The latest new CD from Intrada is another unexpected "Holy Grail" score -- Jerry Goldsmith's haunting music from the 1975 supernatural thriller THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD. J. Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone, Cape Fear, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes) directed the film, which starred Michael Sarrazin as a man who starts to believe his nightmares and flashes of deja vu are actually memories of a past life, with Margot Kidder, Jennifer O'Neill and Cornelia Sharpe as the women of his past and present. Goldsmith's score, a typically striking and inventive mixture of orchestra and electronics, was rumored to be a favorite of the composer's, but has never had a commercial release until now. (The score has been preserved in its entirety, but due to the 1/4 inch tape format on which the music was saved, the tracks have what Intrada warns are "audio anomalies.")
Their other new CD is a remastered re-release of Christopher Young's score for the little-seen 1989 psychological thriller HIDER IN THE HOUSE, starring Mimi Rogers, Michael McKean, and Gary Busey as the "hider," from a screenplay by Lem Dobbs (Dark City, The Limey, The Score).
The label also plans an upcoming release of a new score, which Doug Fake describes as "from one of the major studios, the star a big one, the composer very famous and the director boasting a formidable list of successes as well," so in all likelihood it will be Alan Silvestri's score for Robert Zemeckis' Welcome to Marwen, starring Steve Carell.
Last Friday, Varese Sarabande announced a limited edition three-CD bundle DAVE GRUSIN: THE PREMIERE COLLECTION, featuring four never-before-released scores by the Oscar-winning composer: the 1979 dark legal comedy-drama ...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, directed by Norman Jewison, which earned Oscar nominations for Al Pacino's lead performance and the original screenplay by Barry Levinson and Valerie Curtin; director Sydney Pollack's 1981 legal drama ABSENCE OF MALICE, nominated for actors Paul Newman and Melinda Dillon and its Kurt Leudtke screenplay; the Neil Simon-scriped 1976 comedy spoof MURDER BY DEATH, featuring an all-star cast as parodies of classic detectives -- Peter Falk (as Sam Spade), David Niven (Nick Charles), Maggie Smith (Nora Charles), Peter Sellers (Charlie Chan), James Coco (Hercules Poirot) and Elsa Lanchester (Miss Marple), plus Alec Guinness, Eileen Brennan, Nancy Walker, James Cromwell, Estelle Winwood, and even Truman Capote; and director Robert Mulligan's 1971 romantic drama THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS, starring Michael Sarrazin and Barbara Hershey.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced this year's nominations for the Golden Globes, including the following film music categories:
Best Original Score – Motion Picture
BLACK PANTHER - Ludwig Goransson
FIRST MAN - Justin Hurwitz
ISLE OF DOGS - Alexandre Desplat
MARY POPPINS RETURNS - Marc Shaiman
A QUIET PLACE - Marco Beltrami
Best Original Song – Motion Picture
"All the Stars" - Black Panther
"Girl in the Movies" - Dumplin'
"Requiem For a Private War" - A Private War
"Revelation" - Boy Erased
"Shallow" - A Star Is Born
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Bram Stoker's Dracula - Wojciech Kilar - La-La Land
Class - Blair Mowat - Silva
Dave Grusin: The Premiere Collection - Dave Grusin - Varese Sarabande
Dynasties: The Greatest of Their Kind - Benji Morrison, Will Slater - Silva
Every Day a Good Day - Hiroku Sebu - Pony Canyon (import)
Goon: Last of the Enforcers - Trevor Morris - Notefornote
Harry Potter: The John Wiliams Soundtrack Collection - John Williams - La-La Land
Hider in the House - Christopher Young - Intrada Special Collection
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 Poppins Returns - Marc Shaiman - Disney
Mary Queen of Scots - Max Richter - Deutsche Grammophon
The Predator - Henry Jackman - Lakeshore
The Protector - Ken Thorne - Dragon's Domain
The Reincarnation of Peter Proud - Jerry Goldsmith - Intrada Special Collection
Schindler's List - John Williams - La-La Land
The Wicker Man - Paul Giovanni - Silva
The World Is Not Enough - David Arnold - La-La Land
IN THEATERS TODAY
The Appearance - Christopher Doucet
Asher - Simon Boswell
Back Roads - John Hunter
Ben Is Back - Dickon Hinchliffe
Bernie the Dolphin - Joshua Mosley - Score CD due Jan. 4 on Lakeshore
Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes - Will Bates
Dumplin’ - Jake Monaco - Song CD on Sony Music Nashville
The Party’s Just Beginning - Pepijn Caudron
Swimming with Men - Charlie Mole
Vox Lux - Scott Walker
COMING SOON
December 14
The Cry - Lorne Balfe - Lakeshore
On the Basis of Sex - Mychael Danna - Sony
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
Bernie the Dolphin - Joshua Mosley - Lakeshore
The Box of Delights - Roger Limb - Silva (import)
The Sisters Brothers - Alexandre Desplat - Lakeshore (U.S. release)
January 18
The West Wing [one-disc] - W.G. Snuffy Walden - Varese Sarabande
February 1
Capernaum - Khaled Manzour - Decca (import)
Date Unknown
Clash of Futures - Laurent Eyquem - Quartet
Dead Men - Gerrit Wunder - Kronos
Delitto Quasi Perfetto - Carlo Rustichelli - Digitmovies
Devil's Tree: Rooted Evil - Chad Cannon - Quartet
Don Camillo - Pino Donaggio - Digitmovies
Feral - Elia Cmiral - Quartet
Fumo di Londra - Piero Piccioni - Beat
Holocaust - Morton Gould - Notefornote
I Familiari Delle Vittime Non Saranno Avvertiti - Francesco De Masi - Beat
La Cage Aux Folles 1, 2 & 3 - Ennio Morricone - Music Box
Mad Macbeth - Susan Dibona, Salvatore Sangiovanni - Kronos
The Moon in the Gutter - Gabriel Yared - Music Box
Non Lasciamoci Piu - Fabio Frizzi - Kronos
Oma Maa - Pessi Levando - Kronos
Once Upon a Time in the West - Ennio Morricone - Beat
Valley of Shadows - Zbigniew Preisner - Caldera
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
December 7 - Ernst Toch born (1887)
December 7 - Tom Waits born (1949)
December 7 - On Her Majesty's Secret Service opens in Los Angeles (1969)
December 7 - Georges Delerue begins recording his score for Les Visiteurs (1979)
December 7 - Basil Poledouris begins recording his score for White Fang (1990)
December 7 - John Addison died (1998)
December 8 - Leo Shuken born (1906)
December 8 - John Rubinstein born (1946)
December 8 - Bruce Kimmel born (1947)
December 8 - Russell Garcia begins recording his score for The Time Machine (1959)
December 8 - Junkie XL born as Tom Holkenberg (1967)
December 8 - Antonio Carlos Jobim died (1994)
December 8 - Richard Thompson begins recording his score for Grizzly Man (2004)
December 9 - Von Dexter born (1912)
December 9 - Chris Wilson born (1958)
December 9 - William Goldstein records his score for the Twilight Zone episode “Her Pilgrim Soul” (1985)
December 9 - Alessandro Cicognini died (1995)
December 10 - Morton Gould born (1913)
December 10 - Alexander Courage born (1919)
December 10 - Milan Svoboda born (1951)
December 10 - Jack Hues born (1954)
December 10 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for Shock Treatment (1963)
December 10 - Leigh Harline died (1969)
December 10 - Recording sessions begin for Claude Bolling’s score for The Awakening (1979)
December 10 - Roy Webb died (1982)
December 11 - Rogier Van Otterloo born (1941)
December 11 - Rachel Portman born (1960)
December 11 - Paul Haslinger born (1962)
December 11 - Anthony Collins died (1963)
December 11 - Jon Brion born (1963)
December 11 - Benny Carter records his score for the Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode “Crimson Witness” (1964)
December 11 - Benny Golson records his score for the Mission: Impossible episode “Incarnate,” the final score composed for the original series (1972)
December 11 - Velton Ray Bunch records his score for the Enterprise episode “Silent Enemy” (2001)
December 11 - Jay Chattaway records his score for the Enterprise episode “Catwalk” (2002)
December 11 - Malcolm Clarke died (2003)
December 11 - Ravi Shankar died (2012)
December 12 - Carlo Martelli born (1935)
December 12 - Michael Kamen begins recording his score for Road House (1988)
December 12 - Karl-Heinz Schafer died (1996)
December 12 - Marcello Giombini died (2003)
December 13 - Teo Usuelli born (1920)
December 13 - Reijiro Koroku born (1949)
December 13 - Dimitri Tiomkin begins recording his score for Land of the Pharaohs (1954)
December 13 - Harry Gregson-Williams born (1961)
December 13 - Adam Fields born (1965)
December 13 - Alexander Courage records his score for the Lost in Space episode "The Girl from the Green Dimension" (1966)
December 13 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for Psycho II (1982)
December 13 - Rene Cloerec died (1995)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
"Although the movie eventually gets around to having Batman fight The Punisher (by which I mean Affleck faces off with Jon Bernthal, who plays the murderous Marvel vigilante on the Netflix series 'Daredevil'), 'The Accountant' is a throwback to what action pictures were like before comic-book derivatives swallowed up the market. Long before: With its chilly atmosphere, unhurried pacing, minimal music, and close attention to behavior (not just the unwavering routines of its main character), this movie could've been made in the 70s. The chaste connection between Affleck and Kendrick, meanwhile, locates it very much in the present, where sex is for cable dramas."
Chris Klimek, NPR
"Even the score boasts a strangely mathematical dimension (but then, most music does), building ominous, electronic momentum beneath the increasingly tense proceedings, which lead to the sort of 'he’s coming for you' showdown that makes movies like 'John Wick' so guiltlessly satisfying. O’Connor lends a mysterious, '70s-movie edge to the proceedings, enlisting DP Seamus McGarvey to shoot on 35mm, which, coupled with filters that bathe everything in bronze and blue tones, provide deep, inky shadows in which the characters’ secrets seem to hide."
Peter Debruge, Variety
BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMARR STORY - Keegan DeWitt, Jeremy Bullock
"Alexandra Dean’s 'Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story' is content to trot through the highs and lows of Hedy Lamarr’s career and personal life. Dean calls upon famous faces, like Lamarr’s close friends Mel Brooks and the late Robert Osborne, to provide testimony for the actress’s infectious personality, while Lamarr’s family members retrieve documents and personal items to help explain each successive phase of her life. The most convincing voice is Lamarr, whose never-broadcast audio interview with a reporter in 1990 is used as voiceover throughout. But Dean’s general reliance on talking heads, archival photographs, and a persistent piano-driven score steadily flatten the film into repetitious sequences of facts, speculation, and reverie."
Clayton Dillard, Slant Magazine
BULLET HEAD - Austin Wintory
"'Bullet Head' opens with some unclear sounds and images: chains, feet, iron bars, clanking, and other indistinguishable noises arising from a dank, dark interior. Slowly, you begin to see the confusing barrage as the POV of a dog -- specifically, a fighting canine being led to an arena where dogs fight others to the death. Only later in the film, once the robbers are menaced by a killer pit bull running loose in the warehouse after killing his handler (Pfeffer), do we realize that the horrific opening images showed us that these dogfights are happening at this same location. The robbers quickly discover there are worse threats than police capture as they run from place to place, taking cover in various corners of the cavernous warehouse to escape the dog’s fangs or the murderous intentions of the kingpin of the dogfights (Banderas, gruff and truly frightening as the film’s top dog). Solet (Grace) and his cinematographer Zoran Popovic make brilliant use of the building’s space to create a milieu that seems, rather than claustrophobic, an infinite prison of terror. Each blind leap of faith lands them in another world of hurt or temporary solace, aided in large measure by the film’s sound design by Ryan Nowak and the original music of Austin Wintory. And the moment when the thief played by 'The Pianist' Oscar-winner Brody hides from the killer pit bull inside a baby grand piano is a scene of uncommon ingenuity and waggishness."
Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle
"Though one might groan at the prospect of yet another crime thriller set in an empty warehouse (in another undesignated American city portrayed by Eastern Europe), Solet and crew make good use of the location, with above-average work by DP Zoran Popovic and production designer Nikola Bercek. The director, whose prior feature 'Grace' was a very slow-burning spin on the 'monster baby' horror conceit, considerably steps up the pace here with editor Josh Ethier’s able assist. (A conventional thumping thriller score from Austin Wintory is less helpful.) But the competence of its execution can only do so much to raise 'Bullet Head' above the script’s basic awkwardness."
Dennis Harvey, Variety
CLOSET MONSTER - Todor Kobakov, Maya Postepski
"'Closet Monster' bears numerous aspects of coming-out drama cliché -- the misfit kid, dysfunctional parents, pining female BFF, the alluring new friend -- but they rarely play as such. Dunn (who’s just 27) has honed a distinctive sensibility over nearly a decade of prior shorts. Ergo he has no trouble here juggling a complex menu that encompasses elements of whimsy, horror, psychological realism, comedy, and pathos. Aesthetically, too, the film makes a lot of bold choices that mesh surprisingly well, with impressive design contributions both visual and sonic. DP Bobby Shore ('Goon') rises to the challenge of his director’s freewheeling agenda, while the vaguely retro electronica original score (by Todor Kobakov and Maya Postepski) and various-artist cuts soundtracked each add assertive musical commentary."
Dennis Harvey, Variety
GERALD'S GAME - The Newton Brothers
"Unlike the recent Stephen King mega-hit 'It,' 'Gerald’s Game' stays faithful to King’s ending, necessitating some clunky, groan-worthy voiceover that stands in sharp contrast to the rest of the film. (Let’s be honest: Stephen King is better at beginnings than endings.) Still, overall, Flanagan’s passion project meshes nicely with his directorial style, effectively deploying sickening practical effects from Robert Kurtzman’s Creature Corps and a minimally applied score from The Newton Brothers. (Interestingly, Flanagan declines to use musical cues in the film’s horror sequences, letting silence build the dread instead.) As the renewed wave of interest in Stephen King continues to crash on our cinematic shores, we can only hope that future adapters and adaptions will be so well matched."
Katie Rife, The Onion AV Club
"'Shin Godzilla' reassures fans that their version of Godzilla is, unlike the equally tremendous 2014 American 'Godzilla,' the 'true' Godzilla, by including and expanding on themes from 'Gojira' composer Akira Ifukube's iconic score. These are pieces of music that Ifukube previously expanded over the course of his decades-long tenure as Godzilla's official composer. 'Shin Godzilla' composer Shiro Sagisu honors that tradition of adaptation with an orchestral score that feels simultaneously retro and modern. Sagisu, one of Anno's collaborators on "Neon Genesis Evangelion," alternates the tempo of his music from bombastic, 'Dies Irae'-style battle themes to rococo, John Barry-esque spy music (complete with snare and bongo drums). Sagisu's score makes 'Shin Godzilla' feel perpetually dynamic, even when parts of it devolve into discussions about relief bills, urban evacuation and the planning of military actions."
Simon Abrams, RogerEbert.com
"Though the slap at the conventions they are skewering at times is lost by too many blue suits talking in boardrooms and not enough rampaging, there are some provocative moments, chiefly Yaguchi and Akasaka’s third-act chat about the reality of Japanese-U.S. relations. Sadly, all the telling (or reading) rather than showing reduces the story’s overall impact, which is a shame; the final wipeout of Chiyoda-ku is impressive. That said, there’s an intangible quality to this Godzilla that Edwards (Emmerich doesn’t count) never quite captured, and which is always welcome. Shiro Sagisu’s retro score complements the tech specs: imperfect but perfectly so."
Elizabeth Kerr, The Hollywood Reporter
THE TRIBES OF PALOS VERDES - Gustavo Santaolalla
"Medina is played by Maika Monroe (of 'It Follows'), an experienced kiteboarder who seems plenty comfortable shooting her own surf scenes, but also proves quite good at delivering what amounts to an unusually heavy dose of narration. So often frowned upon by critics, voiceover isn’t such a bad thing in this case, coupling with Gustavo Santaolalla’s score (alternately agitated and rhythmic, lapping like waves at low tide) to give the film its own feel -- a kind of yearning for that last moment they were together, for the days when she and twin brother Jim (Cody Fern) could rely on one another to escape life’s outside pressures."
Peter Debruge, Variety
"But there's a wild beauty to more than match the narrative's falters. Much as Medina is most at home on the ocean, the filmmaking is most fluent when filtered through the silver glitter of the surf. Contemporary but 'eraless' (as Emmett Malloy has called it), the movie has a '70s feel, from the muted palette of the production design and costumes to the sun-washed Pacific light, movingly captured in Giles Dunning's camerawork. The undercurrent of foreboding in Gustavo Santaolalla's gentle acoustic score is in sync with all the characters. But it's Medina's steady searching, against the flailing of almost everyone around her, that keeps this downbeat story afloat."
Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter
VOYEUR - Joel Goodman
"'Voyeur' gains momentum as Kane and Koury cross-cut between the two men in the days leading up to the book’s release, with Joel Goodman’s score adding to the tension. We see Talese standing proudly before his tailor, being fitted for the bespoke suit he’ll wear to promote 'The Voyeur’s Motel' on 'Late Night With Seth Myers.' Meanwhile Foos has lost his swagger altogether -- except for the occasional rant -- and holes up with his quietly supportive wife, Anita, in their side-by-side recliners. (The scene in which he delivers a rapid-fire screed while slowly descending the stairs in a mechanical chair is darkly funny and deeply sad at once.)"
Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com
"Directors Myles Kane and Josh Koury follow both men through the months when Talese put the finishing touches on his 2016 book 'The Voyeur’s Motel,' most notably the period where an excerpt of the writer’s single-sourced account was being scrutinized by the New Yorker‘s fact-checking department. Readers of that lengthy feature will find little of artistic interest in what largely amounts to a summary of Talese’s project and its brief flickering of media controversy: Joel Goodman’s soundtrack seesaws between riffing on Thom Yorke’s piano themes and Philip Glass’s scores for Errol Morris; ugly, irksomely jostling camerawork peers at Talese through shelves; a miniature recreation of Foos’s motel conjures the voyeur’s inflated sense of power."
Christopher Gray, Slant Magazine
"The filming began as Talese set out to finally write about the man who had initially contacted him over 30 years ago with his story, and directors Myles Kane and Josh Koury met him while working at The New Yorker’s video department around 2012. If you’ve read the New Yorker story, you will surely spend the first half of the film wondering why you’re watching this rehash of such questionable taste -- in addition to a few early, staged-feeling interview scenes, Kane and Koury had a miniature replica of the Manor House Motel constructed, for a Foos look-alike to lift the roof off of and peer down into creepily, in case the viewer missed the title of the film while clicking on it on Netflix. Despite Talese’s long-standing, if tarnished, journalism pedigree and three-piece suits, 'Voyeur' accurately and appropriately brings the the Foos story back down to its true value as a would-be Investigation Discovery special, all hammy scores and lurid reenactments and Cliff’s Notes insights into human nature."
Emily Yoshida, New York
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.
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]
December 10
A CHRISTMAS STORY (Carl Zittrer, Paul Zaza) [AMPAS]
A CHRISTMAS STORY (Carl Zittrer, Paul Zaza) [Arclight Culver City]
LOVE ACTUALLY (Craig Armstrong) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (Elmer Bernstein), GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (Elmer Bernstein) [New Beverly]
December 11
A CHRISTMAS STORY (Carl Zittrer, Paul Zaza) [Arclight Santa Monica]
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Dimtri Tiomkin) [Arclight Hollywood]
PSYCHO (Bernard Herrmann) [LACMA]
A TASTE OF KILLING AND ROMANCE (Ying-Wah Wong), THE ODD ONE DIES (Ying-Wah Wong) [New Beverly]
December 12
AUNTIE MAME (Bronislau Kaper) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE LAST SAFARI (John Dankworth), SHOOT OUT (Dave Grusin) [New Beverly]
December 13
AUNTIE MAME (Bronislau Kaper) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE LAST SAFARI (John Dankworth), SHOOT OUT (Dave Grusin) [New Beverly]
MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (Joe Hisaishi) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (John Williams) [Laemmle NoHo]
December 14
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (Danny Elfman) [Nuart]
FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! (Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter), MOTORPSYCHO! (Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter) [New Beverly]
A LETTER TO THREE WIVES (Alfred Newman) [UCLA]
RESERVOIR DOGS [New Beverly]
SPIRITED AWAY (Joe Hisaishi) [Cinematheque: Aero]
December 15
CHRISTMAS EVIL (Don Christensen, Joel Harris, Julia Heyward) [New Beverly]
FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! (Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter), MOTORPSYCHO! (Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter) [New Beverly]
HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE (Joe Hisaishi), KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE (Joe Hisaishi) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (Paul Williams, Miles Goodman) [New Beverly]
TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. (Wang Chung), CUTTER'S WAY (Jack Nitzsche) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
December 16
A CHRISTMAS STORY (Carl Zittrer, Paul Zaza) [UCLA]
DETOUR (Leo Erdody) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (Cyril Mockridge), SANTA CLAUS (Henry Mancini) [New Beverly]
THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (Paul Williams, Miles Goodman) [New Beverly]
MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (Joe Hisaishi) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY
During my recent trip to San Francisco, I was able (thanks to the book Footsteps in the Fog: Alfred Hitchcock's San Francisco) to track down the exterior location used for the home of William Devane and Karen Black in one of my all-time favorite movies, Family Plot. It is at the corner of Sacramento and Buchanan (just blocks away from Landmark's Clay Theatre), and looks pretty much the same as it did when they shot the film in 1975.
Recently I read about something on-line called the "20 Movie Challenge," where you post one image each from 20 films that had the greatest impact on you and your life. I'm not going to post the images here, but these were the movies I came up with for myself (in the order I first saw them in, not the order in which they were first released):
2001: A Space Odyssey
Planet of the Apes
The Andromeda Strain
Goldfinger
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
Love and Death
Family Plot
Robin and Marian
Obsession
Jaws
Manhattan
Alien
A Room with a View
Empire of the Sun
Action Jackson
Demolition Man
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
The Social Network
Interstellar
As you would expect, the hardest thing about this list was deciding what not to include, so it wasn't easy cutting films from the list, such as Charade, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Die Hard, Dressed to Kill, Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, and There Will Be Blood.
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