Category Archives: Orchestral Music

2014, 2015, Amazon Prime, Ambitious Dirty Tricks, Classical musicians, Crude Talk, Feel Good Not For Children, Gay theme, Lesbian Theme, Mostly About Sex, Orchestral Music, Sex Scenes, TV Series, Vulgar

Mozart in the Jungle (2014)

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From Amazon Prime:

A new Amazon Original Series: What happens behind the curtains at the symphony is just as captivating as what happens on stage. Created by Paul Weitz (About a Boy), Roman Coppola (The Darjeeling Limited), and Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore). Brash new maestro Rodrigo (Gael Garcia Bernal) is stirring things up, and young oboist Hailey (Lola Kirke) hopes for her big chance.

Most what this wonderful series is about is music and sex and sex and sex. Get the picture? Also the F-word is used quite a bit. Is it a soap opera? – You bet! Is it something that you do not want to stop watching? – You bet!

Amazon Prime offers free streaming of both seasons, each season containing 10 episodes.

There are too many enjoyable characters to name them all. Gael Garcia Bernal stands out as the young new conductor of the fictitious New York Symphony. Of all the fine female actors, Lola Kirke as Hailey, an aspiring oboist, is probably the second most important character. Malcolm McDowell is perfect as the crusty, aging, and wildly eccentric former conductor.

But don’t miss Bernadette Peters as Gloria, one of the board members. Her character is a non-musician who really wants to be at least an amateur singer. In one memorable scene she gets a chance to sing at an open-mike night where she proves that as a singer she still has what it takes. Think goose flesh.

Give this Amazon Original Series a DO NOT MISS!

2013, Acceptable for children, Acceptable Trash, Action Film, Corny, Frenetic, Nothing special, Orchestral Music, Sci-Fi, Violent

Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)

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From Netflix:

This sequel returns much of the cast from the Star Trek feature released in 2009, breathing new life into the seemingly ageless space franchise. Led by the intrepid Captain Kirk, the Enterprise crew still includes Scotty, Spock and Chekov as well.

If you are a fourteen year old male or have left in your psyche enough adolescence, then you might enjoy this nothing-special sequel to a sequel to a ….

As far as digital effects go, the eye-candy is just fine. If you don’t mind an incredibly over-sentimental (in fact, downright sloppy) script, then jump right in. Maybe you will watch out of sheer perverse loyalty.

2012, Classical musicians, Drama, Marital Infidelity, Orchestral Music, Parkinson's disease, Sex Scenes, Wonderful acting

A Late Quartet (2012)

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From NetFlix:

Tempers flare, old jealousies reignite and new passions are sparked when the members of a world-renowned string quartet are preparing to celebrate their 25th anniversary and learn that their leader must step down due to a grim medical diagnosis.

Do not confuse this film with another 2012 film entitled “Quartet” which features Maggie Smith and others.

Beethoven’s Opus 131 String Quartet belongs to the set of 6 string quartets known as his “late quarrtets”. Thus the name of this film. Moreover the film centers around the professional quartet with the name “The Fugue” getting ready to perform Beethoven’s Opus 131. For the first movement of his Opus 131 (consisting of 7 connected movements with no break between movements) Beethoven wrote a fugue which is a polyphonic (many voiced) musical form heavily used by the composer Bach. Thus the name of the professional quartet.

Christopher Walken, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Catherine Keener are familiar actors to us all. However the first violinist Daniel Lerner was played by Mark Ivanir who was for me a new face. His first major role was in Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List”.

Clash of personalities is indeed the force behind the story. But of equal importance is the fact that the cellist (Christopher Walken) starts to suffer from Parkinson’s disease. Needless to say he cannot continue to play cello with the quartet. So amidst the other players’ fighting he struggles to keep the quartet alive.

Acting is wonderful in this drama. You will probably enjoy this film more if you are a fan of classical music (or even better a fan of Beethoven’s “Late Quartets”). Throughout, the background music is classical and appropriate.

Hopefully many of you will enjoy this well-done film.

2011, Adventure, Based on a Book, British, Crude Talk, DO NOT MISS, Explicit sex, Explicit sexual discussion, Fantasy, Made For TV, Nudity, Orchestral Music, Revenge, TV Series, Violent, Vulgar

Game of Thrones (2011)

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From NetFlix:

When a power vacuum emerges in the mythical land of Westeros following mighty King Robert’s death, several noble families, including the Starks, Lannisters and Baratheons, wage war against each other for control of the vacant Iron Throne. Full of political and sexual intrigue, this fantasy series, based on George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels, also chronicles the rise of an ancient evil, which threatens the entire kingdom.

UPDATE: April 2016

Only 5 seasons are available at this time.  Season 6 has not yet appeared.   If you don’t mind violence, nudity, crude language, cruelty, etc. then this series continues to be spellbinding. By this time Peter Dinklage has made his fame with his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister. And those dragons are really cool.

If you want details just go to Wikipedia.

Season One consists of 5 disks. You might not like this series unless you enjoy such guilty pleasures as intrigue, nudity, fantasy, sex, revenge, and violence. In other words: What’s not to like?

Among the huge cast you will notice:

  • Sean Bean (as Eddard Stark) was Boromir in “Lord of the Rings”.
  • Peter Dinklage plays Tyrion Lannister who throughout the story calls himself a dwarf. You might remember him from Death at a Funeral (2007) or The Station Agent (2003)
  • Iain Glen (as Ser Jorah Mormont) appears in many British productions. He was the wonderful villain Vaughan Edwards in part of MI-5

Production values are excellent. Note especially the opening of each episode in which the camera pans an abstract model of the entire mythical kingdom.

If this kind of fantasy is your cup of tea, then I would call “Game of Thrones” as DO NOT MISS!

2011, Based on a Book, Basically Sad, British, Imperfect, Love Story, Mediocre, Melodrama, Not Feel Good, Orchestral Music, Quiet, Sex Scenes

The Deep Blue Sea (2011)

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From NetFlix:

This remake of the original 1955 film, adapted from a Terence Rattigan play, stars Rachel Weisz as a wedded woman who falls hard for a younger man. Her determination and emotional obsession lead her into tragic conflict with the morals of the day.

Up to a certain point good acting made the story interesting enough to watch. But in a pub scene disappointment set in. Have you ever seen an amateur production in which the actors are unable to deliver a strong emotion without recourse to yelling? At this point my opinion of Rachel Weisz as an actor fell quite a few notches.

Both Simon Russell Beale as the affectionate but dull husband and Barbara Jefford as his insufferable, snobbish, and cruel mother did a wonderful job.

Tom Hiddleston, the lover, you may recall as Loki in “The Avengers” or as Capt. James Nicholls in War Horse (2011).

At least we had the sobbing violins to tell us when something sad was happening.

Try some other film.

2011, Acceptable for children, Based on a Book, British, Corny, Feel Good For All, Horse story, Military, Orchestral Music, War

War Horse (2011)

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From NetFlix:

Adapted from a novel by Michael Morpurgo, this majestic World War I drama centers on Devon lad Albert and his steadfast horse, Joey, whose faithful bond cannot be shaken — even when Joey is sold to the cavalry and sent off to France.

Initially I did not know who directed this film. But it does not take long to figure out: What director loves schmaltz? What director lingers a really long time on many of his shots? What director is one of the few remaining directors that use full, romantic, orchestral music (and that part I love!)? What director just does not know when to end the film? Answer: Steven the Spielberg. But at least he is consistent.

Kids will love this beginning-middle-end story where subtlety is not allowed. Who could fail to love a horse with a lion’s courageous heart? Who could fail to love a kid who stays out in a storm to plow his crippled fathers’ field? Who could fail to love a WWI battle scene in which a Brit and a German cooperate mid-battlefield to extricate our hero horse from his entanglement in barbed wire? Need I go on?

Let us honor the reuse of that unforgettable scene from “Gone With the Wind” in which the darkened human figures are outlined in silhouette against a blazing crimson sky.

Don’t forget to read British author Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 children’s novel of the same name. Don’t forget to see the stage play version by Nick Stafford (which uses horse puppets) done in 2007.

Finally, ignore all my snobbish remarks because in fact I could not stop watching this beautifully filmed story.