Next week, La-La Land will release a second volume of music from the 60s WWII TV series THE RAT PATROL, featuring not only library cues composed for the show by Dominic Frontiere but also Alex North's unused score for the series pilot.
Quartet has announced three new CDs -- Alan Silvestri's score for the notorious E.T. um...homage, MAC AND ME (co-starring Ronald McDonald!); Pino Donaggio's score for the telekinesis thriller PATRICK, a remake of Richard Franklin's Australian late-70s cult classic (scored by Brian May in most countries but featuring a Goblin score in other areas); and an expanded version of Riz Ortolani's score for 1977's Australia-set giallo LA RAGAZZA DAL PIGIAMA GIALLO (aka The Pyjama Girl Case), starring Ray Milland and Mel Ferrer.
Music Box has announced three upcoming, limited edition soundtrack CDs -- reissues of Ennio Morricone's scores for LE PROFESSIONEL and LE MARGINAL; and a disc pairing two scores by Pierre Bachelet, LE DERNIER AMANT ROMANTIQUE and CAPITAINE X.
Varese Sarabande has announced three new upcoming score CDs -- STRIKE BACK, featuring music from the third and fourth seasons of the action TV series, scored by Scottish composer Scott Shields (Waking the Dead) and due on May 27; THE SIGNAL, the new science-fiction thriller starring Laurence Fishburne, Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel, The Quiet Ones) and young Australian hunk du jour Brenton Thwaites (Oculus, Maleficent, The Giver), with music by Nima Fakhrara; and HIDDEN MOON, a romantic drama starring Wes Bentley and Ana Serradilla which received a brief L.A. release in 2012, with music by Oscar winner Luis Bacalov (Il Postino, Django).
The latest release from Buysoundtrax presents Maurice Jarre's electronic score for the 1986 HBO thriller APOLOGY, starring Lesley-Ann Warren and Peter Weller. The limited edition CD features one cue not included in the original Varese Sarabande LP.(Correction: the contents of the CD are actually the same as the LP - the orignial Varese LP cover erroneously omitted one of the cues. Thank you, "GoblinScore," for the updated information)
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
The Curse of Dracula - Joe Harnell, Les Baxter - Buysoundtrax
Dawn Imagined - Donald Rubinstein - Perseverance
Gimme Shelter - Olafur Arnalds - Milan
The Motel Life - David Holmes, Keefus Ciancia - Lakeshore
Muppets Most Wanted/The Muppets - Christophe Beck - Intrada
A Poet in New York - Debbie Wiseman - Silva (import)
The Raid 2 - Joseph Trapanese, Aria Prayogi, Fajar Yuskemal - Spacelab2
Real Humans - Rikard Borggard - MovieScore Media/Kronos
The Rescue - Bruce Broughton - Intrada
Tiko and the Shark - Francesco De Masi - Beat
IN THEATERS TODAY
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Hans Zimmer - One-disc and two-disc score CDs on Sony
Bad Johnson - Didier Leplae, Joe Wong
Belle - Rachel Portman - Score CD due May 20 on Varese Sarabande
Bicycling with Moliere - Jorge Arriagada
Decoding Annie Parker - Steve Bramson
Farmland - Nathan Wang
Friended to Death - Nathan Whitehead
Ida - Kristian Selin Eidnes Andersen
Mr. Jones - Herwig Maurer
Tanzania: A Journey Within - The Footnote
Walk of Shame - John Debney - Score CD due on Lakeshore
Where We Started - Mike Hogan
COMING SOON
May 6
The Double - Andrew Hewitt - Milan
Flash Gordon vol. 2 - Michael Picton - Perseverance
The Rat Patrol Vol. 2 - Dominic Frontiere, Alex North - La-La Land
The Quiet Ones - Lucas Vidal - Varese Sarabande
The Sacrament - Tyler Bates - Milan
May 13
Apology - Maurice Jarre - Buysoundtrax
Dan Curtis' Dracula - Robert Cobert - Varese Sarabande
Godzilla - Alexandre Desplat - Watertower
Lone Survivor - Steve Jablonsky, Explosions in the Sky - River Road
Walking with Dinosaurs - Paul Leonard-Morgan - River Road
May 20
Bates Motel - Chris Bacon - Varese Sarabande
Belle - Rachel Portman - Varese Sarabande
Calvary - Patrick Cassidy - Varese Sarabande
Cold in July - Jeff Grace - Milan
House of Cards: Season Two - Jeff Beal - Varese Sarabande
X-Men: Days of Future Past - John Ottman - Sony
May 27
Maleficent - James Newton Howard - Disney
A Million Ways to Die in the West - Joel McNeely - Back Lot
The Railway Man - David Hirschfelder - Varese Sarabande
Strike Back - Scott Shields - Varese Sarabande
June 3
Night Moves - Jeff Grace - Milan
June 10
Hidden Moon - Luis Bacalov - Varese Sarabande
The Signal - Nima Fakhrara - Varese Sarabande
July 1
Game of Thrones: Season 4 - Ramin Djawadi - Watertower
Date Unknown
A Dio Piacendo - Marco Werba - Intermezzo Media
Anne & Alet - Mark R. Candasamy - MovieScore Media/Kronos
The Best of John Barry: The Definitive Collection (re-recordings) - John Barry - Silva
Belle Ma Povere - Piero Piccioni - Digitmovies
Bianco Rosso E Verdone - Ennio Morricone - Beat
Ciliegine - Nicola Piovani - Beat
Das Drei? Das Verfluchte Schloss - Annette Focks - Alhambra
El Lado Oscuro De La Luz - Gus Reyes - MovieScore Media/Kronos
Grand Piano - Victor Reyes - MovieScore Media/Kronos
La Ragazza Dal Pigiama Giallo - Riz Ortolani - Quartet
Le Dernier Amant Romantique/Capitaine X - Pierre Bachelet - Music Box
Le Marginal - Ennio Morricone - Music Box
Le Professionel - Ennio Morricone - Music Box
Mac and Me - Alan Silvestri - Quartet
Maciste L'Uomo Piu Forte Del Mondo - Armando Trovajoli - Digitmovies
Mein Herz in Chile - Marius Felix Lange - Alhambra
Patrick - Pino Donaggio - Quartet
Paura Nella Citta Del Morti Viventi - Fabio Frizzi - Beat
Relentless Justice - Chuck Cirino - Buysoundtrax
Senilita - Piero Piccioni - GDM
Superseven Chiama Cairo - Angelo Francesco Lavagnino - Beat
Three Days (of Hamlet) - Jonathan Beard - Buysoundtrax
Viaggio Sola - Gabriele Roberto - Beat
Walk of Shame - John Debney - Lakeshore
The Wedding Date (The Reception Edition) - Blake Neely - Buysoundtrax
Wilde Wellen - Karim Sebastian Elias - Alhambra
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
May 2 - Van Alexander born (1915)
May 2 - Satyajit Ray born (1921)
May 2 - Elliot Goldenthal born (1954)
May 2 - Aram Khachaturian died (1978)
May 2 - Recording sessions begin for Danny Elfman's score for Batman Returns (1992)
May 2 - Recording sessions begin for John Ottman's score for Orphan (2009)
May 3 - Hugo Friedhofer born (1901)
May 3 - Delia Derbyshire born (1937)
May 3 - David Raksin begins recording his score for Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)
May 4 - Albert Glasser died (1998)
May 5 - Patrick Gowers born (1936)
May 5 - Andre Previn begins recording his score for House of Numbers (1957)
May 5 - Recording sessions begin for Christopher Young's score for Species (1995)
May 6 - Recording sessions begin for Bronislau Kaper's score to The Glass Slipper (1954)
May 6 - Recording begins on Alfred Newman and Hugo Friedhofer's score to The Bravados in Munich, Germany (1958)
May 6 - Tom Chase born (1965)
May 6 - Michel Legrand begins recording his score to Ice Station Zebra (1968)
May 6 - Ron Jones records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Neutral Zone" (1988)
May 7 - Jack Elliott born (1914)
May 7 - Anne Dudley born (1956)
May 8 - Nathan Van Cleave born (1910)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
BEARS - George Fenton
"But through all its adornments -- the narration, the punched-up foley, the sweeping orchestral accompaniment -- 'Bears' keeps the emphasis on its spectacular visuals, from widescreen aerial vistas of Alaskan mountains to claustrophobic close-ups of bears huddled in their dens to slow-motion claw-to-claw combat."
Genevieve Koski, The Dissolve
"The soundtrack strikes epic highs during the Peter Jackson aerial shots through Alaskan mountain ranges, and bangs on an irksome 'Duck Dynasty' guitar whenever bears act goofy, scratching their backs on trees or flopping in the water."
Chris Packham, Village Voice
"The inherent drama is boosted by George Fenton’s seriously symphonic score and contrasts with those delightfully loose, animated voiceovers courtesy of Reilly, a big teddy bear of an actor if ever there were one."
Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter
BRICK MANSIONS - Trevor Morris
"But director Camille Delamarre, a longtime editor on Besson productions making his directing debut, doesn’t want you thinking too much or feeling too deeply. He wants to wow you to a thumping techno beat, and he achieves that for the most part in his elaborately choreographed (if overly-edited) set pieces and chases."
Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com
"Trevor Morris’ score sets a furious beat for the action, always unfolding in fittingly dreary urban environs expertly crafted by production designer Jean A. Carriere."
Justin Chang, Variety
HEAVEN IS FOR REAL - Nick Glennie-Smith
"This heavy-handed movie is simply a sermon its makers think we all should hear. That absolutism is one reason it's nowhere near its obvious model, the rightfully exalted 'Field of Dreams.' Here, subtlety is a victim of faith. 'Heaven' opens with gorgeous images and a gentle Copland-esque score that would fit right into 'Dreams.'”
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
"'Heaven Is for Real' has exactly the same structure as one of those family horror movies about a weird kid who is possessed by diabolical forces and gradually reveals depths of disturbing secret knowledge. Only here the cheerful music, sunny cinematography, and people who smile all the time are meant to convince us the supernatural events are not sinister. (In fairness, when sad things happen the people in the movie look sad, albeit briefly.)"
Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com
"Making a handsome stand-in for Nebraska farm country, the film’s Winnipeg locations are lushly photographed in widescreen by Dean Semler, though the film lingers perhaps a beat too long on gently rustling stalks of wheat for its own good. Reilly’s quavering rendition of one of the great hymns, 'Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,' offers a lovely respite from the relentless assault of Nick Glennie-Smith’s score."
Justin Chang, Variety
ISLAND OF LEMURS: MADAGASCAR - Mark Mothersbaugh
"The music is shamelessly entertaining, and the warmth of Morgan Freeman's narration conveys the possibility that, for all the imminent peril, the lemurs of this enchanted forest still have a fighting chance."
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
"Along those lines, Mark Mothersbaugh’s score is suitably lighthearted but sometimes a tad intrusive when natural sound might have been more effective. And the use of a cover of The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” as a couple of lemurs meet for the first time (with the hope that they’ll eventually mate) is cringe-inducingly on the nose. But these are minor quibbles in a movie that solidly fulfills its purpose."
Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com
"Narrated with bemused candor by, who else, Morgan Freeman, the corny script strains to add eco-tourist weight to footage of dancing and pouncing lemurs (the ring-tailed variety are said to 'live on the outskirts and launch raids on farms below,' which cues the Ennio Morricone-esque music, pushing a slight agenda of anthropomorphism)."
Nick McCarthy, Slant Magazine
"The film’s slyly attention-grabbing camera subjects are not always ideally served by either the giantscreen format or the use of 3D, which are typically better suited to dynamic and immersive environments rather than extreme animal closeups of the sort on display here. Still, Douglas’ images are cleanly composed and smoothly edited (by Beth Siegel), if at times overaccompanied by Mark Mothersbaugh’s score, which too often surges when silence would have been more effective."
Justin Chang, Variety
OCULUS - The Newton Brothers
"'Oculus'' creepiness is intensified by an eerily thrumming electronic score. The supernatural thriller is at its most enthralling when it sets up the siblings in mind-bending scenes in which it's nearly impossible to distinguish between imagination and reality."
Claudia Puig, USA Today
"The Newton Brothers’ ominously pulsing score is wildly different from the Lalo Schifrin-style funky ’70s sounds they provided for Toronto fest closer 'Life of Crime.'"
Dennis Harvey, Variety
PROXY - The Newton Brothers
"Parker commissioned a score by his regular collaborators, the Newton Brothers ('Oculus'), and they turned in crazed orchestral cues reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann and Pino Donaggio; their music is used sparingly, but its frenzied presence serves as a reminder that even the film’s minimalism is a form of expressionism. Low-budget genre pictures as bold and ambitious as 'Proxy' don’t come around often; even when they do, few of them boast execution that’s as accomplished as the concept. More so-called 'midnight movies' could stand to be so inventively offbeat."
Mike D’Angelo, The Dissolve
"Parker owes a considerable debt to his composers, the Newton Brothers, whose sinister swell of strings provide perfect accompaniment, especially during a striking scene of grisly, slow-motion carnage."
A.A. Dowd, The Onion AV Club
"Parker draws out mundane scenes in a manner that emphasizes the intermingling of dread and banality; you develop the sense early on that any sort of idyll is temporary, likely to be shattered at a moment's notice. The writer-director tries to turn the gruesome into high drama -- watch for 'Hannibal'-esque blood spatter flying through the air in slo-mo as tense string music crescendos in the background."
Michael Nordine, Village Voice
"The movie's atmosphere takes cues from the rampant lunacy of its cast, relying on a constant sense of misdirection and a disquieting mood that dominates most scenes—even as it teeters on the edge of outright campiness. The whole ensemble looks constantly shocked, angry, and demented; the music has overwrought spookiness that constantly mocks their macabre situation. Yet there's a definite strength to the movie’s use of its unnerving rhythms to evoke its female protagonists’ maternal paranoia."
Eric Kohn, IndieWIRE
"The developments grow more macabre, as everyone acquires their own revenge agendas and proves quite willing to transgress violently in realizing them. En route, some plot holes are left unfilled, while character backgrounding and psychological detailing are not priorities in Parker and Kevin Donner’s screenplay. Still, the diabolical reversals of fortune and the tightly controlled, cruelly dispassionate directorial tenor -- striking a Hitchcockian chord, as does the Newton Brothers’ Bernard Herrmann-like orchestral score -- will keep most viewers off-kilter enough that they won’t think too hard about the film’s overall credibility."
Dennis Harvey, Variety
THE RAILWAY MAN - David Hirschfelder
"So why does the movie leave one cold? The early moments don't: The general despair of Lomax, his friendship with fellow vet Finlay (the stellar Stellan Skarsgard), his joy at love in bloom with Patti (Kidman), his subsequent mental disorder caused by memory and dreams, are all genuine and emotionally engaging. Phillips' pictures and David Hirschfelder's music only enhance the mix."
John Anderson, Newsday
"Teplitzky is a proven talent with an excellent crew, but even this film’s technical merits illustrate how disconnected it is: David Hirschfelder’s lush score is missing a memorable theme that might weave the disparate time periods together, while the pointedly composed wide shots in which the adult Lomax is trying to hold himself together are never meaningfully contrasted against his experiences as a young man."
David Ehrlich, The Dissolve
"Those who walk in completely uninitiated may suspect, based on the early scenes, that they’re about to experience the middle-age answer to 'Before Sunrise.' (Only the throb of ominous music over the opening credits betrays the darker direction to come.)"
A.A. Dowd, The Onion AV Club
"The secret weapon here is Australian composer David Hirschfelder, who previously collaborated with Teplitzky on 'Better Than Sex' and before that on such indelible Oz scores as 'Strictly Ballroom' and 'Shine,' whose timeless theme conveys all of the hurt and forgiveness which the film otherwise underplays onscreen."
Peter Debruge, Variety
"Composer David Hirschfelder contributes a robust dramatic score that conveys more emotion than anything onscreen in this nobly inert film."
David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
REFUGE - The Milk Carton Kids
"Lilting, solemn country-folk music plays over shots of dreary scenery and pensive faces."
Sam Weisberg, Village Voice
WALKING WITH THE ENEMY - Timothy Williams
"Unfortunately, the nuances of these intense scenarios are lost in favor of action beats and a bombastic orchestral score. The brightly lit, sepia-tinted look resembles a TV miniseries, and this movie packs enough plot for one, too. While a noble, inspiring story, the filmmaking is blunt rather than intelligent."
Miriam Bale, New York Daily News
"Since narrative film is still the best way to mass communicate, there’s a moral obligation to celebrate a movie like this in some way. But when the movie is bad, as is the case here, does it do more harm than good? In the spaces between the hackneyed dialogue, ham-handed score, and poor acting, 'Walking With The Enemy' eventually wins its sole victory: a desire to look the story up on Wikipedia later that day. That may be a small triumph, but it’s hardly the mark of fine cinema."
Jordan Hoffman, The Dissolve
"Despite an overactive score, the production is solid in its marshalling of resources and setpieces -- tanks, troops, battle sequences, bombed-out buildings -- that wouldn’t seem out of place in a much more expensive, studio-financed project."
Justin Chang, Variety
THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN L.A.
Screenings of older films, at the following L.A. movie theaters: AMPAS, American Cinematheque: Aero, American Cinematheque: Egyptian, LACMA, New Beverly, Nuart, Silent Movie Theater and UCLA.
May 2
BLACKMAIL, MURDER [Cinematheque: Aero]
CAMOUFLAGE (Wojciech Kilar), THE CONSTANT FACTOR (Wojciech Kilar) [LACMA/AMPAS]
THE DEAD ZONE (Michael Kamen) [Silent Movie Theater]
MANHATTAN (George Gershwin, Tom Pierson) [Silent Movie Theater]
THE PRINCESS BRIDE (Mark Knopfler) [Nuart]
SLITHER (Tyler Bates) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE SWIMMER (Marvin Hamlisch), CORRUPTION (Bill McGuffie) [New Beverly]
May 3
AIRPLANE! (Elmer Bernstein) [Silent Movie Theater]
THE BANK DICK (Charles Previn) [Silent Movie Theater]
EXPLORERS (Jerry Goldsmith) [New Beverly]
GODZILLA (Akira Ifukube) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE ILLUMINATION (Wojciech Kilar) [Silent Movie Theater]
READY TO WEAR (Michel Legrand) [UCLA]
A SUNDAY IN HELL, BREAKING AWAY (Patrick Williams) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE SWIMMER (Marvin Hamlisch), CORRUPTION (Bill McGuffie) [New Beverly]
TOO MUCH JOHNSON [LACMA/AMPAS]
VALLEY OF THE GIANTS [Silent Movie Theater]
May 4
CHARLOTTE'S WEB (Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman, Irwin Kostal) [UCLA]
DIAL M FOR MURDER (Dimitri Tiomkin) [Cinematheque: Aero]
DOUBLE IMPACT (Arthur Kempel), BLOODSPORT (Paul Hertzog) [New Beverly]
SPACEBALLS (John Morris) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (Elmer Bernstein) [Silent Movie Theater]
May 5
THE CROW (Graeme Revell) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
DOUBLE IMPACT (Arthur Kempel), BLOODSPORT (Paul Hertzog) [New Beverly]
STRIPES (Elmer Bernstein) [Arclight Hollywood]
May 6
CON AIR (Mark Mancina, Trevor Rabin) [Arclight Hollywood]
JOURNEY INTO FEAR (Roy Webb) [LACMA]
MANHUNTER (Michel Rubini,The Reds) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
May 7
MOTORAMA (Andy Summers) [Silent Movie Theater]
May 8
THE SKI BUM (Joseph Byrd) [Silent Movie Theater]
WITHNAIL & I (David Dundas, Rick Wentworth) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
May 9
ASHES AND DIAMONDS (Jan Krenz), NIGHT TRAIN (Andrzej Trzaskowski) [LACMA/AMPAS]
BATMAN (Nelson Riddle), BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM (Shirley Walker) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
CABARET (John Kander, Ralph Burns) [Silent Movie Theater]
DEATH RACE 2000 (Paul Chihara) [Silent Movie Theater]
SECRET AGENT (Louis Levy), YOUNG AND INNOCENT (Louis Levy) [Cinematheque: Aero]
SUNSET BLVD. (Franz Waxman) [Nuart]
May 10
BATMAN (Danny Elfman), BATMAN RETURNS (Danny Elfman) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
CITIZEN KANE (Bernard Herrmann) [LACMA/AMPAS]
MAN ON A SWING (Lalo Schifrin), REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS (Craig Safan) [Silent Movie Theater]
THE 39 STEPS (Louis Levy), THE LADY VANISHES (Louis Levy) [Cinematheque: Aero]
May 11
KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (Akira Ifukube), MOTHRA (Yuji Koseki) [New Beverly]
RAN (Toru Takemitsu) [Silent Movie Theater]
THE SOUND OF MUSIC (Richard Rodgers, Irwin Kostal) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
A WEDDING [UCLA]
THE WIZARD OF OZ (Harold Arlen, Herbert Stothart) [Cinematheque: Aero]
| 
