hitman mystery tour is the equivalent of watching paint dry, at least this film’s soundtrack hits the right, surreal note. It begins with the guitar work of the experimental Japanese band Boris, whose stream-of-consciousness not only bring to mind Neil Young’s beautiful score to Jarmusch’s DEAD MAN, but also wind up as one of the coolest, and most haunting guitar grunge scores this side of Pink Floyd’s soundtrack to ZABRISKE POINT. Wailing Spanish vocals, a few alt. tunes and just a bit of Schubert complete the hip, intoxicating spell. And that should be your limit here.
O’HORTEN
With one of the wackiest “tinkertoy” scores since PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE, Norwegian composer John Kaada pours on the musical quirk for this absurdist tale of a retiring locomotive engineer. Mandolins, vibraphones, pseudo Hawaiian rhythms and all manner of glistening man-child percussion abound. It’s an eccentricity that works thanks to Kaada’s strong themes and gift for insane asylum melody. Yet there’s also a groovy rawness to this music that makes O’HORTEN doesn’t come across so much as a movie soundtrack as it does the instrumental backing for a Tom Waits’ album to be.
THE SIMPLE SPY (L’ESPIONS)
After translating Steve Soderbergh’s existential crime operas into such creepily pulsating soundtracks as TRAFFIC and THE LIMEY, Cliff Martinez has become a marked man in the world of film noir- a language that’s is now in French for L’ESPIONS. And Martinez doesn’t have to speak it to be at the top of his atmospheric spy game here, incorporating strong orchestral themes with his trademarked, atmospheric grooves that rewrote the sound of alternative scoring. It’s a combo here that comes across as a neat homage to Bernard Herrmann - a hip scoring spin on a classic suspense sound, done for a global cinema where deception is as old as the hills.
Find these soundtracks at these .com’s: Amazon, Buysoundtrax, Intrada, iTunes. Screen Archives and Varese Sarabande
Reader Comments
MW from sez....
Thanks on the iTunes tip. I'm getting it now.
6/12/2009 12:10:18 PM
from sez....
Espions is on iTunes
5/25/2009 3:27:39 PM
MW from sez....
You know where specifically the L'Espions score can be purchased? I couldn't find it at any of those websites. Thanks!
5/25/2009 3:11:43 PM
