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. […]

The Last of Us (HBO) HBO’s The Last of Us is being heralded as “the greatest video game adaptation ever”. No surprise as Craig Mazen is the executive producer and showrunner. Mazen’s Chernobyl mini-series (on HBO) was one of the greatest shows I have ever […]

Halloween As evidenced by this blog, I’m a huge fan of multi-instrumentalist composer, Gustavo Santaolalla. His music is synonymous with the world. He seems to capture at once the sound of Latin America, as well as distant cultures from all continents. For this interpretation of […]

The Shawshank Redemption Written and directed by Frank Darabont, The Shawshank Redemption, is a 1994 drama film based on the 1982 Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.  The film tells the story of a banker who is (despite his claims of innocence) sentenced […]

The Terminator The original Terminator theme was written by 80’s synthesizer composer, Brad Fiedel. Even though he composed a lot of movie scores through the 80’s and early 90’s, The Terminator theme was the defining work of his career. The best version of this theme […]

Game of Thrones Having just watched the 1st episode of House of the Dragon, I find myself enamored (all over again) with Ramin Djawadi’s Main Title theme. I’m so happy that is still the central motif in the new prequel series. Episode 1 delivered on […]

Now We Are Free Now We Are Free is one of Hans Zimmer’s foremost pieces next to Time. It’s the closing theme of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator when Maximus rejoins his family amidst the wheat fields. The vocal performance is by Australian singer, Lisa Gerrard. She’s not […]

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) is a science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. E.T. tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial who is stranded on Earth. Elliott and his siblings help E.T. return to his home […]

Jurassic World John Williams is an icon, and his ‘Jurassic theme’ is one of many modern classics by the long time composer. It’s incredible how he has been pitch perfect for nearly 50 years of film making. My entire youth has been sound-tracked by John […]