CD Review: BLOW OUT soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 12/31/2014
BLOW OUT soundtrack | ©2014 Intrada Records

After CARRIE and DRESSED TO KILL, DePalma and Donaggio were at the top of their ersatz Hitchcock-Herrmann game when they took a nihilistic detour into the paranoia-conspiracy territory that fueled such similarly bleak classics as THE PARALLAX VIEW and THE CONVERSATION. But while there was nothing remotely “meta” about those movies’ dark approach, the thrill of any collaboration between this director and composer was in seeing, and hearing just how close their homages could get to the originals and survive, while still being dazzlingly stylish in their own right. On that count, BLOW OUT is a terrific example of being […]Read On »


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CD Review: LA BUCA soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 12/12/2014
LA BUCA soundtrack | ©2014 Quartet Records

Fans of Pino Donaggio can only visualize Brian De Palma’s frequent suspense music consigliore holding up a butcher knife composed of lush orchestrations for such scores as CARRIE, BLOW OUT and BODY DOUBLE given his work that hits stateside. Undoubtedly, they’ll get a big musical shock if they hear how he’s equally adept at handling the styles of George Gershwin and Stephan Grappelli with the finesse he usually gives to Bernard Herrmann. The latter two are the jazzy partners in musical crime for this Italian comedy that finds a shady lawyer using hook and crook to reverse the record of […]Read On »


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Blu-ray Review: PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE Collector’s Edition

By CARL CORTEZ 08/30/2014
PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE Collector's Edition Blu-ray | ©2014 Shout! Factory

Stars: Paul Williams, William Finley, Harold Oblong, George Memmoli, Archie Hahn, Jeffrey Comanor, Gerrit Graham, Jessica Harper Writer-Director: Brian De Palma Suggested Retail Price: $29.93 Distributor: Shout! Factory The 1970s, we sure do miss you. That era of experimentation and filmmaking ownership is sadly a thing of the past, but the movies still remain and every now and again a reissue reminds you of how crazy brilliant that era was. PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE was writer-director Brian De Palma’s comedic musical take on the PHANTOM OF THE OPERA legend. Very quirky, stylish and campy, it’s very different from the suspense […]Read On »


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Exclusive Interview: ATLANTIS actress Jemima Rooper channels Medusa

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 12/08/2013
Jemima Rooper is Medusa in ATLANTIS | ©2013 BBC America

In ATLANTIS, now airing its first season on BBC American Saturdays at 9 PM, we’re in the days of the Greek myths. Jason (Jack Donnelly), who will eventually steal the Golden Fleece and marry Medea, is currently having adventures with mathematician Pythagoras (Robert Emms) and a tirelessly self-promoting, slightly out-of-shape Hercules (Mark Addy). We know the group’s female member by name, but aren’t used to seeing the character Medusa not as a snake-haired Gorgon, but rather with the lovely face of actress Jemima Rooper. London native Rooper has split her work between theatre (including the recorded-for-National Theatre Live production of […]Read On »


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Movie Review: CARRIE

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 10/19/2013
CARRIE 2013 Theatrical Poster | ©2013 Screen Gems

Rating: R Stars: Chloe Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Gabriella Wilde, Portia Doubleday, Alex Russell, Zoe Belkin, Ansel Elgort, Judy Greer Writers: Lawrence D. Cohen and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, based on the novel by Stephen King Director: Kimberly Peirce Distributor: Screen Gems/Sony Release Date: October 18, 2013 Most horror movie and/or pop culture fans can tell you that, decades before there was the Red Wedding, there was the Red Prom. Stephen King’s novel CARRIE was adapted in 1976 by director Brian De Palma and screenwriter Lawrence D. Cohen into a movie that earned Oscar nominations for actresses Sissy Spacey, as the title […]Read On »


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CD review: DRESSED TO KILL soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 06/23/2013
DRESSED TO KILL soundtrack | ©2013 Intrada Records

Filmmaker Brian De Palma couldn’t have asked for a better composer to assist in his stylish Alfred Hitchcock dress-ups for SISTERS  and OBSESSION than the composer the Master of Suspense did wrong with TORN CURTAIN. After Bernard Herrmann’s passing, a talented Italian named Pino Donaggio, who’d thrilled with the right musical stuff whilst pursuing DON’T LOOK NOW‘s killer dwarf about Venice, stepped into the maestro’s music shoes to perfectly replicate Herrmann’s identity in a way that would make Kim Novak jealous. Of the De Palma-Donaggio collaborations that included CARRIE, BODY DOUBLE, BLOW OUT and RAISING CAIN, none reached the stimulating […]Read On »


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CD Review: THE FURY soundtrack (3500 edition)

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 04/08/2013
THE FURY soundtrack | ©2013 La La Land Records

Brian De Palma was lucky enough to get the real Herrmann deal to participate in his cinematically brilliant games of Hitchcock fetishism for SISTERS and OBSESSION. And just as James Stewart mooned over Kim Novak’s doppelganger, De Palma has since spent a good part of his thriller-centric career getting just about every composer since Bernard’s passing to dress up in his musical clothing, which has provided a pretty good fit for such men as Pino Donaggio (DRESSED TO KILL) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (FEMME FATALE). Perhaps that dramatically macabre sound has never been tailored better than to John Williams, an artist […]Read On »


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CD Review: THE UNTOUCHABLES: LIMITED EDITION soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 01/02/2013
THE UNTOUCHABLES: LIMITED EDITION soundtrack | ©2012 La La Land Records

Ennio Morricone has never been better then when composing for Sergio Leone’s epics of American gangster-ism, whether it was committed in dust busters for ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, or in the flashy 30s hood attire of ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA. So it seemed only natural when the Italian maestro finally pulled a job for crime-obsessed director Brian De Palma, whose 1987 take on THE UNTOUCHABLES remains not only one of the best TV-to-film translations ever, but a picture where De Palma’s stylistic swagger was a perfect fit for Morricone’s, propelling him to made man status […]Read On »


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AFM 2011: It’s all in the name for ESCAPING THE RUSH filmmaker Brian J. De Palma

By A.C. FERRANTE 11/07/2011
ESCAPING THE RUSH storyboard | ©2011 Brian J. De Palma

Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it helps when your name is Brian De Palma – that is Brian J. De Palma. The independent filmmaker was at the American Film Market 2011 pre-selling his film ESCAPING THE RUSH and says that having a similar name to CARRIE director Brian De Palma hasn’t totally hurt him over the years. “It sometimes gets people on the phone or they think it’s him joking around,” says De Palma. “I don’t know if it hurts or helps at all – it’s just a talking point sometimes.” Ten minutes of ESCAPING THE RUSH is complete and it […]Read On »


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