The Playlist

The obsessives' guide to contemporary cinema via film discussion, news, reviews, features, nostalgia, movie music, soundtracks, DVDs and more.

Interviews

Watch: 1-Hour TV Version Of Spike Lee's Michael Jackson Documentary 'Bad 25'

By Kevin Jagernauth
|
November 24, 2012 11:55 AM
|
8 Comments

News

The malls are a zoo and the multiplex is a madhouse, so if you're looking for something to watch without having to change out of those stretchy pants, we have just the thing.

By Oliver Lyttelton
|
November 21, 2012 11:01 AM
|
0 Comments

Reviews

A couple of years ago, before he set up his low-budget comeback film “Red Hook Summer," Spike Lee was planning another NYC-set project, “Brooklyn Loves MJ,” with the story taking place on the night of the death of pop superstar Michael Jackson in June 2009. Said to star Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne Moore, Anthony Mackie and more, the film never came together (although Lee told us recently that he hoped to get it going again), but the director’s been able to pay tribute to the late King of Pop in a couple of other ways. For one, he’s helped to organize a semi-annual Brooklyn Loves MJ party (although it didn’t take place this year or last for various reasons). And then there’s the director’s latest film, and his second of 2012, “Bad 25.” The subject matter is less weighty for the man behind such stirring docs as "4 Little Girls" and "When The Levees Broke," but the results are no less pleasing for this effort, which delves into the making of Jackson's Bad, the fifth biggest-selling LP of all time.

By Charlie Schmidlin
|
October 19, 2012 11:36 AM
|
1 Comment

News

There are few people who love Michael Jackson as much as Spike Lee, and even while his mooted “Brooklyn Loves MJ” was unable to get off the ground, he's found another way to express his admiration for the performer. Following a series of strong festival showings this past summer and fall, ABC has started to spread word about his Jackson doc, “Bad 25,” slating a TV airing this holiday season.

By Charlie Schmidlin
|
September 18, 2012 11:20 AM
|
3 Comments

News

Nicely suited amongst the ranks of Ridley Scott as a purveyor of countless pledged projects, Spike Lee has still carved out his own special corner for plans of biopics on seemingly every African American pop culture figure, alive or deceased. Joe Louis, James Brown and Jackie Robinson have all been bandied about by the filmmaker as subjects on various occasions, but after his long-discussed Michael Jackson documentary, “Bad 25,” finally hit screens at Venice and TIFF in the past few weeks, another music icon has crept into the agenda as a possible future focus.

By Oliver Lyttelton
|
August 31, 2012 7:36 AM
|
0 Comments

Reviews

A couple of years ago, before he set up his low-budget comeback film “Red Hook Summer," Spike Lee was planning another NYC-set project, “Brooklyn Loves MJ,” with the story taking place on the night of the death of pop superstar Michael Jackson in June 2009. Said to star Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne Moore, Anthony Mackie and more, the film never came together (although Lee told us recently that he hoped to get it going again), but the director’s been able to pay tribute to the late King of Pop in a couple of other ways. For one, he’s helped to organize a semi-annual Brooklyn Loves MJ party (although it didn’t take place this year or last for various reasons). And then there’s the director’s latest film, and his second of 2012, “Bad 25.” The subject matter is less weighty for the man behind such stirring docs as "4 Little Girls" and "When The Levees Broke," but the results are no less pleasing for this effort which delves into the making of Jackson's Bad, the fifth biggest-selling LP of all time.

By Cain Rodriguez
|
August 29, 2012 9:17 AM
|
6 Comments

Television

Despite having a creative misstep with 2008’s “Miracle At St. Anna,” Spike Lee remains a vibrant voice and has estabalished himself as a top tier documentary filmmaker, with numerous projects over the past decade. And the Brooklyn auteur's next documentary “Bad 25,” which chronicles the creation and impact of Michael Jackson’s seminal 1987 album, has been acquired by the television network ABC for a Thanksgiving airing.