This one casts itself off as a female version of Death Wish complete with two uncomfortable assaults of the lead actress in the first ten minutes. But rather than being a standard tale of revenge, it becomes a decent into madness as Thana grows more and more unhinged in her killing spree. The visuals, especially the insane climax, are really quite astounding. There is not much of a story here, but I was glued to it all the way to the bizarre, slow-motion ending.
I finally bought this CD after being nagged by my Discogs.com wishlist alert for months. I shouldn’t have waited because this disc, like all of the Morricone releases by Dagored, is worth having. The opening track and much of the record features a pounding piano rhythm that is not dissimilar from many 70’s Italian police drama scores. Then there are creepy dissonant noise tracks and even an easy-listening gem, “Sospiri Da Una Radio Lontana.”
Don’t be dissuaded by the fact that all the tracks lest one are titled, “I Bambini Ci Chiedono Perche.” This isn’t one of those Morricone scores that is just slight variations of the same song over and over (I’m looking at you Indagine Su Un Cittadino Al Di Sopra Di Ogni Sospetto!). Although the main melody, often sung by Edda Dell’Orso, is the focus throughout. It ranges from mysterious to bittersweet to spine-chillingly epic.
Well, it took me about half a decade, but I finally finished Super Mario Galaxy 2. I really liked the first one and this is a lot more of the same. There’s a bit of “been there, done that,” in my opinion of the game. A few new additions have been added, like being able to ride on Yoshi and use his tongue like a grappling hook. But, for the most part, this is pure 3-D platforming at about the best it will ever get. Which is to say, yeah it’s pretty good for a not-so-deep game.
As with the original, gravity and orientation are used to mix things up and give everyone in the room motion sickness. Once again, plot is an afterthought that doesn’t serve to motivate players to go farther. In the end, I don’t think I am an OCD enough gamer to keep going in an attempt to find every secret and collect every star. I’ll leave that for the youngsters who seem to have all the time in the world. Those, jerks.
Now that the sequel is in theaters, I thought I should see the original since since a lot of people whose opinions I respect loved it. Maybe I had inflated expectations, but I wasn’t impressed. What it has going for it is a nice character build up in the first twenty minutes and an original fantasy-ish world that is gradually built up. Everyone seemed to rave about the action, but I found it to be sterile and dull. Its action sequences are a never ending flow of perfect head-shots and zero danger for John Wick. It was like watching a blase slacker staple gunning flyers up on every pole around campus. Pop, pop, pop… change camera angle… pop, pop, pop. Sigh.
A short book about a lesser known hero of the American revolution. As the captain of a Connecticut privateer vessel, Smedley captured a dozen or so prizes, ran aground, was captured twice and escaped from a British prison. It’s all pretty exciting stuff, but there aren’t too many first-hand accounts of the action so the book is a little sterile in its telling of the facts. I had to remind myself that this is straight up history and not an Aubry-Maturin novel. Even so, enjoyed the book for what it was.
Although this disc is part of the Crime box set, the music here is very much in the vein of Morricone’s giallo scores. There is a lots of dissonance and free form improvisation. The title track features Edda Dell’Orso and it serves to reel in the experimentation as it’s reprised over the course of the CD. Many years ago I used some of this music in my horror remix trailer for the film Junior High School.
Gli Intoccabili opens with the tense and pounding, “Ballad of Hank McCain.” It’s reprised three more times on the record and I love it every time. The song feels like a spaghetti western pop song alá “Lonesome Billy” or “Keep Your Hand on Your Gun” but with a mafioso vibe. Unfortunately, a huge chunk of the record after that gets way too mellow. We’re talking quiet dinner music mellow. I love lounge music but even I have my limits.
One of three discs included on the Crime box set of Poliziotteschi soundtracks. The highlight of the soundtrack is the nine minute long “Revolver.” A gritty, 70s cop show epic that is structured around a pounding piano melody that keeps building and building until the end. It’s repetitive and my family hates it when this one comes up on the shuffle, but I love it! There is more variety throughout the rest of the disc and it’s all book-ended with a couple of versions of the mellow title song, “Un Amico.”
The final CD from the Fear box set is pure experimental improvisation. There isn’t much method to this madness, just jazzy noise, bowed cymbals and the occasional distorted wah-wah guitar. This feels like an excerpt from the six CD set Sound Dimensions. It’s great as background filler, but don’t listen here if you want sweeping, epic Morricone melodies.