The latest CD from Kritzerland is the first-ever release of the soundtrack to one of 1979's Best Picture nominees, the sleeper hit comedy drama BREAKING AWAY. Peter Yates (Bullitt, The Deep) directed the Oscar-winning screenplay by Steve Tesich, about a group of young "townies" in Bloomington, Indiana, who, at the urging of their Italy-obsessed friend, take part in Indiana University's "Little 500" bicycle race. The four leads were played by then-newcomers Dennis Christopher, Daniel Stern, Dennis Quaid and Jackie Earle Haley (at the time, Haley was the most recognizable actor of the group), and Patrick Williams earned his only Oscar nomination for his charming adaptation of classical pieces for the score. The Kritzerland CD features both Williams' adaptations and the unused original cues he composed for the film.

Due to the increasing time demands of my day job (yes, I have one, and I'm not giving it up), this year's CD Checklist and my compliation of Did They Mention the Music? highlights will not be posted until January. However, I am working on an expanded, and probably final, edition of my Top 40 Composer Countdown series, which should also begin next month.

Quartet Records has announced plans to release Gustavo Santaolalla's score for the episodic dark comedy Relatos Salvajes, released in the U.S. as WILD TALES.  Wild Tales is one of the nine films shortlisted by the Academy for a Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination -- the final nominations will be announced on January 15, 2015.

Accused (Netherlands) - Adam Norden
Corn Island (Georgia) - Iosif Bardanashvili
Force Majeure (Sweden) - Ola Flottum
Ida (Poland) - Kristian Selin Eidnes Andersen
Leviathan (Russia) - Philip Glass
The Liberator (Venezuela) - Gustavo Dudamel
Tangerines (Estonia) - Niaz Diasamidze
Timbucktu (Mauritania) - Amin Bouhafa
Wild Tales (Argentina) - Gustavo Santaolalla

CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK

The Brotherhood - Arnau Bataller - MovieScore Media/ScreamWorks
Coming Home - Qigang Chen - Sony (import)
The Day the Earth Stood Still - Bernard Herrmann - Kritzerland
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
Quer Pasticciaccio Brutto De Via Merulana - Riz Ortolani - GDM
Senza Buccia/Cosi Fan Tutte - Pino Donaggio - Beat 
Silent Night, Deadly Night - Perry Botkin - Death Waltz
Tenderly/La Ragazza Di Nome Giulio - Riz Ortolani - GDM 
VIP Mio Fratello Superuomo - Franco Godi - Beat

IN THEATERS TODAY

American Sniper - "Taya's Theme" by Clint Eastwood, additional music by Joseph DeBeasi
Big Eyes - Danny Elfman
The Interview - Henry Jackman
Into the Woods - Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; Musical Score Adaptation by David Krane -- one- and two-disc soundtracks on Disney
Selma - Jason Moran
Unbroken - Alexandre Desplat - Score CD on Parlophone

COMING SOON

December 30
Grantchester - John Lunn - Silva (import)
King Solomon's Mines - Jerry Goldsmith - Quartet
The Pink Panther Strikes Again - Henry Mancini - Quartet
Sahara - Ennio Morricone - Quartet
Turkey Shoot [Escape 2000] - Brian May - Dual Planet
January 6
The Dance of Reality - Adan Jodorowsky - Real Gone
El Topo - Alejandro Jodorowsky - Real Gone
The Holy Mountain - Alejandro 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
The Great Invisible - David Wingo - Lakeshore
Laggies - Benjamin Gibbard - Lakeshore
Paddington - Nick Urata - Decca
Reptenance - Mark Kilian - Phineas Atwood
Sharknado 2: The Second One - Chris Ridenhour, Christopher Cano - Phineas Atwood
Walking with the Enemy - Timothy Williams - Phineas Atwood
January 20
The Loft - John Frizzell - Varese Sarabande
January 27
Son of a Gun - Jed Kurzel - Milan
February 3
Broadchurch - Olafur Arnaulds - Mercury
John Carpenter's Lost Themes - John Carpenter - Sacred Bones
February 10 
Flash Gordon Vol. 3 - Michael Picton - Perseverance
Switch - Brian Satterwhite - Phineas Atwood
March 10
Wolf Hall - Debbie Wiseman - Silva (import)
Date Unknown
Alles Ist Liebe - Annette Focks - Alhambra
Berlin Is in Germany/Das Konto - Florian Appl - Alhambra
Breaking Away - Patrick Williams - Kritzerland
Die Hebamme - Marcel Barsotti - Alhambra
Pest - Ulrich Reuter - Alhambra
Pollyanna - Christopher Gunning - Caldera
Wild Tales - Gustavo Santaolalla - Quartet

THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY

December 26 - Albert Sendrey born (1911)
December 26 - Stephen Graziano born (1954)
December 26 - Curtis Mayfield died (1999)
December 27 - Oscar Levant born (1906)
December 27 - John Williams begins recording his score to The Empire Strikes Back (1979)
December 28 - Mischa Spoliansky born (1898)
December 28 - Captain Blood released in theaters (1935)
December 28 - Spellbound released in theaters (1945)
December 28 - Recording sessions begin for Bronislau Kaper's score to Invitation (1952)
December 28 - Richard Band born (1958)
December 28 - Alex North begins recording his score to All Fall Down (1961)
December 28 - Max Steiner died (1971)
December 28 - Ron Jones records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Loud as a Whisper" (1988)
December 28 - Milton Rosen died (1994)
December 28 - Michel Michelet died (1995)
December 29 - Ron Goodwin begins recording his score for Submarine X-1 (1967)
December 29 - George Duning's score for the Star Trek episode "Return to Tomorrow" is recorded (1967)
December 30 - Dmitri Kabalevsky born (1904)
December 30 - Paul Bowles born (1910)
December 30 - Ray Cook born (1936)
December 30 - Michael Nesmith born (1942)
December 30 - Richard Rodgers died (1979)
December 31 - Frank Skinner born (1897)
December 31 - Gil Melle born (1935)
December 31 - Anthony Hopkins born (1937)
December 31 - Andy Summers born (1942)
December 31 - Duel in the Sun premieres in Los Angeles (1946)
January 1 - Jeff Toyne born (1975)

DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?

THE BEST OF ME - Aaron Zigman

"While the score from Aaron Zigman seems cobbled together from cheesiest romances of the '90s, the film otherwise features a good soundtrack with nostalgia-inducing artists. Gin Blossoms and Cowboy Junkies punctuate the '90s moments, while the present scenes feature country-inflected pop and pop-inflected country from Colbie Caillat and Lady Antebellum."

Kimber Myers, The Playlist

THE BOOK OF LIFE - Gustavo Santaolalla

"I wish the songs by Gustavo Santaolalla (whose score is just right) were more memorable, and that the film didn’t lead up to the requisite third act Big Fight that so many cartoons obligatorily provide, but 'The Book of Life' manages to be genuinely surprising and engrossing. 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' may have October 31 and December 25 on lockdown, but now November 2 gets its own cartoon that both kids and parents will want to revisit every year."

Alonso Duralde, The Wrap

"Ultimately, what drags 'The Book Of Life' down is its insistence on trying to update an (original) folkloric story for a contemporary audience. In practice, this means adding some pop-cultural touches that only serve to take the viewer out of the fantastic setting. First of all, celebrity voices, that most nonessential of modern animation trends, are all over this thing. Most of them blend into the background (as they should), but Channing Tatum, miscast as a dashing war hero, sticks out like a sore thumb. Second, and more egregious, is the film’s diegetic use of contemporary pop songs. Cheech Marin as a drunken mariachi singing Biz Markie’s 'Just A Friend' has its charms, but when the wannabe-troubadour hero, Manolo (Diego Luna), starts singing Radiohead’s “Creep” (taking out the 'hell''s and 'f**k''s, of course), the cognitive dissonance is too much to bear. Similarly, it’s always nice to hear the opening strains of Ennio Morricone’s 'The Ecstasy Of Gold,' used here in a bullfighting scene-but then the beat drops. (The film’s original music, by 'Brokeback Mountain' composer Gustavo Santaolalla, is pretty forgettable, too.)"

Katie Rife, The Onion AV Club

OPEN WINDOWS - Jorge Magaz

"Jorge Magaz’s score reps one necessary non-diegetic component of the picture’s dense, precisely calibrated sound mix."

Justin Chang, Variety

STONEHEARST ASYLUM - John Debney

"This won’t be a highlight on anyone’s resume, with performances ranging from the overwrought ([Kate] Beckinsale, plus several thesps in one-note patient roles) to the competently clock-punching. Pic could have used a soundtrack with considerably more flavorsome eccentricity than John Debney’s conventional orchestral score."

Dennis Harvey, Variety

A THOUSAND TIMES GOOD NIGHT - Armand Amar

"Giving Rebecca’s older daughter a nebulous school project about 'Africa”' gives her a reason to take an interest in her mother’s work, but everyone involved sleepwalks through the resulting conversations and fights. The scenes of Rebecca attempting to lead a normal life are a stacked deck, too: Her husband has some sort of job as a marine biologist, but talks about his work with vagaries like, 'The progress on the plutonium measurements are just, it’s a breakthrough.' These parts of the film feel half-remembered by someone who wasn’t paying much attention to begin with. It’s jarring to get lost in the film’s gripping, genuinely surprising sequences, then wake up in the kind of movie where the score swells, as absolution is delivered by school presentation. Someone should have taken scissors to this story."

Matthew Dessen, The Dissolve

"Main subtext drama: Binoche’s crises of choice, lived cyclically, between being a good mother to two girls and risking life as a camera-festooned warrior -- Canon to the right of her, Canon to the left -- for world peace and understanding. Every theme and thesis is italicised. We aren’t trusted to probe them with our own minds. The preaching is accompanied, for extra emphasis, by treacly sacerdotal music."

Nigel Andrews, Financial Times

"Lenser John Christian Rosenlund, who collaborated with Poppe on the helmer’s previous gem, 'Troubled Water,' lets bright Afghani and African landscapes and northern-lit Irish seascapes exist on the same color palette, underscoring Binoche’s one-world viewpoint.  Armand Amar’s score subtly builds tension."

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

December 26
BLADE RUNNER (Vangelis) [Nuart]
RIO BRAVO (Dimitri Tiomkin), EL DORADO (Nelson Riddle), RIO LOBO (Jerry Goldsmith) [New Beverly]
VERTIGO (Bernard Herrmann) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]

December 27
GREASER'S PALACE (Jack Nitzsche)[Silent Movie Theater]
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Maurice Jarre) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GRIZZLY ADAMS (Thom Pace)[New Beverly]
RIO BRAVO (Dimitri Tiomkin), EL DORADO (Nelson Riddle), RIO LOBO (Jerry Goldsmith) [New Beverly]

December 28
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GRIZZLY ADAMS (Thom Pace)[New Beverly]
MY MAN GODFREY [Silent Movie Theater]
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (John Williams) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE WESTERNER (Dimitri Tiomkin), DESERT GOLD [New Beverly]

December 29
THE WESTERNER (Dimitri Tiomkin), DESERT GOLD [New Beverly]

December 30
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (John Williams), MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITI [New Beverly]

December 31
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (John Williams), MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITI [New Beverly]

January 1
HORSE FEATHERS, ANIMAL CRACKERS [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (John Williams), BEYOND THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (Jerry Fielding) [New Beverly]

January 2
ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (Max Steiner), YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (Dimitri Tiomkin) [Cinematheque: Aero]
BLADE RUNNER (Vangelis) [Nuart]
THE GODFATHER (Nino Rota), THE GODFATHER PART II (Nino Rota, Carmine Coppola) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]

January 3
BACK TO THE FUTURE (Alan Silvestri), BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II (Alan Silvestri), BACK TO THE FUTURE PART III (Alan Silvestri) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (Louis Silvers), PLATINUM BLONDE [Cinematheque: Aero]
MAD MAX (Brian May) [Silent Movie Theater]
THE SACRIFICE [Silent Movie Theater]

January 4
DUCK SOUP, MONKEY BUSINESS [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
MAN ON WIRE (Michael Nyman, J. Ralph)[Cinematheque: Aero]
THE SACRIFICE [Silent Movie Theater]