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Originally posted by CoachUSAgal:
25 minutes of score? Is that the whole CD, or does it include songs? Betcha it's a Varese. Although Amazon.com doesn't list it anywhere.

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You lose; it's a Hip-O. Also, there's a good chance that this is the whole score. One never knows.

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Originally posted by Richard Street:
Is the fact that it's only 26 minutes a bad thing? There is such a thing as too much Horner. I feel that if ENEMY AT THE GATES and PERFECT STORM (and TITANIC) were about half an hour shorter, they'd be much better albums. As it is, they tend to drag painfully. 26 minutes wouldn't be too bad.

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Originally posted by franz_conrad:
Now don't deprive the real Horner fans of all the music they desire!!! It's not just about great albums you know, it's about having every damn note! Besides, what are CD programmers for? They certainly can't give you more music than is on the album if you want it...

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I'd actually consider buying it though as it's very pleasant music. However -- the period songs they choose are fairly crappy, IMO. I'm sure the filmmakers would say they chose songs nobody else's used in period/period sports movies before, but to me it felt like they got the cheapest stuff they could find. It's certainly not very rousing.

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If I'm spending money on an album then I want the best album I can have. And if that means shaving off a few cues because they don't add anything to the experience, then I'm perfectly happy. I've lost count of the number of albums in my collection that I just never listen to because they're too long. Programmable CD players are all well and good, but frankly I can't be bothered with all that, I'll just stick in a CD which has been well-produced in the first place!

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I slightly revise my original assessment, re: what it sounds like. While the humming (female, performed beautifully by India.Arie) does sound THE WAR-ish, the rest is pure Horner - in the vein/style of APOLLO 13. There are about five or six seperate cuts, not a pair of suites as originally mentioned. But my overall thoughts still stand: if you're a big Horner fan, get it. Otherwise, I'd say no.

As for the movie, Joan and others that are curious...

It's bad. Real bad. Treacly (including the use of the Horner score; were I not such a film music nut, I think it'd bother me more how heart-tugging the music's meant to be).

I'll tell u the reason I hated it so much though... It has NO sense of conflict, no narrative spine built around a genuine sense of striving to overcome and justified accomplishment. It's all set up/pay off, set-up/pay off, and very mundane at that. The thing about a RUDY or ROCKY is, IMO, you root for the hero b/c you really feel as if he's triumphed over adversity. To me, the best "stand up and cheer"-type movies are ones that EARN their schmaltz and sacchrinity.

RADIO is just weak, all around. Simplistic, obvious and not especially honest/heartfelt, IMO, and painfully so in some moments (like when they leave Radio behind instead of taking him on an away game and he's seen playing football by himself in the worst rain storm this side of, oh, the end of the new TEXAS CHAINSAW). Debra Winger totally acts as if she's picking up a paycheck and I've no doubt that's exactly the case; it adds class to the film, in some sense, but -- this is the movie she came out of "hiding" to do (as evidenced by Rosanna Arquette's search for her in the Shotime docu about her)? There's footage of the real Radio over the end credits that seems to suggest two things A.) the portrayal/make-up on Radio is way over the top, B.) watching a documentary about the real guy would've been far, far more interesting than watching the movie the creators of HARDBALL and SUMMER CATCH have put together here. Hell, even Ed Harris is bad in it, and I love Ed Harris.

So, one man's opinion, but there you go.

Mills

NP: THE HUMAN STAIN - Portman

[Message edited by MillsSomerset on 10-22-2003]

It's just very pleasant, simple stuff, somewhat atypical from Portman of late, as she's tended to do "lighter, whimsical" stuff (CIDER HOUSE, CHOCOLAT) and this is certainly more dramatic, severe. I haven't listened to it a ton, but the opening is like what a Howard Shore score (circa BEFORE AND AFTER or something) might be like as done by Rachel Portman, i.e. heavy on the classical piano-influenced sound.

Nothing stood out on its own, yet it was a solid listen; I bought it purely out of chance, having not heard it before. But 90 percent of the time, I really like Rachel Portman's stuff, and it was worth it.

The only thing I'll say is - DO NOT look at the track titles on this release if you're not into spoilers. I haven't seen the film, but there's a lot of things that sound like spoilers to me, here. That said, it's a decent score.