FILM SCORE FRIDAY 4/13/07

There is good news for Luddites like myself who continue to wage a futile, I Am Legend-style resistance against the current trend in download-only score releases -- MovieScore Media, the label that so far has only presented scores (including An American Haunting and Evil) in downloadable format, has announced plans to move to CD releases. The first two discs from the label should be THE PIANO TUNER OF EARTHQUAKES, the feature length fantasy from The Brothers Quay with music by Christopher Slaski and Trevor Duncan, and the romantic comedy I CAPTURE THE CASTLE, scored by Academy Award nominee Dario Marianelli.

4/24/07 - JULIA (Georges Delerue)
4/30/07 - HEAVEN CAN WAIT (Dave Grusin)
5/7/07 - ALL THAT JAZZ (Ralph Burns)
5/14/07 - RAGING BULL
5/21/07 - REDS (Stephen Sondheim, Dave Grusin)
6/4/07 - TOOTSIE (Dave Grusin)
6/11/07 - THE RIGHT STUFF (Bill Conti)
6/18/07 - A PASSAGE TO INDIA (Maurice Jarre)
6/24/07 - THE COLOR PURPLE (Quincy Jones et al)
7/9/07 - A ROOM WITH A VIEW (Richard Robbins)
7/16/07 - BROADCAST NEWS (Bill Conti)
7/23/07 - DANGEROUS LIAISONS (George Fenton)
7/30/07 - BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (John Williams)
8/6/07 - THE GODFATHER, PART III (Carmine Coppola, Nino Rota)
8/13/07 - BUGSY (Ennio Morricone)
8/20/07 - HOWARDS END (Richard Robbins)

The screenings are held at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater at 8949 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills, and most films in the series will be followed by panel discussions with the filmmakers (though thus far no composers have confirmed attendance, and John Williams will not be at the Star Wars screening). For more information, go to the Academy's website.

Perfect Stranger - Antonio Pinto - Lakeshore
Year of the Dog - Christophe Beck - Lakeshore

Adam's Apples - Jeppe Kaas
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters - Song CD on Williams Street
Disturbia - Geoff Zanelli - Song CD on Lakeshore
Exterminating Angels - Jean Musy
Lonely Hearts - Mychael Danna
Pathfinder - Jonathan Elias - Score CD due Apr. 24 from Varese Sarabande
Perfect Stranger - Antonio Pinto - Score CD on Lakeshore
Redline - Ian Honeyman, Andrew Raiher; theme by Klaus Badelt
Slow Burn - Jeff Rona
Unconscious - Sergio Moure
Year of the Dog - Christophe Beck - Score CD on Lakeshore

April 17
Miklos Rozsa: A Centenary Collection - Miklos Rozsa - Varese Sarabande
Premonition - Klaus Badelt - Varese Sarabande
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (re-recording) - Miklos Rozsa - Tadlow
April 24
Because I Said So - David Kitay - Bulletproof
Next - Mark Isham - Lakeshore
Pathfinder - Jonathan Elias - Varese Sarabande
May 15
Blood and Chocolate - Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek - Lakeshore
May 22
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - Hans Zimmer - Disney
June 12
The Lives of Others - Gabriel Yared, Stephane Moucha - Varese Sarabande
Date Unknown
Amazing Stories: Anthology Three - John Williams & various other incredible composers - Intrada Special Collection
Angel on My Shoulder - Dimitri Tiomkin - Screen Archives
The Blob (and other creepy sounds) - Ralph Carmichael - Monstrous Movie Music
D.O.A. - Dimitri Tiomkin - Screen Archives
The Enforcer - Jerry Fielding - Aleph
Film Music of John Addison - John Addison - Chandos
Goodbye Bafana - Dario Marianelli - Varese Sarabande
The Intruder and other music - Herman Stein - Monstrous Movie Music
Spellbound (re-recording) - Miklos Rozsa - Intrada

April 13 - Vladimir Cosma born (1940)
April 13 - Bill Conti born (1942)
April 13 - John Addison wins his only Oscar, for Tom Jones's score (1964)
April 14 - Shorty Rogers born (1924)
April 14 - John Barry wins his third Oscar, for The Lion in Winter score (1969)
April 14 - Georges Delerue wins his only Oscar, for A Little Romance's score; David Shire wins song Oscar for Norma Rae's "It Goes Like It Goes" (1980)
April 15 - Gert Wilden born (1923)
April 15 - Michael Kamen born (1948)
April 15 - Lalo Schifrin begins recording his score to The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971)
April 15 - Francis Lai wins the score Oscar for Love Story (1971)
April 15 - John Greenwood died (1975)
April 15 - John Williams records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "Ghost Train" (1985)
April 15 - Arthur Morton died (2000)
April 16 - Charles Chaplin born (1889)
April 16 - Henry Mancini born (1924)
April 16 - Perry Botkin Jr. born (1933)
April 16 - Chaz Jankel born (1952)
April 16 - Basil Poledouris begins recording his score to Quigley Down Under (1990)
April 17 - Jan Hammer born (1948)
April 17 - David Bell born (1954)
April 17 - Ernest Gold wins his only Oscar, for the Exodus score (1961)
April 18 - Miklos Rozsa born (1907)
April 18 - Mike Vickers born (1941)
April 18 - Kings Row released in theaters (1941)
April 18 - Andrew Powell born (1949)
April 18 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score to The King's Thief (1955)
April 18 - Maurice Jarre wins his second Oscar, for Dr. Zhivago's score; presumably decides to stick with this David Lean kid (1966)
April 19 - William Axt born (1888)
April 19 - Sol Kaplan born (1919)
April 19 - Dudley Moore born (1935)
April 19 - Jonathan Tunick born (1938)
April 19 - Alan Price born (1941)
April 19 - Lord Berners died (1950)

BLACK BOOK - Anne Dudley

"This is trash pretending to serve the cause of history: a 'Dirty Dozen' knockoff with one eye on 'Schindler's List.' Everything about it, from the earnest strivings of the musical score to the beery gropings of the Germans, has the whiff of soap opera."

Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

"Mr. Verhoeven's cartoon realism, accentuated by the sitcom lighting, the primitively staged gun battles, the gnashing teeth, whizzing bullets and thundering score, has its hard-surface appeal."

Manohla Dargis, New York Times

"Anne Dudley's big orchestral score is too generic and themeless, but, along with the trim editing, does keep the full-bodied widescreen lensing by d.p. Karl Walter Lindenlaub ('Independence Day') moving."

Derek Elley, Variety

GRINDHOUSE: PLANET TERROR - Robert Rodriguez

"Rodriguez, who wrote, directed, shot, edited, produced and composed the John Carpenter-esque score for 'Planet Terror,' pulls out the stops as he tries to out-everything the lurid, low-budget drive-in flicks that inspired his and Quentin Tarantino's grand homage."

Chris Garcia, Austin-American Statesman

THE HOAX - Carter Burwell

"Tech work creates a strong feeling for the '70s, with credit going to all hands, but especially to the expressive and varied lensing by Hallstrom's regular cinematographer Oliver Stapleton, and to Carter Burwell's delightful soundtrack, which becomes central in establishing time and mood."

Deborah Young, Variety

THE REAPING - John Frizzell

"Stephen Hopkins directs 'The Reaping' according to the Satanic horror manual, right down to the choral chanting on the soundtrack."

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

"Director Stephen Hopkins deserves some credit for bringing a lot of atmosphere to the Southern settings and for a creative use of wind chimes. But their increasingly eerie sounds are offset by an intrusive score that telegraphs the scary parts. If only there were more of them."

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle

"'The Reaping' upholds the tradition of theologically teasing thrillers like 'Rosemary's Baby,' 'The Exorcist' and 'The Omen.' Written by Chad and Carey Hayes ('House of Wax'), it's not nearly as chilling, in part because it pays tribute to those ancestors in clunky ways. John Frizzell's score is especially indulgent."

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

"Thanks only partly to composer John Frizzell, who never met a metallic kunnggg he couldn't use at the most obvious juncture, 'The Reaping' proves that you reap what you sow, and what these particular screenwriters have sown is just another word for manure."

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

FROM: Steven Schwartz

A couple you missed in your sad list of film composers we've lost in the last five years: the great Malcolm Arnold, and Morton Gould, Jack Nitzsche, Michael Small, and recently (although after your Feb. 8th anniversary) -- Herman Stein. There may be others, but those few quickly came to mind.