A decade ago, it was pretty easy to understand the reasons behind a TV network canceling a series. Normally, it all just came down to numbers, and the weekly ratings would give folks a clear indicator of which shows were doing well and which weren’t. Now, with streaming keeping those viewership numbers hidden, cancellations of TV series feel sudden and without any sort of justification. That’s exactly what happened this weekend when it was announced that “High Fidelity” was canceled by Hulu.

Continue reading Zoe Kravitz Calls Out Hulu For Lack Of Diversity After ‘High Fidelity’ Cancellation at The Playlist.

Kate Beckinsale has one of the more eclectic filmographies around. She did her proper British period pieces and indie films early on. She then transitioned to rom-coms for a bit. After that was her “Underworld” era where she paraded around in black leather and killed werewolves. And now, she’s in gritty dramas such as 2018’s “Farming.” Needless to say, over the years, she’s crossed paths with all sorts of filmmakers, including the one and only Michael Bay, who directed her in the film “Pearl Harbor.”

And in a new interview with Vulture, Beckinsale discussed her film “Serendipity” in detail, but also shared a funny anecdote about her preparation for “Pearl Harbor” and why she thought the action epic was actually a “period piece” about the horrors of the WWII event.

Continue reading Kate Beckinsale Originally Thought Michael Bay’s ‘Pearl Harbor’ Was Going To Be A “Period Piece” at The Playlist.

It’s Old Rob versus New Rob, Depressed Rob versus Manic Rob, Zoë Kravitz versus John Cusack, Brooklyn versus Chicago, and sad music versus sad people on a new TV recap.

LISTEN: ‘High Fidelity’ 20 Years Later: Music, Misery & The Man-Children Of Nick Hornby [Be Reel Podcast]

Today, the Be Reel hosts take on Hulu’s “High Fidelity” (2020) and compare and contrast it to the other Nick Hornby adaptations covered last week.

Continue reading With Less Venom & More Cool, Hulu’s ‘High Fidelity’ Remake Plays The Hits [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

Welcome to the arrested world of Nick Hornby. In the movie adaptations of his books, you’ll find man-children of all stripes: from John Cusack‘s iconic role in “High Fidelity” (2000) to Hugh Grant‘s lovable cad in “About a Boy” (2002), to Ethan Hawke‘s loser indie rocker in “Juliet, Naked” (2018).

Continue reading ‘High Fidelity’ 20 Years Later: Music, Misery & The Man-Children Of Nick Hornby [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

Firstly, a general congratulations on getting through January. Of all the months, it’s probably the worst, right? Secondly, if you’ve been parched for new media and are emotionally drained from the endings of series such as “The Good Place” and “Bojack Horseman,” February doesn’t look so much primed to fill the vacancies they left, but the month does seem to have a number of series that offer some needed escapism.

Continue reading 10 TV Shows To Watch In February: ‘Hunters,’ ‘High Fidelity’ & More at The Playlist.

As documented in our Best TV of The 2010 Decade feature, which you should read, the 2010s were the age of PeakTV, Prestige TV and the dawn of the streaming age. Now in this new decade of the 2020s, we enter the Streaming War era. Yes, Netflix is here and here to stay, HBO isn’t going anywhere and Showtime, FX and all the other major players are solidified in status.

Continue reading The 60 Most Anticipated TV Shows Of 2020 at The Playlist.

Like many other white dudes who are nowhere near as original as they’d like to be, I rather enjoy ‘High Fidelity.’ We’re talking book and movie; there was a period in my 20s where I would either read Nick Hornby’s novel or watch the John Cusack movie after every breakup. It was, as the saying goes, an example of life imitating art imitating life. Unlike some (cough Cusack), I also welcomed the idea of a new adaptation.

Continue reading Zoe Kravitz Tears Down That Fourth Wall In The First ‘High Fidelity’ Teaser at The Playlist.

The upcoming, still untitled, Disney streaming service has been making news without so much as a release date. There’s word that the service will feature more live-action remakes of famous Disney animated films, a live-action “Star Wars” series, and multiple TV projects featuring characters we love from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But perhaps most interesting of all is the idea that the streaming service is rebooting the 2000 film “High Fidelity” as a series.

Continue reading Zoe Kravitz To Do Her Best John Cusack In Disney’s Upcoming ‘High Fidelity’ Series at The Playlist.

Judging by the social media response to the news that Disney was remaking “High Fidelity” as a TV series with a female lead, we’re going to say that the project is definitely going to divide fans.

While some welcome a new take on a semi-classic film, others just see this as Hollywood, yet again, tinkering with a good thing and ruining it for eternity. While all of our opinions don’t really matter, in the scheme of things, one that might matter is John Cusack.

Continue reading John Cusack Thinks Disney Will “F— Up” The ‘High Fidelity’ TV Series at The Playlist.

So far, the upcoming Disney streaming service is a bit of an enigma. What was originally thought of as a place for Disney to put their immense library of titles has morphed into something that will easily compete with the likes of Amazon and Netflix. And after announcing a new “Star Wars” live-action series and another live-action remake of a classic film, it was assumed that Disney was going to skew more young with their service.

Continue reading ‘High Fidelity’ TV Series In The Works From Disney Featuring A Female Lead at The Playlist.

This week, Stephen Frears‘ affectionate, lightweight Meryl Streep vehicle “Florence Foster Jenkins” comes caterwauling into theaters. It marks another notch on Streep’s “irrepressible matron” belt, and another solid crowdpleaser from Frears, who here, as so often in the past, seems content to serve his stars and his story before necessarily putting a particularly recognizable authorial stamp on the material. That could seem like a damning observation, but actually it’s central to what makes Frears such an interesting director: We’re firmly on the record as loving a cinematic polyglot, and Frears’ flexible aesthetic and seemingly vast field of interests has contributed to one of the most richly eclectic filmographies among modern mainstream directors.

Continue reading The Essentials: Stephen Frears’ 10 Best Films at The Playlist.

Many moons ago, when The Playlist first began, we had a special interest in the place where movies and music met. We’ve long since expanded our interests to all manner of movies, and more recently TV, but it’s an area that we’ve always kept tabs on, from reporting the latest news as such to our annual Best Soundtracks Of The Year post.

The 50 Best Film Scores Of The 21st Century So Far

We’re no longer in the golden days of the soundtrack of the 1980s and 1990s.

Continue reading The 25 Best Movie Soundtracks Of The 21st Century So Far at The Playlist.