Quartet has announced four new, upcoming soundtrack CDs -- the first commercial release of Bill Conti's score for A PRAYER FOR THE DYING, director Mike Hodges' film of Jack Higgins' novel, starring Mickey Rourke, Bob Hoskins, Alan Bates, Sammi Davis and Liam Neeson (John Scott previously released his own unused score on his JOS label); Pino Donaggio's score for the 2014 Italian comedy LA BUCA; and two new score CDs by Pascal Gaigne, the thriller LASA & ZABALA and the drama LOREAK.

On October 28, Varese Sarabande will release the soundtracks to the animated film THE HERO OF COLOR CITY, scored by Zoe Poledouris-Roche and Angel Roche Jr., and the Keanu Reeves thriller JOHN WICK, scored by Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard.

CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK

Arrow: Season Two - Blake Neely - La-La Land
The Boxtrolls - Dario Marianelli - Backlot
The Damned - Frederik Wiedmann - Phineas Atwood
The Equalizer - Harry Gregson-Williams - Varese Sarabande
Hannibal: Season 2, Vol. 1 - Brian Reitzell - Lakeshore
Hannibal: Season 2, Vol. 2 - Brian Reitzell - Lakeshore
Houdini Vol. 1 - John Debney - Lakeshore
Houdini Vol. 2 - John Debney - Lakeshore
King David - Carl Davis - Quartet
Terms of Endearment - Michael Gore - Quartet
22 Jump Street/21 Jump Street - Mark Mothersbaugh - La-La Land
A Walk Among the Tombstones - Carlos Rafael Rivera - Varese Sarabande

IN THEATERS TODAY

Art and Craft - Stephen Ulrich
At the Devil’s Door - Ronen Landa
Bird People - Beatrice Thieret
The Boxtrolls - Dario Marianelli - Score CD on Backlot
The Equalizer - Harry Gregson-Williams - Score CD on Varese Sarabande
Good People - Neil Davidge
Hellaware - Nathan Akin
Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart - Dionysos - Score CD Jack et la Mecanique du Coeur on Barclay (import)
Jimi: All Is By My Side - Danny Bramson, Waddy Wachtel
Plastic - Chad Hobson
Pride - Christopher Nightingale - 2-disc song CD with 3 score cues on UMTV (import)
The Song - Vince Emmett
The Two Faces of January - Alberto Iglesias - Score CD on Quartet
Two Night Stand - The de Luca Brothers

COMING SOON

September 30
Fratello Mare - Piero Piccioni - Beat
Gone Girl - Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross - NIN
Il Diario Segreto Di Una Minorenne - Gianni Marchetti - Beat
Ninjago Masters of Spinjitzu - Jay Vincent, Michael Kramer - Varese Sarabande
Uomo Avvisato Mezzo Ammazzato Parola Di Spirito Santo - Bruno Nicolai - Beat
October 7
Dolphin Tale 2 - Rachel Portman - Lakeshore
A Most Wanted Man - Herbert Gronemeyer - Groenland
Sleeping Beauty - George Bruns - Walt Disney
Trust Me - Mark Kilian - Phineas Atwood
Whiplash - Justin Hurwitz, Tim Simonec - Varese Sarabande
October 14
Birdman - Antonio Sanchez - Milan
Crash - Howard Shore - Howe
Dead Ringers - Howard Shore - Howe
Fury - Steven Price - Varese Sarabande
Naked Lunch - Howard Shore - Howe
Reclaim - Inon Zur - Silva
35 Whirlpools Below Sound - Thomas Newman, Rick Cox - Cold Blue
October 21
Addicted - Aaron Zigman - Varese Sarabande
October 28
The Hero of Color City - Zoe Poledouris-Roche, Angel Roche Jr. - Varese Sarabande
John Wick - Tyler Bates, Joel J. Richard - Varese Sarabande
Revenge of the Green Dragons - Mark Kilian - Varese Sarabande
St. Vincent - Theodore Shapiro - Sony
White Bird in a Blizzard - Robin Guthrie, Harold Budd - Lakeshore
Date Unknown
Bad Milo - Ted Masur - MovieScore Media/ScreamWorks
Chicago Fire: Season One - Atli Orvarsson - Phineas Atwood
Chicago Fire: Season Two - Atli Orvarsson - Phineas Atwood
Die Hebamme - Marcel Barsotti - Alhambra
Duel of the Titans - Piero Piccioni - Digitmovies
Ennio Morricone: Rare & Unreleased Soundtracks from the 60s and 70s (re-recording) - Ennio Morricone - Intermezzo Media
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (re-recording) - Ennio Morricone - Intermezzo Media
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers - Alan Howarth - Buysoundtrax
Il Delitto Del Diavolo - Angelo Francesco Lavagnino - Digitmovies
Kustenwache - Carsten Rocker, Gast Waltzing - Amboss
La Buca - Pino Donaggio - Quartet
Lasa & Zabala - Pascal Gaigne - Quartet
Loreak - Pascal Gaigne - Quartet
New York Chiama Superdrago - Benedetto Ghiglia - Digitmovies
A Prayer for the Dying - Bill Conti - Quartet
Proxy - The Newton Brothers - MovieScore Media/ScreamWorks
Tokarev (Rage) - Laurent Eyquem - Caldera

THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY

September 26 - George Gershwin born (1898)
September 26 - Simon Brint born (1950)
September 26 - Maureen McElheron born (1950)
September 26 - Henry Mancini begins recording his replacement score for The Molly Maguires (1969)
September 26 - Edward Ward died (1971)
September 26 - Robert Emmett Dolan died (1972)
September 26 - Shelly Manne died (1984)
September 27 - Recording sessions begin for Sol Kaplan’s score for Niagara (1952)
September 27 - Cyril Mockridge begins recording his score for Many Rivers to Cross (1954)
September 28 - Evan Lurie born (1954)
September 28 - Geoff Zanelli born (1974)
September 28 - Miles Davis died (1991)
September 28 - John Williams begins recording his score to Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
September 29 - Mike Post born (1944)
September 29 - Manuel Balboa born (1958)
September 29 - Theodore Shapiro born (1971)
September 29 - John Barry begins recording his score for First Love (1976)
September 30 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score for Young Bess (1952)
September 30 - Elmer Bernstein begins recording his score to The View From Pompey's Head (1955)
September 30 - Marty Stuart born (1958)
September 30 - Andrew Gross born (1969)
September 30 - Richard Einhorn begins recording his score to Dead of Winter (1986)
September 30 - Virgil Thomson died (1989)
October 1 - Irwin Kostal born (1911)
October 1 - Elia Cmiral born (1950)
October 1 - George Duning begins recording his score to The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)
October 1 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score to The Prize (1963)
October 1 - Ernst Toch died (1964)
October 1 - Ron Goodwin begins recording his score to Where Eagles Dare (1968)
October 1 - Johannes Kobilke born (1973)
October 2 - Leroy Shield born (1893)
October 2 - Bruce Montgomery born (1921)
October 2 - Eric Demarsan born (1938)
October 2 - Bernard Herrmann marries his first wife, writer Lucille Fletcher (1939)
October 2 - Damon Gough born (1969)
October 2 - Recording sessions begin on Nathan Barr's score to Hostel (2005)

DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?

DOLPHIN TALE 2 - Rachel Portman

"There are scenes showing the release process, beautifully shot by cinematographer Daryn Okada, where a fully-recovered animal is set free into the Gulf Coast again. People gather on the beach to watch, holding up supportive signs (as though the animals will find strength in reading them), and there are cheers of triumph when a dolphin is seen joining a school out at sea. The score, by Rachel Portman, is elegant and supportive, rather than intrusive and bossy."

Sheila O’Malley, RogerEbert.com

"Writer-director Charles Martin Smith knows better than to anthropomorphize his animal cast too much, but between close-ups and CGI and inspirational music the movie is often showing us what the filmmakers want Winter to look like. Here's Winter just being, which is a different animal altogether: She's sleek and unknowable, with eyes like black gemstones. What's behind them? Does she know that she thrives in collaboration with us? Does she feel that she's worked her way back? Does she comprehend that her story stirs such feeling in the land-apes around her -- even kinship? Does it bug her that, because she cannot face the hardships of ocean life, she'll spend the rest of her days in captivity?"

Alan Alterschul, Village Voice

"Rachel Portman’s soaring score is an even more marked improvement over the first 'Tale,' but the standout tech element remains the same: sparingly used underwater cinematography by Pete Zuccarini."

Geoff Berkshire, Variety

"Echoing that unadorned, matter-of-fact approach is the crisp cinematography and graceful score by 'Dolphin Tale' newcomers Daryn Okada and Rachel Portman, respectively."

Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter

THE DROP - Marco Beltrami

"Lehane might have given us a play, if he'd felt like it: Marv's bar has something in common with the junk shop in David Mamet's 'American Buffalo', a place where lives are unspooling nightly, an epicentre of violence and betrayal, But the film isn't static or stagey. It's cut and scored with rhythmic, bluesy confidence, biding its time, and keeping a lot of narrative cards close to its chest."

Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph

"The most significant line in Lehane's screenplay comes from sadistic bully Eric, who tells Bob, 'I'm the guy you never see coming.' We infer that there will be other guys we never see coming in 'The Drop,' and that gnawing awareness fuels the slow-burn narrative, as does Marco Beltrami's cautiously needling score."

Dann Gire, Daily Herald

"Lehane's punchy dialogue and the brooding atmosphere keep you watching even as you fear 'The Drop' might not amount to anything substantial but this is a film that's just waiting to strike and tighten its screws. The ghosts of the past and violent menace of the present eventually clash in a suspenseful climax, all the more tense for the crisp editing and an urgent score by Marco Beltrami and Raf Keunen. Add to that a deceptively affable final big screen performance from Gandolfini and 'The Drop' has you in its thrall."

Allan Hunter, The List

"Much of the excitement about 'Bullhead' was Roskam's virtuosity at taking us into a non-clichéd crime milieu -- underground bovine hormone smuggling! -- and in fully fleshing out characters that were far more complex than the usual cops and robbers. Those skills don't get much of a workout here, and to make matters worse, Marco Beltrami's score continually bursts out to inform the audience how they're supposed to be feeling, guiding the action with all the subtlety of a road flare."

Alsonso Duralde, The Wrap

"Elsewhere, John Ortiz and Ann Dowd round out the working-class environs with brief but effective turns as a nosy police detective and Marv’s put-upon sister, respectively. Adding further flavor and texture are Marco Beltrami’s lightly pulsing score and Nicolas Karakatsanis’ moody lensing of Brooklyn locations, whether on an abandoned street where a bloody double-cross is afoot, or under the golden glow of the lamps at Cousin Marv’s."

Justin Chang, Variety

FRONTERA - Kenneth Lampl, Darren Tate

"At the same time, Berry’s film offers some beautiful and traditional Western imagery, full of warm sunsets and rustic vistas and horseback rides to the accompaniment of a sweeping score. And after making some surprising choices and delivering difficult scenarios in a matter-of-fact way, he ties everything up with a highly metaphorical conclusion that’s more than a little hokey. Maybe he’s a romantic -- or at least an optimist -- at heart after all."

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com

"Stunning cinematography gives 'Frontera' the feel of an old-school Western, aided by a soundtrack that blends subtle Latin melodies with a classic American score."

Claudia Puig, USA Today

"'Frontera' is shot and scored like a classic western, structured like an Alejandro González Iñárritu dirge, and performed with the understatement of a social-realist film. First-time director Michael Berry is experimenting with a variety of different storytelling strategies, some more successful than others, and while the film might lack a clear directorial voice and focus, it refracts its familiar neo-western narrative into a diversity of new perspectives."

David Lee Dallas, Slant Magazine

"Frontera,' then, turns out to be something a bit less than an interconnected ensemble drama: less convinced of its own epic sweep, but also less compelling than a well-wrought melodrama. That’s not to say director Michael Berry avoids melodrama all together; the movie keeps accelerating in that direction, with anguished cries and swelling music cues."

Jesse Hassenger, The Onion AV Club

"As with the overused score, Berry’s directorial decisions can be heavy-handed, but he and editor Larry Madaras find the right pace, and Joel Ransom’s crisp widescreen lensing (in New Mexico) captures the beauty of the landscape as well as its terror and untold stories."

Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter

THE GREEN PRINCE - Max Richter

"Based on Yousef’s 2010 memoir 'Son Of Hamas,' Nadav Schirman’s film -- an audience prizewinner at Sundance in January -- briskly runs down a decade-plus of double-dealing on the front lines of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, offsetting the interview footage with archival news reports, a crashing orchestral score by Max Richter, and staged aerial surveillance shots, tinted night-vision green for maximum atmosphere. Despite the excess of thriller style, though, there’s little resisting the outsize drama recounted here."

Benjamin Mercer, The Onion AV Club

“The Green Prince” gets its power from the back-and-forth of listening to each side tell its story, and from the moment the two sides converge in a final, very different collaboration in the United States. The recreations and imagery are secondary, and the overwrought score is almost always unwelcome when it bubbles up on the soundtrack. The story plays well regardless of what one’s opinion is about the conflict, because it primarily operates on the more universal, relatable aspects of human nature. One does not have to agree with the film for it to raise pertinent questions after viewing.

Odie Henderson, RogerEbert.com

"In the early going, Schirman tries to jack up suspense with an intrusive score by Max Richter. Eventually, the rhythms established by Mosab and Yitzhak’s complementary perspectives generate their own level of intrigue and empathy. It’s moving to see how the genuine emotion between the duo eventually trumped their rigid ideologies, though simultaneously sad to realize how choosing humanity over dogma effectively left them exiles -- a small moral victory won in a war with no end in sight."

Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York

"Cinematography of the talking heads appears standard-issue. The insistently brooding score by British composer Max Richter begins, by intention or not, to drone, resembling the less abrasive variety of late-’80s Nine Inch Nails tracks. Sound recording is clear and capably mixed."

Rob Nelson, Variety

"The incredible story of Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of one of the founders of Hamas who was an informant for the Israeli secret service for more than 10 years, is staged almost like something out of 'Syriana' or 'Zero Dark Thirty' in Israeli writer-director Nadav Schirman’s new documentary,'The Green Prince.' Thankfully, the talking-head segments provide enough psychological insight to accompany the countless drone shots and menacing score."

Boyd van Hoeij, Hollywood Reporter

TUSK - Christopher Drake

"'Tusk' finds [writer-director Kevin] Smith a more disciplined and reflective filmmaker than we've seen in years past. The movie isn't great, but it has structure, it has a score and I think I even saw a crane shot."

Gary Thompson, Philadelphia Daily News

A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES - Carlos Rafael Rivera

"With some movies, you feel like you’ve pre-seen them. The ads and posters and casting tell the same story you watched the previous weekend. So you go in and wait for a sign that this version will, in some way, be different. You look for evidence the director knows what he’s doing. 'A Walk Among the Tombstones' gives you a sense, not too far in, that a sensibility is at work. The strings in the score play well with the xylophone, kicking up an evocative air of mystery. But the surest indication that the movie is operating in a rarefied zone of confidence involves a simple long shot of Liam Neeson trudging up a Fifth Avenue sidewalk in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The camera takes long, patient drags on Neeson’s carriage and stature. I say it’s simple. But not every Neeson movie cares enough to do it."

Wesley Morris, Grantland

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, Arclight, LACMA, New Beverly, Nuart, Silent Movie Theater and UCLA.

September 26
GRADUATION DAY (Arthur Kempel) [Silent Movie Theater]
ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE (Josef van Wissem, SQURL) [Nuart]
SLEEP MY LOVE (Rudy Schrager), BLUEBEARD (Leo Erdody) [UCLA]
A STAR IS BORN (Ray Heindorf) [Cinematheque: Aero]
STRAIT-JACKET (Van Alexander), HOMICIDAL (Hugo Friedhofer) [LACMA/AMPAS]

September 27
HEAVY METAL (Elmer Bernstein) [Silent Movie Theater]
THE IMMIGRANT (Christopher Selman), TWO LOVERS [Cinematheque: Aero]
LADDIE, A PLACE IN THE SUN (Franz Waxman) [LACMA/AMPAS]
LOVE & BASKETBALL (Terence Blanchard) [Silent Movie Theater]
SWEET CHARITY (Cy Coleman) [UCLA]
THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (Wayne Bell, Tobe Hooper), THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL (Jeff Grace) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]

September 28
CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS (R. Dale Butts), HOLLOW TRIUMPH (Sol Kaplan) [UCLA]
WAKE UP AND LIVE (Louis Silvers) [Cinematheque: Aero]

September 30
THE GOLEM [Silent Movie Theater]
NIGHTMARE ALLEY (Cyril Mockridge) [LACMA/AMPAS]

October 1
ALIEN (Jerry Goldsmith) [Arclight Hollywood]
HALLOWEEN (John Carpenter) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]

October 2
ONLY GOD FORGIVES (Cliff Martinez) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]

October 3
BRIDE OF CHUCKY (Graeme Revell) [Nuart]
THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, THE CABINET OF CALIGARI (Gerald Fried) [LACMA/AMPAS]
THE EXORCIST [Arclight Hollywood]
THE MONSTER SQUAD (Bruce Broughton) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
SAMURAI COP (Alan DerMarderosian) [Silent Movie Theater]

October 4
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Carter Burwell), THE BIG LEBOWSKI (Carter Burwell) [LACMA/AMPAS]
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (Howard Shore) [Arclight Hollywood]
SMOKE SIGNALS (BC Smith) [UCLA]
THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (Jaime Mendoza-Nava) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
WEST OF ZANZIBAR, THE UNKNOWN [Silent Movie Theater]

October 5
CLEOPATRA (Rudolph Kopp) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
GREMLINS (Jerry Goldsmith) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
KISSED BY LIGHTNING, THE DOE BOY (Adam Dorn) [UCLA]
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (John Morris) [Arclight Hollywood]