I am currently on vacation, so you will in all likelihood have to search elsewhere for the most up-to-date film music news. Your first stop should probably be our Message Board.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
A.I. Artificial Intelligence [reissue] - John Williams - La-La Land
Always - John Williams - La-La Land
The Film Scores of Bernard Herrmann (box set) - Bernard Herrmann, various - Decca
IN THEATERS TODAY
Against the Current - Hogni Egilsson
Asia - Karni Postel
F9: The Fast Saga - Brian Tyler - Song CD-R on Atlantic
Fathom - Hanan Townshend
God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya - Olivier Samouillan
I Carry You with Me - Jay Wadley
Lansky - Max Aruj
Sun Children - Ramin Kousha
Sweat - Piotr Kurek
Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation - Madi
Werewolves Within - Anna Drubich
COMING SOON
July 23
Formula 1 Nell'inferno del Grand Prix - Alessandro Alessandroni - Beat
Date Unknown
Belli e brutti ridono tutti - Giacomo Dell'Orso - Beat
Forgotten We'll Be - Zbigniew Preisner - Caldera
Fuga Dal Bronx - Francesco De Masi - Beat
Il Giro Del Mondo Degli Innamorati Di Peynet - Alessandro Alessandroni - Beat
Io So Che Tu Saiche Io So - Piero Piccioni - Beat
Red Yellow Pink - Szymon Szewczyk - Kronos
Speer Goes to Hollywood - Frank Ilfman - Kronos
Straziami Ma Di Baci Sazliami - Armando Trovaioli - Beat
Tatort: Es Lebe Der Konig! - Christoph Blaser - Kronos
Zdarski Memento - Alfi Kabiljo - Kronos
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
June 25 - Carly Simon born (1945)
June 25 - Victor Young begins recording his score for Shane (1952)
June 25 - Pascal Gaigne born (1958)
June 25 - Wolfram de Marco born (1966)
June 25 - Maurice Jarre begins recording his score for The Mackintosh Man (1973)
June 26 - John Greenwood born (1889)
June 26 - Dave Grusin born (1934)
June 26 - George Bassman died (1997)
June 27 - John McCarthy born (1961)
June 27 - Nelson Riddle begins recording his score for Batman (1966)
June 27 - Einar Englund died (1999)
June 28 - Richard Rodgers born (1902)
June 28 - Ken Wannberg born (1930)
June 28 - Nora Orlandi born (1933)
June 28 - Bjorn Isfalt born (1942)
June 28 - Charlie Clouser born (1963)
June 28 - George Duning's score for the Star Trek episode "Metamorphosis" is recorded (1967)
June 28 - Lalo Schifrin records “Underground,” his final episode score for the original Mission: Impossible (1972)
June 28 - Malcolm Lockyer died (1976)
June 28 - Paul Dessau died (1979)
June 28 - John Scott begins recording his score for North Dallas Forty (1979)
June 29 - Joseph Carl Breil born (1870)
June 29 - Bernard Herrmann born (1911)
June 29 - Ulpio Minucci born (1917)
June 29 - Ralph Burns born (1922)
June 29 - Ezra Laderman born (1924)
June 29 - Daniele Amfitheatrof begins recording his score for The Painted Hills (1950)
June 29 - Richard Markowitz’s score for The Wild Wild West episode “The Night of the Infernal Machine” is recorded (1966)
June 29 - Lalo Schifrin records his score for the Mission: Impossible episode “Encore” (1971)
June 29 - Bill Conti begins recording his score for The Big Fix (1978)
June 29 - Mischa Spoliansky died (1985)
June 29 - Bert Shefter died (1999)
June 29 - Johnny Mandel died (2020)
June 30 - Tony Hatch born (1939)
June 30 - Mike Leander born (1941)
June 30 - Stanley Clarke born (1951)
June 30 - Hal Lindes born (1953)
June 30 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for The Boys from Brazil (1978)
June 30 - Guenther Kauer died (1983)
June 30 - Craig Safan begins recording his score for the Amazing Stories episode "The Wedding Ring" (1986)
June 30 - Basil Poledouris begins recording his score for Flight of the Intruder (1990)
June 30 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: Voyager episode “The 37’s” (1995)
July 1 - Sigmund Krumgold born (1896)
July 1 - Hans Werner Henze born (1926)
July 1 - Andrae Crouch born (1942)
July 1 - Francois Dompierre born (1943)
July 1 - Alfred Newman begins recording his score for The Robe (1953)
July 1 - Roddy Bottum born (1963)
July 1 - Seamus Egan born (1969)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
ALL LIGHT, EVERYWHERE - Dan Deacon
"Dan Deacon's brilliant ambient synth score provides another layer of irony. Evoking naive, retro, high-tech wonder, in the manner of Vangelis' score for the original 'Blade Runner,' it creates a sinister undertow without resorting to obvious tactics. It's as if the smiling men in ties who are constantly trying to sell the filmmakers and us on the marvels of their wares have been put in charge of the soundtrack, and tried to use it to drown out misgivings by putting us in the headspace of a kid who thinks it's awesomely cool. There are times when the score intensifies the too-muchness of the film, and not in a helpful way; when Anthony is taking a long moment to show us objects rolling through assembly lines or people in an observation room participating in an eye movement study where a water glass and a fern inexplicably levitate, and Deacon is going to town on the synthesizers, it's as if we've traveled back in time to experience the opening of EPCOT Center at Disney World circa 1979, in the company of students who got baked on the monorail platform on the way in."
Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com
"Filmmaking, especially of the nonfiction variety, is itself a form of surveillance, and it can be utilized as an instrument of both expression and investigation -- two modes that Anthony blends here with seeming effortlessness. There’s especially a sense of awe in the fourth, nearly abstract strand, which is composed primarily of close-ups of people’s faces as their responses to various media stimuli is measured with headgear. These faces, accompanied by Dan Deacon’s poignant, rapturous trance-out of a score, appear to be in a meditative bliss, suggesting that technology is at its base a drug -- a notion that Steven Spielberg mined in his similarly themed and similarly visionary 'Minority Report.'"
Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine
AMERICAN TRAITOR: THE TRIAL OF AXIS SALLY - Kubilay Uner
"Gillars, apparently a woman of 400 hats and one expression, is impossible to root for when, encouraged by narcissism and her Nazi lover/svengali (Carsten Norgaard), she busily sets about demoralizing listening GIs with breathy insinuations about what their girlfriends are getting up to without them. Yet later, we’re supposed to feel for her -- the violins of Kubilay Uner’s otherwise anonymous score certainly do. At the trial she’s framed as a martyr to public opinion and a victim of men who she claims, in a Marilyn-style sex-kitten purr very unlike the real woman’s plummy tones, 'have taken advantage of me my whole life.'"
Jessica Kiang, Variety
OXYGEN - Rob
"Alexandre Aja makes the most of the enclosed space by outfitting it with copious amounts of touchscreens, life support monitors, and the black void into which Laurent communicates with Milo. All this fraught tension -- the engine that makes the movie so coiled and entertaining -- is backed by a heavily orchestral score that’s as much a character as those seen on screen. Robin Coudert’s anxious score is one that perfectly accompanies the unique angles Aja’s camera is somehow able to squeeze into and even several long tracking shots that further help to prevent any visual monotony. Those looking for some sleep-deprived jump scares will be content. 'Oxygen' has several, while still knowing where to draw the hallucinatory line. Somehow a periodic, unexpectedly disgusting moment manages to sneak into the film from time to time, enough that makes several scenes nearly unwatchable in the best way possible. Oh, and if you had hoped that the film might open in a matter that brings to mind the still-horrifying moments inside the UFO from 1993’s 'Fire in the Sky,' you’re shockingly in luck."
Brian Farvour, The Playlist
"While cult followers of Aja’s extreme horror might be let down by his turn toward more measured sci-fi, there’s plenty of creepy unease packed into his execution of a simple scenario that grows increasingly complicated. What’s most impressive is the degree to which the tension is sustained. That’s largely due to Laurent’s highly emotive performance -- interacting only with disembodied voices or with an amoeba-like circular cerebral activity monitor floating directly above her. But it’s also a credit to the dynamic camerawork of Maxime Alexandre, which explores seemingly limitless possibilities for unnerving new angles. Other invaluable atmospheric assists come from the needling synth score of French musician Robin Coudert, credited under his stage name, Rob, and the agitated editing rhythms of Stéphane Roche."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
A QUIET PLACE PART II - Marco Beltrami
"What’s surprising about the whole 'A Quiet Place' emotional experience largely fades here, especially as all of this unfolds with a numbing amount of max-volume slams, bangs, and bass warbles; Marco Beltrami's score brings in the original's meditative themes when it's not trying to blow you to the back of the theater. But the moments in which humans and monsters clash are incredibly robust and kinetic, and succeed at getting you to think of nothing else in the story but the terror on screen."
Nick Allen, RogerEbert.com
"The layered sound design, fittingly, is a thing of beauty. And like the first film, this one also benefits immeasurably from Marco Beltrami’s vigorous orchestral score, which shifts between ominous groans and thundering high drama, dialing up the tension throughout."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
THERE IS NO EVIL - Amir Molookpour
"The third and fourth segments are plotted more obviously than the first two, and rely a little too much on slightly predictable connections between characters to drive home the rippling effects of a death sentence. But the performances are so strong throughout all four that narrative details end up mattering less than how these characters react to them. Mirhosseini’s lost-in-thought expression as he drives to work one early morning, the green-yellow-red lights of the traffic signal illuminating his face, suggest a hidden shame regarding his job. Valizadegan gives a full-body performance as Javad, running after and away from Nana on the mountain after he realizes the circumstances regarding her family’s recent loss. (Javad plunging his head into a mountain creek to scream underwater, holding himself so long under that his body shakes from fighting off drowning, is a moment of pure agony.) Rasoulof’s narrative approach makes these stories structurally similar, but the differences in location, shot composition, and tone (enhanced by first-rate cinematography and a percussively tense score by Amir Molookpour) help build an understanding of the myriad ways such moralist dilemmas might play out."
Roxana Hadadi, The Onion AV Club
THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN L.A.
Screenings of older films at Los Angeles-area theaters.
June 25
BABE (Nigel Westlake) [Alamo Drafthouse]
INHERENT VICE (Jonny Greenwood) [American Cinematheque: Aero]
NEW YORK, NEW YORK (Ralph Burns) [New Beverly]
STALKER (Edward Artemyev) [Fairfax Cinema]
June 26
AFTER HOURS (Howard Shore) [New Beverly]
BLADE RUNNER 2049 (Benjamin Wallfisch, Hans Zimmer) [Alamo Drafthouse]
GHOST IN THE SHELL (Kenji Kawai) [Fairfax Cinema]
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Maurice Jarre) [American Cinematheque: Aero]
NEW YORK, NEW YORK (Ralph Burns) [New Beverly]
THE NOTEBOOK (Aaron Zigman) [Alamo Drafthouse]
WONDER WOMAN (Rupert Gregson-Williams) [American Cinematheque: Aero]
June 27
THE BIRDCAGE (Jonathan Tunick) [AMC Burbank 16] [AMC Century City] [Fine Arts]
BLADE RUNNER 2049 (Benjamin Wallfisch, Hans Zimmer) [Alamo Drafthouse]
DUNE (Toto) [Fairfax Cinema]
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Maurice Jarre) [American Cinematheque: Aero]
A LIFE IN WAVES (Suzanne Ciani) [Fairfax Cinema]
MEAN GIRLS (Rolfe Kent) [IPIC Westwood]
NEW YORK, NEW YORK (Ralph Burns) [New Beverly]
THE NOTEBOOK (Aaron Zigman) [Alamo Drafthouse]
June 28
BABE (Nigel Westlake) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE BIRDCAGE (Jonathan Tunick) [AMC Burbank 16] [AMC Century City] [AMC CityWalk] [Laemmle Playhouse] [Laemmle Town Center]
BLADE RUNNER 2049 (Benjamin Wallfisch, Hans Zimmer) [Alamo Drafthouse]
PARIS IS BURNING, PARTY GIRL (Anton Sanko) [New Beverly]
June 29
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (Stephen Trask), VELVET GOLDMINE (Carter Burwell) [New Beverly]
WEST SIDE STORY (Leonard Bernstein, Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal) [TCL Chinese)
June 30
THE BIRDCAGE (Jonathan Tunick) [AMC Burbank 16] [AMC Century City] [AMC CityWalk] [Fine Arts]
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (Stephen Trask), VELVET GOLDMINE (Carter Burwell) [New Beverly]
MEAN GIRLS (Rolfe Kent) [IPIC Westwood]
July 1
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (Stephen Trask), VELVET GOLDMINE (Carter Burwell) [New Beverly]
MALCOLM X (Terence Blanchard) [American Cinematheque: Aero]
July 2
KILL BILL: VOL. 1 (RZA) [New Beverly]
PHANTOM THREAD (Jonny Greenwood) [American Cinematheque: Aero]
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (John Williams) [Alamo Drafthouse]
TWO-LANE BLACKTOP, COCKFIGHTER (Michael Franks) [New Beverly]
July 3
TOP GUN (Harold Faltermeyer) [Hollywood Legion]
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (John Williams) [Alamo Drafthouse]
RESERVOIR DOGS [New Beverly]
TWO-LANE BLACKTOP, COCKFIGHTER (Michael Franks) [New Beverly]
July 4
AIR FORCE ONE (Jerry Goldsmith) [Alamo Drafthouse]
JAWS (John Williams) [IPIC Westwood]
RED DAWN (Basil Poledouris), ROCKY IV (Vince DiCola) [New Beverly]
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY
As I am on vacation, this section of the column will not be updated until next week. If anyone is actually disappointed, I will be pleasantly surprised, to say the least.
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