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Academy Award Nominations 2023
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the nominations for the 96th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2023.
In the Best Original Score category, the nominees are:
- JOSCELIN DENT-POOLEY (JERSKIN FENDRIX) for Poor Things
- LUDWIG GÖRANSSON for Oppenheimer
- LAURA KARPMAN for American Fiction
- ROBBIE ROBERTSON for Killers of the Flower Moon
- JOHN WILLIAMS for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
These are the first Oscar nominations for Dent-Pooley, Karpman, and Robertson; Robertson’s nomination is posthumous, as he died in August 2023, just weeks before Killers of the Flower Moon was released. This is the third Oscar nomination – the second in this category – for Göransson, who previously won for Black Panther in 2018.
Incredibly, this is the 54th Oscar nomination for John Williams, which breaks his own record for being the most nominated living person, and maintains his position as the second most nominated person of all time after Walt Disney (who had 59). He previously won Academy Awards for Fiddler on the Roof in 1971, Jaws in 1975, Star Wars in 1977, E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial in 1982, and Schindler’s List in 1993.
In the Best Original Song category, the nominees are:
- JON BATISTE and DAN WILSON for “It Never Went Away” from American Symphony
- BILLIE EILISH and FINNEAS O’CONNELL for “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie
- SCOTT GEORGE for “Wahzhazhe – A Song for My People” from Killers of the Flower Moon
- MARK RONSON and ANDREW WYATT for “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie
- DIANE WARREN for “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot
The winners of the 96th Academy Awards will be announced on March 10, 2024.
Laurie Johnson, 1927-2024
Composer Laurie Johnson died on January 16, 2024, at home in London after a short illness. He was 95.
Laurence Reginald Ward Johnson was born in London in February 1927. He studied composition at the Royal College of Music, where one of his tutors was Ralph Vaughan Williams. He undertook his national service, playing French horn with the Coldstream Guards, in the late 1940s, before moving to the entertainment industry in the 1950s.
He began his career as a composer and arranger in the West End theater, and he won an Ivor Novello Award in 1959 for his work on Lionel Bart’s Lock Up Your Daughters in 1959. He scored his first film, the British musical The Good Companions, in 1957, and went on to enjoy a long career in the British film music industry, writing for projects such as the swashbuckler The Moonraker (1958), the crime drama Tiger Bay (1959), Stanley Kubrick’s classic satire Dr. Strangelove (1964), the HG Wells science-fiction adaptation First Men in the Moon (1964), the cult Hammer horror Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1972), the nature drama The Belstone Fox (1973), and the literary drama Hedda (1975), as well as a series of 1980s TV movies based on the works of his long-time friend, novelist Dame Barbara Cartland. Read more…
THE RAINS CAME – Alfred Newman
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Darryl F. Zanuck 20th Century Fox Studios vice-president of production came upon the 1937 novel The Rains Came by Louis Bromfield and decided its story of redemption set in India would translate well to the big screen. He purchased the film rights, assumed oversight of production with a budget of $2.5 million, tasked Clarence Brown with directing, and hired Philip Dunne and Julien Josephson to write the screenplay. For his cast, Myrna Loy would star as Lady Edwina Esketh, with Tyronne Power as Major Rama Safti, George Brent as Tom Ransome, Brenda Joyce as Fern Simon, Nigel Bruce as Lord Albert Esketh and Maria Ouspenskaya as Maharani. Read more…
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2023, Part 7
I’m pleased to present the latest instalment in my on-going series of articles looking at the best under-the-radar scores from around the world. This article, the seventh of 2023, covers five scores from across genres and countries: a documentary about female conductors, an animated short film in the classic Disney style, a Spanish romantic comedy, a French political comedy, and a bloody horror film about sloths on the rampage! Read more…
BAFTA Nominations 2023
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominations for the 77th British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2023.
In the Best Original Music category, which is named in memory of the film director Anthony Asquith, the nominees are:
- JOSCELIN DENT-POOLEY (JERSKIN FENDRIX) for Poor Things
- LUDWIG GÖRANSSON for Oppenheimer
- DANIEL PEMBERTON for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
- ROBBIE ROBERTSON for Killers of the Flower Moon
- ANTHONY WILLIS for Saltburn
This is the second BAFTA nomination for Pemberton, and the second nomination for Willis. All the other three nominees are first time nominees – although Göransson does have an Oscar, a Golden Globe, three Grammys and two Emmys – meaning that whoever wins will be a first time BAFTA winner. Robertson’s nomination is posthumous; he died in August 2023, just weeks before Killers of the Flower Moon was released.
The winners of the 77th BAFTA Awards will be announced on 18 February, 2024.
PHILADELPHIA – Howard Shore
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
In terms of its subject matter and how it relates to the social issues of the time it was released, Philadelphia is one of the most important films ever made. It was released in the winter of 1993 and, at the time, it quickly became notable for being one of the first mainstream Hollywood films not only to explicitly address both the HIV/AIDS crisis and the then-prevalent societal homophobia, but also to portray gay people in any sort of positive light. The film stars Tom Hanks as attorney Andrew Beckett, a senior associate at the largest corporate law firm in Philadelphia. In order to maintain his career, Beckett conceals his homosexuality and his status as an AIDS patient from others in the office, but eventually his symptoms become too obvious to ignore. However, rather than treat him with sympathy, Beckett is summarily fired by his bigoted boss Charles Wheeler (Jason Robards). Refusing to accept this, Beckett seeks out personal injury attorney Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) to help him sue his former employers, which requires Miller to overcome his own latent prejudice and homophobia. Read more…
THE PIPER – Christopher Young
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
There’s a concept in film music, which doesn’t have a name, in which a film’s score is so much better and more technically accomplished than the film it accompanies, that you wonder how the two things go together at all. It has happened so many times over the years; some composers spend essentially their entire careers stuck in this world, writing astonishingly brilliant music for a series of less-than-stellar films, such that the composer in question never receives the accolades or acknowledgement that their musical talent actually merits. The Piper, by Christopher Young, is one of these. The film is a somewhat gruesome horror film loosely based on the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, which was subsequently turned into a folklore story by the Brothers Grimm. This film is directed by Icelandic filmmaker Erlingur Óttar Thoroddsen and stars Charlotte Hope, Oliver Savell, and the late Julian Sands in what would turn out to be his last film prior to his tragic death on Mount Baldy in California a year ago. The plot on IMDB reads: ‘when a composer is tasked with finishing her late mentor’s concerto, she soon discovers that playing the music summons deadly consequences, leading her to uncover the disturbing origins of the melody and an evil that has awakened.’ Read more…
MACARTHUR – Jerry Goldsmith
MOVIE MUSIC UK CLASSICS
Original Review by Craig Lysy
The genesis of Macarthur lay with Frank McCarthy, who served as aide to General George C. Marshall during WWII. McCarthy became a producer at 20th Century Fox Studios in 1949. He was a supreme patriot, and he sought to extol some of America’s greatest generals of WWII. His first project was the biopic Patton in 1970, which explored the life of the brilliant, irrepressible, and profane general of the 3rd Army. Following the great success of the film he selected his next project, a biopic of another iconic, brilliant and rebellious general, Douglas MacArthur. Casting and production challenges derailed McCarthy, but he rebounded and found backing from Universal Studios. He was placed in charge of production with a small $16 million budget, Joseph Sargent was tasked with directing, with Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins hired to write the screenplay. For the cast, the titular role was turned down by George C. Scott and Marlon Brando, and Sargent eventually recruited Gregory Peck. Joining him would be Ed Flanders as President Harry S. Truman, Dan O’Herlihy as President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ivan Bonar as Lieutenant General Richard K. Sutherland, Ward Costello as General C. Marshall, and Marj Dusay as Jean MacArthur. Read more…
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2023, Part 6
I’m pleased to present the latest instalment in my on-going series of articles looking at the best under-the-radar scores from around the world. This article, the sixth of 2023, covers five scores from five very different projects from Japanese film and television, plus a delightful Christmas score from Norway. Read more…
TOMBSTONE – Bruce Broughton
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Very few events in the colorful and sometimes fanciful history of the American West capture the imagination like the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The event did take place, in the boom town of Tombstone, Arizona, on October 26, 1881, and it did see the brothers Virgil, Morgan, and Wyatt Earp, plus their friend Doc Holliday, shooting it out with a loosely organized group of outlaws called the Cowboys, led by Ike Clanton. The real gunfight lasted just seconds, resulted in the deaths of three Cowboys, and was probably no different from many of the other gunfights that were regular occurrences in the old west. However, for some reason, the Gunfight, the story of the Earp family, and the subsequent Earp Vendetta Ride, have become near-mythical events in the romantic history of the period. Tombstone was at least the eighth film to depict these events on the silver screen, after such legendary western movies like 1946’s My Darling Clementine starring Henry Fonda, 1957’s Gunfight at the O.K. Corral starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, and 1967’s Hour of the Gun starring James Garner. Read more…
GOLDEN BOY – Victor Young
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In 1938 Columbia Pictures bought the film rights to the play Golden Boy by Clifford Odets for $100,000, intending to showcase their star Jean Arthur with Frank Capra directing. However, when Capra was unavailable, Rouben Mamoulian was tasked with directing, which resulted in cast changes. William Perlberg was assigned production and the team of Lewis Meltzer, Daniel Taradash, Sarah Mason and Victor Heerman wrote the screenplay. Barbara Stanwyck was cast to star in the film as Lorna Moon, with Adolphe Menjou as Tom Moody, Joseph Calleia as Eddie Fuseli, and Lee J. Cobb as Papa Bonaparte. In an audacious decision, Mamoulian decided against studio wishes, to cast the young William Holden (21 years old) in his first acting role as Joe Bonaparte, a decision that ended up launching his career as a young heart throb. Read more…
SOCIETY OF THE SNOW – Michael Giacchino
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
In October 1972 a plane carrying a rugby team from Montevideo, Uruguay, who were on their way to play a game in Santiago, Chile, crashed high in the Andes mountains. 15 of the 45 passengers and crew died on impact but the others – some of whom were badly injured – quickly had to figure out how to survive. During the following 72 days, the survivors suffered extreme hardships, including exposure, starvation, and an avalanche, which led to the deaths of thirteen more passengers; famously, but reluctantly, they were forced to resort to cannibalism to stave off death due to lack of food. Eventually two of the rugby players – Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa – decided to strike out for help. They climbed a 15,000 foot mountain without gear, and then hiked almost 50 miles. It took them almost 10 days, but they finally stumbled into a remote village, where they could obtain help and call for the Chilean Army to rescue the other survivors. This incredible story was turned into a book, Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read, and then into an acclaimed film, Alive, in 1993. This new film – La Sociedad de la Nieve, or Society of the Snow – is the first Spanish-language film version of the story, and is directed by acclaimed filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona. Read more…
STAGECOACH – Richard Hageman
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Director John Ford came upon a short story, “The Stage to Lordsburg” by Dudley Nichols, which inspired him for his next film project, and whose film rights he purchased for $2,500. Yet he had difficulty securing financial backing as the studios believed “A” western pictures were out of vogue, and they had no confidence that John Wayne could carry the film. Ford was insistent on retaining Wayne and eventually hammered out a deal with independent producer Walter Wanger who would manage production with a $531,374 budget. Ford would direct and Dudley Nichols was hired to write the screenplay. A fine cast was assembled, including Claire Trevor as Dallas, John Wayne as Ringo Kid, Andy Devine as Buck, John Carridine as Hatfield, Thomas Mitchell as Doc Boone, Louise Platt as Lucy Mallory, George Bancroft as Marshall Curley Wilcox, Donald Meek as Samuel Peacock, Berton Churchill as Henry Gatewood, and Time Holt as Lieutenant Blanchard. Read more…
Golden Globe Winners 2023
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) have announced the winners of the 81st Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2023.
In the Best Original Score category composer Ludwig Göransson won the award for his score for Oppenheimer, director Christopher Nolan’s epic drama about the life and work of the theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer whose work on the Manhattan Project in the 1940s led to the creation of the world’s first nuclear weapon. This is the first Golden Globe for Göransson, in his fourth nomination – he was previously nominated for Best Score for Black Panther in 2019, and Tenet in 2021, and for Best Song for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in 2022. In his acceptance speech, Göransson said:
“Thank you to the HFPA, and thank you to Chris Nolan and Emma Thomas for inviting me on this journey, and for creating this masterpiece. Working with Christopher Nolan has been an incredible experience and I think the way that you use music in your films and your storytelling has inspired a lot of people. I want to also thank Cillian Murphy, I have been watching your face over and over and over again [laughs] – it’s been an incredible experience and thank you for inspiring me. I want thank all the musicians that played on this incredible score… on this score, they made an incredible effort. And I also want to thank my partner in life and partner in music, Serena, for helping me to realize this music. I love you.”
The other nominees were Joscelin Dent-Pooley (Jerskin Fendrix) for Poor Things, Joe Hisaishi for The Boy and the Heron, Mica Levi for The Zone of Interest, Daniel Pemberton for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Robbie Robertson for Killers of the Flower Moon
In the Best Original Song category, the winners were Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell for their song “What Was I Made For,” one of three nominees from the smash hit summer blockbuster Barbie.
The other nominees were Jack Black, Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Eric Osmond, and John Spiker for “Peaches” from The Super Mario Bros. Movie; Lenny Kravitz for “Road to Freedom” from Rustin; Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt for “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie; Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt, Dua Lipa, and Caroline Ailin for “Dance the Night” from Barbie; and Bruce Springsteen for “Addicted to Romance” from She Came to Me.
THE BOYS IN THE BOAT – Alexandre Desplat
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Boys in the Boat is an inspirational real life sports drama which tells the story of the University of Washington’s eight-oared rowing crew, who overcame enormous physical and social obstacles – not least the impact of the Great Depression – to represent the United States at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, and win the gold medal ahead of the heavily fancied and Hitler-backed German crew. The film focuses specifically on Joe Rantz, a kid from a poor background who was essentially homeless before he went to university, and initially saw his rowing career as a means to an end to put food on the table more than he did a chance to achieve sporting greatness. The film stars Callum Turner as Rantz, and Joel Edgerton as the college’s rowing coach Al Ulbrickson; it was written by Mark L. Smith, adapting the non-fiction novel of the same name by Daniel James Brown, and is directed by global movie star and filmmaker George Clooney. Read more…
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