Aside from bringing the gas prices back down, I think the new machines that rent you new releases for a buck give us something to be thankful for. I like to watch movies but hate the pressure that a $5 commitment demands of my selection sensibilities.

I finally got around to viewing Will Smith’s Hancock. It was what I thought, a good idea, executed with some cheese but overall fairly humorous and entertaining. What left the greatest impact on me wasn’t the movie though, it was the musical scores. Seriously, someone owed someone because the cousin of somebody that didn’t belong at post was paid for a poor performance. Someone thinks that trumpets from a Toys-R-Us keyboard are really cool, they’re not.

This will not serve as a thorough treatment of the subject, but soundtracks/scores that have left a lasting or recent impression on me include:

Danny Elfman’s treatment in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, one of many successful colaborations between Danny and Tim Burton, makes a major contribution to creating the silly but subtly macabre nature of the film.

If you’ve seen Man on Fire (2004), you can appreciate the depth of emotion that the muscial score can help you to embelish. Isn’t that the mark of a great soundtrack? It helps make your blood race, brings you that much closer to tears or puts you on the edge of your seat. Harry Gregson-Willams is a master of creativity and the exploitation of emotions. Gregson-Williams and director Tony Scott have combined as a formidable creative duo as they continue to attack projects together.

Odly enough, John Powell isn’t a fluke, he has had worked on several other feature films, noteably the trilogy of movies created from Robert Ludlumn’s Jason Bourne books (ie The Bourne Identity), Dreamwork’s very successful Shrek, the recent Kung Fu Panda and even PS I Love You. At this moment I don’t recall the scores being that memorable or bad on those films (I haven’t yet seen PS). Being un-memorable is a compliment of sorts, this means the muscial score didn’t outshine the film, that it served its purpose to provide a back drop for the film to operate in.

Perhaps Hancock was a rushed production, maybe Powell’s normal tools were under repair during post-production or maybe several people involved with Hancock mailed it in, but the score was sub-par and was detrimental to my viewing pleasure.

Band: Blessed Is He
Album: Not Yet
Label: Un-signed?
*Currently On Tour

Blessed Is He appears to be the best intentions of a hardcore Christian band using music as a vehicle of spirit-filled artistic expression and proclaiming the good news of Christ. From top to bottom they present themselves as Bible-believing men who have formed a band that is the expression of lives devoted to Christ.

In their myspace details they answer the question “sounds like” as “worship”, which is a concept I have longed for since first hearing Living Sacrifice’s Reborn in high school. True Christian hardcore struck a tone with the worshipper within that often feels constrained in conventional/contemporary worship.

In reviewing this band, similar productions that come to mind are:
(1) Few Left Standing, who weren’t the strongest or most technical musically but had brutal un-abashedly Christian lyrics. I’d strongly recommend Few Left Standing’s first album which had some songs and concepts that blew me away. Similarly, Blessed Is He is making a strong foundation, but I’d like to see some more depth/brutality musically (in some spots I felt it was flat or didn’t have enough grab to get me hooked -which may be partially due to the production) and drop or re-tune the singing.
(2) Point Of Recognition and Becoming The Archetype, this is not a comparative at all in the music of these bands as Point Of Recognition, Becoming The Archetype and Blessed Is He are three very distinct sounds, but I can imagine that Blessed Is He will be a great band in concert and provide a worship experience that I have rarely felt save for the former bands mentioned.

At this time, I’d have to classify Blessed Is He as a band that I would really like to like. I am not sold on the music or the singing portions of the songs but I think that these can become better with time. This is a band that I will definitely keep my eye on and one that I’d love to see live.

Check them out for yourselves, Click Here. Posted on their myspace are several full length songs as well as videos and information about the band, tours, etc.