Unlike their more obvious genre-orientated compilations, Mega Movies is somewhat more general in scope and the result is a fairly eclectic selection, that sums up the most high profile films of the last few years. It is unlikely that there are going to be many places where Godzilla would sit side by side with Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love. For that reason, some of the selections sit somewhat uneasily together, particularly toward the end when the more action orientated first half starts mixing period drama with songs from animated movies with more oblique titles such as The X-Files.
While most people rave about the recording and performance on Telarc albums, I've always found the sound to be far too heavy, the deep, reverberating bass often swamping everything else. This is not helped by the very heavy handed performances that Kunzel elicits from the orchestra. One might think that they are perhaps best suited to action based scores, but this is not necessarily the case. The brassy opening from Air Force One is technically proficient, but still doesn't sound quite right because it is far too staccato and clipped. The stabs at replicating a Media Ventures composition with a full orchestra never seem quite right; I shall never forgive the quite dreadful performance of Crimson Tide on their Big Picture compilation. Armageddon and The Rock were no works of art, but again, the performance doesn't sound quite right, even though the booming, percussive sound should be quite suitable. You can quibble over the interpretations, but the one thing the Cincinatti Pops clearly don't lack are technical proficiency and that is clearly demonstrated by their rousing performance of the Main Title and Flag Parade from The Phantom Menace. While some of the other arrangements are somewhat suspect, the joining of the two cues together was a fairly inspired idea that works better than it should. The performance is solid and exciting and one of the best performances of the Flag Parade outside of the original album to date.
The more gentle selections contained are occasionally played with a little too much pizazz and not enough subtlety, but are still enjoyable. The reduced version of the End Credits from Contact are probably enough for most people who felt the full score was a snore (although I rather enjoyed it). The most curious entry, however, is probably The Time of Your Life from Randy Newman's hugely exciting score to A Bug's Life. Instead of choosing to play the suite from the score or developing one of their own, Crafton Beck has arranged the song into a rollocking big band number. However, to make it swing and make it more "funny" some of Newman's marvellous harmonic invention and ingenious countepoint has been lost, which does seem a shame. The percussion once again threatens to swamp everything and probably obscuring some of what harmony is left.
Although everyone complains about Silva Screen's performance from time to time, Nic Raine and co. have far more respect for the style of the composer. Kunzel's conducting style style only entirely suits a few of the entries well, but rather than adapt the style of the writing, he just tramples all over it. The sound effects are just as annoying as ever, but what makes them even more irritating is that you have to always ponder whether the effects will completely decimate your speaker system if you let them play at high volume. The fact that the liner notes are taken up with discussing the SFX is even more irritating. They could quite easily provide us with some sound effects that take full use of a good stereo, without the possibility of melting it down. An album that Kunzel fans will probably love, but those with a more discerning ear might find a bit hard to take.
Rating ~ 
Total Time ~ 73:44