Next week, La-La Land will be re-releasing two of their expanded John Williams soundtracks, for Steven Spielberg's classics CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
L'amica di mia madre/Ecco lingua d'argento - Alberto Baldan Bembo - Quartet
Short Cuts 2020 - various - Quartet
Velluto nero - Alberto Baldan Bembo, Dario Bembo - Quartet
IN THEATERS TODAY
Bodies Bodies Bodies - Disasterpeace
Bullet Train - Dominic Lewis
Easter Sunday - Dan the Automator
I Love My Dad - Jeremy Bullock
COMING SOON
August 12
Close Encounters of the Third Kind [re-release] - John Williams - La-La Land
E.T. The Extra-Terrrestrial [re-release] - John Williams - La-La Land
Over Her Dead Body - Craig Safan - Dragon's Domain
The Peter Bernstein Collection Vol. 2 - Peter Bernstein - Dragon's Domain
Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation - Richard Band - Dragon's Domain
September 30
The Innocents - Pessi Levanto - Svart
October 14
Fireststarter - John Carpenter, Jody Carpenter, Daniel Davies - Sacred Bones
Coming Soon
Force to Fear - Matt Cannon - Howlin' Wolf
Psycho Storm Chaser - Andrew Scott Bell - Howlin' Wolf
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
August 5 - Christopher Gunning born (1944)
August 5 - Adolph Deutsch begins recording his score for The Matchmaker (1957)
August 5 - Abigail Mead born as Vivian Kubrick (1960)
August 5 - Cyril Morin born (1962)
August 5 - Alexander Courage's music for the Star Trek episode "The Enterprise Incident" is recorded (1968)
August 5 - Robert Prince records his first Mission: Impossible score, for the episode “Homecoming” (1970)
August 5 - Stuart Hancock born (1975)
August 5 - Michael Small begins recording his score for Comes a Horseman (1978)
August 5 - Fred Karger died (1979)
August 5 - Henry Mancini begins recording his score for Mommie Dearest (1981)
August 5 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his unused score for Gladiator (1991)
August 6 - Oliver Wallace born (1887)
August 6 - Cyril J. Mockridge born (1896)
August 6 - Svend Erik Tarp born (1908)
August 6 - Jack Elliott born (1927)
August 6 - Andre Previn begins recording his score to The Outriders (1949)
August 6 - Alex North begins recording his score to Pony Soldier (1952)
August 6 - Soren Hyldgaard born (1962)
August 6 - Harry Geller records his score for the Land of the Giants episode “Giants and All That Jazz” (1969)
August 6 - Robert Prince records his final Mission: Impossible score, for the episode “Mindbend” (1971)
August 6 - David Newman begins recording his score to The Brave Little Toaster (1986)
August 6 - Larry Adler died (2001)
August 6 - Christopher Dedrick died (2010)
August 6 - Marvin Hamlisch died (2012)
August 7 - Alfred Newman begins recording his adaptations of Jerome Kern songs for Centennial Summer (1945)
August 7 - Recording sessions begin for Bronislau Kaper's score for Her Twelve Men (1953)
August 7 - Gerald Fried records his score for the Mission: Impossible episode “Trek” (1967)
August 7 - Walter Scharf records his score for The Wild Wild West episode “The Night of the Assassin” (1967)
August 7 - Joseph Kosma died (1969)
August 7 - Jerry Fielding begins recording his score to The Mechanic (1972)
August 7 - Bruce Broughton begins recording his score for All I Want for Christmas (1991)
August 7 - Roy Budd died (1993)
August 7 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for Deep Rising (1997)
August 7 - Jay Chattaway records his score for the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Scorpion, Part II” (1997)
August 8 - Victor Young born (1900)
August 8 - Benny Carter born (1907)
August 8 - Arthur Morton born (1908)
August 8 - Axel Stordahl born (1913)
August 8 - Pete King born (1914)
August 8 - Basil Kirchin born (1927)
August 8 - Nathan Wang born (1956)
August 8 - Stefano Mainetti born (1957)
August 8 - Louis Levy died (1957)
August 8 - Fred Steiner records his score for the Lost in Space episode "The Space Primevals" (1967)
August 8 - Sidney Cutner’s score for The Invaders episode “Condition: Red” is recorded (1967)
August 8 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score to Capricorn One (1977)
August 8 - James Horner begins recording his score for The Pagemaster (1994)
August 8 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: Voyager episode “The Gift” (1997)
August 9 - Recording sessions begin for Hugo Friedhofer’s score for Seven Cities of Gold (1955)
August 9 - Jerry Goldsmith records his score for the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode “Jonah and the Whale” (1965)
August 9 - Alexander Courage records his score for the Lost in Space episode "Wild Adventure" (1966)
August 9 - Leith Stevens records his score for the Lost in Space episode "Blast Off into Space" (1966)
August 9 - George Duning's score for the Star Trek episode "And the Children Shall Lead" is recorded (1968)
August 9 - Dmitri Shostakovich died (1975)
August 9 - Andre Hossein died (1983)
August 9 - Peter Matz died (2002)
August 9 - David Raksin died (2004)
August 9 - Tony Mottola died (2004)
August 9 - Duane Tatro died (2020)
August 10 - Brian Easdale born (1909)
August 10 - Douglas M. Lackey born (1932)
August 10 - Mischa Bakaleinikoff died (1960)
August 10 - Ennio Morricone begins recording his score for So Fine (1981)
August 10 - Isaac Hayes died (2008)
August 11 - Ron Grainer born (1922)
August 11 - Raymond Leppard born (1927)
August 11 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score for The Light Touch (1951)
August 11 - Joe Jackson born (1954)
August 11 - Richard Shores begins recording his score for The Wild Wild West episode “The Night of the Eccentrics” (1966)
August 11 - Ali Shaheed Muhammad born (1970)
August 11 - Bill Conti begins recording his score for Five Days from Home (1977)
August 11 - Toby Chu born (1977)
August 11 - Emile Mosseri born (1985)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
THE ADAM PROJECT - Rob Simonsen
"Because of this humanity vacuum, the film’s emotional beats feel strained and awkward; often, Levy relies too heavily on Rob Simonsen’s mawkish score to tell us to feel something. The result: an inoffensive but forgettable sci-fi trifle that probably isn’t worth anyone’s precious time."
Nick Levine, NME.com
"And when 'The Adam Project' attempts to wring every drop of sentiment from the reunions between Adam and his loved ones, it feels mostly unearned, since before any of them show up, the viewer has no stake in their relationships or understanding of them as people. We merely know that Adam misses them, and as such all the heavy strings on the soundtrack and everyone’s teary eyes are closer to treacle than the genuinely heartfelt."
Derek Smith, Slant Magazine
"When it comes time to hit the emotional stuff home, Levy and his screenwriters overcompensate: Repeat the assurances! Double the hugs! Swell that music! Explain the catharsis everyone is experiencing! As with 'Free Guy,' Reynolds and Levy have made a movie aimed at the dead center of mainstream geek culture, designed to be described as having so much heart -- even though it’s as smooth and featureless as a Funko Pop."
Jesse Hassenger, Paste Magazine
CODE NAME BANSHEE - Benjamin Weinman
"Further weighing the movie down is amateurish and utterly unappealing technical packaging. Benjamin Weinman’s score is both pounding and tired, timed to specific onscreen impacts. The action staging, with the arguable exception of a one-on-three confrontation at Caleb’s bar, is generic, leaving editor R.J. Cooper to try (and more often than not fail) to cut around problem areas. Worst of all is a misguided visual palette, from cinematographer Austin F. Schmidt, that leans into heavy shadow and attempts to impose a single aesthetic across several very different locations."
Brent Simon, The Onion AV Club
LUCY AND DESI - David Schwartz
"As it is, 'Lucy and Desi' is a well-made bio-doc. The score is sturdy, Martinez’s cutting is snazzy, and -- much like the rhythmic musicality of Questlove’s 'Summer of Soul' -- you get a sense of Poehler’s energy in the fast pace and comic timing of film, which moves at a good, precise clip. There’s a lot of material to cover here, some of it overly familiar, but Poehler does it with pizzaz."
Jason Bailey, The Playlist
"As the film interweaves scripted performance and unscripted commentary, David Schwartz’s score moves seamlessly between snazzy and poignant. But the key aural component belongs to Arnaz and Ball, thanks in part to audiotapes they made for themselves -- perhaps not entirely unguarded, but far enough away from the spotlight to counter the polished cheer that fame required. Poehler uses this (not always identified) material to eloquent effect. In Ball’s case, there are also undated interviews with Betty Hannah Hoffman for Ladies Home Journal that became the basis for an autobiography, one that wouldn’t be published until years after the star’s 1989 death."
Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter
RESURRECTION - Jim Williams
"Semans’ controlled and sinister filmmaking craft is deeply considered across the board, with breadcrumb teases hinting towards the foreboding and nightmarishly hypnagogic events to come. Cinematically and visually grounded (the film features terrific work by DP Wyatt Garfield), Semans lets the film’s disconcerting sound design act as a faint, subconscious guide towards the surreal and dreamlike (the quietly seething score by 'Titane' composer Jim Williams is also chilling). The director is also meticulous in how he reveals, slowly, the film’s intentions. While the milieu it presents is generally minimalist and spare, it’s only when Roth’s character begins to hook his claws back into Margaret’s psyche that the film subtly reveals the brutalist architecture of her offices, quietly imbuing 'Resurrection' with another layer of uneasy suffocation."
Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist
"The film lays all its cards on the table over the course of a monologue at the end of the first act, as Hall -- so magnetic in an unbroken eight-minute close-up that you hardly notice the darkness creeping around her shoulders and subsuming her body into shadow -- unloads Margaret’s deepest secrets on an unsuspecting intern, who buttons the scene with the funniest line of a thriller that otherwise settles for nervous laughter. It’s a flex that lets us know we’re not in Kansas, anymore; that makes it clear once and for all this won’t be the kind of movie that rolls credits over a crane shot of David’s body lying on the ground while Margaret hugs her teenage daughter (Grace Kaufman) and the cops apologize for not taking her seriously. On the contrary, it’s the kind of movie that composer Jim Williams decided to score as soon as he finished work on 'Titane.'"
David Ehrlich, IndieWire
"Margaret has a high-powered job in the biotech industry, where she presents Power Point documents on replacement therapy and 'cell membrane re-organizing,' a metaphorical career if ever there was one. Everything Margaret does, she does intensely. To say Margaret is an over-protective mother of her 17-year-old daughter Abbie (Grace Kaufman) is to completely understate the situation: Margaret hovers, worries, clings, and Abbie, about to leave for college, feels suffocated. Margaret has a friends-with-benefits situation (sans the 'friends' part) with a married co-worker (Michael Esper), and takes a daily run that looks more like a military maneuver than requisite exercise. She runs like she's chasing someone, she runs like she's trying to beat the clock. Jim Williams' urgent score, all chopping alarmist strings, makes every moment into an incipient life-or-death catastrophe, and for Margaret, it is."
Sheila O'Malley, RogerEbert.com
"This is a solid #MeToo thriller set-up, classed up by the ever-classy Hall and Roth’s sinister underplaying, by Wyatt Garfield’s somber, elegant shooting style and by the stabbing strings of Jim Williams’ unsettling score. But then the exact nature of David and Margaret’s long-ago relationship is revealed, in a seven-minute monologue delivered by Hall in one unbroken close-up: a distractingly actorly exercise that is treated with the dramaturgical reverence of a speech from 'The Cherry Orchard,' despite the lunacy of its revelations. In one of the very rare instances of a relatable reaction, Margaret’s convenient confidante Gwyn stutters, 'Is this a joke?' before tottering away, doubtless making the 'she crazy' hand gesture the second she turns the corner."
Jessica Kiang, Variety
THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER - Themes by Michael Giacchino, Score by Michael Giacchino and Nami Melumad
"The Marvel faithful will likely groove to the mischievous spirit that is Waititi’s trademark, and they might even get a kick out of the often ugly Frank Frazetta-inspired fantasy visuals, with many scenes looking like the kind of bad airbrush art you find on the bodywork of stoner dude-wagons. The soundtrack also fits that metal mode, with Guns N’ Roses hits stitched into Michael Giacchino’s blustery score. But is it too much to ask for something that doesn’t just feel like a strained rehash of the last installment?"
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN L.A.
Screenings of older films in Los Angeles-area theaters.
August 5
APRIL IN PARIS (Vernon Duke, Ray Heindorf) [Academy Museum]
BAD LIEUTENANT (Joe Delia), MEAN STREETS [New Beverly]
BEAU TRAVAIL (Charles Henri de Pierrefeu, Eran Tzur), JACQUOT DE NANTES (Joanna Bruzdowicz) [UCLA/Hammer]
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS [New Beverly]
RIDE YOUR WAVE (Michiru Oshima) [Aero]
ROLLERBALL (Andre Previn) [Nuart]
THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (Ralph Jones) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE THING (Ennio Morricone) [Alamo Drafthouse]
UNFORGIVEN (Lennie Niehaus) [New Beverly]
August 6
BAD LIEUTENANT (Joe Delia), MEAN STREETS [New Beverly]
CALAMITY JANE (Sammy Fain, Ray Heindorf) [Academy Museum]
CINDERELLA (Oliver Wallace, Paul Smith) [New Beverly]
THE DARK CRYSTAL (Trevor Jones) [Alamo Drafthouse]
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Maurice Jarre) [Aero]
MIND GAME (Feyrey, Seiichi Yamamoto) [Los Feliz 3]
MONSIEUR HULOT'S HOLIDAY (Alain Romans) [Academy Museum]
NENETTE AND BONI (Tindersticks), 35 SHOTS OF RUM (Tindersticks) [UCLA/Hammer]
THE NIGHT IS SHORT, WALK ON GIRL (Michiru Oshima) [Los Feliz 3]
THE ROOM (Mladen Milicevic) [Landmark Westwood]
THE THING (Ennio Morricone) [Alamo Drafthouse]
TWO-LANE BLACKTOP [New Beverly]
August 7
ALMA'S RAINBOW (Jean-Paul Bourelly) [Los Feliz 3]
BAD LIEUTENANT (Joe Delia), MEAN STREETS [New Beverly]
BLUE (Zbigniew Preisner), WHITE (Zbigniew Preisner), RED (Zbigniew Preisner) [Aero]
CINDERELLA (Oliver Wallace, Paul Smith) [New Beverly]
THE DARK CRYSTAL (Trevor Jones) [Alamo Drafthouse]
HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE (John Williams) [Fine Arts]
HIGH HOPES (Andrew Dickson) [Los Feliz 3]
ISLAND OF LOST SOULS [Los Feliz 3]
LU OVER THE WALL (Takatsugu Muramatsu) [Los Feliz 3]
THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (Bernard Herrmann) [Academy Museum]
MEET JOHN DOE (Dimitri Tiomkin), MAGIC TOWN (Roy Webb) [UCLA/Hammer]
ROCKY III (Bill Conti) [Alamo Drafthouse]
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (Alex North) [Academy Museum]
THE THING (Ennio Morricone) [Alamo Drafthouse]
August 8
THE CROODS: A NEW AGE (Mark Motherbaugh) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE DARK CRYSTAL (Trevor Jones) [Alamo Drafthouse]
HOUR OF THE WOLF (Lars Johan Werle) [Los Feliz 3]
MOONRAKER (John Barry), FIREFOX (Maurice Jarre) [New Beverly]
ROCKY III (Bill Conti) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE THING (Ennio Morricone) [Alamo Drafthouse]
August 9
EYES ON THE PRIZE: "BRIDGE TO FREEDOM, 1965" [Academy Museum]
FOREVER A WOMAN (Takanobu Saito) [Los Feliz 3]
THE HAPPINESS OF THE KAKATURIS (Koji Endo, Koji Makaino) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE MOON HAS RISEN (Takanobu Saito) [Los Feliz 3]
MOONRAKER (John Barry), FIREFOX (Maurice Jarre) [New Beverly]
THE THING (Ennio Morricone) [Alamo Drafthouse]
August 10
BLUE (Zbigniew Preisner) [Los Feliz 3]
GHOST WORLD (David Kitay), AIRHEADS (Carter Burwell) [New Beverly]
THE HAPPINESS OF THE KAKATURIS (Koji Endo, Koji Makaino) [Alamo Drafthouse]
HEAT (Elliot Goldenthal) [Alamo Drafthouse]
OPENING NIGHT (Bo Harwood) [BrainDead Studios]
THE THING (Ennio Morricone) [Alamo Drafthouse]
ZOOLANDER (David Arnold) [Los Feliz 3]
August 11
THE CABLE GUY (John Ottman) [Los Feliz 3]
GHOST WORLD (David Kitay), AIRHEADS (Carter Burwell) [New Beverly]
I CAN NO LONGER HEAR THE GUITAR (Faton Cahen) [BrainDead Studios]
TAXI [Los Feliz 3]
THE THING (Ennio Morricone) [Alamo Drafthouse]
August 12
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (John Carpenter, Alan Howarth) [Nuart]
BLADE RUNNER (Vangelis) [Alamo Drafthouse]
BLUE (Zbigniew Preisner) [Los Feliz 3]
BLUE VELVET (Angelo Badalamenti) [BrainDead Studios]
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS [New Beverly]
KOYANNISQATSI (Philip Glass) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE PAJAMA GAME (Richard Adler, Jerry Ross, Nelson Riddle) [Academy Museum]
REALITY BITES (Karl Wallinger), THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (Theodore Shapiro) [Aero]
SCREAM (Marco Beltrami) [BrainDead Studios]
THE THING (Ennio Morricone), BODY SNATCHERS (Joe Delia) [New Beverly]
TWIN PEAKS FIRE WALK WITH ME (Angelo Badalamenti) [New Beverly]
August 13
THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS (Carol Hall, Dolly Parton, Patrick Williams) [Alamo Drafthouse]
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V: A NEW BEGINNING (Harry Manfredini) [New Beverly]
HAIRSPRAY (Kenny Vance) [BrainDead Studios]
KOYANNISQATSI (Philip Glass) [Alamo Drafthouse]
MEPHISTO (Zdenko Tamassy) [BrainDead Studios]
THE NEVERENDING STORY (Klaus Doldinger, Giorgio Moroder) [Landmark Westwood]
PETE'S DRAGON (Al Kasha, Joel Hirschhorn, Irwin Kostal) [Academy Museum]
PILLOW TALK (Frank DeVol) [Academy Museum]
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (Richard O'Brien, Richard Hartley) [Nuart]
SLEEPING BEAUTY (George Bruns) [New Beverly]
STARSHIP TROOPERS (Basil Poledouris) [Los Feliz 3]
TIE ME UP! TIE ME DOWN! (Ennio Morricone) [BrainDead Studios]
THE THING (Ennio Morricone), BODY SNATCHERS (Joe Delia) [New Beverly]
THIS IS NOT A FILM, THERE IS NO EVIL (Amir Molookpour) [Aero]
August 14
BLADE RUNNER (Vangelis) [Alamo Drafthouse]
BLEAK MOMENTS [Los Feliz 3]
BLOODSPORT (Paul Hertzog) [BrainDead Studios]
BLUE (Zbigniew Preisner) [Los Feliz 3]
DIRTY DANCING (John Morris) [Fine Arts]
HAPPY GILMORE (Mark Mothersbaugh) [BrainDead Studios]
HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS (John Williams, William Ross) [Fine Arts]
HE GOT GAME (Aaron Copland) [BrainDead Studios]
INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (John Williams) [Fine Arts]
THE LAST UNICORN (Jimmy Webb) [Alamo Drafthouse]
LOVER COME BACK (Frank De Vol) [Academy Museum]
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS [BrainDead Studios]
A PATCH OF BLUE (Jerry Goldsmith) [Academy Museum]
POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU (Henry Jackman) [Alamo Drafthouse]
SLEEPING BEAUTY (George Bruns) [New Beverly]
THE THING (Ennio Morricone), BODY SNATCHERS (Joe Delia) [New Beverly]
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY
Heard: Stormy Weather (various); Lilies of the Field (Goldsmith); Requiem for a Heavyweight/A Raisin in the Sun (Rosenthal); A Man Called Adam (Carter); Odds Against Tomorrow (Lewis); The Lost World: Jurassic Park [game] (Giacchino); Jurassic World (Giacchino); Jurassic Park III (Davis); Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (Giacchino); Bullitt (Schifrin); Coogan's Bluff (Schifrin); Dirty Harry (Schifrin); Sol Madrid (Schifrin); Jurassic World: Dominion (Giacchino)
Read: Happy-Go-Lucky, by David Sedaris
Seen: Khartoum; Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank; Resurrection [2022]; Sharp Stick; Sleepaway Camp; The Earrings of Madame De...; Mad Max: Fury Road; Hotel Transylvania: Transformania; Dark Star; Lifeforce; Thirteen Lives
Watched: Counterpart ("The Crossing"); Star Trek ("The Mark of Gideon"); What We Do in the Shadows ("Baron's Night Out"); The Boys ("The Female of the Species"); You're the Worst ("All About That Paper"); Counterpart ("Birds of a Feather")
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