"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003)

"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003)

"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003)

"Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" is a 2003 epic high fantasy adventure film produced, written, and directed by Peter Jackson based on the second and third volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. It is the third and final instalment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, following The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Two Towers (2002), preceding The Hobbit film trilogy (2012–2014).

Contemporary (Released since yr 2000)

"All the King's Men" (1949)

"All the King's Men" (1949)

"All the King's Men" (1949)

The rise and fall of a corrupt politician, who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal. - "All the King's Men" is the story of the rise of politician Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford) from a rural county seat to the governor's mansion is depicted in the film. He goes into politics, railing against the corruptly run county government, but loses his race for county treasurer, in the face of unfair obstacles placed by the local machine. Stark teaches himself law, and as a lawyer, continues to fight the local establishment, championing the local people and gaining popularity. He eventually rises to become a candidate for governor, narrowly losing his first race, then winning on his second attempt. Along the way he loses his innocence and becomes as corrupt as the politicians he once fought against. As he rises, Stark philanders and gets involved with many women, taking his PR man/journalist Jack Burden's own girlfriend, Anne Stanton, as his mistress."

Classic (Released Prior to yr 2000)

"Million Dollar Baby" (2004)

"Million Dollar Baby" (2005)
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"Million Dollar Baby" (2004)

"A determined woman works with a hardened boxing trainer to become a professional. Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank), a waitress from a Missouri town in the Ozarks, shows up in the Hit Pit, a run-down Los Angeles gym owned and operated by Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood), an old, cantankerous boxing trainer. Maggie asks Frankie to train her, but he initially refuses. Maggie works out tirelessly each day in his gym, even after Frankie tells her she's "too old" to begin a boxing career at her age. Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris (Morgan Freeman), Frankie's friend and employee—and the film's narrator—encourages and helps her.

Contemporary (Released since yr 2000)

"Crash" (2005)

| "Crash" (2005)

"Crash" (2005)

"Los Angeles citizens with vastly separate lives collide in interweaving stories of race, loss and redemption. produced, directed, and co-written by Paul Haggis. The film features racial and social tensions in Los Angeles. A self-described "passion piece" for Haggis, Crash was inspired by a real-life incident, in which his Porsche was carjacked in 1991 outside a video store on Wilshire Boulevard.

Contemporary (Released since yr 2000)

"Hamlet" (1948)

"Hamlet" (1948)

"Hamlet" (1948)

Prince Hamlet struggles over whether or not he should kill his uncle, whom he suspects has murdered his father, the former king. - "Hamlet" is a 1948 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name, adapted and directed by and starring Sir Laurence Olivier. The film was Olivier's second as director, and also the second of the three Shakespeare films that he directed. "Hamlet" was the first British film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It is also the first sound film of the play in English.

Olivier's "Hamlet" is the Shakespeare film that has received the most prestigious accolades, winning the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. However, it proved controversial among Shakespearean purists, who felt that Olivier had made too many alterations and excisions to the four-hour play by cutting nearly two hours' worth of content."

Classic (Released Prior to yr 2000)
Brian Tyler | Composer

Brian Tyler - On "Constantine"

How did you first get involved with Constantine?

quote-leftOriginally I was called in to meet with Francis Lawrence (the director) and editor. Apparently Frailty had been used to temp a few key scenes in the rough cut, and the director found it really interesting. He was new to the world of film scores, but he knew what he liked when he heard it, so we met and he showed me the film. At the time I saw it, it was a bit longer, but it still felt tight and it really knocked me out. So I gave him my vision about what I thought the score would be - something that emphasized the reality of the world, very dark, and makes the audience feel uncomfortable. That was the approach in the beginning - we took a "darker is better" direction on the score. It was still thematic, but very low-register, brooding - and unapologetic in the way that there was no "winking" with the audience. Even though the film is based on the graphic novel Hellblazer, it's not a "comic" in a "comical" way. I think that people tend to mistake the two - "comic" doesn't mean "comedic"! And that's where the road forked. Initially we wanted to emphasize the "Hell" in Hellblazer - it's a story about a guy who has only a few months left to live, because he's dying from cancer, and he's battling the devil, and trying to save a girl from Hell. Hellboy is an example of something that's a bit more tongue-in-cheek, and our film was dark and gritty - it was shot that way, too.

Clef Notes
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"The Departed" (2006)

"The Departed" (2006)

"The Departed" (2006)

An undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston. "The Departed" is a 2006 American crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs.

Irish Mob boss Francis "Frank" Costello (Jack Nicholson) plants Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) as a mole within the Massachusetts State Police; the two characters are loosely based on famous gangster Whitey Bulger and corrupt FBI agent John Connolly, who grew up with Bulger. Simultaneously, the police assign undercover state trooper William "Billy" Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) to infiltrate Costello's crew. ....

Contemporary (Released since yr 2000)
John Altman | Composer

All's Welles, that Ends Welles An interview with John Altman

How did you get involved with RKO 281?

I had just done Vendetta for HBO, which is about the worst mob lynching in American history. It's a really interesting story that takes place in New Orleans in the 1890's, and it didn't involve blacks, which surprised me. I had also worked with (RKO producer) Ridley Scott a lot on commercials - I have done virtually all of his big commercials over the past few years. Additionally, I do a lot of 1940s style big band stuff, so my name was coming from five different directions, and it just gelled. I came aboard at the script stage, since there was a lot of music that needed to be pre-recorded - the radio music, newsreel music, and of course the Bernard Herrmann stuff.

Clef Notes
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Director, Woody Allen

Woody Allen: He's No Dustin Hoffman

Woody Allen

"People think my movies are exact copies of my private life, but they're totally made up," insists Woody Allen. Okay, maybe not totally. Speaking from a swank Manhattan hotel, the writer-director-actor who celebrates his sixty-first birthday today admits that his new comedy, Mighty Aphrodite, was inspired by his real-life adopted daughter Dylan. (Mia Farrow accused Allen of sexually abusing Dylan in 1992, but the charges were dismissed.)
The Director's Chair
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John Corigliano | Composer

Mastering The Red Violin - Interview with John Corigliano

The Red Violin was only the third film score you've written - you are primarily a concert composer. What drew you to this particular film?

"I had a disappointing experience on Revolution. It wasn't Hugh Hudson's fault; but neither the production nor the music came out the way I thought it would, and the film wasn't a success. I'd still had many offers, but I was just going to leave the film music scene and not come back until Peter Gelb from Sony came to me with the script for The Red Violin.

Clef Notes
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