Mega Movies

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Music reviews of Mega Movies

Music Review: It's adequate, but does not replace the original soundtracks
Rating: 4 Stars

Having said this though, I'm not sure if I particularly liked his latest offering. Keeping in mind that perhaps more casual listeners of Kunzel's would like it more than I would, the rearrangements of film music to suit a more "concert-oriented" presentation is a tricky business and isn't always tastefully done. A case in point: a frequent listener may observe that in Kunzel's albums and included rearrangements, the ending for each newly arranged piece display a tendency to sound too similar. With the exception of film composers who write their own concert arrangements of their biggest hits- John Williams coming to mind immediately- the repeated "big band" and explosive/loud climax to most of this disc's arrangements does tend to wear thin. In other instances, the closings seemed rushed, hinting of an attempt to quickly finish the concert piece and move on to the next track

Within the tracks themselevs, particularly successful in my opinion, are the tracks for The Mummy, The Mask of Zorro, Shakespeare in Love, and A Bug's Life. Less so were the tracks for The Rock, Air Force One and Titanic; the latter most probably because one would have heard it so many times, and Kunzel's rendition, well, sounds very different.

Ultimately, whether one finds this album enjoyable to listen to repeatedly depends on one's expectations of the music recorded in it. There is much to enjoy, sound is excellent as is the representation, and casual listeners looking to be reminded of some of the music from recent block bluster movies would need to look no further. More frequent or serious listeners who like to hear music the way it was written- and closer to the context of the film itself- would serve better to also own copies of the original soundtrack recordings though.

Description of Mega Movies

Miscellaneous CDs

• Music > Styles
• Pop
• Soundtracks