 |
|
| View Mode |
| Regular | Headlines |
|
| All times are
PT (Pacific Time), U.S.A.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Film Score Friday 4/9/21 |
| Posted By: Scott Bettencourt on April 8, 2021 - 10:00 PM |
The latest release from Intrada is a two-disc, expanded version of Michael Kamen's score for the 1991 spy thriller COMPANY BUSINESS. The film, starring Gene Hackman and Mikhail Baryshnikov and originally titled Dinosaurs, was written and directed by Nicholas Meyer right before he made Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (released later the same year), but real-life changes in U.S./Soviet relations forced him to rewrite the script at the last minute and he was unsatisfied with the end result. Intrada originally released Kamen's score on CD in 1991, but the new edition features both the original sequencing, which organized the cues into suites, as well as an expanded version in traditional cue format.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Company Business - Michael Kamen - Intrada Special Collection
The Serpent (re-issue) - Ennio Morricone - Music Box
IN THEATERS TODAY
Moffie - Braam du Toit
Voyagers - Trevor Gureckis
COMING SOON
April 23
Nomadland - Ludovico Einaudi - Decca
Date Unknown
Des grives aux loupes/Le juge est une femme: Le secret de Marion - Serge Franklin - Music Box
Drop Zone - Hans Zimmer - Quartet
50 States of Fright - Christopher Young - Notefornote
La Polizia Trilogy - Stelvio Cipriani - Cinevox
Les B.O. Introuvables Vol. 4 - Mathieu Chabrol, Michel Goglat, Jean-Pierre Rusconi, Karl-Heinz Schafer, Jean-Marie Senia, Jean Wiener - Music Box
Metti lo diavolo tuo ne lo mio inferno/Leva lo diavolo tu dal...convento/Racconti proibiti...de niente vestiti - Stelvio Cipriani - Digitmovies
Mountain Cry/My Other Home - Nicolas Errera - Music Box
My Name Is Nobody - Ennio Morricone - Beat
Vamos a Matar Companeros - Ennio Morricone - Beat
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
April 9 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score to Diane (1955)
April 9 - Toshiyuki Honda born (1957)
April 9 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score to The Seventh Sin (1957)
April 9 - Arthur Benjamin died (1960)
April 9 - Nathan Van Cleave begins recording his score for Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964)
April 9 - Recording sessions begin for Krzystof Komeda’s score for Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
April 9 - Elmer Bernstein begins recording his score to The Gypsy Moths (1969)
April 9 - Alois Melichar died (1976)
April 9 - Giorgio Moroder wins his first Oscar, for his Midnight Express score (1979)
April 9 - Herbert Don Woods records his score for the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode “The Dorian Secret” (1981)
April 9 - Bill Conti wins his first Oscar, for The Right Stuff score; Michel Legrand wins his third and final Oscar, for Yentl's song score (1984)
April 10 - Dusan Radic born (1929)
April 10 - Claude Bolling born (1930)
April 10 - Denny Zeitlin born (1938)
April 10 - Shirley Walker born (1945)
April 10 - Peter Bernstein born (1951)
April 10 - Mark Oliver Everett born (1965)
April 10 - John Barry wins his first two Oscars, for the score and song Born Free (1967)
April 10 - Elmer Bernstein wins his only Oscar for, of all things, Thoroughly Modern Millie's score; Alfred Newman wins his final Oscar for Camelot's music adaptation (1968)
April 10 - Michel Legrand wins his second Oscar, for the Summer of '42 score; John Williams wins his first Oscar, for Fiddler on the Roof's music adaptation; Isaac Hayes wins his only Oscar for the song "Theme From ' Shaft'" (1972)
April 10 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for The Don Is Dead (1973)
April 10 - Nino Rota died (1979)
April 10 - John Morris begins recording his score for The In-Laws (1979)
April 10 - Toshiro Mayuzumi died (1997)
April 10 - Recording sessions begin for John Ottman’s score to Superman Returns (2006)
April 10 - Gianni Marchetti died (2012)
April 11 - Norman McLaren born (1914)
April 11 - Koichi Sugiyama born (1931)
April 11 - Herbert Stothart begins recording his score to Dragon Seed (1944)
April 11 - Caleb Sampson born (1953)
April 11 - Edwin Wendler born (1975)
April 11 - John Williams wins his fourth Oscar, for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial's score; Jack Nitzsche wins his only Oscar, for An Officer and a Gentleman's song "Up Where We Belong"; Henry Mancini wins his fourth and final Oscar, for Victor/Victoria's song score (1983)
April 11 - Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne, Cong Su win Oscars for their Last Emperor score (1988)
April 12 - Russell Garcia born (1916)
April 12 - Edwin Astley born (1922)
April 12 - Ronald Stein born (1930)
April 12 - Herbie Hancock born (1940)
April 12 - David Raksin begins recording his score for Right Cross (1950)
April 12 - Herbert Gronemeyer born (1956)
April 12 - Andy Garcia born (1956)
April 12 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score to Lust For Life (1956)
April 12 - Lisa Gerrard born (1961)
April 12 - Elmer Bernstein begins recording his score for Rampage (1963)
April 12 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for One Little Indian (1973)
April 12 - Georg Haentzschel died (1992)
April 12 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Shattered Mirror” (1996)
April 12 - Jay Chattaway records his score for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “The Changing Face of Evil” (1999)
April 12 - Richard Shores died (2001)
April 12 - Bruce Broughton begins recording his score to Eloise at the Plaza (2003)
April 13 - Vladimir Cosma born (1940)
April 13 - Bill Conti born (1942)
April 13 - John Addison wins his only Oscar, for Tom Jones's score (1964)
April 13 - Joel J. Richard born (1976)
April 13 - Howard Shore begins recording his score for Sliver (1993)
April 13 - John Williams begins recording his score for Minority Report (2002)
April 13 - Teo Usuelli died (2009)
April 14 - Jack Shaindlin born (1909)
April 14 - Ali Akbar Khan born (1922)
April 14 - Shorty Rogers born (1924)
April 14 - A.C. Newman born (1968)
April 14 - John Barry wins his third Oscar, for The Lion in Winter score (1969)
April 14 - Win Butler born (1980)
April 14 - Georges Delerue wins his only Oscar, for A Little Romance's score; David Shire wins song Oscar for Norma Rae's "It Goes Like It Goes" (1980)
April 14 - Elisabeth Lutyens died (1983)
April 15 - Gert Wilden born (1917)
April 15 - Michael Kamen born (1948)
April 15 - Dick Maas born (1951)
April 15 - Carlo Crivelli born (1953)
April 15 - Bernard Herrmann begins recording his score for A Hatful of Rain (1957)
April 15 - John Williams records his replacement score for the Land of the Giants pilot episode “The Crash” (1968)
April 15 - Francis Lai wins his only Oscar, for Love Story’s score (1971)
April 15 - John Greenwood died (1975)
April 15 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for Parts 1 & 2 of Masada (1980)
April 15 - John Williams records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "Ghost Train" (1985)
April 15 - Tim McIntire died (1986)
April 15 - Arthur Morton died (2000)
April 15 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Enterprise episode “Cogenitor” (2003)
April 15 - Les Reed died (2019)
April 15 - Lee Konitz died (2020)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
THE COURIER - Abel Korzeniowski
"Though there’s nothing new or transformative here, 'The Courier' stays afloat due to the acting by Buckley, Cumberbatch, and Ninidze. Unfortunately, Brosnahan’s performance is flat. Her character feels completely out of place here, as if Donovan were thrown in to inject an American into a very British story. Her one big scene, where she tries to terrify Wynne by describing the four minutes he’d have if a nuke were heading for London, is unconvincing and doesn’t have the reverse psychology effect the film thinks it does. I was a bit surprised that 'The Courier' worked for me as well as it did, and I must give some credit to Sean Bobbitt’s moody cinematography and Abel Korzeniowski’s engaging score. Their work gave the illusion that this film could have been made in the timeframe it is set. That sealed the deal for me."
Odie Henderson, RogerEbert.com
"From there, 'The Courier' unfolds at a brisk pace, as one short and pointed scene flows into another on the currents of Abel Korzeniowski’s Philip Glass-inspired score. Cumberbatch -- always more enjoyable as an everyman than an egoist -- renders Wynne with a fun, anxious, 'what the hell am I doing here?' energy that carries the action until his cover story begins to crumble. Ninidze makes a warm and stubbornly winsome foil as a good man in a bad situation, and the easy friendship between the film’s central figures is allowed to blossom with the unforced ease of a business contact. No suspension of belief is required to believe that Wynne and Penkovsky care for each other, or to accept the movie’s explicitly stated thesis that even the most historic changes happen two people at a time."
David Ehrlich, IndieWire
"Normally, a movie like this would probably wind up on British television, but for whatever reason, 'The Courier' has been made with the big screen in mind, which means audiences will benefit from a pair of terrific lead performances, handsome widescreen lensing (by Steve McQueen’s go-to DP, Sean Bobbitt) and a lovely waltz-like score (from Polish composer Abel Korzeniowski, who also did 'Penny Dreadful'). Those might also be there if it had been done as a TV movie -- and 'The Courier' could well wind up a part of some streaming company’s slate -- but director Dominic Cooke has a better budget to work with, and motivation to make the project cinematic."
Peter Debruge, Variety
"Unfortunately, despite the occasional lively visual touches, and a playfully out-of-character '70s prog rock score by Satoshi Takebe, the ghoulish display too often conjures up a standard-issue Hotel Transylvania rather than an inspired 'Coraline.'"
Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter
FALLING - Viggo Mortensen
"Mortensen is nothing if not sincere. 'Falling' is such a bespoke piece of filmmaking, and Mortensen so entwined in the fabric of its story, that it’s no surprise to learn that he even composed the delicate score himself. The clumsy flashbacks -- some evocative, most prescriptive -- are unmoored from either Willis or John’s perspective in a way that makes them feel as if they’re only being remembered by the man behind the camera."
David Ehrlich, IndieWire
"Mortensen makes his debut as a feature filmmaker here, writing the script, directing the movie, and composing and performing the film's score with Buckethead, his regular collaborators. It's impressive work all around. He has a sure hand and mostly excellent judgment."
Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com
"The film doesn’t give in to such grudges either, preferring a more oblique approach to revealing the source of the scars left by such parenting. If you don’t count Willis’ words to his infant son -- 'I’m sorry I brought you into this world so you could die' -- the first sign that he’s not the great father young John (Grady McKenzie) idealized comes when slightly older John (Etienne Kellici) overhears his mom (Hannah Gross) on the couch sobbing while listening to a recording of Chopin’s 'Waltz in C Sharp Minor.' (Mortensen composed and performed the gentle piano score.)"
Peter Debruge, Variety
GODZILLA VS. KONG - Tom Holkenborg
"If the infinitely slicker new movie is an allegory at all, it’s an allegory for what would happen if a really big, tool-using primate had an ancient beef with a really big radioactive dinosaur. And after so many tentpoles that have insisted on being metaphors for this or that, the abundance of sound and fury here -- take a bow, Tom Holkenborg, composer of the majestic synth score -- blissfully signifying nothing, qualifies as a colossal, giddily escapist relief."
Jessica Kiang, Los Angeles Times
"For a movie whose appeal is as elemental as 'big monsters fight good,' 'Godzilla Vs. Kong' has a lot of characters (too many, really) and a whole lot of plot, much of which will make you sound as batty as good old Bernie if you try to explain it aloud. That’s okay, though. Much like its giant stars’ 1962 title fight, this is a thoroughly unserious film, with a bombastic score, wisecracking sidekicks, evil CEOs, radioactive battle axes, a titan-sized defibrillator, and even a moment reminiscent of the infamous 'Martha' scene from 'Batman V Superman.' There may be a moral somewhere in 'Godzilla Vs. Kong' about hubris and greed, but really, this movie knows you came to see monsters punch each other. And monsters punching each other you shall get."
Katie Rife, The Onion AV Club
"Wingard and cinematographer Ben Seresin (or, more likely, a computer-bound army of pre-viz and digital F/X technicians) produce a few other eye-catchers. The skyscrapers surrounding Kong and Godzilla during their climactic match-up are lit like glowsticks, while a journey to the literal center of the Earth conjures a fleeting sense of wonder, particularly when Kong finds gravity getting all topsy-turvy. (This is also the point at which Tom 'Junkie XL' Holkenborg’s otherwise unexceptional score gets agreeably Tangerine Dreamy.) Apart from that, the copious world-unbuilding is stupefyingly perfunctory, as well as borderline offensive in its cynical disregard for human life. These callous qualities, unique to mega-budget blockbusters, are something that Edwards’s Godzilla film poetically eschewed and the sequels, with their profit-minded fixation on pleasing particular kinds of lizard-brains, regrettably embrace."
Keith Uhlich, Slant Magazine
"Not everything is a loss. Wingard does have a flair for scale and epic fight scenes, and his penchant for visual color panache and pulsing synthy musical taste is on display (some of it looks a little 'Prometheus' at times). Additionally, the story element of the little girl connecting to Kong on a deeper level and how that gets the audience to empathize with Kong -- the better character of the two, frankly -- is a smart story decision, and it gets us more emotionally involved with Kong than these movies ever usually do. Also, just the recognition that Kong is the better character for audience identification shows that the filmmakers know what they’re doing. Still, for all these wise choices, 'Godzilla Vs. Kong' never really connects or clicks, leaving us to enjoy what we can from a big loud, noisy melee. It’s 'cool sh*t,' I guess, but it’s easily forgettable and disposable in the end."
Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist
"The action thunders along in big, boisterous fashion, goosed by the dynamic synth score of Tom Holkenborg, who records as Junkie XL. With the exception of the roles played by bad-boy Bichir, the consistently amusing Henry and newcomer Hottle, who comes from an all-Deaf family, the underwritten human characters tend to fade into the background. But the draw is the heavyweight bout of the title, so few will be complaining."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
ON THE RECORD - Terence Blanchard
"Terrence Blanchard’s score wraps just enough gauze around his somber-side-of-jazz signature, delivering something that evokes both lamentation and praise. The artfully placed music cues have a way of effortlessly breaking open the emotional truth of a scene. Yet Dick and Ziering fill the story with sustained moments of quiet reflection and stick with a stately pace that actually works."
Beandrea July, The Hollywood Reporter
PINOCCHIO - Dario Marianelli
"Master prosthetics and makeup artist Mark Coulier ('Stan and Ollie,' 'Suspiria') again confirms his talents with some terrifically imaginative creations -- particular standouts are the Snail, the Judge, and the Tuna. Benigni, with no facial enhancements, is very fine, as is Vacth, the essence of a kind and beautiful fairy. Cinematography by Nicolaj Bruel, who also shot 'Dogman,' is picturesque yet muted, not nearly as dark as something from Guillermo del Toro, whose own 'Pinocchio,' scheduled for an early 2021 release, is already eagerly awaited. Dario Marianelli’s repetitive score begins with wooden flute and guitar, then gradually adds strings and accordion but remains overly precious throughout."
Jay Weissberg, Variety
"Mixing the golden fields of Tuscan wheat with the olive groves of southern Puglia, Nicolai Bruel’s cinematography is drenched in Italian atmosphere. The choices of sharecroppers’ communal farmhouses and poor Mediterranean villages by the sea remind the viewer of the hard times in which people lived. Other scenes are wantonly romantic: moonlit fields swept by Dario Marianelli’s lilting fantasy score."
Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter
THE RIDE - Jamie Christopherson
"'The Ride' begins with a scene of unexpected brutality, engineered by a racist, feral kid. Even so, its '“inspired by a true story' promise at the start rings a little tinny. And early on, the BMX-meets-'love wins' drama about a boy whose white supremacist roots and abusive home life land him in juvenile detention has an afterschool-special veneer, albeit somewhat gritty. The over-emotive score, particularly at the outset, punctuates the violence and the sentiment unnecessarily."
Lisa Kennedy, Variety
SAVAGE STATE - Sebastien Perrault
"On a filmmaking level, 'Strange State' is hypnotic throughout thanks to the strong contributions from cinematographer Christophe Duchange (whose efforts will make you wish that you could see it on the big screen where it belongs), production designer Florian Sanson, and costume designer Veronique Gely. The score by Sebastien Perrault is also interesting in how it never conforms to what one might expect to hear in a Western, yet it always seems to fit."
Peter Sobczynski, RogerEbert.com
THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT'S A RESURRECTION - Yu Misyashita
"The director suffuses the piece with an entrancing mysticism, accompanied by a spectral score by Yu Miyashita. Its sharp dissonance resonates as if it were a choir of voices screaming from the afterlife. As Mantoa, Twala is framed small in the wide shots that compose a large percentage of director of photography Pierre de Villiers’ boxy frames. Within each shot, the camera and the labored composition interact (by way of zooms or subtle pans) to maximize their meaning. Saturated colors, the kind so rarely seen in Western cinema these days, pan the mountainous vistas and their open sky with a gorgeous timelessness."
Carlos Aguilar, RogerEbert.com
VIOLATION - Andrea Boccadoro
"And yet despite these flaws, the artistry on display in 'Violation' is undeniable. Cinematographer Adam Crosby creates an ethereal vibe through both gauzy, pastel wide shots of natural beauty as well as tight close-ups of flies trapped in a web or a spider crawling on a porch railing. (The actual assault is depicted in an understated manner, through glimpses of fingernails or hair. There’s nothing exploitative about it.) And Andrea Boccadoro’s score, full of groaning strings and delicate, percussive bits, adds greatly to the unsettling tone."
Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY
Heard: The Betsy (Barry), The Paul Chihara Collection Vol. 4 (Chihara), Violet (Tesori), Lady Beware (Safan), Symphonies 2 & 3 (Ives), A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder (Lutvak), Jonathan and Darlene's Greatest Hits (Edwards/Edwards), The Band's Visit (Yazbek), The Hindenburg (Shire), Stand by for Adverts (Gray), Vampires Suck (Lennertz), The Canterville Ghost/Amityville 3-D (Blake), Le Ruffian (Morricone), A Christmas Carol (Herrmann), The Last Castle (Goldsmith), A Walk in the Spring Rain (Bernstein), 10.5 (Holdridge), Oliver! (Bart), Das Lied Von Der Erde (Mahler), War of the Worlds (Williams), Cabaret Manana (Esquivel), Love and Monsters (Beltrami, Trumpp), Battle Royale (Amano), Human Planet (Sawhney), Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (Lennertz), Sweet Smell of Success (Bernstein), Treasure of the Four Crowns (Morricone), Cold Pursuit (Fenton), A Child Is Born (Herrmann)
Read: Insignificant Others, by Stephen McCauley
Seen: I finally got my first vaccine shot, with the second one due in three weeks; I don't know whether I'll be returning to movie theaters in one week or four. Will my insatiable craving for the moviegoing experience win out over my desire to behave like an adult for the first time in my life? But damn, it's so tempting. Tenet is still playing at CityWalk, but only in standard digital format, only once or twice a day, and in a theater with only six rows, so it's only marginally more of a big-screen experience than watching it on my ex-roommate's living room wall with his state-of-the-art projection system. The local Laemmles have reopened, and two of the theaters are playing Matteo Garrone's new version of Pinocchio (score by Dario Marianelli), which earned two Oscar nominations including one for the makeup by the extraordinarily talented Mark Coulier (winner for The Iron Lady and The Grand Budapest Hotel, and shortlisted but distressingly non-nominated for his typically amazing work on Suspiria and Stan & Ollie). I want to see these films oh so badly, but do I really want to risk COVID for them? Oh, First World Problems...Which is a roundabout way of saying, at this point, the "Seen" section of this weekly column will plausibly not have any "Seen" films until May 7th. By then, with luck, the floodgates will have opened (there are Christopher Nolan and David Fincher films in theaters and I have not seen them!).
Watched: The Mad Miss Manton; Star Trek: Picard ("Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2"); House of Cards ("Chapter 72"); Queen of Blood; Dr. No; Masters of Sex ("Kyrie Eleison"); Jackass (various segments); The Skin Game [1931]; Star Trek ("The Return of the Archons"); Out Where the Stars Begin [1938]; House of Cards ("Chapter 73")
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Today in Film Score History:
April 25 |
|
| Alec Puro born (1975) |
|
| Brian May died (1997) |
|
| David A. Hughes born (1960) |
|
| Franz Waxman records his score for Stalag 17 (1952) |
|
| Gary Hughes died (1978) |
|
| Georges Delerue records his score for L’Homme Qui Revient De Loin (1972) |
|
| Heinz Roemheld's score for Union Station is recorded (1950) |
|
| John Williams begins recording his score for How to Steal a Million (1966) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
