Bideodromage
A collection of dramatic theme songs of the James Bond persuasion, scintillatingly performed by Shirley Bassey, Adele, Nancy Sinatra, Matt Monro, Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, and Carly Simon, legends all.
The 1996 film Fargo, a Coen Brothers masterwork, presents the story and precipitous moral/psychological decline of Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), the misadventures of the bungling kidnappers (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) whose “help” he enlists, and the dogged attempts of Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) to make sense of it all. Macy’s performance is mind-boggling, Buscemi and Stormare are brilliant, and McDormand carried away an Oscar for her finely-nuanced portrayal. Carter Burwell composed the memorable theme.
The Wicker Man, an extraordinary, curious, classic cult film, debuted in 1973 and has only gained in popularity since. The movie stars Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Ingrid Pitt, and a host of locals from the small Scottish towns where it was filmed. So many memorable moments. Lee’s playful yet imposing rendering of Lord Summerisle is the sine qua non of this iconic motion picture.
The extraordinary film Manhunter, filmed in 1986, features auteur-like vision by director Michael Mann, and memorable performances by Tom Noonan, Brian Cox, and William Petersen. Based on the novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris, Manhunter possesses an eerie noir-ness, focuses often on the similarities between hunter and hunted, and resonates powerfully to this day.
A select gathering of film composers, and their compositions. Bernard Herrmann, Eric Serra, Daniel Licht, The Handsome Family, David Shire, Carter Burwell, and Ennio Morricone.
