The latest release from Intrada is a two-disc set of the 1990 Chuck Norris action sequel DELTA FORCE 2, with music by Frederic Talgorn (Fortress, Robot Jox, The Temp), featuring both the complete score as well as the original soundtrack sequencing, which divided the score into orchestral and electronic suites.
For those who feel the Friday columns have not had enough random film music lists lately, please scroll to the bottom of this page.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Adieu Bonaparte/The First Circle - Gabriel Yared - Music Box
Batman: The Animated Series, vol. 4 - Shirley Walker et al - La-La Land
Batman: The Killing Joke - Michael McCuistion, Kristopher Carter, Lolita Ritmanis - La-La Land
Captain Fantastic - Alex Somers - Lakeshore
Delta Force 2 - Frederic Talgorn - Intrada Special Collection
The Flash: Season Two - Blake Neely - La-La Land
Game of Thrones: Season 6 - Ramin Djawadi - WaterTower
Indignation - Jay Wadley - Nettwerk [CD-R]
Jason Bourne - John Powell, David Buckley - Backlot
Justice League - Michael McCuistion, Lolita Ritmanis, Kristopher Carter - La-La Land
The Similars - Edy Lan - Quartet
Star Trek Beyond - Michael Giacchino - Varese Sarabande
Supergirl: Season One - Blake Neely - La-La Land
Une Femme Fidele - Mort Shuman, Pierre Porte - Music Box
Zipi Y Zape: Y La Isla Del Capitan - Fernando Velazquez - Quartet
IN THEATERS TODAY
Bad Moms - Christopher Lennertz - Song CD with 3 Lennertz cues due Aug. 19 on Sony
The Childhood of a Leader - Scott Walker - Score CD due Aug. 19 on 4AD
Don't Think Twice - Roger Neill
Equity - Alexis & Sam
Gleason - Saul Simon MacWiliams, Dan Romer
Indignation - Jay Wadley - Score CD-R on Nettwerk
Into the Forest - Max Richter
Jason Bourne - John Powell, David Buckley - Score CD on Backlot
The Land - Jongnic Bontemps
Nerve - Rob Simonsen
Shelley - Martin Dirkov
Tallulah - Michael Brook
Women He's Undressed - Cezary Skubiszewski
COMING SOON
August 5
Jesse Stone: The Ultimate Collection - Jeff Beal - Varese Sarabande
Kubo and the Two Strings - Dario Marianelli - Warner Bros.
August 12
Ben-Hur - Marco Beltrami - Sony [CD-R]
Florence Foster Jenkins - Alexandre Desplat - Decca (U.S. release)
Pete's Dragon - Daniel Hart - Disney
Voices - Jimmy Webb - Varese Sarabande
August 19
The Childhood of a Leader - Scott Walker - 4AD
Hell or High Water - Nick Cave, Warren Ellis - Milan
August 26
Is Paris Burning? (re-recording) - Maurice Jarre - Tadlow
A Tale of Love and Darkness - Nicholas Britell - Milan
September 2
The Light Between Oceans - Alexandre Desplat - Lakeshore
September 16
The Magnificent Seven - James Horner, Simon Franglen - Sony
Snowden - Craig Armstrong, Adam Peters - Deutsche Grammophon
October 28
Outlander: Season 2 - Bear McCreary - Madison Gate
Date Unknown
Bermude: La Fossa Maledetta - Stelvio Cipriani - CSC
The Chosen - Ennio Morricone - Beat
Dark Waves - Alexander Cimini - Kronos
Michele Strogoff: Il Corrirre Dello Zar - Marco Frisina - Kronos
Pappa E Ciccia - Bruno Zambroni - Beat
She - Stelvio Cipriani - Kronos
Under Suspicion - Christopher Gunning - Caldera
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
July 29 - Mikis Theodorakis born (1925)
July 29 - Gian Piero Reverberi born (1939)
July 29 - Michael Holm born (1943)
July 29 - Bronislau Kaper begins recording his score for Quentin Durward (1955)
July 29 - Lalo Schifrin begins recording his score for The Venetian Affair (1967)
July 29 - Doug Timm died (1989)
July 30 - Guenther Kauer born (1921)
July 30 - Antoine Duhamel born (1925)
July 30 - David Sanborn born (1945)
July 30 - Alexina Louie born (1949)
July 30 - Recording sessions begin for Frederick Hollander’s score for Remember the Night (1949)
July 30 - Peter Knight died (1985)
July 30 - Richard Band begins recording his score for Zone Troopers (1985)
July 31 - Barry De Vorzon born (1934)
July 31 - Michael Wolff born (1952)
July 31 - Lionel Newman begins recording his score for The Last Wagon (1956)
July 31 - John 5 born as John Lowery (1971)
July 31 - Richard Band records his score for The Alchemist (1981)
July 31 - Lennie Niehaus records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "Vanessa in the Garden" (1985)
August 1 - Walter Scharf born (1910)
August 1 - Jerome Moross born (1913)
August 1 - Lionel Bart born (1930)
August 1 - Paddy Moloney born (1938)
August 1 - Dean Wareham born (1963)
August 1 - Paul Sawtell died (1971)
August 1 - Arthur B. Rubinstein records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "Remote Control Man" (1985)
August 2 - Carlo Savina born (1919)
August 2 - Joe Harnell born (1924)
August 2 - Phillip Lambro born (1935)
August 2 - Arthur Kempel born (1945)
August 2 - Dimitri Tiomkin begins recording his score for Gunfight at the OK Corral (1956)
August 2 - Recording sessions begin on Leigh Harline’s score for No Down Payment (1957)
August 2 - Muir Mathieson died (1975)
August 2 - Irwin Bazelon died (1995)
August 3 - Louis Gruenberg born (1884)
August 3 - David Buttolph born (1902)
August 3 - Robert Emmett Dolan born (1906)
August 3 - Alfred Schnittke died (1998)
August 3 - Warren Barker died (2006)
August 4 - Bernardo Segall born (1911)
August 4 - David Raksin born (1912)
August 4 - Egisto Macchi born (1928)
August 4 - Recording sessions begin for The Prisoner of Zenda remake, with Conrad Salinger adapting Alfred Newman's original score (1952)
August 4 - Michael Small begins recording his score for Firstborn (1984)
August 4 - Egisto Macchi died (1992)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
THE INTERN - Theodore Shapiro
"The movie glides along at a low, comfortable arc, and as the credits roll you're likely to be neither blissed out nor buzzing, instead merely lulled into a kind of fuzzy cheer. Hathaway, De Niro, and Meyers have all done their jobs very well (as have production designer Kristi Zea, set decorator Susan Bode, and composer Theodore Shapiro), but this is such a nice movie, where everyone behaves well and says the right thing, with so little conflict, that it almost evaporates as it goes."
Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair
"There are a few good laughs, but they struggle to survive amid the syrupy score, overlit interiors, and smothering sense of middle-class entitlement."
J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
"'The Intern' makes a show of digging into of-the-moment issues: the idea of women in positions of power being resented by their partners, their friends, everybody; the need for 'older' people -- who, today, are younger than ever -- to feel needed and wanted in society. But Meyers can't resist adding lots of godawful mischievous, tiptoeing-elf music (courtesy of composer Theodore Shapiro). The spongy subtext of this and every Meyers movie is 'We're being serious, but we're also being FUN!' No viewer must ever be made to think too much, feel too much, or be left out. She doesn't so much tell a story as lead a team-building exercise."
Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice
"Meyers’ detractors often cite her films’ narrow focus on a moneyed sliver of society, and true to form, the story world in 'The Intern' could hardly be more homogeneous: For a film set predominantly in Brooklyn, the racial uniformity of the ensemble is regrettably striking. (Ben admits early on that he took Mandarin classes for a stretch; in Meyers’ vision of the Big Apple, it’s hard to imagine what use he might have for them.) Though the pic is brightly shot by Stephen Goldblatt and scored with chipper deodorant-ad zeal by Theodore Shapiro, it’s Kristi Zea’s impeccable production design that again proves the most defining technical element of Meyers’ filmmaking. From the sharp white corners of About the Fit’s warehouse-conversion offices to the ivory calico textures of Jules’ gorgeously refurbished brownstone, all 'The Intern’s' interiors radiate a most exclusive kind of expense."
Guy Lodge, Variety
"All of Meyers’ movies are technically polished. In this case, the sets are cleverly designed by Kristi Zea, while the music by Theodore Shapiro is gratingly schmaltzy. In the end, an overdose of blandness sinks this middling star vehicle."
Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter
WOLF TOTEM - James Horner
"It would take a director on the order of Nicholas Ray to make sense of this grab bag of landscapes and wannabe-mythopoeic themes, but the most Jean-Jacques Annaud can seem to do with the material -- drawn from a popular autobiographical novel by academic Lü Jiamin -- is to compose sun-dappled telephoto close-ups through swaying steppe grass, while late composer James Horner does the heavy lifting. The choice of 3-D as a shooting format may seem conceptually spot-on for a movie about the appeal of vast stretches of open land, but here it rarely does more than add a pop-up book foreground layer. All of this amounts to a movie without much of a reason to be, unless the viewer considers 'don’t upset the balance of nature' and 'modernity isn’t all that great' to be profound insights. (When it comes to the Cultural Revolution, this state-backed project is very tactful, for lack of a better word.) Without a center, all 'Wolf Totem' can offer are mild audiovisual pleasures: Horner’s score, perhaps the best work of the late composer’s final decade; Basenzhabu’s performance as Bilig, the fatherly leader of the Mongolian shepherd community where Chen Zhen is relocated with his buddy Yang Ke (Shawn Dou); a snowstorm attack by the wolves, driven to hunger after one of the locals trades the location of their food store in exchange for a transistor radio; the movie’s endearing reliance on fuddy-duddy ’70s zoom-ins and dummy wolves. (The dummy designer is even given opening-credits billing.) It sets out to take the viewer on a journey, but ends up giving them little more than a pleasantly diverting sight-seeing tour. There are worse ways to spend two hours. Better ones, too."
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, The Onion AV Club
"Chen’s fascination with the steppes wolves starts early on, after flouting Bilig’s advice and being cornered by a pack while traveling alone. This short early standoff already offers a solid showcase of not only James Horner’s strings and, later, brass-dominated score, which expertly ratchets up the tension, but also Annaud and cinematographer Jean-Marie Dreujou’s suggestive use of low camera angles and closeups that generate suspense and virtually anthropomorphize the menacing lupine creatures."
Boyd van Hoeij, Hollywood Reporter
"The student rescues a lone wolf cub, hides and raises it, which sounds like this might make a great family movie. But be warned that 'Wolf Totem,' featuring one of the final scores by the late great James Horner, is probably too brutal for younger children and more sensitive animal lovers."
Lou Lumenick, New York Post
"Though based on Jiang Rong's popular semi-autobiographical novel, which drew on his own experience as a herder for eleven years in Inner Mongolia, this French-Chinese production plays something like a repurposed 'Dances With Wolves,' right down to the Easternized score by the late James Horner. "
Scott Tobias, Village Voice
"Wolves, horses and sheep are the principal players in the movie’s set pieces, which are powerfully staged and tightly edited, if sometimes oversold by James Horner’s bombastic score. Annaud and his crew, including wolf trainer Andrew Simpson, nicely illustrate the animals’ cunning and coordination."
Mark Jenkins, Washington Post
"Craft contributions are superb, especially CG effects of the animals in motion, thanks to the fleet of VFX companies deployed (including Piximondo). The spectacular locations are brought to life by Dreujou’s meticulous widescreen compositions, while James Horner’s score, which provides strong emotional sweep in the non-dialogue scenes, risks being overwrought elsewhere."
Maggie Lee, 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.
July 29
A NOS AMOURS, THE MOUTH AGAPE [UCLA]
THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE (Javier Navarrete) [LACMA]
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS [New Beverly]
POSSESSION (Andrzej Korzynski) [Silent Movie Theater]
PUBLIC ENEMIES (Elliot Goldenthal), YOUNG DILLINGER (Shorty Rogers) [New Beverly]
THE SHINING (Wendy Carlos, Rachel Elkind) [Nuart]
VIOLENT COP (Daisak Kume) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
July 30
FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! (Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter) [New Beverly]
THE GOONIES (Dave Grusin) [New Beverly]
POSSESSION (Andrzej Korzynski) [Silent Movie Theater]
PUBLIC ENEMIES (Elliot Goldenthal), YOUNG DILLINGER (Shorty Rogers) [New Beverly]
SPARTACUS (Alex North) [UCLA]
SYNGENOR (Thomas Chase, Steve Rucker) [Silent Movie Theater]
July 31
THE GOONIES (Dave Grusin) [New Beverly]
HARD TO HANDLE [Silent Movie Theater]
NATIONAL VELVET (Herbert Stothart), INTERNATIONAL VELVET (Francis Lai) [New Beverly]
POSSESSION (Andrzej Korzynski) [Silent Movie Theater]
SUNRISE [Silent Movie Theater]
VAN GOGH [UCLA]
August 1
BACK TO THE FUTURE (Alan Silvestri) [Arclight Santa Monica]
THE BALLAD OF GREGORIO CORTEZ (W. Michael Lewis, Edward James Olmos) [AMPAS]
BATMAN (Nelson Riddle) [Arclight Hollywood]
FANTASTIC PLANET (Alain Goraguer) [Silent Movie Theater]
NATIONAL VELVET (Herbert Stothart), INTERNATIONAL VELVET (Francis Lai) [New Beverly]
POSSESSION (Andrzej Korzynski) [Silent Movie Theater]
August 2
BLOODFIST (Sasha Matson), BLOODFIST II (Nigel Holton) [New Beverly]
THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (Malcolm Arnold) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
JANE EYRE (Bernard Herrmann) [LACMA]
POSSESSION (Andrzej Korzynski) [Silent Movie Theater]
August 3
THE AFRICAN QUEEN (Allan Grey) [Arclight Culver City]
FANTASTIC PLANET (Alain Goraguer) [Silent Movie Theater]
HEAVEN'S GATE (David Mansfield) [Cinematheque: Aero]
HOBSON'S CHOICE (Malcolm Arnold), A PASSAGE TO INDIA (Maurice Jarre) [New Beverly]
PREDATOR (Alan Silvestri) [Arclight Hollywood]
August 4
HOBSON'S CHOICE (Malcolm Arnold), A PASSAGE TO INDIA (Maurice Jarre) [New Beverly]
KAMIKAZE '88 (Edgar Froese) [Cinematheque: Aero]
YEAR OF THE DRAGON (David Mansfield), DESPERATE HOURS (David Mansfield) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
August 5
BATMAN (Danny Elfman) [Nuart]
THE BURNING (Rick Wakeman), SLEEPAWAY CAMP (Edward Biluos), TWISTED NIGHTMARE (Bruce Wallenstein) [Cinematheque: Aero]
CHAMPION (Dimitri Tiomkin), YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN (Ray Heindorf) [UCLA]
THE DEER HUNTER (Stanley Myers) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
KILL BILL VOL. 1 (The RZA) [New Beverly]
ON THE SILVER GLOBE (Andrzej Korzynski) [Silent Movie Theater]
THE THREE MUSKETEERS (Michel Legrand), THE FOUR MUSKETEERS (Lalo Schifrin) [New Beverly]
August 6
AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE MOVIE FILM FOR THEATERS [Silent Movie Theater]
THE CIRCUS (Charles Chaplin) [New Beverly]
CROSSED SWORDS (Maurice Jarre) [New Beverly]
HEAVEN'S GATE (David Mansfield) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
LOULOU, UNDER THE SUN OF SATAN (Henri Dutilleux) [UCLA]
ON THE SILVER GLOBE (Andrzej Korzynski) [Silent Movie Theater]
THE SHOOTING (Richard Markowitz), RIDE IN THE WHIRLWIND (Robert Drasnin) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE THREE MUSKETEERS (Michel Legrand), THE FOUR MUSKETEERS (Lalo Schifrin) [New Beverly]
August 7
BIGGER THAN LIFE (David Raksin) , NO DOWN PAYMENT (Leigh Harline) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG (Dagvan Gampurev) [UCLA]
CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (Jean-Marie Senia)[Silent Movie Theater]
THE CIRCUS (Charles Chaplin)[New Beverly]
THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS (Christopher Komeda), THE WRECKING CREW (Hugo Montenegro) [New Beverly]
LADIES OF LEISURE [Silent Movie Theater]
RAZA (Manuel Parada) [UCLA]
THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT (Dee Barton), MAGNUM FORCE (Lalo Schifrin) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
For some reason, one list I'd never got around to making until now is all the winners of the Emmy for Main Title Theme Music. They initiated that category for the 1988 awards, but though there were nominations every year, it was not until 1993 that they actually awarded an Emmy in that category.
1993 – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Dennis McCarthy)
1994 – SeaQuest DSV (John Debney)
1995 – Star Trek: Voyager (Jerry Goldsmith)
1996 – Murder One (Mike Post)
1997 – EZ Streets (Mark Isham)
1998 – Fame L.A. (Maribeth Derry, Tom Snow, Robbie Buchanan, Richard Barton Lewis)
1999 – Trinity (Martin Davich)
2000 – The West Wing (W.G. Snuffy Walden)
2001 – Gideon’s Crossing (James Newton Howard)
2002 – Six Feet Under (Thomas Newman)
2003 – Monk [season 1] (Jeff Beal)
2004 - Monk [season 2] (Randy Newman)
2005 – Desperate Housewives (Danny Elfman)
2006 – Masters of Horror (Edward Shearmur)
2007 – The Tudors (Trevor Morris)
2008 – Pirate Master (Russ Landau)
2009 – Great Performances (John Williams)
2010 – Nurse Jackie (Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman)
2011 – The Borgias (Trevor Morris)
2012 – Page Eight (Paul Englishby)
2013 – Da Vinci’s Demons (Bear McCreary)
2014 – Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (Alan Silvestri)
2015 – Transparent (Dustin O’Halloran)
Some of the notable themes that received nominations but did not win:
1988 – Beauty and the Beast (Lee Holdridge)
1988 – thirtysomething (Stewart Levin, W.S. Snuffy Walden)
1990 – The Simpsons (Danny Elfman)
1990 – Twin Peaks (Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch)
1992 - The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (Laurence Rosenthal)
1994 – Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (Jay Gruska)
1994 – NYPD Blue (Mike Post)
1994 – The X-Files (Mark Snow)
1995 – Chicago Hope (Mark Isham)
1995 – ER (James Newton Howard)
1995 – Friends (Michael Skloff, Allee Willis)
1995 – My So Called Life (W.G. Snuffy Walden)
1996 – Chicago Hope [season 2] (Mark Isham)
1996 – JAG (Bruce Broughton)
2001 - Survivor (Russ Landau)
2002 - First Monday (Bruce Broughton)
2002 - Justice League (Lolita Ritmanis)
2004 - Deadwood (David Schwartz)
2005 - Justice League Unlimited (Michael McCuistion)
2005 - Stargate Atlantis (Joel Goldsmith)
2006 - Prison Break (Ramin Djawadi)
2006 - Rome (Jeff Beal)
2007 - Dexter (Rolfe Kent)
2007 - 30 Rock (Jeff Richmond)
2010 - Human Target (Bear McCreary)
2011 - Camelot (Mychael Danna, Jeff Danna)
2011 - Mildred Pierce (Carter Burwell)
2012 - Hell on Wheels (Gustavo Santaolalla)
2012 - Homeland (Sean Callery)
2013 - The Americans (Nathan Barr)
2013 - Elementary (Sean Callery)
2013 - Hemlock Grove (Nathan Barr)
2013 - House of Cards (Jeff Beal)
2014 - Black Sails (Bear McCreary)
2015 - The Dovekeepers (Jeff Beal)
2015 - Penny Dreadful (Abel Korzniowski)
2015 - Texas Rising (John Debney, Bruce Broughton)
2015 - Tyrant (Mychael Danna, Jeff Danna)
As I've been working on the continuation of the latest and "last" top forty countdown, writing about the latest rising composers as well as others who didn't make the current top 40, it occurred to me that one simple (if highly questionable) way to judge the relative commercial success of current film composers would be to rank them by the grosses of their tenth highest-grossing film. That tends to eliminate composers like Tyler Bates, who have a few megahits that don't quite represent the bulk of their output.
Here is the current top 20, by that standard:
1. John Williams - Return of the Jedi - 309 (million in U.S. dollars)
2. James Newton Howard - King Kong - 218
3. Hans Zimmer - The Da Vinci Code -217
4. Michael Giacchino - Ratatouille -206
5. John Powell - Ice Age: The Meltdown -195
6. Danny Elfman - Mission: Impossible - 180
7. Alan Silvestri - Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - 177
8. Howard Shore - The Silence of the Lambs - 130
9. Randy Newman - Seabiscuit - 120
10. Thomas Newman - Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - 118
11. John Debney - Spy Kids - 112
Harry Gregson-Williams - Spy Kids -112
13. Henry Jackman - Captain Phillips - 106
14. Alexandre Desplat - Rise of the Guardians - 103
15. Trevor Rabin - Con Air - 101
16. Christophe Beck - Due Date -100
Rupert Gregson-Williams - You Don't Mess with the Zohan - 100
Mark Mothersbaugh - Rugrats: The Movie -100
David Newman - The Cat in the Hat -100
20. Marc Shaiman - The Bucket List - 93
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