Dear Child Dear Child (Liebes Kind) is a six-part German psychological thriller that landed on Netflix in September 2023. It was a genuine phenomenon: 52.5 million views and 253 million hours in its first months, making it Netflix’s second most-watched title of late 2023. The […]

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night I really love the new Lanterns series on HBO. It’s definitely geared toward a more adult audience — much like the Star Wars spinoff, Andor. It also gives a True Detective vibe, as both of the protagonists are investigating […]

Cornfield Chase I’ve always wanted to double back to the crux of the Interstellar theme, which is really the motif titled “Cornfield Chase.” This was a high-water mark for composer Hans Zimmer. His genius is in not being outsmarted by his own technical skill — […]

If This Be Victory I generally like House of the Dragon. I’ve watched every season, and season three started strong with the Battle of the Gullet, but midway through I found myself not caring about these characters as much as I did in Game of […]

The Odyssey Theme At this point, I can definitely hear (composer) Ludwig Göransson’s aesthetic when he’s scoring a Christopher Nolan film. There’s a linear nature to the music… a veneer as familiar as Nolan’s blueish hues and title font. Although completely different, The Odyssey and […]

Gonna Fly Now I was in 3rd grade (8 turning 9) during the ’85-’86 school year — and my childhood was an amazingly patriotic time to be alive. The Cold War was hanging over the culture and this was punctuated by several USA vs. the […]

Love is in the Air, Pt.1 I love this piece from the film Obsession; a movie made on a shoestring budget ($750,000) and grossing nearly 200 million globally. I don’t expect Hollywood to draw any correct conclusions from this, but it would seem original storytelling […]

Handprint Twenty-year-old Kane Parsons is having a moment. His found-footage Backrooms short — made at home when he was 16 — pulled in tens of millions of views on YouTube and somehow turned into a real A24 feature. The film just became A24’s first movie […]

The Mandalorian and Grogu This is essentially a reprise of my 2019 arrangement of The Mandalorian Theme — one of my all-time favorite pieces to play. I loved the show, and I’m genuinely excited for the film adaptation, The Mandalorian & Grogu, especially with the […]

Destroyer of Worlds Ludwig Göransson’s Oppenheimer soundtrack is, I believe, the greatest film music achievement of the past decade. The whole thing is immensely listenable — and woven deep into the bones of the film and the Oppenheimer story itself. If you watch it again […]

I Need You M83 is a French electronic music project — primarily the brainchild of musician Anthony Gonzalez. The band is widely recognized for creating epic soundscapes with a sound that’s both nostalgic and cinematic. In 2014, M83 contributed a beautiful piece to the Divergent […]

First Flight The Last of Us HBO sees composer Gustavo Santaolalla retooling and abbreviating many of his most famous pieces from the original game soundtracks. “First Flight” is actually the bridge section of “Unbroken” from The Last of Us Part II. This makes it a […]