La-La Land has announced two new releases for May 20 -- a greatly expanded, two-disc edition of Hans Zimmer's score for the 1997 race-against-time thriller THE PEACEMAKER, which was the first film released by DreamWorks and gave George Clooney his first major studio lead movie role, teaming him with Nicole Kidman as well as with E.R. director Mimi Leder (Deep Impact, Pay It Forward); and Frederik Wiedmann's score for the direct-to-video animated film SON OF BATMAN.
Walt Disney Records has announced a new "Legacy Collection" series of new editions of the soundtracks to some of their classic films. June 24th will see the first of these releases, a two-disc, greatly expanded 20th anniversary edition of the music from one of their most popular contemporary films (if 1994 can still be considered "contemporary") -- THE LION KING. Hans Zimmer fans should be especially pleased -- the composer won his only Oscar to date for this film, and while the original soundtrack CD featured less than 17 minutes of his score, the new release will feature a generous amount of previously unreleased score cues.
Other planned Legacy Collection anniversary releases from Disney over the next year or so include Fantasia, The Little Mermaid and Mary Poppins, though it is not yet known how much if any previously unreleased score music they will feature.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
The Double - Andrew Hewitt - Milan
Flash Gordon vol. 2 - Michael Picton - Perseverance
The Rat Patrol Vol. 2 - Dominic Frontiere, Alex North - La-La Land
The Quiet Ones - Lucas Vidal - Varese Sarabande
Relentless Justice - Chuck Cirino - Buysoundtrax
The Sacrament - Tyler Bates - Milan
The Wedding Date (The Reception Edition) - Blake Neely - Buysoundtrax
IN THEATERS TODAY
Chapman - Chad Seiter
Chef - Music Supervisor: Mathieu Schreyer - Song CD on Milan with one Lyle Workman cue
Cyber-Seniors - Miho Hongo
Documented - Brendon Anderegg
The Double - Andrew Hewitt - Score CD on Milan
Fed Up - Michael Brook
God’s Pocket - Nathan Larson
Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return - Toby Chu - Soundtrack CD on Sony featuring 20 min. of score
Mom’s Night Out - Marc Fantini, Steffan Fantini
Neighbors - Michael Andrews
Now: In the Wings on the World Stage - David M. Saunders
Palo Alto - Devonte Hynes, Robert Schwartzman - Soundtrack CD due June 3 on Domino
Redwood Highway - John Askew
COMING SOON
May 13
Apology - Maurice Jarre - Buysoundtrax
Dan Curtis' Dracula - Robert Cobert - Varese Sarabande
Godzilla - Alexandre Desplat - Watertower
Lone Survivor - Steve Jablonsky, Explosions in the Sky - River Road
Walking with Dinosaurs - Paul Leonard-Morgan - River Road
May 20
Belle - Rachel Portman - Varese Sarabande
Calvary - Patrick Cassidy - Varese Sarabande
Cold in July - Jeff Grace - Milan
The Peacemaker - Hans Zimmer - La-La Land
Son of Batman - Frederik Wiedmann - La-La Land
May 27
Maleficent - James Newton Howard - Disney
A Million Ways to Die in the West - Joel McNeely - Back Lot
The Railway Man - David Hirschfelder - Varese Sarabande
Strike Back - Scott Shields - Varese Sarabande
June 3
Night Moves - Jeff Grace - Milan
X-Men: Days of Future Past - John Ottman - Sony
June 10
Hidden Moon - Luis Bacalov - Varese Sarabande
The Signal - Nima Fakhrara - Varese Sarabande
June 17
Bates Motel - Chris Bacon - Varese Sarabande
House of Cards: Season Two - Jeff Beal - Varese Sarabande
June 24
The Lion King (expanded) - Hans Zimmer - Disney
July 1
Game of Thrones: Season 4 - Ramin Djawadi - Watertower
Date Unknown
A Dio Piacendo - Marco Werba - Intermezzo Media
Anne & Alet - Mark R. Candasamy - MovieScore Media/Kronos
Belle Ma Povere - Piero Piccioni - Digitmovies
Bianco Rosso E Verdone - Ennio Morricone - Beat
Ciliegine - Nicola Piovani - Beat
Das Drei? Das Verfluchte Schloss - Annette Focks - Alhambra
El Lado Oscuro De La Luz - Gus Reyes - MovieScore Media/Kronos
Grand Piano - Victor Reyes - MovieScore Media/Kronos
La Ragazza Dal Pigiama Giallo - Riz Ortolani - Quartet
Le Dernier Amant Romantique/Capitaine X - Pierre Bachelet - Music Box
Le Marginal - Ennio Morricone - Music Box
Le Professionel - Ennio Morricone - Music Box
Mac and Me - Alan Silvestri - Quartet
Maciste L'Uomo Piu Forte Del Mondo - Armando Trovajoli - Digitmovies
Mein Herz in Chile - Marius Felix Lange - Alhambra
The Music of John Barry: The Definitive Collection (re-recordings) - John Barry - Silva
Patrick - Pino Donaggio - Quartet
Paura Nella Citta Del Morti Viventi - Fabio Frizzi - Beat
Senilita - Piero Piccioni - GDM
Seven Wonders of the World - Emil Newman, Jerome Moross, David Raksin - Sepia
Superseven Chiama Cairo - Angelo Francesco Lavagnino - Beat
Three Days (of Hamlet) - Jonathan Beard - Buysoundtrax
Un Bambino Di Nome Gesu' - Piero Piccioni - Saimel
Viaggio Sola - Gabriele Roberto - Beat
Walk of Shame - John Debney - Lakeshore
Wilde Wellen - Karim Sebastian Elias - Alhambra
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
May 9 - The Informer is released in theaters (1935)
May 9 - David Benoit born (1953)
May 9 - Michael Kamen records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "Mirror, Mirror" (1985)
May 10 - Max Steiner born (1888)
May 10 - Dimitri Tiomkin born (1899)
May 10 - Jay Ferguson born (1947)
May 10 - Isaac Hayes begins recording his score for Shaft (1971)
May 11 - Alexander Courage begins recording his score for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
May 11 - Ron Jones records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Up the Long Ladder" (1989)
May 12 - Gordon Jenkins born (1910)
May 12 - Burt Bacharach born (1928)
May 12 - Klaus Doldinger born (1936)
May 12 - Humphrey Searle died (1982)
May 13 - David Broekman born (1902)
May 13 - Alan Silvestri begins recording his score to Predator (1987)
May 14 - Charles Gross born (1934)
May 14 - Kenneth V. Jones born (1924)
May 14 - Tristram Cary born (1925)
May 14 - Frank Churchill died (1942)
May 14 - David Byrne born (1952)
May 14 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score for Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957)
May 15 - Bert Shefter born (1902)
May 15 - John Lanchbery born (1923)
May 15 - Brian Eno born (1948)
May 15 - Mike Oldfield born (1953)
May 15 - Recording sessions begin for Bronislau Kaper's score for Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
May 15 - Gordon Parks begins recording his score for Shaft's Big Score! (1972)
May 15 - David Munrow died (1976)
May 15 - Billy Goldenberg records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "Secret Cinema" (1985)
May 15 - John Green died (1989)
May 15 - Alexander Courage died (2008)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 - Hans Zimmer and the Magnificent Six (Michael Einziger, Junkie XL, Andrew Kawczynski, Johnny Marr, Steve Mazzaro, Pharrell Williams)
"But then things get weird. Not a lot, but enough. There are YouTube videos of science lectures. The musical score is an eccentric mash-up of Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams, and the Smiths’ Johnny Marr that feels decidedly un-blockbustery (a good thing). Jamie Foxx wanders through with a terrible comb-over, playing a rageaholic engineer named Max Dillon who only wants to be noticed. After he falls into a tank of electric eels at Oscorp headquarters, he’s definitely noticed: Transformed into the floating blue supervillain Electro, Foxx becomes the eeriest special effect in the movie, disembodying and reincorporating at will. He’s much more fun to watch than Peter’s old friend Harry, despite the latter being played by DeHaan, a demonic imp of an actor. DeHaan has done mesmerizing things in films like 'The Place Beyond the Pines' and 'Kill Your Darlings,' but he can’t do much with lines like 'Argh! You’re a fraud, Spider-Man!'"
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
"The cinematography, by mega-pic DP Dan Mindel ('John Carter,' 'Star Trek,' the upcoming 'Star Wars: Episode VII'), is not quite as clean and crisp and clear as you might hope; it's a little too quick, a little too caffeinated. The score, by Hans Zimmer and a cast of luminaries including Pharrell, Johnny Marr and Junkie XL, is more of the same as well: Bass-heavy booming that often drowns out the dialogue, straight off the rack."
James Rocchi, The Wrap
“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” is less a movie than an advertisement for future Marvel comic-book movies. While Spidey, the ultimate adolescent male fantasy, swings ecstatically through the canyons of Manhattan on strands of web, the film he’s in, like Hans Zimmer’s score, remains banal and earthbound. Garfield and Stone have chemistry, yes. But what they really need is dialogue and a more interesting relationship. Make your movie count.”
James Vernniere, Boston Herald
"None of it really amounts to much, except to lead up to 'The Amazing Spider-Man 3,' already in the works. All of this is set to an uninspiring score by Hans Zimmer, who sounds as if he borrowed it from a CNN special report theme."
Peter Howell, Toronto Star
"Occasionally, the film will do something right, something that hints at the promise of this cast, and a new understanding of the character. In particular, there's an emphasis on Spider-Man as a protector of civilians rather than a fighter that feels refreshing, particularly when framed up against the collateral damage of some other superhero movies, ones that rhyme with Stan Of Meel. And, uh, Peter uses Google rather than Bing in this one, like an actual human being. And... Webb uses a Phosphorescent song that I really like (though other musical cues, including Hans Zimmer's Pharrell and Johnny Marr-assisted score, are disappointing, particularly when the latter is used to represent the voices inside Max's head in a weird chant/rap thing)."
Oliver Lyttleton, The Playlist
"This emphasis on the necessity of heroism in contemporary society is strongly reminiscent of the reactionary post-9/11 subtext of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films; indeed, this is a more Nolan-esque effort all around than its lighter, fleeter predecessor, down to the booming, house-infused score by Hans Zimmer (replacing the more traditional orchestral work of James Horner). Zimmer’s aforementioned score has been produced in collaboration with a bespoke collective, the Magnificent Six, that includes ubiquitous hitmaker Pharrell Williams; electronic flourishes abound, though the film remains sonically unsurprising. Tellingly, when Webb decides to introduce a little acoustic earnestness to the soundtrack, it’s with a guitar ballad from 'American Idol' champ Phillip Phillips; it may name Oscorp the enemy, but this franchise remains corporate to the core."
Guy Lodge, Variety
"Blockbusters by their very nature have to appeal to a mass audience, and yet little tweaks and touches here and there add a freshness, a quirkiness that make this feel like a blockbuster franchise teenagers can embrace as well as their dads. (Mothers fare less well here, although Sally Field is excellent in her few small scenes as Aunt May.) The fact that the soundtrack is the result of a collaboration between industry veteran Hans Zimmer and a supergroup dubbed The Magnificent Six, featuring Pharrell Williams and Johnny Marr from The Smiths, sums up the film’s cross-generational project."
Leslie Felperin, Hollywood Reporter
BELLE - Rachel Portman
"It's too bad most of the younger actors -- including eligible bachelors Sam Reid, James Norton and a weaselly Tom Felton -- make far less of an impression. Or that novice director Amma Asante feels it necessary to pour on the music to make sure we're feeling exactly what she thinks we should at every single moment."
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
"Asante’s first film since her 2004 kitchen-sink debut, 'A Way of Life,' finds her working in a decidedly different and much more expensive register. The production is firmly ensconced in the tradition of quality, thanks to Ben Smithard’s picturesque widescreen lensing, Simon Bowles’ lavish production design, Anushia Nieradzik’s beautifully detailed costumes, Rachel Portman’s unsubtly emotive score, and a general air of good taste that would seem more stultifying were the material not so intrinsically compelling."
Justin Chang, Variety
BLUE RUIN - Will Blair, Brooke Blair
"Blair and Saulnier are childhood friends who have been making violent action movies together on very little money since they were kids with a Super 8 camera and a briefcase full of fake cocaine. 'Blue Ruin,' their second feature film together, was made for the impressively unprincely sum of $425,000, a portion of it raised on Kickstarter, but it looks and sounds great, with a moody blue-green palette and a sparingly used but unsettling score by the lead actor’s brothers, Will and Brooke Blair. You’ll be hearing more from these gentlemen. They’ve produced a mature meditation on the wages of violence that’s also a fully functioning go-for-broke action thriller, and -- unlike Paul Newman in that 'Torn Curtain scene' -- they’ve made it look easy."
Dana Stevens, Slate.com
“The film, a Cannes Film Festival prize winner, is brilliantly directed, photographed and written by Jeremy Saulnier. The cinematography is particularly striking, juxtaposing natural beauty with claustrophobic and darkly lit sinister spaces. The musical score subtly hits all the right eerie notes, never telegraphing or dictating what viewers should be feeling.”
Claudia Puig, USA Today
"Writer-director Jeremy Saulnier takes what seems like a Hollywoodized premise ripe for someone like Liam Neeson and strips it down to a primal essence. The movie stays rooted to Dwight's point-of-view, offering up the grim process of answering violence with violence without giving the audience a cathartic break. There's virtually no dialogue, a minimalist score and generally no diversions from the task at hand. The filmmaker exposes a sense of obligation at the heart of Dwight's mission that amplifies its grimness."
Robert Levin, AM New York
"Carefully exploiting the audience’s fear of what it can’t (or can only partially) see, Saulnier’s shallow-focus widescreen compositions amp up the suspense at key intervals, as do Julia Bloch’s crisp editing, Matt Snedecor and Dan Flosdorf’s meticulously layered sound design, and Brooke and Will Blair’s ominous synth score."
Justin Chang, Variety
"The score by Brooke and Will Blair and a complex sound mix add to the film’s off-kilter tension, although some of the ambient noises were too intrusively loud as experienced at the Cannes premiere."
Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter
LOCKE - Dickon Hinchliffe
"Knight keeps things entirely focused on the car, with the camera mostly on the inside (there are couple of exterior shots, but they never break the mood), and 'Thor' DoP Harris Zambarloukos’s Michael Mann-ish photography perfectly captures the sort of long nighttime drive of the soul that many of us could identify with (it’s also paired well with a very strong score by Dickon Hinchcliffe ('Winter’s Bone')."
Oliver Lyttleton, The Playlist
"The score is a little generic and the film takes a while to bed-in conceptually and tonally, yet 'Locke' is a grower and Knight keeps things visually interesting throughout."
Emma Simmonds, The List
"Knight gives us something else onscreen in 'Locke': a near-abstract lightscape. The headlights that pass blur into ovals and, towards the end, when the rain becomes steady, they vaguely resemble angels -- though perhaps I’m projecting. In the rearview mirror, Locke’s eyes drift amid a sea of lights. There are reflections, double exposures, patches of melancholy blue and a kind of yellow that, overexposed, makes his face blaze. Dikon Hinchliffe’s music floats, too, but there’s an underlying pulse that quickens and slows. The score, the cinematography, the editing: It all mirrors its hero’s inner state."
David Edelstein, Vulture
"Though it’s structured around a series of phone conversations in a tightly enclosed space, 'Locke' feels kinetic and suspenseful, not stilted or talky. Knight’s camera (wielded by Haris Zambarloukos) sometimes strays from his lead actor’s handsome bearded face to linger on the headlights of passing cars, rendered as shimmering oval shapes reflecting off Locke’s windshield. The ambient score by Dickon Hinchliffe adds to the mood of dreamy near-abstraction. 'Locke' reduces the existential road movie to its barest essence: a man in a car alone, waging a noble if hopeless battle against the exigencies of biology, concrete, and time. That the whole thing holds together is as unlikely a miracle as the construction of a skyscraper."
Dana Stevens, Slate.com
"This is one of the most powerful testimonies to the human attitude I have ever seen, executed with Haris Zambarloukos' striking nocturnal photography, accompanied by Dickon Hinchliffe's unobtrusive music, and featuring Hardy's solid-as-Stonehenge performance as a most unusual man of integrity."
Dann Gire, Daily Herald
"Shooting on three Red Epic digital cameras, Harris Zambarloukos breathes incredible depth and texture into the tight field, with gorgeous play of light and shadows across the car windows from the passing traffic and road landscape. Justine Wright’s mercurial editing sharpens the movie’s seductive aesthetic, while Dickon Hinchliffe of Tindersticks supplies the coolly propulsive score."
David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
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.
May 9
ASHES AND DIAMONDS (Jan Krenz), NIGHT TRAIN (Andrzej Trzaskowski) [LACMA/AMPAS]
BATMAN (Nelson Riddle), BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM (Shirley Walker) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
BREAD AND CHOCOLATE (Daniele Patucchi) [AMPAS]
CABARET (John Kander, Ralph Burns) [Silent Movie Theater]
DEATH RACE 2000 (Paul Chihara) [Silent Movie Theater]
SECRET AGENT (Louis Levy), YOUNG AND INNOCENT (Louis Levy) [Cinematheque: Aero]
SUNSET BLVD. (Franz Waxman) [Nuart]
May 10
BATMAN (Danny Elfman), BATMAN RETURNS (Danny Elfman) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
CITIZEN KANE (Bernard Herrmann) [LACMA/AMPAS]
MAN ON A SWING (Lalo Schifrin), REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS (Craig Safan) [Silent Movie Theater]
THE 39 STEPS (Louis Levy), THE LADY VANISHES (Louis Levy) [Cinematheque: Aero]
May 11
KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (Akira Ifukube), MOTHRA (Yuji Koseki) [New Beverly]
RAN (Toru Takemitsu) [Silent Movie Theater]
THE SOUND OF MUSIC (Richard Rodgers, Irwin Kostal) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
A WEDDING [UCLA]
THE WIZARD OF OZ (Harold Arlen, Herbert Stothart) [Cinematheque: Aero]
May 12
GODZILLA (Akira Ifukube) [Arclight Hollywood]
GODZILLA (Akira Ifukube) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (Akira Ifukube), MOTHRA (Yuji Koseki) [New Beverly]
THE PROFESSIONAL (Eric Serra) [Arclight Hollywood]
May 13
JANE EYRE (Bernard Herrmann) [LACMA]
May 14
TRISTANA [Cinematheque: Aero]
May 15
THE BIRDS (Oskar Sala, Remi Gassmann, Bernard Herrmann) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN (Malcolm Arnold) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
May 16
DEATH SPA (Peter Kaye) [Silent Movie Theater]
INNOCENT SORCERERS (Christopher Komeda), THE PROMISED LAND (Wojciech Kilar) [LACMA/AMPAS]
LOGAN'S RUN (Jerry Goldsmith), SOYLENT GREEN (Fred Myrow) [New Beverly]
NINETEEN EIGHTY FOUR (Dominic Muldowney), LOGAN'S RUN (Jerry Goldsmith) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (Popol Vuh) [Silent Movie Theater]
SUSPICION (Franz Waxman), TOPAZ (Maurice Jarre) [Cinematheque: Aero]
May 17
CHILDREN OF MEN (John Tavener), V FOR VENDETTA (Dario Marianelli) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
LOGAN'S RUN (Jerry Goldsmith), SOYLENT GREEN (Fred Myrow) [New Beverly]
NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (Popol Vuh) [Silent Movie Theater]
OTHELLO (Angelo Francesco Lavagnino) [Silent Movie Theater]
ROXANNE (Bruce Smeaton), ICEMAN (Bruce Smeaton) [Cinematheque: Aero]
SECRET HONOR (George Burt) [UCLA]
THE WARRIORS (Barry DeVorzon) [New Beverly]
May 18
BABES IN ARMS (George E. Stoll, Roger Edens), WORDS AND MUSIC (Lennie Hayton) [New Beverly]
BRAZIL (Michael Kamen), THX 1138 (Lalo Schifrin) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS (Bernard Herrmann), THE STRANGER (Bronislau Kaper) [LACMA/AMPAS]
MONSIEUR VERDOUX (Charlie Chaplin) [Cinematheque: Aero]
NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (Popol Vuh) [Silent Movie Theater]
OTHELLO (Angelo Francesco Lavagnino) [Silent Movie Theater]
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