Movies with music written by James Newton Howard

In July 1967, civil unrest resulting from the brutality of the predominantly white Detroit police department reached a boiling point. The result, which history has named the “12th Street Riot”, was one of the deadliest and destructive riots in...

Taylor Hackford's The Devil's Advocate has many laudable qualities, but subtlety is not among them. The story, which postulates that the devil is walking among us today, gives Satan's human alter-ego a truly obvious name: John Milton (for those w...

While watching Disney's Dinosaur, with all of its incredibly rendered creatures and seamless blending of animated objects with real backgrounds, a question occurred to me: In movies like this, can the writing keep pace with the technology? Films ...

When it comes to spy thrillers, Tony Gilroy knows the game. The formula for a crackling entry into this genre is simple enough: keep the action moving and the twists coming, then engage in one late innings sleight of hand that pulls the rug out fr...

Bill (Michael Douglas) is having a bad morning. He's stuck in his car in a traffic jam, his air conditioner isn't putting out any cold air, his windows won't work, and there's a fly buzzing around his head. Taken as a whole, all of this is enough...

As a stand-alone spin-off that takes us back to the enchanted world of Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them provides an engaging two hours. As the beginning of a new fantasy/adventure series intended to span several chapters, its suc...

The biggest source of frustration with the sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them relates to it being a middle installment of a much larger story. As such, it’s a stepping stone from the introduction into a meatier narrative. It la...

Is this the end of the cinematic Wizarding World? Based on both the text of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and various extra-production cues, the answer may be “yes.” The eleventh film to transpire in the world created by J.K. Row...

Fathers' Day simply has to be seen to be believed. It's beyond my comprehension how a motion picture with so much talent associated with it -- actors Robin Williams and Billy Crystal, super-producer Joel Silver, and director Ivan Reitman -- can be...

Freedomland is one of an increasingly endangered species: the adult movie that's about something. By "something," I mean a serious issue - the kind of thing films shy away from for fear of alienating viewers. Underneath the trappings of a police ...