The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced their shortlists for several awards, including their music categories:
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT - Volker Bertelmann
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER - Simon Franglen
BABYLON - Justin Hurwitz
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN - Carter Burwell
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER - Ludwig Goransson
DEVOTION - Chanda Dancy
DON’T WORRY DARLING - John Powell
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE - Son Lux
THE FABELMANS - John Williams
GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY - Nathan Johnson
GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO - Alexandre Desplat
NOPE - Michael Abels
SHE SAID - Nicholas Britell
THE WOMAN KING - Terence Blanchard
WOMEN TALKING - Hildur Guonadottir
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
"Applause" - TELL IT LIKE A WOMAN
"Carolina" - WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING
"Ciao Papa" - GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO
"Dust & Ash" - THE VOICE OF DUST AND ASH
"Good Afternoon" - SPIRITED
"Hold My Hand" - TOP GUN: MAVERICK
"Lift Me Up" - BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
"My Mind & Me" - SELENA GOMEZ: MY MIND & ME
"Naatu Naatu" - RRR
"New Body Rhumba" - WHITE NOISE
"Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)" - AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
"Stand Up" - TILL
"This Is A Life" - EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
"Til You're Home" - A MAN CALLED OTTO
"Time" - AMSTERDAM
For those who are interested in the rest of this year's Oscar shortlists, please scroll to the bottom of this page.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Don't Worry Darling - John Powell - Mondo/WaterTower
Frenzy - Ron Goodwin/Henry Mancini - Quartet
The Magnificent Seven Collection - Elmer Bernstein - Quartet
Mary, Queen of Scots - John Barry - Quartet
The Sicilian Clan - Ennio Morricone - Quartet
IN THEATERS TODAY
Babylon - Justin Hurwitz - 2-disc score CD due Apr. 14 on Interscope
Living - Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch
The Pale Blue Eye - Howard Shore
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - Heitor Pereira
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody - Chanda Dancy
Women Talking - Hildur Guonadottir - Score CD due Jan. 6 on Mercury
COMING SOON
January 6
Women Talking - Hildur Guonadottir - Mercury
January 13
Doctor Who: Series 13 - The Specials - Segun Akinola - Silva
Till - Abel Korzeniowski - Decca
January 20
Halloween Ends - John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, Daniel E. Davies
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
December 23 - Georg Haentzschel born (1907)
December 23 - Ross Edwards born (1943)
December 23 - Daniele Amfitheatrof begins recording his score for Devil's Doorway (1949)
December 23 - Elmer Bernstein begins recording his replacement score to Saddle the Wind (1957)
December 23 - The 7th Voyage of Sinbad opens in New York (1958)
December 23 - Corey Allen Jackson born (1968)
December 23 - Walter Greene died (1983)
December 23 - Devonte Hynes born (1985)
December 23 - Georges Delerue begins recording his score for Sin of Innocence (1985)
December 23 - Jeff Alexander died (1989)
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)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
DEVOTION - Chanda Dancy
"'Devotion' kicks into high gear in the second half, with dazzling and impressively choreographed aerial combat sequences. Cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt ('Mank') makes it all look glorious, but a lot of the heavy lifting throughout the whole picture is done by composer Chanda Dancy ('Aftershock'). Her memorable and stirring strains carry the film through its most formulaic moments. It’s a genuinely spectacular score, elevating the best scenes into gigantic crowd pleasers in satisfying, classic Hollywood fashion."
William Bibbiani, The Wrap
"The training flights prove most impressive -- the violins of Chanda Dancy’s lush but overbearing score so intense that the pilots seem to be dodging them like enemy strafe -- but the combat sequences are shot with a clarity and artfulness that extends to their restrained use of CGI, and reflect Dillard’s maturation as a filmmaker. Little about his previous features (the diverting creature feature 'Sweetheart' and the less successful 'Sleight') suggested that he had the chops to pull this off, but the clarity of his vision shines through here even when his budget is being stretched to the breaking point."
David Ehrlich, IndieWire
"If you believe the marketing, then 'Devotion' an inspirational aerial combat epic set during the Korean War, would like very much to be thought of as 'Top Gun: Corsair.' Strip away the IMAX scope, the booming score and the flyboy swagger, however, and all that remains is a hollow shell of bland, beaten-down war movie tropes that leave Jonathan Majors to effectively fend for himself with his deeply-rooted lead portrayal of the first Black aviator in Navy history. Fortunately, cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt ('Mank') manages to liven things up with those IMAX-worthy aerial visuals, which really didn’t require Chanda Dancy’s over-modulated music cues to kick in at the slightest provocation, even in the absence of a Lady Gaga on the soundtrack."
Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter
THE INSPECTION - Animal Collective
"Color saturations help tip off different variations of Ellis’ experiences, warm reds for the erotic stuff, flat greens and grays for drab military exercises. That they all feel of the same piece and the same story, even when Bratton makes literal jumps from scene to scene, speak to his persistence of vision. (Music by Animal Collective further binds the big swings, particularly in turning seemingly expected training montages into gritty, grinding performances that take on a truly fresh cast.)"
Kate Erbland, IndieWire
"There’s brutality but also an understated hint of poetry in the way Bratton tells his story from deep inside it, making beautiful use of Baltimore experimental pop group Animal Collective’s richly varied electronic score, which often plays in gentle counterpoint to the harshness of what’s unfolding."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
SHE SAID - Nicholas Britell
"As a journalistic procedural, 'She Said' is certainly functional, building a story from the tension of uncovering sources and convincing them to provide information and, hopefully, to have them speak on the record, in spite of the serious potential social and legal cost of doing so. This is a film about conversations in diners and restaurants, phone calls and surprise house calls, hunts for evidence that corroborates what is known intuitively. Schrader’s direction is restrained and respectful to the gravity of its subject matter, allowing the inherent drama to do most of the heavy lifting and Nicholas Britell’s excellent score to pick up any slack."
Leigh Monson, The Onion AV Club
"It’s not a particularly artful film, with one too many exterior shots of The New York Times’ office and a rote score by Nicholas Brittell used to emphasize that what’s happening is important, but it’s tough not to get increasingly invested in Kantor and Twohey’s work. The two traveled near and far, sacrificing time with their families, in order to get this story out here. That they were both working mothers is a heavily emphasized point: not only are these good, altruistic journalists but they are also mothers, which is perhaps supposed to conjure a further degree of goodness."
Fran Hoepfner, The Wrap
"With care, thoughtfulness and rigor, Schrader and the filmmakers of 'She Said' craft a film that shows the process of building this paradigm-shifting piece of journalism in a manner that is simultaneously thrilling and grindingly methodical, aided greatly by Nicholas Britell’s score."
Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times
"'She Said''s direction is flavorless and unsure of itself, adopting conflicting strategies that tend to cancel each other out. For one, Nicholas Britell’s mawkish score frequently undercuts the film’s detached rendering of Kantor and Twohey’s investigation, and while the filmmakers keep us rigorously close to their main characters’ perspectives for the lion’s share of the film, they have a tendency of resorting to flashbacks as Kantor and Twohey’s sources tell their tales of abuse, cutting away from journalist and source at the very moments when the relationship between the two is at its most intimate and compelling. Schrader wisely resists reenacting the abuse these women endured, but the flashbacks only underscore 'She Said''s fundamental dissonance: that for a film about women reporting their abuse, its exasperatingly vague about why and how they make the decision to risk significant legal and reputational harm to do so."
Keith Watson, Slant Magazine
"True to its title, much of 'She Said' consists of conversations, where Twohey and Kantor attempt to push past reluctance, fear and a litany of NDAs to get Weinstein’s victims -- from all levels of the film industry -- to talk about their horrific experiences. The movie equals the reporters’ sincerity but not their shrewdness; it’s all too eager to explain what it’s doing at every turn. Purposes are stated, clearly and cleanly, at pitch meetings with barely a hint of conflict: 'Let’s interrogate the whole system.' The obligatory moment of possible doubt is depicted by Twohey and Kantor asking each other if they regret taking on this complicated and back-breaking story that they now worry may not make any difference. Spoiler: They do not regret it! Schrader pushes the somber score and just-the-facts cinematography as close to pure explication as possible. There is visual storytelling, but little in the way of mood or evocation."
Jesse Hassenger, Paste Magazine
WHITE NOISE - Danny Elfman
"To unpack this epic of existential dread, Baumbach has assembled a team that deserves mention. Cinematographer Lol Crawley ('Vox Lux') finds the right balance between realism and parody in his camera work, giving much of the film an exaggerated look amplified by Jess Gonchor's ace production design. The A&P here, with its bright colors and shelves of identical items, is not quite reality, but it's close enough to make its point, and the chaotic sequences of panic in the mid-section have the energy of a CGI blockbuster. Finally, Danny Elfman's score is one of the best of the year, connecting the three tonally different sections."
Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
"Danny Elfman’s score is a familiar kind of wonder. Jess Gonchor’s imaginative, varicolored production design makes every room worth staring at and layers a mercurial mood over each situation. Therese Ducey’s work in hair and Debbie Zoller’s in makeup stand out with a particular flare, and everything is captured exquisitely in the unhinged camerawork from cinematographer Lol Crawley. Baumbach’s screenplay, adapted from DeLillo’s singular novel, highlights the offbeat charisma and innocent charm of the richly drawn cast of characters, Babette chief among them."
Luke Hicks, Paste Magazine
"Until that point, 'White Noise' has found a pleasurable sweet spot between the Baumbachian and the DeLillo-esque. Much of the tetchy, disorienting domestic banter, with its volleys of data and non-sequitur factoids, comes straight from the novel, even as the disorienting screwball rhythms (the editing is by Matthew Hannam) and the overlapping lines of dialogue hark back to the director’s earlier comedies like 'The Meyerowitz Stories' and 'Mistress America.' But once its famous 'toxic airborne event' is set in motion and the entire town is forced to evacuate, the movie, like Danny Elfman’s wondrously nimble score, kicks into overdrive. Soon Jack, Babette and the kids are on the run in their station wagon, with death looming in the rearview mirror and some vintage Spielberg riffs on the road ahead."
Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
"But it moves with purpose from the get-go as composer Danny Elfman’s Coplandesque strains herald a new school year coming to life for Jack, a protective husband/father in a bustling family with kind, attentive fitness instructor Babette (a crispy-permed Greta Gerwig) and their hyperaware brood: contrarian know-it-all adolescent Heinrich (Sam Nivola); observant tweener and eating-health monitor Denise (Raffey Cassidy); and littler ones Steffie (May Nivola) and Wilder (Jodie Turner-Smith) [sic]."
Robert Abele, The Wrap
"Baumbach does something else here, however, and it’s quite fascinating (and effective at times). He turns 'White Noise' into a pastiche of 1980s Spielbergian action fantasy, with its downright nostalgic portrait of a small-town disaster. (There’s even a playfully crescendoing Danny Elfman score.) After all, the author is obsessed with the idea of spectacle, so why not turn his most beloved work into an actual spectacle? Why not turn it into a popular movie that might have been playing in theaters when the book came out? So, a brief couple of lines from the book about a gas-station stop turns into a big suspense sequence. The Gladney family’s automotive exodus in the wake of the toxic cloud becomes a goofy, grandiose car chase. Baumbach also has fun with some of the novel’s more notable set pieces, such as a duet-battle of competing lectures on Hitler and Elvis, performed brilliantly by Driver and Don Cheadle."
Bilge Ebiri, New York
"The feeling remains that Baumbach is more in command with character-driven material than with this kind of accelerated absurdist plotting, which works to the extent it does in part thanks to Danny Elfman’s dark funhouse score, an exuberant return to vintage form."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN L.A.
Screenings of older films in Los Angeles-area theaters.
December 23
CHILDREN OF MEN (John Tavener) [New Beverly]
DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS (James Horner) [Los Feliz 3]
FAME (Michael Gore) [Los Feliz 3]
GO (BT) [Los Feliz 3]
GREMLINS (Jerry Goldsmith) [Landmark Westwood]
GREMLINS (Jerry Goldsmith), GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH (Jerry Goldsmith) [New Beverly]
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Dimitri Tiomkin) [Aero]
THE LOBSTER [BrainDead Studios]
MY LIFE AS A DOG (Bjorn Isfalt) [BrainDead Studios]
RESERVOIR DOGS [New Beverly]
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (Patrick Doyle) [BrainDead Studios]
TANGERINE [Los Feliz 3]
December 24
DIE HARD (Michael Kamen) [New Beverly]
ELF (John Debney) [Aero]
HOME ALONE (John Williams) [Academy Museum]
THE POLAR EXPRESS (Alan Silvestri) [Los Feliz 3]
WHITE CHRISTMAS (Irving Berlin, Joseph J. Lilley) [Alamo Drafthouse]
December 25
ANIMAL CRACKERS, HORSE FEATHERS [New Beverly]
CAROL (Carter Burwell) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE HATEFUL EIGHT (Ennio Morricone) [New Beverly]
December 26
FLASHDANCE (Giorgio Moroder, Sylvester Levay) [Los Feliz 3]
THE FRENCH CONNECTION (Don Ellis) [Los Feliz 3]
HOUSE OF WAX (David Buttolph), THE MAD MAGICIAN [Academy Museum]
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (John Powell) [Academy Museum]
THE LOVED ONE (John Addison), CRY FOR ME, BILLY (Richard Markowitz) [New Beverly]
MARY POPPINS (Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman, Irwin Kostal) [Hollywood Legion]
December 27
CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS (Mark Mothersbaugh) [Academy Museum]
EYES WIDE SHUT (Jocelyn Pook) [Alamo Drafthouse]
KISS ME KATE (Cole Porter, Andre Previn, Saul Chaplin) [Academy Museum]
THE LOVED ONE (John Addison), CRY FOR ME, BILLY (Richard Markowitz) [New Beverly]
SPARKLE (Curtis Mayfield) [Los Feliz 3]
WHAT'S UP CONNECTION (Toshinori Kondo) [Los Feliz 3]
December 28
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Georges Auric) [BrainDead Studios]
DIAL M FOR MURDER (Dimitri Tiomkin) [Academy Museum]
FLASHDANCE (Giorgio Moroder, Sylvester Levay) [Los Feliz 3]
INSIDE OUT (Michael Giacchino) [Academy Museum]
200 CIGARETTES (Mark Mothersbaugh, Bob Mothersbaugh) [Los Feliz 3]
December 29
BETTER LUCK TOMORROW (Michael Gonzales, Tobin Mori) [Los Feliz 3]
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (John Powell) [Academy Museum]
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Maurice Jarre) [Aero]
PINA [Academy Museum]
December 30
CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS (Mark Mothersbaugh) [Academy Museum]
GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE [Academy Museum]
LAST NIGHT (Alexina Louie, Alex Pauk) [Los Feliz 3]
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Maurice Jarre) [Aero]
RESERVOIR DOGS [New Beverly]
RONIN (Elia Cmiral) [New Beverly]
SPARKLE (Curtis Mayfield) [Los Feliz 3]
200 CIGARETTES (Mark Mothersbaugh, Bob Mothersbaugh) [Los Feliz 3]
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY [BrainDead Studios]
December 31
FOUR ROOMS (Combustible Edison) [Los Feliz 3]
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (John Williams) [Academy Museum]
INSIDE OUT (Michael Giacchino) [Academy Museum]
NEW YEAR'S EVIL (W. Michael Lewis, Laurin Rinder) [New Beverly]
NOTORIOUS (Roy Webb) [New Beverly]
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY [Aero]
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (Marc Shaiman) [Alamo Drafthouse]
January 1
CINEMA PARADISO (Ennio Morricone) [New Beverly]
DUCK SOUP, THE COCOANUTS (Irving Berlin) [Aero]
NOTORIOUS (Roy Webb) [New Beverly]
PHANTOM THREAD (Jonny Greenwood) [Aero]
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (John Williams) [Academy Museum]
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELLY
Heard: Alice's Restaurant (Sherman), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Wiliams), Visions of Eight (Mancini), The Missouri Breaks (Williams), Superman (Williams)
Read: A Mother's Kisses, by Bruce Jay Friedman
Seen: The Adventures of Tintin; The Movie Orgy; Spoiler Alert; The Legend of Hell House; Ghost Story; Empire of Light; EO
Watched: 30 Rock ("Apollo, Apollo"); Penny Dreadful ("This World Is Our Hell"); The Venture Bros. ("Rapacity in Blue"); True Detective ("The Hour and the Day"); What We Do in the Shadows ("Witches"); Westworld ("The Auguries"); You're the Worst ("Men Get Strong"); Lisa and the Devil
The rest of the just-announced Oscar shortlists:
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
BLACK SLIDE
THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX AND THE HORSE
THE DEBUTANTE
THE FLYING SAILOR
THE GARBAGE MAN
ICE MERCHANTS
IT’S NICE IN HERE
MORE THAN I WANT TO REMEMBER
MY YEAR OF DICKS
NEW MOON
AN OSTRICH TOLD ME THE WORLD IS FAKE AND I THINK I BELIEVE IT
PASSENGER
SAVE RALPH
SIERRA
STEAKHOUSE
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
ALL THAT BREATHES
ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED
BAD AXE
CHILDREN OF THE MIST
DESCENDANT
FIRE OF LOVE
HALLELUJAH: LEONARD COHEN, A JOURNEY, A SONG
HIDDEN LETTERS
A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS
THE JANES
LAST FLIGHT HOME
MOONAGE DAYDREAM
NAVALNY
RETROGRADE
THE TERRITORY
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
ALL IN FAVOR
ALMOST HOME
AN IRISH GOODBYE
IVALU
LE PUPILLE
THE LONE WOLF
NAKAM
NIGHT RIDE
PLASTIC KILLER
THE RED SUITCASE
THE RIGHT WORDS
SIDERAL
THE TREATMENT
TULA
WARSHA
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
AMSTERDAM
BABYLON
THE BATMAN
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
BLONDE
CRIMES OF THE FUTURE
ELVIS
EMANCIPATION
THE WHALE
SOUND
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
BABYLON
THE BATMAN
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
ELVIS
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO
MOONAGE DAYDREAM
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
VISUAL EFFECTS
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
THE BATMAN
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS
FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE
JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION
NOPE
THIRTEEN LIVES
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
| 
