Turn it up to 11, the sequel to the sequel to the 1984 cult classic “This Is Spinal Tap,” recently began production in New Orleans, Louisiana. Rob Reiner is behind the director’s chair again, and Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer are all reprising their iconic roles as the legendary heavy metal band Spinal Tap. Reiner will also reprise his role as the director-within-the-movie Martin “Marty” DiBergi.

Continue reading ‘Spinal Tap 2’: Elton John, Paul McCartney, Questlove & More To Cameo In Mock-Rock Doc Sequel at The Playlist.

Last year, we saw Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson win an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature for his fantastic acclaimed musical doc “Summer of Soul” which focused on the Harlem Culture Festival in 1969. The composer, filmmaker, producer, musician, historian, and travel/culture enthusiast (a true modern renaissance man) has been reportedly courted by Disney to tackle another one of their live-action remakes. A report from Deadline has revealed that Questlove is set to direct the Paris-set “The Aristocats” for Walt Disney Studios, a hybrid remake incorporating both CGI and live-action elements.

Continue reading ‘The Aristocats’: Questlove To Direct Live-Action Hybrid Remake Of Disney Animated Film at The Playlist.

Super producers are usually not young guys; they are generally the Tony Viscontis, Rick Rubins, Dr. Dre, Linda Perry, and Nigel Godrich’s of the world, to name a few. Though he’s 45 now, British DJ/producer musician Mark Ronson was seemingly a super-producer almost out of the gate, nearly 20 years ago when he first came to acclaim with his Here Comes the Fuzz debut album.

Continue reading ‘Watch The Sound With Mark Ronson’: DJ Premier On Sampling & Chasing Beats [Exclusive Clip] at The Playlist.

Get inside the sounds that get stuck inside your head. Oscar and GRAMMY Award-winning super producer and artist Mark Ronson has a new show coming on Apple TV+ where he explores the intersection of technology and musical innovation with his heroes and fellow hitmakers. It sounds a little like Song Exploder, but broader. Titled “Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson,” the new six-part docuseries has many heavyweight guests like Paul McCartney, Questlove, King Princess, Dave Grohl, Adrock, and Mike D from the Beastie Boys, Charli XCX, and more.

Continue reading ‘The Sound With Mark Ronson’ Trailer: Beastie Boys, Paul McCartney, Questlove, Dave Grohl & More Star In Ronson’s New Music Docuseries at The Playlist.

Here’s what you need to know, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is the drummer of the seminal hip-hop group, The Roots, also the band leader of the Jimmy Fallon show. Thompson is a musicologist, a renowned DJ, has a P.H.D. Prince, and has his own music podcast. It makes sense that Thompson would venture into making music documentaries. His directorial debut is, “Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not be Televised),” about what’s been dubbed the Black Woodstock, an epic Harlem Musical Festival in 1969, that featured many black legends of soul, funk, and rock that had been forgotten.

Continue reading ‘Summer Of Soul’ Trailer: Questlove’s Black Woodstock Doc Frees A Great Musical Treasure From The Vaults at The Playlist.

It was an Oscars ceremony unlike any other, but even the stripped-down version of the 2021 Academy Awards had its share of highlights and lowlights. Here’s our list of the best (and worst) moments – and yes, Daniel Kaluuya talking about his parents having sex made the list. How could it not?

READ MORE: Oscars 2021 Full Winners List: ‘Nomadland’ Wins Best Picture, ‘Sound Of Metal,’ Anthony Hopkins & More

Anyways, let’s start things off with the only Oscar topic anyone will want to talk about for the next few days.

Continue reading The Best & Worst Of The 2021 Academy Awards at The Playlist.

In Theaters and on Hulu July 2.

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021

In his acclaimed debut as a filmmaker, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson presents a powerful and transporting documentary—part music film, part historical record created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park).

Continue reading ‘Summer of Soul’ Trailer: Questlove’s Celebrated Black Woodstock Doc Gets The Spotlight at The Playlist.

For the first time in recent memory, the Sundance Film Festival recruited just three members each for its competition juries. Even in the context of a virtual festival, that might have been a mistake after one film dominated the Dramatic category winning four awards. In very much a surprise, the crowd-pleasing “Coda” took the Grand Jury-Dramatic, Grand-Jury Audience, Directing (Siân Heder) and a special extra honor for its ensemble.

Continue reading ‘Coda’ Dominates 2021 Sundance Film Festival Awards at The Playlist.

“Black Woodstock doc,” reads the director’s clapperboard, the first image we see in the feature debut of drummer, DJ, music producer, journalist, podcaster, and wing enthusiast Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s superb documentary “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).” It’s part joke, part expression of cultural context: Playing the dual role of curator and archaeologist, Thompson presents his audience with footage of the Harlem Cultural Festival, a concert series staged in Mount Morris Park over the summer of 1969 “100 miles away from Woodstock,” as the title cards tell us.

Continue reading ‘Summer of Soul (Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)’: Questlove’s New “Black Woodstock” Doc Is Superb [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.

Is the bloom coming off the rose on Pixar? For 20+ years the company has had nothing, but unimpeachable money-making hits that routinely dominate the animation field at the Oscars. Lately, their films have been less rapturously received by audiences, critics and the box-office boons haven’t been as big—see their most recent release “Onward,” which performed well last weekend, but perhaps underwhelmed somewhat from a Pixar perspective.

READ MORE: 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2020

Then again, the company is trying to set up a new generation of films and be less dependent on sequels.

Continue reading ‘Soul’ Trailer: Jamie Foxx Is A Jazz Musician Trying To Get His Mojo Back For Pixar at The Playlist.

Without necessarily reflecting on its quality, it sometimes takes a while for a movie to come down the distribution pipeline. Companies need time to put plans for a movie together, come up with marketing strategies and find the right release date, which sometimes means that films end up meeting the general public quite some time after festival audiences catch them. It shouldn’t be taken as a negative — both “Crash” and “The Hurt Locker” won Best Picture at the Oscars over a year after their world premieres at TIFF and Venice respectively — and as such, we have some faith in “Vincent-N-Roxxy.”

It’s exactly a year since the film premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, but it’s finally set to hit theaters in a month or so, and while that delay might give some pause, the film looks pretty decent from the trailer that Vertical Entertainment just premiered.

Continue reading Watch: Trailer For Crime Drama ‘Vincent-N-Roxxy’ Starring Emile Hirsch & Zoe Kravitz at The Playlist.