Quartet has announced two new releases -- an expanded, two-disc edition of Maurice Jarre's score for the 1990 thriller JACOB'S LADDER, directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Tim Robbins and Elizabeth Pena; and the 2020 sci-fi comedy-thriller LOVE AND MONSTERS, starting Dylan O'Brien, Jessica Henwick and Michael Rooker, with music by Marco Beltrami and Marcus Trumpp.

Music Box has announced two new CDs continuing their series of releases of TV scores, this time featuring the works of two of France's top film composers -- Georges Delerue's music for LA CLOCHE TIBETAINE (1974) and SPLENDEURS ET MISERES DES COURTISANES (1975); and Claude Bolling's scores for L'ETRANGE MONSIEUR DUVALLIER and MISS (both 1979).

Caldera has announced a second CD of music composed by Andrew Dickson for the films of Mike Leigh, this one featuring his scores for 2004's period drama VERA DRAKE, which earned Oscar nominations for star Imelda Staunton as well as Leigh's script and direction, and ALL OR NOTHING, the 2002 ensemble drama featuring plenty of Leigh's usual actors -- Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen, Sally Hawkins and Martin Savage -- as well as James Corden as Spall and Manville's teenage son. The disc also features music from the two non-Leigh films which Dickson scored, Someone Else's America and Oublie-moi (Forget Me).

Kritzerland is releasing two new CDs of stage music, but one of them will be of interest to many film music fans. LOLITA, MY LOVE was a 1971 stage musical based on Vladimir Nabokov's classic, controversial novel, with music by John Barry and book and lyrics by Broadway legend (and three-time Oscar winner) Alan Jay Lerner. The show, starring John Neville (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen) as Humbert Humbert, Denise Nickerson as Lolita, Dorothy Loudon (later Tony winner for creating the role of Miss Hannigan in Annie) as Lolita's mother Charlotte, and Leonard Frey (Oscar nominated that same year for Fiddler on the Roof) as Clare Quilty, closed out of town during its pre-Broadway run, and until now the only way to hear the score was an LP of questionable provenance from a live recording with dodgy sound. Kritzerland's release is a two-disc set of a live recording of the complete show (with songs and dialogue cued separately) with better sound.

CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK

Babylon Berlin Vol. II - Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer - BMG
Jacob's Ladder - Maurice Jarre - Quartet
La cloche Tibetaine/Splendeurs et miseres des courtisanes - Georges Delerue - Music Box
L'etrange Monsieur Duvallier/Miss - Claude Bolling - Music Box
The Little Drummer Girl - Cho Young-Wuk - Silva (import)
Love and Monsters - Marco Beltrami, Marcus Trumpp - Quartet
Open 24 Hours - Holly Amber Church - Notefornote
Tenet - Ludwig Goransson - WaterTower
Vera Drake/All or Nothing - Andrew Dickson - Caldera

IN THEATERS TODAY

Let Him Go, a thriller starring Kevin Costner and Diane Lane (presumably not playing Clark Kent's parents again) and scored by Michael Giacchino, opens this week where theaters are open.

COMING SOON

November 13
The Albert Glasser Collection vol. 1: Huk!/Tokyo File 212 - Albert Glasser - Dragon's Domain
Demon in the Bottle - John Morgan - Dragon's Domain
From Beyond - Richard Band - Dragon's Domain
Interstellar: Expanded Edition - Hans Zimmer - WaterTower
Munchie - Chuck Cirino - Dragon's Domain
No Time to Die - Hans Zimmer - Decca
Over the Moon - Steven Price - Milan
November 20
Dark: Cycle 3 - Ben Frost - Invada (import)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 - Daniel Pemberton - Varese Sarabande
December 11
Jay Sebring...Cutting to the Truth - Jeff Beal - Noteforenote
December 18
News of the World - James Newton Howard - Backlot
January 15
Nine Days - Antonio Pinto - Warner (import)
January 22
Film Music 1976-2020 - Brian Eno - Astralwerks
Date Unknown
The Haunting of Bly Manor - The Newton Brothers - Intrada
John Williams in Vienna [CD/BluRay] - John Williams - Deutsche Grammophon
Lolita My Love [stage] - John Barry - Kritzerland
A Suitable Boy - Alex Heffes, Anoushka Shankar - Silva
Un Sceriffo Extraterrestre...Poco Extra e Molto Terrestre - Guido & Maurizio DeAngelis

THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY

November 6 - Ernest Irving born (1878)
November 6 - Peter Matz born (1928)
November 6 - Arturo Sandoval born (1949)
November 6 - Recording sessions begin for Max Steiner’s score for The Caine Mutiny (1953)
November 6 - Bernard Herrmann records his score for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "Behind the Locked Door" (1963)
November 6 - John Barry begins recording his score for Hanover Street (1978)
November 6 - Jay Chattaway records his score for the Enterprise episode “Civilization” (2001)
November 6 - Francesco De Masi died (2005)
November 7 - Hans Erdmann born (1882)
November 7 - William Alwyn born (1905)
November 7 - Jimmie Haskell born (1936)
November 7 - Dimitri Tiomkin records the soundtrack LP for Wild Is the Wind (1957)
November 7 - Duane Tatro’s score for The Invaders episode “The Captive” is recorded (1967)
November 7 - James Horner begins recording his score for Uncommon Valor (1983)
November 7 - Leonard Rosenman records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "No Day at the Beach" (1985)
November 7 - Shorty Rogers died (1994)
November 7 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: Voyager episode “The Q and the Gray” (1996)
November 7 - Richard Robbins died (2012)
November 7 - Paul Buckmaster died (2017)
November 7 - Francis Lai died (2018)
November 8 - Arnold Bax born (1883)
November 8 - Mark Suozzo born (1953)
November 8 - The Ten Commandments opens in New York (1956)
November 8 - Nicholas Carras records his score for She Demons (1957)
November 8 - Gerald Fried records his score for the Lost in Space episode "Castles in Space" (1967)
November 8 - Robert Drasnin records his score for the Mission: Impossible episode “Nerves” (1971)
November 8 - Gino Marinuzzi Jr. died (1996)
November 9 - Roger Edens born (1905)
November 9 - Burrill Phillips born (1907)
November 9 - Gabriel Migliori born (1909)
November 9 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for Lonely Are the Brave (1961)
November 9 - Leith Stevens records his score for the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode “The X Factor” (1965)
November 9 - Lalo Schifrin begins recording his score for Sol Madrid (1967)
November 9 - Johnny Harris records his score for The New Adventures of Wonder Woman episode “Skateboard Wiz” (1978)
November 9 - Dave Grusin begins recording his score for Tootsie (1982)
November 9 - Alfred Ralston died (1988)
November 9 - Yves Baudrier died (1988)
November 9 - Stanley Myers died (1993)
November 9 - Paul Baillargeon records his score for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “The Siege of AR-558” (1998)
November 10 - Mischa Bakaleinikoff born (1890)
November 10 - Philip Sainton born (1891)
November 10 - Carl Stalling born (1891)
November 10 - Billy May born (1916)
November 10 - Ennio Morricone born (1928)
November 10 - Victor Young died (1956)
November 10 - Sylvain Chomet born (1963)
November 10 - Richard LaSalle records his score for the Land of the Giants episode “A Place Called Earth” (1969)
November 10 - Robert Gulya born (1973)
November 10 - Julian Wass born (1981)
November 10 - Michel Colombier begins recording his replacement score for The Golden Child (1986)
November 10 - Bruce Broughton records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "Thanksgiving" (1986)
November 10 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Child” (1988)
November 10 - Recording sessions begin for Christopher Young’s score for Hush (1997)
November 11 - Jerome Kern died (1945)
November 11 - Leith Stevens records his score for the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode “Blow Up” (1967)
November 11 - Dimitri Tiomkin died (1979)
November 11 - Bruce Broughton records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "Gather Ye Acorns" (1985)
November 11 - Alex North records his score for Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
November 11 - Morton Stevens died (1991)
November 11 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Future Tense” (2003)
November 11 - John Frizzell records his score for the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “The Forge” (2004)
November 11 - Eddie Horst died (2010)
November 12 - Bob Crewe born (1930)
November 12 - Mort Shuman born (1938)
November 12 - Booker T. Jones born (1944)
November 12 - Neil Young born (1945)
November 12 - Kenyon Hopkins begins recording his score for The Fugitive Kind (1959)
November 12 - Richard Markowitz records his first Mission: Impossible score, for the episode “The Mind of Stefan Miklos” (1968)
November 12 - David Shire records his score for The Godchild (1974)
November 12 - Alan Silvestri begins recording his score for Clean Slate (1993)
November 12 - Velton Ray Bunch records his score for the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Similitude” (2003)
November 12 - John Tavener died (2013)
November 12 - Karl-Ernst Sasse died (2006)

DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?

ANTEBELLUM - Roman Gianarthur, Mike Wonder

"Eden and her fellow slaves -- including an impatient new arrival played by Kiersey Clemons and a towering portrait of stoicism played by Tongayi Chirisa -- do what slaves could. They pick cotton by day, plot their escape by night, and suffer all manner of dehumanizing indignities in between. Eden is expected to lead, but she can’t seem to find the strength to speak up. The mystery percolating in the film’s margins is kept in check by patient storytelling and steely direction that flirts with exploitation but never tips over into the schlock predicted by the Lionsgate logo in the opening credits, or the genre thrills promised by a sharp and coiled musical score by Roman Gianarthur and Wonder that sounds like a symphony wrapped in barbed wire."

David Ehrlich, IndieWire

"Directors Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz open their horror debut feature 'Antebellum' with an eight-minute immersive shot that brutally subjugates both the audience and the characters. It starts with a little white girl in a yellow dress, skipping through a lush field toward a white plantation house. While Nate Wonder and Roman Gianarthur’s unnervingly uptempo string score struts away, the camera tracks past Confederate soldiers raising the stars and bars, then to wooden rows of slave quarters. The images juxtapose the seemingly idyllic sun-soaked plantation with the forlorn incarceration of slavery."

Robert Daniels, Polygon

"But while 'Antebellum' is dazzling to the eyes, it also leaves an icky taste in your mouth in its leering, exploitative depiction of violent, slavery movie tropes. A woman runs for her life across the fields of a plantation, Confederate soldiers on horseback galloping furiously after her. The shade of her green dress matches the tall blades of grass just so, and the magic-hour sunlight glistens off the tears streaming down her face. The string-heavy score swells insistently as a rope drops around her neck and drags her to the ground. It all takes place in slow motion to allow us to wallow in every lurid detail -- and this is just the opening sequence."

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com

"The film opens with an extended shot, the camera careening through a cotton plantation, past mounted slave owners and Black folks in chains. An enslaved couple struggle to break free from the clutches of white masters -- they’ve been caught trying to escape. The woman, dressed in a striking emerald dress, makes a run for it as the music, an operatic Wagnerian score, swells with a sense of horror and imminent tragedy. A noose springs forth and drags the woman down by the neck; the sequence, aestheticized with slow-motion and a saturated color scheme, is off-putting in its epic aspirations. (Bush and Renz, who have a background in directing music videos, seem to bring an impulse toward hyper-stylization to bear here -- a truly perplexing decision.) Hollywood is no stranger to recreating the brutalities of American history; historical dramas like '12 Years a Slave,' and 'Detroit,' resurrect true stories with a confrontational, blood and sweat-drenched realism. 'Django Unchained' does the same with a triumphant revisionist streak. Oddly enough, 'Antebellum' has more in common with Tarantino’s Blaxploitation yarn than anything Peele has done."

Beatrice Loayza, The Playlist

"A menacing string score indicates that something more sinister is at work on this Louisiana cotton plantation, confirmed by a chilling tableau unfolding behind the house, as Confederate officer and property overseer Capt. Jasper (Jack Huston) threatens a slave couple with a loaded gun. This scene, which escalates to a brutal execution, establishes the stakes even before audiences have gotten their bearings: On this 'reformer plantation,' disobedience -- including both speaking without permission and failing to respond when prompted -- can be punished by beatings or death. When Monáe’s character refuses to state her name on command, her owner (Eric Lange) brands her flesh by way of punishment…Just as Eden’s escape plans seem to be building momentum, a cellphone rings off-screen -- an anachronistic interruption that snaps the film to another storyline far removed. This one also features Monáe, now playing a respected 21st-century academic named Veronica Henley, author of 'Shedding the Coping Persona.' Capt. Jasper’s warning to the slaves that they must remain silent resonates differently in this timeline, where Veronica upstages a conservative pundit during a TV news interview. It’s empowering to watch, although the film’s tone -- rendered increasingly nerve-wracking by composers Nate Wonder and Roman Gianarthur’s low, slow strings -- suggests that there could be consequences for being so outspoken."

Peter DeBruge, Variety

I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS - Jay Wadley

"By the third act of “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” the pockets between memories and moments of time are as deep an abyss as the space between people. Conundrums stack atop conundrums. There’s no objective reality, but we all have to live together. Time is a construct, but we all get older. People are inexorably alone, but also incomplete without each other. Love, empathy, a sense of accomplishment… kissing, dancing, getting fast food in the middle of the night… most of the really good sh*t can’t be done on your own. Maybe dancing is a bad example, but someone needs to provide the music (Jay Wadley’s flurried, virtuosic score is as much of a scene-stealer as Molly Hughes’ lived-in and creaky production design)."

David Ehrlich, IndieWire

"Cinephiles will undoubtedly spend the rest of the year and beyond trying to decipher what 'I’m Thinking of Ending Things' means -- and I’m wary that Kaufman is trying to say so many things that, when it comes down to it, he doesn’t have a precise ‘meaning’ at all. But it does have an atmosphere -- of dread and fear -- as present and palpable as any other film this year, and one that presciently matches the mood of 2020 in general. Like so much of Kaufman’s work, it’s a movie about characters who can’t stop thinking about death, and he teases out that existential dread as well as any horror filmmaker. Both times I’ve watched 'I’m Thinking of Ending Things,' it’s left me feeling off-kilter, its last images lingering in my mind and the haunting final notes of Jay Wadley’s score ringing in my ears. This one will polarize viewers, but nobody can call it forgettable."

Orla Smith, The Film Stage

"Finally we see the woman, played impossibly by someone, brilliantly by Jessie Buckley. She is standing on the street as puffy snowflakes start to fall, like we’re within a 3-D snow globe with her. She looks up at a window a couple stories up. We see an old man looking down out of a window. We see Jesse Plemons looking down out of a window. We see Jesse Plemmons [sic] in the next shot picking up Jessie Buckley in his worn car. The movie music twinkles and swirls. The two actors kiss. Ah, they’re in love, right. Context is everything. Context gives meaning. And then the two lovers are off, straight into a first act that is one long drive through a countryside inert beneath relentless snow, wipers clacking back and forth, as the conversation veers in arrhythmic timing across notes of science, memory and a poem about how everything is just bones. Every thought and expression borrowed from pre-existing sources. Get your word’s worth with Wordsworth."

Chad Betz, Paste Magazine

"'Other animals live in the present, humans cannot, so they invented hope,' says the female protagonist played with gnawing dread by Jessie Buckley, first identified as Lucy and then by several other names throughout. That invention of hope surfaces intermittently -- in fragments of forced cheer and embattled optimism, glimmers of happier times past or imagined futures, in a corny ice-cream jingle or even a rapturous dream ballet lifted from Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'Oklahoma!' (The intoxicating score by Jay Wadley ingeniously riffs on 1950s advertising and lush romantic musicals in those latter cases.) But the underlying melancholy is pervasive. It sinks its claws in early on and never retracts them."

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

MATTHIAS & MAXIME - Jean-Michel Blais

"Matthias is an up-and-coming lawyer, on the verge of settling down with his longtime girlfriend. Maxime, on the other hand, is planning to move to Australia, mainly to get away from being the primary caretaker of his chain-smoking abusive mother (Dolan regular Anne Dorval). Maxime has a birthmark spilling across the side of his face like a splash of red ink. The birthmark is probably meant to be symbolic of something psychological -- 'Matthias & Maxime' is filled with self-conscious symbols -- although what it could be I'm not sure. Perhaps it's supposed to be his inner pain seeping through his skin, or some such literary conceit. Matthias is so freaked out by the kiss that before you know it he is going for long emotionally-charged swims (accompanied by slashing anxious violins), or running through a snowfall, or retreating from his confused girlfriend. Maxime is gay, and not surprised by any of this, but he is surprised and hurt by Matthias' withdrawal from the friendship."

Sheila O’Malley, RogerEbert.com

MULAN - Harry Gregson-Williams

"And beyond all these similarities and or suitable differences lie many cinematic treats and aesthetic creativity. The scale and craft are impeccable (yes, it does look like it cost $200 million). Caro’s fight choreography and fight sequences are stupendous, Mandy Walker’s radiant cinematography is stunning and Harry Gregson-Williams’ grandly soaring score is awe-inspiring and lovely, in a way that will likely impress colleagues like Alan Silvestri (some motifs definitely glisten with a similar luminosity of his work)."

Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist

"When Mulan finally lets her hair down, literally, it’s a declaration of independence, a joyous moment of self-love. Pieces of 'Reflection' -- the 1998 theme that helped make Christina Aguilera a superstar -- punctuate Harry Gregson-Williams’ score here and in other key moments, allowing them to soar but also tying back nicely to the animated movie that means so much to so many. (Stick around through the credits to hear Aguilera performing an update of the power ballad as well as a delicate Chinese-language version from Liu herself.) Loyal, brave and true: She’s all of the above, on her own terms."

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com

"Unlike with the 1998 film -- and unlike most other recent Disney live-action remakes -- Caro and screenwriters Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Lauren Hynek, and Elizabeth Martin tell the story without any songs. But they aren’t able to completely let go of the music that made the animated film such a hit. The score, composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, has constant nods to Matthew Wilder and David Zippel’s old songs, including an entire orchestral cover of 'Reflection' at a pivotal point in the movie. On top of that, characters recite entire lyrics in scenes from which songs have been removed. While those lines might sound natural when sung, they’re clunky when spoken."

Karen Han, Polygon

"Like most Disney films that have gone through this particular animation-to-live-action 'legacy' treatment, 'Mulan' tamps down the more flamboyant and, frankly, fun qualities of the original. For one, you will only recognize the songs from the 1998 film from instrumentals and melodies playing in the background, scoring a handful of dramatic moments."

Sam C. Mac, Slant Magazine

"Unlike other live-action takes on Disney animated classics such as 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'The Lion King,' 'Mulan' features no singing. Instrumental versions of some of the most famous songs from the movie, including 'Reflections' and 'Honor to Us All' provide the film’s soundtrack. And some scenes, like the spectacular training of the soldiers in the Imperial army with their red coats flowing in the wind as they move in synchronous movements just beg for a song-and-dance number. Donny Osmond singing 'I’ll Make a Man Out of You' in the animated version may have been rife with problematic cultural appropriation and political incorrectness, but I can’t lie, when Commander Tung (Donnie Yen) says, 'We’re going to make men out of every single one of you' before the training montage, I missed the infectious little ditty. (By the way, keep an eye out for a cameo from Ming-Na Wen, the voice of Mulan in the 1998 version.)"

Amy Amatangelo, Paste Magazine

"'There have been many tales of the great warrior Mulan, but ancestors, this one is mine,' says Mulan’s father (Tzi Ma of 'The Farewell') as the film opens, and the statement is clear: This latest cover doesn’t consider itself obliged to rehash every aspect of what came before. Gone are 'animal sidekick' Cricket, whose name has been arbitrarily reassigned to one of Mulan’s fellow soldiers; Eddie Murphy’s jabbering dragon Mushu, replaced by a CG phoenix glimpsed only from afar; and nearly all the musical numbers (subsumed into Harry Gregson-Williams’ derivative score -- though the film gains a terrific new Christina Aguilera song, 'Loyal Brave True,' over the end credits)."

Peter Debruge, Variety

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD - Christopher Willis

"On brightly lit lawns captured by cockeyed Terry Gilliam-esque camera angles, the film comes to fizzy, jaunty life -- nearly all of Iannucci’s aggression has been squeezed into storyboarding. You can’t help but be charmed by Dev Patel’s title character: a floppy-haired bounder on his affably confused way to becoming a boyfriend, a proctor and a grown-up (though not in that order). Iannucci’s color-blind casting, which also gives major roles to Nikki Amuka-Bird, Benedict Wong and Rosalind Eleazar, never insists on being noticed; rather, everyone launches into their bits agreeably and only Christopher Willis’s manic orchestral score seems to be elbowing for room. Occasionally Patel narrates, or watches on, slyly, as he is born (Michael Winterbottom did this gag better in his radically exploded 2005 take on 'Tristram Shandy', a better version of this experiment)."

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York

THE TAX COLLECTOR - Michael Yezerski

"Ayer drives the action along efficiently enough to the churning dread of Michael Yezerski's score. But there's too little depth to make you care about the characters and too little imagination at work to make 'The Tax Collector' pay."

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

TESLA - John Paesano

"Even when Almereyda is marking out the stages of Tesla's life in a more orderly manner, there's invigorating experimentation involved, with DP Sean Price Williams often shooting the subjects from inquisitive low angles against theatrical backdrops -- photographs, paintings, period commercial art. And composer John Paesano's eclectic score shifts from lush symphonic sounds through anxious electronica and even into throbbing techno once legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt (Rebecca Dayan) enters Tesla's orbit, strutting like a catwalk model and dripping soignée sensuality, whether she's onstage in a swooning death scene or alone with the inventor, speaking to him of love."

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS: PENINSULA - Mowg

"Whereas most of the movie takes place in a grubby, blue-tinged murk -- a blend of hokey day-for-night lensing and virtual set extensions that’s badly suited for home viewing, but might look frightening in darkened theaters -- day breaks just in time for a big, Michael Bay-style climax. The film has clipped along at a reasonably brisk pace until this point, only to downshift into a laughably protracted slow-motion finale, full of gratuitous lens flares and overwrought strings."

Peter Debruge, Variety

UNHINGED - David Buckley

"And yet, five pulpy minutes into 'Unhinged,' you kind of see what they were waiting for. Dispensing with context or polite foreplay, Derrick Borte’s film begins with a bloody, punch-drunk doozy of a prologue: Crowe, parked on a suburban street in a crashing rainstorm, lighting matches and watching them burn out with his signature deep-furrowed scowl. Clearly this behavior isn’t leading anywhere pleasant, though we aren’t prepared for just how quickly things escalate. Suddenly resolute, as David Buckley’s hardworking score reaches shrieking pitch, he marches out of the car carrying an ax, hacks open the front door of the nearest house, hacks open the terrified couple inside, sets the house on fire for good measure, and drives off into the soaking night. The title credit hasn’t even appeared on screen yet, but the film has already fulfilled its promise: Russell Crowe sure is unhinged."

Guy Lodge, Variety

"Paul [sic] Buckley's pounding, galloping, deafening score also tries way too hard to inject much-needed tension into a patchy, preposterous plot. In fairness, Borte and his team deliver some spectacular car stunts, but scenes of bloody violence feel perfunctory and affectless. When minor characters are brutally butchered, it's frankly hard to care."

Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter

WORDS ON BATHROOM WALLS - The Chainsmokers, Andrew Hollander

"The occasional surprises in 'Words on Bathroom Walls' emerge not from what happens, but how: Even as it follows the general timeline of many a senior-year drama, its emotional peaks and valleys don’t always land as we’ve been led to expect. A promposal is played not as a gushy moment of joy but an evasive anticlimax, while a heartfelt public confessional seemingly builds to an explosion of applause that, it turns out, never comes. Freudenthal and Naveda subvert movie-world logic in these and other ways, though their film isn’t wholly located in our world either: Michael Goi’s high-gloss lensing and The Chainsmokers’ ever-present, on-trend score contribute to a heightened reality in which everyone is the most vivid, articulate version of themselves possible -- down to Andy Garcia’s patient, empathetic, too-good-to-be-true priest Father Patrick, who becomes for Adam the private sounding board that therapy doesn’t provide."

Guy Lodge, Variety

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

Heard: Marnie (Herrmann), The Children's Hour (North), Anna (Serra), Marie Christine (LaChiusa), The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert (Goodman), Symphony No. 2 (Bruckner), The Genius of Larry Adler (Adler), Diamonds: The Best of Shirley Bassey (Bassey), Stargate (Arnold), Liaisons: Re-imagining Sondheim from the Piano (Sondheim), Lion of the Desert/Mohammad, Messenger of God (Jarre), Renaissance (Dodd), L'immoralita (Morricone), Le Hasard et la Violence (Colombier), Shazam! (Wallfisch), Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype (Band), Five Fingers (Herrmann), The Wedding Ringer (Lennertz), The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (Shore), The Scarlet Letter/The Electric Grandmother (Morris), Bernarda Alba (LaChiusa), Jaguar Lives (Ragland), Metropolis Symphony/Bizarro (Daugherty), Johnny Tremain (Bruns), With the Beatles (The Beatles), For Love of the Game (Poledouris), Chato's Land (Fielding), Lawman (Fielding), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (Jarre), Dove Vai in Vacanza? (Morricone/Piccioni/Frizzi/Bixio/Tempera), Birds Do It, Bees Do It (Fried), Dolores Claiborne (Elfman), Soldier of Orange (van Otterloo), Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (Goldsmith), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (Herrmann), Happy Death Day 2U (McCreary), Monte Carlo (Giacchino), Ambition (Rosenman), See What I Wanna See (LaChiusa), La Mer/Nocturnes (Debussy), Son of the Morning Star (Safan), Odelay (Beck), Welcome to Marwen (Silvestri)

Read: The Paperboy, by Pete Dexter

Seen: It has been announced that due to (of course) surges in coronavirus cases, the United Kingdom will close its movie theaters, having re-opened them in July. I hope our UK compatriots were able to see films and stay safe during those four months.

Watched: The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake; Thriller ("The Poisoner"); A Night at the Opera; Star Trek: Discovery ("Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum"); Battling Butler [1926]; The Orville ("Old Wounds"); War Gods of the Deep; The State ("Episode 4"); The Orville ("Command Performance," "About a Girl," "If the Stars Should Appear," "Pria," "Krill")