I am on vacation this week, so any breaking news will not be announced here until next Friday's column.
La-La Land was scheduled to announce their latest, end-of-year Black Friday batch of new CD releases last evening. You should be able to find a thread discussing them on our Message Board.
The latest expanded Deluxe Edition releases from the Varese Sarabande CD Club are Jerry Goldsmith's Oscar-nominated score for the 1997 Best Picture nominee L.A. CONFIDENTIAL; and Marco Beltrami's score for the 1997 sci-fi horror film MIMIC, the first of three films Beltrami scored for director Guillermo del Toro.
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has announced this year’s Grammy nominations, including the following film music-related categories:
BEST SCORE SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA
SUCCESSION: SEASON 3 - Nicholas Britell
BEST SCORE SOUNDTRACK FOR VIDEO GAMES AND OTHER INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ALIENS: FIRETEAM ELITE - Austin Wintory
ASSASSIN'S CREED VALHALLA: DAWN OF RAGNAROK - Stephanie Economou
CALL OF DUTY: VANGUARD - Bear McCreary
MARVEL'S GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY - Richard Jacques
OLD WORLD - Christopher Tin
BEST COMPILATION SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA
ELVIS
STRANGER THINGS, SEASON 4
BEST SONG WRITTEN FOR VISUAL MEDIA
“Be Alive” - King Richard – Beyoncé, Darius Scott Dixson
“Keep Rising (The Woman King)” - The Woman King - Angelique Kidjo, Jeremy Lutito , Jessy Wilson,
“Nobody Like U” - Turning Red - Billie Eilish, Finneas O'Connell
“We Don't Talk About Bruno” – Encanto - Lin-Manuel Miranda
Also, Danny Elfman was nominated for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella for "Main Titles (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), and John Williams was nominated for Best Orchestral Performance as conductor of his album John Williams: The Berlin Concert.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Archive 81 - Ben Salisbury, Geoff Barrow - Invada
Enola Holmes 2 - Daniel Pemberton - Sony (import)
L.A. Confidential: The Deluxe Edition - Varese Sarabande CD Club
Mimic: The Deluxe Edition - Danny Elfman - Varese Sarabande CD Club
Stingray - Barry Gray - Silva
IN THEATERS TODAY
Devotion - Chanda Dancy
EO - Pawel Mykietyn
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery - Nathan Johnson
Nanny - Tanerélle, Bartek Gliniak
The Son - Hans Zimmer
Strange World - Henry Jackman
White Noise - Danny Elfman
COMING SOON
December 9
Bruno Nicolai in Giallo - Bruno Nicolai - Digitmovies
Disenchanted - Alan Menken - Disney
December 16
The Fabelmans - John Williams - Sony
Women Talking - Hildur Guonadottir - Mercury
Coming Soon
Bandes originales des films de Philippe Miller - Philippe Miller - Music Box
Doctor Who Series 13: Flux/Revolution of the Daleks - Segun Akinola - Silva
Don't Worry Darling - John Powell - Mondo/WaterTower
La Revolucion Francaise - Georges Delerue - Music Box
Michel Magne et son grand orchestre jouent les musiques de films de Michel Magne - Michel Magne - Music Box
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
November 25 - Virgil Thomson born (1896)
November 25 - Stanley Wilson born (1917)
November 25 - Michel Portal born (1935)
November 25 - Eleni Karaindrou born (1941)
November 25 - Daniele Amfitheatrof begins recording his score for The Last Hunt (1956)
November 25 - Maurice Jarre begins recording his score for Grand Prix (1966)
November 25 - Raymond Legrand died (1974)
November 25 - Michael Small begins recording his score for The Postman Always Rings Twice (1980)
November 25 - Craig Safan records his scores for the Twilight Zone episodes “The Uncle Devil Show” and “Opening Day” (1985)
November 25 - Nicholas Pike begins recording his score for Stephen King’s The Shining (1996)
November 25 - Chico Hamilton died (2013)
November 26 - Scott Bradley born (1891)
November 26 - Jerry Fielding begins recording his score for The Killer Elite (1975)
November 26 - Bernardo Segall died (1993)
November 27 - Alberto Colombo born (1888)
November 27 - Richard Stone born (1953)
November 27 - Lyle Mays born (1953)
November 27 - Arthur Honegger died (1955)
November 27 - Bernard Herrmann marries Norma Shepherd, his third and final wife (1967)
November 27 - Lalo Schifrin begins recording his score for Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You (1969)
November 27 - Nick Thorburn born (1981)
November 27 - Filip Kutev died (1982)
November 27 - Stanley Black died (2002)
November 27 - Kunio Miyauchi died (2006)
November 28 - Mario Nascimbene born (1913)
November 28 - Gato Barbieri born (1932)
November 28 - Randy Newman born (1943)
November 28 - Terry Plumeri born (1944)
November 28 - Bernard Herrmann records his score for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode “Where the Woodbine Twineth” (1964)
November 28 - Joseph Mullendore records his score for the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode “The Return of Blackbeard” (1967)
November 28 - Richard LaSalle records his score for the Land of the Giants episode “Home Sweet Home” (1969)
November 28 - Robert Prince records his score for the Land of the Giants episode “Nightmare” (1969)
November 28 - Laurence Rosenthal begins recording his score to Clash of the Titans (1980)
November 28 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Elementary, Dear Data” (1988)
November 28 - Jerry Goldsmith records his music for the Judge Dredd trailer (1994)
November 29 - Chuck Mangione born (1940)
November 29 - Recording sessions begin on Herbert Stothart’s score for Hills of Home (1947)
November 29 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score to Moonfleet (1954)
November 29 - Erich Wolfgang Korngold died (1957)
November 29 - Russell Garcia begins recording his score for Atlantis the Lost Continent (1960)
November 29 - Alexander Courage's score to the second Star Trek pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," is recorded (1965)
November 29 - Carl Stalling died (1972)
November 29 - George Harrison died (2001)
November 29 - Shirley Walker died (2006)
November 29 - Allan Zavod died (2016)
November 30 - Gordon Parks born (1912)
November 30 - Edward Artemyev born (1937)
November 30 - Victor Young begins recording his score for September Affair (1949)
November 30 - Christophe Beck born (1972)
December 1 - Peter Thomas born (1925)
December 1 - Gerald Fried records his score for the Mission: Impossible episode “The Diplomat” (1968)
December 1 - John Williams begins recording his replacement score for Rosewood (1996)
December 1 - Stephane Grappelli died (1997)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN - Carter Burwell
"It’s also wrenching, the absurd hilarity of McDonagh’s lacerating script, suddenly pulled out from under you when the film reminds the viewer how painful this breakup is to everyone involved. This is where McDonagh’s growing tendency towards empathy blooms further, perhaps the only solution we have. As pitch-black, acerbic, and absurd as McDonagh’s writing can be, ‘Insherin’ [sic] flows with deep inlets of tenderness and empathy. Great humanity courses throughout the film, which gives it yet another level of emotional intelligence and profundity (to that end, Carter Burwell’s magnificent score will break your heart)."
Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist
"As it moves toward an ambiguous and haunting finale, 'The Banshees of Inisherin' has the fanciful yet gruesome quality of a folk tale or fairytale, a mood enhanced by Carter Burwell’s harp-and-flute-heavy score and Ben Davis’ painterly widescreen cinematography. Often, the camera pulls far back to emphasize the tininess and isolation of the town’s inhabitants in their dramatic cliffside setting. The character of Mrs. McCormick (Sheila Flitton), an old woman who stalks the island in a black cape, muttering cryptic pronouncements about various character’s fates, adds to the quasi-magical mood. But the story that unfolds between these two stubborn, lonely men is not supernatural but quintessentially, tragically human."
Dana Stevens, Slate.com
"Spectacularly backdropped by the sheer cliffs and stonewalled fields of Ireland’s Atlantic coast, and accompanied by the glockenspiel of Carter Burwell’s eerie score, 'The Banshees of Inisherin' uses the absence at the heart of this strange but inexorable feud to surprise and shock. As the Irish Civil War rumbles on over on the mainland, Pádraic and Colm start to act it out in microcosm. McDonagh expertly charts an argument metastasising and mutating to the point where its cause no longer even matters."
Phil de Semlyen, Time Out
"This being a McDonagh work, it’s a comedy of mortification as well as exasperation. It begins with a beautiful overhead shot of the title Irish island, all green below a clear blue sky (in this picture it only rains at night, which, considering actual weather patterns in Ireland, places the film in yet another genre, that of fantasy). The Carter Burwell score evokes idyllic times, and we see life is rather easy for Pádraic (Farrell) a milk farmer who lives with his sister in a modest cottage and, apparently, calls on his old friend Colm (Gleeson) just about every day at two. Before he sets out, he makes a remark about Colm to his sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon), who sarcastically replies, 'Maybe he just don’t like you no more.'"
Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com
"Then again, 'The Banshees of Inisherin' often feels more like a Martin McDonagh play -- perhaps the abandoned play of the same name that he first conceived as the conclusion of his 'Aran Islands Trilogy' -- which might help to explain the stony confidence of his direction and the steady focus with which he follows this story to the mournful finale promised by its title (Sheila Flitton is hilarious as banshee incarnate Mrs. McCormick, an old crone so happy to cosplay as death itself that she might as well hobble around Inisherin with a scythe in her hands). If the film never feels the least bit limited by its scope or location, that’s because the Galway Bay lends it an impossibly gorgeous backdrop, replete with rolling green hills and ravishing ocean views on all sides. It’s the perfect fairy tale idyll for the harps and glockenspiels of Carter Burwell’s ominous score to subvert."
David Ehrlich, IndieWire
"Incessant yammering, of course, is one unflattering if essentially correct way to describe McDonagh’s own flavorsome dialogue, which uses staccato rhythms and purposeful word repetitions to generate a sustained back-and-forth almost as musical as Carter Burwell’s lovely score. Apart from 'feck,' the favored expletive of this early 20th century Irish milieu, the script’s most frequently deployed four-letter words are 'dull' and 'nice,' two words that are often hurled in Pádraic’s direction. Agreeable and simple-minded, Pádraic gets along with just about everyone, from his sharp-as-a-tack sister, Siobhan (a flat-out wonderful Kerry Condon), to the animals placed in his reliable care. (None of the latter is more beloved than his miniature donkey, Jenny, the most important member of the movie’s splendid four-legged ensemble.)"
Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
"The film reunites Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, whose difference in age, physicality and character type makes for a Beckettian pairing that brings out the best in both actors, as it did in McDonagh’s 2008 debut feature, 'In Bruges.' They lead a ruminative ensemble piece that expertly balances the tragicomic with the macabre, inhabiting territory adjacent to McDonagh’s stage work yet also sweepingly cinematic. The latter factor owes much to the soulful widescreen cinematography of Ben Davis, bringing a mythic quality to the rugged landscapes, and to Carter Burwell’s full-bodied, mood-shifting score, one of his loveliest."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
THE GOOD NURSE - Biosphere
"Directed by Tobias Lindholm, the co-writer of 'Another Round' and director of 'A War,' and written by '1917' and 'Last Night in Soho' co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, 'The Good Nurse' is an unnerving and tense drama that is terrifying in its simplicity. Cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes ('Manchester by the Sea,' 'I Know This Much Is True') knows how to light a film in a way that feels distressing even in the positive moments, and the haunting score by Biosphere leaves the audience in a continual state of unease, even when there’s nothing to fear."
Ross Bomaime, Collider
"Redmayne, an actor who tends to call attention to his own subtlety, works hard to make that blankness sinister. (The ominously pulsing score composed by Biosphere tries even harder.) It isn’t sinister, though; it’s tiresomely obvious. Even as the doctors respond to a code blue, the movie throws up its own 'Uh-oh, maniac alert!' signal to the audience, establishing Charles as a teasing enigma that will presumably be unraveled by story’s end."
Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
"Even with Chastain and Redmayne’s solidly restrained performances and Biosphere’s eerie, ambient string score, the mystery at the center of 'The Good Nurse' unravels in exactly the way you’d expect it to. The film is more slow than burn, drawing out the suspense of its based-on-a-true-story narrative to glacial and predictable lengths. Subtlety can be useful in conveying stories as dark and twisted as this one, but the abundance of it here flattens the story’s emotional impact and makes its brief jolts of melodrama feel abrupt and jarring."
Sam Rosenberg, Consequence of Film
"'The Good Nurse' ultimately makes a sophisticated impression as a moving, deeply political human interest story, elevated by Jody Lee Lipes’ aptly icy, claustrophobic cinematography and an eerily chic score by Biosphere. What lingers most about it is a sense of selfless compassion, the kind that Amy possesses when she painfully reminds herself of the good buried within inexplicable evil. Watching her try to summon that good makes for a quietly devastating finale, one that’s thoroughly earned by the soulful film that precedes it."
Tomris Laffly, Variety
HOLY SPIDER - Martin Dirkov
“Holy Spider” itself isn’t entirely blind to that humanity, but its sympathies extend only as far as the next grisly jolt. And whenever Saeed enters the picture, a wearying, numbing shift in perspective takes place. Prowling the outskirts of Mashhad on his motorcycle, Saeed is very much the dark prince of this city, with Martin Dirkov’s hypnotic drone of a score surging on the soundtrack and the brilliant nightscape of Mashhad shimmering behind him. And after Saeed has driven his chosen victim back to his apartment, the camera approximates his vantage midstrangulation, drinking in her horror with near-fetishistic deliberation.
Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
"Ali Abbasi’s 'Holy Spider' recounts the murder spree of Saeed Hanaei (Mehdi Bajestani), a.k.a. the Spider Killer, who murdered 16 female sex workers in the holy city of Mashhad, Iran, between 2000 and 2001. Driven by a quest to cleanse his surroundings of moral corruption, the thirtysomething construction worker prowls the streets for victims, who he then brings back to his home and promptly strangles. It’s an m.o. that the film details in coldly brutal fashion in its opening sequence, with the camera lingering almost fetishistically on the face of one of Saeed’s victims as the life is agonizingly drained from her body. By the time the film cuts to its title card, laid over a spooky nighttime aerial shot of the city and accompanied by an ominously droning music score, Abbasi has fully primed us for the horrors to come."
Mark Hanson, Slant Magazine
"As Martin Dirkov’s excellent, glowering grungy-electro score swells to an almost Vangelis-like crescendo, the camera rises into the night sky to look out over Mashhad (actually Amman, Jordan; for obvious reasons the filmmakers were not permitted to shoot in Iran) and finds a cityscape glittering with seedy, noirish menace."
Jessica Kiang, Variety
"But there’s a method to the director’s murder-ness: He wants us to feel the crude pain of each death, which better underlines how preposterously Saeed finds favor both with his own family, and a portion of Iran’s public, once he’s arrested. That happens only when Rahimi sets a trap for him that’s all-too easily executed and strains credulity, as do a few other aspects of the plot. This isn’t the brand of understated, layered narrative that Iranian cinema is known for, but rather sensational in-your-face storytelling -- backed by a stirring, electric guitar-strumming score from Martin Dirkov -- that puts its political agenda smack in the middle of the table and asks you to acknowledge it."
Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter
MONA LISA AND THE BLOOD MOON - Daniele Luppi
"Amirpour goes for broke visually, with dolly zooms, psychotropic daubs of neon, and constant perspective swaps, utilizing a carnival-esque bag of tricks to suggest that something wacky is happening under a bright and ominous Louisiana full moon. Policemen on night patrol and strippers at the end of shifts all acknowledge that everyone’s crazier under that moon, an old superstition that seems to underline the night’s events. A locomotive dubstep soundtrack proves both dissonant and surprisingly catchy, helmed by excellent Italian composer Daniele Luppi."
Christina Newland, IndieWire
"'Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon''s mash-up of genre influences -- and filmmaking eras, because there’s a ’90s vibe to all this too – feels refreshing, occasionally even exhilarating, especially with the killer electronic score kicks into gear (Nat King Cole’s 'Mona Lisa' gets a few plays too). Amirpour always gives us something to look at, too: the colours pop; some streets teem with people, others are eerily deserted. Dangers lurk. Through the lens of 'Hereditary' cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski, New Orleans is a goldfish bowl filled with lost souls on one final bender."
Phil de Semlyen, Time Out
"What 'Mona Lisa' helps illuminate are Amirpour’s signatures. It highlights the filmmaker’s flair for vicious worldbuilding through its playful use of lighting, soundtrack and character. Like her imaginary communities of Bad City and Comfort, Amirpour’s New Orleans is unsavory. Men disrespect women, drunk partygoers barf all over sidewalks and jealous girlfriends beat up on people who look at their significant others funny. These repugnant displays are often set to the electronic beats of Italian composer Daniele Luppi and doused in colorful fluorescent lights. The rave-like music and aesthetics recall 'Bad Batch''s brutal cannibalistic community and create an atmosphere of fantastic anarchy. Through another of these sleazy towns walks another mysterious and morally ambiguous female character existing on the outskirts. These women -- previously including a skateboarding vampire and a half-eaten societal reject -- seem to be extensions of Amirpour, but also ambivalent vessels for us to latch onto and through which to observe the insanity of her lawless world."
Kathy Michelle Chacon, Paste Magazine
"'Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon' is the latest film from director Ana Lily Amirpour, and it’s tempting to call it 'A Girl Walks Home Alone From A Psych Ward At Night.' In keeping with Amirpour’s style, it’s the story of a special woman walking through a danger-strewn landscape of society’s low-rung players. It’s a bit like a John Cassavetes or Harmony Korine film that just happens to have Stephen King’s 'Carrie 'as one of the characters, and a lot of synthesizers on the soundtrack."
Luke Y. Thompson, The Onion AV Club
SMILE - Cristobal Tapia de Veer
"Creepy smiles have been a staple of scary cinema at least since Conrad Veidt inspired the creation of the Joker in 'The Man Who Laughs.' As a recent viral stunt by the Smile team at a baseball game showed, the evil-infused expression can be particularly effective even at a distance, as occasionally happens in the film. The score, by Cristobal Tapia de Veer ('The White Lotus') does the rest of the work, building crescendos of droning noises and crying sounds into tempests of insanity that cut off at just the right moment. It helps set the mood that Rose, even when pursued by an evil presence, keeps her house lights set at extra dim and her phone ringer at extra loud."
Luke Y. Thompson, The Onion AV Club
"Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) experiences this first-hand when she sees a patient named Laura (Caitlin Stasey), who reveals in between her claims of not being crazy that she has been seeing something disturbing, in the form of people. She screams and screams until she’s finally possessed by some force. Standing up and with a big smile on her face, she then uses a sharp object to slice into her neck; the resulting shot of her in a big pool of blood with an even bigger grin makes for one of the film’s most unsettling cuts. This is all accompanied by a disturbing, disorienting soundscape provided by 'Black Mirror' composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer, who proves that chaotic beeps, warbling echoes, and oh-my-god-what-is-that sound instrumentation can make for a frightening score on its own."
Nick Allen, The Playlist
"The plot of 'Smile' is exhaustingly reminiscent of other horror predecessors such as 'It Follows,' 'The Ring,' 'Oculus,' and even 'Final Destination.' Finn elaborates on a contagious approach to death by factoring in trauma and how grief and depression can have a ripple effect, but the story does not entirely feel like its own beast. To enhance the film’s already heavily pronounced themes, composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer creates a strong soundscape of playfulness and dread which perfectly compliments the juxtaposition used throughout the film’s 116 minute running time."
Marisa Mirabal, IndieWire
"The premise to this sadistically effective horror is admittedly not an original one -- there are thematic similarities with 'The Ring,' 'It Follows' and others. And there’s nothing especially novel about director Parker Finn’s approach, which favours Dutch angles and jump-scares galore. But the combination of a committed central performance from the increasingly gaunt and haunted Bacon, and a jarring, tortured score, makes for an enjoyably nasty brush with the smiling face of evil."
Wendy Ide, The Observer
"All of this is to say that everything 'Smile' is doing is familiar enough at this point to be considered old-fangled, but the striking precision of its craft sloughs away any sensations of déjà vu. The filmmakers use shallow-focus photography and place their actors dead center of the screen to unnerving effect, as in as the opening scene where Rose witnesses a smiley-faced Laura’s self-mutilation, her blood filling the frame while Cristobal Tapia de Veer’s score thrums with menace, discordant burbles giving way to panic-inducing digitized chimes."
Rocco T. Thompson, Slant Magazine
"'Smile' is often a gimmicky, even corny horror movie, packed with so many jump-scares that the sheer pile-on borders on laughable. Finn uses abrupt, loud sound cues and brutally rapid cuts to get viewers yelping and flinching over things as mundane as Rose biting into a hamburger, or tearing off a hangnail. But no matter how excessively the legitimate scares pile up, they’re startling and convincing. The editing and music are impressively tuned for maximum impact whenever the slow-burning tension resolves with an abrupt, ugly surprise. All of which makes 'Smile' an efficient ride, if an unusually unrelenting one."
Tasha Robinson, Polygon
"'Smile' is largely a movie about dread, hopelessness and the inability to escape the inevitable. It succeeds in building those feelings while thriving on jump scares, of which there are many. Of course, to build maximum tension, the camera and music sometimes lead us to think one is coming that doesn’t. For some viewers, this might wear out its welcome but -- aside from putting one of the more shocking scares in the trailer and rendering it effectively moot -- Smile had me on the ropes throughout."
Kevin Fox Jr., Paste Magazine
TILL - Abel Korzeniowski
"Composer Abel Korzeniowski has constructed a score that at times may feel overwhelming but at the same time felt needed, especially in the film's quieter moments. On its own, it is one of the best scores of the year, and paired with the film, it elevates the film even more."
Nate Richard, Collider
"'Till,' with its heavy musical score and occasional dollops of heavy exposition, can verge on prodding and hand-holding when it deals with figures outside the immediate Till family -- emotional devastation annotated with footnotes. But when it keys into Mamie’s horrifying experience, and the way she refuses to retreat from it, Chukwu and Deadwyler pack a wallop."
Jesse Hassenger, Consequence of Film
"Chukwu gets fine work from all of her actors, including the always welcome Frankie Faison as Mamie’s father. Goldberg is memorable in her few short scenes, and Jayme Lawson is also good in a role Goldberg once played, Myrlie Evers. Hall leaves a lasting impression as Emmett; his naturalistic performance makes him feel even more real to us. The haunting score by Abel Korzeniowski and the editing by Ron Patane ably assist the director in telling this story. Bobby Bukowski’s cinematography reminds us of how beautiful the South can look despite being a backdrop for so many horrible acts of racism."
Odie Henderson, RogerEbert.com
"Additionally, the score by Abel Korzeniowski is a tad too melodramatic -- especially after Deadwyler has avoided all of that. She doesn’t need the bombast and all the audience needs is her perceptive and stoic performance. And otherwise, the film’s visuals are not distinctive. But the moments that are most powerful in 'Till' are those where Chukwu concentrates on people’s faces filling the screen, both actors and extras. After all, history is told by the people who witness it."
Murtada Elfadl, The Onion AV Club
"Such subtle and conflicting emotions are left up for interpretation, and 'Till' refuses easy catharsis through any sort of clear resolution or Mamie forgiving her relatives for their mistakes. When the woman gives her final speech about the tiresome quest for equality, the maudlin orchestral music swells so loudly that it almost drowns out her words. It’s a jarring scene that marks the return of the undiluted sentimentality that dominates the film’s first half, but it’s also somewhat fitting for a work that says so much more without words than it does with them."
Derek Smith, Slant Magazine
"The measured pacing established by Chukwu and editor Ron Patane works beautifully in the early sections as a mounting sense of dread takes hold, echoed in the sorrowful strains of Abel Korzeniowski’s rich, if often overwrought, orchestral score. Curt Beech’s production design and Marci Rodgers’ costumes provide evocative period detail, with a series of stylish dresses showing how Mamie has embraced a life that no doubt would have been largely inaccessible to her in the South at that time. And DP Bobby Bukowski’s carefully composed widescreen frames keep returning, with haunting insistence, to Deadwyler’s face, forcing us to see this horrendous crime through the eyes of a mother."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
WENDELL & WILD - Bruno Coulais
"But for all the clever satirical touches and asides, the gorgeously intricate, wondrous stop-motion landscape is ultimately pure Selick, imbued with a fitting color scheme of swirling, eerily glowing greens and purples choreographed against a mischievous score by Bruno Coulais that effectively sets the mood for the film’s pre-Halloween arrival."
Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter
THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN L.A.
Screenings of older films in Los Angeles-area theaters.
November 25
AMERICAN GANGSTER (Marc Streitenfeld) [Academy Museum]
THE BLOB (Michael Hoenig) [BrainDead Studios]
CRANK (Paul Haslinger) [Los Feliz 3]
DAWN OF THE DEAD (Goblin) [Aero]
DR. STRANGELOVE, OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (Laurie Johnson) [New Beverly]
THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT (Brian Tyler) [Los Feliz 3]
FLOWER DRUM SONG (Richard Rodgers, Alfred Newman, Ken Darby) [Academy Museum]
GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND (Ry Cooder) [Fine Arts]
JACKIE BROWN [New Beverly]
KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE (Joe Hisaishi) [BrainDead Studios]
THE WILD BUNCH (Jerry Fielding), DELIVERANCE [New Beverly]
November 26
BATMAN RETURNS (Danny Elfman) [New Beverly]
BELLY (Stephen Cullo) [BrainDead Studios]
BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (Stu Phillips) [New Beverly]
BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE (Quincy Jones) [Los Feliz 3]
CHARLIE CHAN IN HONOLULU [Academy Museum]
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (John Williams) [Aero]
IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (Michael Galasso, Shigeru Umebayashi) [BrainDead Studios]
THE JOY LUCK CLUB (Rachel Portman) [Academy Museum]
THE JOY LUCK CLUB (Rachel Portman) [BrainDead Studios]
LOVE ACTUALLY (Craig Armstrong) [Alamo Drafthouse]
NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION (Angelo Badalamenti) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE NEVERENDING STORY (Klaus Doldinger, Giorgio Moroder) [Academy Museum]
RETURN OF THE JEDI (John Williams) [Aero]
THE ROCK (Nick Glennie-Smith, Hans Zimmer) [Los Feliz 3]
RUN LOLA RUN (Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer) [Los Feliz 3]
STAR WARS (John Williams) [Aero]
THE WILD BUNCH (Jerry Fielding), DELIVERANCE [New Beverly]
November 27
ARMORED CAR ROBBERY [Los Feliz 3]
THE ARCH (Tsan-yuan Lu), XIU-XIU: THE SENT DOWN GIRL (Johnny Chen) [Academy Museum]
THE BAD GUYS (Daniel Pemberton) [Aero]
BATMAN RETURNS (Danny Elfman) [New Beverly]
BURDEN OF DREAMS [BrainDead Studios]
CON AIR (Trevor Rabin) [Los Feliz 3]
DEJA VU (Harry Gregson-Williams) [Los Feliz 3]
ELF (John Debney) [Alamo Drafthouse]
INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (John Williams) [Fine Arts]
THE LAST EMPEROR (Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne, Cong Su) [Academy Museum]
THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (Trevor Jones, Randy Edelman) [Fine Arts]
POINT BREAK (Mark Isham) [Los Feliz 3]
THE TALE OF ZATOICHI (Akira Ifukube) [BrainDead Studios]
TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER (Amornbhong Methakunavudh) [BrainDead Studios]
THERE WILL BE BLOOD (Jonny Greenwood) [Aero]
THE WILD BUNCH (Jerry Fielding), DELIVERANCE [New Beverly]
November 28
THE BEYOND (Fabio Frizzi) [Alamo Drafthouse]
CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE (Mike Patton) [Los Feliz 3]
GREETINGS, HI, MOM! (Eric Kaz) [New Beverly]
OVER THE EDGE (Sol Kaplan) [Los Feliz 3]
November 29
BLACK PANTHER (Ludwig Goransson) [Academy Museum]
NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION (Angelo Badalamenti) [Alamo Drafthouse]
NIGHTMARE ALLEY (Cyril J. Mockridge), ROUSTABOUT (Joseph J. Lilley) [New Beverly]
SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL (Mark Mancina) [Los Feliz 3]
THE WILD ANGELS (Mike Curb) [UCLA/Hammer]
November 30
NIGHTMARE ALLEY (Cyril J. Mockridge), ROUSTABOUT (Joseph J. Lilley) [New Beverly]
SCHOOL OF ROCK (Craig Wedren) [BrainDead Studios]
STRANGE SHADOWS IN AN EMPTY ROOM (Armando Trovajoli) [Los Feliz 3]
December 1
BABY DRIVER (Steven Price) [Los Feliz 3]
HARDCORE (Jack Nitzsche), TRACKDOWN (Charles Bernstein) [New Beverly]
HARLEM ON THE PRAIRIE [Academy Museum]
December 2
COBRA (Sylvester Levay) [New Beverly]
HARDCORE (Jack Nitzsche), TRACKDOWN (Charles Bernstein) [New Beverly]
RESERVOIR DOGS [New Beverly]
December 3
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (David Lee) [Academy Museum]
THE MERMAID (Fuhua Huang, Wendy Zheng) [UCLA/Hammer]
THE MISFITS (Alex North), CALL IT MURDER [Academy Museum]
THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (Paul Williams, Miles Goodman) [New Beverly]
NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION (Angelo Badalamenti) [Alamo Drafthouse]
PEGGY [Academy Museum]
ROBINSON'S GARDEN (Hamza Al Din, Jagatara, Yoichiro Yoshikawa) [Los Feliz 3]
THE SHINING (Wendy Carlos, Rachel Elkind) [New Beverly]
SISTERS (Bernard Herrmann), THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (Ennio Morricone) [New Beverly]
SUPERMAN (John Williams) [Academy Museum]
THE WIND RISES (Joe Hisaishi) [Alamo Drafthouse]
December 4
THE DARK CRYSTAL (Trevor Jones) [Fine Arts]
ELF (John Debney) [Alamo Drafthouse]
GASLIGHT (Bronislau Kaper) [Fine Arts]
THE HOLIDAY (Hans Zimmer) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (Paul Williams, Miles Goodman) [New Beverly]
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (Danny Elfman) [UCLA/Hammer]
SISTERS (Bernard Herrmann), THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (Ennio Morricone) [New Beverly]
WHO KILLED VINCENT CHIN? (Lucia Hwong) [Academy Museum]
THE WIND RISES (Joe Hisaishi) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY
Heard: Preminger at Fox (Raksin, Newman)
Read: Black Knight in Red Square, by Stuart M. Kaminsky
Seen: The Decks Ran Red; Malaga; The Inspection; Island in the Sun; The Sand Pebbles
Watched: Knives of the Avenger
|
