Film Score Daily: Film Score Friday 5/29/15

Intrada has released two new CDs this week.

3-D films received a new mini-boom in the early 1980s thanks to the new Arrivision 3-D process that allowed two widescreen images to be paired on one 35mm frame. Used for such films as Friday the 13th Part 3, Parasite and Metalstorm, it had its highest profile demonstration in JAWS 3-D, in which Jaws production designer Joe Alves made his directorial debut from a script co-written by the great Richard Matheson and starring Dennis Quaid (as one of Chief Brody's grown-up sons), Bess Armstrong, Lea Thompson, Simon Macorkindale, and then-new Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr. The film may not have been a worthy successor to Spielberg's universally beloved original, but it was a first-rate guilty pleasure making use of 3-D effects in that wonderfully "in your face" way that's largely gone out of fashion in the current 3-D boom. TV composer Alan Parker had his first major feature assignment with this score, which of course incorporates John Williams' classic shark theme while using a wealth of new Parker material. MCA originally released sections of the score on LP, and decades later Intrada released a CD with the same sequencing. The new Intrada two-disc set features Parker's complete score as well as a wealth of alternate cues (Parker had to rewrite and re-record major sections of the score late in the post-production process). The liner notes include a detailed production history writen by me, as well as excerpts from Daniel Schweiger's exhaustive interview with the composer from Intrada's earlier release of the score.

Their other new release presents the score for the latest collaboration between composer Christopher Young and director Mark Steven Johnson, who previously worked together on Ghost Rider and When in Rome. KILLING SEASON, a drama about the aftermath of the Bosnian War, was a change of pace project for the director, who first broke out in Hollywood as the writer of the Grumpy Old Men films, and the limited U.S. release it received in 2013 is a particular surprise given that the film stars Robert De Niro and John Travolta. Intrada's CD features 43 minutes of Young's score with the cues sequenced into four movements.

La-La Land has announced their planned slate of releases for June 2015. On June 2nd they will release a second volume of Mark Snow's music from the TV series MILLENNIUM, and re-release their out-of-print first volume. On June 16 they will release an expanded edition of James Horner's charming score for 1993's SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISHCHER (one of TEN Horner-scored films released in the U.S. that year). But most notably, on June 16 they will also release an expanded, three-disc (!) version of what gets my vote for the greatest score of the current century.

Fittingly enough, it was the year 2001 that saw the release of a science-fiction project initiated by Stanley Kubrick, but realized for the screen by Steven Spielberg after Kubrick's death in 1999. A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is one of Spielberg's most controversial films -- a box-office disappointment, it is lauded by some (including myself) as one of his most striking and greatest achivements. Along with the typically impeccable craft (ILM's visual effects are especially dazzling) and Haley Joel Osment's stunning lead performance, John Williams provided a truly remarkable and varied score, arguably his finest since Schindler's List (I'd argue it's even finer). The original soundtrack CD for the film was a frustrating assemblage leaving out some major musical material (including the theme for Osment's principal character) while including two versions of the "mother" theme with lyrics not featured the film. The La-La Land A.I. will present the original score on two discs plus a third disc featuring alternates including the album versions of several of the tracks.

On June 23, Varese Sarabande will release a CD of music from the TV series THE LIBRARIANS. The music is composed by genre veteran Joseph LoDuca, whose resume includes Sam Raimi's three Evil Dead features as well as the Librarian TV movies that spawned the series.

Aloha - Jonsi & Alex - Soundtrack CD Songs of Aloha on Legacy inc. two Jonsi & Alex cues
Barely Lethal - Mateo Messina
Brother's Keeper - Bill Brown
Gemma Bovery - Bruno Coulais - Score CD on Milan (import)
Heaven Knows What - Paul Grimstad, Ariel Pink
Marie’s Story - Sonia Wider-Atherton - Score CD Marie Heurtin on Naive
San Andreas - Andrew Lockington - Score CD-R on Watertower
Seeds of Time - Kristopher Bowers
Sunset Edge - Ian Hatton, James Corrigan
Survivor - Ilan Eshkeri
The True Cost - Duncan Blickenstaff
Unfreedom - Jesse Kotansky, Wayne Sharpe

THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY

May 29 - Erich Wolfgang Korngold born (1897)
May 29 - Masaru Sato born (1928)
May 29 - Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov born (1936)
May 29 - David McHugh born (1941)
May 29 - Danny Elfman born (1953)
May 29 - Ed Alton born (1955)
May 29 - J.J. Johnson begins recording his score for Cleopatra Jones (1973)
May 31 - Akira Ifukube born (1914)
June 1 - Werner Janssen born (1900)
June 1 - Nelson Riddle born (1921)
June 1 - Barry Adamson born (1958)
June 1 - Ron Jones records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Emissary" (1989)
June 2 - Marvin Hamlisch born (1944)
June 2 - David Dundas born (1945)
June 2 - Alex North begins recording his score to Les Miserables (1952)
June 3 - Curtis Mayfield born (1942)
June 3 - Johnny Mandel begins recording his score for The Americanization of Emily (1964)
June 4 - Irwin Bazelon born (1922)
June 4 - Oliver Nelson born (1932)
June 4 - Poltergeist released in theaters (1982)

DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS - Bruce Hornsby

"The most impressive thing about 'Jesus' is its unfailing control of tone. This is manifested in Lee's immaculate and uncharacteristically clean, even sterile, widescreen compositions (shot by Daniel Patterson); Barry Alexander Brown's scalpel-exact edits; and the score, which switches between rap/R&B and Bruce Hornsby's introspective solo piano riffs, but always keeps the volume high. Even the more stilted conversations feel less like freestanding lines than lyrics in a two-hour visual and musical tapestry. This is clearly intentional: although Lee hasn't done a straight-up musical since 'School Daze,' his movies often tilt in that direction. This one dives into it headfirst -- starting with the dazzling opening credits sequence, which sees dancer Charles 'Li'L Buck' Riley gliding, twisting, spiraling and twirling across an array of Red Hook, Brooklyn locations -- and keeps it going through a gospel performance late in the movie in which Black American Christianity gets pulled into the film's matrix of addiction and transcendence."

Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com

"'Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus' is chockablock with artistic choices, but with no discerning vision of when and where to pull back, these varying selections glaringly chafe. Music has always been a central element to Spike Lee movies, but 'Sweet Blood' is positively slathered with pop music, the preferences of which seemed to be employed without much rhyme or reason. Hip-hop and neo-soul sit next to Brazilian/Afro pop by Jorge Ben and Milton Nasciemento, and something akin to the Moody Blues. Then there’s Bruce Hornsby’s painfully ill-suited score which is its own brand of foolishness (note, he’s done terrific work for Lee in the past, but sounds ill-equipped to handle genre -- his 'Oldboy' score was reportedly rejected by the studio too)."

Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist

"Spike Lee's 'Da Sweet Blood of Jesus' offers an intense and startling act of self-analysis that kicks right off with the opening credits, which are seen over a graceful sequence with a dancer on the streets of New York who's moving to the despairing, almost ecstatic strains of Bruce Hornsby's score. Watching this, it's impossible not to recall Rosie Perez furiously punching and pounding the pavement alongside the opening credits of Lee's defining film, 'Do the Right Thing.' Perez's movements were sexy, enraged, almost literally overheated, while the dancer of the new film moves in a fashion that's decidedly slower and resigned. This dancer embodies a perfection of technique, as well as an acknowledgement of almost ineffable sadness. The street tableaus that serve as the dancer's stage abound in the bold contrasting neon colors that often comprise the cinematography of Lee's films, and there are references to characteristic Lee obsessions: the New York Knicks, Red Hook, and, perhaps most tellingly, a credit that identifies this as 'an official Spike Lee joint,' which is probably intended to establish a contrast between something personal like this project and a reportedly compromised for-hire assignment like 'Oldboy,' which, in the director's eyes, is merely a 'Spike Lee film.' Hornsby's score is often just underneath the images, jacking up the emotions of even comparatively subdued scenes, and when it isn't, there are ribald songs in its place that play over top the image, dominating, literalizing the killings and the couplings as acts of desperate annihilation."

Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine

"The best moments are when flashes of Lee’s personality shine through. The opening credits feature dancer Charles 'Lil’ Buck' Riley twisting and moving to Bruce Hornsby’s soft and melodic piano score. It’s a love letter to Brooklyn, as Riley performs against beautiful backdrops like the Red Hook waterfront. And, of course, Lee’s signature gliding dolly shot appears late in the film. But these brief moments have little to do with the rest of the movie, which is painfully muddled and not very entertaining. I haven’t given up hope, though, that next time Lee will do the right thing."

Jonan Flicker, Paste Magazine

"Abrahams veritably pops off the screen in 'Da Sweet Blood of Jesus,' which is otherwise a muddle of starchy pacing, uneven acting and bizarre tonal confusion. Bruce Hornsby’s gorgeous acoustic score seems to have been composed for an entirely different movie, and Williams is recessive to the point of utter inertness as a man governed by unquenchable, restless appetites. Although Lee briefly engages in some fascinating ideas linking the vampire’s existence to cultural empowerment, preservation and survival, he squanders that potential in leaden soft-core cliches that usually wind up with him ogling the female form."

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

"Spike Lee’s 'Da Sweet Blood of Jesus' opens with an elegant credit sequence of dancer Charles 'Lil Buck' Riley in a fedora, moving as fluidly as plasma. He’s seen in Red Hook locations while Bruce Hornsby’s gorgeous piano score rolls on. It’s the kind of thing that Lee does best. In this case, he’s starting a vampire drama with images of eye-grabbing, incongruous beauty."

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News

"The film makes attempts at atmosphere that occasionally spiral off into the ether, but it also builds a strong and distinctive mood for itself. Pop artist Bruce Hornsby provides Lee with the score, while the soundtrack runs the gamut from new-school hip-hop and modern Gospel arrangements to Brazilian jazz-pop, always precisely in (or out of, but with purpose) tune with the action and scene. The film’s pacing goes from leisurely to the too-long, but at the same time you can’t deny Lee’s attempt and artistry in bringing big issues to the forefront: class and murder, race and faith, colonialism and capitalism, all summed up in a final act that reminds us actions have consequences, and consequences live on long after mere death."

James Rocchi, The Wrap

"Scored by Bruce Hornsby, Lee’s film veers all over the place tonally, juxtaposing scenes of spurting gore with soothing jazz. Hess’ WASP-y mansion, with its huge photo portraits of African warriors, is an interesting study in mashing up race and class stereotypes, though the film’s rambling plot may leave your brain feeling a little mashed, too."

Sara Stewart, New York Post

"Just as 'Red Hook Summer' found Lee in a nostalgic mood and hearkened back to 'Do The Right Thing' by having Lee stiffly reprise his role as Mookie, 'Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus' recalls Lee’s early films by opening with a dancer who moves as if he has no bones and is not subject to the laws of gravity, as if there’s nothing to curb his fluid movements. The opening standalone sequence has little to do with the rest of the film, but it stands out in part because it has qualities the rest of the film conspicuously lacks: a spellbinding blend of sound and image, a good use of Bruce Hornsby’s reflective, moody score, and the kind of elegant yet gritty choreography for which Lee has always had a fondness. The dreamy kinetics of this sequence only highlight the clunkiness of what’s to come."

Nathan Rabin, The Dissolve

"Deep in debt to a two-bit agent now making threats, Ansel overcharges for signed copies of a new book nobody wants, sleeps in his car, and at a particularly low point that opens the film, tries to get a free meal from a hotel restaurant on an expired voucher. 'I have nothing,' he declares of the $4.75 bill he's unable to pay, accurately describing both the content of his wallet and the state of his life. Down to his bristly, crestfallen moustache, Orser looks every inch the loser, and watching him mope around, even the strings of Heather McIntosh's score sound pitifully plucked."

Timothy E. Raw, Slant Magazine

Scott Weinberg, Nerdist

"At least the Wachowskis know how to fill the screen. Shot by 'Braveheart' cinematographer John Toll, the movie displays its visual gusto early with a dazzling dogfight over downtown Chicago. A disorienting device is used with palpable throttle, in which the perspective is reversed so that we see the characters as stationary, it seems, as skyscrapers and Lake Michigan spin dizzily all around them. Later, the sight of large spaceships needling into and out of the eye of Jupiter (to the squeals of composer Michael Giacchino’s score) has a florid majesty that lends a pulpy 1980s feel."

Joe McGovern, Entertainment Weekly|

"It's the story of another 'Matrix'-style messiah figure (female this time) fighting for control of the solar system against a 'King Lear'-type family of squabbling villainous siblings. The baddies, surviving members of the Abrasax dynasty, keep trying to force Jupiter to sign some kind of intergalactic property deed and harvest her eggs so they can keep siphoning energy from the bodies of imprisoned humans, or something. (I have no idea what was at stake in this film, what the bad guys wanted, what the good guys were trying to do; I'm sure it's possible to figure it out, but I'd rather do something more pleasurable, like untangle wadded-up strands of Christmas tree lights.) Meanwhile, Jupiter's brawny half-man, half-werewolf warrior-protector zips through widescreen panoramas on jet-propelled boots, rescuing her over and over, duking it out with winged demons and sickly humanoid 'Keepers' as spaceships crash through asteroid belts and skyscrapers, and explosions rumble and flash, and a symphony brass section topped by a quasi-mystical choir shrieks in your ears. In case you read that last part and thought, 'That sounds kind of awesome,' rest assured it isn't. 'Jupiter' mostly lacks the crackpot inspiration that's been the Wachowskis' stock-in-trade since the late '90s. The cast stars Mila Kunis as the title character, a Russian-American cleaning lady named Jupiter Jones, and Channing Tatum as Jupiter's aforementioned jet-skating bodyguard and wannabe-boyfriend, who's literally a puppy dog cousin of The Terminator (part lycanthrope, he claims) and just as literally a fallen angel (he has scars where wings used to be). The civil-warring siblings at first seem intriguingly campy/ridiculous; the way Balem (Eddie Redmayne), Kalique (Tuppence Middleton) and Titus (Douglas Booth) purr every bitchy line, they might as well swipe the air with kitty-cat claws. But they end up being subsumed by the tediously familiar visuals, sound effects and music (composer Michael Giacchino seems to be recycling cues from the 'Star Trek' movies, which weren't too distinctive in the first place)"

Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com

"It all comes down to a problem of world-building, a skill at which the Wachowskis excelled on 'The Matrix.' But their weaknesses were revealed soon after in the “Matrix” sequels, where the sheer scale of the project overwhelmed their ability to focus in on the core narrative. Here, buried under decibels of deafening score (from J.J. Abrams’ favorite composer, Michael Giacchino, working without the solid underlying musical theme of his Pixar and 'Star Trek' work), the movie zips from one dazzling setting to another, back and forth between Earth and Jupiter and who knows where else."

Peter Debruge, Variety

KIDNAPPING MR. HEINEKEN - Lucas Vidal

"At least director Daniel Alfredson (helmer of the two Noomi Rapace-led sequels to 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo') keeps things moving briskly, though in all other respects he does yeoman work. Too many sequences (like an early bank heist and boat chase scene) lean heavily on Lucas Vidal’s overemphatic score to generate tension that is otherwise lacking."

Keith Uhlich, The Onion AV Club

"Skipping along to a series of ominous synth basslines seemingly sourced from some bottomless vat of all-purpose genre music, Daniel Alfredson's 'Kidnapping Mr. Heineken' works its way dutifully through the facts of its scenario -- multimillionaire head of the piss-poor beer conglomerate falls victim to one of the most infamous criminal cases in recent Netherlands history—as if proposing a comprehensive history. "

Carson Lund, Slant Magazine

THE LAST FIVE YEARS - Jason Robert Brown

"The performances in 'The Last Five Years' are lovely, as is the music, written by Jason Robert Brown and originally presented as an off-Broadway production based on his failed marriage. Kendrick, especially, comes across as the half of the relationship where the most sympathy lies, and she covers her songs with the same panache she has showcased since belting 'The Ladies Who Lunch' in 'Cam'p (2003). One of the film’s musical highlights, a Kendrick-voiced song called 'A Summer in Ohio,' uses humor and warmth to chronicle just how miserable she is while doing summer stock theater in Ohio as Jamie remains in New York City, working on his burgeoning writing career. Kendrick belts lyrics like, 'I could wander Paris after dark / Take a carriage ride through Central Park / But it wouldn’t be as nice as a summer in Ohio / Where I’m sharing a room with a former stripper and her snake, Wayne.' These words are relatable -- they transport us, the viewers, into our own relationships, which is why, at its core, 'The Last Five Years' is a thrilling concept: a musical about the frustrating, all-too-real concept of falling into and out of love."

Andy Herren, Paste Magazine

"Anna Kendrick is the movie’s real marvel. A Broadway baby before establishing herself in film roles, her work in 'Pitch Perfect,' 'Into the Woods,' and 'The Last Five Years' demonstrates that the position of queen of the movie musical is hers for the taking. She scores as both actress and singer, always bringing a calm and maturity to her delivery. And let’s face it, Brown’s contemporary score is eccentric and 'talky' enough to make Stephen Sondheim fans sing off-key."

Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle

"The five-year relationship comes apart after Jamie’s first novel is published and becomes an overnight sensation reminiscent of the young Jay McInerney, or of Mr. Brown himself, whose first Off Broadway show was produced when he was 25. While Jamie’s career soars, Cathy’s never achieves liftoff. Songs that tell their story from both their points of view are among the smartest show tunes this side of Stephen Sondheim. Much is made of Jamie’s Jewishness and his worship of Cathy in the song 'Shiksa Goddess.' Later in the story when Cathy is depressed, he tries to cheer her up with 'The Schmuel Song,' a sprawling comic yarn about a tailor in Eastern Europe, that for all its cleverness nearly stops the movie dead in its tracks as Jamie performs it in their living room. One of the best songs is her wistful, amusing 'A Summer in Ohio.'"

Stephen Holden, New York Times

"Jason Robert Brown’s beautiful, incisive, often painful off Broadway musical deserves its rabid cult following. A two-hander about a young Manhattan couple moving apart -- Cathy’s a smart, insecure struggling actress, Jamie’s a skirt-chasing novelist enjoying a meteoric rise -- it’s filled with funny, conversational, touching songs even haters of musicals might enjoy."

Stephen Rebello, Playboy

"Since the opening scene tells us where this is all heading, there's no narrative tension, and the musical aspect is overwrought and underdeveloped. Whether we're hearing a series of individually bad songs, or merely one interminable tune with snatches of spoken dialogue spackled onto it, is pretty much a matter of semantics. The film's structure is a reminder that being Pinteresque isn't the same as being written by Harold Pinter, and its lyrics prove that there's a big difference between something Sondheim-esque and the real deal."

Marc Mahon, The Oregonian

"One of the worst things about Disney's recent screen adaptation of 'Into the Woods' is how it mangles a perfectly good Stephen Sondheim score. In the movie's overblown orchestrations, too many instruments serve to reinforce the vocal melodies, drowning out Sondheim's brilliant use of counterpoint and dissonance -- much as Rob Marshall's grandstanding direction papers over the unsettling narrative themes. By contrast, the movie version of 'The Last Five Years,' Jason Robert Brown's popular stage musical (which debuted at Northlight Theatre in 2001), derives much of its emotional force by preserving Brown's minimal arrangements. Writer-director Richard LaGravenese expands upon the source material in other ways (chiefly by visualizing scenes that the characters can only describe onstage), but still he invokes the intimacy of a live production by keeping the music relatively unadorned. It's a good thing he does, since 'Five Years' is effectively a chamber drama."

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader

"It sounds impossible: a musical about a failed five-year marriage in which Jamie Wallerstein (Jeremy Jordan), a successful young novelist, and his shiksa wife Cathy Hiatt (Anna Kendrick), a struggling young actress, never stop singing to each other. It worked like a charm when I saw it Off-Broadway in 2002 with the stellar Sheri Rene Scott and Norbert Leo Butz singing their broken hearts out. The score by Jason Robert Brown, a recent Tony winner for his musical of 'The Bridges of Madison County' and now represented on Broadway by 'Honeymoon in Vegas,' put a spell on anyone in earshot. The CD is a deserved cult item. But what works on stage becomes a dodgier situation when you put those two star-crossed lovers on camera in a near deserted New York. How do you reach lyrical heights when film grounds you to reality?"

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"Director Richard LaGravenese helped adapt the production for the big screen, and he has kept the structure intact. This isn’t a musical in the sense of “'Mamma Mia!' where spoken dialogue is punctuated by song-and-dance numbers. 'The Last Five Years' is almost entirely sung. That guarantees only a niche appeal, which is a shame, because the music is gorgeous. Brown’s songs are as pretty as they are complex. (He has won Tony Awards for 'Parade' and 'The Bridges of Madison County.') Musicals aren’t always the most nuanced medium, but they are an excellent way to tell stories about big highs and lows. When Jamie learns that Random House is interested in his first novel, his ecstasy is telegraphed with an energetic number and backup dancers. And when Cathy sings her slow opening song about Jamie giving up, it’s not just the tears that well in her eyes that make us also want to cry. The sad cello helps, too."

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post

"Jamie's scenes and songs proceed in chronological order, from the start of the affair; Cathy, meanwhile, gives us the end and takes us back through the middle, and on back to the start. We know where it's going or, rather, where these two will end, but Brown's musical has more than structural cleverness in its corner. The thing that makes 'The Last Five Years' not for everybody is the thing that makes it interesting. Brown can't bring himself to turn Jamie, who can be read as a fictionalized version of Brown himself, into anything other than a career-driven narcissist. This gives the material its sharp edge. Jaunty and slightly jaundiced songs like 'A Summer in Ohio,' detailing Cathy's pathetically funny misadventures in summer stock, lend it spice and wit."

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

"The music for Jason Robert Brown’s songs sounds kind of generic, but his lyrics are bitingly clever and they provide a great showcase for Kendrick, who showed off her serious musical chops as Cinderella in 'Into the Woods.'"

Lou Lumenick, New York Post

"I'm not a fun of jumbled-up time elements -- one of the great pleasures in drama for me is watching a performance build, logically -- but the musical itself, originally staged more than a decade ago, is terrific. The songs are smart and 'Company'-era Sondheimesque, courtesy of composer Jason Robert Brown, and director Richard LaGravenese has done a stylish, fast-paced job."

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

"People who love stage musicals have learned to dread their movie adaptations; infidelity leading to disaster is pretty much in the contract. So those of us who treasure 'The Last Five Years,' which had its New York debut during the cold, pinched winter following 9/11, were just as happy that it seemed to belong only to us and was such an unlikely prospect for filming. What, after all, was filmic about it? The author, Jason Robert Brown, has provided only two characters: Cathy, the 'shiksa goddess' whose acting career goes nowhere, and Jamie, the 'mahvelous novelist' who, unwilling to ride her failure train, gets off. 'The Last Five Years' is itself a tale of infidelity leading to disaster. Beyond that, there’s the problem of its baroque chronology: Jamie’s story moves forward from the relationship’s first bloom while Cathy’s moves backward from its last gasp. (The two timelines meet once, in the middle, when the couple marries.) This can be hard to follow onstage; it would seem to be impossible on film. Oh, and did I mention that it’s not just a musical but one with almost no dialogue? There are just the 14 songs, filled with bravura writing of the tonsil-exposing variety and extremely difficult to sing. So it’s a relief that Richard LaGravanese’s movie version, starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan, has been adapted (as David Edelstein points out in his Vulture review) 'with taste, feeling, and a vast reservoir of sadness.' In other words, it’s faithful -- indeed it’s probably the most faithful film adaptation of a musical in the history of the business. To start with, the story is unchanged, despite its highly un-Hollywood bipolarity. All 14 numbers, including even 'The Schmuel Song,' which many people think is the show’s sole clunker, are performed in their entirety; if any lyrics were changed, I barely noticed. Likewise, Brown’s orchestrations for strings, piano, and percussion are only slightly enhanced. Most shocking, no attempt has been made to round either the characters’ corners or the genre’s: He’s still a bulldozer, she’s still a whiner, and it’s still both."

Jesse Green, Vulture

"If Brown's first-rate piano-pop showtunes move you, you'll also most likely be stirred by the vibrant connection between the leads. Kendrick and Jordan look, variously, like they lust for, ache for, and detest each other, and both are excellent at making belted lyrics seem conversational, like they're just dishing their thoughts. The songs form the bulk of the movie -- there's perhaps five minutes of spoken dialogue -- and they're almost uniformly strong, both in composition and performance. So, from moment to moment, this 'Last Five Years' is a robust entertainment, often stirring, sad, and funny. It works, even if audiences unfamiliar with the original are left to wonder why this story seems to go girl loses boy, boy meets/beds girl in New York, girl yells at boy in Ohio, and on and on. Jordan, ripped and lively, brings considerable charm and intelligence to a heel's role. Jamie proves the difficult, unsupportive half of the couple, especially after Brown's story gives him everything he ever wanted: At 23, he has a high-minded bestselling novel at Random House. ('A young Jonathan Franzen,' he's called in the movie; in the stage show, which premiered in 2001, Jamie gets reviewed by John Updike in the New Yorker -- the lily gilded by the master of lily-gilding.) Jamie's songs, generally, are weaker than Cathy's, and two of them open with those unintentionally hilarious strutting riffs you get when piano-based musicals try for hard-driving rock. Fortunately, even then, the words are sharp, the melodies memorable, and the performances a beauty. This 'Last Five Years' might not have the penetrating clarity of Brown's original show, but it offers miles and piles of compensation."

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice

"Anna Kendrick has become the new face of the movie musical, embracing both Broadway staples ('Into the Woods') and younger-skewing pop pastiches (the 'Pitch Perfect' movies). She splits the difference between classic and contemporary with 'The Last Five Years,' a sung-through musical that originated off-Broadway and traces the dawn-to-demise epic sweep of a romance between an artsy, 20-something couple in New York. Unfortunately, the film is also Kendrick’s least enjoyable among her tuneful efforts, its considerable ambitions undermined by charmless songs and a frustratingly cursory love story.The sing-through format eventually proves wearying, and Jason Robert Brown’s lyrics are perhaps too conversational: lines like 'I want to be your wife, I want to bear your child' only stick in the mind for the wrong reasons."

Ingoo Kang, The Wrap

"It’s he sang/she sang as a Gotham couple moving in opposite directions lead us through half a decade of ups and downs in 'The Last 5 Years,' Jason Robert Brown’s beautifully written Off Broadway tuner. She begins in tears and works her way back to the beginning, while his arc builds from giddy first love through career success, discord and heartbreak. In this Radius-acquired shoestring screen adaptation, director Richard LaGravenese ditches the high-concept staging but keeps the songs, inviting the chemistry between leads Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan to factor into an approach so rudimentary, it feels almost like watching a dress rehearsal."

Peter Debruge, Variety

"The problem is that the romance as depicted is just not interesting enough to sustain realistic treatment. It's sweet but a tad dull. The two characters lack dimension, and their stereotypical situations seem entirely generic. This has always been the case in a piece admired more for the lush melodies and naked emotions of Brown’s theater-pop score than for its storytelling. The evolution of the relationship is the show’s entire universe, and putting that relationship against a real-world backdrop exposes the narrative as emaciated and mundane. In one of Brown’s more perceptive songs, 'If I Didn’t Believe in You,' Jamie refuses to feel bad about getting his break while insisting that doesn’t mean he’s stopped wanting the same for Cathy. But the imbalance eats away at their marriage, with her frustration and the increasing distractions and temptations of his fame slowly pulling them apart. The curious hole in Brown’s musical and LaGravenese’s film of it is that we witness very little of the breakup. There are no fireworks, no dishes or even invective being hurled, no shocking discoveries or guilt-ridden admissions, at least not to one another. The relationship’s erosion is examined in their individual heads, which makes for some pretty songs but some pretty inert drama.ordan, best known as the original lead in Disney’s 'Newsies' on Broadway and for his role on NBC’s unwatchable theater-biz soap, 'Smash,' makes Jamie a personable guy, surprised enough by his success to be grateful for it. But the character is saddled with a deadly comic number at an inopportune moment, and Jamie never fully recovers. Unfunny and endless, 'The Schmuel Song' is a whimsical ditty about a Jewish tailor, intended to pull Cathy out of her funk one Christmas. He might as well be saying, 'Hey, you’re down about your failure, but check out more evidence of my effortless creativity!' Gee, thanks."

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

MERCHANTS OF DOUBT - Mark Adler

"The film is mainly useful as one-stop shopping for the opposition. Scored with mischievous caper music, it keeps revisiting an ominous (and purely metaphorical) archive filled with damning documents (picture the warehouses at the ends of 'Citizen Kane' or 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'). It uses computer graphics and digital compositing to show incriminating papers gliding out of folders and floating through the air as if manipulated by accusing spirits, and superimposes the filing cabinets with news footage of industry bigwigs and hired 'experts' going on talk shows and appearing before government committees to deliver an approved script."

Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com

"Worse yet, 'Merchants' spends much of its running time exposing trends of political subterfuge before working in an earnest call to action regarding climate change. Using the same type of tinkling score and shots of children at play as campaign ads shown earlier in the film, this late-inning agenda comes off as noble as it is hypocritical. Regardless of one’s personal beliefs, it’s tough to respect a movie that ultimately invites viewers to question every case of propaganda except its own."

William Goss, Austin Chronicle

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.

May 29
ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN (Angelo Badalamenti) [Silent Movie Theater]
MADMAN (Stephen Horelick) [Silent Movie Theater]
MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (Joe Hisashi) [Nuart]
OKLAHOMA! (Richard Rodgers, Robert Russell Bennett, Jay Blackton, Adolph Deutsch) [AMPAS]
THE SAND PEBBLES (Jerry Goldsmith) [New Beverly]
THE SEARCHERS (Max Steiner), THE TALL T (Heinz Roemheld) [Cinematheque: Aero]

May 30
HANDS ON A HARD BODY (Neil Kassanoff) [New Beverly]
JURASSIC PARK (John Williams), THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (John Williams), JURASSIC PARK III (Don Davis) [Cinematheque: Aero]
LABYRINTH (Trevor Jones) [Silent Movie Theater]
THE SAND PEBBLES (Jerry Goldsmith) [New Beverly]
SON OF FLUBBER (George Bruns) [New Beverly]
VERONIKA VOSS (Peer Raben), THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT [Cinematheque: Egyptian]

May 31
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (George Gershwin, Johnny Green, Saul Chaplin) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
BEGGARS OF LIFE (Karl Hajos), WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD [UCLA]
EARTHQUAKE (John Williams) [Arclight Culver City]
GET TO KNOW YOUR RABBIT (Jack Elliott, Allyn Ferguson), BOXCAR BERTHA (Gib Guilbeau, Thad Maxwell) [New Beverly]
MON ONCLE (Franck Barcellini), THE 400 BLOWS (Jean Constantin) [Cinematheque: Aero]
SON OF FLUBBER (George Bruns) [New Beverly]

June 1
GET TO KNOW YOUR RABBIT (Jack Elliott, Allyn Ferguson), BOXCAR BERTHA (Gib Guilbeau, Thad Maxwell) [New Beverly]

June 2
HIGH SIERRA (Adolph Deutsch) [LACMA]
TINTORERA (Basil Poledouris), MARY, MARY, BLOODY MARY (Tom Bahler)[New Beverly]

June 3
THE BIG HEAT (Mischa Bakaleinikoff), THE UNDERCOVER MAN (George Duning) [New Beverly]
BRONSON [Silent Movie Theater]

June 4
THE BIG HEAT (Mischa Bakaleinikoff), THE UNDERCOVER MAN (George Duning) [New Beverly]
LA DOLCE VITA (Nino Rota) [Cinematheque: Aero]
A WOMAN IS A WOMAN (Michel Legrand), CRUEL STORY OF YOUTH (Riichiro Manabe) [AMPAS]

June 5
THE DARK CRYSTAL (Trevor Jones) [Silent Movie Theater]
FAMILY PLOT (John Williams), TORN CURTAIN (John Addison) [New Beverly]
GOLDFINGER (John Barry) [Nuart]
KILL BILL VOL. 2 (The RZA, Robert Rodriguez) [New Beverly]
SARAJEVO (Oscar Straus), LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN (Daniele Amfitheatrof) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THREE TIMES [UCLA]
THE VIKINGS (Mario Nascimbene) [AMPAS]

June 6
FAMILY PLOT (John Williams), TORN CURTAIN (John Addison) [New Beverly]
THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER (Joe Raposo) [Silent Movie Theater]
THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY (Antonio Diaz Conde) [New Beverly]
THE SHAGGY DOG (Paul Smith) [New Beverly]
THE STORY OF G.I. JOE (Ann Ronell) [UCLA]

June 7
CURLY TOP (Oscar Bradley), HEIDI (Louis Silvers) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE SHAGGY DOG (Paul Smith) [New Beverly]
WINTER KILLS (Maurice Jarre), HOPSCOTCH (Ian Fraser) [New Beverly]