The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced shortlists for ten categories, including both music categories:
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
BEING THE RICARDOS - Daniel Pemberton
CANDYMAN - Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe
DON'T LOOK UP - Nicholas Britell
DUNE - Hans Zimmer
ENCANTO - Germaine Franco
THE FRENCH DISPATCH OF THE LIBERTY, KANSAS EVENING SUN - Alexandre Desplat
THE GREEN KNIGHT - Daniel Hart
THE HARDER THEY FALL - Jeymes Samuel
KING RICHARD - Kris Bowers
THE LAST DUEL - Harry Gregson-Williams
NO TIME TO DIE - Hans Zimmer
PARALLEL MOTHERS - Alberto Iglesias
THE POWER OF THE DOG - Jonny Greenwood
SPENCER - Jonny Greenwood
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH - Carter Burwell
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
"The Anonymous Ones" - Dear Evan Hansen
"Automatic Woman" - Bruised
"Be Alive" - King Richard
"Beyond the Shore" - CODA
"Dos Oruguitas" - Encanto
"Down to Joy" - Belfast
"Dream Girl" - Cinderella
"Guns Go Bang" - The Harder They Fall
"Here I Am (Singing My Way Home") - Respect
"Just Look Up" - Don't Look Up
"No Time to Die" - No Time to Die
"Right Where I Belong" - Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road
"So May We Start? - Annette
"Somehow You Do" - Four Good Days
"Your Song Saved My Life" - Sing 2
The other shortlists are at the bottom of this column, for those who care about such things.
Dragon's Domain has announced three upcoming new releases -- THE CRAIG SAFAN COLLECTION VOL. 1, featuring his scores for the 1987 sci-fi thriller TIMESTALKERS, and the Robby Benson vehicle DIE LAUGHING; David Spear's score for NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER 2: RAGING THUNDER; and a two-disc set featuring re-recordings of scores composed by Richard Band for the anthology series MASTERS OF HORROR, for episdoes directed by Stuart Gordon, Mick Garris and Peter Medak.
CDS AVAILBLE THIS WEEK
Don't Go in the House - Richard Einhorn - Howlin' Wolf
Gli occhiali d'oro - Ennio Morricone - Caldera
Good Tidings - Jean Michel Noir - Howlin' Wolf
Holiday Hell - Semih Tareen - Howlin' Wolf
Il Bidone - Nino Rota - Quartet
Maddalena - Ennio Morricone - Quartet
The Pink Panther Final Chapters Collection - Henry Mancini - Quartet
Zulu - John Barry - Quartet
IN THEATERS TODAY
Jockey - Bryce Dessner, Aaron Dessner
The King's Man - Matthew Margeson, Dominic Lewis
The Matrix Resurrections - Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer - Score 2 CD-R set due Jan 14 on WaterTower
Parallel Mothers - Alberto Iglesias - Score CD Madres Paralelas on Quartet
Sing 2 - Joby Talbot - Song CD on Republic
The Velvet Queen - Warren Ellis
COMING SOON
January 7
The Wheel of Time: The First Turn - Lorne Balfe - Milan
January 14
The Craig Safan Collection: Vol. 1 - Craig Safan - Dragon's Domain
Masters of Horror - Richard Band - Dragon's Domain
The Matrix Resurrections - Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer - WaterTower [CD-R]
No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder - David Spear - Dragon's Domain
January 28
All Creatures Great and Small: Series 2 - Alexandra Harwood - Silva
Without Remorse - Jonsi - Krunk
Date Unknown
Byleth il demone dell'incesto - Vasco Vassil Kojucharov - Beat
Gli occhi freddi della paura - Ennio Morricone - Beat
Terminal Exposure - Hans Zimmer - Notefornote
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
December 24 - Franz Waxman born (1906)
December 24 - Carlo Rustichelli born (1916)
December 24 - Mike Curb born (1944)
December 24 - Recording sessions begin for Hugo Friedhofer’s score for Bride of Vengeance (1948)
December 24 - Ray Colcord born (1949)
December 24 - Richard LaSalle records his score for the Land of the Giants episode “The Secret City of Limbo” (1969)
December 24 - Bernard Herrmann begins recording his score for It’s Alive (1973)
December 24 - Bernard Herrmann died (1975)
December 24 - Alec Wilder died (1980)
December 24 - Richard Rodney Bennett died (2012)
December 25 - Nathaniel Shilkret born (1889)
December 25 - Pete Rugolo born (1915)
December 25 - Christian Henson born (1971)
December 25 - Charles Chaplin died (1977)
December 25 - James Brown died (2006)
December 26 - Morgan Lewis born (1906)
December 26 - Albert Sendrey born (1911)
December 26 - Ira Newborn born (1949)
December 26 - Bernard Herrmann begins recording his score for 5 Fingers (1951)
December 26 - Stephen Graziano born (1954)
December 26 - Roger Neill born (1963)
December 26 - Tom Howe born (1977)
December 26 - Pablo Sorozabal died (1988)
December 26 - Curtis Mayfield died (1999)
December 27 - Oscar Levant born (1906)
December 27 - Benedetto Ghiglia born (1921)
December 27 - Victor Young begins recording his score for The Proud and Profane (1955)
December 27 - Kenneth Wannberg records his score for the Twilight Zone episode “Still Life” (1985)
December 27 - Lars Erik-Larsson died (1986)
December 27 - Buxton Orr died (1997)
December 27 - Isaak Shvarts died (2009)
December 28 - Mischa Spoliansky born (1898)
December 28 - Garry Sherman born (1933)
December 28 - Captain Blood released in theaters (1935)
December 28 - Recording sessions begin for Bronislau Kaper's score to Invitation (1952)
December 28 - Richard Band born (1953)
December 28 - Alex North begins recording his score to All Fall Down (1961)
December 28 - Paul Hindemith died (1963)
December 28 - Rahman Altin born (1971)
December 28 - Max Steiner died (1971)
December 28 - Ron Jones records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Loud as a Whisper" (1988)
December 28 - Milton Rosen died (1994)
December 28 - Michel Michelet died (1995)
December 29 - Roman Vlad born (1919)
December 29 - Ron Goodwin begins recording his score for Submarine X-1 (1967)
December 29 - Alexander Courage records his unused score for the Land of the Giants pilot episode “The Crash” (1967)
December 29 - George Duning's score for the Star Trek episode "Return to Tomorrow" is recorded (1967)
December 29 - Ryan Shore born (1974)
December 29 - Wojciech Kilar died (2013)
December 30 - Dmitri Kabalevsky born (1904)
December 30 - Alfred Ralston born (1907)
December 30 - Paul Bowles born (1910)
December 30 - Lucio Agostini born (1913)
December 30 - Ray Cook born (1936)
December 30 - Michael Nesmith born (1942)
December 30 - Harry Geller records his score for The Wild Wild West episode “The Night the Dragon Screamed” (1965)
December 30 - Jason Brandt born (1973)
December 30 - Richard Rodgers died (1979)
December 30 - Patrick Gowers died (2014)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
BELFAST - Van Morrison
"The ambiance of 'Belfast' is also to be commended, with DP Haris Zambarloukos effectively using black and white to alternately capture the warmth of the era and the stark brutality of the times. The sound design draws you into the aural landscape of the neighborhood, from the layered snippets of conversations that Buddy overhears, to the intensity of the violent uprisings, or even just the musicality of neighborhood radios and TVs providing the cultural context to Buddy’s young life. Musically, Van Morrison provides a needledrop-filled soundtrack that serves as the connective score. He’s a native Belfaster, which makes him city-appropriate, but perhaps more bombastic in voice and temperament than the film needs. There were times when a more tempered score, that would’ve allowed for more emotional nuance, was missed from the mix."
Tara Bennett, Paste Magazine
"This is the constant push-pull that serves as a through-line in 'Belfast.' It’s a film that frequently feels at odds with itself, resulting in equal amounts of poignancy and frustration. Ultimately, though, the sincerity on display wins you over. You’d have to be made of stone otherwise, especially in the simple, quiet moments when Buddy learns valuable life lessons to the strains of Van Morrison. (Yes, the words feel cheesy as I’m typing them, but gosh darn it, that kid is adorable.) It’s a lovely touch that the girl Buddy has a crush on -- a pig-tailed blonde who happens to be Catholic -- also happens to be the smartest student in class, and the way he woos her inspires fond laughter."
Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com
"But good luck getting through this bighearted family drama without tearing up at least once, especially when Van Morrison’s familiar bluesy growl shows up on the soundtrack. Which is a lot -- Morrison’s swelling ballads are so heavily used in the soundtrack that at times Belfast feels like an extended music video. This is a movie more intent on evoking outsize feelings -- nostalgia, romantic longing, grief—than on exploring the political and historical themes its setting gestures toward. The Troubles serve as a backdrop that gives the story suspense and stakes, but if, like me, you go in not knowing much about this period of recent Irish history, you will leave scarcely more informed."
Dana Stevens, Slate.com
"Time passes, grandpa’s cough gets worse, and the streets outside begin to feel like the set of a Western, but our Buddy is lost in his own little world -- a place soundtracked by an incessant string of Van Morrison songs that strain to convey some of the happy-go-lucky kid energy that’s missing from so much of the camerawork. It’s a telling detail of a very personal film that -- despite shimmering with the essence of Branagh’s love -- sorely lacks a point-of-view or a sense of cohesion (it’s plenty charming, often dull, and seldom believable). Is Buddy a stand-in for the director? A conduit for his memories? Or, perhaps most poignantly, a vision of the boy that Branagh once was and may have continued to be had fate not intervened?"
David Ehrlich, IndieWire
"Branagh isn’t so stentorian this time around. He’ll still deliver the off-kilter camera angles and the long takes, but he also keeps things bouncing along. The thundering music of his regular collaborator Patrick Doyle has been replaced here by a series of lovely, bluesy Van Morrison songs. When things do slow down in 'Belfast,' it’s usually to let the actors breathe. Because the rest of the film is so light on its feet, when it settles down to a quiet shot of Balfe in tears, or an extended reverie from Hinds and Judi Dench (who plays Buddy’s grandma) about the early days of their relationship, the effects are devastating."
Bilge Ebiri, New York
"By those standards, Belfast is a very, very, very Irish movie. There are pints, phones, and an off-key rendition of 'Danny Boy,' plus a lot of Van Morrison and dancing. But most of all, there’s Branagh’s misty-eyed and mostly successful nostalgia. It’s become a lazy critical cliché to declare that a film is a love letter to a city or to the past or to cinema, but in this case it’s inescapable, and Belfast succeeds in passing that love along to us."
Alissa Wilkinson, Vox
THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN L.A.
Screenings of older films in Los Angeles-area theaters.
December 24
ALI (Lisa Gerrard, Pieter Bourke) [Academy Museum]
BAD SANTA (David Kitay) [Los Feliz 3]
DIE HARD (Michael Kamen) [Brain Dead Studios]
DIE HARD (Michael Kamen) [New Beverly]
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Dimitri Tiomkin) [Aero]
THE KINGDOM OF DREAMS AND MADNESS (Masakatsu Takagi) [Academy Museum]
LITTLE WOMEN (Alexandre Desplat) [Los Feliz 3]
TANGERINE [Los Feliz 3]
TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (Brad Fiedel) [Brain Dead Studios]
TOKYO GODFATHERS (Keichi Suzuki) [Los Feliz 3]
December 25
THE HATEFUL EIGHT (Ennio Morricone) [New Beverly]
THE KINGDOM OF DREAMS AND MADNESS (Masakatsu Takagi) [Academy Museum]
MONKEY BUSINESS, DUCK SOUP [New Beverly]
THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (Paul Williams, Miles Goodman) [Academy Museum]
December 26
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (Erich Wolfgang Korngold) [Academy Museum]
CAROL (Carter Burwell) [Alamo Drafthouse]
SWEET SWEETBACK'S BAADASSSS SONG (Melvin Van Peebles) [Brain Dead Studios]
TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. (Wang Chung) [Brain Dead Studios]
THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (Michel Legrand) [Academy Museum]
December 27
THE WAY OF THE DRAGON (Joseph Koo) [Academy Museum]
December 28
DANCE, GIRL, DANCE [Academy Museum]
THE GIRL DOWNSTAIRS (William Axt) [Academy Museum]
THE KINGDOM OF DREAMS AND MADNESS (Masakatsu Takagi) [Academy Museum]
MOMMIE DEAREST (Henry Mancini) [Laemmle Royal]
December 29
EYES WIDE SHUT (Jocelyn Pook) [Alamo Drafthouse]
FOUR ROOMS (Combustible Edison) [Brain Dead Studios]
GOOPY GYNE BAGHA BYNE [THE ADVENTURES OF GOOPY AND BAGHA] (Satyajit Ray) [Academy Museum]
December 30
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (Elmer Bernstein) [Academy Museum]
December 31
NEVER-ENDING MAN: HAYAO MIYAZAKI [Academy Museum]
PHANTOM THREAD (Jonny Greenwood) [New Beverly]
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (Marc Shaiman) [Alamo Drafthouse]
January 1
ANIMAL CRACKERS, MONKEY BUSINESS [Aero]
THE APARTMENT (Adolph Deutsch) [Alamo Drafthouse]
GREASE [New Beverly]
THE HUDSUCKER PROXY (Carter Burwell) [Los Feliz 3]
NEVER-ENDING MAN: HAYAO MIYAZAKI [Academy Museum]
NIGHT OF THE COMET (David Richard Campbell) [Los Feliz 3]
PHANTOM THREAD (Jonny Greenwood) [Aero]
ROSEMARY'S BABY (Christopher Komeda) [Los Feliz 3]
STRANGE DAYS (Graeme Revell) [Los Feliz 3]
WINGED MIGRATION (Bruno Coulais) [Academy Museum]
January 2
THE AWFUL TRUTH (Ben Oakland) [Academy Museum]
GET CRAZY (Michael Boddicker), ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL [New Beverly]
GREASE [New Beverly]
HOLIDAY [Los Feliz 3]
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Maurice Jarre) [Aero]
RIVER'S EDGE (Jurgen Knieper) [Los Feliz 3]
TARZAN TRIUMPHS (Paul Sawtell) [Academy Museum]
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY
Heard: Battleship Potemkin/The Holy Mountain (Meisel), Berlin: Symphony of a City (Meisel), The Heartbreak Kid (Sherman), The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 3: 1963 (various)
Read: For Your Eyes Only, by Ian Fleming
Seen: Mahanagar (The Big City), The Lost Daughter, The Tender Bar, Dishonored, Queen Christina, Christmas in Connecticut, Remember the Night, Cyrano, Swan Song, Nightmare Alley [2021]; Kapurush (The Coward); Mahapurush (The Holy Man)
Watched: Hello Again [2017]; NTSF:SD:SUV:: ("One Cabeza, Two Cabeza, Three Cabeza...Dead!," "The Birthday Party That Was Neither," "Exes and Oh-No's!," "The Risky Business of Being Alone in Your Home," "Dolphinnegan's Wake," "Tijuana, We've Got a Problem," "Full Hauser," "Up Periscope. Down With San Diego," "Cause for ConCERN," "Piper Doesn't Live Here Anymore," "Twistin' the Night Away," "I Left My Heart in Someone's Cooler"); Alias ("The Prophecy"); Hotel a la Swing [1937]
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
AFFAIRS OF THE ART
ANGAKUSAJAUJUQ: THE SHAMAN'S APPRENTICE
BAD SEEDS
BESTIA
BOXBALLET
FLOWING HOME
MUM IS POURING RAIN
THE MUSICIAN
NAMOO
ONLY A CHILD
ROBIN ROBIN
SOUVENIR SOUVENIR
STEP INTO THE RIVER
US AGAIN
THE WINDSHIELD WIPER
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
ASCENSION
ATTICA
BILLIE EILISH: THE WORLD'S A LITTLE BLURRY
FAYA DAYI
THE FIRST WAVE
FLEE
IN THE SAME BREATH
JULIA
PRESIDENT
PROCESSION
THE RESCUE
SIMPLE AS WATER
SUMMER OF SOUL (..OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
WRITING WITH FIRE
DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
AGUILAS
AUDIBLE
A BROKEN HOUSE
CAMP CONFIDENTIAL: AMERICA'S SECRET NAZIS
CODED: THE HIDDEN LOVE OF J.C. LEYENDECKER
DAY OF RAGE
THE FACILITY
LEAD ME HOME
LYNCHING POSTCARDS: TOKEN OF A GREAT DAY
THE QUEEN OF BASKETBALL
SOPHIE & THE BARON
TAKEOVER
TERROR CONTAGION
THREE SONGS FOR BENAZIR
WHEN WE WERE BULLIES
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
COMPARTMENT NO. 6 (Finland)
DRIVE MY CAR (Japan)
FLEE (Denmark)
THE GOOD BOSS (Spain)
GREAT FREEDOM (Austria)
THE HAND OF GOD (Italy)
A HERO (Iran)
HIVE (Kosovo)
I'M YOUR MAN (Germany)
LAMB (Iceland)
LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM (Bhutan)
PLAYGROUND (Belgium)
PLAZA CATEDRAL (Panama)
PRAYERS FOR THE STOLEN (Mexico)
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (Norway)
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
ALA KACHUU - TAKE AND RUN
CENSOR OF DREAMS
THE CRIMINALS
DISTANCES
THE DRESS
FRIMAS
LES GRANDES CLAQUES
THE LONG GOODBYE
ON MY MIND
PLEASE HOLD
STENOFONEN
TALA'VISION
UNDER THE HEAVENS
WHEN THE SUN SETS
YOU'RE DEAD HELEN
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
COMING 2 AMERICA
CRUELLA
CYRANO
DUNE
THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE
HOUSE OF GUCCI
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
NO TIME TO DIE
THE SUICIDE SQUAD
WEST SIDE STORY
SOUND
BELFAST
DUNE
LAST NIGHT IN SOHO
THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS
NO TIME TO DIE
THE POWER OF THE DOG
A QUIET PLACE PART II
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
TICK...TICK...BOOM!
WEST SIDE STORY
VISUAL EFFECTS
BLACK WIDOW
DUNE
ETERNALS
FREE GUY
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE
GODZILLA VS. KONG
THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS
NO TIME TO DIE
SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
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