The Cooler


Koch Records 11/11/2003 Download
Koch Records CD (0099923570721)
Movie Film release: 2003
 

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# Track Artist/Composer Duration
1.The Cooler4:07
2.Better Life Motel - Tables on Fire2:52
3.Candy Rebecca Kyler Downs Brian Swartz3:45
4.You're Getting to be a Habit With MePaul Sorvino2:04
5.Shangri-La2:17
6.Luck be a LadyBobby Caldwell4:59
7.Amateurs2:44
8.Can I Steal a Little LoveJoey Fatone2:33
9.Look in my Eyes3:59
10.I'll String Along With YouDiana Krall4:47
11.Heartbroken2:48
12.My Funny ValentineTierney Sutton5:06
13.Almost Like Being in LoveNick D'Egidilo2:33
14.Leaving Las Vegas5:21
 49:55
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The Cooler - 08/10 - Review of Tom Daish, submitted at
The Cooler stars the ever reliable William H Macy as a 'cooler' - someone employed to rub their bad luck onto the clients of casinos and the romance that changes his fortune. Anything set in a somewhat sleazy world of casinos really has to be somehow jazz orientated and few regular film composers are better suited than Mark Isham. His film music output roughly divides into three: thriller scores, jazz and intimate orchestra scores and The Cooler more or less merges the latter two. The album is replete with great stand alone jazz instrumentals, but develop into melancholy and intimate territory that get to the emotional core of Macy's character's new found relationship.

In his notes, director Wayne Kramer comments that he requested a sexy, jazzy and slightly sleazy score and Isham delivers on all three counts. From the titular opening cue, with a memorable, fairly upbeat trumpet over strings, bass and drums to the more downbeat Shangri-La and the soulful Look In My Eyes and Heartbroken, Isham's music feels just right and each track works splendidly alone. The album is weighted just about 50-50 songs and score, but the former fit right alongside the latter, including standards such as Luck Be a Lady and My Funny Valentine, but all are both musically and emotionally appropriate.

Leaving Las Vegas reprises the material from the opening track thus nicely bookending the album and closing on a more upbeat note. The film evidently didn't have a large budget (despite a fine cast), so the musical ensemble is small, but this is not a film for orchestral melodramatics. The deftness with which Isham mixes the feel of the film's setting with the dramatic requirements is faultless and even for those not generally great fans of jazz (I include myself here), there are enough good tunes and carefully sketched dramatic moments to satisfy most listeners. A winning score.

Other releases of The Cooler (2003):

Cooler, The (2005)
Cooler, The (2003)


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