Just as I finished the last soundtrack supplement, there were a handful of releases that came through, so rather than wait I thought I would include them in a soundtrack supplement extra.
Back in 2017 Atli Orvarsson provided the score for Hitman’s Bodyguard, which was accompanied by a sprinkling of popular songs. The score was inventive and entertaining, and I am pleased to say that the composer has returned to the frey in the sequel Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard. On this occasion however I can see an absence of any songs and the album contains the score for the movie only, which is always good news.
The score has to it a kind of superhero and retro sound, and at times is upbeat and fast paced with driving themes and music that evokes maybe things such as The Man From Uncle and to a degree the Brian Tyler Iron Man score remember the track Can you Dig it? it also has to it tinges and little nuances that are a homage to the style and sound of composers such as Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams.
This is a full-on high-powered score filled with strong dramatic compositions and inventive themes and orchestrations, such as Helicopter Chase, and Kidnapped by Interpol. Plus, there are some quieter moments as displayed in the lilting and melancholy sounding cue, Flashback of Mom. One for your collection, I think.
From an upbeat toe tapping, infectious beaty high octane affair we move to something a little more emotive, delicate, and affecting in the form of L’Instant Present, which is composed by Phar or Raphael Dargent. This is such a refreshingly beautiful score, laced with wonderfully alluring tone poems that for me evoke memories of the sophisticated and eloquent style of Georges Delerue, the more recent works of Alexandre Desplat and the intricate and understated but affecting music of Phillipe Rombi.
There is a richness of thematic properties present throughout, the work being a delicate and romantic listening experience, and one that is overflowing with an atmosphere that is tantalizing, vibrant, brimming with fragility and a charming and refined musical persona.
For me the music is wonderfully expressive the composer painting a musical picture that is so deeply emotional at times it is heart melting. It is a relatively short score with just eight cues and a running time of sixteen minutes, but each second and every minute of this work is rewarding, beguiling and haunting, with each cue containing something that is undeniably special. Recommended yes, it is. 100 percent, available from Movie Score Media via digital platforms.
Another score that is well worth listening to is Wish Dragon, which is at this moment streaming on Netflix go check it out, the score is by Philip Klein, the composer has created an imposing and lush score that has to it romantic and comedic attributes, fully symphonic by the sound of things this is a great listen, affecting and intricate sounding themes are heard alongside adventurous and melodious sweeping passages which tend to send a slight shudder up ones spine.
This is a superbly touching and thematic score, the composer should be congratulated for creating a work with so many themes, nuances, entertaining, and mesmeric sounding interludes which are performed via the string section.
With subdued woods and eloquent piano solos also making an appearance the composer adding an even greater sense of drama with epic and grandiose stylized brass and inventive percussion that are embellished with choral performances, this is one for any discerning film music collector. Available on digital platforms as is the latest score from the talented and versatile Frederick Weidman, Occupation: Rainfall, is a work that literally is bursting with a tense and dramatic atmosphere, Weidman’s music is bristling with a sense of action that is relentless and totally consuming.
We are treated to rasping and dark sounding brass, booming percussive elements and driving strings that all combine and compliment one another to bring to fruition a non-stop dramatic action fest of music, which although is commanding and powerful still oozes a rich and vibrant thematic quality. Mare of Easttown is a TV series that has been causing more than a stir with audiences. The HBO series stars Kate Winslett who gives a highly polished, realistic and down to earth performance in the role of a detective sergeant who is leading the investigation into the murder of a young woman in the small Pennsylvanian town of Easttown.
Winslett’s character Mare Sheehan is a seasoned and skilled investigator who has spent the majority of her life in the town and is familiar with all of its inhabitants. Her investigations are however made more difficult because she has recently lost her son with her days becoming dark and troubled. The musical score for the series is a subtle one, with composer Lele Marchitelli creating an at times emotive but quite uneasy sounding soundtrack, which he realizes via a small orchestra, with strings being the main stay that are supported by synths. With solo piano also providing the foundation of the work. It’s an interesting listen on its own, and within the movie the music does for me at least stand out as being not only supportive but as creating levels and degrees of emotion and melancholy throughout. Adding even greater atmospheric level to proceedings.
Marchitelli also scored The New Pope in 2020 and # Anne Frank-Parralel Stories in 2019. His music is certainly worth a listen and please do take time to see Mare of Easttown the series on Sky Atlantic.
Adventures in Babysitting, was a comedy film released in 1987, directed by Chris Columbus and starring Elizabeth Shue, it did relatively well at the box office and contained a suitably adventurous, dramatic and tongue in cheek score by composer Michael Kamen, who also scored Lethal Weapon, Suspect, Rita, Sue and Bob Too, and Someone to Watch over me in the same year.
The soundtrack was issued in 2015 by Intrada records onto compact disc and has been made available this month on digital platforms and it is a score that I know you will enjoy immensely. Alongside Kamen’s compelling and exciting score there are two predictable eighties songs, one performed by the cast of the movie the other by Percy Sledge, which too are enjoyable in a strange and cringy type of way, not saying they are bad but maybe they have not weathered the years as well as Kamen’s score has. At times Kamen conjures up a tense atmosphere via music that has to it a Herrmann-esque style, with brass and strings working together to create an uneasy but at the same time upbeat and comedic sound. Again worth checking out.
MOVIE MUSIC INTERNATIONAL. (MMI) . 