For me, 1983 was an "off" year as far as movies were concerned. The reason? No new Star Trek films. In fact, when I think of that year, the first thing that comes to mind is the snowstorm of February 11, which dumped nearly two feet on Southern ...
The thing I remember most forcefully about 1982 isn't the Falklands Islands conflict, the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 into the Potomac, the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, or the death of Brezhnev. It was the arrival in theaters of ...
The problem with being 13 years old and wanting to go to the movies every weekend was that transportation was an issue. With the nearest theater not within bicycling distance (my preferred means of traveling to most nearby destinations), that meant ...
On January 1, 1980, I was 12 years old and roughly half-way through seventh grade. It was, as Charles Dickens wrote, "the best of times… the worst of times." Junior high school was hell. In those days (and I suspect it hasn't changed much), ...
As of today, ReelViews is officially eleven years old - not quite a teenager but getting close to puberty. Then again, maybe 'Net years are like dog years. That would make ReelViews 77.Much has changed since the tenth anniversary celebration, when ...
This column offers “10 Top Performances of 2017.” It does not present the “Top 10 Performances of 2017” nor the “Best 10 Performances of 2017.” I want to highlight ten performances (without making actor/actress or lead/support distinctions) that have lodged in my memory.
If I had to name a favorite contemporary composer of movie scores, it would likely be John Barry (although Jerry Goldsmith would make the decision difficult). Barry has composed some lasting and familiar music over the course of his long career. In...
As a former Star Trek fan, it was likely that a Star Trek score would show up on this list. From a musical perspective, one of the problems with the 10-film Star Trek series (especially early, before Jerry Goldsmith took over on a "regular" basis ...
For people of my generation, the score for Star Wars is iconic. It's impossible for me even to pretend objectivity where this music is concerned, because it's the first album I bought with my own money, and I listened to it constantly. There ...
In the pantheon of film composers, few are more respected than Ennio Morricone. Over a career that spans (thus far) 45 years, Morricone has composed about 540 movie scores, which puts him ahead of the great, prolific Max Steiner. It's a nearly ...
Can you read my mind? Do you know what it that you do to me? I don't know who you are - just a friend from another star.Most people who heard those lyrics on the radio during 1979 associated them solely with the pop hit by Maureen McGovern. In ...
John Williams has scored all six of the Star Wars movies, and each of the soundtracks had its strengths and weaknesses. In my opinion, not only is The Empire Strikes Back the most mature and complete of Williams' Star Wars efforts, but it's among ...
It should come as no surprise that Patton has placed high on this list, although many will doubtless have expected the score to mirror the movie and take the #1 position. One thing I have wondered is whether I would have appreciated the film as much...
I am one of the few people who will admit to liking the 1976 version of King Kong. There are three reasons for this. It was the first movie I saw in an indoor movie theater and, as such, it left an imprint on the impressionable mind of a nine-year ...
Not what you expected? Gettysburg has been a favorite of mine since I picked up the soundtrack shortly after seeing the movie in 1993. Over the years, it has grown on me. I took several plane trips during the mid-1990s with it as my only CD ...
Although Basil Poledouris has composed more than 80 film scores, none is more impressive than 1982's Conan the Barbarian. For those who like epic, militaristic soundtracks, this makes for compulsive listening. It's the score that elevated the ...
What does it mean to be #1? If that position is to be determined based on pure box office gross (unadjusted by inflation), it's Titanic. Based on tickets sold, it's Gone with the Wind. Based on critics' polls, it's Citizen Kane. And based on ...