Bill Wrobel's DVD - Film Score Rundowns

-The Lost Missile (1958) ** [music ***]
I remember seeing this movie as a kid. At the time I was really impressed and a
bit scared of how an errant super missile five miles above the earth traveling at 4,000
mph could scorch everything along its path! The movie doesn’t hold up now but I liked
the brief instances of the missile approaching from the distance as a dim glare at night,
then as a bright overpowering fireball of white light. The stock footage is a drag
throughout the movie and the lame dialog and minor scenes. This might’ve been a classic
half-hour tv show somewhere but expanded into a movie was a lost missile, eh, I mean,
lost cause. The music by Gerald Fried is better than the movie—nice staccato con moto
piano patterns, brass, and so forth. But a classic score it is not.
-Finding Nemo (2003) *** 1/2 [music *** �]
http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Two-Disc-Collectors-Albert-
Brooks/dp/B00005JM02/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1292883970&sr=1-1
Vibrantly colorful, family fun cartoon feature. The music by Thomas Newman is
fine. The captivity in the fish tank in the dentist’s office was a bit too long, however!
Overall I liked Monsters Inc. better as a total experience movie.
-The Bride Wore Black (1968) *** [music ****]
http://www.amazon.com/Bride-Wore-Black-Jeanne-
Moreau/dp/B000053VBL/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1292884040&sr=1-1
This is a decent Truffaut film that Herrmann scored (but Francois butchered
somewhat!) but Fahrenheit 451 was better. I already gave a sixty-page rundown of this
score:
http://www.filmscorerundowns.net/herrmann/brideworeblack.pdf
-Perfect Storm (2000) *** [music ***]
http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Storm-Karen-
Allen/dp/B000P0J0C4/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1292884110&sr=1-1
Impressive giant waves special effects, George Clooney, decent story, okay music
by Horner (not so impressive as he used to be!).
-To Live & Die in LA (1985) *** � [music *]
http://www.amazon.com/Live-Die-L-
Special/dp/B00005JLJW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1292884186&sr=1-1-spell
I am not particularly a fan of Friedkin despite some of his impressive and
acclaimed works in the early Seventies (French Connection and Exorcist) but this was a
very good hard-edged movie starring William Petersen (later of CSI fame on television).
This can be a highly crude story but considering the subject nature of this film then you
must make allowances. I recommend you listen to Friedkin’s audio commentary.
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