Sometimes more of a good thing is just great, which is the case with the Coen Brothers’ (Ethan & Joel) remake of TRUE GRIT. The 1969 original, based on Charles Portis’ novel, won an Oscar for John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn, a one-eyed, alcoholic U.S. marshal who reluctantly takes up the quest of tracking down the man who murdered the father of fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross (Kim Darby in that version) – with Mattie doggedly accompanying him.
Day Eight proved to be the final day for 24 the TV series as the real-time series (chronicling a major U.S. crisis in a 24-hour period) waved goodbye in the same aggressive manner in which it began.
Kiefer Sutherland toplined the series as former Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) agent Jack Bauer. Over the course of eight seasons he lost so many of his loved ones, so much of his mind and soul and of course his privacy, he was a man without a country – a man without a home.
On Fox’s action drama HUMAN TARGET, now going into its second season, Mark Valley plays Christopher Chance, a bodyguard who takes crazy risks to protect his clients. His backup team consists of fixer Guerrero, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and businessman Winston, portrayed by Chi McBride. McBride, known to TV viewers for his regular roles in BOSTON PUBLIC, THE NINE and the still-lamented PUSHING DAISIES, gives us his take on Winston (who dons a Santa Claus costume in tonight’s Christmas-themed edition “The Other Side of the Mall”), plus his thoughts on the end of DAISIES and why its creator, Bryan […]Read On »
Having composed the last two scores for this series of particularly malleable role playing games, Russell Shaw returns for the third chapter of FABLE. And as you chose whether to save, or squander your fantasy kingdom of Albion, Russell is there to weave an uncommonly rich tapestry of melodic enchantment. Not only does he give you the heroic orchestrations, brass heraldry and female choruses you’d expect from any videogame quest, but also offers some nice unexpected bits, from Gypsy violin playing to the off-kilter bells of a music box and Greensleeves-like guitar strumming. Whether Albion ends up in riches or […]Read On »
The 1970’s were a renaissance for film suite compilation albums, as young LP listeners were introduced to the works of such Hollywood scoring legends as Bernard Herrmann, Miklos Rosza and Franz Waxman. But no great re-performance of these golden age masters functioned as the gateway drug for film music appreciation like the RCA Red Seal Classic Film Score Series, which had Charles Gerhardt conducting The National Philharmonic Orchestra. With the original movie orchestrations under his baton, and enticingly designed album covers to sell these ambitious releases, Gerhardt and series producer George Korngold (son of Erich) conjured a wash of infinitely […]Read On »
Who would have guessed that SMALLVILLE would have survived 10 years and two networks to live on as the longest running Superman-inspired series on television. From the inspired storytelling that took a young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) and chronicled his formative years before he became Superman, the series has taken many twists and turns, while also telling its own revisionist history of Kryptonians favorite son. As they get closer to the Season 10 series finale, executive producers Brian Wayne Peterson and Kelly Souders spoke with ASSIGNMENT X in this exclusive interview about where SMALLVILLE is going (without getting too spoilery […]Read On »
Jerry Goldsmith may have been an armchair general when it came to WW2, but it’s doubtful few composers gave as much glory to our fighting men, and their leaders with the likes of MACARTHUR and INCHON. Yet few of these outstanding Goldsmith scores have the immediately recognizable stripes of his 1970 Oscar-nominated PATTON, a soundtrack that defined the imperious can-do attitude of America’s most gloriously infamous officer. Right from his unscored opening speech to his belief in reincarnation, George S. Patton wasn’t so much a military leader as he was a force of nature. And while PATTON’s music is most […]Read On »
Though his one-time minion Heitor Pereria beat him to the supervillain scoring punch with DESPICABLE ME, Hans Zimmer gets the last laugh by actually seeing his similarly-themed, and equally fun MEGAMIND score (done in cahoots with Lorne Balfe) get an actual release on Lakeshore Records. Sure, both flicks might have arches trumpeting their dastardly doings. Yet both DESPICABLE ME and MEGAMIND also show their uber-evil characters as big musical softies. In fact, MEGAMIND is downright sweet for the most part as its titular fiend’s baby bells mix it up with ersatz superhero bombast, music that plays Megamind as the good […]Read On »
On the heels of “The Big Bang Job,” “The San Lorenzo Job” has Nate (Timothy Hutton) and company heading in pursuit of Damian Moreau (Goran Visnjic) to the title island nation, where the dictatorial President Ribera (Alastair Duncan) holds sway. San Lorenzo has no extradition treaties and Moreau bought Ribera his position, so it’s a safe haven for the criminal – or so he thinks. With an election coming but U.N. inspectors thick on the ground, Ribera has jailed all of his opposition, including Eliot’s (Christian Kane) old friend Gen. Flores – who refuses to be sprung from prison without his men.
As Season Three of LEVERAGE has had a through-line of Nate (Timothy Hutton) et al being urged/blackmailed by a mysterious Italian (Elisabetta Canalis) to go after mysterious, extremely powerful international criminal Damian Moreau, it stands to reason that the season finale would bring our team and the villain face to face. Director Marc Roskin and writers Chris Downey & Geoffrey Thorne have crafted an episode that has not only the customary LEVERAGE intrigue and impersonations, but also some surprising (for this show) gunplay and fatalities.
Loading ...
COPYRIGHT © 2010 - 2024, MIDNIGHT PRODUCTIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRIVACY POLICY & TERMS OF USE
