This year's winners for the music Oscars, to no one's great surprise, were Ludwig Goransson for his original OPPENHEIMER score, and the sibling team of Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell for BARBIE's original song "What Was I Made For?" Each of this year's music winners were actually winning for the second time, and the Barbie songwriters are now both the youngest two-time Oscar winners.
Composer Kris Bowers, who had been shortlisted for his incidental music for The Color Purple, won the Documentary Short Subject Oscar (with Ben Proudfoot) for THE LAST REPAIR SHOP. Bowers, whose other scores include Green Book, Haunted Mansion, Origin, and the currently-in-theaters Bob Marley: One Love, had previously been nominated in the category with Proudfoot for 2020's A Concerto is a Conversation.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Danny Elfman - Varese Sarabande CD Club
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World - John Powell - Varese Sarabande CD Club
Scusi, ma lei le paga le tasse?/Come rubammo la bomba atomica - Lallo Gori - Beat
Top Gun - Harold Faltermeyer - La-La Land
IN THEATERS TODAY
The American Society of Magical Negroes - Michael Abels
The Animal Kingdom - Andrea Laszlo De Simone
Arthur the King - Kevin Matley
High & Low - John Galliano - Tom Hodge
Irish Wish - Nathan Lanier
Knox Goes Away - Alex Heffes
The Neon Highway - Arturo Sandoval
One Life - Volker Bertelmann
The Prank - Deron Johnson
Shirley - Tamar-kali
Snack Shack - Keegan DeWitt
The Throwback - Dylan Glatthorn
Uproar - Karl Solve Steven
COMING SOON
The David Michael Frank Collection Vol. 3 - David Michael Frank - Dragon's Domain
Goliath Awaits - George Duning - Dragon's Domain [CD-R]
No Retreat, No Surrender - Paul Gilreath - Dragon's Domain [CD-R]
Once Upon a Time in the West - Ennio Morricone - Beat
Rock-a-Doodle - Robert Folk - Quartet
Scorpio - Jerry Fielding - Quartet
Viva la foca/Cornetti alla crema/La moglie in vacanza l'amante in citta - Detto Mariano - Beat
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
March 15 - Jurgen Knieper born (1941)
March 15 - Ry Cooder born (1947)
March 15 - Stomu Yamashta born (1947)
March 15 - Harry Bromley Davenport born (1950)
March 15 - Recording sessions begin for Jerry Goldsmith’s score for Morituri (1965)
March 15 - Jerry Fielding records his score for the TV pilot Shirts/Skins (1974)
March 15 - Jerry Fielding begins recording his score for Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
March 15 - Jay Chattaway records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Starship Mine” (1993)
March 15 - Thomas Newman begins recording his score for The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
March 15 - Recording sessions begin for Mark Mancina’s score to Twister (1996)
March 15 - Arnold Schwarzwald died (1997)
March 15 - Jay Chattaway begins recording his score for the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Bound” (2005)
March 15 - Recording sessions begin for Danny Elfman’s score for Restless (2010)
March 16 - Harry Rabinowitz born (1916)
March 16 - John Addison born (1920)
March 16 - Zdenek Liska born (1922)
March 16 - Alesandro Alessandroni born (1925)
March 16 - Aaron Copland begins recording his score to The Red Pony (1948)
March 16 - Recording sessions begin for Hugo Friehdofer’s score to Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1949)
March 16 - Nancy Wilson born (1954)
March 16 - Michiru Oshima born (1961)
March 16 - Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco died (1968)
March 16 - Marcus Trumpp born (1974)
March 16 - Recording sessions begin for Leonard Rosenman's score to Cross Creek (1983)
March 16 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Cause and Effect” (1992)
March 17 - Alfred Newman born (1901)
March 17 - Tadashi Hattori born (1908)
March 17 - Karl-Heinz Schafer born (1932)
March 17 - John Sebastian born (1944)
March 17 - Benjamin Bartlett born (1965)
March 17 - Billy Corgan born (1967)
March 17 - Chris Bacon born (1977)
March 17 - Georges Delerue begins recording his score for Memories of Me (1988)
March 17 - John Williams begins recording his score for Far and Away (1992)
March 17 - Ernest Gold died (1999)
March 17 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for The Mummy (1999)
March 17 - Dennis McCarthy and Kevin Kiner record their score for the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Damage” (2004)
March 17 - Jean Prodromides died (2016)
March 18 - William Lava born (1911)
March 18 - John Kander born (1927)
March 18 - Yoko Kanno born (1964)
March 18 - Frank Ilfman born (1970)
March 18 - Clinton Shorter born (1971)
March 18 - Dominic Frontiere begins recording his score for Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold (1975)
March 18 - Guillaume Roussel born (1980)
March 18 - John Williams begins recording his score for The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
March 18 - John Phillips died (2001)
March 18 - Paul Baillargeon records his score for the Enterprise episode “The Crossing” (2003)
March 19 - Jean Weiner born (1896)
March 19 - Dimitri Tiomkin wins Oscars for High Noon’s score and song (1953)
March 19 - Jeff Alexander begins recording his score to Escape from Fort Bravo (1953)
March 19 - Anthony Marinelli born (1959)
March 19 - Joseph Mullendore records his score for the Land of the Giants episode “Shell Game” (1969)
March 19 - George Garvarentz died (1993)
March 19 - Velton Ray Bunch records his score for the Enterprise episode “Acquisition” (2002)
March 19 - Michel Legrand begins recording his score for The Other Side of the Wind (2018)
March 20 - Michel Magne born (1930)
March 20 - John Cameron born (1944)
March 20 - Miklos Rozsa wins his second Oscar, for A Double Life score (1948)
March 20 - Franz Waxman wins his second consecutive Best Score Oscar, for A Place in the Sun (1952)
March 20 - Elmer Bernstein begins recording his score for The Tin Star (1957)
March 20 - Amit Poznansky born (1974)
March 20 - Stu Phillips records his score for the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode “The Hand of Goral” (1981)
March 20 - Ray Cook died (1989)
March 20 - Georges Delerue died (1992)
March 20 - Johnny Pearson died (2011)
March 20 - Johnny Harris died (2020)
March 21 - Antony Hopkins born (1921)
March 21 - Gary Hughes born (1922)
March 21 - Mort Lindsey born (1923)
March 21 - Alfred Newman wins his seventh Oscar, his second for Score, for Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1956)
March 21 - Joseph S. DeBeasi born (1960)
March 21 - Alex North begins recording his score for Spartacus (1960)
March 21 - Alexander Courage records his score for the Lost in Space episode "The Mechanical Men" (1967)
March 21 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score to The Green Berets (1968)
March 21 - John Williams wins his fifth Oscar, for his Schindler's List score (1994)
March 21 - Jay Chattaway records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Journey’s End “ (1994)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
MOLLI AND MAX IN THE FUTURE - Alex Winkler
"The key to being charming is to be unafraid of being seen as awkward or dorky: indeed, to be open about those flaws. That’s what makes 'Molli and Max in the Future' a delightful throwback to that lost era of mid-Eighties indie observational relationship comedies, the kind that served as a bridge between the machine-gun-mouth quips of Woody Allen and the mid-Nineties explosion of TV rom-com sitcoms. (It even has the once-mandatory cool jazz score, composed here by Alex Winkler, that plays with, rather than against or under, the snappy yet heartfelt dialogue by writer-director Michael Lukk Litwak.)"
Richard Whittaker, The Austin Chronicle
"Despite the fact that much of its plot takes place in a futuristic city called Megalopolis, not a single winery was liquidated to finance 'Molli and Max in the Future.' That only makes the existence of Michael Lukk Litwak’s debut feature more remarkable, as his futuristic rom-com creates an expansive sci-fi universe that spans four planets and three dimensions on a fraction of the budget of the studio blockbusters it tries to emulate. Written like a throwback Woody Allen movie -- complete with rapid-fire quips and a jazz score -- and shot like a stage play that relies on rotating backdrops,'Molli and Max' blends the scale of a space opera with the best and worst clichés of independent film."
Christian Zilko, IndieWire
"The space-age paraphernalia abound -- interdimensional travel, digital pickleball, a gabby galactic goddess named Triangulon (Grace Kuhlenschmidt) -- but Mamet and Athari take the ridiculousness in stride, which is also funnier. The thread of their on-again-off-again connection is never lost in the film’s pleasingly artisanal, jazz-scored futurescape, which meshes practical and digital effects under the sign of Douglas Adams as much as Adult Swim and anime."
Nicolas Rapold, The New York Times
RED RIGHT HAND - Mondo Boys
"While Bloom and MacDowell anchor the film with their strong performances, leading an ensemble cast that is foundational to this rugged Western, the score by Mondo Boys and cinematography by Johnny Derango do a lot to embed the themes and concepts into the atmosphere of the film. However, 'Red Right Hand''s third act just doesn't stick the landing. Satisfying to a degree, the bloody climax and abrupt ending don't offer enough."
Ferdosa Abdi, Screen Rant
STOPMOTION - Lola de la Mata
"The psychological scares stem from the medium itself by debut director Robert Morgan and are underlined by composer Lola de la Mata’s skittering electronica and quiet chorales. 'Stopmotion' feels born out of the sheer mental challenge of being trapped in a room with macabre creations that come to life over weeks of painstaking labour. It’s not hard to imagine how those creatures, along with the draining act of creation itself, might become all-consuming."
Phil de Semlyen, Time Out
"The extent to which they do work is in large part thanks to the all-purpose glue of atmospherics discreetly but firmly supported by composer Lola de la Mata and sound designer Ben Baird. Robert Morgan unquestionably has a knack for the extraordinary; it is both a measure of his talent and of its limits that this debut feature stumbles only when it tries to do something on the ordinary side."
Dennis Harvey, Variety
THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN L.A.
Screenings of older films in Los Angeles-area theaters.
March 15
ALICE IN WONDERLAND (Oliver Wallace) [Vista]
BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE (George Duning), THE CASSANDRA CAT (Svatopluk Havelka) [UCLA/Hammer]
CESAR AND ROSALIE (Philippe Sarde) [Los Feliz 3]
DAYS OF HEAVEN (Ennio Morricone) [Vidiots]
DRUNKEN MASTER II (Wai Lap Wu), MR. NICE GUY (J. Peter Robinson) [New Beverly]
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (Jon Brion) [BrainDead Studios]
THE GREASY STRANGLER (Andrew Hung) [Vidiots]
GRINDHOUSE: DEATH PROOF [New Beverly]
HELI (Lasse Marhaug), LOS BASTARDOS [Aero]
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER (Trevor Jones) [Alamo Drafthouse]
MAX AND THE JUNKMEN (Philippe Sarde) [Los Feliz 3]
MEMORIES OF MURDER (Taro Iwashiro) [Vidiots]
ROAD TO PERDITION (Thomas Newman) [New Beverly]
SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND [Alamo Drafthouse]
TWELVE MONKEYS (Paul Buckmaster) [Nuart]
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON (Alexandre Desplat) [Alamo Drafthouse]
March 16
A CIAMBRA (Dan Romer) [UCLA/Hammer]
ABOVE THE RIM (Marcus Miller) [Alamo Drafthouse]
ALICE IN WONDERLAND (Oliver Wallace) [New Beverly]
ALICE IN WONDERLAND (Oliver Wallace) [Vista]
CLASSE TOUS RISQUES (Georges Delerue) [Egyptian]
CROOKLYN (Terence Blanchard) [Alamo Drafthouse]
DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD [Egyptian]
DRUNKEN MASTER II (Wai Lap Wu), MR. NICE GUY (J. Peter Robinson) [New Beverly]
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (Jon Brion) [Aero]
FANTASTIC MR. FOX (Alexandre Desplat) [BrainDead Studios]
FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL (Richard Rodney Bennett) [Alamo Drafthouse]
LEPRECHAUN (Kevin Kiner) [New Beverly]
MAMMA MIA! [Vidiots]
METROPOLIS (Toshiyuki Honda) [Landmark Westwood]
NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK (Frank Skinner) [Vista]
RED DESERT (Giovanni Fusco) [Los Feliz 3]
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (Richard O'Brien, Richard Hartley) [Nuart]
THX-1138 (Lalo Schifrin) [BrainDead Studios]
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON (Alexandre Desplat) [Alamo Drafthouse]
WAKING LIFE (Glover Gill) [Los Feliz 3]
WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (Leslie Bricusse, Walter Scharf) [Vidiots]
March 17
ALICE IN WONDERLAND (Oliver Wallace) [New Beverly]
BLOOD [Los Feliz 3]
BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB [Vidiots]
DRUNKEN MASTER II (Wai Lap Wu), MR. NICE GUY (J. Peter Robinson) [New Beverly]
GRAND HOTEL, ANNA KARENINA (Herbert Stothart) [UCLA/Hammer]
JEANNE DIELMAN, 23, QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES [Egyptian]
LONELY ARE THE BRAVE (Jerry Goldsmith) [Los Feliz 3]
NETWORK (Elliot Lawrence), THE HOSPITAL (Morris Surdin) [Aero]
NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK (Frank Skinner) [Vista]
SHORT CUTS (Mark Isham) [BrainDead Studios]
SONG OF THE SEA (Bruno Coulais) [Vidiots]
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (Dimitri Tiomkin) [Vidiots]
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON (Alexandre Desplat) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE UNTAMED (Guro Moe, Masse Marhaug, Martin Escalante) [Los Feliz 3]
VINCENT, FRANCOIS, PAUL AND THE OTHERS (Philippe Sarde) [Los Feliz 3]
WONDER WOMAN (Rupert Gregson-Williams) [Fine Arts]
March 18
ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE [Los Feliz 3]
FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL (Richard Rodney Bennett) [Alamo Drafthouse]
RED DESERT (Giovanni Fusco) [Los Feliz 3]
SUSPIRIA (Thom Yorke) [Alamo Drafthoues]
SWIMFAN (John Debney, Louis Febre), THE GLASS HOUSE (Christopher Young) [New Beverly]
March 19
ABOVE THE RIM (Marcus Miller) [Alamo Drafthouse]
FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL (Richard Rodney Bennett) [Alamo Drafthouse]
JAWS (John Williams) [Landmark Pasadena]
LET HIM HAVE IT (Michael Kamen) [Los Feliz 3]
PLAY IT AS IT LAYS, PUZZLE OF A DOWNFALL CHILD (Michael Small) [New Beverly]
SCARRED HEARTS [Los Feliz 3]
SUSPIRIA (Thom Yorke) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (Michel Legrand) [Vidiots]
March 20
ABOVE THE RIM (Marcus Miller) [Alamo Drafthouse]
FEMALE TROUBLE [Egyptian]
FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL (Richard Rodney Bennett) [Alamo Drafthouse]
FOXY BROWN [Egyptian]
GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI (RZA) [Aero]
HEAVY METAL (Elmer Bernstein) [Los Feliz 3]
MOOD INDIGO (Etienne Charry) [BrainDead Studios]
PLAY IT AS IT LAYS, PUZZLE OF A DOWNFALL CHILD (Michael Small) [New Beverly]
SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND [Alamo Drafthouse]
SHOWGIRLS (David A. Stewart) [Academy Museum]
March 21
ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (John Carpenter) [Vidiots]
BLAZING SADDLES (John Morris) [Egyptian]
CALIFORNIA SPLIT [Egyptian]
LUST, CAUTION (Alexandre Desplat) [New Beverly]
THE RULING CLASS (John Cameron), THE ODD JOB (Howard Blake) [Aero]
WAKING LIFE (Glover Gill) [Los Feliz 3]
March 22
BARRY LYNDON (Leonard Rosenman) [New Beverly]
BE KIND REWIND (Jean-Michel Bernard) [BrainDead Studios]
COMING TO AMERICA (Nile Rodgers) [Vidiots]
GRINDHOUSE: DEATH PROOF [New Beverly]
HEAVEN KNOWS WHAT [BrainDead Studios]
THE LORD OF THE RINGS (Leonard Rosenman) [Los Feliz 3]
LUST, CAUTION (Alexandre Desplat) [New Beverly]
NEVER OPEN THAT DOOR (Julian Bautista) (Carlos Vivas), THE WINDOW (Roy Webb) [Egyptian]
RATCATCHER (Rachel Portman) [Los Feliz 3]
SALOME [Academy Museum]
SCANNERS III: THE TAKEOVER (Marty Simon) [Alamo Drafthouse]
TANK GIRL (Graeme Revell) [Vidiots]
A WOMAN OF AFFAIRS, THE KISS [UCLA/Hammer]
March 23
THE BRIDE WORE RED (Franz Waxman), CHRISTOPHER STRONG (Max Steiner) [Academy Museum]
A BUG'S LIFE (Randy Newman) [New Beverly]
FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: JAILHOUSE 41 (Shunsuke Kikuchi) [BrainDead Studios]
GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI (RZA) [Los Feliz 3]
HARRY AND TONTO (Bill Conti) [Vidiots]
THE INTRUDER (Herman Stein) [Los Feliz 3]
KISS OF DEATH (David Buttolph) [Egyptian]
THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (John Phillips) [BrainDead Studios]
MY MAN GODFREY, TWENTIETH CENTURY [New Beverly]
MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (Joe Hisaishi)[BrainDead Studios]
NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (John Swihart) [El Capitan]
PONYO (Joe Hisaishi) [Vidiots]
REALITY BITES [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (Richard O'Brien, Richard Hartley) [Nuart]
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (Nacio Herb Brown, Lennie Hayton) [Vidiots]
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE (Hans Zimmer) [Aero]
SPACE JAM (James Newton Howard) [Landmark Westwood]
SPELLBOUND (Miklos Rozsa) [Academy Museum]
UNION STATION, CAIRO STATION [Egyptian]
WADJDA (Max Richter) [Academy Museum]
X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC [New Beverly]
March 24
A BUG'S LIFE (Randy Newman) [New Beverly]
CLASSE TOUS RISQUES (Georges Delerue) [Los Feliz 3]
DESERT FURY (Miklos Rozsa) [Egyptian]
JOYLESS STREET [UCLA/Hammer]
LA BETE HUMAINE, HUMAN DESIRE (Daniele Amfiteatrof) [Egyptian]
MY MAN GODFREY, TWENTIETH CENTURY [New Beverly]
OKJA (Jae-il Jung) [UCLA/Hammer]
ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE (Josef van Wissem) [Alamo Drafthouse]
PERSEPOLIS (Olivier Bernet) [Los Feliz 3]
PI (Clint Mansell) BrainDead Studios]
STREET FIGHTER (Graeme Revell) [Alamo Drafthouse]
ZOUZOU [Academy Museum]
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY
Heard: Queen of Outer Space/World Without End (Skiles/Stevens); The Missouri Breaks (Williams); A Chorus Line (Hamlisch); Cyborg (Riparetti/Saad); Night of the Living Dead (McCollough); Searching (Borrowdale); Apocalypse Now (Shire); Solo: A Star Wars Story (Powell); Dawn of the Dead (Bates); The Banshees of Inisherin (Burwell); Apocalypse Now (Coppola/Coppola); The Forumula (Conti); From Gridlock'd to Rumble Fish (Copeland); Land of the Dead (Klimek/Heil); A Dry White Season (Grusin); The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Kamen); The Elephant Man (Morris)
Read: Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear, by Ed McBain, aka Evan Hunter, aka Salvatore Lombino
Seen: Cat People [1942]; The Spiral Staircase; Kung Fu Panda 4; The Phantom of Liberty; Johnny Guitar; Forty Guns
Watched: The Gambler and the Lady; Battlestar: Galactica ("Fragged"); Skyjacked; Action ("Dead Man Floating")
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