The latest CD from Intrada is a remastered re-release of their own re-recording of Jerry Goldsmith's score for the 1964 Western RIO CONCHOS, with the composer himself conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. The CD also includes Goldsmith's own re-recording of his score for the documentary prologue to The Agony and the Ecstasy, "The Artist Who Did Not Want to Paint."
La-La Land has announced their schedule of new releases for this month.
On May 11, they will release an expanded, two-disc edition of Michael Kamen's score for the original 2000 X-MEN; the first release of Dario Marianelli's score for the 2018 Transformers spin-off BUMBLEBEE; and the third volume of the label's new Goldsmith at 20th series, a two-disc set featuring two Jerry Goldsmith scores, THE STRIPPER, the first of his collaborations with director Franklin J. Schaffner, and the Donald Sutherland-Elliot Gould comedy S*P*Y*S.
On May 25, they will release Marco Beltrami's score for the imminent sci-fi horror sequel A QUIET PLACE, PART 2 (which was originally supposed to hit theaters over a year ago but was postponed due to the pandemic) and THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN, which was released to streaming platforms last year, with a score by Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro.
Varese Sarabande has announced two new limited edition CD Club releases -- a two-disc edition of Jerry Goldsmith's score for his final collaboration with Franklin J. Schaffner, the little-seen medieval adventure film LIONHEART, featuring the score in film order as well as adding two previously unreleased cues; and an expanded, two-disc version of Marco Beltrami's score for the apoclyptic thriller KNOWING, starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Alex Proyas.
Quartet has announced two new expanded score CDs from Oscar-nominated composer Philippe Sarde -- an expanded version of his score for the 1972 romantic drama CESAR ET ROSALIE, starring Yves Montand and Romy Schneider; and a CD pairing two Sarde scores for adaptations of Georges Simenon books directed by Pierre Granier-Defferre: an expanded version of LE CHAT (1971) and a remastered version of LE TRAIN (1973).
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Chronicle - Ernst Reijseger - Caldera
Escape from New York [re-release] - John Carpenter, Alan Howarth - Silva
Knowing: The Deluxe Edition - Marco Beltrami - Varese Sarabande CD Club
Lionheart: The Deluxe Edition - Jerry Goldsmith - Varese Sarabande CD Club
Rio Conchos (re-recording re-release) - Jerry Goldsmith - Intrada
IN THEATERS TODAY
Duty Free - Crystal Grooms Mangano
Enfant Terrible - Martin Todsharow
Here Today - Charlie Rosen
The Human Factor - Eugene Levitas
Mainstream - Devonte Hynes
Paper Spiders - Ariel Blumenthal
The Paper Tigers - Daniel L.K. Caldwell
Wrath of Man - Christopher Benstead
COMING SOON
May 14
Bumblebee - Dario Marianelli - La-La Land
Goldsmith at 21st Vol. 3: The Stripper/S*P*Y*S - Jerry Goldsmith - La-La Land
X-Men - Michael Kamen - La-La Land
May 21
Cesar et Rosalie - Philippe Sarde - Quartet
Le Chat/Le Train - Philippe Sarde - Quartet
May 28
The Midnight Sky - Alexandre Desplat - Abkco
The Prowler - Richard Einhorn - Howlin' Wolf
A Quiet Place, Part 2 - Marco Beltrami - La-La Land
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run - Hans Zimmer, Steve Mazzaro - La-La Land
June 4
Swallow - Nathan Halpern - Ship to Shore
June 11
The Proposal - T. Griffin - Constellation
Date Unknown
The Alan Howarth Collection Vol. 2 - Alan Howarth - Dragon's Domain
Belli e brutti ridono tutti - Giacomo Dell'Orso - Beat
Fuga Dal Bronx - Francesco De Masi - Beat
Ghoulies IV - Chuck Cirino - Dragon's Domain
Inseminoid - John Scott - Dragon's Domain
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
May 7 - George Stoll born (1902)
May 7 - Anne Dudley born (1956)
May 7 - Leith Stevens records his score for the Land of the Giants episode “Framed” (1968)
May 7 - Elliot Kaplan died (1992)
May 7 - Soren Hyldgaard died (2018)
May 8 - Nathan Van Cleave born (1910)
May 8 - Larry Morey died (1971)
May 8 - Jerry Fielding begins recording his score for Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
May 8 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Jetrel” (1995)
May 8 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Renaissance Man” (2001)
May 9 - Richard Shores born (1917)
May 9 - Eddy Manson born (1919)
May 9 - The Informer opens in New York (1935)
May 9 - Bruce Rowland born (1942)
May 9 - David Rose wins an Emmy for his Bonanza score “The Love Child,” and Walter Scharf wins for the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau episode “The Tragedy of the Red Salmon” (1971)
May 9 - Michael Kamen records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "Mirror, Mirror" (1985)
May 9 - Recording sessions begin for David Arnold’s score for Independence Day (1996)
May 10 - Max Steiner born (1888)
May 10 - Dimitri Tiomkin born (1899)
May 10 - David Lindup born (1928)
May 10 - Jay Ferguson born (1947)
May 10 - Debbie Wiseman born (1963)
May 10 - Perry Blake born (1970)
May 10 - Isaac Hayes begins recording his score for Shaft (1971)
May 10 - Laurence Rosenthal begins recording his score for The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976)
May 10 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “All Good Things…” (1994)
May 10 - Jay Chattaway begins recording his score for the Star Trek: Voyager episodes “Endgame, Parts 1 & II” (2001)
May 11 - Nathan Scott born (1915)
May 11 - Recording sessions begin for Miklos Rozsa’s score to So Proudly We Hail (1943)
May 11 - Recording sessions begin for Cyril J. Mockridge’s score for Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
May 11 - Elmer Bernstein begins recording his score for Hud (1962)
May 11 - Elmer Bernstein begins recording his score for Trading Places (1983)
May 11 - Michael Small begins recording his score for Kidco (1983)
May 11 - Ron Jones records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Up the Long Ladder" (1989)
May 11 - Recording sessions begin for Elliot Goldenthal’s score for Batman Forever (1995)
May 11 - Alan Silvestri begins recording his score for Eraser (1996)
May 12 - Gordon Jenkins born (1910)
May 12 - Philip Springer born (1926)
May 12 - Burt Bacharach born (1928)
May 12 - Klaus Doldinger born (1936)
May 12 - Jacob Groth born (1951)
May 12 - Niki Reiser born (1958)
May 12 - Nitin Sawhney born (1964)
May 12 - Steven M. Stern born (1967)
May 12 - Alex Ebert born (1978)
May 12 - Ernest Gold begins recording his unused score for Used Cars (1980)
May 12 - Humphrey Searle died (1982)
May 13 - David Broekman born (1902)
May 13 - Ken Darby born (1909)
May 13 - Isaak Shvarts born (1923)
May 13 - Charles Gross born (1934)
May 13 - John Lunn born (1956)
May 13 - Alison Goldfrapp born (1966)
May 13 - Craig Safan begins recording his unused score for Wolfen (1981)
May 13 - Recording sessions begin on Basil Poledouris’ score for RoboCop (1987)
May 13 - Alan Silvestri begins recording his score to Predator (1987)
May 13 - Leon Klatzkin died (1992)
May 13 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Basics, Part 1” (1996)
May 13 - Robert Drasnin died (2015)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
GIANTS BEING LONELY - Ben Morsberger
"The soundtrack by Ben Morsberger becomes edgy as the film goes along, alerting us that something serious may happen. But the final shot is jarring not just for its content but because it is out of place with the mood and spirit of the rest of the film. It leaves us with the sense that the movie is more an indication of better things to come from these young filmmakers than a work able to stand entirely on its own merits."
Neil Minow, RogerEbert.com
HONEYDEW - John Mehrmann
"Milburn’s editing, paired with Dan Kennedy’s cinematography, creates beautiful and haunting visuals that set up an elaborate cinematic sphinx that asks increasingly nauseating questions until the film’s final minutes. These visuals are emphasized by a downright creepy score that incorporates the motif of a knife being sharpened on a piece of leather. That metallic 'shing' punctuates moments of silence and makes simple transitions between scenes all the more terrifying. This aural repetition is accompanied by a score that flows from dream-like synths to deep chanting to twanging silverware. The sounds are just as fitful as the script and cinematography. And yet, they all come together to create an uncanny world that exists on the periphery of human experience."
Mary Beth McAndrews, Paste Magazine
"The setup for 'Deliverance' levels of redneck eccentricity is certainly evocative, with Milburn’s detached touch straddling the precarious seesaw between the oddball and the macabre. But the eerie environment -- cranked up to maximum effect by a score that mixes ambience with clanging found sounds by composer John Mehrmann, pulsating like an alien radio dispatch just out of reach -- is hard to settle into given the absolutely ludicrous behavior of the main characters."
Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire
LIMBO - Hutch Demouilpied
"Some of the film’s fish-out-of-water comedy is a little too cutesy, like Wasef and Abedi arguing about whether Ross and Rachel were on a break. But Sharrock generally has a good sense of restraint; he knows when to drops out Hutch Demouilpied’s score to instead surround Omar with the crashing waves and endless wind of the Scottish shore, and also that it’s better to keep the focus on the labyrinthine asylum process than the nitty-gritty details of the varying factions involved in the Syrian civil war. 'Limbo' skillfully deploys goofiness as a counterbalance to its steady awareness -- conveyed thorough El-Masry’s finely tuned performance -- that statelessness is its own burden, as substantial as the horrors of war and the familial legacy tied to Omar’s oud."
Rosana Hadadi, The Onion AV Club
THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SKIN - Amine Bouhafa
"At this point, 'The Man Who Sold His Skin' is curiously uncommitted to its satire; Ben Hania’s storytelling shares its hero’s bemused weariness (you can feel the film rolling its eyes at the reporter who proclaims that Jeffrey 'turns worthless objects into works that cost millions and millions of dollars just by signing them'), but it’s still locked into a certain lovesickness. Amine Bouhafa’s whirling classical score glazes Ben Hania’s direction with a seriousness that doesn’t allow much room for the absurdity to come, and the uncomplicated straightforwardness of the film’s early scenes anticipates a tale that doesn’t balance its different tones so much as it travels back and forth between them."
David Ehrlich, IndieWire
"The clever compositions and sensual, colorful images supplied by Lebanese cinematographer Christopher Aoun ('Capernaum') also play with notions of separation and artifice by using computer screens, mirrors and odd angles. Equally alluring is composer Amine Bouhafa’s string and trumpet-based score, which also makes space for the occasional opera extract."
Alissa Simon, Variety
MONDAY - Alexis Grapsas
"Props are due not just to the director and the two principle actors, both of whom perform with fierce commitment and intensity, but also the sterling efforts of DP Christos Karamanis, who worked on Papadimitropoulos’s previous features and who does a great job making Athens look both aptly scruffy, sun-blasted and deeply modern. Given the centrality of music to Mickey’s life, recognition should go to both composer Alexis Grapsas and music supervisor Lauren Marie Mikus, who must have been key to choosing the kind of contemporary EDM tracks and classic bangers that Mickey would be likely to play."
Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter
SLALOM - Low Entertainment
"This is a nimble story about a girl who’s trying to maintain (or regain) control even as the world gets faster and faster beneath her feet; a girl who likes catching snowflakes on her tongue and hitchhikes to practice because she can’t rely on anyone to be there for her. There’s an unavoidable element of tragedy to the idea that Lyz might have to choose between winning a medal and losing herself, even if that element is disguised by the forced beauty of Low Entertainment’s synth score, but Favier saves that dilemma for another day. If Lyz can find a way to be proud of herself, that might prove to be the most lasting victory of all."
David Ehrlich, IndieWire
"Immediately apparent in 'Slalom' is the dynamic beauty of the racing/training scenes in the mountains of Val d’Isère where Favier was raised, often captured by a camera that hurtles down the slopes at the vertiginous pace of the racers, viscerally embodying both the thrill and isolation of the activity. This same mixture of emotions informs the trajectory of the film’s embattled heroine, whose skill level demonstrates her Olympic potential but whose lack of a reliable support system -- her preoccupied mother (Muriel Combeau) works in the city and her father is portentously out of the picture -- makes her an ideal target for the manipulative tactics of overzealous taskmaster Fred (Jérémie Renier). In 'Slalom''s first act, a patina of Dardennes-like social realism -- affected through a handheld camera that clings constantly to Lyz -- aims to disguise the formulaic nature of the dramatic groundwork, while a somber cello-heavy score effectively does the opposite, telegraphing the latent unease coursing through such scenes as Lyz undergoes a handsy weight inspection courtesy of her trainer."
Carson Lund, Slant Magazine
STOWAWAY - Volker Bertelmann
"Director Penna, who previously demonstrated his talent for bleak terrain with his debut feature 'Arctic' (for his sake, I hope he sets his next film on a sun-drenched Caribbean island), skillfully handles the visual challenges of the cramped setting, and the tense atmospherics are further abetted by Volker Bertelmann's suitably ominous electronic music score."
Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
TOGETHER TOGETHER - Alex Somers
"Matt is a forty-something app designer whose most recent success, a platonic swiping service for the lonely that wouldn’t be out of place in 'Her', has given him the monetary ability to go for what he has always wanted: Parenthood. He’s practically bursting at the seams every time he even thinks about his bundle-of-joy to be, yet no one in his life shares his surety that not only is this his destiny, it’s the most thrilling fate known to man. This is where his relationship to Anna evolves into something more complicated than a service exchange. While she’s at first put off by his skyrocketing eyebrows and encroaching concern about her diet, shoes and sex life, and he fumbles with even the most basic of human interactions, their interests in each other’s choice to go it alone leads to a mutual appreciation and openness that they don’t find with anyone else. After Anna sees how much care and weight Matt puts into picking the exact shade for his kid’s future nursery, underlined by Alex Somers’ warmly hopeful score, her walls come down just enough to consider helping him through more than the most crucial functions of the gestational stage."
Shayna Maci Warner, Paste Magazine
"The rope-a-dope strategy starts in the opening sequence. A middle-aged man named Matt (Ed Helms) interviews a young woman named Anna (Patti Harrison) in what initially seems like a speed date, then a job interview (it's both, in a way). The questions are cutesy yet invasive ('What's the worst thing you've ever done?'). The solo piano score, by Alex Somers, has that yacht-cutting-through-clear-water sound characteristic of hyper-verbal indie-film comedies about well-off suburbanites muddling through existential crises. The credits font is Windsor Light Condensed, used in all Woody Allen films since 'Annie Hall.' Between the the lead actors' age gap, and their self-aware yet sometimes stumbling comic banter, it seems as if 'Together Together' is a try-hard that's aiming to give us the pleasures of a mid-period Woody Allen film without having to factor in, um, y'know, Woody Allen."
Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com
"Because what 'Together Together' is really about, what Beckwith has cleverly and earnestly created here is a film about what we spend our entire lives doing: navigating boundaries. Watching Matt and Anna discover the parameters of their friendship, and the impact they have on each other’s lives, is quite rewarding. Both Helms and Harrison nail the fluid nature of the tonal shifts as their bond tightens, loosens, and tightens once more. And while the jaunty piano soundtrack, Anna’s coffee shop job (with snarky coworker), and familiar faces in supporting roles make it easy to see the film as having a very recognizable indie DNA, that is perhaps another subversion Beckwith is playing with here, for inside of this conventional package lurks some sly surprises."
Josh Kupecki, The Austin Chronicle
"In the end though, this is a bland effort, with its tinkly piano music and flat visuals, failing to make anything of the San Francisco setting aside from the occasional shot of a hilly street or Castro corner. It's pleasant enough, but lacks the vitality to be more than mildly funny as comedy as well as the insight to build emotional heft as drama. It is, however, an excellent incentive to check out 'The Surrogate' if you haven't seen it."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
TOM CLANCY'S WITHOUT REMORSE - Jónsi
"The plotting from there on out often favors speed over the detailed clarity of Clancy’s prose, perhaps because it pretty much ditches the original story. The chess metaphors, in particular, feel under-developed. Still, there’s plenty of knife-edge action to keep you glued, nudged along by a suspenseful score from Icelandic multi-instrumentalist Jónsi of Sigur Rós. There’s a narrow escape by John from prison guards in cahoots with Russian mobsters, a hairy mission flight that gets shot down in Russian territorial waters and a face-off with snipers that tears up almost an entire block in the port city of Murmansk. This raises questions about a possible setup that John goes ghost to uncover in another near-suicidal underwater sequence."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
VANQUISH - Aldo Shllaku
"There are attempts at lending the proceedings vigor via handheld shots and frenetic editing, yet the film just lays there. Even a somewhat stimulating visual palette is miscalculated: Why are the bad guys’ scenes drenched in a sort of Day-Glo sea-green hue, while the all-white surfaces of Damon’s domain are lit aquamarine-to-purple? These are the colors of lollipops, not neo-noir. Aldo Shllaku’s synthy score affords a thumping propulsion the movie stubbornly refuses to be enlivened by."
Dennis Harvey, Variety
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY
Heard: Scream Queen!: My Nightmare on Elm Street (Taylor), Fiddler on the Roof (Bock), Street Scene (Weill), Autumn Hurricanes (Brant)
Read: Death of a Russian Priest, by Stuart M. Kaminsky
Seen: Godzilla vs. Kong, Nobody [2021], Raya and the Last Dragon, The Father, 2021 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts, 2021 Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts, Minari, Nomadland, Promising Young Woman
Watched: Star Trek ("Errand of Mercy"); Looking ("Looking for Home"); The Beast with a Million Eyes; You Only Live Twice; Rome ("Son of Hades"); Mission: Impossible ("Elena")
| 
