Varese Sarabande has announced the four new CDs in their series of limited edition releases of contemporary scores, which will begin shipping next week -- Marco Beltrami's epic symphonic score for this year's elaborate fantasy adventure SEVENTH SON, starring Oscar winners Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore along with Ben Barnes, Kit Harrington, and the ubiquitous Alicia Vikander; Dirk Brosse's score for the romantic adventure THE LOVERS, starring Josh Hartnett and directed by Roland Joffe (The Mission, The Killing Fields); Patrick Jonsson's score for 2014's Oscar-nominated documentary VIRUNGA; and the apocalyptic thriller EXTINCTION, starring Matthew Fox and Jeffrey Donovan, with music by Sergio Moure De Oteyza.
The label is also releasing A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, an 8-disc boxed set of the music for the original eight Freddy Kreuger films, with most of them including previously unreleased cues. It is expected to begin shipping the week of October 16th, and the scores (and their composers -- it's the rare franchise that used a different composer for every film) are:
A Nightmare on Elm Street (Charles Bernstein)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (Christopher Young)
A Nightmare on Elm Street III: Dream Warriors (Angelo Badalamenti)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (Craig Safan)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (Jay Ferguson)
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (Brian May)
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (J. Peter Robinson)
Freddy vs. Jason (Graeme Revell)
Next week, Intrada will release the first in their new series of soundtrack LPs.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
The Amityville Horror - Lalo Schifrin - Quartet
Cool World - Mark Isham - Quartet
Die Niebelungen - Gottfried Huppertz - Naxos
Hangover Square/5 Fingers - Bernard Herrmann - Kritzerland
Human - Armand Amar - PLG UK (import)
Il Segreto/Il Deserto Dei Tartari - Ennio Morricone - GDM
The Intern - Theodore Shapiro - Watertower [CD-R]
L'Ordinateur Des Pompes Funebres/Dis-Moi Que Tu Maimes - Claude Bolling - Music Box
Outlander Vol. 2 - Bear McCreary - Madison Gate
The Walk - Alan Silvestri - Sony
IN THEATERS TODAY
The Anomaly - Tom Linden
Ashby - Alec Puro
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution - Tom Phillips
Brand: A Second Coming - Brian Zack Lewis, This Patch of Sky
A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story - Sara Bareilles, Javier Dunn
Finders Keepers - Dan Romer, Osei Essed
Forever - Mark Mothersbaugh
The Green Inferno - Manuel Riveiro
Hotel Transylvania 2 - Mark Mothersbaugh
The Intern - Theodore Shapiro - Score CD-R on Watertower
The Keeping Room - Martin Phipps
The Man Who Saved the World - Kristian Eidnes Andersen
Pay the Ghost - Joseph LoDuca
Prophet’s Prey - Nick Cave, Warren Ellis
Stonewall - Rob Simonsen - Soundtrack CD due Oct. 16 on Lakeshore
Unbranded - Noah Sorota
Wildlike - Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans
COMING SOON
October 2
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Bear McCreary - Hollywood
Assassin's Creed - Jesper Kyd - Sumthing Else
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood - Jesper Kyd - Sumthing Else
Assassin's Creed Revelations - Jesper Kyd, Lorne Balfe - Sumthing Else
Assassin's Creed II - Jesper Kyd - Sumthing Else
Assassin's Creed III - Lorne Balfe - Sumthing Else
Extinction - Sergio Moure De Oteyza - Varese Sarabande
House of Cards: Season Three - Jeff Beal - Varese Sarabande
Jenny's Wedding - Brian Byrne - Varese Sarabande
The Lovers - Dirk Brosse - Varese Sarabande
Macbeth - Jed Kurzel - Decca (import)
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials - John Paesano - Sony
Narcos - Pedro Bromfman - Lakeshore
Pawn Sacrifice - James Newton Howard - Lakeshore
Seventh Son - Marco Beltrami - Varese Sarabande
Sodom and Gomorrah (re-recording) - Miklos Rozsa - Prometheus
Virunga - Patrick Jonsson - Varese Sarabande
October 9
Lost in Space: 50th Anniversary Soundtrack Collection - John Williams et al - La-La Land
October 16
At Long Last Love - Cole Porter - Varese Sarabande
Momentum - Laurent Eyquem - Varese Sarabande
A Nightmare on Elm Street [boxed set] - Angelo Badalamenti, Charles Bernstein, Jay Ferguson, Brian May, Graeme Revell, J. Peter Robinson, Craig Safan, Christopher Young
No Escape - Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders - Lakeshore
October 23
Attack on Titan - Shiro Sagisu - Milan
Goosebumps - Danny Elfman - Sony
He Named Me Malala - Thomas Newman - Sony
The Last Witch Hunter - Steve Jablonsky - Milan
Steve Jobs - Daniel Pemberton - Backlot
Suffragette - Alexandre Desplat - Backlot
November 6
Brooklyn - Michael Brook - Lakeshore
The Lady in the Van - George Fenton - Sony (import)
November 13
Jodorowsky's Dune - Kurt Stenzel - Cinewax
Manglehorn - Explosions in the Sky, David Wingo - Temporary Residence
Spectre - Thomas Newman - Decca
December 18
Star Wars: The Force Awakens - John Williams - Disney
Date Unknown
The Creep Behind the Camera - John Scheurmann - MovieScore
Outcast - Guillaume Roussel - MovieScore Media
Retribution - Alan Howarth - Dragon's Domain
Victor Frankenstein - Craig Armstrong - La-La Land
Watermelon Cookies: The Film Music of Zoe Poledouris-Roche - Zoe Poledouris-Roche - Dragon's Domain
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
September 25 - Dmitri Shostakovich born (1906)
September 25 - Eric Rogers born (1921)
September 25 - Michael Gibbs born (1937)
September 25 - Richard Harvey born (1953)
September 25 - Randy Kerber born (1958)
September 25 - Danny Elfman and Steve Bartek's score for the Amazing Stories episode "Mummy Daddy" is recorded (1985)
September 25 - Alan Silvestri begins recording his score for The Bodyguard (1992)
September 26 - George Gershwin born (1898)
September 26 - Simon Brint born (1950)
September 26 - Maureen McElheron born (1950)
September 26 - Henry Mancini begins recording his replacement score for The Molly Maguires (1969)
September 26 - Edward Ward died (1971)
September 26 - Robert Emmett Dolan died (1972)
September 26 - Shelly Manne died (1984)
September 27 - Recording sessions begin for Sol Kaplan’s score for Niagara (1952)
September 28 - Evan Lurie born (1954)
September 28 - Geoff Zanelli born (1974)
September 28 - Miles Davis died (1991)
September 28 - John Williams begins recording his score to Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
September 29 - Mike Post born (1944)
September 29 - Manuel Balboa born (1958)
September 29 - Theodore Shapiro born (1971)
September 29 - John Barry begins recording his score for First Love (1976)
September 30 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score for Young Bess (1952)
September 30 - Marty Stuart born (1958)
September 30 - Andrew Gross born (1969)
September 30 - Richard Einhorn begins recording his score to Dead of Winter (1986)
September 30 - Virgil Thomson died (1989)
October 1 - Irwin Kostal born (1911)
October 1 - Elia Cmiral born (1950)
October 1 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score to The Prize (1963)
October 1 - Ernst Toch died (1964)
October 1 - Johannes Kobilke born (1973)
October 2 - Leroy Shield born (1893)
October 2 - Bruce Montgomery born (1921)
October 2 - Eric Demarsan born (1938)
October 2 - Bernard Herrmann marries his first wife, writer Lucille Fletcher (1939)
October 2 - Damon Gough born (1969)
October 2 - Recording sessions begin on Nathan Barr's score to Hostel (2005)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
BEYOND THE REACH - Dickon Hinchliffe
"Leonetti and dp Russell Carpenter make evocative use of starchy, sunbaked visuals (''[Beyond] The Reach' was shot in New Mexico), though the direction rarely rises above the functional. The chase scenes, especially, are staged unimaginatively, with pumped-up music, cuts back and forth between pursuer and pursued and slow-mo at climactic moments of violence."
Jon Frosch, The Hollywood Reporter
CHILD 44 - Jon Ekstrand
"Making matters worse is the fact that the book’s atmosphere of tension and repression just turns to dead space and silence interrupted occasionally by Jon Ekstrand’s blaring, overdone music on the big screen, with Hardy never giving the lead role much more than what’s depressingly becoming the actor’s usual: another handsome brooder who’s quick with his fists and curt with his words. (This is in part why Hardy was so good in 'Locke' -- his character in that impressive film doesn’t beat up anyone but himself.)"
James Rocchi, The Wrap
"Given the historical scope of its setting and its factual basis, 'Child 44' might, sight unseen, beg comparison to 'Zodiac' or 'Memories Of Murder.' At its core, though, 'Child 44' is a boilerplate story about a brilliant rogue police officer who won’t play by the rules, is framed by corrupt superiors, and ultimately vindicated -- the domain of routine television procedural, rendered here with little inspiration. Jon Ekstrand’s by-the-numbers score has pounding timpani to accompany putatively exciting/dramatic scenes, and mournful violin solos when a child is killed. That attempt to underline sadness typifies the overall approach. Espinosa seems most comfortable in scenes emphasized by punched-up gunshots, but displays little real flair for action; he renders a big train-car brawl utterly incoherent. Besides letting his actors embarrass themselves in a variety of ways, his other main contribution is an endless series of helicopter shots of industrial chimneys and buildings twinkling in the night, regularly reminding us that we’re still in a depressing setting."
Vadim Rizov, The Dissolve
EFFIE GRAY - Paul Cantelon
"With the exception of Paul Cantelon's rather adamant score, 'Effie Gray' resists the more obvious titillations of Effie and John's scandalous relationship in favor of a subtler conceit, examining repression from the end of a painter's brush, or perhaps a critic's pen."
Matt Brennan, Slant Magazine
LITTLE BOY - Stephan Altman, Mark Foster
"This emotional disparity is emblematic of so much that’s wrong with Mexican director Alejandro Monteverde’s film, which he co-wrote with Pepe Portillo. It’s meant to be a tale of uplift for faith-based audiences, but instead wears viewers down with a heavy-handed narrative, an overbearing score and voiceover that spells out everything in cringe-inducing, folksy tones."
Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com
"'Little Boy' is narrated by its titular character as a grown man, and with a distinctly old-coot nostalgia for the town of his youth, O'Hare, the type of place 'you see in postcards.' Glossy pastels dominate the film's color palette, while its drippy score cloyingly adapts to every high and low of the narrative's ever-shifting machinery. Initially, and through its bombardment of kitsch so old-fashioned and obsessively manicured, there's only a sense that Alejandro Monteverde's film is trying to convince you of nothing more than America's exceptionalism."
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
"The problem here isn’t theological; even if it were in service of a different message entirely, the sheer gracelessness of Monteverde’s storytelling would be a massive turnoff. The decision to shoot on 35mm film stock is a refreshing touch, though the images themselves have an overly bright, goopy sheen that doesn’t always flatter Bernardo Trujillo’s well-mounted production design. And whether it’s the frequent closeups of Salvati’s tear-stained face (an image the film wields like a cudgel) or the repeated positioning of The Judgmental Onlookers in the background, there isn’t a single scene here that Monteverde doesn’t see fit to slather in folksy voiceover and/or musical corn syrup. Amid all this ham-fisted hullabaloo, the performances of Wilkinson, Tagawa and especially Watson stand out for their dignity and restraint -- beacons of grown-up sanity in a movie that is otherwise content to treat the viewer like a child, and not a particularly bright one at that."
Justin Chang, Variety
"The older tale is more enjoyable (and there’s thankfully no room for sorority jokes). Chaplin especially conjures up a winning character in Ruth, a teacher with a childlike enthusiasm for art and life. It’s during this thread that the movie hits its most emotional notes, although the heavy-handed score practically screams, 'You can start sobbing now.'"
Stephanie Merry, Washington Post
"The settings and compositions are picture-postcard, the score syrupy, the bull-riding coverage not entirely convincing, the sentiments cliched and reassuring. But, boy oh boy, the ending! In Sparks' world, when happiness rains, it pours."
Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter
TRUE STORY - Marco Beltrami
"Give the film's production designer points for expertly faking the New York Times newsroom (and for, accidentally, capturing the last days of 57th Street's grand Rizzoli bookstore). There's also a nice, steely turn by Robert John Burke as an investigator and a good score by Marco Beltrami (even if it initially quotes too obviously from 'Vertigo')"
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
"There are laughable, made-for-TV scenes throughout the film, including a montage comprised of moody shots of Finkel looking into the distance that fade into moody shots of Longo looking into the distance. This is accompanied by a piano score that matches shots of Jill playing the keyboard to Finkel’s hands clacking away on his typewriter. It’s uninspired filmmaking, to say the least. Also, there’s the requisite reveal that Finkel has covered his office wall with pages of the letters he receives from Longo -- does any writer really do this?"
Jonah Flicker, Paste Magazine
"A massively respected British theater director making his bigscreen debut, Goold opts for an iconic, somewhat larger-than-life look for the film, centering the action around such archetypal locations as the writer’s Montana cottage and the prison’s stark white visitation room, then stripping away any peripheral characters or details that might distract. It’s an assured, impressive first effort, given added heft from Marco Beltrami’s near-constant yet non-invasive score -- the sort of elegant, slightly melancholy accompaniment most often associated with Carter Burwell, beautifully rendered in pianos and strings. If anything, the music invites a depth of introspection upon which the screenplay can’t quite deliver. 'True Story' teases us along with promises that Finkel will get to the bottom of Longo’s case."
Peter Debruge, Variety
24 DAYS - Armand Amar
"To that extent, '24 Days' can sometimes feel like a thrilling 2-hour episode of, well, '24,' with twists and turns coming at you from every direction as the clock keeps ticking. Where the screenplay (by Arcady, Emilie Freche and Antoine Lacomblez) and mise-en-scene work less well is in a few heavily wrought emotional moments that ring falsely, with Arcady laying on the pathos as Armand Amar’s score churns out constant tear-jerking melodies. It’s not that tears shouldn’t be shed for such a devastating affair, but this is the kind of movie where, when somebody drops a plate on the floor, it comes crashing down in slow motion with all the blistering force of an Airbus 380.
Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter
WHITE GOD - Asher Goldschmidt
"As the dogs’ coup gathers force -- across a series of tense, stunningly staged setpieces that recall the uncanny horror of Hitchcock’s 'The Birds,' ramped up by Asher Goldschmidt’s splendid orchestral score -- the young brass player may be the only one who can soothe the savage beast(s)."
Guy Lodge, Variety
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, Arclight, Crest, LACMA, New Beverly, Nuart, Silent Movie Theater and UCLA.
September 25
HALLOWEEN H2O: 20 YEARS LATER (John Ottman) [Nuart]
THE HILLS HAVE EYES (Don Peake), THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (David Hess) [Silent Movie Theater]
HUD (Elmer Bernstein), THE HUSTLER (Kenyon Hopkins) [New Beverly]
THE LAST VALLEY (John Barry), THE NIGHT OF THE GENERALS (Maurice Jarre) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
September 26
AFTER HOURS (Howard Shore) [Silent Movie Theater]
FIVE ELEMENT NINJAS (Stephen Shing, Chun Hau So) [New Beverly]
HUD (Elmer Bernstein), THE HUSTLER (Kenyon Hopkins) [New Beverly]
INFRA-MAN (Yung-Yu Chen) [New Beverly]
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Maurice Jarre) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THE LOST WEEKEND (Miklos Rozsa) [Silent Movie Theater]
September 27
THE CANDIDATE (John Rubinstein), DOWNHILL RACER (Kenyon Hopkins) [New Beverly]
DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (Maurice Jarre) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
HAROLD AND MAUDE (Cat Stevens) [Silent Movie Theater]
INFRA-MAN (Yung-Yu Chen) [New Beverly]
ON THE WATERFRONT (Leonard Bernstein) [Arclight Hollywood]
September 28
THE CANDIDATE (John Rubinstein), DOWNHILL RACER (Kenyon Hopkins) [New Beverly]
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Andre Previn, Herbert Spencer) [Cinematheque: Aero]
September 29
THE AVENGING EAGLE (Yung-Yu Chen), THE 5 DEADLY VENOMS (Yung-Yu Chen) [New Beverly]
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (Carmen Dragon) [LACMA]
September 30
E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (John Williams) [Arclight Culver City]
EDGE OF SEVENTEEN (Tom Bailey) [UCLA]
GOLDEN SWALLOW (Wing-Fai Law), MASKED AVENGERS (Chu-Jen Wang) [New Beverly]
MALCOLM X (Terence Blanchard) [Arclight Hollywood]
October 1
GOLDEN SWALLOW (Wing-Fai Law), MASKED AVENGERS (Chu-Jen Wang) [New Beverly]
October 2
BETTER OFF DEAD (Rupert Hine) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE (Elmer Bernstein) [Nuart]
THE RED SHOES (Brian Easdale) [UCLA]
October 3
THE EVIL DEAD (Joseph LoDuca), EVIL DEAD (Joseph LoDuca) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
GILDA (M.W. Skoloff, Marlin Skiles), THE BIGAMIST (Leith Stevens) [UCLA]
October 4
THE BEYOND (Fabio Frizzi - in person) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
HABIT (Geoffrey Kidde) [Silent Movie Theater]
HIS GIRL FRIDAY (M.W. Stoloff), THE AWFUL TRUTH (Ben Oakland) [UCLA]
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