American Sniper Ennio Morricone’s “The Funeral” was used as the closing theme in Clint Eastwood’s 2014 film American Sniper. The song was originally composed for the 1965 spaghetti western, The Return of Ringo. It’s a melancholic piece of music that perfectly captured the final scenes […]

Band of Brothers Band of Brothers is a 2001 American war drama miniseries based on the 1992 book (of the same name) by WW2 historian, Stephen E. Ambrose. The series was created by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, who had collaborated on the 1998 World […]

Dances With Wolves The author of Dances with Wolves is man by the name of Michael Blake (1945-2015). As a 20 year-old in 1965, Blake was a product of the counterculture revolution of 1960’s America: against the establishment, and the Vietnam War. He was a […]

The Gravel Road The Gravel Road is an incredible piece of music from M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village. The music is by the iconic composer, James Newton Howard. I remember seeing this film at a packed theater in 2004. At that point, M. Night was […]

Saving Private Ryan Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998) was the first war film that put the viewer into the battle. You felt the measure of their sacrifice. I was in my early 20’s when I saw it, and I went back to theater to […]

TIME Inception is a 2010 science fiction film written, and directed by Christopher Nolan. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb; a professional thief who steals information by infiltrating the subconscious. Cobb is offered a chance to have his criminal history erased in exchange for a […]

Oppenheimer Oppenheimer is Christopher Nolan’s 12th motion picture. It’s widely considered to be his greatest achievement — with some critics calling it “the film of the century”. The film follows the life of theoretical physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer who developed the first nuclear weapon. Ludwig […]

Light of the Seven Light of the Seven, by composer Ramin Djawadi, is the music at the very beginning of the Game of Thrones (season 6 finale) The Winds of Winter. Upon watching the episode in 2016, the music immediately stood out to me. Light […]

Unchained Melody Unchained Melody is nearly 70 years old. It was initially written (by Alex North and Hy Zaret) as a theme for a prison film entitled, Unchained (1955).  The song was popularized by The Righteous Brothers a decade later in 1965. My favorite is […]

The Ecstasy of Gold The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the best of Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy starring Clint Eastwood. The film is considered the definitive Spaghetti Western — with it’s use of long shots and close-up cinematography. Even though it’s the last […]

Marion’s Theme The score for Raiders of the Lost Ark (and the subsequent Indiana Jones movies) is one of my childhood favorites. The collaboration of John Williams and Steven Spielberg created truly everlasting music. ‘Marion’s Theme’ from Raiders of the Lost Ark, is one of […]

Resurrection The Passion of the Christ is one of the greatest films of all time. If you’re a believer, it serves as a cinematic Stations of the Cross; an experiential work of pure art. In it’s wake, all faith-based film making seems tepid by comparison. […]