It’s difficult to even pick a starting point on the many misfires that are musician-turned-filmmaker Sia’s misguided directorial debut, “Music.” So much of it is bad and ill-conceived, all of it worth criticizing in various ways. There’s the infantilizing use of an autistic character, who the film portrays as nonverbal but never has the bravery to explicitly identify as autistic, who ends up being the magic push an adult screwup needs to get her life in order.

Continue reading ‘Music’: A Staggeringly Misconceived Exercise In Condescension Masquerading As Optimism [Review] at The Playlist.

“Music” is still about a month away from arriving in select theaters and VOD, but the film has already become a bit infamous thanks to the controversy surrounding the casting of the title character. And without knowing anything about the controversy, it’s clear in the trailer that how you feel about the film is going to come down to how you deal with the fact that a neurotypical person is playing someone on the autism spectrum.

Continue reading ‘Music’ Trailer: Sia’s Controversial Directorial Debut Is A Colorful, Musical Drama at The Playlist.

Australian pop singer-songwriter Sia has made the jump from directing music videos, to directing her first theatrical feature film, “Music.” Almost immediately as the first trailer dropped, controversy arose due to the film’s portrayal of autism.

READ MORE: The Safdie Brothers Direct A New Music Video For Their ‘Uncut Gems’ Composer, Oneohtrix Point Never

The trailer for “Music” teases a musical-drama film about a young girl on the autism spectrum that sees the world through music.

Continue reading ‘Music’ Trailer: Sia Makes Directorial Debut With Controversial “Musical Experience” Movie at The Playlist.

With her iconic style, which includes her face being partially covered by hair, singer-songwriter Sia has become one of the most recognizable pop stars on the planet. And as if music domination wasn’t enough, it appears Sia is ready to branch out and take on the world of feature filmmaking with a new project, “Music.”

READ MORE: Cameron Crowe Says Penny Lane From ‘Almost Famous’ Is Not An Example Of A Manic Pixie Dream Girl

According to Hanway Films, the studio has secured the distribution rights to the forthcoming musical, aptly titled, “Music,” which serves as the directorial debut for Sia.

Continue reading ‘Music’ First Look: Kate Hudson Stars In Sia’s Directorial Debut Musical at The Playlist.

As the Awards Season Hot Take Machine revs up, get ready to see a lot of conflicting opinions about “Vox Lux.” Once you see the movie, which our own Jessica Kiang called “actively, chewily unboring,” you’ll no doubt have some questions. Is Brady Corbet’s pop star picture intentionally, deliciously vapid and pretentious, or is it simply intolerable? Has lead Natalie Portman found her best role yet, or is she the lone shining light in an otherwise head-scratching film?

Continue reading Natalie Portman & Brady Corbet On ‘Vox Lux’: “It’s Almost Impossible To Go Far Enough” at The Playlist.

Director Bradey Cobert’s “Vox Lux” is something of a bone of contention around these parts and arguably Film Twitter as well. Following strong reviews during the film festival circuit, the Natalie Portman-starring movie began taking it in the teeth when a deeper swath of North American critics saw the film. While it’s fresh on Rotten Tomatoes currently (barely, 61% and falling which soon means rotten), the discourse around the film is polarizing and generally lands on a love/hate relationship with the film.

Continue reading Listen: Stream Full ‘Vox Lux’ Soundtrack Sung By Natalie Portman With Music By Sia & Scott Walker at The Playlist.

When you make a musical, no matter what the subject, a majority of the quality rests on the back of the music heard in the film. And when you take a look at filmmaker Brady Corbet’s upcoming musical drama starring Natalie Portman, titled “Vox Lux,” it’s clear that the quality of the music heard is going to go a long way to how people enjoy the finished product.

Continue reading Sia & Scott Walker Providing The Music For Natalie Portman Musical Drama ‘Vox Lux’ at The Playlist.

MTV announced the nominees for the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards (aka VMAs) this morning and, as usual, the list of honorees was full of familiar names, videos mostly released over the past six months and head scratching snubs were everywhere.  More importantly, MTV has scraped the Best Female and Best Male Artist categories this year.  Instead, they have “combined” them into Artist of the Year. Whether that’s a better solution is clearly up for debate. 

Continue reading Kendrick Lamar, Katy Perry Lead Nominations As 2017 MTV Video Music Awards Adds ‘Artist Of The Year’ at The Playlist.

I may not personally know any Bronies, but I do know enough about “My Little Pony” to realize the brand has extended far beyond the plastic horses that were advertised when I watched cartoons on Saturday mornings as a kid. An animated big-screen outing was pretty much inevitable, but I’m kind of amazed at the voice cast they’ve managed to assemble.

READ MORE: What Will Be The Biggest Box Office Blockbuster Of 2017?

Continue reading First Teaser For ‘My Little Pony’ Saddles Up at The Playlist.

Oscar’s big nomination day is still over a month away, but music got its moment in the spotlight as The Recording Academy revealed the nominees for the 59th Grammy Awards this morning and, as expected, Queen Bee ruled the roost.

Beyonce took nine nominations including Record of the Year (“Formation”), Album of the Year (“Lemonade”) and Song of the Year (“Formation”). Drake, Rihanna and Chance the Rapper all earned seven while Adele took five (Xavier Dolan‘s video for “Hello” was snubbed).

Continue reading Beyonce Dominates 59th Grammy Nominations As ‘Suicide Squad’ Gets 3 Nods at The Playlist.

Prediction based on nominations [Feb. 5]

TOP FIVE
1. “City of Stars,” “La La Land”
2. “How Far I’ll Go,” “Moana”
3. “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” “Trolls”
4. “Audition (The Fools Who Dream”), “La La Land”
5. “The Empty Chair” — “Jim: The James Foley Story”

PREVIOUS CONTENDERS (for historical context)
“A Letter to the Free,” “13th”
“Angel By The Wings,” “The Eagle Huntress”
“Drive It Like You Stole It,” “Sing Street”
“Faith,” “Sing”
“I’m Still Here,” “Miss Sharon Jones!”
“I See A Victory,” “Hidden Figures”
“Running’” “Hidden Figures”
“You’re Welcome,” “Moana”
“We Know The Way,” “Moana”
“Back to Life,” “Queen of “Katwe”
“Flicker,” “Audrie & Daisey”
“Go Now,” “Sing Street”
“The Great Beyond,” “Sausage Party”
“Never Give Up,” “Lion”
“Try Everything,” “Zootopia”
“The Rules Don’t Apply,” “Rules Don’t Apply”
“Waving Goodbye,” “The Neon Demon”

Gregory Ellwood’s Current Oscar Predictions:
Best Picture
Director
Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Original Screenplay
Adapted Screenplay
Editing
Cinematography 
Production Design
Animated Feature Film
Foreign Language Film
Documentary Feature
Original Score
Original Song
Costume Design
Makeup and Hairstyling
Visual Effects
Sound Mixing
Sound Editing

Continue reading 2017 Best Original Song Oscars Predictions at The Playlist.

Rooney Mara is likely putting her feet up for a moment, after spending the last few weeks doing the rounds on the festival circuit for the dramas “Una,” “Lion,” and “The Secret Scripture.” And it seems she’s used that breather to read the script for Brady Corbet‘s “Vox Lux” and sign up for the lead role.

Continue reading Rooney Mara To Play Pop Star For Brady Corbert In ‘Vox Lux,’ Will Shoot On 65mm at The Playlist.

Even though the soundtracks are basically “That’s What I Call Indie Rock” greatest hits compilations for Wal-Mart, Alexandra Patsavas and her team at Chop Shop have managed to wrangle some great exclusive tracks for the series, with Thom Yorke’s “Hearing Damage” and Lykke Li’s “Possibility” from “Twilight: New Moon” being particular standouts.

Continue reading ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’ Soundtrack Features Muse, Beck, Vampire Weekend & More at The Playlist.

– Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright have evidently been reunited. Working on “At World’s End” maybe? Probably too early for that, but here’s to wishful thinking.

– “Goodbye Mr.

Continue reading More ‘Green Hornet’ Set Pics, Michael Sheen Retires… From Playing Tony Blair at The Playlist.