“The End of Oak Street” by Michael Giacchino

There’s something wonderfully suspicious about quiet suburban streets in the ’80s. Bikes are leaning against the garages. Streetlights glow through the evening mist. Somewhere, a synthesizer is humming on the soundtrack. Everything looks perfectly familiar. And then something goes horribly wrong. The End of Oak Street feels like it was beamed in from an alternate universe where the great suburban adventure movies of the past were just a little darker, stranger and considerably more dangerous. It wears its nostalgia proudly, but thankfully never feels like a hollow exercise in retro worship. Instead, it takes those classic Spielberg tropes (kids, broken…

“Disclosure Day” by John Williams

At the young age of just 94 years old, legendary composer John Williams has just delivered his 30th film score for Steven Spielberg. And as if that milestone wasn’t wild enough already, it stands as one of the most accomplished works of his later career. Perhaps certain directors simply know how to ignite his imagination? How else to explain why Disclosure Day feels so cohesive and inspired, while, for example, his score for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, though impeccably crafted, often felt like a skilled but somewhat disjointed assembly of familiar Williams techniques, missing that elusive spark…

“Stranger Things: Season Five” by Kyle Dixon, Michael Stein, Various Artists

What a mess! The very last season of Stranger Things rolled around at the end of last year with a huge buzz and it really seemed as if half of humanity had nothing better to do than once again lose their minds to ugly Vecna and his ghastly monsters from the Upside Down. Like many others, I too found myself perched in front of the TV on New Year’s Eve – or rather New Year’s Night, because due to timezone constraints, the grande finale wasn’t aired until 2:30 AM! I was watching it with my 14-year-old and expected nothing less…

“Project Hail Mary” by Daniel Pemberton

Every once in a while, a story comes along that feels less like a book and more like a collective exhale. Andy Weir’s 2021 hard sci-fi novel Project Hail Mary is exactly that kind of story — a bright, buoyant reminder that even in the cold vacuum of space, connection can spark in the most unexpected ways. And honestly, in a world that’s been feeling more and more like a nightmare unable to wake up from, this tale of a solitary astronaut and his utterly endearing alien friend feels like medicine. A quiet rebellion of wholesomeness in a cynical age….

“Late Night Tales” by Various Artists

Late Night Tales is a UK-based compilation series with a unique but clever twist: for each album, a musician or band is given the opportunity to delve deep into their own record collection and curate a very personal playlist of songs that they would enjoy during a late night listening session. But it’s not just about meticulously picking their favorites, no, the respective artist(s) also create a mix, with the individual tracks blending into each other in handcrafted and sometimes very creative segues. The result is a musical journey with highs and lows and an actual arc of suspense unlike…