Intrada plans to release two new CDs next week.
Prometheus has released a new recording of Mario Nascimbene's score for the adventure classic THE VIKINGS, with Nic Raine conducting the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus.
The latest release from Music Box is an expanded version of the score for the stylish 2006 animated science-fiction feature RENAISSANCE, which in English-language countries featured the voices of Daniel Craig, Romola Garai, Catherine McCormack, Jonathan Pryce and Ian Holm. The music was composed by Nicholas Dodd, probably best known to score fans for his work as an orchestrator-conductor for such composers as David Arnold, Mychael Danna and Andrew Lockington.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Arrow: Season 6 - Blake Neely - La-La Land
Bel Canto - David Majzlin - Decca
DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Season 3 - Blake Neely, Daniel James Chan - La-La Land
Dracula: The Deluxe Edition - John Wiliams - Varese Sarabande CD Club
The Flash: Season 4 - Blake Neely, Nathaniel Blume - La-La Land
The Front Runner - Rob Simonsen - Sony [CD-R]
The Girl in the Spider's Web - Roque Banos - Sony (import)
Godzilla: The Planet Eater - Takayuki Hattori - Toho Animation (import)
La Dove Non Batte Il Sole/Un Animale Chiamato Uomo - Carlo Savina - Digitmovies
La Notte Brava - Piero Piccioni - Digitmovies
Le Avventure di Pinocchio - Fiorenzo Carpi - Digitmovies
On Deadly Ground: The Deluxe Edition - Basil Poledouris - Varese Sarabande CD Club
Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams - Olafur Arnalds, BT, Harry Gregson-Williams, Mark Isham, Bear McCreary, Cristobal Tapia de Veer - La-La Land
A Private War - H. Scott Salinas - Varese Sarabande
Riverdale: Season 2 - Blake Neely, Sherri Chung - La-La Land
A Show of Force - Georges Delerue - Varese Sarabande CD Club
Supergirl: Season 3 - Blake Neely, Daniel James Chan - La-La Land
The Vikings [re-recording] - Mario Nascimbene - Prometheus
IN THEATERS TODAY
The Divide - Molly Mason
Dr. Seuss' The Grinch - Danny Elfman - Song CD on Columbia with two Elfman cues
El Angel - no original score
The Front Runner - Rob Simonsen - Score CD-R on Sony
The Girl in the Spider's Web - Roque Banos - Score CD due on Sony (import)
Here and Now - Amie Doherty
Lez Bomb - P.T. Walkley
The New Romantic - Matthew O'Halloran
Outlaw King - Jim Sutherland
Overlord - Jed Kurzel
The Price of Free - Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans
River Runs Red - Sid de la Cruz
COMING SOON
November 16
Bad Times at the El Royale - Michael Giacchino - Milan (import)
Green Book - Kris Bowers - Milan [CD-R]
Robin Hood - Joseph Trapanese - Sony [CD-R]
Varèse Sarabande: 40 Years of Great Film Music 1978-2018 - various - Varese Sarabande
November 30
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - Carter Burwell - Milan
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - James Newton Howard - WaterTower
The Last Kingdom - John Lunn, Eivor - Sony (import)
Ralph Breaks the Internet - Henry Jackman - Disney
December 7
Goon: Last of the Enforcers - Trevor Morris - Notefornote
Mary Queen of Scots - Max Richter - Deutsche Grammophon
Under the Silver Lake - Disasterpeace - Milan
December 14
Widows - Hans Zimmer - Milan
Date Unknown
The Basil Poledouris Collection vol. 4: The Blue Lagoon Piano Sketches - Basil Poledouris - Dragon's Domain
Class - Blair Mowat - Silva
Dead Men - Gerrit Wunder - Kronos
Dynasties: The Greatest of Their Kind - Benji Morrison, Will Slater - Silva
Every Day a Good Day - Hiroku Sebu - Pony Canyon (import)
The Lost Children of Planet X - Christopher Young - Caldera
Polynesian Odyssey/Alamo: The Price of Freedom - Merrill Jenson - Dragon's Domain
Renaissance - Nicholas Dodd - Music Box
The Wicker Man - Paul Giovanni - Silva
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
November 9 - Roger Edens born (1905)
November 9 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for Lonely Are the Brave (1961)
November 9 - Lalo Schifrin begins recording his score for Sol Madrid (1967)
November 9 - Dave Grusin begins recording his score for Tootsie (1982)
November 9 - Alfred Ralston died (1988)
November 9 - Stanley Myers died (1993)
November 9 - Paul Baillargeon records his score for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “The Siege of AR-558” (1998)
November 10 - Mischa Bakaleinikoff born (1890)
November 10 - Philip Sainton born (1891)
November 10 - Carl Stalling born (1891)
November 10 - Billy May born (1916)
November 10 - Ennio Morricone born (1928)
November 10 - Victor Young died (1956)
November 10 - Sylvain Chomet born (1963)
November 10 - Robert Gulya born (1973)
November 10 - Michel Colombier begins recording his replacement score for The Golden Child (1986)
November 10 - Bruce Broughton records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "Thanksgiving" (1986)
November 10 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Child” (1988)
November 10 - Recording sessions begin for Christopher Young’s score for Hush (1997)
November 11 - Jerome Kern died (1945)
November 11 - Dimitri Tiomkin died (1979)
November 11 - Bruce Broughton records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "Gather Ye Acorns" (1985)
November 11 - Alex North records his score for Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
November 11 - Morton Stevens died (1991)
November 11 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Future Tense” (2003)
November 11 - Eddie Horst died (2010)
November 12 - Bob Crewe born (1931)
November 12 - Neil Young born (1945)
November 12 - Kenyon Hopkins begins recording his score for The Fugitive Kind (1959)
November 12 - Richard Markowitz records his first Mission: Impossible score, for the episode “The Mind of Stefan Miklos” (1968)
November 12 - David Shire records his score for The Godchild (1974)
November 12 - Alan Silvestri begins recording his score for Clean Slate (1993)
November 12 - Velton Ray Bunch records his score for the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Similitude” (2003)
November 12 - John Tavener died (2013)
November 12 - Karl-Ernst Sasse died (2006)
November 13 - Leonard Rosenman begins recording his score for Hell Is For Heroes (1961)
November 13 - Andre Previn begins recording his score to Dead Ringer (1963)
November 13 - David Bell records his score for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “The Sword of Kahless” (1995)
November 13 - Carlo Rustichelli died (2004)
November 14 - Aaron Copland born (1900)
November 14 - Alden Shuman born (1924)
November 14 - Edmund Meisel died (1930)
November 14 - Wendy Carlos born (1939)
November 14 - Jean-Claude Petit born (1943)
November 14 - Yanni born (1954)
November 14 - Tom Judson born (1960)
November 14 - Basil Poledouris records his score for the Twilight Zone episode “Song of the Younger World” (1986)
November 14 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Twilight Zone episode “Voices in the Earth” (1986)
November 14 - Sol Kaplan died (1990)
November 14 - Michel Colombier died (2004)
November 14 - Irving Gertz died (2008)
November 15 - Gianni Ferrio born (1924)
November 15 - Jurriaan Andriessen born (1925)
November 15 - Les Baxter records his score for The Comedy of Terrors (1963)
November 15 - John Williams begins recording his score to The Cowboys (1971)
November 15 - Richard Addinsell died (1977)
November 15 - Alexandre Tansman died (1986)
November 15 - Saul Chaplin died (1997)
November 15 - Roberto Pregadio died (2010)
November 15 - Luis Bacalov died (2017)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
"Howard Shore's moving but subdued music is an example of the sensitive and restrained tech work. Another is Haris Zambarloukos's dreamy cinematography. When the film shifts, at just the right moment, to the concentration camp at Auschwitz, the entire scene is blanketed in thick fog whose piercing melancholy silenced the theater. "
Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter
DINA - Michael Cera
"Michael Cera wrote some of the softly bittersweet music underscoring scenes, and there are also very specific songs -- supremely romantic, filled with longing -- placed to punctuate certain events, like Bryan Adams 'Waiting for You' (Dina's favorite song), or Yaz's tender 'Only You.' These songs create a wistful atmosphere, tying scenes together thematically and emotionally."
Sheila O'Malley, RogerEbert.com
"What redeems 'Dina' is the fullness of the woman herself, who's managed her disability and survived a mortal threat in order to open up to the possibility of a long-term relationship. Though the gap between Dina and Scott is specific to their autism, there's nonetheless a universal quality to witnessing a couple that cares about each other enough to work out their differences. Santini and Sickles frame Dina as a love story first and foremost, which can lead to cutesy excess (the score, by actor-turned-musician Michael Cera, is a cloying mistake), but more often attests to the give-and-take required of a real relationship and the rewards that honor the effort. Literally scarred by the past, Dina still insists on her own happiness and is dogged in the pursuit."
Scott Tobias, NPR
"Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles’s 'Dina' is a documentary that, at least for a while, is indistinguishable from an indie dramedy. Early scenes capture the title character in medium shots full of empty white walls as she performs everyday tasks and errands: Dina gets dressed, goes to the dentist, and visits a salon. Slightly twee snippets of music (including an original song by Michael Cera) stitch some of these scenes together, adding to the atmosphere of mundane artifice. 'Dina' never resorts to the expository titles or interviews that might announce the film as a work of nonfiction, but we come to understand the camera’s distance from its subjects as an act of respect that allows the complex, funny, and indomitable personalities to shine through."
Christopher Gray, Slant Magazine
"Directed by Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini ('Mala Mala'), 'Dina' comes from a deep place of love (Sickles’ dad was one of Dina’s teachers), but it’s a minor miracle that the film sidesteps the number of traps that it sets for itself. Any film about the mentally disabled is a potential minefield of bad ideas, let alone a film that frames its story as an accidental rom-com and plays even its most crushing moments for laughs. It takes a minute for the movie to dispel the idea that it might be scripted -- an opening credit sequence that displays the subjects’ names like a traditional cast list deliberately contributes to this confusion -- but that’s long enough to imagine Dina as a Kristen Wiig character gone wrong. Throw in the threat of a (pleasantly noodling) score by actor Michael Cera, and things really get dicey. By the time Scott, Dina’s fiancé, announces that he proposed to her in a Red Robin, you can’t help but cringe at the thought that this film might be served up 'Napoleon Dynamite' style."
David Ehrlich, IndieWire
"This chaste arrangement suggests the trouble that lies ahead for the couple: Dina is patient, but longs for passion, while Scott -- who admits to pleasuring himself, but doesn’t seem to crave the same sensation from his wife -- seems overwhelmed by her expectations. While hardly unique to his condition, his naïve anxiety lends a pathetically cute quality to scenes like the one in which Dina presents Scott with a copy of 'The Joy of Sex,' trying to raise such topics as they page through the book together. The odd tone even extends to the score, a mix of humming and guitar strumming supplied by actor Michael Cera."
Peter Debruge, Variety
THE DRESSMAKER - David Hirschfelder
"To the foreboding drum of a spaghetti Western score, the dressmaker steps off the bus like a gunslinger packing the unique heat of a Singer sewing machine. It’s 1951, and Myrtle 'Tilly' Dunnage (Winslet) has returned home to the dusty Outback community from which she was banished, 25 years prior, for a childhood accident she can’t remember. The petty, gossipy people of Dungatar have longer memories. They may flock to Tilly once they realize she’s a wiz with needle and thread, but they’re not about to forgive her, or her demented mother, 'Mad' Molly (Davis), for perceived past sins."
Kimberley Jones, The Austin Chronicle
"Given the sheer number of threads that Moorhouse (who adapted the novel with her writer-director husband, P.J. Hogan) keeps in play, it’s surprising how well 'The Dressmaker' coheres, albeit more along narrative lines than tonal ones. From scene to unpredictable scene, the movie can be a bewildering mess, but also a lively and propulsive one -- daring you to keep up as it morphs from smirky, backbiting comedy to earnest, look-at-the-stars wonderment to frightening Grand Guignol intensity, while David Hirschfelder’s busy score works overtime to keep up with the picture’s rapidly shifting moods. As the end approaches, the overall tenor of the piece bends increasingly toward the book’s gothic extremity, as Moorhouse pushes the mechanics of her bizarre story furiously toward camp: Long-buried mysteries are solved even as the present-day body count keeps rising, and an amateur town production of 'Macbeth' comes out of nowhere -- all the better to provide a suitable backdrop for Tilly’s own merciless revenge play."
Justin Chang, Variety
"The story opens with Myrtle 'Tilly' Dunnage (Winslet) arriving in the dusty village of Dungatar, setting down her suitcase, lighting a cigarette and, to the strains of gunslingerish music, muttering, 'I’m back, you bastards.' Those who think they’re in for a stylized feminist Western, guess again: 'The Dressmaker' will switch gears and genres about a dozen times before the end credits roll, not so much blending as lurching between rom-com, melodrama, whodunit, screwball, film noir and more. It’s a strange cocktail -- think Lasse Hallstrom’s 'Chocolat' spiked with John Waters’ 'Serial Mom' -- and Moorhouse and writing partner P.J. Hogan (director of 'Confessions of a Shopaholic') find some pungent flavors amid the tropes, cliches and pastiche. Of course, that doesn’t mean it won’t ultimately leave you with a hangover.Moorhouse is a slick, proficient craftsman, and she and DP Donald McAlpine use close-ups and slightly cartoonish compositions (high- and low-angle shots) to give the movie a touch of the baroque. David Hirschfelder’s score is sprightly, if familiar-sounding. The supporting players, notably Sarah Snook and Kerry Fox, are energetic and skilled. 'The Dressmaker' is about as far from essential viewing as one could imagine, but, for all its brightly glaring flaws, much of it qualifies as a glossy, goofy guilty pleasure."
Jon Frosch, The Hollywood Reporter
LONDON ROAD - Adam Cork
"On paper 'London Road' sounds like 'Springtime for Hitler' -- how could a series of such recent and ugly crimes be set to music and produce anything but distaste? Yet onscreen 'London Road' is a commanding, at times hypnotic experience. Every word spoken or sung is drawn verbatim from Blythe's interview transcriptions, and Cork has structured his quirky melodies around the rhythms of people's speech, preserving every pause and interjection. The austere classical music, stirring when even a single character is singing, is positively arresting when the characters join together in a Greek chorus, a single person's remark becoming a catchphrase and then a common sentiment. These choral sequences feed into Blythe's story of a community learning to speak for itself again, though in the end the neighborhood defines itself partly through the people it rejects."
J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
"As pop sociology, 'London Road' doesn’t delve terribly deep, repeating the same simple observations (principally: people are self-interested) over and over. As a nearly avant-garde musical, however, it’s a constant grin-conjuring marvel. Blythe and Cork incorporate everyday vocal imprecision -- ums and uhs, stuttering repetition, even nervous laughter -- into the very structure of the songs, creating offbeat cadences and weaving them into contrapuntal harmonies. Phrases are initially spoken, then sung by one character, then sung by the whole ensemble, with everyone retaining the original speaker’s various idiosyncrasies. If one person’s role in the interview mostly involved appending a 'yeah' to everything her friend said, the resulting song will employ all the 'yeah''s as a rhythmic device. Even reporters covering the crime and the subsequent trial have their on-air patter transformed into unusual yet catchy melodies. It’s disconcerting at first, but the strangeness magnifies casual remarks that might otherwise seem banal."
Mike D'Angelo, The Onion AV Club
"Anyone whose eyes roll back in their heads at the word 'musical' will be remiss if they don’t give this film a proper chance. This odd take on a police procedural true-crime story is the polar opposite of a cheesy 'Cop Rock' (ask your parents). Blythe’s goal in teaming up with musician/lyricist Adam Cork was to make a musical that didn’t make her cringe. Cork weaves the casual cadences and conversational patterns of interview subjects into experimental -- at times infectiously poppy -- syncopated compositions. Every actor’s 'er' or 'um' in the lyrics hits a highly specific, differentiated note, while the chorus singers dance minimally through shopping malls and streets, wondering aloud through song whether the guy in the coffee shop is the murderer terrorizing local prostitutes."
April Wolfe, L.A. Weekly
"'London Road' is unashamedly British in its focus on a hungry but faux-respectful media, on tittle-tattle, on the unspoken being spoken behind closed doors and on a late blooming of regretful hugs all round. The real delight, though, is the language. You literally couldn’t write this stuff, and songs like ‘Everyone Is Very Very Nervous’ and ‘It Could Be Him’ are uncomfortable earworms composed of platitudes and throwaway comments you could easily have overheard on the bus."
Dave Calhoun, Time Out London
"Far from being a gimmick, this method of storytelling feels entirely fitting for the deep-rooted social issues being explored. Rather than simply bursting into life, the songs emerge from everyday speech, exposing the truest feelings of the characters. And while the soundtrack of their lives is initially composed of the staccato beats of paranoia, suspicion and fear, as the community comes together it swells to encompass relief, redemption and pride. Visually too, cinematographer Danny Cohen's framing and editor John Wilson’s cuts replicate the organic rhythm of speech that so effectively informs the music, while the exceptional cast -- which includes Olivia Colman, Tom Hardy, Kate Fleetwood and Anita Dobson -- shoulder the controversial material with essential plausibility."
Nikki Baughan, The List
"The script to 'London Road' was assembled entirely from Blythe’s interviews with Ipswich residents, police, media and sex workers. Some were conducted before Wright’s arrest in late 2006, others in the buildup to his guilty verdict in 2008. Blythe uses an unusually forensic method, quoting interviewees verbatim, reproducing all their repetitions and hesitations, verbal tics and grammatical errors. Adam Cork’s chamber-orchestra score is equally precise, mimicking the meter and pitch of each speech snippet, transforming ultra-naturalistic dialogue into hypnotic loops and syncopated refrains. The result is an arrestingly vivid fusion of music and text that owes more to the modernist oratorios of Steve Reich than the Broadway showtunes of Stephen Sondheim. Rising British screen star Olivia Colman ('Broadchurch') joins the cast as Julie, a proud London Road resident who fights to save her neighborhood’s tainted reputation following the murders. Colman’s vocal delivery is quickfire and nervy, perfectly matched by Cork’s staccato score."
Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter
78/52 - Jon Hegel
"Alongside such sociopolitical musings, there's plenty of anecdotal information about the schematics of the sequence: from the (well-known) fact that the blood was chocolate syrup, to Hitchcock's cover-up of Leigh's deep breath at the end of the scene. Archive material, including Saul Bass's incredibly detailed storyboards, are a delight, even if Jon Hegel's strings prove somewhat overbearing."
Nicki Baughan, The List
SNOWDEN - Craig Armstrong, Adam Peters
"That stuff all feels like obligation anyway -- we know why Stone is here, and to his credit, he manages to smartly illustrate both the political and the personal. Dramatizing Snowden’s journey rather than just its destination allows Stone to open our eyes along with his protagonist’s, so once that framework is established, he can use his tricks of sound, vision, and paranoia to put us in 'Ed''s head. 'Snowden' is ultimately a procedural thriller, detailing how he found out all he found out, and how he got it into the world. (The sequence of him copying those files has been done before, but thanks to the itchy camerawork and pounding score, the tension still ratchets.) And Stone ends up working a groove that’s somewhere in between dramatization and documentary, folding in real stills and archival footage as Snowden’s voice-over lays down exactly what we’re doing, and how 'the only thing you’re protecting is the supremacy of our government.' There are moments in 'Snowden' that verge on outright corn, and others that cross well into it: his army tour is introduced with a sunrise march to inspirational music (complete with screaming black drill sergeant), and a flag waves in the breeze as he mouths the aforementioned 'only thing you’re protecting' line. It’s easy to think Stone’s veering from the deployment of iconography to dusting off tired clichés, but this is where context and history matters. He didn’t give 'Born on the Fourth of July' that title to be cute, and he didn’t drape the flag across the 'JFK' poster to be ironic. He believes in this country, in the power of those images, and one of the key ideas that recurs throughout his work is that dissent is one of the greatest forms of patriotism -- that holding our government accountable for its actions, as Snowden says here, 'is the principle the United States of America is founded on.'"
Jason Bailey, Flavorwire
STORKS - Mychael Danna, Jeff Danna
"Accentuating the film’s core theme of family dynamics is a nurturing, understated score by brothers Mychael and Jeff Danna, who previously collaborated on Pixar’s 'The Good Dinosaur,' which nicely bridges a pair of uplifting tracks by Jason Derulo ('Kiss the Sky') and The Lumineers ('Holdin’ Out')."
Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter
TE ATA - Bryan E. Miller
"Kilcher conveys the defiant, radiant personality that helped Te Ata charm audiences, in the process becoming an embodiment of living history. Yet Frankowski dramatizes his material in ways that consistently undercut the performances. With much of the action bathed in warm, golden light and set to a soaring orchestral score, the film quickly proves monotonously uplifting. Moreover, the director’s habit of skimming through various stages of his protagonist’s odyssey via musical montages soon makes the enterprise feel like the cinematic equivalent of a Wikipedia entry."
Nick Schager, Variety
UNA - Jed Kurzel
"In transposing 'Blackbird' to the real world (if the highly stylized settings, rendered all the more otherworldly by Jed Kurzel’s ethereal harmonic-tone score, could be considered as such), Andrews has opened up Harrower’s one-act play ever so slightly, giving Ray a colleague (Riz Ahmed), a boss (Tobias Menzies), and a wife (Natasha Little) to add dimension to his character -- and hers. And yet, he’s lost something in the way he directs Mara, who brings such a different energy from Allison Pill or Michelle Williams, who played Una on Broadway (acting opposite Jeff Daniels in two separate productions)."
Peter Debruge, Variety
"Cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis (known for his work on Yorgos Lanthimos' 'Dogtooth' and 'The Lobster,' as well as Ira Sachs' 'Keep the Lights On') frames the action in striking though not overly mannered compositions, adopting more muted tones in the dreamlike returns to the past. Also effective is the needling score by Jed Kurzel, composer on 'The Babadook,' and on his brother Justin's films 'The Snowtown Murders' and 'Macbeth.'"
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
WALKING OUT - Ernst Reijseger
"'Walking Out' is a tense survival thriller that offers much more than nail-biting adventure. Sure, it has plenty of edge-of-the seat suspense, but, as written and directed by Alex and Andrew Smith ('The Slaughter Rule'), it is just as noteworthy for its terrific, spare dialogue, stunning cinematography, stirring musical score and poignant narrative arc. The score by Ernst Reijseger ('Cave of Forgotten Dreams') is hauntingly evocative, perfectly pitched for the rugged landscape. Cinematographer Todd McMullen ('The Leftovers') makes the entire journey a breathtaking one, and also fashions beautifully burnished flashback sequences of Clyde and the 14-year old Cal (Alex Neustaedter, 'Colony')."
Claudia Puig, The Wrap
"The Smiths strike a surprising tone throughout. As Cal and David’s ordeal proceeds, the film’s style doesn’t become grittier or more intense. Todd McMullen’s cinematography continues to capture the solemn beauty of the Crazies with all the respectful awe of a devoted pilgrim; this is certainly one of the year’s most amazing, unreal-looking films. That sense of curious, sacred distance is also reflected in Dutch cellist and composer Ernst Reijseger’s gently lilting score, which at times resembles contemplative religious music. (Shocker: Reijseger’s pieces have appeared in numerous Werner Herzog films, including 'Grizzly Man.')"
Bilge Ebiri, The Village Voice
"Shot by Todd McMullen in a series of elegantly composed, super-wide images, edited with a minimalist flair by Michael Taylor, and scored mostly with mournful, contemplative classical string instruments by Ernst Reijseger, this is a meditation on the rituals and tragic weight of masculinity, as passed down from macho fathers to their sons, and by those sons to their sons. The movie would fit nicely in a film festival comprised of works with a similar theme, including 'Legends of the Fall' and 'The Revenant' and older wilderness dramas like 'Jeremiah Johnson' and 'Bend of the River.' Unfortunately, it's largely devoid of humor. And there are times when it leans too hard on the usual signifiers of Tragic Masculinity -- particularly when the soundtrack brings in a holy choir to underscore the holy devotion of son to father, and vice-versa, and whenever Cal launches into philosophical frontiersman mode, explaining the mystical communion of man and nature like a graduate fiction writing student who just got back from a camping trip. Much of the latter appears to have been added by the filmmakers, though you can understand why they thought it was necessary: the source material, a 1988 short story by David Quammen, is light on dialogue and heavy on terse descriptions of people doing things."
Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com
"'Walking Out' seems to be an ambitious project, but all of the pieces to make a narratively simple story, about this wounded father and son trying to get back home, don’t coalesce; it does get considerable emotional force from its score by Ernst Rejseger and cinematography by Todd McMullen. And Wiggins and Bomer use their chemistry to create some sweet moments, especially as David is eventually carrying his father on his back. But their physical portrayal of such extreme circumstances doesn't provide as full a representation, feeling more like lots of heavy exhales and gritted teeth. The pain they face is conveyed more vividly with the snow that’s constantly on their frost-bitten faces, tormenting them among gorgeous scenery."
Nick Allen, RogerEbert.com
"Bill Pullman and Lily Gladstone both have brief, effective cameos, though 'Walking Out' is thoroughly a two-hander, and Wiggins proves every bit Bomer’s equal as David is forced to grow up in a hurry. The Smith brothers work smartly with the resources they have, and cinematographer Todd McMullen seizes every opportunity to capture Montana’s natural splendor in radiant tones, while Ernst Reijseger’s meditative score provides graceful counterpoints."
Andrew Barker, Variety
THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN L.A.
Screenings of older films, at the following L.A. movie theaters: AMPAS, American Cinematheque: Aero, American Cinematheque: Egyptian, Arclight, Arena Cinelounge, LACMA, Laemmle, New Beverly, Nuart and UCLA.
November 9
DEATH ON THE NILE (Nino Rota) [Laemmle Ahyra Fine Arts]
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (Ennio Morricone), FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (Ennio Morricone) [Cinematheque: Aero]
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD (Nigel Godrich) [Nuart]
A TOUCH OF SIN (Giong Lim) [UCLA]
November 10
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (Ennio Morricone) [Cinematheque: Aero]
November 11
DIE HARD (Michael Kamen) [Laemmle Playhouse]
DIE HARD (Michael Kamen) [Laemmle Town Center]
November 12
BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM (Shirley Walker) [Laemmle Playhouse]
MORE THAN HONEY (Peter Scherer) [Cinematheque: Aero]
November 13
PLATINUM BLONDE [LACMA]
November 14
GRAND ILLUSION (Joseph Kosma) [Laemmle Playhouse]
GRAND ILLUSION (Joseph Kosma) [Laemmle Royal]
GRAND ILLUSION (Joseph Kosma) [Laemmle Town Center]
November 15
TRON (Wendy Carlos) [Laemmle NoHo]
November 16
LEAVE NO TRACE (Dickon Hinchliffe), WINTER'S BONE (Dickon Hinchliffe) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
LITTLE DARLINGS (Charles Fox) [UCLA]
WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE (J. Peter Robinson) [Nuart]
November 18
THE PIANIST (Wojciech Kilar) [Laemmle Music Hall]
SPY KIDS (John Debney, Danny Elfman, Harry Gregson-Williams, Los Lobos, Robert Rodriguez) [UCLA]
WINGS OF DESIRE (Jurgen Knieper) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY
Just a quickie this week, since I've seen too many movies lately to write about before my deadline, and I'm trying to finish several Friday columns in advance before I go on vacation. The two films I've seen in the last week that impressed me the most happen to be two of the submissions for this year's Foreign Language Film Oscar -- Alfonso Cuaron's visually stunning Roma (no original score), and Lee Chang-Dong's haunting Burning (with a score by Mowg, and an especially memorable use of Miles Davis' Elevator to the Gallows as a source cue).
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