Retro Reviews & More

This will both be a similar post to Famous Movie & TV Cars and continuation of a four-part series that began with Famous Instrumental Themes of John Williams . It is simply commentary, with no theory, no review, and little to no trivia. Famous Instrumental Themes (Various) As I began to formulate the idea for this series, I quickly realized John Williams would require his own post because of his contributions to the film industry. Full disclosure, besides the obvious fact that he deserved it, I discussed Williams' themes first because I wanted to avoid any question of "What about Jaws ?" or "What about Star Wars ?" These and others a re so iconic, after all. Touching on what I discussed about movie scores last week, music directs the audience how to feel, what to expect, etc.  While some may not notice a soundtrack note by note, almost everyone will notice the absence of one. A notable example is  Cloverfield . Being a "found footage" film, a full...

This will be a similar post like Famous Vehicles from Film and Television . It is also the first in a series of four. Again, no theory, no review, not even trivia (well, maybe a little). Simply commentary, and I lean towards calling it celebration. Famous Instrumental Themes of John Williams Perhaps not everyone who watches a lot of screen media notices all the "little" things. The more I watch, the more I take it all in. The music of a film can instantly direct how the audience is supposed to feel. If you watch anything with captions for very long you will see phrases like "foreboding music" or "soothing music".  Particularly when thinking of scores consisting of classical music, one name comes to mind first: John Williams. Besides those discussed here, he composed for more serious fare such as Schindler's List , and a surprising turn or two including  Home Alone , Willliams has been as, *ahem*, instrumental in many a film's success as more promin...

SEVENSES   BIOPICS Welcome to a second edition of Sevenses. To get an idea of what that is, please read the first edition on westerns found here . In short,  it is taking a similar group of films and choosing seven that might be distinct from most every other one or the best of a subgenre. It is not a tier list , and thus not a ranked list. A rule I made, I must own the film in a home media format to be considered. Biopics. It is a genre nearly as old as the film industry itself. If we, as a people, were not intrigued by others' lives, books about famous, and infamous, figures, would not have proven popular, and many of these include photographs. So, it was only fitting that moving pictures would follow suit. They are typically also drama and can literally be about anyone notable in her or his field, including presidents, inventors, musicians, sports figures, and in the vein of art imitating life, actors. A couple of common specifics often encountered  in a biographical ...