Rounders

By all rights, the Black Crowes tune SHOULD be on it, but it's not. When I listen to them do it and I listen to the tune in the movie it's obvious that digital manipulation was involved. Unless they recorded with some Uber Bosendorfer with 8ves I've never seen before. But I LIKE stuff like that (done tastefully). They made a LOT out of what is actually very few thematic cues. But those cues give you that same feeling that they did in the movie. Enjoy!

A young Matt Damon and Edward Norton take us through various venues and low to high stake poker. Great acting by both. The screenwriter has us observe what happens when you get too involved in playing poker for a little then a lot of money with much more to lose than a game of cards. Intense.

The Rounders Soudntrack comes very very close to being classic, but the cheesier jazz moments tend to decrease the rating (see "Brass Brazilians" for an example). None of the songs are bad, however, and Christopher Young still does an excellent job with it as there are certainly a bunch of really creative and "cool" sounding songs here. The songs "Rounders", "All In" and "Ode To Johnny Chan" not only stir up feelings from the movie, but they're just awesomely cool themes (the last one is the one from the poker showdown at the end). The musicianship here is great and the production is too, but for some reason the rest of the songs seem a bit cheesy and not as much fun to listen to. There's also a couple songs which, unfortunately, sound very very similar to one another - this is a little confusing and disappointing. However, if you like Jazz and the movie then there's a high probably that you'll really like this! Highly recommended! Highlights include: the entire album!

I love Christopher Young, he is one of my favorite composers, I love this music, it has a style of smooth jazz. It also has the music from my favorite scenes. It is good to chill out with...

Christopher Young is best known for horror film scores like 'Hellraiser'. But don't let that 'scare' you. If you enjoy sdtks like Bullitt and Chinatown you will enjoy this. It's that good.

I recently acquired this cd and i was very, very pleased. It has the sweetest, smoothest jass music ever. It is a great find for anyone who liked the movie.

The ending theme of "Baby, I'm A Big Star Now" - by Counting Crows. Why wasn't it included? Did I miss something? The rest is not very inspiring without this Important song; which is the only song that I'll remember the movie by.

As with a number of things on the film that build to a great whole, the soundtrack perfectly complements John Dahl's noirish direction and the seediness of the world. It's all great mood work that really captures Worm's pull of Mike back into a life he'd thought he'd given up. The one obvious omission is Counting Crows' theme that played over the closing credits (and is prominently featured in the menus of the DVD/Blu-ray releases). It's a rather unfortunate set of circumstances that led to it, and sadly the soundtrack does feel like it has a hole in it. (For those unfamiliar, Adam Duritz has claimed responsibility for the missing track. The studio & label wanted to include it, but Adam held it back in a plan to use it on the Counting Crows album 'This Desert Life'. While they were mixing and finalizing the album, they found the song different and cut it. The track eventually found release as a B-track on a number of singles released internationally, as well a bonus on the UK release of 'Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings'. It's never been commercially released in North America and Duritz admits that was a mistake.) The other sad thing is there will likely never be a reissue that includes the song. Unless they manage to get the sequel off the ground and do a cross-promotion. The one song aside, though, this is a worthwhile soundtrack addition to your collection.