Intrada has announced their final three releases for 2011, which feature expanded versions of three previously released scores, all by Oscar-winning composers, and including two Oscar-nominated scores.

THE SAND PEBBLES was director Robert Wise's epic 1966 war drama about a U.S. gunboat in 1920s China, which earned eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor for star Steve McQueen, and Original Score for Jerry Goldsmith, his third nomination. Goldsmith's thrilling score, replete with the Asian sound that was one of his specialties, was originally released on LP by 20th Century Fox Records, and in the '90s Goldsmith re-recorded an expanded version for Varese Sarabande. The Varese CD Club released an even-more expanded version of the original score tracks, nearly all in stereo, for their Deluxe Edition, but the Intrada Sand Pebbles is a two-disc set featuring the complete score in stereo, as well as a second disc of alternate cues and source music.

THE WRONG BOX was the fourth of six films John Barry scored for director Bryan Forbes, a dark farce set in Victorian England and based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson, with an all-star cast including Michael Caine, Nannette Newman, John Mills, Ralph Richardson, Peter Sellers, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Mainstream released the original score LP which has never before had a licensed CD release. The Intrada Wrong Box features the original LP tracks in stereo, taken from a mint condition LP, as well as more than 20 minutes of previously unreleased cues in mono, and two cues in stereo from the only surviving stereo tapes.

These two releases are now available and currently shipping, but their final release of 2011 will not be available until later in the month, though it can be pre-ordered now. STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME, the 1986 entry in the series which took the classic Enterprise crew to modern day San Francisco to retrieve some whales in order to save the future, is often considered "Star Trek for people who don't like Star Trek," more of a fish-out-of-water comedy than a science-fiction adventure and in many ways the most popular of all Star Trek films (not so much for die-hard Trekkies like me, who still swear by Wrath of Khan as the gold standard of all things Trek), and certainly one of the most commercially successful. Until J.J. Abrams' blockbuster 2009 reboot of the franchise, it was the most Oscar-nominated of all the series, with four nominations including one for its composer, Leonard Rosenman, whose warm, lighthearted score featured echoes of his popular score for the animated Lord of the Rings. MCA released an LP and CD featuring major cues from this relatively brief score, but the new Intrada release features the complete original score tracks followed by many additional cues including the album versions of several pieces, Rosenman's original version of the main title, and the punk rock source song "I Hate You."

Varese Sarabande has announced two new score CD releases due February 7th of next year.

BLACK GOLD is the latest period drama from director Jean-Jacques Annaud (Quest for Fire, The Lover), set in the Middle East in the 1930s and starring Tahar Rahim (A Prophet), Mark Strong, Freida Pinto and Antonio Banderas. The score was composed by James Horner, his first new feature to be released since 2010's hit remake of The Karate Kid; Horner previously scored The Name of the Rose and Enemy at the Gates for director Annaud.

The same day, Varese will release the soundtrack to the biographical drama THERE BE DRAGONS, starring Charlie Cox (Stardust) as Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, from director Roland Joffe (The Killing Fields, The Mission). The score is by Robert Folk (Toy Soldiers, Police Academy), which may surprise moviegoers who caught the film in its first release earlier this year, when it featured a score by Oscar winner Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love, Billy Elliot). Since its first release, the film has been rescored (obviously), re-edited, and retitled There Be Dragons: Secrets of Passion. At this point, there has been no soundtrack release announced for Warbeck's score.

MAN TO MAN was the fourth of six films (to date) scored by Patrick Doyle for his Indochine director Regis Wargnier, a period adventure drama starring Joseph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas. The 2005 film was never released in the United States, and unlike most of Doyle/Wargnier's projects no soundtrack CD resulted -- until now, as MovieScore Media plans to release their Man to Man CD on December 27.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that Oscar winner Hans Zimmer and singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams (who co-wrote the score to Despicable Me) will serve as "music consultants" for the 84th Annual Academy Awards, which will be held on February 27th.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced their latest Golden Globe nominations, including the following film music categories:

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - MOTION PICTURE

THE ARTIST - Ludovic Bource
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO - Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
HUGO - Howard Shore
W.E. - Abel Korzeniowski
WAR HORSE - John Williams

BEST ORIGINAL SONG - MOTION PICTURE

"HELLO HELLO" - Gnomeo and Juliet - Music by Elton John, Lyric by Al Roberson
"THE KEEPER" - Machine Gun Preacher - Music and Lyric by Chris Cornell
"LAY YOUR HEAD DOWN" - Albert Nobbs - Music by Brian Byrne, Lyric by Glenn Close
"THE LIVING PROOF" - The Help - Music by Thomas Newman, Mary J. Blige, Harvey Mason Jr., Lyric by Mary J. Blige, Harvey Mason Jr., Damon Thomas
"MASTERPIECE" - W.E. - Music and Lyric by Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry

Demonstrating once more that film critics prefer films to be scored by people who don't normally score movies, the Los Angeles Film Critics have given their Best Score award to The Chemical Brothers for HANNA. Suggesting that the other thing that film critics love is electronica, the runner-up for the award was Cliff Martinez' score for DRIVE.

The New York Film Critics Online gave their Best Use of Music to Ludovic Bource for THE ARTIST. The Boston Society of Film Critics' award for Best Use of Music in a Film was a tie between DRIVE and THE ARTIST.

The Broadcast Film Critics Association announced their nominations for their Critics Choice Awards, including the following film music categories:

BEST SCORE

THE ARTIST - Ludovic Bource
DRIVE - Cliff Martinez
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO - Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
HUGO - Howard Shore
WAR HORSE - John Williams

BEST SONG

"HELLO HELLO" - Gnomeo & Juliet
"LIFE'S A HAPPY SONG" - The Muppets
"THE LIVING PROOF" - The Help
MAN OR MUPPET - The Muppets
PICTURES IN MY HEAD - The Muppets

CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK  

The Adventures of Tintin (U.S. release) - John Williams - Sony
Albert Nobbs - Brian Byrne - Varese Sarabande
Breaking Dawn, Part 1 - Carter Burwell - Atlantic
Capitan Trueno Y El Santao Grial - Luis Ivars - MovieScore Media
Conan the Destroyer (re-recording) - Basil Poledouris - Prometheus
Hideaways - Eric Neveux - MovieScore Media
The Sand Pebbles - Jerry Goldsmith - Intrada
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - Hans Zimmer - Watertower
We Bought a Zoo - Jonsi - Columbia
The Wrong Box - John Barry - Intrada Special Collection

IN THEATERS TODAY

Alvin and the Chimpunks: Chipwrecked - Mark Mothersbaugh - Song CD on Atlantic
Carnage - Alexandre Desplat
Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel - Air
London River - Armand Amar
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - Michael Giacchino - Score CD due Jan. 10 on Varese Sarabande
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - Hans Zimmer - Score CD on Watertower

COMING SOON

December 20
Answers to Nothing - Craig Richey - Lakeshore
The Rum Diary - Christopher Young - Lakeshore
December 27
Bernard Herrmann at 20th Century Fox - Bernard Herrmann - Varese Sarabande CD Club
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (3-disc set) - Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross - Null
The Iron Lady - Thomas Newman - Sony
Man to Man - Patrick Doyle - MovieScore Media
January 3
The First 45s of Georges Delerue - Georges Delerue - Disques CineMusique
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
February 7
Black Gold - James Horner - Varese Sarabande
There Be Dragons - Robert Folk - Varese Sarabande
Date Unknown
Chillerama: Zom-B Movie - Bear McCreary - Buysoundtrax
Doctor Who: Season Six - Murray Gold - Silva
Music from the Twilight Saga for Chamber Orchestra - Carter Burwell, Alexandre Desplat, Howard Shore - Buysoundtrax
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - Leonard Rosenman - Intrada
Synanon/Enter Laughing - Neal Hefti, Quincy Jones - Kritzerland

THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY

December 16 - Lud Gluskin born (1898)
December 16 - Noel Coward born (1889)
December 16 - Camille Saint-Saens died (1921)
December 16 - Adam Gorgoni born (1963)
December 16 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his Timeline score (2002)
December 17 - Leo Erdody born (1888)
December 17 - Don Ellis died (1978)
December 18 - Ron Jones records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Datalore" (1987)
December 19 - Galt MacDermot born (1928)
December 19 - Herbert Stothart begins recording his score for Northwest Passage (1939)
December 19 - The Thief of Bagdad premieres in London (1940)
December 19 - Fred Karlin begins recording his score to The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1973)
December 19 - Michel Magne died (1984)
December 19 - Roger Webb died (2002)
December 20 - Alex North begins recording his score to The Devil's Brigade (1967)
December 20 - Jerry Goldsmith records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "Boo!" (1985)
December 20 - Richard Hazard died (2000)
December 21 - Matthieu Chabrol born (1956)
December 21 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score for Something of Value (1956)
December 21 - Goldfinger opens in New York (1964)
December 21 - Thunderball opens in New York (1965)
December 21 - Frank Cordell begins recording his score to Mosquito Squadron (1968)
December 22 - Alfi Kabiljo born (1935)
December 22 - Guido De Angelis born (1944)
December 22 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score to Tribute to a Bad Man (1955)
December 22 - Fred Steiner's scores for the Star Trek episodes "By Any Other Name" and "The Omega Glory" are recorded (1967)
December 22 - Gordon Zahler died (1975)
December 22 - James Horner begins recording his score for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1988)
December 22 - Joe Strummer died (2002)

DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?

I MELT WITH YOU - tomandandy

"As always with a [Mark] Pellington film, the tech package is top-flight, powered by Eric Schmidt's sleek widescreen vid lensing; Ian Sebastian Kasnoff's production design, which contrasts spacious interiors with wild coastal outdoors; and a brooding score by music team tomandandy paired with Liza Richarsdon's ace music supervision."

Robert Koehler, Variety

IN DARKNESS - Antoni Komasa-Lazarkarwiecz

"The visual contrast between the worlds above and below ground is handled beautifully and evocatively, and it gives 'In Darkness'  the dreamlike quality of a fairy tale. Constriction and freedom -- and the assertion of individual will in cruelly oppressive circumstances -- are themes Ms. Holland has explored before, in 'The Secret Garden,' 'Washington Square' and her earlier World War II drama, 'Europa Europa.'  Those films were somewhat more attentive to psychological nuance. Here there is greater emphasis on the social complexities of wartime Lvov, which are represented above all by the linguistic polyphony of the dialogue. German, Yiddish, Polish and Ukrainian compete for attention, and the languages are markers not only of ethnicity but also of class and ideology. This cacophonous music -- more than the pushy, maudlin musical soundtrack -- provides 'In Darkness' with a kernel of authenticity, as does Mr. Wieckiewicz's stoical performance. And as I have said, it is not a bad movie: it is touching, warm and dramatically satisfying. But that, given the subject matter, is exactly the problem."

A.O. Scott, New York Times

TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY - Alberto Iglesias

"Even Alberto Iglesias' old-school symphonic score and Hoyte Van Hoytema's chiaroscuro cinematography aren't quite enough to provide cover for 'Tinker Tailor''s rushed incoherence."

Dana Stevens, Slate.com

"Tech credits are aces, especially Alberto Iglesias' creepy, stealthy score, which plays off well against the sound design, and kooky, wry soundtrack choices like a Julio Iglesias cover of 'Beyond the Sea' and George Formby's 'Mr. Wu's a Window Cleaner Now.'"

Leslie Felperin, Variety

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN - Jonny Greenwood

"There is a measure of sadism in this method, to be sure, but also a lot of craft. In her previous features, 'Ratcatcher' and 'Morvern Callar,' Ms. Ramsay showed a mastery of mood and atmosphere, an ability to make narrative film feel like an intoxicating and abstract fusion of painting and music. 'We Need to Talk About Kevin,' with help from Seamus McGarvey’s fever-flushed cinematography and Jonny Greenwood's heartsick, throbbing score, saturates the senses like illness or bad weather. It is beautiful and demonic, like Kevin himself, and the bad feelings it induces are likely to be accompanied by helpless and stricken admiration. You may well need to talk about it afterward, but then again, you may be left speechless."

A.O. Scott, New York Times

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, Silent Movie Theater and UCLA.

December 16
THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION (Michael Boddicker) [New Beverly]
BABES IN TOYLAND [Cinematheque: Aero]
EMMA MAE [UCLA]
HICKEY & BOGGS (Ted Ashford), CUTTER’S WAY (Jack Nitzsche) [New Beverly]
SCROOGED (Danny Elfman), BAD SANTA (David Kitay) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE TRIP (The American Music Band) [Nuart]

December 17
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S (Henry Mancini), RHUBARB (Nathan Van Cleave) [Cinematheque: Aero]
CASINO [New Beverly]
LEGEND (Tangerine Dream), LADYHAWKE (Andrew Powell) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (Richard O'Brien, Richard Hartley) [Nuart]
TUCKER & DALE VS. EVIL (Mike Shields) [New Beverly]

December 18
BEN-HUR (Miklos Rozsa) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
UP (Michael Giacchino) [Cinematheque: Aero]
WOMEN IN LOVE (Georges Delerue), THE MUSIC LOVERS (Andre Previn) [New Beverly]
Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, CHILDREN OF MEN (John Tavener) [Cinematheque: Aero]

December 19
WOMEN IN LOVE (Georges Delerue), THE MUSIC LOVERS (Andre Previn) [New Beverly]

December 20
BLACK CHRISTMAS (Carl Zittrer), SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT (Perry Botkin) [New Beverly]
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Maurice Jarre) [LACMA]
THE NAKED ISLAND (Hikaru Hayashi), KURONEKO (Hikaru Hayashi) [Silent Movie Theater]

December 21
DRIVE (Clint Mansell), WARRIOR (Mark Isham) [New Beverly]
THE NAKED ISLAND (Hikaru Hayashi), POSTCARD (Hikaru Hayashi) [Silent Movie Theater]
TOMMY (Pete Townsend), JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Andre Previn) [Million Dollar Theater/UCLA]
WHITE CHRISTMAS (Irving Berlin, Joseph Lilley) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]

December 22
DRIVE (Clint Mansell), WARRIOR (Mark Isham) [New Beverly]
ELF (John Debney), FITZWILLY (John Williams) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE NAKED ISLAND (Hikaru Hiyashi), LUCKY DRAGON NO. 5 (Hikaru Hiyashi) [Silent Movie Theater]

December 23
DIE HARD (Michael Kamen), DIE HARD 2 (Michael Kamen) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Dimitri Tiomkin) [Cinematheque: Aero]
ONIBABA (Hikaru Hiyashi), TREE WITHOUT LEAVES (Hikaru Hiyashi) [Silent Movie Theater]
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (Richard O'Brien, Richard Hartley) [Nuart]

December 24
BATTLE ROYALE (Masamichi Amano) [Silent Movie Theater]

December 25
BATTLE ROYALE (Masamichi Amano) [Silent Movie Theater]