Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace Soundtrack: (4 out of 4)
John Williams is still an absolute genius. Despite Episode 1 falling short of the original trilogy, John Williams does not fail with his soundtrack. It is yet another masterpiece to add to his collection and is a must have for any fan of Williams, Star Wars or just a fan of good music.
Just to clarify: I am not a classical music fan. In my opinion Mozart and Beethoven cannot even hold a candle to Fred Durst and Beck Hansen. However, John Williams just does something with his music to hook me in. When you listen to this soundtrack, you bring up the memories of the film and the events that took place. Unlike other blockbuster films that try to feature top-40 boy bands with their music, Lucas utilizes Williams' soundtrack as a tool. Williams does not try to outdo the movie, he just works his music into it.
What most people do not know is that Williams' soundtrack for the Star Wars trilogy is continuous. That means that it basically plays throughout the film. This is a testament to Williams' genius because he is subtle, yet powerful. Whether it be the heart-pumping thrill of "Duel of the Fates" or the subtle, soothing sound of "Anakin's Theme," Williams is able to display the right emotions in his soundtrack. The only gripe I could find with this soundtrack is that it is re-ordered. It is a continuous soundtrack, but the tracks are all re-organized. It would have been better if the soundtrack was organized to play as it had in the movie. But trust me, we'll live.
So in a day and age where movie soundtracks only sell with big headliners, John Williams comes in and breaks the mold. Not only does he create terrific music, but he is also able to do it throughout the whole film. In fact, this beautiful soundtrack can give you a better feeling of the film as a whole. If you get this soundtrack, see the movie after listening because you will have a greater appreciation for it.
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Soundtrack: (2 1/2 Out of 4)
Let's just call this a reversal of the above review. While the soundtrack outdid the movie in quality for The Phantom Menace, it is just the opposite for The Spy Who Shagged Me. The movie was great; the soundtrack is only a little bit above average.
The soundtrack starts off with a bang with Madonna's "Beautiful Stranger." It's always a risk to just slap a big name artist on a soundtrack (which I'll get to later), but Madonna is great in this song and it is a great way to start this soundtrack. The Who provide "My Generation" and R.E.M. does a good job on their remake of "Draggin' The Line." However, things go downhill from there.
Lenny Kravitz provides a ho-hum performance on his remake on Guess Who's "American Woman." Scary Spice is next with "Word Up," which is the worst song on this soundtrack. These two songs are the epitome of blockbuster soundtracks. In the film, they do not play either Kravitz or Scary's song. In fact, they actually play the original Guess Who version instead of Kravitz's! Anyway, soundtracks are meant to complement the film, not just be thrown in while the credits are playing.
The rest of the soundtrack goes on in a mild pace. The bright spots? Dr. Evil's hilarious remake of Will Smith's "Just the Two of Us." Green Day also appears with an instrumental entitled "Espionage" that was surprisingly good. And Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello, who appear in the film to perform, do an admirable job with "I'll Never Fall In Love Again."
Overall, this is a decent soundtrack. But, it seems they went with big, blockbuster names and luckily got good performances from them. If you liked the movie, you'll probably like the soundtrack. If you are a fan of any the artists (excluding Kravitz and Scary) then you'll also enjoy it. Otherwise, stay away.
The Movie Page- http://jump.to/moviepage Reviews, Previews, News and So Much More!
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews