Intrada plans to release two new CDs next week.
Last week La-La Land announced their latest batch of end-of-year "Black Friday" releases, which are expected to begin shipping next week:
HARRY POTTER: THE JOHN WILLIAMS COLLECTION, a seven-disc set featuring expanded versions of John Williams' scores for the first three films in the immensely popular fantasy franchise -- his Oscar-nominated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (in collaboration with conductor-adaptor Willliam Ross); and his Oscar-nominated score for Alfonso Cuaron's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, considered by many to be the best film of the series.
LAND OF THE GIANTS: 50TH ANNIVERSARY SOUNDTRACK COLLECTION, a four disc set featuring episode scores from the last of Irwin Allen's popular '60s TV sci-fi series, including the pilot score and main title themes by John Williams as well as cues by Alexander Courage, Harry Geller, Irving Gertz, Artie Kane, Richard LaSalle, Joseph Mullendore, Robert Prince, Paul Sawtell, and Leith Stevens.
THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, a two-disc edition of David Arnold's exciting score for the 1999 James Bond thriller starring Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle, Denise Richards and Judi Dench and directed by Michael Apted, featuring the 98-minute score plus 43 minutes of additional music.
BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, a three-disc set of the popular symponic score for Francis Ford Coppola's visually dazzling 1992 adaptation of the horror classic, composed by the late Wojciech Kilar, with the first two discs featuring Kilar's music as originally composed for the film plus bonus tracks, and the third disc featuring the sequencing from the original soundtrack release plus more bonus tracks.
SCHINDLER'S LIST: 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION features the original soundtrack sequencing from John Williams' Oscar-winning score for Steven Spielberg's 1993 Best Picture-winning docudrama, plus bonus cues.
Today, Varese Sarabande is scheduled to announce a new limited edition three-disc set featuring four scores composed by Oscar-winner Dave Grusin.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Bad Times at the El Royale - Michael Giacchino - Milan
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - Carter Burwell - Milan
The Basil Poledouris Collection vol. 4: The Blue Lagoon Piano Sketches - Basil Poledouris - Dragon's Domain
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - James Newton Howard - WaterTower
The Last Kingdom - John Lunn, Eivor - Sony (import)
Mirai - Masakatsu Takagi - Milan
Polynesian Odyssey/Alamo: The Price of Freedom - Merrill Jenson - Dragon's Domain
Ralph Breaks the Internet - Henry Jackman - Disney
IN THEATERS TODAY
Anna and the Apocalypse - Roddy Hart, Tommy Reilly - Soundtrack CD on Lakeshore
Blood Brother - Mark Kilian
DriverX - Lili Haydn
Elliot: The Littlest Reindeer - Grayson Matthews
Everybody Knows - Javier Limon
The Great Buddha + - Sheng-Xiang Lin
Happy as Lazzaro - no original score
Head Full of Honey - Martin Todsharow, Diego, Nora & Lionel Baldenweg
Invisible Hands - Sofia Hultquist
Martyr - Zeid Hamdan, Vladimir Kurumilian
Mirai - Masakatsu Takagi
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle - Nitin Sawhney
Never Look Away - Max Richter
People’s Republic of Desire - Michael Tuller
The Possession of Hannah Grace - John Frizzell
United Skates - Jongnic Bontemps
COMING SOON
December 7
Bram Stoker's Dracula - Wojciech Kilar - La-La Land
Goon: Last of the Enforcers - Trevor Morris - Notefornote
Harry Potter: The John Williams Collection - John Williams - La-La Land
Inferno - Bill Conti - Dragon's Domain
Land of the Giants: 50th Anniversary Soundtrack Collection - Alexander Courage, Harry Geller, Irving Gertz, Artie Kane, Richard LaSalle, Joseph Mullendore, Robert Prince, Paul Sawtell, Leith Stevens, John Williams - La-La Land
Mary Queen of Scots - Max Richter - Deutsche Grammophon
The Protector - Ken Thorne - Dragon's Domain
Schindler's List - John Williams - La-La Land
The World Is Not Enough - David Arnold - La-La Land
December 14
The Cry - Lorne Balfe - Lakeshore
Widows - Hans Zimmer - Milan
December 21
Au Bout Des Doigts - Harry Allouche - Milan (import)
Mia and the White Lion - Armand Amar - Universal (import)
Remi Sans Famille - Romaric Laurence - Milan (import)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - Daniel Pemberton - Sony (import)
January 4
The Box of Delights - Roger Limb - Silva (import)
The Sisters Brothers - Alexandre Desplat - Lakeshore (U.S. release)
February 1
Capernaum - Khaled Manzour - Decca (import)
Date Unknown
Clash of Futures - Laurent Eyquem - Quartet
Class - Blair Mowat - Silva
Dead Men - Gerrit Wunder - Kronos
Delitto Quasi Perfetto - Carlo Rustichelli - Digitmovies
Devil's Tree: Rooted Evil - Chad Cannon - Quartet
Don Camillo - Pino Donaggio - Digitmovies
Dynasties: The Greatest of Their Kind - Benji Morrison, Will Slater - Silva
Every Day a Good Day - Hiroku Sebu - Pony Canyon (import)
Feral - Elia Cmiral - Quartet
Holocaust - Morton Gould - Notefornote
Valley of Shadows - Zbigniew Preisner - Caldera
The Wicker Man - Paul Giovanni - Silva
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
November 30 - Gordon Parks born (1912)
November 30 - Edward Artemyev born (1937)
November 30 - Victor Young begins recording his score for September Affair (1949)
December 1 - Peter Thomas born (1925)
December 1 - Gerald Fried records his score for the Mission: Impossible episode “The Diplomat” (1968)
December 1 - Laurence Rosenthal begins recording his score to Heart Like a Wheel (1982)
December 1 - John Williams begins recording his replacement score for Rosewood (1996)
December 1 - Stephane Grappelli died (1997)
December 2 - Harry Sukman born (1912)
December 2 - Eddie Sauter born (1914)
December 2 - Milton Delugg born (1918)
December 2 - Artie Butler born (1942)
December 2 - Michael Whalen born (1965)
December 2 - Gerald Fried's score to the Star Trek episode "Shore Leave" is recorded (1966)
December 2 - Richard Markowitz begins recording his music for the three-part Mission: Impossible episode “The Falcon,” his final scores for the series (1969)
December 2 - Francois-Eudes Chanfrault born (1974)
December 2 - John Williams begins recording his score for Midway (1975)
December 2 - Aaron Copland died (1990)
December 3 - Nino Rota born (1911)
December 3 - Christopher Slaski born (1974)
December 3 - Elmer Bernstein begins recording his score to McQ (1973)
December 3 - Hoyt Curtin died (2000)
December 3 - Dee Barton died (2001)
December 3 - Derek Wadsworth died (2008)
December 4 - Alex North born (1910)
December 4 - Richard Robbins born (1940)
December 4 - Leonard Rosenman records his score for the Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode “One of the Family” (1964)
December 4 - Jason Staczek born (1965)
December 4 - Benjamin Britten died (1976)
December 4 - Harry Sukman died (1984)
December 4 - Frank Zappa died (1993)
December 4 - Tito Arevalo died (2000)
December 5 - Karl-Ernst Sasse born (1923)
December 5 - Johnny Pate born (1923)
December 5 - John Altman born (1949)
December 5 - Richard Gibbs born (1955)
December 5 - Osvaldo Golijov born (1960)
December 5 - Cliff Eidelman born (1964)
December 5 - Jerry Goldsmith records his score for the Room 222 pilot (1968)
December 5 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score to Coma (1977)
December 5 - Ron Jones records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Outrageous Okona" (1988)
December 5 - Masaru Sato died (1999)
December 5 - Dave Brubeck died (2012)
December 5 - Manuel De Sica died (2014)
December 6 - Mort Glickman born (1898)
December 6 - Lyn Murray born (1909)
December 6 - Dave Brubeck born (1920)
December 6 - Piero Piccioni born (1921)
December 6 - Maury Laws born (1923)
December 6 - Roberto Pregadio born (1928)
December 6 - Willie Hutch born (1944)
December 6 - Joe Hisaishi born (1950)
December 6 - Recording sessions begin for Sol Kaplan’s score for Destination Gobi (1952)
December 6 - Lalo Schifrin begins recording the original soundtrack LP to Bullitt (1968)
December 6 - Hans Zimmer begins recording his score for Broken Arrow (1995)
December 6 - Richard Markowitz died (1994)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN - James Horner, Simon Franglen
"At least Fuqua revels in orchestrating pulse-quickening shoot-outs and stunning horse stunts that make 'The Magnificent Seven' fly. James Horner’s score blares big brassy horns to match the big, bombastic action. 'The Magnificent Seven' is all plot and clever set piece, but forgets that you need to give the audience reasons to care about the fates that befall these characters as it leads up to its final siege, when industrialist Bogue and his army of evil cops descend upon the booby-trapped town for one last bloodbath."
Jen Yamato, The Daily Beast
"Director Antoine Fuqua proves that the western is far from dead with this rousing update of John Sturges's 1960 classic (itself adapted from Akira Kurosawa's 'The Seven Samurai'). Denzel Washington plays the unflappable leader of a ragtag, ethnically diverse band of gunslingers (Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Byung-Hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier) hired to protect a frontier town from a predatory capitalist and venal lawmen. Cinematographer Mauro Fiore makes ample use of New Mexico's mountains and buttes in his widescreen frames, and a score by Simon Franglen and James Horner rumbles ominously, like thunder on the plains. The only jarring element is Peter Sarsgaard, over-the-top as the megalomaniacal villain."
Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader
"Truly, 'The Magnificent Seven' is a story of simple pleasures, and it gets the little things right. The skies are blue (not that muddy gray color you see in the revisionist Westerns), the score is prickly ('Ravenous' often comes to mind), and the shoot-outs -- while infrequent -- are enormous and staged with a more coherent sense of geography and progression that Fuqua has ever mustered before. For a movie that could have been a cheap photocopy of something that has already been done to death, this early fall surprise rides into multiplexes with the fresh sting of a new season."
David Erhlich, IndieWire
"It gets to the point where you’re desperate for those few elements that do stand out: the glorious scene-chewing of Vincent D’Onofrio as one of the Seven, and Peter Sarsgaard as villainous Bartholomew Bogue, a land baron; the notes of one of James Horner’s final scores and the glorious return of Elmer Bernstein’s original theme."
Robert Levin, AM New York
"Though time has given it the glistening sheen of a Hollywood classic -- including a spot in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress, American cinema's de facto Hall of Fame -- the original 1960 version of 'The Magnificent Seven' was never meant to be revered. It's the movie you watched on a Sunday afternoon with your dad, a rip-snorting Western with a simple story, an abundance of quick-drawn pistols and blazing rifles, and a cast of stone-chiseled icons like Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn. While sneakily moving in its themes of honor and protecting the downtrodden, 'The Magnificent Seven' is mostly a cheerful bowdlerization of Akira Kurosawa's 'The Seven Samurai,' as robust as Elmer Bernstein's unforgettable cattle driver of a score. The score for the new 'Magnificent Seven,' by the late James Horner and Simon Franglen, quotes Bernstein extensively, but it's a sign of the film's joylessness that it doesn't go full Bernstein until the closing credits, when the Aaron Copland-esque percussion and strings finally come alive. Before then, the musical quotes mostly come out in dribs and drabs, all to emphasize the glum seriousness of seven mercenaries inspired to band together to defend a rural village under siege. The trick of the 1960 version is that it carries itself lightly, despite the near-suicidal mission of seven men beating back wave after wave of armed bandits. (Director John Sturges would make a Steve McQueen adventure out of an even grimmer story three years later with 'The Great Escape.') The new 'Magnificent Seven' is the worst of both worlds: Completely substance-free, yet heavier than Vincent D'Onofrio's beard."
Scott Tobias, GQ
"Fuqua, the prototypical journeyman who never rises above a script, doesn’t offer a contemporary take on this past-its-prime genre so much as an update to the mid-1990s, right down to the 35mm Panavision camerawork and a score by the late James Horner, completed by the composer’s longtime producer and arranger, Simon Franglen. There is some good to this 'Magnificent Seven''s commitment to an aesthetic that recalls the days when its PG-13 rating still represented a specific category of Hollywood entertainment; for one, Fuqua and cinematographer Mauro Fiore actually bother to frame shots of people getting hit by gunfire. But though it has its handsome moment -- like a shot of Chisholm on horseback against a bluish dusk, dressed head to toe in black -- the only thing animating the movie is the internal conflict between the rote and the strained, the tedious buildup to the final showdown and the cookie-cutter anti-corporate theme."
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, The Onion AV Club
"In fact, where Sturges’ film at least toyed with the notion of failure, that the assembled 'magnificent seven' might be wholly ill-prepared, Fuqua’s film has the suicide squad first arrive in town, get into a gunfight with Bogue’s men, and celebrate the victory by counting off how many they shot dead. It’s a macho moment that’s only a taste in a film that leads up to one massive, climactic battle that takes up nearly a quarter of the running time. For this, Fuqua brings to the table lots of cool shots of good looking actors pulling off spectacularly choreographed action moves, but the entire sequence is tedious, when it’s not veering laughably over-the-top. 'There were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident,' Steve Carell’s Brick Tamland quips after an intentionally outrageous street fight in 'Anchorman.' Only one of those three things doesn’t happen in 'The Magnificent Seven,' but if someone got killed with a trident, I wouldn’t have been surprised. However, it is a bit surprising that in this era of studios opting for brand viability versus actual narrative stakes, Fuqua is allowed to sacrifice some of the seven much like Sturges before him, but even these moments are over amplified, pumped up with Simon Franglen and the late James Horner’s obnoxiously bombastic score, that only competes with gun shots and things that go boom for volume in the sound mix."
Kevin Jagernauth, The Playlist
"Elmer Bernstein's classic theme for 1960's 'The Magnificent Seven' doesn't turn up in 'The Magnificent Seven: 2016 Edition' until the end credits. But when it finally starts playing, it's enough to make you want to get up, walk out of the theater, and head home to watch the original. And then maybe watch all three and a half hours of 'Seven Samurai,' the movie that movie was a remake of. This 'Magnificent Seven' feels formulaic, but it's a solid formula. That's also why it fades so fast: Once that Bernstein theme plays, it's as if the preceding film just vanishes. This won't be the version of 'The Magnificent Seven' anyone remembers -- they'll remember the other two. Which I'm gonna go watch. See you in six hours."
Erik Henriksen, The Stranger
"The most rousing moment in 'The Magnificent Seven' comes after the action has already concluded, when the credits roll to the emphatic accompaniment of Elmer Bernstein’s iconic 1960 score. Not only does this conjure memories of Sturges’s film more vividly than anything we’ve seen onscreen over the previous two hours; it also signals that Fuqua’s bland remake is over."
Christopher Orr, The Atlantic
"Pratt seems happier firing off lines like that than wielding a pistol, and he gives the impression that killing people onscreen is somehow uncalled for. That’s a problem for 'The Magnificent Seven,' which calls for little else, yet Pratt relaxes the movie, as he did last year’s 'Jurassic World,' and his presence will bring in younger viewers who neither know nor care about the ancestry of the plot. Just for the record, then: the new film, directed by Antoine Fuqua, rehashes John Sturges’s 1960 classic, teasing us throughout with the drumbeat of Elmer Bernstein’s original score, and refusing to unveil the great tune until the final credits. The Sturges production was itself a Western transplant of Kurosawa’s 'Seven Samurai' (1954), and it led to a diminuendo of sequels -- 'Return of the Magnificent Seven' (1966), 'Guns of the Magnificent Seven' (1969), and 'The Magnificent Seven Ride!' (1972)."
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker
"If remaking westerns is what it takes to get westerns made, then this 'The Magnificent Seven' -- which thankfully doesn’t forget to tip its 10-gallon to Elmer Bernstein’s famous score -- will do for now until somebody else gets in the saddle. There’s certainly enough verve, and love for the genre, to help one get past its trouble spots, but you can’t help feeling the mercenary thinking behind rehashing this mercenary yarn."
Robert Abele, The Wrap
"While mostly shot in Louisiana, the film offers enough rocky vistas here and there to make the Far West setting convincing. Composer James Horner died before finishing the score, which was accomplished by his friend Simon Franglen. An eyebrow-raising and ear-perking moment occurs at the end, when the opening strains of Elmer Bernstein's eternal score for the 1960 version blast from the soundtrack. For some, this will provide an all-too-vivid reminder of a film that's better than the one they've just seen."
Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter
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, Arena Cinelounge, LACMA, Laemmle, New Beverly [reopening in December!], Nuart and UCLA.
November 30
SHERLOCK JR., STEAMBOAT BILL JR. [Cinematheque: Aero]
December 1
BATMAN RETURNS (Danny Elfman) [New Beverly]
BUTCH AND SUNDANCE: THE EARLY DAYS (Patrick Williams), BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (Burt Bacharach) [New Beverly]
DAZED AND CONFUSED [New Beverly]
THE GENERAL [Cinematheque: Aero]
LITTLE WOMEN (Thomas Newman) [UCLA]
WONDER (Marcelo Zarvos) [AMPAS]
December 2
BATMAN RETURNS (Danny Elfman) [New Beverly]
BUTCH AND SUNDANCE: THE EARLY DAYS (Patrick Williams), BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (Burt Bacharach) [New Beverly]
SEVEN CHANCES [Cinematheque: Aero]
December 3
BUTCH AND SUNDANCE: THE EARLY DAYS (Patrick Williams), BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (Burt Bacharach) [New Beverly]
LOVE ACTUALLY (Craig Armstrong) [Arclight Santa Monica]
TOKYO GODFATHERS (Keichi Suzuki) [Arclight Hollywood]
December 4
BLAST OF SILENCE (Meyer Kupferman) [LACMA]
THE FAMILY (Ennio Morricone), FAMILY ENFORCER [New Beverly]
LOVE ACTUALLY (Craig Armstrong) [Arclight Culver City]
PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES (Ira Newborn) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
December 5
HOME ALONE (John Williams) [Arclight Santa Monica]
THE LEOPARD (Nino Rota) [Laemmle Playhouse]
THE LEOPARD (Nino Rota) [Laemmle Royal]
THE LEOPARD (Nino Rota) [Laemmle Town Center]
PRISON (Richard Band, Christopher L. Stone) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
TOKYO GODFATHERS (Keichi Suzuki) [Arclight Culver City]
TRADING PLACES (Elmer Bernstein) [Arclight Hollywood]
THE UNTOUCHABLES (Ennio Morricone), CAPONE (David Grisman) [New Beverly]
December 6
EARTHQUAKE (John Williams) [Laemmle NoHo]
THE UNTOUCHABLES (Ennio Morricone), CAPONE (David Grisman) [New Beverly]
December 7
GOODFELLAS, MACHINE GUN McCAIN (Ennio Morricone) [New Beverly]
RESERVOIR DOGS [New Beverly]
ROSITA [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS (Rolfe Kent), THE SAVAGES (Stephen Trask) [Cinematheque: Aero]
December 8
BLACKKKLANSMAN (Terence Blanchard) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
DEATH RACE 2000 (Paul Chihara) [New Beverly]
GOODFELLAS, MACHINE GUN McCAIN (Ennio Morricone) [New Beverly]
GIGI (Frederick Loewe, Andre Previn) [Laemmle Ahyra Fine Arts]
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Dimtri Tiomkin) [UCLA]
MALCOLM X (Terence Blanchard) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (Danny Elfman) [New Beverly]
ON THE NIGHT STAGE [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
December 9
THE BIG LEBOWSKI (Carter Burwell) [Cinematheque: Aero]
DO THE RIGHT THING (Bill Lee), CROOKLYN (Terence Blanchard) [Cinemathque: Egyptian]
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (Elmer Bernstein), GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (Elmer Bernstein) [New Beverly]
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (Ralph Blaine, Hugh Martin, George Stoll) [UCLA]
THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (Paul Williams, Miles Goodman) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (Danny Elfman) [New Beverly]
WHITE CHRISTMAS (Irving Berlin, Joseph J. Lilley, Nathan Van Cleave) [Laemmle Ahyra Fine Arts]
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY
I finished re-reading the last of Donald E. Westlake's "Dortmunder" crime caper novels, Get Real, and it proved to be a lovely way to end the series. This particular plot has the gang getting hired to play versions of themselves in a reality series, while plotting to pull off a real heist simultaneously with their fake TV heist, and the "meta" element made it feel like the books had come full circle, especially in a late-in-the-story scene where the thieves act in the soundstage set based on their regular bar hangout and reminisced about their actual capers (specifically, the ones from The Hot Rock, Bank Shot, Why Me? and Drowned Hopes).
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