Film Score Daily: Film Score Friday 4/17/20

Next week Intrada currently plans to release two new score CDs by A-list composers, including one score never before released in any form. For those who don't mind soundtrack release "spoilers," there is more info at this link.

DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?

ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE - Original Songs and Score by Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly

"But watching it is a cheer-along experience. McPhail and writers Ryan McHenry and Alan McDonald leave the usual anti-zombie weapons (guns, axes, chainsaws) out of the equation, make their zombies preposterously fragile, and give the characters room to dispatch them with absolutely anything that comes to hand, including a seesaw and a spatula. Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly’s pop songs are integral, actually moving the story along as well as expressing and heightening the emotions. Genre fans will see a lot of 'Glee' mixed with 'Shaun of the Dead' in this film, but it also recalls 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer''s musical episode, with more polished pop."

Tasha Robinson, The Verge

"A high school coming-of-age horror-comedy-musical with zombies. It’s already every Hot Topic customer’s favorite film. Admirable and charming, yet uninspired and un-engaging, 'Anna and the Apocalypse' doesn’t use its genre mash-up to subvert the respective clichés but more so brings the baggage of coming-of-age movie and zombie movie tropes with it. The characters are archetypes, but the cast does their best with the limited material, and for a musical, the songs are shockingly banal. The film has one memorable sequence (though again, not necessarily the song’s doing) where the three genres converge into something striking and offbeat, and you wish the entire film was that way. What should be a fun movie ends up being a chore, but the audience was mostly locked into the experience. For the right crowd, expect it to be a favorite when it hits theaters this winter."

Ryan Oliver, The Playlist

"As musicals go, 'Anna” is closer to 'La La Land' or 'The Last Five Years' than to 'Moulin Rouge!': There’s only one elaborate moment of group choreography ('Hollywood Ending,' a song about adolescent disappointment), with most of the songs involving just a handful of performers. But plenty of tonal flavors are represented, from upbeat (the aforementioned 'Turning My Life Around') to the yearning ('Break Away,' 'Human Voice'). Anna’s ex Nick (Ben Wiggins) gets to fancy himself a 'Soldier at War,' as the zombie outbreak lets him put his bullying to practical use, and there’s even a saucy holiday song, 'Christmas Means Nothing Without You,' which ups the innuendo ante from 'Santa Baby.' (The music and lyrics are by Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly.)"

Alonso Duralde, The Wrap

"As our heroine, Hunt has sad, down-tilted brown eyes and a tragic alto. Her voice is low and clear in McHenry and co-writer Alan McDonald’s layered ballads made of overlapping, full-throat harmonies, the kind of here’s-who-I-am-and-what-I-want songs you only hear on Broadway stages and in minivans carpooling to school. Once Anna takes out the headphones and gets attacked by a costumed snowman, she’s a passionate force—a girl who’s used to being hounded by guys at school now literally fighting them off with a stick. (Technically, a three-foot candy cane.)"

Amy Nicholson, IndieWire

"And what of the score? The eminently sing-along, stomp-along pop songs by Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly swerve from the ridiculous ('The Fish Wrap') to the delightfully sinful ('It's That Time of Year') to the suitably schmaltzy ('Human Voice'). But the signature refrain of 'Hollywood Ending,' with its high-kicking energy and table-punching emotion, is just irresistible. It's the sweet that balances out the bitter of a film that makes it clear that this won't all end well. Anna and the Apocalypse is like biting into a candy cane and getting jabbed by those sharp, sugary shards."

Richard Whittaker, The Austin Chronicle

"This banal emotional drama is at times elevated by the film’s musical numbers, particularly 'Break Away' and 'Hollywood Ending' (the latter of which is cleverly recalled in the film’s ambiguous ending), as well as by the cast’s chemistry and generally amiable performances. But at other times, as in a sequence where four students simply line up next to one another and stare out a window as they sing about their need for connection, the music and choreography is so uninspired or the staging and blocking is so elementary that the musical numbers lose their zing before the first verse is even over. These forgettable scenes, along with the film’s mostly routine zombie kills, leaves 'Anna and the Apocalypse' feeling original only in its offbeat combination of genres but stale in the ways it employs each one of them."

Derek Smith, Slant Magazine

"The catchy tunes by Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly take on a grittier tone once Anna and John realize what’s happening. After meeting their pals at a bowling alley, where director John McPhail ('Where Do We Go From Here') stages some of his most creative and comedic zombie kills, the youngsters slaughter their way toward perceived safety at the school."

Richard Kuipers, Variety

"'Anna and the Apocalypse' grew out of 'Zombie Musical,' a 2011 short written and directed by Ryan McHenry, who tragically died of cancer in 2015 at just 27. Working from a script co-written by McHenry, director John McPhail expands the darker original into a sunny, sing-along, flesh-chomping zom-com romp. The 97-minute running time feels a little baggy while the songs, by Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly, are serviceable foot-stompers rather than memorable show-stoppers. All the same, this schlocky horror picture show combines a zesty young cast with an infectious comic energy. It opens in both U.K. and North American theaters on Friday, with Orion handling the U.S. release."

Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter

OUTLAW KING - Grey Dogs

"Ultimately, it’s not a performance problem (it’s hard to fault any movie that gets such engaging work out of the often-blank Aaron Taylor-Johnson, here a feral delight as one of Scotland’s best, bloodiest brawlers) so much as 'Outlaw King' lacks a strong center. The film moves along at a decent clip, its two-hour runtime substantially scaled back from a longer version that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival two months ago. The heroes are noble but believable, the villains appropriately loathsome, and the violent clashes, particularly a turning-point castle infiltration, are exciting without indulging in a Gibson-style wallow in torture and gore. But the moments of offbeat personality that animate Mackenzie’s best work are fewer and farther between, leaving just scraps, as when he abruptly cuts off swelling romantic-reunion music for a well-timed slap. Even that show-off single take at the front of the movie gives way to well-chosen but more workmanlike battlefield imagery, and a lingering question about what drew the director to this material in particular. For a historical epic that probably looks even better on the big screen, it’s oddly well-suited to Netflix: spectacle, yes, but nothing too specific about it."

Jesse Hassenger, The Onion AV CLub

OVERLORD - Jed Kurzel

"The story is also much more artful than the premise suggests, playing with the concept of monstrosity and asking what separates good from bad in times of war. How far is each side willing to go? Who are the real monsters here? Be prepared for blood, guts and gore. The violence, both in the high-octane opening scenes and the more monstrous body horror, is squirm-inducing at points, bolstered by Jed Kurzel’s thundering score. Don’t be fooled by its B-movie trappings: Amid all the carnage, 'Overlord' has more to say than you might think."

Joseph Walsh, Time Out New York

"'Overlord' is produced by J.J. Abrams, who likes to make films with twists that are never quite as surprising as he thinks. Even at its most suspenseful, when Jed Kurzel’s cello score stabs at the eardrums, 'Overlord' feels familiar, a collage of cinematic nightmares checking off its influences: a woman wielding a flamethrower like Ripley in 'Aliens,' a cruel SS officer (the terrifically hissable Pilou Asbæk) who grins like a Batman villain, and enough of a 'Castle Wolfenstein' video-game vibe that its fans may find themselves reaching for the controls out of habit. Perhaps 'Overlord' is for them, the GamerGate trolls who mistakenly think white supremacy is a lark. If it peels a few away from buying tiki torches, it deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. Otherwise, it’s junk food patriotism -- but there’s a grumbling hunger for it."

Amy Nicholson, Variety

STAN & OLLIE - Rolfe Kent

"Ceding the flash to its cast for the most part, 'Stan & Ollie' is otherwise content to be a quiet class act, made with cozy care and affection in all departments from Rolfe Kent’s balmy score right down to costume designer Guy Speranza’s wittily character-specific neckwear choices. Indeed, the film’s confidence falters only when it transposes the hapless slapstick of the duo’s screen act to their everyday reality. If a couple of labored gags around hauling luggage don’t fully land, that rather proves how much more art went into Laurel and Hardy’s craft than they ever chose to let on."

Guy Lodge, Variety

WOMAN AT WAR - Davíð Þór Jónsson

"The film’s next-best asset is its quirky manipulation of the fourth wall, which is often being kicked down by a jolly man wielding a tuba. Original music by Davíð Þór Jónsson is almost always diegetic, with winking cues played in and out by actual on-screen musicians as Halla walks by (or, on occasion, directly prompts them to play). Far from wearing out its Wes Andersonian welcome, this device becomes an endearing earmark as the plot strides on. A trio of female Ukranian vocalists duets with a three-piece Icelandic band, each of them reflecting Halla’s warring desires for environmental justice and motherhood. By the end of the film, stamping down your emotional reaction to their haunting warbles or stirring percussions is about as easy as paying $10 for dinner in Reykjavík."

Lena Wilson, The Playlist

"The middle-aged ecoterrorist then flees across the gentle hills, as music from a small combo plays in the background -- literally in the background, because when she stops to catch her breath, we see the three musicians who are playing the score standing on the heath behind her. That’s a wry touch that continues through the film: When Halla, played by Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, gets some news on the phone that makes her emotional, a gentle piano melody begins playing on the soundtrack -- and it’s only a matter of time before she walks in the living room and we see the piano player tinkling the ivories in the corner. By the end of the movie, Halla is being cued to upcoming events by the presence of her musicians: When she’s in a security line at the airport and there’s a drummer in the car outside pounding an insistent beat, she’s seen enough suspense movies to know she might be in trouble. Director Benedikt Erlingsson could be commenting on how film scores can be their own kind of spoilers or acknowledging that we all need a band to serenade our lives -- or perhaps this filmmaker has both a great eye and a great fondness for silliness."

Steve Pond, The Wrap

"Then there’s the music. Oddly, it’s performed live within the diegetic space of the film image, even though none of the characters can see or hear the performers. At first, there’s just a three-man combo playing drums, tuba, and accordion or sometimes piano. Later, they are interspersed with a Ukrainian choral group of costumed female folk singers. These groups seem to be a manifestation of Halla’s emotions, or maybe they’re a Greek chorus speaking to their Artemis. The music adds a comical touch and a constant awareness of the artifice of movies and the ways in which human beings are often guided by feelings that are just out of reach. Despite its probe of deep moral questions, Woman at War (a multiple award winner on the festival circuit as well as having been Iceland’s entry for Oscar consideration last year) maintains a light feel and concludes with a sense of uplift as we watch human beings forge ahead despite the floodwaters rising around them. The tide is up to their kneecaps but they soldier on until they reach the end of their song."

Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle

"This is clearest in the case of the soundtrack. All of the film’s music is diegetic, performed by musicians whom only Halla can see and hear. At first, she’s accompanied by an Icelandic trio (drums, tuba, harmonium), to whom she occasionally issues cues. Later, when she begins to mull over the possibility of adoption, these are joined by a trio of Ukrainian folk singers. The score, then, serves to emphasize the quasi-magical interaction between Halla and the world of the film, that the world is responsive to her inner life, and that she, in turn, is unusually at home in and perceptive of the world. Having finally decided to go through with the adoption of the Ukrainian girl, Halla goes to catch a flight to Ukraine, and arriving at the airport, she sees the Icelandic trio’s drummer sitting by himself in the parking lot. She pauses, realizing the implication. What kind of scene requires only percussion? She’s been warned by the score before the score even plays. She won’t be getting on that plane."

Ben Lambert, Slant Magazine

"Having no interest in making a straightforward genre film, Erlingsson doesn’t stop at creating anxiety-inducing tension and braids in an eccentric musical detail to his unique package. A fourth-wall-breaking live band (that includes composer Davíð Þór Jónsson, musicians Magnús Trygvason Eliasen and Ómar Guðjónsson on keys, drums and sousaphone) and later on, a Ukrainian a cappella trio, accompany Halla in almost every scene to both comedic and unsettling effect. Slowly, we get to know this well-intentioned and modestly equipped crusader more intimately. Living in a handsomely appointed home where pictures of Nelson Mandela and Gandhi decorate her workspace, Halla rides her bike to work, wears a congenial smile and leads a responsible life ... that is of course when she isn’t climbing up rooftops and dropping exposé leaflets to help turn civic opinion against the government’s evil ecological plans. Given the nickname 'Mountain Woman' by the media, Halla slowly finds herself at life-threatening odds with the authorities and their intensifying efforts to hunt her down. And this couldn’t be happening at a more inconvenient time for her—all of a sudden, her long-awaited child adoption plans start looking like a real possibility, after the adoption agency finds her an orphaned little girl in the Ukraine."

Tomris Laffly, RogerEbert.com

"'Woman at War' is vaguely unreal from the very beginning, not only because of Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson’s hyper-saturated cinematography, but also because of what his camera stumbles upon in the first scene. As Halla runs for cover in the countryside, a slow pan reveals that the ominous squelches we hear over the soundtrack are actually coming from a three-piece band who are standing in a field behind the film’s heroine and looking every bit as confused as we are. Along with a trio of Ukrainian folk singers, these musicians show up in the background throughout the film, invisible to the world but often standing mere inches away from Halla as they express the conflicting rhythms inside her mind and give shape to the idea that her activism is somehow tethered to a world of strangers who are just beyond her reach. That population includes her twin sister, a dippy yoga instructor (also played by Geirharosdottir) whose inner peace reflects Halla’s outer panic."

David Ehrlich, IndieWire

"'Of Horses and Men' deliciously played with narrative conventions even as it astonished with pictorial surprises that continue to induce smiles five years later. Erlingsson’s sophomore feature tells a more straightforward story yet here too he invents unexpected visual pleasures, in the form of three musicians (Davíð Þór Jónsson, Magnús Trygvason Eliasen, Ómar Guðjónsson) and three Ukrainian singers (Iryna Danyleiko, Galyna Goncharenko, Susanna Karpenko) who appear in key moments on screen as melodic commentators, fellow conspirators, and sympathetic bystanders offering accompaniment to some of the action. Their appearances pierce through the fourth wall in ways that respect both the characters and the audience, which is just one of numerous delightful feats in this mature crowd-pleaser. Grounding everything is Geirharðsdóttir’s splendid performance(s), fleshing out Halla’s character as a grassroots Robin Hood with warmth and quiet determination. Juan Camillo Roman Estrada makes a welcome comeback from 'Of Horses and Men' as a luckless Spanish-speaking tourist whose foreign-ness makes him an instant target of police suspicion in the insular Icelandic countryside. All three musicians, playing piano, accordion, trumpet, tuba and percussion, contrast detached yet supportive glances with an almost organic presence in each of their scenes, while the Ukrainian singing trio, on the one hand out of place, lend a sense of global cohesion with their distinctive harmonies.

Jay Weissberg, Variety

"Right off the bat, Erlingsson establishes the film's vibrant and offbeat tone through his carefully calibrated imagery (a mix of extreme wide shots and close-ups), as well as the way he employs David Thor Jonsson's score by having the composer and other musicians appear within the scenes themselves. It comes across as a bit gimmicky at first -- if not something already seen in a film like 'Birdman' -- but as the story progresses and grows increasingly intense, Jonsson's presence winds up adding another layer of feeling to the action. Alongside the stunning camerawork and eclectic onscreen music -- the latter a mix of accordion, piano and choral numbers performed by a cast of recurring characters -- editing by David Alexander Corno keeps a steady pace but allows room for moments of deadpan humor and visual bliss."

Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter

THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY

Heard: Ocean's 8 (Pemberton), Get Out (Abels), Star Trek: The Next Generation: Encounter at Farpoint/The Arsenal of Freedom (McCarthy), The Family Fang (Burwell), Passion (Donaggio), Don't Breathe (Banos), Seussical (Flaherty), Logan (Beltrami), La tentation d'Isabelle (Sarde), Arias & Barcarolles/Songs & Duets (L. Bernstein), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Williams), Alatriste (Banos), Finian's Rainbow (Lane/Heindorf), Crisis on Earth-X (Neely/Blume/Chan/Chung), The Foreigner (Martinez), The Serpent (Morricone), Wild Geese II (Budd), Themes and Cues for Movies & Televison (J.J. Johnson), The Prisoner of Zenda (Mancini), Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Naked Now/Where No One Has Gone Before/Lonely Among Us (Jones), The Hunt (Price), Big Miracle (Eidelman), Nine [2003 cast] (Yeston), Singin' in the Rain (Brown/Hayton), Mindhunter (Hill), 3 in the Cellar (Randi), The Carmen Ballet (Bizet/Shchedrin), Waterworld (Howard), Aladdin ballet (C. Davis) Arrow: Season 6 (Neely), Elevated (Lang), Quando L'Amore E Sensualita (Morricone), Peter Gunn [Harmonie Ensemble recording] (Mancini), Phantom Thread (Greenwood), Coco (Giacchino), Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Battle/Datalore/11001001 (Jones) Die Sister, Die! (Friedhofer), The Last 5 Years [original cast] (Brown)

Read: The Laughing Policeman, by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

Seen: If my count is correct, it's been 33 days since I saw a movie in a theater.

Watched: Columbo ("Lovely But Lethal," "Any Old Port in a Storm," "Candidate for Crime," "Double Exposure"), Hannibal ("Buffet Froid"), Alias ("The Coup")