Intrada has announced two new limited edition Special Collection releases.
SPACECAMP was an elaborate juvenile adventure from 1986, starring Kate Capshaw, Lea Thompson, Kelly Preston, Tate Donovan, and a young Joaquin Phoenix (during his Leaf Phoenix days). The rousing orchestral score was composed by none other than John Williams (the film was one of his rare box-office flops of the 80s -- I was shocked to learn that its grosses were even lower than Monsignor's), and a score LP was released by RCA at the time of the film's release but was only released on CD as a limited edition in Japan several years later. Intrada's release, taken from the album masters and limited to 3000 units and already sold out at most sites, features the first U.S. CD release of one of Williams' most underappreciated scores.
COHEN AND TATE was a dark thriller about a kidnapping gone wrong, starring Roy Scheider and Adam Baldwin as the kidnappers and Harley Cross (The Believers, The Fly II) as their victim. The film, which received only a limited theatrical release, marked the directorial debut of Eric Red, the screenwriter of the original The Hitcher, and the score, released here for the first time, is by Oscar winner Bill Conti. The Intrada Cohen and Tate CD is limited to 1200 units.
On September 14, Varese Sarabande will release LOST: THE FINAL SEASON, a two-disc set featuring Michael Giacchino's music from the final season the popular I-can't-really-say-quite-what-genre-it-is ABC series.
On October 12 they will release a CD of Trevor Morris' music from the fourth and final season of THE TUDORS (their season three CD is due on August 24), and Jan A.P. Kaczmarek's score for the Lasse Hallstrom-directed tearjerker HACHI: A DOG'S STORY, starring Richard Gere, which bypassed a U.S. theatrical release and went straight to video in this country (the score was previously released on CD in Japan).
CORRECTION: FSM Message Board member John DeSentis will be hosting a panel on the film music of comic book movies and genre films at the New York City Comic Con on October 9 of this year (when this item was originally posted in last Friday's column, it omitted the fact that this is a film music-related panel).
The terrific new comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. the World unexpectedly features two different versions of Jerry Goldsmith's 1997 Universal Pictures fanfare. The film opens with a low-res, videograme-graphic looking version of the studio logo, accompanied by a cheap, videogame-sounding synth version of the Goldsmith theme, while the familiar, orchestral version of the fanfare plays later over the entrance of the movie star character played by Chris Evans.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Animal Kingdom - Antony Partos - Milan/Amazon [CD-R]
Beach Blanket Bingo - Les Baxter - La-La Land
Charlie St. Cloud - Rolfe Kent - Varese Sarabande
Cohen and Tate - Bill Conti - Intrada Special Collection
Countdown to Zero - Peter Golub - Lakeshore
Dexter: Season Four - Daniel Licht - Milan
The Eclipse - Fionnuala Ni Chiosain - Milan/Amazon [CD-R]
The Lone Gunmen/Harsh Realm - Mark Snow - La-La Land
Midnight Movie - Penka Kouneva - Howlin' Wolf
Nanny McPhee Returns - James Newton Howard - Varese Sarabande (U.S. release)
Piranha 3D - Michael Wandmacher - Lakeshore
Saint Joan - Mischa Spoliansky - Kritzerland
Salt - James Newton Howard - Madison Gate/Amazon [CD-R]
SpaceCamp - John Williams - Intrada Special Collection
IN THEATERS TODAY
Brotherhood - Simon Brenting, Jesper Mechlenburg
Lottery Ticket - Teddy Castellucci
Mao's Last Dancer - Christopher Gordon - Score CD on Sony (import)
Nanny McPhee Returns - James Newton Howard - Score CD on Varese Sarabande
Piranha 3D - Michael Wandmacher - Score CD on Lakeshore
The Switch - Alex Wurman - Song CD on Rhino with 2 score cues
The Tillman Story - Phillip Sheppard
Vampires Suck - Christopher Lennertz - Score CD due Aug. 31 on Lakeshore
COMING SOON
August 24
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore - Christopher Lennertz - Varese Sarabande
The Expendables - Brian Tyler - Silva Screen [pressed CD; import]
The Tudors: Season Three - Trevor Morris - Varese Sarabande
August 31
Vampires Suck - Christopher Lennertz - Lakeshore
September 14
Lost: The Final Season - Michael Giacchino - Varese Sarabande
Never Let Me Go - Rachel Portman - Varese Sarabande
The Town - Harry Gregson-Williams, David Buckley - Silva
True Blood: Season Two - Nathan Barr - Varese Sarabande
September 21
The Pillars of the Earth - Trevor Morris - Varese Sarabande
Spartacus: Blood and Sand - Joseph LoDuca - Varese Sarabande
October 12
Hachi: A Dog's Story - Jan A.P. Kaczmarek - Varese Sarabande
The Tudors: Season Four - Trevor Morris - Varese Sarabande
October 19
Friday Night Lights - W.G. Snuffy Walden - La-La Land
Date Unknown
Amore Libero (Free Love) - Fabio Frizzi - Quartet
Avanti! - Carlo Rustichelli - Quartet
Gothic Dramas - Ennio Morricone - GDM
Lawrence of Arabia (re-recording) - Maurice Jarre - Tadlow
My Brother Anastasia - Piero Piccioni - GDM
The Special Relationship - Alexandre Desplat - Varese Sarabande
Summertime Killer - Luis Bacalov - Quartet
Terminator 2: Judgment Day - Brad Fiedel - Silva
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
August 20 - Raoul Kraushaar born (1908)
August 20 - Alain Goraguer born (1931)
August 20 - Stelvio Cipriani born (1937)
August 20 - Isaac Hayes born (1942)
August 21 - Basil Poledouris born (1945)
August 21 - Joe Strummer born (1952)
August 21 - Walter Schumann died (1958)
August 21 - Angelo Francesco Lavagnino died (1987)
August 22 - Bronislau Kaper begins recording his score for Ride, Vaquero! (1952)
August 22 - Johnny Green begins recording his score for Twilight of Honor (1963)
August 22 - Bruce Broughton begins recording his score for This Girl for Hire (1983)
August 22 - John Williams begins recording his score for the Amazing Stories episode "The Mission" (1985)
August 23 - Willy Russell born (1947)
August 23 - Alexandre Desplat born (1961)
August 23 - Marvin Hatley died (1986)
August 23 - David Rose died (1990)
August 23 - James Horner begins recording his score for House of Cards (1992)
August 24 - Jean-Michel Jarre born (1948)
August 25 - Leonard Bernstein born (1918)
August 25 - John Williams begins recording his score for Bachelor Flat (1961)
August 25 - Jack Nitzsche died (2000)
August 26 - Humphrey Searle born (1915)
August 26 - Mark Snow born (1946)
August 26 - Ralph Vaughan Williams died (1958)
August 26 - Branford Marsalis born (1960)
August 26 - Fred Steiner's score for the Star Trek episode "Spock's Brain" is recorded (1968)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
ANIMAL KINGDOM - Antony Partos
"A key element in this tapestry is the critical role given to Antony Partos' part-acoustic and part-electronic score, which completely achieves what the composer calls 'a sense of the epic within the film without being melodramatic.' Michod so trusted the score he periodically uses it instead of dialogue over key dramatic moments. This rich music smoothly counterpoints 'Animal Kingdom''s unadorned script and naturalistic acting, the sense that everything they experience, no matter how shocking,s urprising or malevolent, is happening in deadly earnest."
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"The intensity of the film's nihilism is underlined by Antony Partos's ominous semielectronic score."
Stephen Holden, New York Times
EAT PRAY LOVE - Dario Marianelli
"Throughout, director Murphy relies on Dario Marianelli's too-swelling score to do the heavy lifting. Instead of underscoring the "pray" of the title (that strange, honorable effort of asking and listening), the film goes for heightened romance over nuance and quiet."
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
"Dario Marianelli's score provides melodious connective tissue for a soundtrack swollen with opera, Neil Young and various locale-appropriate tunes."
Justin Chang, Variety
THE EXPENDABLES - Brian Tyler
"While Brian Tyler's temp-sounding score beats its drums and blows its horns in support, pic crams sequences of rapidly cut, high-energy moments down our throats, such that the effect begins to resemble the waterboarding Sandra'a character endures in one particularly unpleasant scene."
Peter DeBruge, Variety
"Even with action write large, though, Brian Tyler's score too often reaches for bombast."
Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter
TALES FROM EARTHSEA - Tamiya Terashima
"Based on a series of books by Ursula K. Le Guin, this utterly earnest, philosophy-drenched story recombines its borrowed elements in imaginative ways to create a frequently gripping effect that builds to a rich climax. Thanks in part to a generous, Irish-tinged score, even scenes in which characters merely stand quietly in rustling fields seem fraught with somber majesty. The Miyazaki legacy is in good hands."
Kyle Smith, New York Post
THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN L.A.
Screenings of older films, at the following L.A. movie theaters: AMPAS,American Cinematheque: Aero, American Cinematheque: Egyptian, LACMA, New Beverly, Nuart, Royal, Silent Movie Theater and UCLA.
August 20
DEAD ALIVE, CEMETERY MAN (Manuel De Sica) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE DEVILS (Peter Maxwell Davies), ALTERED STATES (John Corigliano) [Cinematheque: Aero]
DR. STRANGELOVE, OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (Laurie Johnson) [Nuart]
IKIRU (Fumio Hayasaka) [UCLA]
IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (Minoru Miki), EMPIRE OF PASSION (Toru Takemitsu) [New Beverly]
August 21
DEATH VALLEY (Dana Kaproff) [New Beverly]
EVIL DEAD II (Joseph LoDuca), ARMY OF DARKNESS (Joseph LoDuca) [Cinematheque: Aero]
IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (Minoru Miki), EMPIRE OF PASSION (Toru Takemitsu) [New Beverly]
NOTHING LASTS FOREVER (Howard Shore) [Silent Movie Theater]
STAR TREK: INSURRECTION (Jerry Goldsmith) [Royal]
August 22
HARRY BROWN (Martin Phipps, Ruth Barrett), GET CARTER (Roy Budd) [New Beverly]
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, ZOMBIE (Giorgio Casio, Fabio Frizzi) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THRONE OF BLOOD (Masaru Sato) [UCLA]
TORQUE (Trevor Rabin) [Silent Movie Theater]
WOMEN IN LOVE (Georges Delerue), MAHLER [Cinematheque: Aero]
August 23
HARRY BROWN (Martin Phipps, Ruth Barrett), GET CARTER (Roy Budd) [New Beverly]
KISS OF DEATH (David Buttolph) [AMPAS]
August 25
TAPEHEADS (Fishbone), THE BIG PICTURE (David Nichtern) [New Beverly]
THELMA & LOUISE (Hans Zimmer) [Cinematheque: Aero]
August 26
CARRY ON CAMPING (Eric Rogers) [Cinematheque: Aero]
TAPEHEADS (Fishbone), THE BIG PICTURE (David Nichtern) [New Beverly]
August 27
CISCO PIKE, DUSTY & SWEETS MCGEE [Silent Movie Theater]
CLUELESS (David Kitay) [Nuart]
DERSU UZALA (Isaak Shvarts) [UCLA]
HEATHERS (David Newman) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Walter Schumann), M [New Beverly]
August 28
BAD DREAMS (Jay Ferguson) [New Beverly]
THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED (Alexandre Desplat), DANS PARIS (Alex Beaupain) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Walter Schumann), M [New Beverly]
STAR TREK NEMESIS (Jerry Goldsmith) [Royal]
August 29
BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE (David Newman), BILL & TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY (David Newman) [New Beverly]
DEVDAS [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE IDIOT (Fumio Hayasaka)[UCLA]
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