I am currently on vacation, so if any breaking film music news has broken in the last few days, you'll have to read about it on the Message Board or elsewhere on the Internet, which I am told is a series of tubes. (Forgive me if I have made this reference before. Obviously, it never fails to amuse me.)
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
The Angry Birds Movie 2 - Heitor Pereira - Sony [CD-R]
Evil Toons - Chuck Cirino - Dragon's Domain
The Informer - Brooke Blair, Will Blair - Varese Sarabande*
Intolerance - Carl Davis - Carl Davis Collection
Secrets of the Titanic - Craig Safan - Dragon's Domain
IN THEATERS TODAY
Aquarela - Eicca Toppinen
Awake - Alex Kharlamov
Blinded by the Light - A.R. Rahman - Song CD on Sony with 2 Rahman cues
Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles - Arturo Cardelus - Score CD on Rosetta
Cold Case Hammarskjold - John Erik Kaada
47 Meters Down: Uncaged - tomandandy
Good Boys - Lyle Workman
Gwen - James Edward Barker
Jay Myself - Joel Goodman
Kingdom - Yutaka Yamada
Low Low - Heavy Young Heathens
One Last Night - Anthony B. Willis
Where’d You Go, Bernadette - Graham Reynolds
COMING SOON
August 23
After the Wedding - Mychael Danna - Varese Sarabande
Chernobyl - Hildur Guonadottir - Deutsche Grammophon
Ghost Story - Philippe Sarde - Quartet
Ms. Purple - Roger Suen - Notefornote
Succession - Nicholas Britell - Milan
The Tenant - Philippe Sarde - Quartet
August 30
The Durrells - Ruth Barrett, Jon Wygens - Abkco
September 20
Samurai Marathon - Philip Glass - Orange Mountain
October 4
Stranger Things 3 - Kyle Dixon, Michael Stein - Lakeshore
Date Unknown
Dementia/Piano Concerto - George Antheil, Ernest Gold - Kritzerland
Thunderbirds Are Go: Series 2 - Ben Foster, Nick Foster - Silva
UFO - Barry Gray - Silva
Valhalla - Ron Goodwin - PlantSounds
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
August 16 - John Williams records the third season theme for Lost in Space (1967)
August 16 - Bruno Nicolai died (1991)
August 16 - Miles Goodman died (1996)
August 16 - Tadashi Hattori died (2008)
August 16 - Alan Silvestri wins Emmys for Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey’s main title theme and its premiere episode score; David Arnold and Michael Price win for Sherlock’s “His Last Vow” (2014)
August 17 - Lisa Coleman born (1960)
August 17 - Ernest Gold bgins recording his score for A Child Is Waiting (1962)
August 17 - Vivek Maddala born (1973)
August 17 - John Williams begins recording his score for Black Sunday (1976)
August 18 - Igo Kantor born (1930)
August 18 - David Benoit born (1953)
August 18 - John Debney born (1956)
August 18 - Tan Dun born (1957)
August 18 - Stuart Matthewman born (1960)
August 18 - Stephen Endelman born (1962)
August 18 - Carlos Rafael Rivera born (1970)
August 18 - Robert Russell Bennett died (1981)
August 18 - Jack Elliott died (2001)
August 18 - Elmer Bernstein died (2004)
August 19 - Fumio Hayasaka born (1914)
August 19 - Herman Stein born (1915)
August 19 - Luchi De Jesus born (1923)
August 19 - William Motzing born (1937)
August 19 - Ray Cooper born (1942)
August 19 - Gustavo Santaolalla born (1951)
August 19 - Elmer Bernstein begins recording his score for Desire Under the Elms (1957)
August 19 - Recording sessions begin for Bronislau Kaper's score for BUtterfield 8 (1960)
August 19 - Alexander Courage's score for the Star Trek episode "The Man Trap" is recorded (1966)
August 19 - Jerry Fielding records his score for the Mission: Impossible episode “The Controllers” (1969)
August 19 - Lalo Schifrin begins recording his score for Telefon (1977)
August 19 - Luchi De Jesus died (1984)
August 19 - Jay Chattaway records his score for the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Equinox, Part II” (1999)
August 19 - Geoff Zanelli wins the Emmy for Into the West; Sean Callery wins his second Emmy, for the 24 episode “Day 5: 6:00 a.m. – 7:00 a.m.”; Edward Shearmur wins for Masters of Horror’s main title theme (2006)
August 20 - Raoul Kraushaar born (1908)
August 20 - Alain Goraguer born (1931)
August 20 - Stelvio Cipriani born (1937)
August 20 - Isaac Hayes born (1942)
August 20 - Ron Jones records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Naked Now" (1987)
August 21 - Constant Lambert died (1951)
August 21 - Basil Poledouris born (1945)
August 21 - Recording sessions begin for Hugo Friedhofer’s score for Two Flags West (1950)
August 21 - Joe Strummer born (1952)
August 21 - Walter Schumann died (1958)
August 21 - Gerald Fried records his score for the Mission: Impossible episode “The Widow” (1967)
August 21 - Angelo Francesco Lavagnino died (1987)
August 21 - Richard Band begins recording his score for Robo Warriors (1996)
August 21 - Alex Wurman wins the Emmy for his Temple Grandin score; Sean Callery wins his third Emmy, for the 24 episode score “Day 8: 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.; Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman win for Nurse Jackie’s main title theme (2010)
August 22 - Stanislas Syrewicz born (1946)
August 22 - Bronislau Kaper begins recording his score for Ride, Vaquero! (1952)
August 22 - James Dooley born (1976)
August 22 - Bruce Broughton begins recording his score for This Girl for Hire (1983)
August 22 - John Williams begins recording his score for the Amazing Stories episode "The Mission" (1985)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
THE BOOK OF HENRY - Michael Giacchino
"And it’s not like those involved don’t give it their all, because they do. In particular the actors, led by Watts, commit fully to both their characters and the narrative’s ooey-gooey instability. Even Sarah Silverman, cast as a trashy waitress (you can tell because of her tattoos), is believable and committed. Trevorrow, who started out as an indie favorite with 'Safety Not Guaranteed' before graduating to the $1 billion-grossing 'Jurassic World,' seems to split the difference between his first two films. Yes, this is a smaller, more intimate experience, full of more identifiably human characters, but he also tries to transport some of that twinkly, Spielberg-ian magic that he is obviously such a fan of. The influence of Spielberg can be felt in some of the misadventures Henry and his younger brother get in to, which are reminiscent of 'The Goonies,' to an early poster that mimicked the work of Spielberg artist Drew Struzan, to Michael Giacchino‘s music, which hums with the warmth and earnestness of the very best John Williams‘ scores. (It should be noted that the Giacchino score is really, really great.)"
Drew Taylor, The Playlist
"The opening credits -- which are set to a gentle piano-based score by Michael Giacchino -- show us intricate drawings in a book, and this seems to be the set-up for a film aimed at children. 'People are decent mostly,' says young Henry (Jaeden Lieberher) on the soundtrack as he shepherds his vulnerable brother Peter (Jacob Tremblay) onto a school bus. Henry is responsible for protecting Peter, who often gets bullied, and he sees himself as a protector in general."
Dan Callahan, The Wrap
"The competing variables of the plot collide during the climax, which involves both a cheesy elementary school talent show and late-night showdowns with guns. The circumstances behind it all are laughably absurd, but within the confines of the movie’s own deranged logic, totally unpredictable. Carried along by Michael Giaccino’s score -- which shifts from awe-inspiring to ominous with ease -- 'The Book of Henry' reappropriates the mold of the vanilla suburban drama by pushing it in subversive directions. Caught between capricious moments and grim genre tropes, it’s a ridiculous premise that’s never quite self-aware enough to obtain much depth or sustained entertainment value."
Eric Kohn, IndieWire
"The script is inexcusably bad and accounts for most of the film’s problems. But Trevorrow can’t draw a single emotional through line out of the muck, leaving his cast stranded in a directionless jumble of half-arcs. There’s a feeling of collage to the direction. Take any two- or three-minute segment out of context and it would seem recognizable enough as a movie: the heart-tugging score, the cute kid one-liners. But assembled as it is, the movie starts to feel like an exquisite corpse, a film that forgot what it was five minutes ago, both structurally and emotionally. By the time Michael Giacchino’s score is swelling over an 8-year-old rapping at a talent show while Naomi Watts speeds home to murder her neighbor, the film seems so detached from the rest of the world as to levitate."
Emily Yoshida, New York Magazine
THE COMMAND [aka KURSK] - Alexandre Desplat
"Anthony Dod Mantle’s elegant cinematography is particularly clever in the counterintuitive use of widescreen within the confines of the submarine, but a boxier aspect ratio at home on land, and Alexandre Desplat’s typically excellent, tastefully Russian-accented score does serve to power us through some of the less engaging moments, while giving the more obviously dramatic sequences an underscoring of melodic melancholy. And some of the dramatic license taken with real events is justified: The characters are mostly amalgams of real people which makes their tragic fates easier to shorthand. And Vinterberg’s cross-cutting between the moment-to-moment battles for survival of the trapped men (which give rise in particular to one bravura underwater “mission” sequence reminiscent of 'The Poseidon Adventure' for sheer thrills) and the enforced inactivity of the English and Norwegian rescue team nearby, as though they were happening much closer together than the real reconstructed timeline suggests, serves to emphasize the inhumanity of the Russian pettifogging, and to invest the somewhat uninvolving surface action with a little ticking-clock dynamism."
Jessica Kiang, Variety
5B - Justin Melland
"The film is content to let its own archive footage -- in addition to the testimony of its living interview subjects -- answer that question, while essentially having Day incriminate herself with her multiple bigoted statements. (We don’t even get into her history of Holocaust denial.) Elsewhere, '5B' is less inclined toward understatement, not least with regard to the thick piano strains of Justin Melland’s score, as well as a gluey closing-credits ballad by Leslie Mendelson and Jackson Browne ('Reaching out for some connection/Or maybe just their own reflection') that leaves no sentiment to chance. That Haggis and Krauss find said sentiment all the same is a testament to their subject: In '5B,' the human spirit is bigger than hate and Hallmark alike."
Guy Lodge, Variety
HEAD COUNT - Hannah Parrott
Among the generally astute tech and design contributions, a special shout-out goes to Hannah Parrott, whose original score suggests a spectral presence from the get-go.
Dennis Harvey, Variety
MAIDEN - Rob Manning, Samuel Sim
"Those emotional highs and lows are perfectly accompanied by an eclectic score by Rob Manning and Samuel Sim that’s both modern and classical. The movie’s synth-heavy score builds up the drama of the story’s energetic and daring notes. You can often catch it playing during the ’80s newsreels and the old-school camcorder footage. There’s also an edgier violin-led instrumental that hits more of the story’s poignant moments. The number has a sense of urgency in its rhythm. When its lonely violin takes on higher pitches, it mirrors the Maiden’s voyage, forging ahead against detractors and the elements."
Monica Castillo, The Wrap
PERFECT - Flying Lotus
"Of course, you can’t discuss this film without praising the Flying Lotus score, which traverses the spectrum from synthy ’80s darkwave like John Maus to lush and tense string compositions you might hear from Mica Levi. Combined with eerie, exaggerated sound design from Jacob Flack and sound effects editors Danielle Price and Timothy Preston, 'Perfect' becomes a sumptuous aural experience. The sheer number of artisans creating great work on this film does become a disappointment, though. Without a proper story or dialogue, what good is skin-deep beauty?"
April Wolfe, The Wrap
PHOTOGRAPH - Peter Raeburn
"Credit Batra with some self-awareness in writing his chastely old-fashioned love story, in which the denouement is as easily forecast as it is slow-burning. 'The stories are all the same in movies these days,' says middle-aged bachelor Rafi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui, rejoining his 'Lunchbox' director) to shy, sweet Miloni (Sanya Malhotra) on a tentative date to see a splashy musical spectacle. The difference, of course, lies in the telling. 'Photograph' nods affectionately to the overt romanticism of classic Bollywood, the films and songs of which have long fueled Rafi’s unfulfilled fantasies of a better, less lonely life. And yet, the circling strains of Peter Raeburn’s prettily saccharine, somewhat over-present score notwithstanding, the film’s sensibly shod feet are planted in the non-Technicolor real world."
Guy Lodge, Variety
ROUGH NIGHT - Dominic Lewis
"The alarm over potential manslaughter charges, ruined careers and shattered personal lives unleashes a whole lot of frantic but mostly unconvincing plot developments. Paradoxically, however, the dilemma over what to do with the dead guy and multiple subsequent inconvenient arrivals causes the movie to sputter rather than accelerate as each episode unfolds without a satisfying payoff. It doesn't help that the action is often clumsily shot, relying on Dominic Lewis' score to inject urgency."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
SEA OF SHADOWS - H. Scott Salinas
"For its first half or so, Ladkani’s film takes the form of an environmental PSA laced with genre tropes. The names of various locations are identified in lettering that fills the screen, while the score by H. Scott Salinas ('A Private War') consistently intrudes upon the action, amplifying the dread during already tense moments and accompanying the platitudes expressed by interview subjects with touchy-feely melodies. What initially tugged at my heartstrings was the mere sight of the vaquita whale, the smallest of its species, endowed with a smile permanently etched on its ghostly face. In recent years, its population on earth has dwindled below thirty, as the nets of profit-minded fishermen have killed off numerous creatures living in the Sea of Cortez, a wondrous habitat dubbed by Jacques Cousteau as 'the aquarium of the planet.'"
Matt Fagerholm, RogerEbert.com
WALKING ON WATER - Saunder Jurriaans, Danny Bensi
"Judicious use, without exaggeration, of drone shots flying over the lake reveal a breathtaking panorama of saffron paths cutting across the blue water. Paounov’s eye for memorable compositions is apparent closer to the ground as well, such as a hallucinogenic evening sequence of visitors in metallic gold wraps, light playing across the surface of the reflective material. Original music, together with composer Steve Reich’s 'Pulses,' organically heighten the sense of excitement. At the very end, Christo and Yavachev are in the desert of Abu Dhabi, scoping out locations for the long-gestating 'Mastaba' installation -- it should be quite a journey."
Jay Weissberg, Variety
THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN L.A.
Screenings of older films, at the following L.A. movie theaters: AMPAS, Alamo Drafthouse, American Cinematheque: Aero, American Cinematheque: Egyptian, Arclight, Arena Cinelounge, Laemmle, New Beverly, Nuart, UCLA and Vista.
August 16
THE BEACH BUM (John Debney) [Nuart]
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (John Williams) [Vista]
FRIGHT NIGHT (Brad Fiedel) [Arclight Hollywood]
ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO (Robert Rodriguez), ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
RED ROCK WEST (William Olvis), KILL ME AGAIN (William Olvis) [Cinematheque: Aero]
YOUNG SOUL REBELS (Simon Boswell) [UCLA]
August 17
THE LADY EVE, SCARLET STREET (Hans J. Salter) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE LONG, LONG TRAILER (Adolph Deutsch) [Laemmle Ahyra Fine Arts]
MULHOLLAND DRIVE (Angelo Badalamenti) [Vista]
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
RASCAL (Buddy Baker) [New Beverly]
SUBURBIA (Alex Gibson), ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL [UCLA]
SUNSET BLVD. (Franz Waxman) [Vista]
THE THING (Ennio Morricone) [Arclight Hollywood]
August 18
GODZILLA VS. DESTOROYAH (Akira Ifukube) [Vista]
LABYRINTH (Trevor Jones) [Alamo Drafthouse]
MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (Bronislau Kaper) [UCLA]
ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (Ennio Morricone) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
RASCAL (Buddy Baker) [New Beverly]
August 19
APOCALYPSE NOW (Carmine Coppola, Francis Coppola) [Arclight Hollywood]
APOCALYPSE NOW (Carmine Coppola, Francis Coppola) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
CLUELESS (David Kitay) [Arclight Hollywood]
DRUNKEN MASTER (Fu Liang Chou) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS (Christopher Komeda) [Arclight Santa Monica]
THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS (Christopher Komeda) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
FRIGHT NIGHT (Brad Fiedel) [Arclight Culver City]
GIRL, INTERRUPTED (Mychael Danna) [New Beverly]
PADDINGTON 2 (Dario Marianelli) [Alamo Drafthouse]
August 20
IT'S COMPLICATED (Hans Zimmer, Heitor Pereira) [Arclight Hollywood]
NIGHT OF THE COMET (David Richard Campbell) [Alamo Drafthouse]
PADDINGTON 2 (Dario Marianelli) [Alamo Drafthouse]
PAN'S LABYRINTH (Javier Navarrete) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
TOKYO STORY (Takanobu Saito) [Cinematheque: Aero]
August 21
BLUE VENGEANCE (Chris Burke) [Alamo Drafthouse]
DONKEY SKIN (Michel Legrand), TWICE UPON A TIME (Dawn Atkinson, Ken Melville) [CInematheque: Egyptian]
LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (Percy Faith, George Stoll) [New Beverly]
PADDINGTON 2 (Dario Marianelli) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THAT MAN FROM RIO (Georges Delerue) [Laemmle Royal]
August 22
BLADE (Mark Isham) [Alamo Drafthouse]
PADDINGTON 2 (Dario Marianelli) [Alamo Drafthouse]
SOME LIKE IT HOT (Adolph Deutsch) [Cinematheque: Aero]
August 23
APOCALYPSE NOW (Carmine Coppola, Francis Coppola) [Arena CineLounge]
THE FUGITIVE (Richard Hageman), VERA CRUZ (Hugo Friedhofer) [UCLA]
THE GREAT ESCAPE (Elmer Bernstein) [Cinematheque: Aero]
HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (John Carpenter, Alan Howarth) [Nuart]
SANJURO (Masaru Sato) [Vista]
August 24
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (Elmer Bernstein) [Arclight Hollywood]
APOCALYPSE NOW (Carmine Coppola, Francis Coppola) [Arena CineLounge]
A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN (Rod McKuen, John Scott Trotter, Vince Guaraldi) [Cinematheque: Aero]
CABARET (John Kander, Ralph Burns), ALL THAT JAZZ (Ralph Burns) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS (William Alwyn) [New Beverly]
LE CIRCLE ROUGE (Eric Demarsan), BOB LE FLAMBEUR (Eddie Barclay, Jo Boyer) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE LONGEST DAY (Maurice Jarre) [UCLA]
ON THE WATERFRONT (Leonard Bernstein) [Vista]
ONCE UPON A TIME (Frederick Hollander) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
RAGING BULL [Vista]
August 25
APOCALYPSE NOW (Carmine Coppola, Francis Coppola) [Arena CineLounge]
GODZILLA, MOTHRA, KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK! (Ko Otani) [Vista]
THE GOONIES (Dave Grusin) [Alamo Drafthouse]
IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS (William Alwyn) [New Beverly]
THELMA & LOUISE (Hans Zimmer), WORKING GIRL (Carly Simon, Rob Mounsey) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THREE WISE GIRLS, RED-HEADED WOMAN [Cinematheque: Aero]
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY
Heard: Star Trek: Charlie X/Mudd's Women/The Corbomite Maneuver/Balance of Terror/What Are Little Girls Made Of? (Steiner), Star Trek Beyond (Giacchino), Before I Wake (Newton Brothers/Elfman) Luke Cage Season 2 (Younge/Shaheed Muhammad), Duck, You Sucker (Morricone)
Read: The Shop Around the Corner, screenplay by Samson Raphaelson; The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome, by John Godey
Seen: The Kitchen, After the Wedding, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, The Peanut Butter Falcon, Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood, Luce, Piranhas
Watched: The Outer Limits ("O.B.I.T."), The Haunting of Hill House ("Steven Sees a Ghost"), The Office ("Merger"), Perry Mason ("The Case of the Angry Mourner")
I always enjoy seeing two movies back-to-back and noticing the accidental similarities between them. On a recent Saturday it was an especially odd double feature -- Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (much as the title makes me cringe, I still prefer it to Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, which for me is perhaps the worst movie title of all time) and The Nightingale.
They are both around 136 minutes long. They are both very violent. They both feature a character referred to as "Becky." (In one Becky is a horse. In the other, Becky is a nickname given by one A-list star doing a lengthy cameo to a major character played by another top male movie star).
But otherwise, as you can imagine they could hardly be more different, and not just because Hobbs & Shaw is shot in widescreen, while The Nightingale uses a boxy 1.33 "Academy ratio" that's become trendy of late (Ida, Cold War, The Mountain). Seen as a pair, the most striking comparison is the utterly different way they portray violence. Hobbs & Shaw is the kind of glib, "self-aware" action movie where the bad guy introduces himself a "Bad Guy" and dozens of people die with zero consequences, while The Nightingale is a historically based revenge story, full of rape and slaughter, that while lively and engrossing on its own terms could hardly be described as "fun." The Nightingale would be a perfect (if bleak) companion feature for 2017's Lady Macbeth, whose breakout star Florence Pugh had another memorable lead role this year in Midsommar.
Strangely, both films were more entertaining than I expected. I am not a particular fan of the Fast/Furious franchise -- I tend to enjoy them when I watch them but pretty much never have any desire to see any of them a second time. The combination of the mind-boggling "retroactive continuity," the tiresome insistence that it's all about "family," and the increasing move from impressive reality-based stunts to improbable CGI-laden spectacle keeps me from warming up to the series, though apart from the "family" nonsense its relative unpretentiousness is welcome.
Stunt coordinator David Leitch made an impressive directing debut with the first John Wick, and while his Atomic Blonde was less satisfying it had some astounding action scenes, but unfortunately Hobbs & Shaw doesn't take enough advantage of Leitch's skill at staging and filming action -- too many of the fights are intercut between two scenes, losing their impact, and the finale has such improbably scaled, VFX-enhanced action that it's difficult to find it genuinely exciting.
Vanessa Kirby played "The White Widow" in last year's Mission: Impossible - Fallout, and in Hobbs & Shaw she plays Shaw's estranged sister, an MI5 agent. I don't know if this is the very first film to feature brother-and-sister action heroes (I can't untangle all the family relationships in the principal Furious franchise, the most likely place to find such a sibling duo, and can't be bothered to try), but it's the first one I can think of and it's a nice new wrinkle in the action movie formula.
*The release of the film The Informer has apparently been pushed from this month to some time in 2020, but as far as I know Varese Sarabande still intends to release the score CD this week.
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