Inquiring minds have been asking quietly for months: why is only Joel Coen credited for “The Tragedy Of Macbeth,” starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, and what is going on with the Coen Brothers? Well, according to an interview with Coen Brothers composer Carter Burwell — who started his career with the siblings in 1984 with “Blood Simple,” and has worked on every one of their films except for “O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Continue reading Are The Coen Brothers Done? Longtime Collaborator Carter Burwell Says Ethan Coen Doesn’t “Want To Make Movies Anymore” at The Playlist.

This fall, you’ve likely been hearing plenty of music from Oscar-nominated composer Carter Burwell. He’s put his magic touch already on “Goodbye Christopher Robin” and “Wonderstruck,” and this month, he shows his talent and range once again with the score for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”

The new film by Martin McDonagh (“Seven Psychopaths,” “In Bruges“) follows Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), who makes a bold move, commissioning three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at William Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), the town’s revered chief of police, after months have passed without a culprit in her daughter’s murder case.

Continue reading Stream 2 Tracks From Carter Burwell’s Score For ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ [Exclusive] at The Playlist.

If you’re looking for a little movie magic at the cinema, Todd Haynes‘ “Wonderstruck” is arriving just in time. And the ambitious picture once again sees the director getting the Midas touch from Carter Burwell. The composer has previously worked with Haynes on “Carol,” “Velvet Goldmine,” and “Mildred Pierce,” and this time around he creates a lovely music box of sounds to accompany Haynes’ new movie.

Continue reading Stream Carter Burwell’s “Dioramas” From The ‘Wonderstruck’ Score [Exclusive] at The Playlist.

It’s easy to see just why two of our greatest working filmmakers, Martin Scorsese and now Todd Haynes, have been attracted to the YA work of author Brian Selznick, who wrote the source material for “Hugo” as well as “Wonderstruck,” the illustrated book that Haynes adapts for his new film. They are stories of lonely childhoods and tentative friendships set in resonant periods for both filmmakers, and while the narrative arcs are simple, family-friendly, and unafraid to iterate and reiterate their broad emotional beats, that very simplicity feels tipsy with cinematic potential.

Continue reading Todd Haynes’ Lovely, Gentle, Sentimental ‘Wonderstruck’ With Julianne Moore [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.

As the saying goes, don’t fix what isn’t broke. Having collaborated on Todd Haynes’ “Velvet Goldmine,” “Carol” and HBO miniseries “Mildred Pierce,” Carter Burwell is set to reunite with the director on the upcoming drama “Wonderstruck.”

Starring Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Oakes Fegley, Cory Michael Smith and Tom Noonan, and based on Brian Selznick’s children’s novel “Wonderstruck,” the film traces the intertwined stories of two deaf children set fifty years apart.

Continue reading Carter Burwell To Score Todd Haynes’ ‘Wonderstruck’ Starring Julianne Moore & Michelle Williams at The Playlist.

The question has no doubt been keeping you up nights since we ran our 25 Best Movie Soundtracks of the Century: when the hell is the Playlist going to do scores? Well, here we are now, so quit your bellyaching. Of course, eagle-eyed observers may smell a rat: why was our Best Soundtracks list only 25 strong while this is one is twice as long? Well, simply put, as much as we appreciate the fine art of curation and understand how much a well-chosen pre-existing track can enhance the experience of a film and open up new avenues of music for us to explore, the even finer art of scoring —that is, creating music specifically tailored to the rhythms and cues of the film in question— is closer to our hearts.

Continue reading The 50 Best Film Scores Of The 21st Century So Far at The Playlist.

Most Coen Brothers films find their main characters searching for answers in a meaningless world, indirectly making their pursuits more hopeless as they continue onward. Joel and Ethan Coen themselves, however, are anything but fruitless in their efforts. In fact, since their towering debut, 1984’s “Blood Simple,” they’ve unquestionably become among the most well-versed, striking and assured filmmakers of their generation. Only rarely have they failed to bring their perverse, singularly inspired and askew vision to life.

Continue reading 43-Minute Documentary Explores The Depths Of The Coens’ Filmography With George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, More at The Playlist.

Exclusive: Soundtrack Preview Of Carter Burwell's Score For 'The Family Fang'

Continue reading Exclusive: Soundtrack Preview Of Carter Burwell’s Score For ‘The Family Fang’ at The Playlist.

Watch: New Clip From 'Carol,' Plus Over An Hour Of Interviews, And More

Continue reading Watch: New Clip From ‘Carol,’ Plus Over An Hour Of Interviews, And More at The Playlist.

Watch: 57-Minute Talk With Todd Haynes, Plus New Clip From 'Carol,' Carter Burwell's Theme Song And More

Continue reading Watch: 57-Minute Talk With Todd Haynes, Plus New Clip From ‘Carol,’ Carter Burwell’s Theme Song And More at The Playlist.

Exclusive: 5-Minute Preview Of Carter Burwell's 'Mr. Holmes' Score

Continue reading Exclusive: 5-Minute Preview Of Carter Burwell’s ‘Mr. Holmes’ Score at The Playlist.

Coen Brothers' 'Hail, Caesar!' Will Have "Musical Comedy" Elements, But Is Actually "Rather Serious"

Continue reading Coen Brothers’ ‘Hail, Caesar!’ Will Have “Musical Comedy” Elements, But Is Actually “Rather Serious” at The Playlist.

Continue reading Carter Burwell Scoring Todd Haynes’ ‘Carol’ & Danny Elfman Bound To ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ at The Playlist.

Watch: You Are The Revolution In New Promos For 'The Fifth Estate,' Plus Posters, Soundtrack Details & More

Continue reading Watch: You Are The Revolution In New Promos For ‘The Fifth Estate,’ Plus Posters, Soundtrack Details & More at The Playlist.

Continue reading Carter Burwell, Most Interesting Thing About ‘Thor: The Dark World,’ Quits ‘Thor: The Dark World’ at The Playlist.

Continue reading Charlie Kaufman To Co-Direct Animated ‘Anomalisa,’ Jennifer Jason Leigh & David Thewlis Among Voice Cast at The Playlist.

Continue reading Carter Burwell’s Score For Todd Haynes’ ‘Mildred Pierce’ Gets An Official Release at The Playlist.

Continue reading Carter Burwell Returning To ‘Twilight’ Franchise To Score ‘Breaking Dawn’ at The Playlist.

Continue reading Academy Disqualifies Scores For ‘Black Swan,’ ‘True Grit’ and Others From Oscar Consideration at The Playlist.

Continue reading ‘True Grit’ Score By Carter Burwell Hits Stores December 21st, Album Streaming Now at The Playlist.

Burwell has scored every film of the Coens beginning with “Blood Simple” and found that when it came to their latest work, things came together quicker than expected. The musician explained to The Film Experience that “we don’t always see eye to eye [but for “True Grit”] we both had the same idea at the same time: Protestant hymns.”

The concept was reportedly chosen as a thematic fit for the righteous journey of the film’s lead, Mattie Ross (Steinfeld), though Burwell noted that he was still only in “research mode” and that everything he’d heard so far “all sound too sweet” for his liking.

Continue reading Carter Burwell Talks About The Score For Coen Brothers’ ‘True Grit’ at The Playlist.

No matter what you might think about the “Twilight” series, there is no denying the talent of the esteemed composers up until this point.

Continue reading ‘Predators’ Gets John Debney To Compose, Howard Shore Scores ‘Eclipse’ at The Playlist.

Unfortunately, Carter Burwell won’t get his shot at Oscar this year, as the Academy has ruled that the overall soundtrack for “Where The Wild Things Are” is too heavily blended with Karen O’s pop tunes.

Continue reading Carter Burwell’s “Where The Wild Things Are” & “The Blind Side” Scores Disqualified For Oscar at The Playlist.

Until now we haven’t been able to hear any of it outside the movie (ok, the soundtrack disc has one song).

Continue reading First Listen: The Score To ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ At WB’s For Your Consideration Site at The Playlist.

As we’ve already noted, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman had an all-star cast of musicians helping her out including, members of the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Jonze’s brother, producer Squeak-E Clean, Bradford Cox of Deerhunter, YYYs/Folk Implosion collaborator Imaad Wasif and Jack Lawrence of The Raconteurs and Dead Weather.

Continue reading Karen O: ‘Wild Things’ Musical Mastermind? Flaming Lips In New Trailer? at The Playlist.