Underwhelmed as we are by franchise McBlockbusters, this score's by the really rather talented Howard Shore, who was responsible for the coolly sexy sounds which rippled under David Cronenberg's Crash. His soppy strings for the first Baggins movie won him all manner of awards and made the UK Top 10. This one is distinguished by its remarkable guest vocalists: Iceland's Emiliana Torrini and former Cocteau Twin Elizabeth Fraser—from "Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops" to Gollum and Samwise: it makes a kind of sense, no?
Thought deceased, big beat is in fact set to be the new ska—resurrected every few years by students who think they've discovered a new sound. Brighton scene originators Skint are therefore proud of Fatboy Slim, Lo Fidelity Allstars and X-Press 2 with David Byrne, but who's got time to sit through 26 of their videos? Plenty of laughs here nevertheless, as typified by Doug Aitken's wigs'n' breakdancing promo for "Rockafeller Skank".
Dennis Hopper got an Oscar for his supporting role to Gene Hackman's high-school basketball coach in David Anspaugh's heart-tugging 1986 tale of sport-equals-life heroics. This was based on a real basketball comeback fight in '50s Indiana and released as Hoosiers in the US. Aptly enough, Hopper was fresh back from his own decade-long trip through chemical hell at the time. Sentimental slush, but redeemed by a knockout cast of veteran heavyweights.
