The latest CD from Intrada features the first-ever release of the score to writer-director Terry Gilliam's 1981 fantasy classic TIME BANDITS, which starred an impressive cast including Sean Connery, John Cleese, Ralph Richardson, Ian Holm, David Warner and Shelley Duvall. The score, mixing symphonic and electronic cues, was composed by relative newcomer Mike Moran, who was also a veteran session musician and experienced TV composer. The Intrada CD features Moran's score as well as the original end title song "Dream Away," written and performed by George Harrison, and liner notes detailing the film's production history, written by myself. (The disc does not include the library cues used in the film nor a brief source piece composed by Trevor Jones).
Hildur Gudnadottir continued her remarkable awards streak (especially impressive since it involves two different scores) by following her Emmy, Grammy (both for Chernobyl), Golden Globe and BAFTA with the Oscar for Original Score for JOKER. Original Song was won by longtime collaborators Bernie Taupin and Elton John for "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" from their hit musical biopic ROCKETMAN.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Awaken - Brian Ralson - Perseverance
Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn - Daniel Pemberton - WaterTower [CD-R]
Papicha - Rob - Music Box
Time Bandits - Mike Moran - Intrada Special Collection
Waking the Dragon - Paul Hertzog - Perseverance
IN THEATERS TODAY
And Then We Danced - Zviad Mgebry, Ben Wheeler
Blumhouse's Fantasy Island - Bear McCreary
Buffaloed - Matthew Margeson
Camp Cold Brook - Chad Rehmann
Come As You Are - Jeremy Turner
Downhill - Volker Bertelmann
Eat Brains Love - Chad Fischer
First Lady - Andrei Shulgach
Impossible Monsters - Michael MacAllister
The Last Thing He Wanted - Tamar-kali
Olympic Dreams - Annie Hart, Jay Wadley
Ordinary Love - David Holmes, Brian Irvine - Score LP on Touch Sensitive
The Photograph - Robert Glasper
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon - Tom Howe - Score CD on Sony (import)
A Simple Wedding - Nima Fakhrara
Sonic the Hedgehog - Tom Holkenborg
Spy Intervention - Roger Suen
Underneath the Same Moon - Valor Chase Wasson
VFW - Steve Moore
COMING SOON
February 21
At Eternity's Gate - Tatiana Lisovskaya - Filmtrax
Breath [UK release] - Harry Gregson-Williams - Filmtrax
The Musical Anthology of His Dark Materials - Lorne Balfe - Silva
The Personal History of David Copperfield - Christopher Willis - MVKA
March 13
Charles Gerhardt Conducts Classic Film Scores [12-disc set] - various - Sony
The Matrix Symphony - Don Davis - Perseverance
Date Unknown
Adultere (Mode d'Emploi) - Bruno Coulais - Music Box
Antony I. Ginnane Presents Classic Australian Film Scores from the '70s and '80s - various - Dragon's Domain
Apocalypse Domani - Alessandro Blonksteiner - CSC
Assicurasi Vergine - Bruno Nicolai - Saimel
Dinosaur Land - Chuck Cirino - Dragon's Domain
Hoax - Alan Howarth - Dragon's Domain
I Guerrieri Dell'anno 2072/La Casa Sperduta Nel Parco - Riz Ortolani - Beat
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
February 14 - Werner Heymann born (1886)
February 14 - Elliot Lawrence born (1925)
February 14 - Merl Saunders born (1934)
February 14 - Jocelyn Pook born (1960)
February 14 - David Holmes born (1969)
February 14 - Ken Thorne begins recording his score for Superman III (1983)
February 14 - Frederick Loewe died (1988)
February 14 - Jay Chattaway records his score for the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Spirit Folk” (2000)
February 14 - Piero Umiliani died (2001)
February 15 - Georges Auric born (1899)
February 15 - Harold Arlen born (1905)
February 15 - Miklos Rozsa records his replacement score for Crest of the Wave (1954)
February 15 - Stephen Edwards born (1972)
February 15 - Johnny Harris records his score for the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode “Space Rockers” (1980)
February 15 - Pierre Bachelet died (2005)
February 16 - Dennis Wilson born (1920)
February 16 - Kunio Miyauchi born (1932)
February 16 - John Corigliano born (1938)
February 16 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score for King of Kings (1961)
February 16 - Dennis McCarthy and Kevin Kiner begin recording their score for the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Observer Effect” (2004)
February 17 - Ron Goodwin born (1925)
February 17 - Karl Jenkins born (1944)
February 17 - Fred Frith born (1949)
February 17 - Bernard Herrmann records his score for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode “Death Scene” (1965)
February 17 - Alfred Newman died (1970)
February 17 - Bear McCreary born (1979)
February 17 - Jerry Fielding died (1980)
February 17 - Samuel Matlovsky died (2004)
February 18 - John Bisharat born (1964)
February 18 - Tommy Tallarico born (1968)
February 18 - Nathaniel Shilkret died (1982)
February 19 - Saul Chaplin born (1912)
February 19 - Shigeru Umebayashi born (1951)
February 19 - Donald Rubinstein born (1952)
February 19 - Claudio Simonetti born (1952)
February 19 - Charles Bernstein begins recording his score for Gator (1976)
February 19 - David Bell records his score for the Enterprise episode “Fusion” (2002)
February 19 - Teo Macero died (2008)
February 20 - Toshiro Mayuzumi born (1929)
February 20 - How the West Was Won opens in Los Angeles (1963)
February 20 - Michael A. Levine born (1964)
February 20 - William Lava died (1971)
February 20 - Recording sessions begin on Jerry Goldsmith's score for Alien (1979)
February 20 - Toru Takemitsu died (1996)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
THE CAPTAIN - Martin Todsharow
"One thing that’s not ambiguous is Schwentke’s commentary on how Willi Herold’s story, and the rise of the Nazi Party in general, reflect our current political moment. Schwentke’s observation that all you need to turn ordinary people into fascists is to tell them what they want to hear is an astute one. But the point is made in so many violent, unsettling ways, with so little variation on this basic psychological theme, that the brutality stars to feel crushingly repetitive. But the film is consistently beautiful to look at in an 'industrial metal album cover' kind of way, pairing dimly lit, black-and-white cinematography and artfully composed mise-en-scéne -- one shot of a group of soldiers pulling Herold in the back of a broken-down car evokes the iconic photo of U.S. Marines raising the flag over Iwo Jima, which cannot be a coincidence -- with a grinding, metallic ambient score. 'The Captain' is a bleak film, but then again, these are bleak times."
Katie Rife, The Onion AV Club
THE CHILDREN ACT - Stephen Warbeck
"The film has been intelligently adapted by McEwan himself, and Richard Eyre ('Iris,' 'Notes on a Scandal,' and the underrated 'Stage Beauty') has done a good job of direction in certain scenes. A musical performance that ends in a breakdown by Fiona is especially well handled, and Eyre adds a telling visual touch in the final scene that was not in the novel. But the director also makes a few miscalculations that hurt the film. Although veteran composer Stephen Warbeck is credited for his score, much of the music actually consists of passages from Bach that add an unfortunate touch of ponderousness and pretension to the film. The story is lugubrious enough without including this dirgelike music to punish the audience."
Stephen Farber, The Hollywood Reporter
"Yes, the period details are spot-on, Jon Brion and Geoff Zanelli’s score is charming without being overbearing, and the cinematography by Matthias Koenigswieser ('All I See Is You') ties together gloomy London and the lush countryside with a warm vintage sheen, but these parts are greater than the whole."
Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
"The film opens with the final scene of 'The House at Pooh Corner,' in which Pooh (voiced by Jim Cummings, the same actor who has performed the character for the past three decades) and friends -- Tigger (also Cummings), Piglet (Nick Mohammed), Eeyore (Brad Garrett), Owl (Toby Jones), Rabbit (Peter Capaldi), Kanga (Sophie Okonedo), and Roo (Sara Sheen) -- host a farewell dinner for 9-year-old Christopher (Robin is now his last name), who is bound for boarding school. It’s amusing to see these familiar characters rendered as Milne might have known them, looking alive behind their worn plush 'fur' and unblinking button eyes. That way, the voices supply most of the personality (Eeyore is a scene-stealer), while subtle digital animation around their mouths and brows allows these toys to convey a surprisingly wide range of emotions (quite literally underscored by Jon Brion and Geoff Zanelli’s update of the cartoon’s classic theme)."
Peter Debruge, Variety
"Set in Van Sant’s native Portland, and zeroing in on a very narrow segment of Callahan’s book, the film once again finds avant-gardist Van Sant operating in ultra-conventional Lasse Hallström mode, spinning a handsome, honey-toned inspirational tale (bolstered by one of the warmest scores of Danny Elfman’s career), while relying on Callahan’s own single-panel cartoons to supply the teeth his feel-good script seems to lack. For whatever reason, Van Sant has latched on to the addiction-recovery segment of Callahan’s life story, loosely structuring the film around the 12-step program that steered him toward sobriety (with a subplot about wanting to meet the mother who gave him away for adoption thrown in for good measure)."
Peter Debruge, Variety
EIGHTH GRADE - Anna Meredith
"There's a whiff of helicopter-parent nervousness and anti-Instagram hectoring to 'Eighth Grade' -- Kayla as well as her bitchy nemesis, Kennedy, both spend a pointed amount of time staring into tiny screens—plus the arrival of a gloriously supportive older high-school mentor, Olivia (Emily Robinson), and some adorkable boyfriend material in condiment-loving Gabe (Jake Ryan) feels safe. But Burnham's directorial confidence grows in tandem with that of his main character. At first, he leans on Anna Meredith's squelchy synth score for laughs, yet by film's end, we're learning, obliquely, about the mother who left, in a backyard scene of moving father-daughter intimacy. 'Eighth Grade' is lovely work, lifted up by a timeless piece of indie wisdom: Keep it real, as cringe-inducing as that can be."
Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
THE MEG - Harry Gregson-Williams
"Director Jon Turteltaub ('While You Were Sleeping,' 'Last Vegas') has too much pride or lack of nerve to turn 'The Meg' into a blatant so-bad-it’s-good cheese-fest. Wilson’s character is such an unsubtle heel -- rich, arrogant, dumb -- that it seems all but assured that Jack is going to bite it in a pretty colorful way. But for the most part the film, which is adapted from Steve Alten’s 1997 novel, bravely aspires to respectability. Working with composer Harry Gregson-Williams and Clint Eastwood’s longtime cinematographer Tom Stern, Turteltaub keeps everything moving at a pretty brisk pace, stopping occasionally to gamely try to build up a little emotional resonance between Jonas and his fellow crew members."
Tim Grierson, Paste Magazine
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT - Lorne Balfe
"Just when you thought you knew who Ethan Hunt was, McQuarrie goes and redefines what makes him tick. And ticking is what the 'Mission: Impossible' movies are all about, after all, from those self-destructing assignment messages to the series’ signature, pulse-quickening score (reinvented here in brilliant ways by composer Lorne Balfe, with completely surprising instruments and orchestrations that barely allow a moment’s calm) to the 15-minute countdown clock on a pair of nuclear devices that comprises the film’s finale. Compared with Cruise’s other franchise antihero, the thoroughly grizzled and relatively nihilistic Jack Reacher, Hunt is a regular Boy Scout, a clean-cut, against-all-odds action star who hesitates when forced to decide between sparing one life or saving millions."
Peter Debruge, Variety
A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN - Nicolas Becker
"A lot of details that are presumably explained in Moore’s book remain frustratingly vague here. While he eventually agrees to beat up some Muslim prisoners in exchange for drugs, that’s an exception to the rule; a guard hands him heroin as he’s initially being processed, and there’s no indication as to why. (Moore has no connections on the outside, not having told even his family about his incarceration.) Similarly, it’s unclear why Moore, who’d been trying to make it as a fighter before his arrest, takes as long as he does to join the prison’s Muay Thai boxing program. Half the film elapses before this obvious means of gaining respect and self-dignity apparently occurs to him, though it’s possible that he wasn’t given the option until that point. Sauvaire, it’s abundantly clear, isn’t much interested in Moore’s psyche, except insofar as it can be suggested via bodies in violent motion. He frequently allows Nicolas Becker’s low drone of a score to dominate the soundtrack, with random shouts and grunts dimly emanating from underneath; scenes shot in the boxing ring look almost peaceful compared to the constant threatening press of flesh elsewhere."
Mike D'Angelo, The Onion AV Club
"There’s a movie in your story, maybe. There was certainly one for Billy Moore. He’s a real guy who turned his Thai prison experience into a memoir that is now this film, directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire from a script by Jonathan Hirschbein and Nick Saltrese. It’s a good one, too. The early parts are on the border between mesmerizing and narcotizing (the music is a trance-inducing New Age wash), but once the audience adjusts to its rhythms, it exerts a powerful fascination. The final crawl says that Billy has turned his life around. He has gotten off drugs and now teaches people how not to end up in a Thai prison."
David Edelstein, New York
"It’s in these fight sequences that the brute beauty of 'A Prayer Before Dawn' is concentrated. Realized by Sauvaire and Ungaro as a veritable ballet of flailing limbs, torn skin and faces almost orgasmically contorted by pain, they deploy the itchy edits and claustrophobic hand-held camera moves familiar from umpteen previous boxing pics -- yet in pursuit of aesthetic grace rather than grit. In some frames, the heaving plethora of bodies (most of them vastly and intricately tattooed, making Moore look even paler and more vulnerably alien by comparison) merge into a sort of collective tapestry of skin, bruised and abused in an infinite variety of ways. This unnerving dream state is enhanced by the film’s extraordinary soundscape, one that inextricably tangles the indigenous influences in Nicolas Becker’s low, eerie score with the surreally amplified crunch and squelch of displaced flesh and bone."
Guy Lodge, Variety
"Special mention should also be extended to the various crafts people responsible for the sound mixing and design, who work hand in glove with composer Nicholas Barker to create a lush soundscape of composed and recorded noise, all spooky gongs and long-sustained shimmering chords, both beautiful and ominous. Who would have thought that the sound of fists and feet pummeling flesh could have such rich tonal variety?"
Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter
SLENDER MAN - Ramin Djawadi, Brandon Campbell
"It's a film where the tension between filmmaker and studio is palpable. It feels like the studio hired White because of his feature debut, the tedious 'I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer,' and said, 'Do something like that,' but he had an idea for a much more interesting story, riddled with references and nightmare logic. His vision hews closer to the better of the U.S. J-horror remakes, most especially the mournfulness of Gore Verbinski's remake of 'The Ring.' Otherwise, why hire Luca Del Puppo (cinematographer on the underseen cuckoo-in-the-nest horror 'Emelie') to craft the surprisingly bold visuals for a generic slasher? The opening sequence of Katie and Hallie goofing around, shot with a razor-thin depth of field, combined with the borderline-minimalist score/soundscape of Brandon Campbell and Ramin Djawadi, feels extracted from a far more interesting movie."
Richard Whittaker, The Austin Chronicle
THE WIFE - Jocelyn Pook
"Runge’s direction is unfussy, the score from Jocelyn Pook adds quite a bit, and the story, adapted by Jane Anderson, has some very valid points to make about literary sexism and the cult of artistic personality as it winds its way toward a central secret. But there’s a staid, sleepy air of familiarity to the whole affair, and the film’s big revelation may be believable on its own, yet it calls too much of what’s come before into question. Thanks to Close’s performance, we certainly care about Joan, but the flashback sequences scan as a tad phony in comparison, and the film as a whole proves too tastefully routine to properly raise the stakes."
Andrew Barker, 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, Fairfax Cinema, Laemmle, New Beverly, Nuart, UCLA and Vista.
February 14
BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (Franz Waxman) [New Beverly]
BRIEF ENCOUNTER [Fairfax Cinema]
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (Sufjan Stevens) [Arclight Culver City]
CASABLANCA (Max Steiner) [Arclight Culver City]
CASABLANCA (Max Steiner) [Cinematheque: Aero]
JERRY MAGUIRE (Nancy Wilson) [Arclight Hollywood]
KILLER OF SHEEP [Fairfax Cinema]
LOVE & BASKETBALL (Terence Blanchard) [Arclight Hollywood]
THE NOTEBOOK (Aaron Zigman) [Arclight Santa Monica]
PIRANHA (Pino Donaggio), THE HOWLING (Pino Donaggio) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (Stephen Warbeck) [Arclight Santa Monica]
SIXTEEN CANDLES (Ira Newborn) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
SOMETHING WILD (John Cale, Laurie Anderson) [Fairfax Cinema]
TRUE ROMANCE (Hans Zimmer) [New Beverly]
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... (Marc Shaiman) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
February 15
BEST IN SHOW (CJ Vanston), WAITING FOR GUFFMAN (CJ Vanston) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE BLACK VAMPIRE (Juan Ehlert) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
BRIEF ENCOUNTER [Fairfax Cinema]
THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET (Mason Daring), BABY IT'S YOU [UCLA]
F.T.A. [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (John Williams) [New Beverly]
KILLER OF SHEEP [Fairfax Cinema]
LIFEFORCE (Henry Mancini) [Vista]
MEAN DOG BLUES (Fred Karlin) [New Beverly]
PRIDE & PREJUDICE (Dario Marianelli) [Alamo Drafthouse]
SOMETHING WILD (John Cale, Laurie Anderson) [Fairfax Cinema]
VERTIGO (Bernard Herrmann) [Vista]
February 16
BRIEF ENCOUNTER [Fairfax Cinema]
FELLINI'S ROMA (Nino Rota) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
FISH TANK (Steel Pulse) [Alamo Drafthouse]
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (John Williams) [New Beverly]
KILLER OF SHEEP [Fairfax Cinema]
LONE STAR (Mason Daring), LIMBO (Mason Daring) [Cinematheque: Aero]
NATIONTIME-GARY, THE STORY OF A THREE-DAY PASS (Melvin Van Peebles) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
SOMETHING WILD (John Cale, Laurie Anderson) [Fairfax Cinema]
February 17
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (Elliot Goldenthal) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
THE BODYGUARD (Alan Silvestri) [Arclight Culver City]
MARS ATTACKS! (Danny Elfman) [Alamo Drafthouse]
MATEWAN (Mason Daring), CITY OF HOPE (Mason Daring) [Cinematheque: Aero]
NICK AND NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST (Mark Mothersbaugh) [Arclight Hollywood]
THE PACK (Lee Holdridge), DARKER THAN AMBER (John Parker) [New Beverly]
WILD AT HEART (Angelo Badalementi) [New Beverly]
February 18
THE PIANO TEACHER [Alamo Drafthouse]
SKY RIDERS (Lalo Schifrin), FORCE: FIVE (William Goldstein) [New Beverly]
STIR CRAZY (Tom Scott) [Cinematheque: Aero]
February 19
ALPHAVILLE (Paul Misraki) [Laemmle Royal]
BUBBA HO-TEP (Brian Tyler) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE HOT ROCK (Quincy Jones), COPS AND ROBBERS (Michel Legrand) [New Beverly]
THE SOUND OF MUSIC (Richard Rodgers, Irwin Kostal) [New Beverly]
SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXIPLASM (Miles Davis) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
February 20
DR. STRANGELOVE (Laurie Johnson) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE HOT ROCK (Quincy Jones), COPS AND ROBBERS (Michel Legrand) [New Beverly]
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Alan Menken, Miles Goodman) [Alamo Drafthouse]
February 21
ANGEL HEART (Trevor Jones) [Arena Cinelounge]
THE HUNGER (Michel Rubini, Denny Yaeger) [New Beverly]
MARGARET (Nico Muhly) [Fairfax Cinema]
PERFECT BLUE (Masahiro Ikumi) [Vista]
ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS (Nino Rota) [Fairfax Cinema]
SUNSHINE STATE (Mason Daring) [UCLA]
TRAFFIC IN SOULS [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
TRUE ROMANCE (Hans Zimmer) [New Beverly]
WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (Alan Silvestri) [Nuart]
February 22
ANGEL HEART (Trevor Jones) [Arena Cinelounge]
CARMEN, BABY [New Beverly]
COME AND SEE (Oleg Yanchenko) [Cinematheque: Aero]
FATAL ATTRACTION (Maurice Jarre), GONE GIRL (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross), MISERY (Marc Shaiman), DEAD CALM (Graeme Revell) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE (Patrick Doyle) [New Beverly]
HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE (Udi Harpaz, Patrice Rushen) [Fairfax Cinema]
THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE (Giuliani Sorgini) [Fairfax Cinema]
MARGARET (Nico Muhly) [Fairfax Cinema]
NOSFERATU [Vista]
OUT OF SIGHT (David Holmes) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH (Mason Daring) [UCLA]
February 23
ANGEL HEART (Trevor Jones) [Arena Cinelounge]
BLACK PANTHER (Ludwig Goransson) [AMPAS]
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE (Patrick Doyle) [New Beverly]
LITTLE WOMEN (Max Steiner) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE (Giuliani Sorgini) [Fairfax Cinema]
MARGARET (Nico Muhly) [Fairfax Cinema]
MINNIE AND MOSKOWITZ (Bo Harwood) [Alamo Drafthouse]
PATHS OF GLORY (Gerald Fried), THE ASCENT (Alfred Schnittke) [Cinematheque: Aero]
ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS (Nino Rota) [Fairfax Cinema]
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY
Heard: The Untouchables (Joel Goldsmith), Bride of Frankenstein (Waxman)*
Read: yet even more of The Waste Lands: The Dark Tower III, by Stephen King
Seen: Hot Potato; Golden Needles
Watched: Columbo ("Prescription: Murder," "Ransom for a Dead Man," "Murder by the Book")
*I just finished listening to La-La Land's remarkable CD of this brilliant, groundbreaking score, and it is an absolute miracle how great this music, recorded 85 years ago, sounds. Thank you, La-La Land.
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