The latest release from La-La Land is a two-disc, expanded edition of the score for LAST ACTION HERO, the 1993 fantasy action comedy which starred Austin O'Brien (My Girl 2) as a young boy who finds himself transported into the movie world of his favorite action character (Arnold Schwarzenegger in a double role). Directed by John McTiernan, the film was a box-office disappointment at the time of its release but has found a devoted following in the three decades since, largley due to the witty script by Shane Black and David Arnott (from a story by Zak Penn and Adam Leff) and Schwarzenegger's performance, one of his finest. For the score, McTiernan reunited with his Die Hard composer, Michael Kamen, and the La-La Land edition features the full score plus the original CD sequencing and extras.
The latest releases from Buysoundtrax and its associated labels are THE GOLDEN AGE OF SCIENCE FICTION VOL. 5, featuring the scores from the original Invaders from Mars (by Raoul Kraushaar) and The Terrornauts (Elisabeth Lutyens); THE ALBERT GLASSER COLLECTION VOL. 7 - FILM NOIR THRILLERS, featuring Glasser's scores for Please Murder Me and Treasure of Monte Cristo; the third volume of the LEGENDARY HOLLYWOOD: FRANZ WAXMAN series (including re-recordings of cues from Waxman scores such as The Nun's Story and Peyton Place); and THE BEST OF THE FAIRYTOPIA SAGA, by Eric Colvin (Monte Walsh).
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
The David Michael Frank Collection Vol. 4 - David Michael Frank - Dragon's Domain
Death Hunt - Jerrold Immel - Dragon's Domain
Franz Waxman: Legendary Hollywood Vol. 2 - Franz Waxman - Citadel
Giornata nera per l'ariete - Ennio Morricone - Quartet
The Golden Age of Science-Fiction Vol. 4 - Elisabeth Lutyens, Ronald Stein - Dragon's Domain
IN THEATERS TODAY
America - Dominique Charpentier
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F - Lorne Balfe
Despicable Me 4 - Heitor Pereira
June Zero - Ariel Marx
Kill - Ketan Sodha
MaXXXine - Tyler Bates
Music - Doug Tielli
The Secret Art of Human Flight - H.P. Mendoza
COMING SOON
July 12
The Dead Don't Hurt - Viggo Mortensen - Milan
Eye of the Needle: The Deluxe Edition - Miklos Rozsa - Varese Sarabande CD Club
For Love of the Game: The Deluxe Edition - Basil Poledouris - Varese Sarabande CD Club
Last Action Hero - Michael Kamen - La-La Land
Coming Soon
The Albert Glasser Collection Vol. 7 - Film Noir Thillers - Albert Glasser - Dragon's Domain
The Best of the Fairytopia Saga - Eric Colvin - Dragon's Domain [CD-R]
Cop Hater - Albert Glasser - Kronos
From Hell to Borneo - Gene Kauer, Douglas M. Lackey - Kronos
Furiosa: A Mad Mad Saga - Tom Holkenborg - Mutant
The Golden Age of Science-Fiction Vol. 5 - Raoul Kraushaar, Elisabeth Lutyens - Dragon's Domain
Il cittadino si ribella - Guido & Maurizio De Angelis - Digitmovies
Il ginecologo della mutua - Renato Serio - Beat
La pistole non discutono (Bullets Don't Argue) - Ennio Morricone - Beat
Lacrima Movies Trilogy - Franco Micalizzi - Digitmovies
Legendary Hollywood: Franz Waxman Vol. 3 - Franz Waxman - Citadel
Papillon [reissue] - Jerry Goldsmith - Quartet
Stelvio Cipriani Soundtracks Rarities Vol. 1 - Stelvio Cipriani - Digitmovies
Thrilling - Ennio Morricone - EMCD
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
July 5 - Paul Ben Haim born (1897)
July 5 - Robbie Robertson born (1943)
July 5 - Robert J. Kral born (1967)
July 5 - Jerry Fielding's score for the Star Trek episode "Spectre of the Gun" is recorded (1968)
July 5 - RZA born as Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (1969)
July 5 - Vaclan Trojan died (1983)
July 5 - David Ferguson died (2009)
July 5 - David Fanshawe died (2010)
July 5 - Fonce Mizell died (2011)
July 6 - Hanns Eisler born (1898)
July 6 - Bernardo Bonezzi born (1964)
July 6 - John Ottman born (1964)
July 6 - Ron Goodwin begins recording his score to Force 10 from Navarone (1978)
July 6 - John Williams begins recording his score for Superman (1978)
July 6 - Frank Cordell died (1980)
July 6 - Bruce Broughton begins recording his score for Stay Tuned (1992)
July 6 - Ennio Morricone died (2020)
July 7 - Anton Karas born (1906)
July 7 - Ron Jones born (1954)
July 7 - Recording sessions begin for Frederick Hollander’s score for We’re No Angels (1954)
July 7 - Johnny Mandel begins recording his score for Point Blank (1967)
July 7 - Gerald Fried's score for the Star Trek episode "Friday's Child" is recorded (1967)
July 7 - Atli Orvarsson born (1970)
July 7 - Richard Hazard records his final Mission: Impossible score, for the episode “The Bride” (1971)
July 7 - Sylvester Levay records his additional music for Howard the Duck (1986)
July 7 - Recording sessions begin on James Newton Howard's score for The Fugitive (1993)
July 7 - Recording sessions begin for Christopher Young’s score to Virtuosity (1995)
July 8 - Bob Alcivar born (1938)
July 8 - Jay Chattaway born (1946)
July 8 - Lyn Murray begins recording his score for The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)
July 8 - John Addison records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "The Pumpkin Competition" (1986)
July 9 - Richard Hageman born (1882)
July 9 - Elisabeth Lutyens born (1906)
July 9 - Earle Hagen born (1919)
July 9 - Paul Chihara born (1938)
July 9 - Harald Kloser born (1956)
July 9 - Conrad Salinger died (1961)
July 9 - Dickon Hinchliffe born (1967)
July 9 - Joseph Mullendore records his score for the Land of the Giants episode “Terror-Go-Round” (1968)
July 9 - Jerry Fielding begins recording his score for The Outfit (1973)
July 9 - James Horner records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "Alamo Jobe" (1985)
July 9 - Ken Thorne died (2014)
July 9 - Michael Masser died (2015)
July 10 - Jimmy McHugh born (1893)
July 10 - Don Costa born (1925)
July 10 - Bruce Fowler born (1947)
July 10 - Paul Glass records his score for Lady in a Cage (1963)
July 10 - Recording sessions begin for Richard Rodney Bennett’s score for L’Imprecateur (1977)
July 10 - Robert Mellin died (1994)
July 11 - George Gershwin died (1937)
July 11 - David Baerwald born (1960)
July 11 - Alexei Aigui born (1971)
July 11 - Georges Delerue begins recording his score for Maxie (1985)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
BAD BEHAVIOUR - Cameron McArthur, Alice Englert
"The rest is wearying. Wannabe symbolic weirdness, like cave-venturing reversal births and martial arts mountaintop dancing, feels like the film putting on a weighted vest. So too does the annoyingly twee lawyer played by Karan Gill, the last in a string of non-white non-characters tasked with taking care of the movie’s difficult white women. An ugly animated segment is thrown in for good measure, in case your indie movie bingo card needs another filled box. The movie plods along under all the strain of these amateurish elements, scored by unbearably bouncy music, limping back to the same topic without ever developing anything."
Jacob Oller, Paste Magazine
THE EXORCISM - Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans
"Miller’s direction and scare tactics simply don’t match this subgenre of horror. The classic jump scares are created out of loud, obnoxious pangs of the score and the grim, bleak lighting that is meant to create atmosphere just cheapens the entire production, resembling a forgotten 2000s remake. The intensity with which the film tries to scare you doesn’t match the somewhat silly idea that the movie is founded on. The atmosphere and overall feel of the film become an attempt at an Ari Aster movie but with none of the rich characters and themes to make it work."
Emma Kiely, Collider
THE GRAB - Jeff Beal
"If Cowperthwaite’s documentary paid greater attention to the people at the center of the agony, such as through a person like Brig, as Barbara Kopple with 'Harlan County, USA,' we might feel more urgency and would connect the dots with greater regularity. Instead, the film forgets that sometimes a movie can be so dense it feels thin. And while the craft on display in 'The Grab' shouldn’t be ignored -- the compositions are sleek, the cagey score smears the facts with an eerie and unnerving bite, and the editing, mixed with the crisp visuals, carry us through the glut of data -- the subsequent film is ultimately a bundle of figures splayed across a sluggish run time. What can we grab at? Just implications of this critical reporting."
Robert Daniels, IndieWire
ROBOT DREAMS - Alfonso de Vilallonga
"It’s hard to make out the dog and robot’s attachment. Is it platonic? Romantic? Does the dog consider himself the robot’s partner or his owner? The leads remain resolutely mute. In their silence, we fill their relationship with our own memories of loved ones, present and past: partners, best friends, siblings, even long-lost pets. The music steers the mood, a mix of Alfonso de Vilallonga’s jazzy score and a track by Earth, Wind & Fire that’s heard in endless permutations from the full original to a stripped-down, jaunty whistle, like that gag about a butcher who uses everything but the oink."
Amy Nicholson, The New York Times
"The film’s simple but never simplistic hand-drawn animation suggests the emotional immediacy of something like the stop-motion work of the Wallace & Gromit pictures. The creators’ fingerprints aren’t literally visible here, but the soulfulness exhibited in the characters’ eyes and body language has the same impact. The sound design may be even more impressive -- a pulsing, nearly living creation that makes the storytelling exponentially more resonant. Alfonso de Vilallonga’s piano-driven score evokes the unpretentious purity of a silent film, and the soundtrack’s handful of pop songs -- particularly Earth, Wind & Fire’s 'September,' which provides the central leitmotif—crystallize the film’s thesis statement."
Rob Humanick, Slant Magazine
THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN L.A.
Screenings of older films in Los Angeles-area theaters.
July 5
BATTLE ROYALE [BrainDead Studios]
CANDYMAN (Philip Glass) [Vidiots]
THE COMPANY OF WOLVES (George Fenton) [Alamo Drafthouse]
DAZED AND CONFUSED [Vista]
DIAL M FOR MURDER (Dimitri Tiomkin), ROPE [New Beverly]
DJANGO UNCHAINED [New Beverly]
THE DRAGON LIVES AGAIN (Frankie Chan) [Alamo Drafthouse]
JAWS (John Williams) [Egyptian]
JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS (John Frizzell) [Vidiots]
ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS (George Bruns) [Vidiots]
POINT BLANK (Johnny Mandel) [Nuart]
THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS (Mark Mothersbaugh) [Vidiots]
THE SIXTH SENSE (James Newton Howard) [New Beverly]
SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE (Uhuhboo Project) [BrainDead Studios]
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY [Aero]
July 6
BELLY (Stephen Cullo) [BrainDead Studios]
THE BLUES BROTHERS [Vidiots]
DAZED AND CONFUSED [Vista]
DIAL M FOR MURDER (Dimitri Tiomkin), ROPE [New Beverly]
DOG DAY AFTERNOON [Los Feliz 3]
FATHER OF THE BRIDE (Alan Silvestri) [Academy Museum]
HOWARD THE DUCK (John Barry) [Aero]
INCEPTION (Hans Zimmer) [Egyptian]
JULES AND JIM (Georges Delerue) [Vidiots]
LOVE STREAMS (Bo Harwood) [Alamo Drafthouse]
MY LITTLE CHICKADEE (Frank Skinner) [Vista]
NEWSIES (Alan Menken, J.A.C. Redford) [Vidiots]
OPPENHEIMER (Ludwig Goransson) [Egyptian]
PARIS IS BURNING [Academy Museum]
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (John Williams) [New Beverly]
REAR WINDOW (Franz Waxman) [BrainDead Studios]
RED DAWN (Basil Poledouris) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (Richard O'Brien, Richard Hartley) [Nuart]
THE ROOM (Mladen Milicevic) [Landmark Westwood]
TENET (Ludwig Goransson) [Egyptian]
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY [Aero]
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY [Vidiots]
VALHALLA RISING (Peter Peter, Peter Kyed) [New Beverly]
YOUNG SOUL REBELS (Simon Boswell) [Academy Museum]
July 7
THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (Malcolm Arnold) [Academy Museum]
DIAL M FOR MURDER (Dimitri Tiomkin), ROPE [New Beverly]
DONA BARBARA (Francisco Dominguez) [Academy Museum]
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (Danny Elfman) [Egyptian]
HIS MASTER'S VOICE [Los Feliz 3]
IN THE LINE OF FIRE (Ennio Morricone) [Aero]
INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (John Williams) [Vidiots]
MILLER'S CROSSING (Carter Burwell) [Vidiots]
MULAN (Jerry Goldsmith) [Vidiots]
MY LITTLE CHICKADEE (Frank Skinner) [Vista]
MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO [Los Feliz 3]
THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES (Leigh Harline) [Los Feliz 3]
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (John Williams) [New Beverly]
SEVEN SAMURAI (Fumio Hayasaka) [Egyptian]
TOP SECRET! (Maurice Jarre) [Alamo Drafthouse]
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY [Aero]
July 8
BODY DOUBLE (Pino Donaggio) [Alamo Drafthouse]
DEATHSTALKER (Oscar Cardozo Ocampo), THE WARRIOR AND THE SORCERERESS (Luis Maria Serra) [New Beverly]
MILLENNIUM MAMBO (Giong Lim) [Vidiots]
MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO [Academy Museum]
NOPE (Michael Abels) [Aero]
TOP SECRET! (Maurice Jarre) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (Jaime Mendoza-Nava) [Los Feliz 3]
July 9
BODY DOUBLE (Pino Donaggio) [Alamo Drafthouse]
CREMASTER 3 (Jonathan Bepler) [Aero]
DOG DAY AFTERNOON [Los Feliz 3]
GREEN ROOM (Brooke Blair, Will Blair) [BrainDead Studios]
THE HUNGER (Michel Rubini, Denny Yaeger) [Los Feliz 3]
LOVE STREAMS (Bo Harwood) [Alamo Drafthouse]
MAN ON THE MOON (R.E.M.), TAKING OFF [New Beverly]
STRANGE DAYS (Graeme Revell) [Vidiots]
July 10
BLOW OUT (Pino Donaggio) [Los Feliz 3]
BODY DOUBLE (Pino Donaggio) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE DRAGON LIVES AGAIN (Frankie Chan) [Alamo Drafthouse]
8 1/2 (Nino Rota) [Academy Museum]
GREEN ROOM (Brooke Blair, Will Blair) [BrainDead Studios]
LOS OLVIDADOS (Rodolfo Halffter, Gustavo Pittaluga) [Academy Museum]
LOVE STREAMS (Bo Harwood) [Alamo Drafthouse]
MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (Frank Skinner) [Los Feliz 3]
MAN ON THE MOON (R.E.M.), TAKING OFF [New Beverly]
TOP SECRET! (Maurice Jarre) [Alamo Drafthouse]
July 11
THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (John Phillips) [Los Feliz 3]
NINE TO FIVE (Charles Fox) [Vidiots]
OLDBOY (Cho Young-wuk) [BrainDead Studios]
POISON (James Bennett) [Academy Museum]
July 12
DJANGO UNCHAINED [New Beverly]
FRIDAY [Vidiots]
THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE (Graeme Revell) [New Beverly]
JAWBREAKER (Stephen Endelman) [Academy Museum]
JOKER (Hildur Guonadottir) [Egyptian]
LETHAL WEAPON (Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton) [Nuart]
NEVER CRY WOLF (Mark Isham) [Los Feliz 3]
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (Bernard Herrmann) [Egyptian]
PURPLE RAIN (Prince, Michel Colombier) [Alamo Drafthouse]
QUEEN OF THE DAMNED (Richard Gibbs, Jonathan Davis) [Vidiots]
TOP GUN (Harold Faltermeyer), DAYS OF THUNDER (Hans Zimmer) [Aero]
UP THE CREEK (Charles Bernstein) [Los Feliz 3]
July 13
AMERICAN PIE (David Lawrence) [Landmark Westwood]
BACKDRAFT (Hans Zimmer) [Aero]
BOUND (Don Davis) [BrainDead Studios]
CHARLOTTE'S WEB (Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman, Irwin Kostal) [New Beverly]
CLOAK & DAGGER (Brian May) [Alamo Drafthouse]
CLOAK & DAGGER (Brian May) [New Beverly]
CREEP (Kyle Field, Eric Andrew Kuhn), CREEP 2 (Julian Wass) [Vidiots]
DROP DEAD GORGEOUS (Mark Mothersbaugh) [Los Feliz 3]
GREMLINS (Jerry Goldsmith) [Alamo Drafthouse]
JUNEBUG (Yo La Tango) [Los Feliz 3]
LADY VENGEANCE (Cho Young-wuk, Choi Seung Hyun) [BrainDead Studios]
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (Bernard Herrmann) [Egyptian]
OUTLAND (Jerry Goldsmith) [Los Feliz 3]
THE PRINCESS DIARIES (John Debney) [Vidiots]
PUEBLERINA (Antonio Diaz Conde) [Academy Museum]
THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (Richard Robbins) [Aero]
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (Richard O'Brien, Richard Hartley) [Nuart]
ROMAN HOLIDAY (Georges Auric) [Vidiots]
SALON MEXICO (Antonio Diaz Conde) [Academy Museum]
SOCIETY (Mark Ryder, Phil Davies) [New Beverly]
STOKER (Clint Mansell) [Los Feliz 3]
13 GOING ON 30 (Theodore Shapiro), JUST LIKE HEAVEN (Rolfe Kent) [New Beverly]
TROOP BEVERLY HILLS (Randy Edelman) [Academy Museum]
THE WILD BUNCH (Jerry Fielding) [Egyptian]
July 14
BARAKA (Michael Stearns) [Egyptian]
BLACK MOON [Los Feliz 3]
CLOAK & DAGGER (Brian May) [New Beverly]
DISTINTO AMANECER (Raul Lavista) [Academy Museum]
DUNKIRK (Hans Zimmer) [Fine Arts]
FACE/OFF (John Powell) [BrainDead Studios]
HEART AND SOULS (Marc Shaiman) [Los Feliz 3]
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Maurice Jarre) [Academy Museum]
MISTER LONELY (Jason Spaceman, The Sun City Girls) [Los Feliz 3]
MUPPETS MOST WANTED (Christophe Beck) [Vidiots]
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM (Alan Silvestri) [UCLA/Hammer]
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (Bernard Herrrmann) [Egyptian]
PERSEPOLIS (Oliver Bernet) [Vidiots]
PETER IBBETSON (Ernst Toch) [Los Feliz 3]
PURPLE RAIN (Prince, Michel Colombier) [Alamo Drafthouse]
READY PLAYER ONE (Alan Silvestri) [Aero]
ROMA [Aero]
STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY (Cliff Eidelman) [Aero]
STEEL MAGNOLIAS (Georges Delerue) [Vidiots]
13 GOING ON 30 (Theodore Shapiro), JUST LIKE HEAVEN (Rolfe Kent) [New Beverly]
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY [Egyptian]
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY
Heard: Halston (Clarke); Matthias & Maxime (Blais); Ammonite (O'Halloran/Bertelmann); Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Marsalis); Summer of '85 (Dunckel); Close (Hadjadj); Rustin (Marsalis); Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (Burwell); Blair Witch (Wingard); Elvira's Haunted Hills (Allaman); The Red Shoes: Music from the Films of Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (various)
Read: The Concorde...Airport '79, by Kerry Stewart, aka Linda Stewart, based on the screenplay by Eric Roth, story by Jennings Lang; Denholm Elliott: Quest for Love, by Susan Elliott with Barry Turner; Absence of Malice by Kerry Stewart, aka Linda Stewart, based on the screenplay by Kurt Leudtke
Seen: Forbidden Planet; The Time Machine [1960]; A Quiet Place: Day One; Bullet in the Head; The Perks of Being a Wallflower; Kinds of Kindness; Last Summer [2024]; Not of This Earth [1957]; Sorority Girl; The Undead [1957]; Frogs; Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F; Ghostlight
Watched: The Great Train Robbery [1979]; Columbo ("Murder by the Book"); Extras ("Ian McKellen); Star Trek: Insurrection
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