The latest release from La-La Land, limited to 3500 units, is a two-disc, hugely expanded re-release of Elliot Goldenthal's score for director Joel Schumacher's 1995 hit franchise entry BATMAN FOREVER (nominated for three Oscars!), with Val Kilmer in his only appearance as Batman, co-starring Chris O'Donnell as Robin, Nicole Kidman as the requisite female love interest, Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face and Jim Carrey as the Riddler. Disc One features 75 minutes of Goldenthal's score; Disc Two features more than 25 minutes more of the score, plus a remastered version the original soundtrack CD cues.

CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK

Batman Forever - Elliot Goldenthal - La-La Land
Bernard Herrmann at 20th Century Fox - Bernard Herrmann - Varese Sarabande CD Club
The First 45s of Georges Delerue - Georges Delerue - Disques CineMusique
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - Leonard Rosenman - Intrada

IN THEATERS TODAY

Beneath the Darkness - Geoff Zanelli
The Devil Inside - Brett Detar, Ben Romans

COMING SOON

January 10
In the Land of Blood and Honey - songs, Gabriel Yared - Varese Sarabande
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - Michael Giacchino - Varese Sarabande
January 13
Friday the 13th (6-disc set) - Harry Manfredini - La-La Land
January 17
The Darkest Hour - Tyler Bates - Lakeshore
January 24
Big Miracle - Cliff Eidelman - Varese Sarabande
One for the Money - Deborah Lurie - Lakeshore
January 31
Sherlock - David Arnold, Michael Price - Silva
February 7
Black Gold - James Horner - Varese Sarabande
Safe House - Ramin Djawadi - Varese Sarabande
There Be Dragons - Robert Folk - Varese Sarabande
February 14
The Flowers of War - Qigang Chen - Sony (import)
Date Unknown
Battle of Neretva/The Naked and the Dead - Bernard Herrmann - Tribute Film Classics
The Raven/An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe - Les Baxter - Kritzerland
The Trial - Jean Ledrut - Kritzerland

THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY

January 6 - Mario Nascimbene died (2002)
January 7 - Leigh Harline begins recording his score for The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
January 7 - Jerry Goldsmith records the pilot score to The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964)
January 8 - Bernard Herrmann begins recording his score to On Dangerous Ground (1951)
January 8 - Ron Goodwin died (2003)
January 9 - Robert F. Brunner born (1938)
January 9 - Jimmy Page born (1944)
January 9 - Anton Karas died (1985)
January 9 - Alan Silvestri begins recording his score for The Delta Force (1986)
January 9 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for The Vanishing (1993)
January 10 - Recording sessions begin for Frederick Hollander's score for The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1952)
January 11 - Charles Previn born (1888)
January 11 - Francesco De Masi born (1930)
January 11 - Ron Jones records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The High Ground" (1990)
January 12 - Franco Piersanti born (1950)
January 12 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score to Men of the Fighting Lady (1954)
January 12 - Frank LaLoggia born (1954)
January 12 - John Williams begins recording his score for Family Plot (1976)
January 12 - Basil Poledouris begins recording his score to Amerika (1987)
January 12 - David Newman records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "Such Interesting Neighbors" (1987)

DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?

EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE - Alexandre Desplat

"Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth remove some of the book's more maddening byways and curlicues (such as the epistolary back story of the main character's German grandparents) but can't evade its biggest problems. What they wind up with is something like an especially slow-moving and unnaturally grave Wes Anderson movie, with a hero you constantly want to smack, mixed with an after-school special about grief and healing. Throw in a bunch of awkward, still-life supporting performances -- Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow, Viola Davis and Jeffrey Wright, all sitting around looking sad -- skillful cinematography by British vet Chris Menges and a Minimalist orchestral score by Alexandre Desplat, and it all adds up to something that looks and feels classy yet is really minor-league schmaltz."

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

"Rather than dilute the sap, director Stephen Daldry slathers on Alexandre Desplat's prodding score -- he did the same with Philip Glass in 'The Hours' -- and makes a motif out of a body falling from one of the Twin Towers. It's all very tasteful, he presumes."

Scott Tobias, The Onion AV Club

"The film uses these two shaky assumptions as the basis for a pair of cathartic twists, relying on its powerful supporting cast and sheer production value -- especially Chris Menges'clear-eyed lensing of New York and Alexandre Desplat's appropriately oxymoronic score, which treads the line between playfulness and respect -- to disguise the trickery involved."

Peter DeBruge, Variety

"Production-wise, the film is immaculate, from Chris Menges' lustrous cinematography and K.K. Barrett's spot-on production design to Alexandre Desplat's multi-flavored score."

Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

THE IRON LADY - Thomas Newman

"Thomas Newman's score shifts effectively between minor-key moods and bombastic authority."

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

WAR HORSE - John Williams

"One shot near the end, a view of the road leading up to the Narracotts' farm at sunset, is almost surreally extreme in its oversaturated beauty, like an old Technicolor movie remembered in a fever dream. (John Williams' score, which ladles on the strings Max Steiner-style, only contributes to the impression of mid-20th-century cinematic grandeur.)"

Dana Stevens, Slate.com

"If 'War Horse' errs on the side of overkill - from composer John Williams's insistently sweet string music to Spielberg's ludicrously romantic lighting -- it acquits its central mission with the strength and assurance of its phenomenal equine protagonist."

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

"There is no combat in the early scenes of 'War Horse,' Steven Spielberg's sweeping adaptation of the popular stage spectacle, but the film opens with a cinematic assault as audacious and unsparing as the Normandy landing in 'Saving Private Ryan.' With widescreen, pastoral vistas dappled in golden sunlight and washed in music (by John Williams) that is somehow both grand and folksy, Mr. Spielberg lays siege to your cynicism, bombarding you with strong and simple appeals to feeling."

A.O. Scott, New York Times

"Spielberg chooses to segment his unabashedly old-fashioned film into a series of meticulously-composed chapters connected by John Williams’ overemphatic score."

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

"More typical of the film's initial stretch, however, is a cloying strain of bucolic whimsy driven by John Williams' pushy score and too many comic relief cutaways to a honking goose."

Justin Chang, Variety

THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN LA.

Screenings of older films, at the following L.A. movie theaters: AMPAS, American Cinematheque: Aero, American Cinematheque: Egyptian, LACMA, New Beverly, Nuart, Silent Movie Theater and UCLA.

January 6
THE GOONIES (Dave Grusin), STAND BY ME (Jack Nitzsche) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE SKIN I LIVE IN (Alberto Iglesias), BROKEN EMBRACES (Alberto Iglesias) [New Beverly]
WEEKEND (Antoine Duhamel) [Silent Movie Theater]

January 7
FIGHT CLUB (Dust Brothers) [New Beverly]
INHERIT THE WIND (Ernest Gold) [UCLA]
THE SKIN I LIVE IN (Alberto Iglesias), BROKEN EMBRACES (Alberto Iglesias) [New Beverly]
SUPER 8 (Michael Giacchino) [Cinematheque: Aero]
WEEKEND (Antoine Duhamel) [Silent Movie Theater]

January 8
BABIES (Bruno Coulais) [UCLA]
THE FIFTH ELEMENT (Eric Serra), COWBOY BEBOP: THE MOVIE (Yoko Kanno) [New Beverly]
THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL (Richard Addinsell), SOME LIKE IT HOT (Adolph Deutsch) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
UP THE RIVER [UCLA]
WEEKEND (Antoine Duhamel) [Silent Movie Theater]

January 9
THE FIFTH ELEMENT (Eric Serra), COWBOY BEBOP: THE MOVIE (Yoko Kanno) [New Beverly]
WEEKEND (Antoine Duhamel) [Silent Movie Theater]

January 10
WEEKEND (Antoine Duhamel) [Silent Movie Theater]

January 11
NEVER LET ME GO (Rachel Portman), FAHRENHEIT 451 (Bernard Herrmann) [New Beverly]
ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (Mario Nascimbene), ONE MILLION B.C. (Werner Heyman) [UCLA/Million Dollar Theater]
WEEKEND (Antoine Duhamel) [Silent Movie Theater]

January 12
THE KING OF COMEDY (Robbie Robertson) [Silent Movie Theater]
NEVER LET ME GO (Rachel Portman), FAHRENHEIT 451 (Bernard Herrmann) [New Beverly]

January 13
COCKTAIL (J. Peter Robinson) [Silent Movie Theater]
FACE IN THE SKY, SHE WANTED A MILLIONAIRE (George Lipschultz) [UCLA]
THE MONSTER SQUAD (Bruce Broughton), THE GATE (J. Peter Robinson, Michael Hoenig) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
PHANTOM LADY (Hans J. Salter), BLACK ANGEL (Frank Skinner) [New Beverly]
TOPSY-TURVY (Carl Davis) [Silent Movie Theater]

January 14
BOTTOMS UP, MAN'S CASTLE (W. Franke Harling) [UCLA]
THE IN-LAWS (John Morris) [Silent Movie Theater]
LADY TERMINATOR (Ricky Brothers) [New Beverly]
MODERN ROMANCE (Lance Rubin) [Silent Movie Theater]
NARC (Cliff Martinez) [Cinematheque: Aero]
PHANTOM LADY (Hans J. Salter), BLACK ANGEL (Frank Skinner) [New Beverly]
PREDATOR (Alan Silvestri), PREDATOR 2 (Alan Silvestri) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]

January 15
A STAR IS BORN (Ray Heinforf) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
VIVA VILLA! (Herbert Stothart), JUAREZ (Erich Wolfgang Korngold) [New Beverly]
WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (Leslie Bricusse, Walter Scharf) [Cinematheque: Aero]