In spite of the general state of the world, 2020 ended up being a pretty great year for films – expectations for long-awaited auteur projects that were supposed to come out this year obviously being exempt from that conversation – and what’s more, it was a great year for film scores and soundtracks.

READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2020

All of the films featured on this list are films that have drastically less of an impact without music, and there is a wide, rather dizzying array of talent here: seasoned professionals who’ve been doing this a long while, young up-and-comers who are interested in muddying the definition of what a traditional movie soundtrack is supposed to sound like, plus that dude from Phoenix writing new music for his wife’s movie (which is really just another way of saying if you haven’t checked out the soundtrack to Sofia Coppola’s “On The Rocks” yet, do so immediately). 

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021

At times, 2020 seemed like it had made time for every obscure musical subgenre under the sun: dancehall (“Lover’s Rock”), noise-metal (“Sound of Metal”), reggaeton (“Ema”), and Baltimore hip-hop (“Charm City Kings”).

Continue reading The 20 Best Soundtracks & Scores Of 2020 at The Playlist.

Greetings, fellow exhausteds, and welcome to The Best Films of 2020, a year that, despite being less than 365 days old, has aged so rapidly that Gary Oldman is circling the biopic. Some, uh, unusual stuff happened this year – I don’t know if you noticed – and it made compiling this collective list even more interesting than usual. A record-breaking 34 regular Playlist contributors submitted top tens (you can find the complete list of those to blame/praise for this ranking at the end of the feature).

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2020 at The Playlist.

The world needs something to lift its spirits. 2020 has been rough, to say the least, with a global pandemic leaving so many people tragically dead, political turmoil in governments around the world, and civil unrest as systemic racism becomes headline news. Maybe “David Byrne’s American Utopia” is being released at the perfect time.

READ MORE: ‘American Utopia’: Spike Lee & David Byrne Create An Exhilarating & Joyful New Concert Film Classic [TIFF Review]

As seen in the new trailer for “David Byrne’s American Utopia,” the concert film is directed by Spike Lee and gives viewers a peek into a performance of the acclaimed Broadway show by musician David Byrne.

Continue reading ‘David Byrne’s American Utopia’ Trailer: Spike Lee’s Acclaimed Concert Film Hits HBO In October at The Playlist.

Spike Lee and David Byrne aren’t an obvious pairing. While the former’s oeuvre, for the most part, features unflinching stories about Black life in America, the latter became a hero to white college-educated teens everywhere. But on closer expectation, the two are more similar than different. Both are a product of New York’s 1980’s and share a mutual interest in African culture. With their album “Remain in Light,” in 1980, Byrne and the Talking Heads became some of the first white artists to use afrobeats heavily in their music.

Continue reading ‘American Utopia’: Spike Lee & David Byrne Create An Exhilarating & Joyful New Concert Film Classic [TIFF Review] at The Playlist.

Later this fall, Spike Lee is teaming up with musician David Byrne for a brand-new film, “American Utopia,” and it’s unlike anything you’d expect from the Oscar-winning filmmaker.

As seen in the new teaser for “David Byrne’s American Utopia,” the new project is a filmed version of Byrne’s acclaimed Broadway show that featured new musical performances of his own solo songs, as well as many from his time with the Talking Heads.

Continue reading ‘David Byrne’s American Utopia’ Teaser: Spike Lee’s Latest Film Teams Him With The Talking Heads Legend at The Playlist.

Most musicians would probably consider themselves lucky if they get to work with one iconic director. David Byrne, it seems, is even more fortunate than that. In 1984, Byrne worked with director Jonathan Demme to make “Stop Making Sense,” a now-iconic concert film that changed the way we think about music in film. And now, almost 40 years later, Byrne will work with director Spike Lee on an adaptation of “David Byrne’s American Utopia,” the singer-songwriter’s hit 2019 Broadway production.

Continue reading Spike Lee Will Direct A Movie Version Of David Byrne’s ‘American Utopia’ at The Playlist.