Universal Pictures Home Entertainment: "HONEST THIEF" on Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital

Global action hero Liam Neeson (Taken franchise, Batman Begins) stars as a notorious bank robber who turns himself in only to be double-crossed by a pair of corrupt FBI agents in the gripping thriller Honest Thief, available to own on Digital December 8, 2020 and on Blu-ray™, DVD, and On Demand December 29, 2020 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Filled with shocking twists and turns, the electrifying game of cat-and-mouse captivates audiences from start to finish as the merciless agents discover there’s nothing more dangerous than an elite criminal mastermind seeking justice. The high-octane film comes home just in time for the holidays and delivers non-stop action and “pure entertainment” (Pete Hammond, Deadline) that allows viewers to take part in uncovering the many layers of corruption that exist within the organization.
 
Led by Liam Neeson as the film’s courageous protagonist, Honest Thief is written, directed and produced by Mark Williams (“Ozark,” The Accountant) and features an all-star cast with Kate Walsh (“Grey’s Anatomy,” The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Jai Courtney (Terminator Genisys, A Good Day to Die Hard), Anthony Ramos (Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Hamilton), Jeffrey Donovan (“Burn Notice,” Sicario), and Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment, “The Unit”).

 

Meticulous thief Tom Carter (Neeson) has stolen $9 million from small-town banks while keeping his identity a secret. But after he falls in love with the bubbly Annie (Walsh), Tom decides to come clean about his criminal past, only to be double-crossed by two ruthless FBI agents. Packed with action, Honest Thief is a tale of redemption and one man's mission to make things right for the sake of love.
 
With the purchase of Honest Thief on disc or digital, fans are eligible to earn points towards special rewards via the Universal All-Access Rewards program. Members can redeem their points for digital movies, signed collectibles, box sets, win exclusive prizes and more! For FREE registration and details please visit www.MyUniversalRewards.com.   

Honest Thief will be available on Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital.

-Blu-rayTM unleashes the power of your HDTV and is the best way to watch movies at home, featuring 6X the picture resolution of DVD, exclusive extras and theater-quality surround sound.
-Digital lets fans watch movies anywhere on their favorite devices. Users can instantly stream or download.
-Movies Anywhere is the digital app that simplifies and enhances the digital movie collection and viewing experience by allowing consumers to access their favorite digital movies in one place when purchased or redeemed through participating digital retailers. Consumers can also redeem digital copy codes found in eligible Blu-rayTM and DVD disc packages from participating studios and stream or download them through Movies Anywhere. Movies Anywhere is only available in the United States. For more information, visit https://moviesanywhere.com.

trailer: https://youtu.be/_TLtcw7ixRc

 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

MVD Entertainment Group: "TREMORS" Limited Edition [4K UHD] [Blu-ray]

A pulse-pounding love letter to 1950s creature features that delivers horror and humor in equal measure, Tremors is a bonafide cult classic that has grabbed audiences' affections ever since its release and spawned a successful franchise that continues to this day.

Good-ol'-boy handymen Val (Kevin Bacon) and Earl (Fred Ward) are sick of their dead-end jobs in one-horse desert town Perfection, Nevada (population: 14). Just as they're about to escape Perfection forever, however, things start to get really weird: half-eaten corpses litter the road out of town; the phone lines stop working; and a plucky young scientist shows evidence of unusually strong seismic activity in the area. Something is coming for the citizens of Perfection... and it's under the goddamn ground!

Bursting with indelible characters, quotable dialogue and jaw-dropping special effects, Tremors is back and bigger than ever in this 4K-restored and fully loaded collectors' edition.
 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

MVD Entertainment Group: "VERSUS" [Blu-ray]

A relentless one-of-a-kind sensory assault chock-full of hyper-kinetic fight scenes, gangster shootouts, sword-slashing violence and gory zombie horror, Versus was a key title amongst the barrage of innovative horror and action movies that appeared as if from nowhere from Japan at the turn of the millennium, leading to a new wave of appreciation for Asian extreme cinema.

A mysterious face-off in a wooded clearing between two escaped convicts and a carload of sharply dressed yakuza holding a beautiful woman captive ends in hails of bullets and showers of blood. The location for this violent encounter is the mythic Forest of Resurrection, the site of the 444th portal of the 666 hidden gates that link this earthly domain to the netherworld - and it didn't get this name for nothing. As one of the surviving prisoners escapes with the girl into the darkness of the forest, disgruntled gangsters soon become the least of their worries as an earlier battle between a lone warrior against hordes of zombie samurai is carried over from a millennium ago into the present day...

Versus caused a sensation both in Japan and internationally upon its release, launching the careers of director Ryûhei Kitamura (Godzilla Final Wars, Midnight Meat Train) and action star and fight choreographer Tak Sakaguchi (Battlefield Baseball, Yakuza Weapon). Arrow Video is proud to present this mythic cult title in both its original 2000 and expanded 2004 Ultimate Versus iterations, in a brand new, director-approved restoration.
 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

MVD Entertainment Group: "CINEMA PARADISO" [4K UHD] [Blu-ray] [DVD]

A CELEBRATION OF YOUTH, FRIENDSHIP, AND THE EVERLASTING MAGIC OF THE MOVIES A winner of awards across the world including Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, 5 BAFTA Awards including Best Actor, Original Screenplay and Score, the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival and many more. Giuseppe Tornatore's loving homage to the cinema tells the story of Salvatore, a successful film director, returning home for the funeral of Alfredo, his old friend who was the projectionist at the local cinema throughout his childhood. 

 

Soon memories of his first love affair with the beautiful Elena and all the highs and lows that shaped his life come flooding back, as Salvatore reconnects with the community he left 30 years earlier. The original award-winning theatrical version of Tornatore's classic is presented here for the first time on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. This edition also includes the expanded Director's Cut, which delves deeper into Salvatore's backstory [Blu-ray].
 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

MVD Entertainment Group: "SURVIVOR BALLADS: THREE FILMS BY SHOHEI IMAMURA" [Blu-ray Box Set]

Throughout the 1980s, Shōhei Imamura (The Pornographers, Profound Desires of the Gods), a leading figure of the Japanese New Wave era of the 1960s, cemented his international reputation as one of the most important directors of his generation with a series of films that all competed at Cannes to great critical acclaim. This exclusive box set from Arrow Academy presents restored versions of three late career classics from the legendary filmmaker.

Based on an ancient folktale, The Ballad of Narayama (1983) was the first of two works from the director to win the prestigious Cannes Palme d'Or. Imamura's magnum opus depicts the members of an extended farming family eking out their existence in the mountainous north of Japan against the backdrop of the changing seasons before village lore decrees they make the sacrifice of abandoning their aged mother on the top of a nearby mountain when she reaches her seventieth year. Making its HD debut, Zegen (1987) takes a satirical look at Japan's prewar colonial expansion through the unscrupulous eyes of its flesh-peddler antihero as he establishes a prostitution enterprise across Southeast Asia. Finally, the harrowing Black Rain (1989) details the precarious existence of a household of atomic bomb survivors as, five years after being caught in the blast of Hiroshima, they struggle to find a husband for their 25-year-old niece.

These three works epitomize the director's almost documentary style of film-making, exposing the vulgar yet vibrant and instinctive underbelly of Japanese society through a sympathetic focus on peasants, prostitutes, criminal lowlife and other marginalized figures to explore the schism between the country's timeless pre-modern traditions and the modern face it projects to the world.
 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Olive Films: "RIO GRANDE" [OLIVE SIGNATURE] on BLU-RAY (Limited to 3,500 units!)

Rio Grande, the third and final installment in John Ford’s loosely-conceived Cavalry Trilogy (preceded by Fort Apache and She Wore A Yellow Ribbon) stars John Wayne as Lt. Col. John Kirby Yorke (the role he inhabited in Fort Apache) alongside Maureen O’Hara (in the first of five films she’d co-star in alongside Wayne) as his estranged wife, Kathleen, a woman set on keeping their son, Jefferson (Claude Jarman Jr., The Yearling), now under Yorke’s command, out of harm’s way.

Ford at his most measured and mature as a storyteller. Written by James Kevin McGuinness (Men of Boys Town) based on the Saturday Evening Post story by James Warner Bellah, Rio Grande features J. Carrol Naish and a supporting cast of familiar faces, many of them from the Ford stock company of actors including Harry Carey, Jr., Ben Johnson, Victor McLaglen, Chill Wills, and Grant Withers.

Filmed throughout Moab, Utah and the majestic Professor Valley – photographed in exquisite gradations of black and white by Stagecoach cinematographer Bert Glennon – Rio Grande offers nuanced observations on love, family, and honor, while firmly adhering to the western genre, showing. [https://olivefilms.com/]

 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Milan Records: "MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (Music from the Netflix Film)" music by Branford Marsalis

Milan Records today announces the December 18 release of MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (MUSIC FROM THE NETFLIX FILM), an album of music from Netflix’s newest original film about “Mother of the Blues” Ma Rainey. Available for pre-order now, the album features score music by critically-acclaimed saxophonist, instrumentalist, composer, bandleader and educator BRANFORD MARSALIS, as well as newly-recorded covers of both popular Ma Rainey tracks and blues and jazz standards from the era. The multi-GRAMMY Award winner brings over four decades of experience across stylistic boundaries to the project, imbuing the film with an authentic 1920s Chicago soundscape.

Of the soundtrack, composer BRANFORD MARSALIS says, “When George Wolfe called to ask me to compose music for his upcoming film, the project forced me to quickly fill in a gap in my musical experience: addressing the music of the 1920’s. I was excited about learning a new sound for my aural library and had to get right to work... Having only written arrangements for the modern big band (17 instruments, no strings), I looked forward to the challenge of writing in a ‘20s format and convincing the musicians to play the music as authentically as possible.”

Director GEORGE C. WOLFE adds, “When I signed on to direct Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, I instantly knew I wanted to work with Branford Marsalis, because when you collaborate with Branford the composer/arranger, Branford the historian, musicologist, dramatist and raconteur shows up as well. And because he understands the inherently transgressive nature of the blues, Branford’s arrangements capture not only the cultural and regional DNA in Ma Rainey’s songs, but the wit and rage embedded in every note, shout and moan.”

About the film: Chicago, 1927. A recording session. Tensions rise between Ma Rainey (Viola Davis), her ambitious horn player (Chadwick Boseman), and the white management determined to control the legendary “Mother of the Blues.” Based on Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson's play. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, directed by George C. Wolfe. Starring Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Colman Domingo, Michael Potts, Glynn Turman, Dusan Brown and Taylour Paige. Coming to Netflix December 18.

After four decades in the international spotlight, the achievements of saxophonist Branford Marsalis continue to grow. From his initial recognition as a young jazz lion, he has expanded his vision as an instrumentalist, composer, bandleader and educator, crossing stylistic boundaries while maintaining an unwavering creative integrity. In the process, he has become a multi award-winning artist with three Grammys, a citation by the National Endowment for the Arts as a Jazz Master and an avatar of contemporary artistic excellence.

Growing up in the rich environment of New Orleans as the oldest son of pianist and educator, the late Ellis Marsalis, Branford was drawn to music along with siblings Wynton, Delfeayo and Jason. The Branford Marsalis Quartet, formed in 1986, remains his primary means of expression. In its virtually uninterrupted three-plus decades of existence, the Quartet has established a rare breadth of stylistic range as demonstrated on the band’s latest release:

The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul. But Branford has not confined his music to the jazz quartet context. A frequent soloist with classical ensembles, Branford has become increasingly sought after as a featured soloist with acclaimed orchestras around the world, performing works by composers such as Copeland, Debussy, Glazunov, Ibert, Mahler, Milhaud, Rorem, Vaughan Williams and Villa-Lobos. And his legendary guest performances with the Grateful Dead and collaborations with Sting have made him a fan favorite in the pop arena.

His work on Broadway has garnered a Drama Desk Award and Tony nominations for the acclaimed revivals of Children of a Lesser God, Fences, and A Raisin in the Sun. His screen credits include original music composed for: Spike Lee’s Mo’ Better Blues, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks starring Oprah Winfrey and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman. Ma Rainey is the Netflix film adaptation of two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s play, produced by Denzel Washington and scheduled for release in December 2020.

Branford has also shared his knowledge as an educator, forming extended teaching relationships at Michigan State, San Francisco State and North Carolina Central Universities and conducting workshops at sites throughout the United States and the world.

After the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, Branford, along with friend Harry Connick, Jr., conceived of “Musicians’ Village,” a residential community in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans. The centerpiece of the Village is the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, honoring Branford’s father. The Center uses music as the focal point of a holistic strategy to build a healthy community and to deliver a broad range of services to undeserved children, youth and musicians from neighborhoods battling poverty and social injustice.
 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Perseverance Records: "‘TIL KINGDOM COME" music by Miriam Cutler

Perseverance Records is thrilled to announce today’s digital release of the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Emmy Award-winning Israeli documentarian Maya Zinshtein’s latest film ‘Til Kingdom Come. The album features an original score written and produced by three-time Emmy Award-nominated composer Miriam Cutler (RBG, Love, Gilda). The soundtrack is available for streaming and purchase today, December 11, on all major platforms.
 
‘Til Kingdom Come is an informative investigation into improbable and dangerous links between Israel and American evangelical Christian groups. The documentary has been featured in various festivals, including: DocAviv, Chicago International Film Festival, Denver Film Festival, Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival, DOC NYC, and International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. A theatrical release and television broadcast of the documentary is slated for early 2021.
 
“When I was contacted by the filmmakers of ‘Til Kingdom Come and they shared the narrative, my head almost exploded. Like many Americans, I’ve been perplexed as to why the religious right has so fervently embraced such an obviously indecent president. This film connects the dots about a very unholy alliance between global evangelicals, Trump, and Netanyahu. I got my start in horror movies, and it came in handy whilst scoring this harrowing documentary. Spoiler alert, there are no heroes in this sordid tale of willful ignorance, self-dealing and abuse of power,” says Miriam Cutler.
 
“As for the sound of the score, my notes from director Maya Zinshtein were to create an unsettling mood that runs as an undercurrent, while the film itself is fairly objective. I love creating subtle turbulence with rhythmic string patterns and chamber instrumentation—I had so much fun,” adds Cutler.

Pastors encourage an impoverished Kentucky community, “The forgotten people of America,” to donate to Israel in anticipation of Jesus’s impending return. The film exposes the controversial bond between Evangelicals and Jews in a story of faith, power, and money, revealing how Trump’s America is led by an End-Times apocalyptic countdown.
 
Three-time Emmy nominated composer, Miriam Cutler has an extensive background in scoring for independent film & TV projects, as well as two circuses. In June 2013, Miriam joined the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and currently serves on the Branch Executive Committee. She has also been Composer in Residence at Columbia College of the Arts, taught a semester at California Institute of the Arts, and overseas at the Hollywood Music Workshop in Vienna. She’s presented workshops at USC, UCLA, Chapman College, Berklee College of Music and internationally in Iceland, Borneo, Georgia, Austria, Spain, Germany.
 
Cutler wrote the scores for RBG and Dark Money which both premiered at Sundance 2017 and Love, Gilda which premiered at Tribeca 2018. All three films had theatrical releases with RBG garnering box office as one of the highest earning documentaries ever. In 2019, Miriam received Primetime Emmy nominations for scores for RBG and Love, Gilda. Other highlights include BAFTA nominated Lost in La Mancha, Emmy winners One Last Hug, Vito, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, Sundance Special Doc Jury Prize winners American Promise and License to Kill, and the Oscar-nominated shorts Poster Girl and Kings Point. Recent releases include ‘Til Kingdom Come, Flannery, The Dilemma of Desire, Not Carol, Emily on the Edge of Chaos, and festival favorite, Gloria’s Call.
 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Sony Music: "FARGO – YEAR 4" music by Jeff Russo

Sony Music today releases FARGO – YEAR 4 (SOUNDTRACK FROM THE MGM/FXP SERIES) with music by Emmy Award®-winning composer JEFF RUSSO.  Available everywhere now, , the album features score music written by Russo for the fourth installment of the award-winning MGM/FXP crime drama series.  The album returns composer Jeff Russo to the franchise, having scored the previous three installments of the show and receiving the Emmy Award® for his score to Fargo – Year 3 and two additional Emmy nominations for Year 1 and 2. Premiering on FX in September, the fourth season of Fargo stars Chris Rock, Jason Schwartzman, Salvatore Esposito, Ben Whishaw, Jessie Buckley, Jack Huston, E’myri Crutchfield, Andrew Bird, Anji White, Gaetano Bruno, Sean Fortunato, Jeremie Harris, Corey Hendrix, Matthew Elam, James Vincent Meredith, Francesco Acquaroli, Karen Aldridge, Kelsey Asbille, Tommaso Ragno, Glynn Turman and Timothy Olyphant and is available to stream in its entirety on FX on Hulu.  

Of the soundtrack, composer JEFF RUSSO says, “Fargo is always something new to me. This year, in particular, these characters made for the most interesting musical puzzle which i find to be incredibly inspiring.”

In 1950 Kansas City, the fourth installment of Fargo centers on two criminal syndicates who are fighting for a piece of the American dream and have struck an uneasy peace. Together, they control an alternate economy of exploitation, graft and drugs. To cement their truce, Loy Cannon (Chris Rock), the head of the African American crime family, trades his youngest son Satchel (Rodney Jones), to his enemy Donatello Fadda (Tomasso Ragno), the head of the Italian mafia. In return, Donatello surrenders his youngest son Zero (Jameson Braccioforte) to Loy.

Intertwined with this tale of immigration, assimilation, and power, are the stories of Josto Fadda (Jason Schwartzman), the impulsive and self-indulgent heir apparent to the Fadda Crime Family; Donatello’s adopted son Rabbi Milligan (Ben Whishaw); Detective Odis Weff (Jack Huston); Oraetta Mayflower (Jessie Buckley); Ethelrida Pearl Smutny (E’myri Crutchfield), the precocious 16-year-old daughter of Thurman (Andrew Bird) and Dibrell Smutny (Anji White) and U.S. Marshal Dick “Deafy” Wickware (Timothy Olyphant).

Peabody, Golden Globe® and Emmy® Award-winning Executive Producer, Noah Hawley (creator/writer/director), and his production company 26 Keys, lead the creative team of the latest all-new installment of the award-winning, true crime story. Warren Littlefield (The Handmaid’s Tale, The Old Man), and his production company The Littlefield Company, also serves as Executive Producer along with and Joel & Ethan Coen. Fargo is produced by MGM Television and FX Productions, with MGM Television serving as the lead studio and international distributor.

Jeff Russo is an Emmy® Award–winning and Grammy-nominated composer, scoring varied and compelling music for film, television, and video games. He won an Emmy Award and received two additional Emmy nominations for his thrilling and angst-producing score on FX’s Golden Globe– and Emmy-winning Fargo. Russo also received a BAFTA nomination for Best Music for Annapurna Interactive’s video game What Remains of Edith Finch. Russo’s film credits include Noah Hawley’s Lucy in the Sky, starring Natalie Portman and Jon Hamm; Craig Macneill’s Lizzie, starring Chloe Sevigny and Kristen Stewart, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival; Peter Berg’s action-thriller film Mile 22, starring Mark Wahlberg; and Jon Avnet’s Three Christs, starring Richard Gere, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival

Russo recently scored season 4 of FX’s Fargo and season 3 of CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Discovery. He’s currently scoring season 2 of Apple TV+’s For All Mankind and Starz’s Power Book II: Ghost, a sequel to Power, produced by Curtis Jackson “50 cent.” His music can also be heard on shows such as Netflix’s Cursed, Altered Carbon, The Umbrella Academy; and Lucifer; CBS All Access’s Star Trek: Picard; FX’s Legion and Snowfall; Starz’s Counterpart; HBO’s Golden Globe– and Emmy-nominated series The Night Of; and more.

In addition to composing music for film and television, Russo is a founding member, lead guitarist, and co-songwriter of two-time Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum-selling rock band Tonic. Their debut album, “Lemon Parade,” posted three singles in the U.S. Mainstream rock charts’ Top 10, with “If You Could Only See” rocketing to number one. In 2003, the band received two Grammy nominations, one for “Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal” for “Take Me As I Am,” and one for “Best Rock Album.”
 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Scissors: "PRINCESS OF THE ROW" music by Julian Scherle

Independent label Scissors will digitally release the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to the indie festival favorite Princess of the Row, from Executive Producers Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary. The original score is by up-and-coming composer Julian Scherle. The album is available and will be released on Friday, November 27, in conjunction with the film’s theatrical and On Demand release.
 
Princess of the Row is the inspiring tale of a runaway foster child who will stop at nothing to live with the only family she knows: her homeless, mentally-ill veteran father who lives on the streets of LA’s skid row. The film has received critical praise from its festival runs, and Scherle’s score is no exception:
  
Regarding Scherle’s inspiration for the score, it all started with the simple question: “How would I make music if I were homeless, living on Skid Row, with no access to ‘conventional’ instruments?”
 
“Based on that idea, the vast majority of the score was created by using instruments I built from trash found around Downtown Los Angeles. These unusual ‘instruments’ included a shopping cart played with a violin bow, various pots with mounted strings (think ukulele) played with a guitar pick, and an array of bowed metallic rods, that were soldered on a metal plate,” he added.
 
“The sound that derived from these unusual instruments was used to represent the real-life grit of Skid Row as a direct contrast to the more traditional instruments. The latter was used to represent the fantastical bond between the father and daughter, from the daughter’s innocent, un-corrupted perspective.”

“In addition, all vocals and body percussion were performed by members of the Urban Voices Project, an organization composed of artists and performers from the Skid Row neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles” says Scherle.
 
Julian Scherle is a German-raised, Los Angeles-based composer, multi-instrumentalist and performer.
 
Classically trained from the age of six, Julian has developed a wide stylistic background with an expertise in unusual artistic approaches. His music can be heard in numerous projects covering a variety of media formats such as feature films, documentaries, TV series, and video games.
 
Julian’s theatrical credits include the 2018 FIPRESCI Award-winning drama Pause directed by Tonia Mishiali and the feature film Hudson directed by Sean D. Cummingham. His 2020 film projects include: the revenge thriller Disrupted directed by Andre Welsh, the upcoming Alt Space directed by Cody Kussoy, and the emotional drama feature Princess of the Row directed by Max Carlson & produced by Morgan Freeman. The Independent Critic says, “Julian Scherle's original score for Princess of the Row bathes the film in realism meets fantasy, capturing all the right moments of grit and wonder, truth and love.” Scherle is currently scoring the drama feature Swing, directed by Michael Mailer and starring Michael Shannon and Alexander Ludwig.
 
Julian has also written music for many hit cable TV shows including the critically acclaimed series Mr. Robot (USA Network), Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story (FX Network), American Crime Story: People vs. OJ (FX Network), and Scream Queens (FOX).
 
Scherle has earned numerous accolades for his work, including a Best Film Score nomination for Princess of the Row at the Las Vegas International Film and Screenwriting Competition in 2019, a Best Music Jury Prize at London Fashion Film Festival in 2014, and received the Visual Music Award (a prestigious German award for audio-visual work) in 2011.
 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Walt Disney Records: "SAFETY" music by Marcus Miller

Walt Disney Records, the Safety Original Soundtrack features score by critically acclaimed Grammy®-winning jazz musician/producer and composer Marcus Miller ("Marshall").  The soundtrack includes the original song "Hold Us Together" performed by Grammy®-winning singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist H.E.R., which she wrote and produced in collaboration with Josiah Bassey and Dernst "D'Mile" Emile II.  Directed by Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Reginald Hudlin, "Safety" is now streaming exclusively on Disney+ (where Disney+ is available).

"Safety" is a drama inspired by the empowering story of former Clemson University football safety Ray McElrathbey (Jay Reeves), a young man facing a series of challenging circumstances, whose dedication and persistence help him to triumph over repeated adversities. Aided by his teammates and the Clemson community, he succeeds on the field while simultaneously raising and caring for his 11-year-old brother Fahmarr (Thaddeus J. Mixson).

Commenting on his score Miller said,  "The story is told in a beautiful, soulful way so it was important that the score convey emotion that fit this very special relationship - not too sweet but very deeply felt."  He continued,  "When I was first thinking about the score, I knew the biggest deal would be the football scenes - lots of excitement, energy and screaming fans. In my mind that meant drum line percussion, the sound that instantly says 'college football.' But I wanted to combine that sound with a large orchestra in order to support the size and drama of those scenes."

Miller's biggest challenge was recording an orchestral score during the pandemic.  The score features instruments played by Miller, including the piano, bass, saxes, clarinets, percussion, guitar and synths.  "I began recording one instrument on top of the other and this layering gave me the foundation that I used to compose the orchestral parts. From there we found musicians who had the ability to record at home and we asked each one to add their parts remotely.  You can hear their super-positive spirit in the music.  I think the challenges actually helped create something that was even more special than if we had recorded this score in the traditional way."

"Safety" stars Jay Reeves ("All American," "The Tax Collector") as Ray and newcomer Thaddeus J. Mixson as Fahmarr along with Corinne Foxx, Matthew Glave, Hunter Sansone, Amanda Warren, Miles Burris, Isaac Bell, Elijah Bell and James Badge Dale.  It is directed by Reginald Hudlin ("Marshall") and produced by Mark Ciardi, p.g.a. ("Secretariat," "Miracle") and Gordon Gray ("Million Dollar Arm," "The Rookie") with a screenplay written by Nick Santora ("The Most Dangerous Game," "The Fugitive"). Douglas S. Jones and Campbell McIinnis served as executive producers.

 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Sony Music: "CANNON BUSTERS" music by Bradley Denniston

Sony Music today releases CANNON BUSTERS (NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES SOUNDTRACK), an album of music from Netflix’s original anime series from animation creator, producer & director LeSean Thomas (Black Dynamite, The Legend of Korra, The Boondocks).  Available everywhere now, the album features score music written by producer, engineer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Bradley Denniston as well as vocal tracks performed by rapper Marty Grimes and R&B singer-songwriters BJRNCK and Mansa Imani.  Cannon Busters is available to watch exclusively on Netflix now.

Of the soundtrack, composer BRADLEY DENNISTON says, “When my friend LeSean hit me up about Cannon Busters, the anime series he was funding through Kickstarter, it was a no-brainer – I'm in!  LeSean is a creative genius who instantly pulled the most eclectic group of creatives together; and from the beginning of character design, sketches, colors and textures, my team here at Radium and I got right to work on creating the sound of this insanely fun world that is Cannon Busters! Honestly, LeSean could've hit up anyone in the world to do the music for this show, so I'm extremely honored and grateful that he even thought of me!"

Reflecting the frenetic action of the series and the expansive scope of its story, composer Bradley Denniston’s score is supplemented by three original vocal tracks also written by the creative multi-hyphenate and available now for the first time on DSPs. Already a fan-favorite, the opening theme song “Showdown” hinges on the interplay of rapper Marty Grimes’ verses and BJNRCK’s R&B-tinged vocals.  Gizmodo described the track as a “chill, R&B/ska number that transitions into an energetic, soulful, and literally-chorus-backed-chorus,” before dubbing it “straight fire. A Jam. A veritable banger, if you will.”  Other highlights include ending theme “Regardless” featuring R&B songstress Mansa Imani and “Bad Guy,” an upbeat pop number from Marty Grimes and Mansa Imani – listen here.

Cannon Busters explore the fantastic land of Gearbolt, as audiences follow a motley crew of travelers on an unforgettable journey to reunite 2 best friends. S.A.M. is a high-end, friendship robot determined to reunite with her best friend Kelby, the missing heir to her Kingdom under siege. Casey Turnbuckle is an out-dated, spunky grease-monkey repair robot, looking for an upgrade. Philly the Kid is a wanted, immortal fugitive just looking for a chance to shake them. Along for the ride is the greatest swordsman never known and an oversized Cadillac Eldorado that transforms into a sentient, giant robot. On their own, they're a lost cause. Together, they're the hippest group of travelers in action-fantasy.
 

Bradley Denniston is a platinum selling music producer, engineer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist based out of Los Angeles California. He has worked on blockbuster movies, totaling many billions of dollars in box office sales and with platinum selling artists that include The Lonely Island, Gotye, Tegan and Sara, and G-Eazy.

Working as the head engineer, composer, and music producer for Mark Mothersbaugh at Mutato Muzika for 5 years, Bradley has worked on Grammy, Oscar and Emmy Award Nominated films, TV and commercials. He has most recently produced and composed original music for the Netflix original series: Abstract: The Art of Design and for the Netflix Original Anime series; Cannon Busters from Boondock's producer, LeSean Thomas. He continues to work on major motion picture releases, television series, and albums with recording artists under his own company, Radium Media.
 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Lakeshore Records: "WILD MOUNTAIN THYME" music by Amelia Warner

Lakeshore Records releases Wild Mountain Thyme Original Motion Picture Soundtrack featuring music by neo-classical composer Amelia Warner (Mary Shelley). The soaring orchestrations provide a lush backdrop to the unabashedly romantic film. Also included on the soundtrack are performances by Sinéad O’Connor – "I’ll Be Singing," a song written by Amelia Warner and director John Patrick Shanley; actors Emily Blunt, Jamie Dornan, and a track by Brian Byrne. The Bleecker Street film written and directed by John Patrick Shanley and starring Emily Blunt, Jamie Dornan, Jon Hamm & Christopher Walken releases in theaters and on demand today, December 11th in the U.S. and internationally beginning in January 2021.
 
John Patrick Shanley, who created the classic Moonstruck, brings his sweeping romantic vision to Ireland with Wild Mountain Thyme. The headstrong farmer Rosemary Muldoon (Emily Blunt) has her heart set on winning her neighbor Anthony Reilly’s love. The problem is Anthony (Jamie Dornan) seems to have inherited a family curse, and remains oblivious to his beautiful admirer. Stung by his father Tony’s (Christopher Walken) plans to sell the family farm to his American nephew Adam (Jon Hamm), Anthony is jolted into pursuing his dreams in this comedic, moving and wildly romantic tale.
 
Says Warner: "It was the other worldly magical quality of the script that really spoke to me and it utterly bewitched me. Also, the wonderful characters.  It felt like a modern fairy tale or a fable, a story told down generations about people and their eccentricities. As soon as I read the script, I was in its thralls and it wouldn’t let me go. I felt like I knew exactly how the film should sound and I wrote one of the main themes straight away."
 
Warner further elaborated, "I wanted the score to feel classic, sweeping and unapologetic in its romance. I tried to write strong themes that would speak to the love story, the strangeness of the people and the beauty of Ireland. The main themes are orchestral with lush strings as the main melodic force. We also had a trad/folk band made up of bass, clarinets, accordion and fiddles as another facet of the score which is fun and full of energy."
 
"I had the most wonderful experience from start to finish on this project and it was such an honor to be invited in to Shanley’s soulful lyrical and whimsical world of Wild Mountain Thyme.”

Breakthrough neo-classical composer Amelia Warner is best known for her stunning soundtrack for the 2018 Irish-American film ‘Mary Shelley’, directed by Haifaa al-Mansour and starring Elle Fanning. It won Amelia the ‘Breakthrough Composer of The Year’ at the International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) Awards in 2019, and a nomination in the ‘Discovery of the Year’ category at the World Soundtrack Awards. Forthcoming, is Warner’s highly anticipated score for John Patrick Shanley’s ‘Wild Mountain Thyme,’ which will be released on December 11, 2020.

Growing up in west London’s Notting Hill, Amelia loved to play piano in her family home. Although resisting traditional classical training, she would constantly invent melodies, and her first proper composition, at 15, was for a school soap-opera project. It would be many years before anyone heard Amelia’s evocative instrumental compositions. Her first career was as an actress, following in her mother Annette Ekblom’s footsteps. She knew she wanted to be part of the filmmaking and storytelling process, but quickly realized she was on the wrong side of it.
 
Her debut major scoring project was the British short film ‘Mam’ which won several awards on the film-festival circuit and led to her first feature-film composition, for 2016's ‘Mum’s List’, starring Rafe Spall and Emilia Fox.

Warner has also released three solo classical albums to date—the most recent EP ‘Haven,’ was released in summer 2020. The home-inspired ‘Haven’ was coincidentally released at a time when home was the epicenter for people thrown into months of lock-down in the midst of the global pandemic. Her previous solo EP ‘Visitors’ (2017) followed her debut EP ‘Arms’ (2015). Warner’s three EP releases have all reached #1 classical album on the iTunes chart.

For more information, visit: www.lakeshorerecords.com 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Sony Music Masterworks: "SACKBOY: A BIG ADVENTURE" music by Nick Foster, Joe Thwaites and Jay Waters, with additional compositions by Lena Raine, George King, Glen Brown, Brian d’Oliveira, Winifred Phillips and Jim Fowler

Sony Music Masterworks today releases SACKBOY: A BIG ADVENTURE (ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK), an album of music from the new PlayStation® video game featuring the iconic character.  Available everywhere now, the album includes score music written primarily by composers Nick Foster, Joe Thwaites and Jay Waters, with additional compositions by Lena Raine, George King, Glen Brown, Brian d’Oliveira, Winifred Phillips and Jim Fowler.  Also included within the album are dance-y electro tracks from artists 2 Mello, Opiuo and Tokyo Machine, who contribute an exclusive remix.  Sackboy: A Big Adventure is available now for PS5 and PS4.  

Iconic PlayStation® hero Sackboy bursts back into breathtaking action with a huge, fun and frantic 3D multiplayer platforming adventure – and a whole new edgy sackitude! The dastardly Vex (a near-mythical being born of chaos and fear, no less) kidnaps Sackboy’s friends and forces them to build his Topsy Turver. This most deadly diabolical device will transform Craftworld from a fantastical land of pure imagination and innocent dreams… into a torrid, barren eyesore of nightmares. Ooh the fiend! But legend tells of a prophecy from deep within the ancient order of the Knitted Knights, Craftworld’s legendary protectors. For only the brave, fearless, chivalrous and, yes, gallant can save the day in an almost too dramatic for words race against time stuffed with danger and peril. So much peril. Set off alone or with your bravest friends on a whirlwind of capers across the snowiest mountains, the leafiest jungles, the wettest underwater realms and the, uh, spaciest of space colonies. Take down Vex. Save the sack-folk. Save the day. It’s time to fulfill your destiny, Sackboy. From woolly wonderkid and hessian hero… rise our Knitted Knight.

Nick Foster is a multiple BAFTA-winning composer, arranger and producer of music for television, film and games. Based at Air Studios, Nick’s credits include Year Of The Rabbit, Derren Brown, The A-List, and Thunderbirds Are Go! – which Nick composed with brother Ben Foster. His work has been recognized with awards including three D&AD pencils, two British Arrows, a Clio, a MAS and a Kinsale Shark, along with two BAFTAs for his work on Derren Brown: Apocalypse and The Cube. He is currently scoring Sam Hobkinson's documentary feature Misha And The Wolves for Met Film, as well as The A List (Series 2) for Netflix.

Joe Thwaites is Principal Composer and Music producer for the creative services group at PlayStation. At Sony Joe has worked on the design and implementation of music systems as well as composed music for many of PlayStation’s first party games. Often working on games that are at the cutting edge of technical innovation, including the Eye Toy Franchise, Wonderbook and PlayStation VR. Joe’s music for games such as Blood & Truth, Book of Spells, and Book of Potions have been nominated for and won multiple industry awards. The last few years Joe has been working on PS5 titles including launch title Sackboy – A Big Adventure.

Jay Waters is an Audio Director and Composer at Sumo Digital's Sheffield Studio. He joined the developer in 2012 and has since worked across a number of internal projects, most notably the award-winning LittleBigPlanet 3. Prior to Sumo Jay served at Team17 as composer and sound designer across titles such as Worms, Lemmings and Alien Breed.
 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

CD Project Red: "CYBERPUNK 2077" [2CD] music by Marcin Przybyłowicz, P.T. Adamczyk, and Paul Leonard-Morgan

Wake up, samurai... releasing today from CD PROJEKT RED comes the Cyberpunk 2077 Original Score by Marcin Przybyłowicz, P.T. Adamczyk, and Paul Leonard-Morgan, digitally available now for purchase and streaming. This 2-disc digital release features 37 tracks amounting to over 2 hours of original music composed for the most highly-anticipated video game release of the year – now available on PlayStation and Xbox platforms, as well as PC and Google Stadia. 

If music in Cyberpunk 2077 would have to be described with just one word, it would be attitude. No matter the style, sound palette, or specific genre Przybyłowicz, Adamczyk, and Leonard-Morgan worked with, attitude is the cornerstone of every cue they composed for the game. Night City shimmers with colors and so does the music – not limited to one specific genre. Instead, the composing trio drew from all sorts of styles to craft a unique mix that drives the narrative and provides additional layers of context to the story. Expect a wide range of music styles from jazz, through downtempo, hip-hop, metal, industrial, to various incarnations of techno.

The Cyberpunk 2077 video game is an open-world, action-adventure story set in Night City, a megalopolis obsessed with power, glamour and body modification. You play as V, a mercenary outlaw going after a one-of-a-kind implant that is the key to immortality. You can customize your character’s cyberware, skillset and playstyle, and explore a vast city where the choices you make shape the story and the world around you.

Also now available separately is Cyberpunk 2077 Radio Vol. 1 Original Soundtrack, featuring Run The Jewels, Grimes, SOPHIE, HEALTH, Nina Kraviz, Rosa Walton (of Let’s Eat Grandma), Rat Boy, Converge, Raney Shockne, Gazelle Twin and more with music made specifically for the in-game radio stations. Cyberpunk 2077 Radio Vol. 2 Original Soundtrack will release December 18th.

 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Intrada: "THE CROODS: A NEW AGE" music by Mark Mothersbaugh

Exciting original soundtrack by Mark Mothersbaugh to new DreamWorks Animation film! Second film in The Croods franchise brings back the popular prehistoric family, now in competition with The Bettermans, another family with claims to be more evolved and, in a word, better. Voices are supplied by  A-list talent that includes Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Peter Dinklage, Cloris Leachman, Kelly Marie Tran. Joel Crawford directs. Composer Mark Mothersbaugh, veteran of the Lego Movie and Hotel Transylvania franchises as well as Thor: Ragnarok,  takes over the musical reins from Alan Silvestri on the initial movie, offering a symphonic score with an emphasis on colorful rhythm and vitality. Mothersbaugh even melds a degree of traditional symphonic scoring with contemporary sensibilities to mirror the tagline, “What if cavemen met non-cavemen?”

For more information: [CLICK HERE]

 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Intrada: "INCHON" (3CD Set) music by Jerry Goldsmith

Intrada announces a hi-res (24-bit, 96kHz) digital release of Inchon – one of its best-selling albums. Jerry Goldsmith's 1982 epic war score, previously reissued three times on CD, is now featured in this digital release, allowing for a dramatic improvement in detail and depth in the quality of music over what one can hear with the the more common 16-bit, 44.1kHz CD format.

To commemorate this release, Intrada is also making Inchon available for a limited time in a newly packaged 3-CD set. Although not able to take advantage of the hi-res format, the new mastering still improves over previous releases. This CD release will only be available for 45 days and goes off sale 1/30/2021 or when supplies run out. After that, the title will live on in the hi-res digital format.

This new edition includes three programs.The first two are the same as previously released: the original LP presentation as Goldsmith had initially presented his score, plus a second disc featuring the complete score, retaining all of Goldsmith's assemblies from the LP presentation. The third disc features the entire, un-assembled score in film order. This allows the listeners to hear openings and closings of many tracks previously unheard.

The film may be forgotten, but what lives on is Jerry Goldsmith's dynamic, colorful and percussive score. The score features an augmented percussion section, including snares, bass drum, cymbals, timpani, triangle, xylophone, woodblocks, boo bams, and many others. At the time of the film's release, Goldsmith had artfully assembled a 38-minute album capturing the highlights and delivering an irresistible listening experience. Intrada has since expanded the score to feature all of Goldsmith's powerful and colorful score.

The 1982 epic chronicles the massive-force invasion of Southern Korea led by General Douglas MacArthur. The film had all the right ingredients: a cast that included Ben Gazzara, Jacqueline Bisset, and none other than Sir Laurence Olivier in the role of MacArthur; James Bond veteran director Terence Young at the helm; and a world-class composer – the unequaled Jerry Goldsmith, who gave the film its spirit. Nonetheless, the production was plagued with both natural and man-made troubles, resulting in a film that cost over $44M, was cut from its original 140-minute length to 105 minutes when it went into "wide" release in September 1982, closed relatively quickly, and fell into obscurity.

For track listing and sound samples, please visit the Inchon soundtrack page.

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Artsploitation Films: "BEASTS CLAWING AT STRAWS" [DVD/BLU-RAY]

A wild crime thriller about a bag of money left in a sauna and the eight strangers who, spurred by blinding greed, become intricately and dangerously involved with each. A fast-paced Coen-meets-The Grifters tale.

A Luis Vuitton bag stuffed full of cash sends a group of hard-luck lowlifes on a desperate chase for the fortune in this pitch-black neo-noir crime thriller. Fish-mongering gangsters, a greasy cop, an “innocent” gym cleaner, a prostitute, her wife beater of a husband, her ruthless boss and her clueless boyfriend all violently scheme to get their hands on elusive the bag. First time director Kim Yong-hoon’s witty thriller is a beautifully constructed puzzle that with each double-cross, the pieces fall into place. Starring Jung Woo-sung from Asura: City of Madness and Jeon Do-yeon, award winner in Cannes for her lead role in Secret Sunshine.

Cast: Jeon Do-yeon, Jung Woo-sung, Bae Sung-woo , Yun Yuh-jung, Jung Man-sik, Jin Gyeong, Shin Hyun-been, Kim Jun-han, Jung Ga-ram, Park Ji-hwan, Heo Dong-won

Official Trailer: https://youtu.be/gQFyCvDgL7Q

 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

RLJ Entertainment: "THE BEACH HOUSE" [BLU-RAY/DVD]

THE BEACH HOUSE is the directorial feature debut of Jeffrey A. Brown who also wrote the screenplay. The film stars Liana Liberato (“Light as a Feather”), Noah Le Gros (A Score to Settle), Maryann Nagel and Jake Weber (Dawn of the Dead, “13 Reasons Why”). RLJE Films will release THE BEACH HOUSE on DVDand Blu-ray.

In THE BEACH HOUSE, hoping to reignite their relationship, college students Emily (Liberato) and Randall (Le Gros) arrive at their weekend getaway only to discover a peculiar older couple already staying there. They all agree to share the home but, after an indulgent night of partying, they’re awoken to a living nightmare of apocalyptic proportions. A mysterious airborne microbe has infected the water and it’s making its way to the house….

 

RLJE Films, a business unit of AMC Networks, along with Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, will release the horror film THE BEACH HOUSE on December 15, 2020 on VOD, Digital HD, DVD and Blu-ray.

Check out the trailer: https://youtu.be/8j4ut09HLRk

 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Small Town Monsters: "THE MARK OF THE BELL WITCH" BLU-RAY/DVD

Small Town Monsters has announced the Digital HD, Blu-ray and DVD release of their latest investigative docudrama, The Mark of the Bell Witch. Noted urban legend documentarian Seth Breedlove (The Mothman Legacy) describes the film as a dramatized retelling of the entire sordid tale of the merciless spirit who tormented the Bell family from 1817 to 1821 in Adams, Tennessee. The Mark of the Bell Witch arrives just ahead of the 200th anniversary of John Bell’s death, whose mysterious passing in December 1820 cemented the legend of the Bell Witch in American folklore. The Mark of the Bell Witch will be available to rent or own on Amazon Instant Video, Vimeo OnDemand, DVD and VIDI Space starting December 15th. Blu-ray and DVD copies will be available exclusively from the STM Shop.

The Mark of the Bell Witch is the first attempted documentary of the famed piece of Appalachian folklore. The story of the Bell family who encountered mysterious sounds in their home, eventually becoming a full-blown apparition who terrorized them for almost five years, is still taught in Tennessee schools today. Considered to be one of the only known cases of murder committed by a “ghost” in American history, the story of John Bell’s poisoning at the hands of the witch has been the subject of numerous television shows, books, songs, and even a horror film.

 

However, previous filmed interpretations of the events left out large portions of the legend, or simply adapted the events to their needs. In the hands of Small Town Monsters, there will be a historically minded approach to the telling of the case, as well as a dive into how the haunting has affected the local culture of Adams, Tennessee.

The Mark of the Bell Witch is directed by Seth Breedlove and produced by Adrienne Breedlove. Narration is covered by genre actress Lauren Ashley Carter (Darlin’, Pod), with Zac Palmisano in the role of director of photography. Santino Vitale and SRV Films supplied VFX and Brandon Dalo (The Mothman Legacy) provided an original score. Amy Davies and Thomas Koosed headline the film in the lead roles of Elizabeth Bell and John Bell Sr, accompanied by Aaron Gascon, Sue Matzke, Grayden Nance and Mark Matzke. Adrienne Breedlove appears as the Bell Witch.

The Mark of the Bell Witch tells the terrifying, true story of the Bell family of Adams, Tennessee. A family who, for nearly five years, were haunted by an apparition bent on destroying their lives, and murdering the patriarch of the family, John Bell. Beginning in 1817 as a disembodied voice before eventually manifesting into numerous entities and showing her power through horrifying encounters, the Bell Witch has since become a folk legend.

Now, for the first time, learn the truth behind what actually took place during one of the most famous hauntings in American history. TRAILER [https://youtu.be/H66VaqjW1WM]

Jeremy [Six Strings]