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| 12-26: Kino Lorber, Warner Archive Holiday Edition!
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| Posted By
Andy Dursin
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12/25/2023 - 10:00 PM |
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| It’s been over a quarter-century since the sci-fi tinged ‘90s thriller FACE/OFF (140 mins., 1997, R; Kino Lorber) was released, and over that time, action movies have been reduced to cinematic rubble for the most part. This slick box-office hit, then, resembles something of a swan song for the 80s/90s era genre exercise, one which progressed (more like regressed) from Arnie and Sly to the hyper-stylized works of Michael Bay. “Face/Off,” to its credit, remains a superior picture of its vintage, offering a number of delicious ingredients: take an intriguing premise, two big stars in Nicolas Cage and John Travolta giving go-for-broke performances and director John Woo at the peak of his American period – then combine them with a fairly ingenious screenplay that’s as clever with its character-interplay as it is with well-staged set-pieces. |
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| Film Score Friday 12/22/23
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| Posted By
Scott Bettencourt
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12/21/2023 - 10:00 PM |
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| The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced shortlists for the nominations in ten categories, including the two music categories:
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
“American Fiction” - Laura Karpman
“American Symphony” - Jon Batiste
“Barbie” - Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt
“The Boy and the Heron” - Joe Hisaishi
“The Color Purple” - Kris Bowers
“Elemental” - Thomas Newman
“The Holdovers” - Mark Orton
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” - John Williams
“Killers of the Flower Moon” - Robbie Robertson
“Oppenheimer” - Ludwig Goransson
“Poor Things” - Jerskin Fendrix
“Saltburn” - Anthony Willis
“Society of the Snow” - Michael Giacchino
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” - Daniel Pemberton
“The Zone of Interest” - Mica Levi
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony”
“Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven)” from “Asteroid City”
“Dance The Night” from “Barbie”
“I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie”
“What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie”
“Keep It Movin’” from “The Color Purple”
“Superpower (I)” from “The Color Purple”
“The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot”
“High Life” from “Flora and Son”
“Meet In The Middle” from “Flora and Son”
“Can’t Catch Me Now” from “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”
“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Quiet Eyes” from “Past Lives”
“Road To Freedom” from “Rustin”
“Am I Dreaming” from “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
Shortlists for the other eight categories can be found at the bottom of this column* |
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| Aisle Seat 12-19: Holiday Gift Guide Part 2
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| Posted By
Andy Dursin
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12/18/2023 - 10:00 PM |
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| Following up Part 1 of our annual Holiday Video Gift Guide, we turn our attention to a number of box-sets and TV on Disc releases newly available to viewers. These include the 4th volume in Shout Factory’s exemplary martial arts retrospectives, the SHAW BROTHERS CLASSICS. Leaping, kicking and fencing their way into the 1980s, this latest 12-disc Blu-Ray box preserves a dozen genre favorites in vivid high-def transfers, many with the option of English dubs alongside their original Mandarin soundtracks. |
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| Film Score Friday 12/15/23
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| Posted By
Scott Bettencourt
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12/14/2023 - 10:00 PM |
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The latest release from Intrada is a two-disc edition of Jerry Goldsmith's rousing score for the 1977 biopic MACARTHUR. Producer Frank McCarthy's follow-up to his Best Picture winner Patton, it was directed by Joseph Sargent (Colossus: The Forbin Project, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three) and starred Gregory Peck as the controversial US general, Dan O'Herlihy as FDR and Ed Flanders as Truman. Disc One features the original score as recorded for the film, plus alternates and source music, and Disc Two features the tracks re-recorded for the original MCA LP release.
Quartet has announced an epic batch of end-of-year releases, with scores by six top composers including five Oscar winners and one nominee.
Fernando Velazquez has conducted a new, two-disc recording of several John Barry scores - the first full recording of SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON, the Bryan Forbes-directed suspense thriller that starred Richard Attenborough and an Oscar-nominated Kim Stanley; the 1972 feature film version of Henrik Ibsen's classic play A DOLL'S HOUSE, starring Claire Bloom, Anthony Hopkins and Ralph Richardson; and three TV films starring Katharine Hepburn -- the 1973 TV adapation of Tennesse Williams' stage classic THE GLASS MENAGERIE, directed by Anthony Harvey (The Lion In Winter); LOVE AMONG THE RUINS, pairing Hepburn with another acting legend, Laurence Olivier, and directed by George Cukor; and another Cukor project, the remake of THE CORN IS GREEN.
A two-disc set pairing two early, Emmy-winning scores by John Williams: the 1968 version of HEIDI (including his score as well as the narrated LP tracks) and the 1970 version of JANE EYRE, starring Susannah York and George C. Scott, including some alternate cues.
Spain's submission for the 2023 International Feature Film Oscar is SOCIETY OF THE SNOW, an adaptation of the recent non-fiction book documenting the tragic 1972 plane crash in the Andes which previously inspired the films Survive! and Alive. Directed by J.A. Bayona (The Impossible, The Orphanage), the score reunites him with his Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom composer, Michael Giacchino.
One of the first major studio releases to feature a score by Michael Kamen was 1982's VENOM (no relation to the Marvel Comics character), an off-beat combination of hostage thriller and animals-attack horror, directed by Piers Haggard (The Blood on Satan's Claw, A Summer Story) and starring Klaus Kinski, Sterling Hayden, Nicol Williamson, Susan George and Oliver Reed. This is the first commercial release of Kamen's score, with the composer conducting the National Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ennio Morricone scored the 1979 romantic thriller BLOODLINE, based on a Sidney Sheldon novel with Terence Young directing an all-star cast including Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara, James Mason, Irene Papas, Romy Schneider, Gert Frobe and Omar Sharif. Quartet's two-disc edition features the full film score on Disc One, plus source cues, and the original sequencing from the Varese LP, plus alternates, on Disc Two.
James Horner composed the score to DAD, the 1989 dramedy starring Jack Lemmon (in Oscar-nominated Dick Smith age makeup) and Ted Danson. Quartet's two-disc release features the film score plus alternates on Disc One, and the original MCA release sequencing on Disc Two. |
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| Aisle Seat 12-14: Indie Wrap, OCN Release Blast
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| Posted By
Andy Dursin
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12/13/2023 - 10:00 PM |
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| Film Masters’ latest Blu-Ray is a double-disc package sporting two Roger Corman-produced efforts from the early ‘60s – features that comprised countless public domain releases on other formats over the years. The headliner is THE TERROR (80 mins., 1963), which found Corman at his “thriftiest,” utilizing sets from his AIP hit “The Raven” for a quickie shot in a couple of days. Jack Nicholson plays a French soldier who comes across a strange aristocrat (Boris Karloff) as well as a ghostly young woman (Sandra Knight) in a movie that’s sometimes confused as being part of Corman’s classic cycle of Edgar Allan Poe movies, but still offers low-budget thrills with more style than you might anticipate. |
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| Film Score Friday 12/8/23
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| Posted By
Scott Bettencourt
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12/7/2023 - 10:00 PM |
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Varese Sarabande's latest Deluxe Edition CD Club releases present expanded releases of two scores by members of Hollywood's First Family of Film Music, the Newmans - Randy Newman's Oscar-nominated score for the 1998 fantasy comedy PLEASANTVILLE, starring Reese Witherspoon, Tobey Maguire, Jeff Daniels, William H. Macy and Joan Allen; and a two-disc edition of David Newman's score for SERENITY, writer-director Joss Whedon's feature film sequel to his cult classic sci-fi Western TV series Firefly.
RUNAWAY: THE EARLY WORKS OF DAVID SHIRE, the latest release from Caldera, features previously unreleased music by the Oscar-winning composer, including his music for the premiere episode of CBS Playhouse.
The latest releases from Kronos are Ronald Stein's score for the 1961 sword-and-sandals adventure ATLAS; Paul Sawtell & Bert Shefter's score for the 1971 Mexican Western LOS MERCADOS; and Francesco De Masi's score for the 1959 documentary UOMINI E MARI (Men and Sea)
The latest releases from Buysoundtrax are a fifth volume of Joe Harnell's music for THE BIONIC WOMAN, and the tracks from the 1972 album LEE HOLDRIDGE AND HIS ORCHESTRA.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Doctor Who: Revenge of the Cybermen - Carey Blyton, Peter Howell - Silva
Doctor Who: Time and the Rani - Keff McCulloch - Silva
Fairytopia - Eric Colvin - Buysoundrax [CD-R]
Guido & Maurizio De Angelis: Television Soundtracks Collection - Guido & Maurizio De Angelis - Beat
I predatori di Atlantide - Guido & Maurizio De Angelis - Beat
Killers of the Flower Moon - Robbie Robertson - Sony
La polizia incrimina la legge assolve - Guido & Maurizio De Angelis - Beat
The Sound of Music - Richard Rodgers, Irwin Kostal - Concord Music Group
The Sound of Music: Super Deluxe Edition - Richard Rodgers, Irwin Kostal - Condord Music Group |
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| Aisle Seat 12-5: Kino Lorber Rundown Plus T.R. BASKIN & TREMORS 2
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| Posted By
Andy Dursin
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12/4/2023 - 10:00 PM |
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| Filmmaker Fred Dekker has been involved in a number of genre favorites over the years, from penning the original story for Steve Miner’s haunted house chiller “House” to writing and directing the cult fave 1986 homage “Night of the Creeps.” Regrettably, the window of opportunity for some directors can open and close in a heartbeat, and as Dekker himself has noted, he “killed” his own career twice — first with the failure of the 1987 kid-fantasy THE MONSTER SQUAD (82 mins., 1987, PG-13; Kino Lorber) and later with the well-intentioned “Robocop 3,” which sat on the shelf for several years while Orion Pictures went bankrupt and the audience for the series went elsewhere. |
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Today in Film Score History:
April 26 |
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| Alan Parker begins recording his score for Jaws 3D (1983) |
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| Barry Gray died (1984) |
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| Bronislau Kaper died (1983) |
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| Bruce Broughton begins recording his score The Blue and the Gray (1982) |
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| Carmine Coppola died (1991) |
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| Dave Grusin begins recording his score for The Firm (1993) |
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| David Bell records his score for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Tracking Into the Wind” (1999) |
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| Francis Lai born (1932) |
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| Giorgio Moroder born (1940) |
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| Jerry Fielding begins recording his score for Gray Lady Down (1977) |
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| John M. Keane born (1965) |
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| Maurice Jarre begins recording his score for Distant Thunder (1988) |
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| Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score for Green Fire (1954) |
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| Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter record their score for Kronos (1957) |
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| Reinhardt Wagner born (1956) |
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