Black creatives’ struggle in the media world can often feel quite stark. “Swarm,” the new Amazon prime series from the collective minds of Janine Nabers and Donald Glover, is in its first week of release at the time of writing. While doing the usual google research for this review, I typed in “Swarm” TV news and headed along to the news tab. My eyes rolled so far into my head; you could have sworn Paul Bearer was standing beside me holding an urn.

Continue reading ‘Swarm’ Review: Dominique Fishback Owns & Janine Nabers & Donald Glover Reorient ‘The King Of Comedy’ Through A Black Lens at The Playlist.

Every New Yorker has a subway story, a tale of culture clash, entitlement, cacophonic calamity, or worse. The subways of New York City are a breeding ground for tension, what with the rush of strangers, the jarring disruptions, and the uncaringly close quarters. For women, it’s even more stressful, as too many men use the claustrophobic enclosure as a means of exploiting a literally captive audience. This is how “Materna” begins, on a subway with one ranting man (Sturgill Simpson) disturbing his fellow passengers.

Continue reading ‘Materna’ Sets Up A Subway Thriller But Refuses To Go Deep [Review] at The Playlist.

Today, on what would have been legendary fashion designer Roy Halston Frowick’s 89th birthday, Netflix honors the visionary icon by announcing the May 14 global premiere date for the limited series “Halston,” starring Ewan McGregor and revealing its first look at the series.

READ MORE: The 65 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Mini-Series Of 2021

In case you’re unaware, Halston was the creator of the ultra-chic ’80s Ultrasuede look and a late ’70s and ’80s fashion icon.

Continue reading ‘Halston’ Limited Series First Look: Ewan McGregor As The Famous Ultrasuede ’80s Fashion Designer Comes To Netflix In May at The Playlist.

A woman’s body goes through all sorts of potentially scary transformations during pregnancy. It’s the natural result of hormones going crazy from a living being growing inside of another human body. But in the upcoming Quibi show, “The Expecting,” the typical pregnancy issues can’t touch what is happening to a young waitress.

READ MORE: ’50 States Of Fright’ Trailer: Four New Horrorifying Stories Are Coming To Sam Raimi’s Quibi Anthology

As seen in the trailer, “The Expecting” tells the story of a young, down-on-her-luck waitress that wakes up in the middle of a dark forest with cuts and bruises.

Continue reading ‘The Expecting’ Trailer: Mary Harron Directs Quibi’s Horror Series About A The World’s Worst Pregnancy at The Playlist.

Authenticity is the greatest cultural currency a musician can carry, and when combined with a powerful image, the result can be explosive. As Malcolm McLaren showed the world with the Sex Pistols, both authenticity and image can be carefully managed and manufactured. And as the Sex Pistols proved, they could take the ideas presented by McLaren, run with them into unexpected places, and develop an audience and following that take them further still.

Continue reading ‘Lords Of Chaos’ Is A Black Metal Drama That Hits All The Wrong Notes [Review] at The Playlist.

The story of the Norwegian Black Metal band Mayhem is a legend that anyone familiar with extreme music is probably familiar with. It’s a tale of suicide, murder, and church burnings, among other things. And that infamous story is brought to life in the new film “Lords of Chaos.”

READ MORE: Two New ‘Lords Of Chaos’ Teasers Give Glimpses Of Jonas Åkerlund’s Film About Norwegian Black Metal

In the first trailer for the film, you get the bare basics.

Continue reading ‘Lords Of Chaos’ Trailer: Church Burnings & Murder Help Bring The Story Of Norwegian Black Metal To Life at The Playlist.

While there are a number of historical, true crime, Americana-themed mini-series on TV right now or on the way, (“American Crime Story,” “Trust,” etc.), Paramount Network’s “Waco” is the one that is most accurately categorized as such. It’s a miniseries in the classic sense of the word: an intentionally televisual, process-oriented, overwritten, broadly characterized, loosely-factual limited series boasting an overqualified ensemble of fantastic character actors.

Continue reading ‘Waco’: Michael Shannon Shines In Otherwise Routine True Crime Drama [Review] at The Playlist.

Given *gestures at the shitshow of America in the last 11 months*, it’s perhaps not surprising that the last time white people went truly bugnuts crazy, in the early 1990s, has been capturing the imagination of filmmakers recently. “Oklahoma City,” about the worst domestic terrorism incident in American history, is one of the best documentaries we’ve seen this year, Sam Worthington and Paul Bettany starred in a miniseries about the Unabomber, and Jaume Collet-Serra is planning a movie about the Waco siege.

Continue reading First Trailer For Miniseries ‘Waco’ Starring Michael Shannon & Taylor Kitsch at The Playlist.

John Cho has been on edges of being a big name for a while now, possessing the talents and the looks to conceivably have a huge, Hollywood career but never quite landing similar roles as say, his “Star Trek” co-stars. He’s shown throughout the years that his range is big, going from broad comedy in the “Harold & Kumar” series, to understated, leading man smoldering in short lived TV series “Selfie” to action hero as Hikaru Sulu.

Continue reading New Trailer For ‘Columbus’ Finds John Cho & Haley Lu Richardson Doing Some Soul Searching at The Playlist.

There are films that swell in orchestral waves, others that grind like scuzzy metal, and still others that burble like melodic pop, but “Columbus,” the first feature film from Korean-American video essay pioneer Kogonada, chimes like a bell: simple, sustained and thrillingly pure. A gentle but sharply defined story, brimming with grace, compassion and performances of perfect naturalism, it is unashamedly intellectual yet deeply human. In fact, it does such a quietly grand job of relating the arcane appreciation of modernist architecture to the mysterious workings of interpersonal relationships, that it exposes the strangeness of ever thinking that intellectual investigation would be anything but the most emotive and human of endeavors.

Continue reading Supercut Superstar Kogonada’s Shimmering Debut ‘Columbus’ Overflows With Grace & Compassion [Rotterdam Review] at The Playlist.

When a pretentious movie directly calls out its own pretensions, should the audience give a damn? That’s the question haunting “Jack Goes Home,” the new film from Thomas Dekker, an overlong and high-minded horror movie that doesn’t get to be a fucking horror movie until we’re done slogging through its first hour. If the obvious needs to be pointed out, that question is neither posed by the story nor intended by the storyteller, who concerns himself in earnest with ideas tied to death, family, and norms of grieving.

Continue reading ‘Jack Goes Home’ Starring Rory Culkin Is An Inconsequential Horror Movie [Review] at The Playlist.

Review: Rory Culkin Shines In Unhinged 'Gabriel'

Continue reading Review: Rory Culkin Shines In Unhinged ‘Gabriel’ at The Playlist.

Exclusive: Rory Culkin Needs To Find Alice In Clip From 'Gabriel'

Continue reading Exclusive: Rory Culkin Needs To Find Alice In Clip From ‘Gabriel’ at The Playlist.

Video Interview: Rory Culkin And Lou Howe On The Tormented Soul Of Tribeca Drama 'Gabriel'

Continue reading Video Interview: Rory Culkin And Lou Howe On The Tormented Soul Of Tribeca Drama ‘Gabriel’ at The Playlist.

Watch: Anton Corbijn's Director's Cut Of Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box" Video

Continue reading Watch: Anton Corbijn’s Director’s Cut Of Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box” Video at The Playlist.

Watch: Jason Sudeikis Describes Kristen Bell's Crotch In New Red Band Spot For 'Movie 43'

Continue reading Watch: Jason Sudeikis Describes Kristen Bell’s Crotch In New Red Band Spot For ‘Movie 43’ at The Playlist.

Jonathan Daniel Brown, Kellan Lutz & Nina Dobrev Team For 'Kid Cannabis'; Sean Bean Leading 'Devil's Peak' Trilogy & More

Continue reading Jonathan Daniel Brown, Kellan Lutz & Nina Dobrev Team For ‘Kid Cannabis’; Sean Bean Leading ‘Devil’s Peak’ Trilogy & More at The Playlist.

'Electrick Children' Stars Rory Culkin & Liam Aiken On Their Roles In The Film & Growing Up Onscreen

Continue reading ‘Electrick Children’ Stars Rory Culkin & Liam Aiken On Their Roles In The Film & Growing Up Onscreen at The Playlist.

Continue reading Review: There Are More Than ‘Twelve’ Reasons To Not See This Movie (Actually, There Are A Billion) at The Playlist.

Eric Parkinson, CEO of indie distributor Hannover House, hit Facebook today to plead with people to raise the IMDB ranking of Joel Schumacher’s forthcoming youth-and-drugs drama “Twelve.” The film has had non-existent if not outright negative buzz. Starring a fairly random cast, including Chace Crawford, Kiefer Sutherland, 50 Cent, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin and Ellen Barkin, the film is based on the book by Nick McDonnell and chronicles a bunch of rich white kids who experience the bad side of drugs.

Continue reading Desperate: Hannover House CEO Eric Parkinson Begs People To Raise IMDB Ranking Of Joel Schumacher’s ‘Twelve’ at The Playlist.

Is it because she’s a) Julia Roberts’ niece, b) her Neutrogena freshface is just so pinchable and cute, or c) because she was cast in two movies we’re greatly anticipating this year, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” and Dustin Lance Black’s directorial debut, “What’s Wrong with Virginia,” cause we’ll be honest, we’ve barely seen her work before — this writer hasn’t yet seen “Twelve,” “Lymelife” or “Valentine’s Day” (and two of three are likely well excused from all accounts).

Continue reading Emma Roberts Replaces Ashley Greene In ‘Scream 4’ Cast at The Playlist.

We’re guessing that whoever distributors Hannover House hired to cut the trailer couldn’t make heads or tails of what they were working with as the excessively long, three minute spot tells us absolutely nothing about the film. The trailer starts off with a droning, monotonous voiceover by Keifer Sutherland and quickly goes downhill.

Continue reading Trailer For Joel Schumacher’s ‘Twelve’ Is 3 Minutes Long And We Still Don’t Know What It’s About at The Playlist.

Well color us surprised when Production Weekly twittered that the film is not only happening, it starts shooting next month. Ray Liotta, Rory Culkin and Dakota Johnson have joined the micro-budgeted $3.5 million indie that is about – wait for it — “troubled youth.” Based on a script be newcomer Clark and Evan Weiner this certainly isn’t new territory for Clark, but we hope he keeps his skeezier, seamier instincts at bay this time around.

Continue reading Ray Liotta, Rory Culkin & Dakota Johnson Join Larry Clark’s ‘Savage Innocent’ at The Playlist.

Actually it’s not just him. Hollywood won’t stop hiring this thug and Joel Schumacher – who quickly squandered any goodwill he accrued from making “Tigerland” in 2000 after being raped alive by critics and fans for the ‘Batman 3 and 4’ movies – is the latest to do so having just attached 50 Cent to his next movie.

Continue reading Only A Hack Like Joel Schumacher Would Hire 50 Cent at The Playlist.

We get it: Ashton Kutcher is “hot.” Not hot enough, however, to sustain an entire movie devoted to the premise of his apparent comeliness.

Continue reading Sundance Thoughts: ‘Spread’ Predictable, ‘Lymelife’ Captures The Pangs Of Young Adulthood at The Playlist.