What a piece of crap. Just when I had finally decided never ever to watch another Bruckheimer movie again, I see the animated equivalent. The animations were truly spectacular, but that didn't help the movie.

SKY WEST AND CROOKED (GB 1966) movie *1/2 score ***1/2

A real Mills affair (Sir John produced and directed, his wife co-wrote the screenplay, and Hayley stars), but also a lame and tedious movie.

The delightful Gloucestershire countryside and Malcolm Arnold’s excellently dreamy and sauntering score help. But the story of young Hayley and her friendship with Ian McShane is sleep-inducing.

I MARRIED A WOMAN (US 1958) movie * score ***

Abysmal romantic comedy highlighting the ‘talents’ of British starlet Diana Dors and pint-sized American comic actor George Gobel. On their own, these two are bad enough, but the effect of having them thrown together in this witless farrago is verging on the cataclysmic. Made when the rot had well and truly set-in to cinema’s general output, it was cheap and tatty movies like I MARRIED A WOMAN that only accelerated cinema’s unfortunate decline throughout the 50s, that culminated in the cinematic wasteland of the 60s and 70s….a period in cinema’s history characterized by an overwhelming majority of movies being short-sighted, simplistic, conservative, weak, now-horribly-dated, childish, out-moded, and dull non-entertainments. That said, there were of course some excellent movies made during the 60s and 70s, but relatively speaking, they were fewer and further between than in the 30s, 40s and 90s, in my opinion. I see the 50s and 80s as transitional decades; the 50s saw cinema on the way down, whilst the 80s saw cinema on the way up again. Both 50s and 80s cinema contain strong elements of 60s and 70s vacuousness, but also a fair measure of the enlightened, entertaining and sophisticated cinema that characterizes the 30s, 40s, 90’s and beyond?

I MARRIED A WOMAN’s only good points are a pleasing jazz-orientated score from Cyril Mockridge, and a typically robust performance from screen-legend Adolphe Menjou, here making his penultimate movie appearance.

THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER (US 1965) movie ** score **1/2

As if to illustrate my opinion about 60s and 70s cinema (made at the ‘I MARRIED A WOMAN’ posting above), along comes the exceedingly ordinary THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER.

Like the vast majority of 60s and 70s movies, the Western THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER is exceedingly ordinary, with exceedingly ordinary performances, exceedingly ordinary production values, an exceedingly ordinary Elmer Bernstein score, and a particularly exceedingly ordinary bland and witless script. The exceedingly ordinary story and the exceedingly ordinary plot-development becomes increasingly exceedingly ordinary and stupid as the movie progresses in its exceedingly ordinary way, a movie that, at over two exceedingly ordinary hours, is at least fifteen exceedingly ordinary minutes too long.

John Wayne and Dean Martin star as two of the four Elder brothers, and are, as always, effortlessly charming…..though if anyone else in the world walked like John Wayne you’d have to assume they had a particularly nasty case of haemorrhoids. In fact, the cast is full of good actors; but most of them are wasted. James Gregory as the chief villain and George Kennedy as his sadistic henchman are great, but they aren’t in it enough.

Familiar character actors from the Golden Age of cinema crop up all over the place, such as John Qualen, Rhys Williams, John Litel, and Paul Fix, and Strother Martin and Dennis Hopper also have small parts.

THE NANNY (GB 1965) movie ** score **

Pedestrian and ultimately pointless psycho-thriller with an appropriately string-heavy but unremarkable score from Richard Rodney Bennett.

The story begins with a ten-year-old boy (well played by William Dix) returning home having spent a period of time at a care-home following the ‘accidental’ drowning of his four-year-old sister in the bath. His mother (Wendy Craig) and nanny (Bette Davis) come to collect him, and it becomes clear that the boy hates nanny.

Is Bette Davis a homicidal nanny or was the boy somehow responsible for the death of his little sister? Well, THE NANNY laboriously answers that question, with only a very few ‘predictable’ twists and turns along the way.

TIGER BAY (GB 1959) movie **** score **1/2

The Hayley Mills season continues with this superb drama set in waterfront Cardiff.

An eleven-year-old girl witnesses the murder of a neighbour in her apartment-block and befriends the murderer. Superintendent John Mills is assigned to the case.

John Mills is excellent in the starring role, as is Horst Bucholz as the murderer, but it is Hayley who steals the movie. The entire supporting cast is uniformly excellent, including Yvonne Mitchell as the victim, Anthony Dawson and Megs Jenkins - to name a few.

British director J Lee-Thompson (CAPE FEAR, THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD and CABOBLANCO) vividly captures the cosmopolitan make-up of dockside Cardiff, and contrasts it brilliantly with the surrounding beautiful Welsh countryside. The scripting is particularly fine, and the story intelligently convinces us that the murderer is a sympathetic loser, and accurately portrays the childish innocence of Hayley Mills’ character. The finale of the movie is particularly satisfactory.

Whole Nine Yards was very entertaining and funny, and one of Matthew Perry's better forays into the movie biz. Bruce Willis played his character perfectly.

Romeo Must Die fulfills the need for Jet Li fixes, and the movie was excellent in that area. The story was a bit formulaic, but that's to be expected. The only thing that I didn't really care for was the stupid hip-hop music that pervaded the film.

Kevin

WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (GB 1961) movie ***1/2 score ****1/2

A group of young children discover a murderer hiding in their barn and think he is Jesus.

Absolutely charming children’s movie set in Lancashire and starring Hayley Mills as one of the children, Alan Bates as the fugitive and Bernard Lee as Hayley’s gruff but kind-hearted father – all are excellent in their roles. Richard Attenborough produced this movie, and Bryan Forbes directs brilliantly. The movie is adapted from the novel by Mary Hayley Bell (Hayley’s mother), and, like TIGER BAY is another excellent study of the innocence of youth contrasting harshly with the realism of the adult-world.

NOTHING SACRED (US 1937) movie ****1/2 score ****

Classic satire, a million miles away from the ponderous, laborious, self-conscious and smugly self-satisfied so-called ‘satires’ of Frank Capra, though there are exceptions - IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, for instance, was superb.

NOTHING SACRED, even sixty three years on, is full of original comic situations, cracking one-liners, and an uncompromizingly cynical attitude.

Vermont girl Carole Lombard pretends she is dying of radium poisoning, and New York reporter Fredric March, having fallen for the deception, exploits the girl’s impending death for newspaper headlines.

re: WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND,

I'm wondering if you've ever seen or heard of a subsequent (and great!) Spanish picture called SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE. They sound a bit similar. Wondering if you (or anyone) can compare the pair.

All in all, it's a great movie if you want a few hours of enjoyment. I'm sure it's not going to win any awards, but I found it pleasant nontheless. Eastwood, Garner, Jones, and Sutherland really made the show (and since they were the stars, I would hope they would! ).

I did like the score (what there was) and wish it would be available (but I'm not holding my breath).

The special effects were superb, and the only real nit-picks I could find was the scenes in space. But since I'm a science-type, I always look out for that stuff. Reality, you know...

This is one I'll get on DVD though.

No, I haven’t seen SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE.

THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS (US 1960) movie ***1/2 score ****

Stagy and rather unconvincing drama, made good by scripting, performances and Max Steiner’s gorgeous score.

The movie’s stage origins are all too apparent, but the story eloquently exposes so many of the problems that everyday folk encounter in everyday life. The movie’s title alludes to the fear of life in all of us, a fear that gradually diminishes with age, but a fear that is never fully expunged.

The story takes place in a sleepy Oklahoma town during the 30s, and focuses on the family of a recently laid-off agricultural salesman. Robert Preston is brilliant as the jobless salesman whose marriage to Dorothy Maguire has stagnated and whose teenage children are suffering the agonies of growing up. Angela Lansbury is exceptional as Preston’s girlfriend.

Anyone watching this movie will see a lot of themselves (and their friends, relatives and acquaintances) in the characters portrayed onscreen, THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS is filled with many shrewd observations and truisms, but despite this, the movie as a whole is very positive and uplifting, thanks in no small part to Steiner’s beautiful underscore (Steiner is my favourite film composer).

The main theme, as heard in the opening credits, is at first deceptively banal. The music is light in mood, but rich and melodic, with a smooth waltz-like rhythm. Steiner then adapts this thematic material throughout the movie to magnify the gamut of emotions that is on display. The music is always intimate and little or no brass is apparent. Solo violin and harmonica are extensively and wittily employed, as are deep, descending minor-key string-flourishes during the many emotinally-moving scenes.

Once again Max Steiner amazes. Though he may not have been involved with quite as many movies as Alfred Newman (my number 2 favourite film composer), Steiner’s scores are consistently ‘complete’ and complex compositions. This is no mean feat, considering he was scoring six or more movies per year, and without the technology and conveniences that today’s film composer enjoys. Incidentally, this is no criticism of Alfred Newman, a composer who produced a large number of classic film-scores, it’s just that Newman was involved with a lot of movies as Musical Director, or even when he did compose for the movie, it may only have been the opening credits theme (as in CHARLEY’S AUNT).

Anyway, THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS is well worth sticking with. It’s not only a very good movie, it’s also a fine study of human nature.

MAFIA! (US 1998) movie * score ***

Considering how inherently amusing GOODFELLAS and the ‘Godfather’ series were anyway, it is rather surprising that anyone felt the need to make a Mafia-spoof.

One thing that has dated chronically over the past decade or so, apart from 60s and 70s cinema, is the whole Mafia ethos. Such movies as GOODFELLAS highlight the anachronistic ludicrousness and giddyingly-hilarious nature of the Mafia, and its members. Thus, a Mafia spoof is akin to making a ‘comic version’ of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN. Of particular amusement is how the Mafia today has legitimized itself by involving itself more in above-board business opportunities such as the manufacture of drain-covers here in Bristol and in London. The Mafia has actually found out (duhhhh!!!) that it’s more profitable to engage in legal business operations than risk penalties and imprisonment through illicit transactions, especially these days. Nevertheless, even when the Mafia was in its pomp, they were more a source of ridicule than a reason to break out in goose-bumps, at least here in London.

Having said all of that, MAFIA! hardly raises even a smile, and manages to be far less funny than GOODFELLAS and the ‘Godfather’ trilogy. However, MAFIA! broadens its range well beyond lampooning the Sicilian Clan, but is rarely amusing whatever it is attempting to poke fun at. A few mildly amusing moments are overwhelmed by an ocean of witlessness, and a sadly well past-it Lloyd Bridges (in his last movie) seems to confirm the movie’s ineptitude. This despite fine production values, and a well-judged score from John Frizzell.

Still, how could any movie effectively spoof a movie-genre that is already fatuous and risible.

PSYCHO II (US 1983) movie *1/2 score **1/2

Tedious, ponderous and obvious sequel to Hitchcock’s classic.

Though Perkins is good, the script is dreadful and Franklin’s direction is as uninventive as Hitchcock’s was innovative.

Goldsmith’s stunningly banal piano-led theme alarming portends to much of his 90s output, but he does manages to throw in a fair amount of effective electronic dissonance. However, this sort of ‘creeping-around’ movie is always less likely to allow the movie composer to create a flowing and thematically complex masterwork, but Goldsmith gives the movie the score it needs, but that bland theme loses him half a star.

This is the second time I have seen PSYCHO II (I saw PSYCHO again last year), and I am of the opinion that the sequel has dated far more rapidly than the original. The original is a timeless classic, made exceptional by its vivid and larger-than-life atmosphere, thanks to Hitchcock, Herrmann, Leigh, Balsam, a younger Perkins etc. In comparison, the sequel is an artless exercise is redundant filmmaking, typifying the general standard of movies at that time. It has a cheap and tacky appearance. Somehow the quality of the photography has a tv-movie look that characterized many early 80s movies away from the top-drawer productions of Steven Spielberg etc. And watching this movie again, having enjoyed cinema’s return to top form during the 90s, PSYCHO II now looks like a particularly inept non-event coming at the scrag-end of a consistently poor period in cinema’s history that roughly spanned 1955 to 1985.

Watching movies as poor and as pointless as PSYCHO II makes one feel very glad that Hollywood has now returned to the high-quality all-out entertainment value that characterized 30s and 40s cinema.

TYCOON (US 1947) movie * score **1/2

Incompetent and boring tale of railroad building in the Andes.

The script, performances and direction are as bad as each other; this despite a cast of movie legends including, John Wayne, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Anthony Quinn, and James Gleason.

THE SIEGE (US 1998) movie *1/2 score **1/2

LET’S GET LAID (GB 1977) movie * score **1/2

Juvenile romp set in 1947 London, has Robin Askwith (CONFESSIONS OF A WINDOW CLEANER etc) as Private Gordon Laid who is unwittingly caught-up in espionage.

HALLOWEEN H20 (US 1998) movie ** score ***

A miserly running-time, chinless cast, and uninventive plot are somewhat compensated for by good production values, a hectic final third, and Ottman’s colourful Goldsmithian score.

The trouble is, though some new life may have been injected into the Halloween movie series, HALLOWEEN H20 is still light years behind SCREAM and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER as far as entertainment value and inventiveness is concerned.

Thanks for the recommendation.

THE LITTLE MINISTER (US 1934) movie **** score ****

Charming, insightful and often poignant fairy-tale set in 1840 Scotland.

A young woman engaged to the Lord of the Manor masquerades as a gypsy amongst the villagers. In the process the young minister falls for her charms and the village is alight with gossip.

The time and place is beautifully recreated by the production team, and the drama is powerful and moving. A great Hollywood cast is in top form. Katherine Hepburn is terrific as the gypsy (a great accent too), the underused John Beal is fine as the taciturn minister, Donald Crisp is his ever-reliable self as the village doctor and druggist, Frank Conroy, though playing the Lord of the Manor, for once has a ‘nice’ side to his nature, Lumsden Hare is perfect as the Kirk elder and Mary Gordon plays ‘Nanny’.

The script is especially fine, and despite the crackles on the soundtrack, it isn’t long before one forgets one is watching a movie made sixty six years ago. Not only that, almost every scene is beautifully judged….acting, pacing and scripting is spot-on, as is Max Steiner’s beautiful score. Here, Steiner mixes Celtic and Gypsy styles to create an authentic and mesmerising score. Not only does the music sound right, it fits in seamlessly with the rich and romantic atmosphere of the movie as a whole.

THE MAN FROM MOROCCO (GB 1944) movie 1/2 score ***

Abysmal tale of an international fighting brigade operating during the Spanish Civil War and their subsequent capture by the Germans.

Incredibly stilted and unconvincing, with a terrible performance from Anton Walbrook as the leader of the brigade. Walbrook is great playing elegant urbanites, but he’s no action man, or orator for that matter. Here he is made to incessantly spout speeches about freedom and tolerance, but his insipid voice is weak and lacking that vital intonation. Likewise, his appearance and manner is like that of an immaculately dressed ‘drawing-room’ thespian, uttering hollow put-downs between draws on his unnaturally extended cigarette holder.

Mischa Spoliansky’s score is the movie’s one good point.

ESCAPADE IN JAPAN (US 1957) movie ** score ***

Though not a very cinematic experience, the fascinating and unusual Japanese locations make this movie a worthwhile watch.

Following a plane crash, Cameron Mitchell’s young son eludes the police for fear of being blamed for the accident. The boy’s adventures are far less interesting than the insight the movie provides into the Japanese people and culture and the magnificent location shooting throughout the mountainous terrain and the cities.

Max Steiner’s scoring is not up to his usual standard, but he gives the movie what it needs. A traditional orchestra is lavished with ethnic instrumental embellishment. Sometimes the score can become a little intrusive, but there are plenty of passages that show-off the ethnic instrumental soloists with the more traditional orchestra being allowed to retreat to the background. Perhaps a better movie may have inspired some better thematic material from the Master Film Composer.

Anyway, if you’re interested in Japan, this movie is well worth watching.

I LIVED WITH YOU (GB 1933) movie **** score n/a

Simply superb romantic comedy/drama about a charming, but penniless, young man, who claims to be a Russian Prince, inveigling his way into a 30s Fulham household and changing the humdrum lives of its occupants forever.

Welsh idol Ivor Novello (real name Ivor Davies of course) plays the Russian ‘Prince’ with typical swagger and brilliance. He really is the ultimate in charm, a sort of cross between Warner Baxter and Ramon Novarro with just a dash of pre-1950 Vincent Price.

The time and place and the London people are captured perfectly by the saucy and energetic screenplay, with seemingly dozens of memorable characters including a very young Jack Hawkins as a Cockney wide-boy.

The household’s transition from fish-wives and foul-mouthed commoners to snobbish gentility is both very funny and very believable. And that’s just what the movie is about, (just like THE COMMON TOUCH (see August 18 below)), exposing the absurdities of the class-system that thankfully, in the year 2000, is almost a thing of the past.

HOTEL RESERVE (GB 1944) movie *** score ***

Reasonably entertaining tale of Frenchman James Mason’s Mediterranean holiday at the titular hotel being interrupted by Nazi spies. The police suspect Mason’s character (formerly an Austrian) of spying for the Germans when his camera is found to contain photographs of French naval operations. Mason sets about clearing his own name by exposing the real spy.

A great cast of British-movie regulars play the other hotel guests, including Herbert Lom, Valentine Dyall, and Raymond Lovell, and Julien Mitchell is good as the suspicious police-chief.

Good Herrmannesque score too.

THE COMMON TOUCH (GB 1941) movie ***1/2 score ****

Super film has young Geoffrey Hibbert inheriting his father’s massive business interests in London, and then masquerading as a tramp to appreciate how the other half live.

The excellent Canadian character actor Raymond Lovell is superb as Hibbert’s treacherous and snobbish business advisor, and also excellent are a huge line-up of British ‘Cockney’ actors as the hobos with whom Hibbert becomes the greatest of friends, among them Terence Rigby, Harry Welchman and Bill Fraser.

The plot is secondary to the movie’s atmosphere, agenda and characterizations – and the movie is really best seen as an expose of the gulf between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ in 30s London.

THE COMMON TOUCH is packed with music – the nightclub scenes have huge Busby Berkeley styled jazz dance routines, with dozens of pianos and Latin American dancers. The dosshouse is full of London ‘busker’ music – harmonicas, guitars, accordions and tinkly saloon pianos. The soundtrack is full of classical music, and at one point, Mark Hambourg himself makes an appearance playing a piano concerto.

Apart from the music and the characterizations, the London locations are vividly captured, and the whole movie has a punchy and authentic feel thanks in no small part to the crisp photography and the clarity of the sound recording.

THE COMMON TOUCH is a real gem that can perhaps be appreciated now even more than it was back in the 40s when the movie was released. For British-made human dramas this one is up there with the life-affirming and hugely enjoyable TRAINSPOTTING, though TRAINSPOTTING doesn't quite have that realistic and 'grubby' feel that THE COMMON TOUCH possesses in spades.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (US/GB 1998) movie *** score ***1/2

Pleasant, but thin and over-stretched fictional account of the events that inspired the Great Man to write Romeo and Juliet.

The entire cast is excellent. Of particular note are Gwyneth Paltrow and Dame Judi Dench, but Tom Wilkinson, Geoffrey Rush and Ben Affleck are also outstanding. Late 16th century England is recreated with great superficial authenticity, but the important plot strand involving the American Colonies (Virginia was not permanently settled until 1607) was one of many forgivable anachronisms, and in the end served to cement the movie’s satisfying ending.

Warbech’s Oscar-winning score is very good with plenty of English-folk character and the occasional symphonic outburst when required.

Much as I enjoyed the movie’s very existence, I found it hard to believe that SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE garnered seven Oscars, including Best Picture. It was a good-natured, light-romantic and farcical piece of whimsy, but lacked a certain energy and vibrancy that characterized RESTORATION (for instance) – a movie similar in many ways to that SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, not least in its likeable nature.

THE MUMMY’S SHROUD (GB 1966) movie * score *1/2

Barrel-scraping Hammer nonsense, that is at least good for a laugh. The usual tale of an excavated mummy coming to life is weighed down by an extraordinarily boring pre-opening-credits sequence (narrated by Peter Cushing) that tells of the mummy’s life-history at inordinate length.

Particularly poor production values and a very familiar plot are this movie’s chief faults. Indeed, what looks like a disused quarry half a mile outside of Basingstoke doubles for the Saharan desert, and the occasional insertion of a ‘postcard from Cairo’ is about the best the movie can do to suggest the movie’s exotic location in 1920’s British Egypt.

The cast is mainly comprised of chinless wonders, but John Phillips, as the expedition’s blustering and bullying industrialist financier, injects some much needed life into the proceedings. Michael Ripper is also excellent as Phillips’ weak and loyal business manager – his death at the hands of the mummy is the highlight of the movie.

Anyway, if nothing else, THE MUMMY’S SHROUD provides a barrel-load of unintentional laughs for all the family.

DOCTOR DOOLITTLE (US 1998) movie ** score ***

Plenty of toilet humour to keep the younger kids amused, but otherwise laughs are very few and far between. This despite a fine and typically ingratiating performance from Eddie Murphy, top production values, excellent use of dramatic score (Richard Gibbs) and songs and some very good special effects.

A pleasant and harmless time-waster.

CRACK IN THE WORLD (US 1965) movie **1/2 score **1/2

Experiments to tap the Earth’s mantle for its limitless supply of energy go awry – a nuclear explosion opens up a massive fissure in the Earth’s crust that may lead to the end of the world.

Reasonably good, of its kind – a better than average script and rather good special effects (amongst the library pictures) help lift the movie above the routine.

Cripes, did they muck this one up. What was an intriguing beginning became a bad horror movie. There were so much that could have been done with the concept, yet all the filmmakers could wring out was an Alien rip-off riddled with horror cliches? By the end of the movie, I began to perdict who would die (and I turned out to be right most of the time) and counted down the 3 times the Bacon character died (the standard number of lives a villian is granted in an action/horror movie). I didn't really pay all that much attention to Goldsmith's score while watching beyond the title sequence; it just had the cheesy tone of a shock horror movie. At least it had cool FX, which was the only reason I saw it in the first place.

The Cell
3 1/2 of 4

Along with Ebert, I may just be the only one who liked the movie and I may just get flamed for it. Not just for it's brilliant, stunning visuals, but an engrossing story and characters. While, admittingly, it can be too graphic at sometimes, it does serve the story: all of the killer's horrific mannerisms are all traced back towards his tragic childhood. The film does not excuse the killer for his acts, but rather makes one pity and understand how he got that way. Whatever you're opinion of the movie, you have to admit that Tarsen Singh is worth watching for, his knack for strong visuals that can carry the film's plot.

Godzilla 2000
3 of 4

I have to admit I liked this movie, even with it's (intentional?) cornyness. It's a nice little diversion, something you would see on a weekend to kill some time. And yes, it's better then the Devlin-Emmerich Godzilla

Titus
3 1/2 of 4

Titus is something I would describe as a dark farce. The over-the-top sequencies and violence make it seem less and less that The Bard intended it to be serious.

(POSSIBLE SPOILERS)

I quote Roger Ebert in his review:

quote:

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"Titus" as "Scream 1593"? Bloom cites the scene where Titus is promised the return of his sons if he will send Saturninus his hand--only to find the hand returned with only the heads of his sons. Grief-stricken, Titus assigns tasks. He, with his remaining hand, will carry one of the heads. He asks his brother to take the other. That leaves the severed hand. At this point in the play, his daughter Lavinia has no hands (or tongue) after being raped and mutilated by Queen Tamora's sons, and so he instructs her, "Bear thou my hand, sweet wench, between thy teeth." Bloom invites scholars to read that line aloud without smiling, and says Shakespeare knew the play "was a howler, and expected the more discerning to wallow in it self-consciously."

---

Add that to the very end when Titus serves Tamora and her wife, the emperor of Rome, a meat pie where the meat is Tamora's sons. The tone of this is blackly comical, I couldn't help but laugh at this scene; it's almost as if you can tell the playwrite (and filmmakers while we're at it) have a wry grin on thier face.

(END)

As for director Julie Taymor's juxtaposition of various time periods, from Ancient Rome to Fascist Italy, it isn't all done for eye-candy. Taymore, by setting the ultra-violence of the play in this background, shows that violence and gory vengence is not limited to the distant past, but follows humanity in any time period.

Elliot Goldenthal's score for the movie is excellent. Goldenthal shows how flexible he can be, the styles used in the film including jazz and rock.