The Gravel Road The Gravel Road is an incredible piece of music from M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village. The soundtrack 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 entire Indiana Jones series—is a cornerstone of my childhood. The collaboration between John Williams and Steven Spielberg produced music that is truly timeless. In particular, ‘Marion’s Theme’ stands out as one of Williams’ most […]

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) The HBO series “The Last of Us” is a critically acclaimed adaptation of the popular video game. Contributing to the show’s atmosphere, is the soundtrack by composer Gustavo Santaolalla. Having also composed the music for the original game, Santaolalla’s work […]

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 […]