We won’t bother catsplaining the importance of music to a movie. Instead, we’ll just sugeest you try watching Halloween without John Carpenter’s urgent keyboard-driven score. That being said, Carpenter didn’t make our list, but the legends who did are responsible for diverse bodies of work that not only greatly contribute to the films they were composed for, most of them are also impressive pieces of stand-alone music.
The following consists of 10 composers, along with 10 of the scores that best represent their range and talents (from iconic to underrated), as well as the one we feel is their greatest overall and has us purring the loudest. Feel free to disagree, but like your dog, you’d be wrong.😸
10) HANS ZIMMER - Thelma & Louise; The Lion King; Broken Arrow; Crimson Tide; Gladiator; Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl; Black Hawk Down; Inception; Dunkirk; Dune. BEST SCORE: Interstellar
9) JOHN BARRY - From Russia with Love; Goldfinger; Thunderball; You Only Live Twice; The Lion in Winter; Midnight Cowboy; Mary, Queen of Scots; The Black Hole; Dances with Wolves; Chaplin. BEST SCORE: Raise the Titanic (it’s almost the sole thing that makes the movie watchable)
8) DIMITRI TIOMKIN - The High and the Mighty; Gunfight at the O.K. Corral; High Noon; The Alamo; Duel in the Sun; The Old Man and the Sea; The Fall of the Roman Empire; The Thing from Another World; Dial M for Murder; Lost Horizon. BEST SCORE: The Guns of Navarone
7) JAMES HORNER - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan; 48 Hrs.; Aliens; An American Tail; Willow; Field of Dreams; Braveheart; Titanic; Deep Impact; Avatar. BEST SCORE: Apollo 13
6) MAX STEINER - King Kong; Gone with the Wind; Angels with Dirty Faces; Jezebel; Dark Victory; Sergeant York; Now Voyager; Rhapsody in Blue; The Caine Mutiny; The Searchers. BEST SCORE: Casablanca
5) ELMER BERNSTEIN - Sweet Smell of Success; To Kill a Mockingbird; Birdman of Alcatraz; The Magnificent Seven (1960); The Great Escape; Hawaii; Thoroughly Modern Millie; National Lampoon’s Animal House; Airplane!; Cape Fear (1991). BEST SCORE: The Ten Commandments
4) JERRY GOLDSMITH - Planet of the Apes; Papillon; Chinatown; The Wind and the Lion; Logan’s Run; Alien; Star Trek: The Motion Picture; Gremlins; Total Recall; L.A. Confidential. BEST SCORE: The Omen
3) ENNIO MORRICONE - For a Few Dollars More; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Once Upon a Time in the West; The Bird with the Crystal Plumage; Exorcist II: The Heretic (the movie is balls, but the score is wonderfully eclectic); The Thing (1982); Once Upon a Time in America; The Mission; Bugsy; The Hateful Eight. BEST SCORE: The Untouchables
2) BERNARD HERRMANN - Citizen Kane; The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951); North by Northwest; The 7th Voyage of Sinbad; Journey to the Center of the Earth; Psycho; Mysterious Island; Cape Fear (1962); Obsession; Taxi Driver (the guy certainly left on a high note). BEST SCORE: Vertigo
George Stevens may not be a household name like the Hitchcocks and Capras of the world, but chances are you’re familiar with his work. If the likes of Shane, A Place in the Sun (my personal favorite of his), The Diary of Anne Frank and Giant don’t ring a bell, you clearly need to see more movies. Maybe you could start with this one.
Stevens had a long and interesting career, beginning in the silent era and anti-climactically concluding with 1970’s The Only Game in Town. In between are a slew of classics, not-so-classics and should-be-classics…a filmography to be envied, to be sure. Who better to chronicle that career than his own son, George Stevens Jr.? And if that name doesn’t ring a bell, he’s the guy we can thank for the American Film Institute and the Kennedy Center Honors (long before a certain flatulent, orangutan-haired, behemoth turned it into a joke).
Stevens Jr narrates the film, offering insights into his father’s filmmaking approach, ambition and creativity, a director always striving to try something new (as his eclectic filmography certainly demonstrates). Along the way, many of his biggest films (and one of his most notorious flops) are showcased in lengthy segments with key scenes, production footage and interviews with those he worked with. Regarding the latter, it reads like a who’s-who of Hollywood stars and power players, some in archival interviews, others who participated for the sake of this film.
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| "Hey guys...what does this button do?" |
At first, I was kinda curious why Warner Archive would choose a documentary from 1984 for a 4K restoration. However, the stunning transfer does underscore Stevens’ aesthetic gifts (and made me want to watch Shane again). Not only do the lengthy clips from his movies look and sound great, the WWII footage looks almost brand new. The disc’s bonus features also offer testimonial and personal insights from three modern masters (Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Guillermo del Toro). Revealing, affectionate and very entertaining, George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey is a must-watch for film buffs.
EXTRA KIBBLES
4K & BLU-RAY COPIES
3 ACADEMY MUSEUM LECTURES - In three separate lectures, directors Martin Scorsese, Guillermo del Toro and Christopher Nolan offer analysis and appreciation of specific films. Del Toro, discussing The Greatest Story Ever Told, and Nolan, discussing Shane, speak before an audience at the museum. Scorsese also discusses The Greatest Story Ever Told, but shot in 2026, presumably for this release.
I hate Speed Racer. Always have.
I’ve hated it since I was a kid, when the original Japanese series used to air on weekday afternoons. I’d occasionally rage-watch the thing, incredulous over its jaw-dropping stupidity and animation that made Scooby-Doo look like the work of Walt Disney (and I hated Scooby-Doo, too. What the hell's wrong with me?).
I also hated the 2008 movie adaptation, equally incredulous that such gifted filmmakers as the Wachowskis (Bound, The Matrix) would resort to pumping out a slab of bloated, soulless eye candy. I gave the movie a shot anyway (on DVD), but made it about halfway through before I couldn’t take anymore. Bereft of interesting characters or an engaging story, this was a movie that solely existed for the hyperanimated, seizure-inducing action scenes. My main takeaway was that if I had subjected myself to Speed Racer in a theater, I'd need to season my popcorn with crushed Dramamine.
But a few years ago, I participated in a podcast with a couple of guys who championed the film, making enough valid arguments in favor of a personal reassessment. Then again, these were the same two guys who also openly praised Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band without a whiff of irony. However, when my daughter and her boyfriend recently caught it at a packed revival screening, they also really enjoyed it. That, and the fact the movie was even deemed worthy of a theatrical re-release, suggested there’s a cult appeal to Speed Racer that has, so far, eluded me.
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| Speed dances like everyone's watching. |
For fans, the technical upgrades alone are probably worth replacing their old Blu-ray or DVD copies. But sweetening the deal are the bonus features, including an entertaining new interview with the Wachowskis, as well as some other featurettes that aren’t quite new, but haven’t been included on previous Blu-ray releases. All told, this is a must own for those who love the film.
As for this writer…my opinion of the film hasn’t changed (though I did manage to stick with it to the end this time). Speed Racer remains aesthetically interesting for a while, but once the novelty wears off, it’s like watching my daughter play Mario Kart on the Rainbow Road track for two hours.
EXTRA KIBBLES
FAST/FUTURE/FAMILY: SPEED RACER REVISITED - This is a new interview with co-directors the Wachowskis, both of whom have fond memories of making the film. Also includes some behind-the-scenes footage.
FEATURETTES - Speed Racer: Ramping Up is a behind-the-scenes featurette; Speed Racer: Supercharged focuses on the various vehicles; Speed Racer: Car-Fu Cinema showcases the action sequences; Spritle in the Big Leagues goes on-set with the actor who plays the film’s most obnoxious character.
SPEED RACER: WONDERFUL WORLD OF RACING - THE AMAZING RACER FAMILY is a faux documentary about the main characters..jpg)
As I write this, I’m still not quite sure what to make of The Bride!
Overall, it’s pretty abrasive, with dialogue that often wavers between juvenile and pretentious (to say nothing of pretentiously juvenile). The film’s aesthetic and tone frequently seem like pandering attempts to appeal to the fringe crowd, created by folks who’ve clearly drawn inspiration from better movies aimed at the same audience. Here, it generally comes off as insincere and superficial.
By the title character’s third or fourth smirking, expletive-loaded, literature-quoting tirade, I found myself going, Yeah, yeah, I get it…this ain’t my granddaddy’s Bride of Frankenstein.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t want it to be, and the basic story of The Bride! is actually pretty neat. You just have to slog through a lot of showboating to appreciate it. Set in 1936, Jessie Buckley plays both the ghost of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, and a depressed escort named “Ida.” Shelley narrates the set-up: following her most famous novel, she died before writing the story she really wanted to tell. In limbo for centuries, she possesses Ida, who’s then killed after running afoul of a mob boss named Lupino. Shortly afterwards, she’s brought back from the dead by Dr. Euphronious (Annette Benning) as a mate for the late Dr. Frankenstein’s creation, “Frank” (Christian Bale), who’s dying of loneliness.
The undead soon-to-be lovers end up on the run after Frank savagely kills a couple of thugs attempting to rape Ida. While Isa has no memory of her previous life, Mary is apparently capable of channeling the angry souls of other women wronged or betrayed by men, including those killed by Lupino. This turns the pair into Bonnie & Clyde-like folk heroes by similarly-marginalized women everywhere, who adapt Ida’s monstrous appearance to inflict payback of their own. Meanwhile, detective Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard) and his secretary, Myrna Malloy (Penelope Cruz) lead the nationwide manhunt against them, though tellingly, Myrna does all the actual detective work without credit…at least until a key moment in the story when Wiles’ connection to Ida is revealed. Lupino himself also orders his guys to find Isa and put her down for good.
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| Frank and Ida forget where they parked. |
After a lumbering, obnoxious first act that might prompt some to shut it off, once it settles into the story, The Bride! ends up being fairly engaging, despite frequent detours into moments calculated to solicit WTF? reactions (good or bad). The two protagonists eventually grow somewhat endearing as more is revealed about them, and are well realized by Buckley and Bale (along with some impressive make-up design). At the very least, there reaches a point when we feel compelled to see how things turn out for these two.
So I guess I now do know what to make of The Bride! Worthy themes notwithstanding, the film is never as bold as it obviously aspires to be - visually or narratively - and it’s definitely too long and repetitive for its own good. However, there’s enough earnestness and creativity on display that it would be a shame to dismiss the movie entirely.
EXTRA KIBBLES
FEATURETTES - Stitching Together THE BRIDE! is your standard-issue promotional piece featuring interviews with director Maggie Gyllenhaal and most of the primary cast; Designing the Look covers the creative make-up design; The Muse and the Reimagined Monster focuses on creating the titular character; The Bride Party is about the main cast.
