Bella Poor Things is a 2023 film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. The movie is based on the 1992 novel (of the same name) by Alasdair Gray. The story follows Bella (Emma Stone), a young woman in Victorian London, who is brought back to life by […]

The Road This piece, by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, is the theme from the 2009 film “The Road”; based on the Cormac McCarthy novel (by the same name).  The story details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over a period […]

Spanish Ladies “Spanish Ladies” is a traditional British naval song, dating back, by some estimates, to the 1620’s. The song is considered a sea shanty; work songs sung by merchant sailors. I first heard this tune as a kid when Quint (played by actor Robert […]

Fargo The FX anthology series Fargo, is a dark comedy crime drama inspired by the 1996 Coen brothers film of the same name. The series is set in various locations in the American Midwest, and each season tells a new crime story with a new […]

Tazarine Tazarine is a song by Argentine composer Gustavo Santaolalla, from his 2006 Academy award winning soundtrack for Babel. Babel was directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. The multi-narrative drama features interwoven stories taking place in Morocco, Japan, Mexico, and the United States. The song is […]

Silver Joy Silver Joy was a perfect choice for The Holdovers. This song was used through the film as a motif. The simple E minor to F progression has a tenderness to it, without being too overly sentimental. When I heard the “Cat Stevens-like” tune […]

A Child of War I thought Rebel Moon was GREAT — and I generally root for Zack Snyder on all of his films. The plot and character development are very fast (which I like). The movie is dazzling to look at, and the creatures/humanoids are […]

When Ginny Kissed Harry This is a beautiful piece of music by British composer, Nicholas Hooper, whose highest-profile scores were two Harry Potter films: Order of the Phoenix and the Half-Blood Prince. When Ginny Kissed Harry, turned out beautifully for a single guitar — as the […]

Edelweiss Edelweiss is a 1959 piece from the musical, The Sound of Music. It is named after the edelweiss, a white flower found high in the Alps. The song was written for the Broadway production of The Sound of Music, for the character, Captain Georg […]

Napoleon’s Piano Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is a look at the military commander’s ruthless climb to power through the prism of his obsessed and volatile relationship with his wife, Josephine. I love that Ridley Scott (85) is still creating historical epics. The older he gets, he […]

The Apology Song The Apology Song (Si Puedes Perdonar) was composed by Gustavo Santaolalla for the 2014 animated film ‘The Book of Life’. It’s a beautiful ballad about the power of forgiveness and redemption. The song is sung by Diego Luna, who voices the character […]

A Game of Badminton Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, is an 1847 novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. The book is considered a literary classic, as it’s filled with a dark mystery and the harrowing experience of a young woman. The 2011 film adaptation, directed […]