This week, Film Music Reporter is launching a new weekly column talking about the music of the weekend’s new films opening in the US.
Opening this Friday (November 5):
Megamind
Music by Hans Zimmer & Lorne Balfe
Dreamworks Animation’s latest movie features a score by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe, as well as numerous popular songs. A soundtrack album featuring about 30 minutes of score, as well as most of the songs used in the movie has been released by Lakeshore Records. To listen to clips, check out Amazon or iTunes. The movie contains roughly 50 minutes of score including a very nice arrangement of the main themes during the end credits which has surprisingly been left off the soundtrack album.
Also opening wide today is Todd Phillips’s new comedy Due Date, which features a score by Christophe Beck, as well as a number of songs. There’s about 20-25 minutes of score featured in the movie . Check out Film Music Magazine’s recent interview with Christophe Beck where he briefly talks about the score of the movie and Todd Phillips’ approach to movie music. A soundtrack album has been released by Watertower Music. The album features three tracks from the score including a standout cue (Glaucoma) from one of the movies’ action sequences. Check out iTunes for sound clips and Amazon to order a CD-R of the soundtrack.
Also opening this week is Tyler Perry’s latest movie For Colored Girls featuring a score by Aaron Zigman.
The soundtrack released by Atlantic Records includes the main titles written by Aaron Zigman in two versions (one featuring Joshua Bell), as well as numerous songs used in the movie. Check out a video interview with Zigman with the composer talking about working with the director and the film’s opera scene on Trailer Addict. To listen to clips from the soundtrack, check out Amazon and iTunes.
Opening in limited release this weekend is Danny Boyle’s latest movie 127 Hours featuring a score by A.R. Rahman. The movie includes a mixture of songs and score by A.R. Rahman. Rahman also co-wrote the song If I Rise, the first collaboration between the Grammy, Golden Globe and Oscar winner and Dido, which plays during the film’s end credits and is already being considered as one of the likely candidates to receive a best song nomination during the Award season. A soundtrack album including both songs and score has been released digitally by Interscope Records on iTunes, where you can also listen to sound clips from the album. A CD will be released on November 22, which can be pre-ordered on Amazon.
Also opening in limited release this weekend is Doug Liman’s political thriller Fair Game, which features a mostly electronic score by John Powell.
A soundtrack album has been released by Lakeshore Records. For audio clips, visit Amazon and iTunes.
Finally, Dan Ireland’s Jolene starring Jessica Chastain, Dermot Mulroney, Chazz Palminteri, Rupert Friend, Michael Vartan and Denise Richards, which premiered at 2008’s Seattle Film Festival will get a limited release this weekend in the US. The score has been written by Harry Gregson-Williams, who previously worked with the director on The Whole Wide World and Passionada. We haven’t been able yet to check out the movie and we don’t expect a soundtrack to be released, but Hollywood Reporter recently published a review of the movie mentioning the “haunting score”, which definitely makes us want to find out more about the score.
