Intrada has announced two new releases this week: a greatly expanded version of James Horner's score for the 1993 adventure film A FAR OFF PLACE (one of ten Horner-scored films released in theaters that year) starring Reese Witherspoon and Ethan Embry (back when he was Ethan Randall); and the first-ever release Georges Delerue's score for the 1987 TV miniseries QUEENIE, based on Nicholas Korda's novel inspired by the life of actress Merle Oberon, starring Mia Sara, Joss Ackland, Claire Bloom, Kirk Douglas, Joel Grey, Sarah Miles and Topol.
The latest release from Kritzerland is a remastered version of one of the all-time classic science-fiction scores -- Bernard Herrmann's Oscar-shortlisted score for director Robert Wise's 1951 classic THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL.
This year's Grammy nominations have been announced, including the following film music-related categories:
BEST SCORE SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA
FROZEN - Christophe Beck
GONE GIRL - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL - Alexandre Desplat
GRAVITY - Steven Price
SAVING MR. BANKS - Thomas Newman
BEST COMPILATION SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA
AMERICAN HUSTLE
FROZEN
GET ON UP
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: AWESOME MIX VOL. 1
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
BEST SONG WRITTEN FOR VISUAL MEDIA
EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!!! - The Lego Movie- Joshua Bartholomew, Lisa Harriton, Shawn Patterson, Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone
I SEE FIRE - The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug - Ed Sheeran
I'M NOT GONNA MISS YOU - Glen Campbell, I’ll Be Me Glen Campbell & Julian Raymond
LET IT GO - Frozen - Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez
THE MOON SONG - Her- Spike Jonze & Karen O
John Williams was nominated for Best Instrumental Composition for the title cue from THE BOOK THIEF, and Pharrell Williams was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance for Despicable Me 2’s inescapable “Happy.”
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Elmer Bernstein: The Wild Side - Elmer Bernstein - Varese Sarabande
A Far Off Place - James Horner - Intrada
Fulci 2 Fulci: Live at Union Chapel - Fabio Frizzi - Beat
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - Howard Shore - Watertower
The Homesman - Marco Beltrami - Varese Sarabande
La Gabbia - Ennio Morricone - Saimel
The Light at the Edge of the World - Piero Piccioni - Quartet
Mr. Turner - Gary Yershon - Varese Sarabande
Penguins of Madagascar - Lorne Balfe - Sony (import)
Queenie - Georges Delerue - Intrada
Rosewater - Howard Shore - Howe
The Salt of the Earth - Laurent Petitgand - Quartet
Song of the Sea - Bruno Coulais - Mercury (import)
Trophy Heads - Richard Band - Little Gems
IN THEATERS TODAY
After the Fall - Marc Streitenfeld
The Color of Time - Garth Neustadter, Daniel Wohl
Demonic - Dan Marocco
Exodus: Gods and Kings - Alberto Iglesias - Score CD due Dec. 16 on Sony
The Immortalists - Eric Andrew Kuhn
Inherent Vice - Score CD due Dec. 16 on Nonesuch
Isn't It Delicious - David Amram
Monk with a Camera - Pivio, Aldo Di Scalzi
Red Army - Christophe Beck, Leo Birenberg
The Salt of the Earth - Laurent Petitgand - Score CD on Quartet
Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks - Attila Pacsay
Tales of the Grim Sleeper - H. Scott Salinas
Top Five - Ludwig Goransson
We Are the Giant - Philip Sheppard
COMING SOON
December 16
1864 - Marco Beltrami - MovieScore Media
Exodus: Gods and Kings - Alberto Iglesias - Sony
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies: Special Edition - Howard Shore - Watertower
Inherent Vice - Jonny Greenwood - Nonesuch
Into the Woods (1- and 2-disc editions) - Stephen Sondheim - Disney
The Lost Empire - John Altman - MovieScore Media
Triple CD Cipriani - Stelvio Cipriani - Digitmovies
Unbroken - Alexandre Desplat - Parlophone
December 23
The Brotherhood - Arnau Bataller - MovieScore Media/ScreamWorks
January 6
The Dance of Reality - Adan Jodorowsky - Real Gone
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb - Alan Silvestri - Varese Sarabande
The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death - Marco Beltrami, Marcus Trumpp, Brandon Roberts - Varese Sarabande
January 13
At the Devil's Door - Ronen Landa - Phineas Atwood
Fantasia - various - Disney
Paddington - Nick Urata - Decca
Sharknado 2: The Second One - Chris Ridenhour, Christopher Cano - Phinas Atwood
February 3
John Carpenter's Lost Themes - John Carpenter - Sacred Bones
Date Unknown
Alles Ist Liebe - Annette Focks - Alhambra
Berlin Is in Germany/Das Konto - Florian Appl - Alhambra
The Day the Earth Stood Still - Bernard Herrmann - Kritzerland
Die Hebamme - Marcel Barsotti - Alhambra
A Fistful of Dollars/Once Upon a Time in the West - Ennio Morricone - GDM
La Prima Notte Del Dr. Danieli/Il Merlo Maschio- Riz Ortolani - Digitmovies
L'armonica a Bocca - Franco De Gemini - Beat
Le Sette Fatiche Di Ali Baba - Marcello Giombini - Digitmovies
The Mysterious Island of Captain Nemo - Gianni Ferrio - Quartet
P.J. - Neil Argo - Kronos
Pest - Ulrich Reuter - Alhambra
Polyanna - Christopher Gunning - Caldera
Quer Pasticciaccio Brutto De Via Merulana - Riz Ortolani - GDM
Senze Auccia/Cosi Fan Tutte - Pino Donaggio - Beat -
Summer Song - Andrew Holtzman, Peter Bateman - Kronos
Tenderly/La Ragazza Di Nome Giulio - Riz Ortolani - GDM
VIP Mio Fratello Superuomo - Franco Godi - Beat
Viy - Anton Garcia - Kronos
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
December 13 - David Raksin begins recording his score to The Reformer and the Redhead (1949)
December 13 - Dimitri Tiomkin begins recording his score for Land of the Pharaohs (1954)
December 13 - Harry Gregson-Williams born (1961)
December 13 - Miles Goodman begins recording his score for Dunston Checks In (1995)
December 14 - John Lurie born (1952)
December 14 - Alfred Newman begins recording his score for Hell and High Water (1953)
December 14 - Ron Jones records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Defector" (1989)
December 15 - Gone With the Wind premieres (1939)
December 15 - The Man with the Golden Arm opens in New York (1955)
December 16 - Lud Gluskin born (1898)
December 16 - Noel Coward born (1889)
December 16 - Camille Saint-Saens died (1921)
December 16 - Adam Gorgoni born (1963)
December 16 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his unused Timeline score (2002)
December 17 - Leo Erdody born (1888)
December 17 - Don Ellis died (1978)
December 18 - Ron Jones records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Datalore" (1987)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) - Antonio Sanchez
"Against a terrific percussion-based soundtrack from Antonio Sanchez, 'Birdman' sounds a chorus of actorly insecurities, populated by lost souls hung up on whom they love or whom they should love, and their own fragile yet monstrously scaled egos."
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
"Through impossibly long, intricately choreographed tracking shots, the camera swoops through narrow corridors, up and down tight stairways and into crowded streets. It comes in close for quiet conversations and soars between skyscrapers for magical-realism flights of fancy. A percussive and propulsive score from Antonio Sanchez, heavy on drums and cymbals, maintains a jazzy, edgy vibe throughout. Sure, you can look closely to find where the cuts probably happened, but that takes much of the enjoyment out of it. Succumbing to the thrill of the experience is the whole point."
Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com
"Kevin Thompson's production design is like a living creature. Most of the action takes place in the complex backstage maze of a Broadway theater, where hallway passing becomes a feint and turn affair of bodies in tight spaces. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who won an Oscar last year for sending us out of this world in 'Gravity,' is masterful in taking us down the rabbit hole in takes so long they leave you breathless. The sound and editing teams do not miss a beat. The music alone merits its own review. The film is framed by Antonio Sanchez's evocative drum score and lifted by symphonic swells that milk every melodramatic quote-unquote movie moment with a sly sarcasm that is as loving as it is biting."
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times
"Expertly filmed by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki ('Gravity') to simulate one sinuously continuous shot, the movie wavers tonally in and out of backstage Broadway farce, literal flights of fancy, and realism both hard-bitten and magical. (A jazz drumbeat, courtesy of Antonio Sanchez, is the film’s propulsive obbligato, along with snatches of Mahler and Rachmaninoff, for that glorioso effect.)"
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
"'A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing.' So reads a note card propped up purposefully against the makeup mirror in the Broadway dressing room of one Riggan Thomson. It's an especially apt sentiment when the thing in question is 'Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),' the thrilling cinematic joyride that, among other improbable feats, puts Michael Keaton, as Thomson, smack in the middle of the Oscar race for best actor. It's impossible, as the quote (attributed apocryphally to Susan Sontag) implies, to convey fully in words the loopy genius of writer-director Alejandro González Iñárritu's fifth feature. It's the second film this year, after 'Boyhood,' to tell a story in a way that only a movie can. Instead of editing 12 years of real time down into two-and-a-half hours, though, it moves you seamlessly through space without, for the vast majority of its running time, an obvious cut. 'Birdman' is literally like nothing you've seen before, and it's spastic, propulsive, jazz percussion score is like little you've heard as well."
Marc Mohan, The Oregonian
"Movies don’t tend to move with 'Birdman'’s swaggering brio, but Iñárritu isn’t making a movie as much as he’s playing with jazz-like structures (and the constant drumming soundtrack suggests as much), building themes through manic passages that are somewhere between improvisation and a kind of brilliant synergy amongst its interlocking parts."
Andy Crump, Paste Magazine
"It's not a real-time movie -- we jump ahead in time during some of those camera swoops -- but the lack of edits jacks up the tension within scenes, especially with Antonio Sanchez's percussive, bebop soundtrack underscoring the action."
Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
"Alejandro G. Iñárritu, known for portentous dramas like '21 Grams' and 'Babel,' co-wrote 'Birdman' (with Rockville Centre's Alexander Dinelaris Jr., among others) and directs it with turbo-thrust energy. Slapstick and one-liners share space with lines so poetic -- many shared by Stone and Norton in some truly moving scenes -- that you barely have time to react. The score, composed and bashed out almost entirely by the jazz drummer Antonio Sanchez, provides comic rimshots and jittery energy. Keaton, our guide throughout, is marvelous: funny, wounded, pathetic and heroic all at once. Like no other movie this year, "Birdman" is an absolute blast."
Rafer Guzman, Newsday
"Brilliantly scored (by Antonio Sanchez) to an insistent, percussive drumbeat (that itself gets a witty, Godardian reveal deep into the film) and peppered with acerbic asides and belly laughs, the greatest wonder of the film is that for all its wry, surreal meta-textuality, it should gradually build to something so thought-provoking and genuinely human."
Jessica Kiang, The Playlist
"Keaton is given ample support from a lively, limber, consistently alert ensemble, including the sly, scene-stealing Norton, the impressively feisty Stone (who delivers another one of the film’s best verbal solos), Naomi Watts as the production’s idealistic ingenue and Zach Galifianakis, here almost unrecognizable as the closest thing to a straight man, Thomson’s best friend and producer. Urged along by a musical score that consists mostly of percussive drumming and snatches of classical pieces, the actors gamely hit their marks in a meticulously choreographed dance that swoops and swirls with brash, contagious brio. Then there’s the supporting character of Manhattan itself, portrayed here as a seductive and indifferent bitch-goddess who may tantalize from afar but who can swallow a man whole in less than a New York minute."
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
"The biggest naysayer to Riggan's misbegotten endeavor is his alter ego, his former superhero self, whose very appearance calls into question Riggan's grip on reality. He's a guy in a big black bird suit with a deep cadence, that pecks and pecks at the carrion of Riggan's rotting sense of accomplishment. (Drummer Antonio Sanchez's percussive score cues us even more to Riggan's precarious state of mind.)"
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
"Iñárritu has always been a dramatic maximalist, and here he floods the soundtrack with frantic drum solos and, in one scene, throws in an aside of a bit player intoning Macbeth's 'sound and fury' soliloquy, because, hey, it kinda fits. Discipline and restraint aren't his thing. But when he finds the right slightly unhinged material, he can make you believe that a bunch of gimmicks (and a man) can fly."
Tim Grierson, Deadspin
"Befitting the errant, bravura visuals, 'Birdman' is a film in which almost nothing is adequately tethered. Riggan is coming gradually unglued as we watch, torn between ambition and exhaustion, the potential glory of artistic success and the easier consolations found inside a whiskey bottle. (There are echoes of the fraying realities of the fictional directors played by Steve Buscemi in 'Living in Oblivion' and Philip Seymour Hoffman in 'Synecdoche, New York.') Members of Riggan’s cast and family pinball off of him -- more often than not, to restless drum riffs by Antonio Sanchez -- but they rarely dent his narcissism. Even the film itself has a vaguely schizoid feel to it: part sex farce, part Broadway satire, part magical-realist fable, part rumination on celebrity in the age of social media."
Christopher Orr, The Atlantic
"My, but the new Alejandro G. Inarritu movie, 'Birdman,' has some fascinating things going on. Foremost, there’s a wonderful visual stunt, in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 film 'Rope,' in which the film unfolds as a long sinewy dance, that starts in to jazz drumming (Antonio Sanchez), moves on through Mahler cello moans and back to jazz."
Liam Lacey, The Globe and Mail
"Ultimately, the only thing this movie is about is Iñárritu’s virtuosity. 'Birdman' is so self-consciously, self-reflexively controlled that you’re shocked that the roving camerawork doesn’t happen upon the source of the soundtrack’s jazzy kick drum spasms and snare spanks -- and then suddenly, sure enough, there’s a shot of Nate Smith playing Antonio Sanchez’s score on a kit in the theater. The pacing of these scenes is perfect, following the rhythms of the music."
Wesley Morris, Grantland
"Iñárritu is a magician of transference; he strong-arms the audience into sharing Riggan’s racing heart rate and roiling gut-feel. There’s no shielding yourself from Antonio Sanchez’s percussive score, with its shattered beats and crescendoing chaos a contagion of Riggan’s mental state. And Iñárritu’s decision to shoot the entire film in minutes-long unbroken shots is no mere showboating (which isn’t to say cinematographer Emmanuel Luzbeki shouldn’t start drafting his acceptance speech right now). By concealing the seams between shots, the movie moves as one long fever dream, and the pressure on the actors to not ruin a take is palpable."
Kimberley Jones, The Austin Chronicle
"The cinematography, by the great Emmanuel Lubezki (who won an Oscar last year for his work on 'Gravity'), has been devised so that the movie looks like one long, seamless take, following characters through the warren of hallways and back rooms at the St. James Theatre and out onto the stage or the crowded Times Square street. It’s a marvel of technical achievement that, along with the jazzy drum score by Antonio Sanchez, gives the film the unstoppable momentum of a downhill skier who’s committed to reaching the bottom of the mountain, whether it’s on his face or still standing."
Alison Willmore, BuzzFeed
"Besides, the clichéd action isn’t the point. The point is the artist and the self he is forever attempting to express, the war he is waging on his own brief insignificance, his mighty struggle to slip free of history’s obliterating grip and soar toward heaven and immortality. It’s a hoot. (Mostly, anyway. There are some draggy bits that even the thump-a-drum score cannot enliven.)"
Matthew Lickona, San Diego Reader
"When 'Birdman' is not cranking up the symphonies, it relies on a brisk, percussive score by Antonio Sanchez. That’s a great match for the film, but next to the aural assault of 'Whiplash' it’s barely more than a muffled thud.
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker
"With the great Emmanuel Lubezki ('The Tree Of Life') serving as cinematographer, Iñárritu shoots virtually all of 'Birdman' to make it seem like one long, continuous take. His technical bravado pays off in some respects and weakens the film in others. The gimmick succeeds in carrying tension throughout the entire two-hour ordeal, trapping viewers in a pressure-cooker atmosphere as Riggan and his players struggle to keep it together. The film presents the theater world as an intimate environment where personal and professional crises co-mingle, often toxically, and can spill out onstage in productive or disastrous ways. But Iñárritu consistently overplays his hand: with the nonstop agitation of a drum-and-cymbal score, with toe-to-toe screaming matches and showy monologues, and with a fantastical Birdman alter-ego who speaks to Riggan and gives him special, destructive powers."
Scott Tobias, The Dissolve
"Speaking of rebirth, Iñárritu relocates an energy and passion -- a sheer verve -- that’s been missing from his work since 'Amores Perros.' Perpetually gliding through the labyrinthine innards of the theater, often to a 'Punch-Drunk Love' beat of percussive anxiety, he captures the hustle and bustle of the backstage world -- the electricity in the air when a live performance is imminent."
A.A. Dowd, The Onion AV Club
"Whether or not Keaton himself experiences the temptations of the blockbuster arena in similar fashion, 'Birdman' suggests the conundrum stems from deep-seated anxieties. Iñarritu underscores Riggan's paranoid state with a jazzy drum solo, sometimes even revealing the drummer in unexpected places, which strengthens the likelihood that anything can happen."
Eric Kohn, indieWIRE
"Defiantly embracing his own risks, Gonzalez Iñárritu shoots his backstage farce in what appears to be one long, fluid take. His camera is perpetually on the move. Acclaimed cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (“Gravity”) stalks Riggan through narrow theater hallways and into a packed Times Square streets. Antonio Sanchez’s percussive score follows Riggan as well, an insistent reminder of the pressure he’s under."
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
"Late in the film, as Riggan’s seemingly doomed opening night approaches, he stumbles into a liquor store to buy a bottle of booze as a homeless man (or is it an auditioning actor?) stands on the street bellowing the famous 'tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow' speech from 'Macbeth': 'Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player/ Who struts and frets his hour upon the stage … ' 'Birdman' does its own share of strutting and fretting during its two hours on the screen: The camera struts while the dialogue frets. There’s also plenty of sound and fury, including a hard-edged percussion score from the drummer Antonio Sanchez. This is no tale told by an idiot -- on the contrary, it’s a funny, fast-moving parable about fame and ambition, laid out for us with care and craft by a gifted filmmaker, a long-missed actor, and a world-class cinematographer. But I’m left with the suspicion the whole thing may signify -- well, if not nothing, at least a good deal less than the filmmakers would have us believe.
Dana Stevens, Slate.com
"But, again, I found myself wishing, as I wandered out of the theater, that something deeper had been mined by all this ingenuity and talent. It’s a dizzying film, a swirl of sadness and humor and frantic thought. It’s also deceptively simple. Maybe that’s the point, that no matter how ornate our plans and projects, we’re all just chasing the same basic dream of approval and validation. Still, 'Birdman' left me itching for more. Like the percussive single drummer score that urges it along, the film is nervy, clever, a riot of crisp flourishes. But I missed the deeper notes, the richer and more complex swells. I was looking, maybe, for that ineffable spirit, the one that turns, through some fiery alchemy, art into feeling, and feeling into genuine, enduring art."
Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair
"We know Iñárritu has a dark side (just look at his previous films like 'Amores Perros' and 'Babel'), and it's not entirely hidden here. Life is disappointing, his film is saying (it opens with a Carver quote, 'Did you get what you wanted out of life?'). But it's also beautiful and, at times, unexpected. This film does real justice to that idea: it's dazzling and rambling, intimate and sprawling, and it's carried along by an infectious, off-the-cuff jazz score. As soon as it ends, you'll be dying to fly with it again."
Cath Clarke, Time Out London
"Inarritu’s approach is mind-boggling in its complexity, nearly as demanding on Lubezki as 'Gravity' must have been, such that even seemingly minor jokes, as when the camera spies the drummer responsible for the pic’s restless jazz score (by Antonio Sanchez) lurking on the edge of the frame, had to be perfectly timed. It’s all one big magic trick, one designed to remind how much actors give to their art even as it disguises the layers of work that go into it."
Peter Debruge, Variety
"Propelled by outbursts of virtuoso jazz drumming by Antonio Sanchez, the story's action spans several days but plays out in a visual continuum of time unbroken -- until the very end -- by any evident cuts; it's as if the already legendary opening 13-minute take in 'Gravity' had persisted through the entire movie."
Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter
DIPLOMACY - Jorg Lemberg
"If there's any artistic convention tangential to cinema that the film is too unthinkingly reliant on, it's blandly mood-enhancing orchestral music, which successfully ushers an already straightforwardly didactic problem-solving lesson toward world-historical schmaltz. That 'Diplomacy' as a whole never hits such a plateau is attributable first and foremost to its two lived-in faces of European cinema, elegantly transposing the project's stage origins to account for the infinitesimal psychological detail of movies."
Carson Lund, Slant Magazine
"Virginie Bruant’s crisp editing further enhances an ace tech package. Soundtrack includes well-timed bits of Beethoven’s 7th and Madeline Peyroux singing 'J’ai deux amours' alongside Jorg Lemberg’s unobtrusive original score."
Scott Foundas, Variety
ELSA & FRED - Luis Bacalov
"Behind the camera, director Michael Radford and his cinematographer Michael McDonough make the most of 'Elsa & Fred'’s New Orleans setting. The music by Luis Bacalov ('Il Postino') is sweet enough to deserve a better movie."
Odie Henderson, RogerEbert.com
"A cloyingly springy score and a curiously retro New Orleans, in which the few people of color seen are a caregiver, a building superintendent and a shopkeeper (there’s a compensatory glimpse of President Obama on TV in the background), contribute to an overall aura of tackiness."
Jon Frosch, The Hollywood Reporter
KILL THE MESSENGER - Nathan Johnson
"The issue of credibility percolates throughout 'Kill the Messenger.' A tense meeting with CIA officials, which concludes with a veiled threat against his family, feels drab instead of suspenseful. Webb continues to assert his responsibility to his story while everyone around him expresses their uncertainties, but these scenes have a listlessness that holds them down. As Nathan Johnson's moody score runs alongside one shrill exchange after another, there's a recurring sense that Webb is screwed even before we get to that point. The movie's atmosphere would be suffocating -- which fits the material -- if the drama weren't so routine."
Eric Kohn, indieWIRE
"An MOR presentation doesn’t help matters. While '12 Years A Slave' DP Sean Bobbitt lenses the picture, and up-and-comer Nathan Johnson is the composer, neither of their work goes beyond the familiar, and at times they fall into generic thriller tropes. Conventionally told, aside from some misjudged montages and missteps (The Clash’s 'Know Your Rights' is deeply misused, for one), ‘Messenger’ feels pretty run of the mill."
Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist
PRIVATE PEACEFUL - Rachel Portman
"And though the scenario might not be the freshest, director Pat O'Connor ('Circle of Friends') employs a delicate, organic touch, lending a vivid sense of place to both the pastoral Devon backdrops and the grim, muddy trenches of Flanders. He keeps you so coddled in atmosphere -- further heightened by Rachel Portman's lovely, elegiac score -- that you're totally unprepared for the ending, which, like the rest of the film, is orchestrated with nuance and grace."
Michael Rechtshaffen, Los Angeles Times
"One more story about how the Great War’s casual disdain for human life planted the seeds for the social unrest that followed, the defiantly old-fashioned 'Private Peaceful' nevertheless succeeds in hitting the right emotional notes, with a handy assist from Rachel Portman’s score."
Charles Gant, Variety
THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAGUYA - Joe Hisaishi
[opening paragraph of review] "It’s no great surprise to see composer Joe Hisaishi’s name in the credits of 'The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya,' since he’s scored nearly every Studio Ghibli animated feature. But it’s still a treat to hear Hisaishi’s music, which has lyrical grace and sonic depth, and never fails to make a Ghibli film seem even more like a piece of fine art. Even more than Pixar -- or Walt Disney studios in its Walt-headed heyday-- there’s an impeccability to Ghibli’s work, with every element executed with thoughtfulness and precision. In 'The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya,' Hisashi’s score is used sparingly, to evoke ancient Japan, the changing of the seasons, and the often heartbreaking maturation of a young girl. But even when the score is absent, the movie’s sound effects are so subtle and exact that they can capture the soft pelt of snow flurries. Even the quietude in 'Kaguya' is just-so."
Noel Murray, The Dissolve
"Subtly supported by Joe Hisaishi's delicate score, Takahata works in a hand-drawn pastel style, showing a rare bucolic sensitivity that's perfect for the almost overwhelming wistfulness his tale accumulates."
Jonathan Kiefer, SF Weekly
"More earnest and sober than previous takes on this tale -- like Kon Ichikawa’s whacked 1987 adaptation, the sci-fi-steeped 'Princess From The Moon' -- 'The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya' may try the patience of American audiences weaned on the coked-out pacing of homegrown animated fare. All the same, the film’s drawings are almost peerlessly enchanting, and become downright irresistible when combined with the sounds of Joe Hisaishi’s woodsy requiems."
David Erlich, The Onion AV Club
"Tech credits are out of this world. The animation sports a two-dimensional look reminiscent of watercolors, and yet movements flow with exceptional grace; even shots of landscapes and objects sometimes appear to unfold like a scroll. Illustrations of period architecture and props are rendered with diaphanous subtlety, as when Kaguya darts toward the moon, or in the film’s transporting ending, an aesthetic fusion equally inspired by Dun Huang murals and hippie music. Joe Hisaishi’s earthy, folk-inflected score eschews his usual orchestral heaviness."
Maggie Lee, Variety
"Music, ranging from traditional koto plucking to the obligatory pop song over the end credits, adds emotional depth and is deployed organically throughout the story."
Leslie Felperin, Hollywood Reporter
WINTER IN THE BLOOD - Heartless Bastards
"The film is artful, with stunningly gorgeous cinematography of Montana’s High Line, and pitch perfect, highly detailed '60s era production design. The score is beautiful, and the performances (particularly by the Native American actors) feel authentic and lived in. Where the film suffers is in its storytelling."
Katie Walsh, The Playlist
YOUNG ONES - Nathan Johnson
"Composer Nathan Johnson also delivers superlative, interesting work that pays homage to spaghetti westerns and other genres without ever coming across as reductive; character leitmotifs give the film a sense of scale and significance."
Brent Simon, Paste Magazine
"'Young Ones' is Paltrow’s second stab at feature filmmaking; his first was 2007’s 'The Good Night,' a promising start that unfortunately never saw wide release. But this one actually feels more like a first film. Everything about it is a little too intense, from extreme zooms to scene-ending blackouts and even red-outs, while the insistent score veers sharply from country tunes into horror-melodrama orchestrations."
Chris Knight, National Post
"Jake Paltrow's 'Young Ones' is a dustbowl Western with a sci-fi twist. It looks and sounds like the past: The plains are barren, the people wear cheap cotton and the score, by Nathan Johnson -- all vibrating, beautiful melancholy -- could be layered over any John Ford flick. But when their donkey snaps a limb, peddlers Ernest (Michael Shannon) and son Jerome (Kodi Smit-McPhee) shoot the animal and replace it with a robot, a high-stepping, spindly machine that looks like a pickup truck on legs."
Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly
"Writer-director Jake Paltrow's sophomore feature, 'Young Ones,' thankfully avoids the typical trappings of the genre pastiche by utilizing its clear indebtedness to numerous other films as merely a starting point, rather than an end. The opening, wide-angle shots of desert vistas and barren lands could have been snatched straight from John Ford's depictions of Monument Valley or David Lean's expansive shots of the Middle-Eastern desert in 'Lawrence of Arabia.' Nathan Johnson's score, too, could be mistaken for mid-period Ennio Morricone, with a recurring, string-based theme that returns throughout. These points of reference, however, ultimately recede in light of Paltrow's keen, never over-determined sensibilities that see the film's themes through to their logical but perceptive conclusions, and without getting lost in what could have been an easily tangled web of self-aware jabs and self-aggrandizing allusions."
Clayton Dillard, Slant Magazine
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.
December 12
THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT (Guy Gross) [UCLA]
DAZED AND CONFUSED, CARRIE (Pino Donaggio) [New Beverly]
DIE HARD (Michael Kamen) [Nuart]
LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN (Daniel Amfitheatrof), LIEBELEI (Theo Mackeben) [LACMA/AMPAS]
MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN, MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (Dimitri Tiomkin) [Cinematheque: Aero]
December 13
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (Erich Wolfgang Korngold), MILDRED PIERCE (Max Steiner) [LACMA/AMPAS]
BATMAN BEGINS (Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard), THE DARK KNIGHT (Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard), THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (Hans Zimmer) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
DAZED AND CONFUSED, CARRIE (Pino Donaggio) [New Beverly]
FLESH AND THE DEVIL [Silent Movie Theater]
HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS (James Horner) [Silent Movie Theater]
INVADERS FROM MARS (Raoul Kraushaar) [New Beverly]
MONTY PYTHON'S LIFE OF BRIAN (Geoffrey Burgon), ERIK THE VIKING (Neil Innes) [Cinematheque: Aero]
December 14
EDGE OF AMERICA (BC Smith) [UCLA]
THE EXILE (Frank Skinner), THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE... (Georges Van Parys) [New Beverly]
INVADERS FROM MARS (Raoul Kraushaar) [New Beverly]
LOVE ACTUALLY (Craig Armstrong) [Arclight Hollywood]
MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (Cyril J. Mockridge) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
MONTY PYTHON'S THE MEANING OF LIFE (John DuPrez), MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (DeWolfe)
December 15
CASABLANCA (Max Steiner) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
THE EXILE (Frank Skinner), THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE... (Georges Van Parys) [New Beverly]
December 16
ALICE ADAMS (Roy Webb) [LACMA/AMPAS]
COMMANDOS (Mario Nascimbene), 5 FOR HELL (Vasco Mancuso) [New Beverly]
DIE HARD (Michael Kamen) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
DIE HARD 2 (Michael Kamen) [Arclight Hollywood]
December 17
AUNTIE MAME (Bronislau Kaper) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (Ennio Morricone), MINNESOTA CLAY (Piero Piccioni) [New Beverly]
December 18
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (Ennio Morricone), MINNESOTA CLAY (Piero Piccioni) [New Beverly]
NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION (Angelo Badalamenti) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
SCROOGED (Danny Elfman) [Arclight Hollywood]
December 19
GREMLINS (Jery Goldsmith) [Nuart]
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Dimitri Tiomkin) [Cinematheque: Aero]
PULP FICTION [New Beverly]
THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER (Werner Heymann), THE DOLL [LACMA/AMPAS]
SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (Perry Botkin), CHRISTMAS EVIL (Don Christensen, Joel Harris, Julia Heyward)[Cinematheque: Egyptian]
December 20
ELF (John Debney)[Cinematheque: Aero]
HOME ALONE (John Williams) [Silent Movie Theater]
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Dimitri Tiomkin)[Cinematheque: Egyptian]
NOTORIOUS (Roy Webb), VERTIGO (Bernard Herrmann) [LACMA/AMPAS]
PUTNEY SWOPE [Silent Movie Theater]
RICHARD PRYOR LIVE IN CONCERT [New Beverly]
SCROOGE (Leslie Bricusse, Ian Fraser, Herbert Spencer) [New Beverly]
December 21
THE APARTMENT (Adolph Deutsch) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE DEEP (John Barry), SHARK (Rafael Moroyoqui) [New Beverly]
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Dimitri Tiomkin) [Arclight Hollywood]
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Dimitri Tiomkin) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Dimitri Tiomkin) [Cinematheque: Aero]
SCROOGE (Leslie Bricusse, Ian Fraser, Herbert Spencer) [New Beverly]
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