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It’s time for the Sundance Film Festival, and once again I’ll be heading to Utah to bring readers of JoBlo loads of reviews of all the latest indie flicks coming soon to a theater (or streaming service) near you. Located in Park City, Utah (for now anyways), Sundance is always one of my favorite events of the year. Being a movie fan, I love nothing more than binging on movies in the same festival that gave birth to the directing careers of legends like Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Jordan Peele, Damien Chazelle, and so many more.

As has been the case for the last decade or so, the festival is jam-packed with horror flicks, as studios – in particular A24 – have had some major breakouts there, including The Babadook, The Guest, Hereditary, Talk to Me, and last year’s I Saw the TV Glow. So what are we psyched to see?...

Ted Danson goes into spy mode and infiltrates a retirement home in Netflix’s “A Man on the Inside” — and he does it to a standout soundtrack. The touching new comedy comes from “The Good Place” creator Michael Schur, who was inspired by the charming, Academy Award-nominated Chilean documentary “The Mole Agent,” which followed an elderly man into a retirement community, where he proved a terrible spy but a lovely friend to the residents.

Comedy TV great Danson takes on the role of the mole for the Netflix series, which comes with a Netflix-budget soundtrack full of needle drops from throwback rock and folk greats like Cat Stevens, Cream and Jackson Browne, among many others. Check out a full list of all the songs in “A Man on the Inside” below.

‘A Man on the Inside’ Soundtrack “The Wind” by Cat Stevens “Rip Rip” by David Holmes “The Opera House...

“I Love You Forever” has all the trappings of a romantic comedy, for better or worse. In the whipsmart millennial-skewing film where you’re old if you’ve been caught using a third-generation iPhone, there’s something charmingly antiquated about the scene filmmakers Cazzie David and Elisa Kalani set around Mackenzie (Sofia Black D’Elia), a law student who has a pair of bickering best friends (Jon Rudnitsky and Cazzie David) to constantly amuse her and a personal life punctuated by Jessica Simpson and Michelle Branch needle drops. Such retro touches aside, their subversive spin on the genre doesn’t seem as if it could’ve been made any earlier than 2024, amid talk that emotional manipulation in a relationship can be every bit as pernicious as physical abuse, as Mackenzie experiences when she falls for the wrong guy.

For previous generations, the wrong guy was more likely to resemble Mark Wahlberg in “Fear,...

Veteran actress Eileen Ryan, who is the mother of actors Sean Penn and Christopher Penn as well as musician Michael Penn, has passed away. According to reports from Deadline, Ryan passed away at her home in Malibu over the weekend on Sunday. She was 94 years at the time of her passing and was just a few days away from celebrating her 95th birthday.

Hollywood is mourning.

Actress Eileen Ryan, mother of Sean Penn and the late Chris Penn, died at her home in Malibu on Oct. 9, a week before turning 95, a publicist announced to The Hollywood Reporter.

Read More: Sean Penn Attends January 6 Congressional Hearing: ‘We’re Looking To See If Justice Comes’

Ryan’s eldest son Michael Penn also confirmed the news in a post on Twitter, alongside a throwback photo.

We lost mom yesterday pic.twitter.com/r9XSKdEeE5

— Michael Penn (@MPenn) October 10, 2022

Born Eileen Annucci, the actress got her start onstage, making her Broadway debut in Sing Till Tomorrow in 1953.

She and late husband Leo Penn met while rehearsing a production of The Iceman Cometh in 1957.

Read More: Ben Stiller And Sean Penn Permanently Banned From Entering Russia Amid Support For Ukraine

Ryan also appeared in guest roles in numerous TV series, including “The Twilight Zone”, “ER”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, and more.

Tributes have been pouring in for actress Eileen Ryan, the mother of actors Sean and Christopher Penn and musician Michael Penn, who has died at 94. Ryan passed away on Sunday, October 9, at her home in Malibu. The death comes a week before Ryan would have celebrated her 95th birthday on October 16. Ryan was a prolific actor, having appeared in over 60 television shows and films over her decades-long career. She had roles in numerous classic TV shows, including The Twilight Zone, Bonanza, Matlock, ER, Little House of the Prairie, Ally McBeal, Private Practice, NYPD Blue, Without a Trace, and Grey’s Anatomy. Born on October 16, 1927, in New York City, Ryan made her first on-screen appearance in 1955 in an episode of Goodyear Television Playhouse. In 1957, she married the actor Leo Penn, remaining together for over 40 years until Leo’s death in 1998. The couple had three children together, Michael, Sean, and Christopher, all of...

Eileen Ryan has died at the age of 94, just a few days ahead of her 95th birthday.

The actor and mother of Sean, Chris and Michael Penn died on Sunday (9 October) at her Malibu, California home, according to her publicist.

On Monday 10 October, singer Michael tweeted a photo of his mother with the caption: “We lost mom yesterday.”

Born in New York on 16 October 1927, Ryan met fellow actor Leo Penn in 1975 at rehearsals for the production of The Iceman Cometh. They got married within months and were together for 41 years until Leo’s death in 1998.

Ryan made her TV debut in 1955’s Goodyear Televisions Playhouse and later became known for her roles in films such as 1989’s Parenthood, alongside Steve Martin, and 2001’s The Pledge, starring Jack Nicholson.

During her nearly six-decade-long screen career, some of her highlights included playing Sean and Chris’ grandmother in 1986’s crime drama At Close...

Eileen Ryan, the actor and mother of composer Michael Penn and actors Sean Penn and Chris Penn, died at her home on Oct. 9. She was 94.

Ryan’s acting work included portraying Sean and Chris’ grandmother in 1986’s “At Close Range,” as well as appearing in 1995’s “The Crossing Guard,” directed and written by Sean.

Ryan was born on Oct. 16, 1927, in New York, the daughter of nurse Rose Isabel and dentist Amerigo Giuseppe Annucci. In 1957, Ryan met director and actor Leo Penn at rehearsals for the play “Iceman Cometh.” They married a few months later, and remained together for 41 years until Leo’s death in 1998.

During her screen career, which spanned nearly six decades, Ryan guest starred on series such as “Goodyear Playhouse,” “Studio One,” “The Detectives,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Outlaws,” “Bonanza,” “Matlock,” “NYPD Blue” and “Men of a Certain Age.”

In addition to “At Close Range” and “The Crossing Guard,...

Click here to read the full article.

Eileen Ryan, an actress who appeared on Broadway and in films and TV shows in collaborations with her late husband, actor-director Leo Penn, and her two-time Oscar-winning son, Sean Penn, died Sunday at her home in Malibu, a publicist announced. She was 94.

Survivors also include another son, composer-songwriter Michael Penn. Her youngest boy, actor Chris Penn, died in 2006.

Ryan gave up her acting career — once turning down the lead in a John Frankenheimer-directed film — to become a full-time mother. However, she returned to take small parts in such projects as At Close Range (1986), where she played the grandmother of characters portrayed by Sean and Christopher.

One of three sisters, Eileen Annucci was born in New York on Oct. 16, 1927. She made her Broadway debut in 1953 in Sing Till Tomorrow, then worked alongside Judith Anderson, George C. Scott and Larry Hagman in 1958 in Comes a Day.

Eileen Ryan, veteran actress and mother to composer and songwriter Michael Penn and actors Sean Penn and Christopher Penn, died at her home this past Sunday at the age of 94, her reps tell TheWrap.

Born in New York City in 1927, Ryan married actor and director Leo Penn in 1957 after meeting him at rehearsals for “The Iceman Cometh,” remaining together until Penn’s death in 1998. Over her nearly 60-year career in television, Ryan appeared in bit roles on episodes of various famous television shows, including the “Twilight Zone” episode “A World of Difference” where she plays the ex-wife of a businessman who discovers that his life is actually a role in a TV show, and that he is actually a failing actor on the verge of insolvency.

Also Read:

Nikki Finke, Pioneering Journalist and Scourge of Hollywood, Dies at 68

Ryan also had cameos on shows including “Bonanza,” “Little House on the Prairie,...

Actor Eileen Ryan, the mother of actors Sean Penn and Christopher Penn and musician Michael Penn, died Sunday at her home, just a week short of her 95th birthday.

Ryan, born Eileen Annucci, met fellow actor Leo Penn in 1957 at rehearsals for The Iceman Cometh, a Circle in the Square production (Leo Penn had taken over for Jason Robards). The two were married within a few months, a marriage that lasted 41 years until Leo Penn’s death in 1998.

Related: Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo Gallery

From her first TV appearance in 1955’s Goodyear Television Playhouse, Ryan had a steady and prolific acting career for decades, with guest roles on The Twilight Zone, The Detectives, Ben Casey, Marcus Welby, M.D., Little House on the Prairie, Ally McBeal, and Grey’s Anatomy, among many others. On the big screen, she often appeared in the her sons’ various projects, including At Close Range,...

Director Julia Hart has quietly crafted a Disney+ franchise that continues to unfold in creative and charming ways. Her adaptation of “Stargirl” debuted on the streamer just as lockdown began; now with “Hollywood Stargirl,” the second film in the series, it’s clear the writer-director’s voice has taken shape in the same assured way as that of her young heroine. Hart and co-writer Jordan Horowitz’s follow-up goes blessedly off-book, diverging greatly from author Jerry Spinelli’s source novel “Love, Stargirl” to deliver its own unique view on how artistic passion evolves and inspires. The sequel shifts perspective from the original, which captured the eponymous teen’s triumphs through a male protagonist’s lens, and better foregrounds her sparkle and shine.

Sentimental songbird Stargirl Caraway (Grace VanderWaal) is once again on the move, traveling from the subdued suburban haunts of Mica, Arizona to the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles.

Imagine, if you will, a massive Venn diagram with aquatic salamanders, lesser-known passages from Revelations, “The Last House on the Left,” fried pork byproducts, and hot air balloons.

We can’t definitively state that Season 2 of the Fxx series “Dicktown” is the lone inhabitant of that sliver in the middle, but it’s almost certainly the only animated detective show that also has an impish parody of Tintin arriving with fanfare at the heart of its sophomore season.

The show is driven by the same expansive web of Things that preoccupy its creator/writer/stars John Hodgman and David Rees, a creative engine that made its first batch of episodes in 2020 so distinct. “Dicktown” tracks the ongoing hyphenated tribulations of down-on-his-luck, out-of-work John Hunchman (Hodgman) and his foe-turned-friend investigative partner David Purefoy (Rees).

This new season, available to stream on Hulu, is still parceled out in 12-minute segments (it’s...

Uma Thurman has joined the cast of Disney’s sequel to Stargirl, the YA romantic drama that proved to be early hit for its streamer, Disney+.

Star Grace VanderWaal and director Julia Hart are among those returning for the follow-up, who are now joined by actor Elijah Richardson as well as composer-musician Michael Penn, the latter who is writing and perform original music for the film.

The 2020 movie, which debuted on Disney+ March 13, 2020, adapted the best-selling book by Jerry Spinelli and told of a boy living in Mica, Arizona, who wishes nothing more than an anonymous existence ...

Uma Thurman has joined the cast of Disney’s sequel to Stargirl, the YA romantic drama that proved to be an early hit for its streamer, Disney+.

Star Grace VanderWaal and director Julia Hart are among those returning for the follow-up, now joined by actor Elijah Richardson as well as composer-musician Michael Penn, the latter of whom is writing and perform original music for the film.

The 2020 movie, which debuted on Disney+ March 13, 2020, adapted the best-selling book by Jerry Spinelli and told of a boy living in Mica, Arizona, who wishes nothing more than an anonymous existence ...

Exclusive: Judy Greer will star in Disney’s sequel to Stargirl.

The movie, which is in development from the Disney live action division, will stream on Disney+.

Greer will play the role of Ana opposite returning star Grace VanderWaal who plays Stargirl. VanderWaal will write and perform original music as well.

Julia Hart is coming back to direct, and she’ll be writing the sequel’s screenplay again with husband Jordan Horowitz. The duo adapted the original screenplay on the first movie with Kristin Hahn off Jerry Spinelli’s best-selling book of the same name.

The sequel will follow Stargirl’s journey out of Mica and into a bigger world of music. I understand that Ana is Stargirl’s mother and the duo will be moving to Los Angeles, where the latter is working on a film. Elijah Richardson will play the romantic lead Evan who is Stargirl’s new neighbor and an aspiring writer.

Disney is returning to the musical world of Stargirl, its YA romantic drama that premiered on the platform almost a year ago.

The company’s live actin film division is bringing back much of the creative team behind the original movie, including star Grace VanderWaal and director Julia Hart, who will this time be joined by actor Elijah Richardson as well as composer-musician Michael Penn, the latter who will write and perform original music for the film.

The 2020 movie, which debuted on Disney+ March 13, 2020, adapted the best-selling book by Jerry Spinelli and told of a boy living in ...

Disney is returning to the musical world of Stargirl, its YA romantic drama that premiered on the platform almost a year ago.

The company’s live actin film division is bringing back much of the creative team behind the original movie, including star Grace VanderWaal and director Julia Hart, who will this time be joined by actor Elijah Richardson as well as composer-musician Michael Penn, the latter who will write and perform original music for the film.

The 2020 movie, which debuted on Disney+ March 13, 2020, adapted the best-selling book by Jerry Spinelli and told of a boy living in ...

First films of important directors usually feel like warm-ups, but not so this suspenseful story of ‘twilight’ people living in and around casinos. Paul Thomas Anderson writes and directs in a style that guarantees our full attention at all times. Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L. Jackson assay riveting main characters, with Philip Seymour Hoffman in for a brief turn at the crap tables. It’s all behavior and relationship detail — are we reading each individual correctly? Are we going to learn more about them? When the surprises come, the story takes shape in its own unique way.

Hard Eight

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 14

1996 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date October 28, 2020 / Sydney / Available from ViaVision

Starring: Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Melora Walters.

Cinematography: Robert Elswit

Film Editor: Barbara Tulliver

Original Music: Jon Brion, Michael Penn

Produced by Robert Jones,...

The six-part HBO documentary series I’ll Be Gone in the Dark may have concluded last month, but Aimee Mann has just released a full version of the opening theme: her cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Avalanche.”

Sharing the same cover art as Cohen’s 1971 album Songs of Love and Hate, Mann’s rendition of the track ups the original’s instrumentation, with a haunting string arrangement to accompany her vocals. “You who wish to conquer pain/You must learn what makes me kind,” she sings. “The crumbs of love that...

The sisterly trio Haim are back after a nearly two-year hiatus from making new music, and they’ve got a brand-new music video shot by their frequent filmmaking collaborator Paul Thomas Anderson to prove it. Following past videos for their songs “Right Now,” “Little of Your Love,” and “Night So Long,” the foursome are back together for another winsome look at life in Los Angeles in the form of a fresh video for “Summer Girl.”

This one even includes a cinephilic crossover for the ages: as the trio stroll around Los Angeles and literally shed the seasons, they spend some time at a number of La landmarks, including the Quentin Tarantino-owned New Beverly Cinema on Beverly Boulevard.

Despite the zippy and warm nature of the song, it apparently was inspired by serious personal upheaval. As Pitchfork reports, in a press release, Danielle Haim wrote of its genesis: “I started...

In “Bumblebee,” the lovable robot in the title uses his cassette deck to express himself after losing his voice early in the film. And when he plays the ’80s power-ballad “The Touch,” he brings a happy ending to a strange journey for the song that included a baffling pit stop in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1997 classic “Boogie Nights.”

People who were 11 years old when “Transformers: The Movie” was released in 1986 can skip ahead a few paragraphs. But for everyone else: “The Touch” is a hopeful electric-guitar-synth-and-drum-fill-driven masterpiece that could easily pass for a Sammy Hagar or Survivor single custom-written for an inspiring ’80s training montage.

When it lifted off in “Transformers: The Movie,” the lyrics seemed to be about the Autobots and their brave fight against the Decepticons.

Also Read: 'Bumblebee' Film Review: Without Michael Bay as Director, the Best 'Transformers' Yet

Here are a few...

If you’re looking for a crash course in what makes Paul Thomas Anderson an auteur filmmaker, look no place else but his music videos. Anderson has directed 15 music videos throughout the course of his career so far, and each one is a succinct lesson in all of his best trademarks, from those technically-dazzling tracking shots to the intimate textures of his extreme closeups.

Anderson’s music video career has always intertwined with his film career. His first video arrived in 1997 with Michael Penn’s “Try,” just a year after his breakout directorial debut “Hard Eight.” Over the next 20 years, the filmmaker would go on to collaborate with Fiona Apple, Joanna Newsom, and Radiohead multiple times. Most recently, Anderson has joined forces with the band Haim to direct several music videos for tracks off their second album, “Something to Tell You.” Three of these videos were edited into a 16-minute short film called “Valentine.

It's blissfully romantic, undeniably eccentric, the easy go-to-answer for the best Adam Sandler movie ever made, a modernist gem, a valentine to old musicals and the only film to feature both Philip Seymour Hoffman and an abandoned harmonium in key supporting roles. Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love remains an outlier in the filmmaker's career and one of the more oddball movies to come out of a studio in the past two decades – an ode to true love involving phone sex scams, pudding, wrecked public restrooms and proof that even...

Paul Thomas Anderson has been involved with the band Radiohead for a few years now. Lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood has composed the scores for the last three Anderson films — “There Will Be Blood,” “The Master,” and “Inherent Vice” — and in turn both collaborated on the documentary “Junun” about the making of an album in Mehrangarh Fort in Rajasthan, India, by Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur. Most recently, Anderson has directed music videos for songs off of Radiohead’s latest album “A Moon Shaped Pool,” such as “Daydreaming” and “Present Tense.” His latest video for the band is for the song “The Numbers,” which features frontman Thom Yorke and Greenwood playing the song in the woods alongside a Roland Cr-78 drum machine. Watch the video below.

Read More: Paul Thomas Anderson Directs Live Video for Radiohead’s ‘Present Tense’ — Watch

Anderson is no stranger to directing music videos as he’s...

After helming the music video for Radiohead’s “Daydreaming” earlier this year, Paul Thomas Anderson has collaborated with the band once again. PTA’s live video for “Present Tense” — which, like “Daydreaming,” is taken from the album “A Moon Shaped Pool” — is considerably more straightforward: It simply features Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood performing the song in question. Watch it below.

Read More: Radiohead’s Paul Thomas Anderson–Directed ‘Daydreaming’ Music Video Receives Theatrical Release

The footage was shot during a live performance in Tarzana, California last month. PTA is no stranger to music videos, having worked with Fiona Apple on multiple occasions, plus Jon Brion, Michael Penn and Aimee Man (whose music played a significant role in “Magnolia”). Several theaters across the country screened “Daydreaming” on 35mm earlier this year; PTA and the band sent a note to the Music Box in Chicago that read, “We’ve made a film,...

While they are now lifelong, inveterate expats, the Quay Brothers — identical twins, Stephen and Timothy, now 68 — should probably be seen as American national treasures. Experimental, avant-garde stop motion animators with a surrealist, Mitteleuropa and Kafka-esque aesthetic that recalls the make-believe scenario where David Lynch, obscurant Czech animator Jan Švankmajer, German Expressionists, silent era auteurs like Carl Dryer and Terry Gilliam had a dinner party and dreamt up twisted scenarios where handmade, but decayed and discarded marionettes are trapped in esoteric, entrancing netherworlds of dark imagination. In mainstream culture, you may have seen their eccentric, beautifully creepy work here and there; music videos for His Name Is Alive and Michael Penn, an animated segment within the Oscar-nominated “Frida” film, some contributions to Peter Gabriel’s iconic “Sledgehammer” video (that they've since disavowed), but much like their marginalized and damaged...

It's hard not to get excited about the upcoming Godzilla reboot, but it's equally difficult to forget America's previous botched attempt at remaking the iconic monster. While I have nothing to say about Roland Emmerich's catastrophic misfire of a film that hasn't already been said countless times over the last 16 years...

I thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane to look at the film's soundtrack.

Let's set the scene: the year was 1998. You couldn't go anywhere without seeing a commercial, billboard, poster or memorabilia advertising Godzilla. The multi-pronged marketing strategy also included tie-in campaigns with Taco Bell and Edy's Ice Cream, among others.

It was a time when people still paid for music, as the transition from cassettes to CDs was being made, and movie soundtracks were a big deal. Artists would provide original songs for soundtracks, and you'd have to buy the entire...

While Jon Brion and Michael Penn wrote some terrific film scores for Paul Thomas Anderson over the years ("Magnolia," "Punch Drunk Love"), it’s now fairly difficult to separate the filmmaker from his Jonny Greenwood-penned scores only two films deep into their collaboration. Greenwood obviously scored “The Master” and the upcoming “Inherent Vice,” but it all started with the Daniel Day-Lewis-starring “There Will Be Blood” that PTA saw as a type of horror. “We talked about how [Kubrick's] 'The Shining' had lots of Penderecki in it,” Greenwood told EW in 2008. “We figured the instruments should be contemporary to the turn of the last century, but not period music. Even though you know the sounds you're hearing are coming from very old technology, you can do things with the classical orchestra that unsettle you, that are slightly wrong, that have some kind of slightly sinister undercurrent.'' Anderson...

A review of the "Girls" season 3 finale coming up just as soon as I can feel the labia forming... "Well, I'm sick of trying to work it out. Can't one thing ever be easy with you?" -Adam There are times when each season of "Girls" can feel haphazard and patchwork, with characters appearing and disappearing at random and story arcs being interrupted for short story-ish digressions that take Hannah out of town and/or give most of the cast the week off. That's not necessarily a bad thing, both because those digressions (like "Flo" this season) often represent the series at its best, and because it does a nice job of conveying how directionless and random Hannah Horvath's life can become. And I'm always impressed with the way the show tends to conclude its seasons in a way that bring everything full circle for Hannah (and, at times, for...

For all its divisiveness and controversy, it’s easy to forget how well-made “Girls” is and what a wonderful job the creative team does in curating music for the show. It’s a show that can go from using a piece of unabashed pop like Icona Pop’s “I Love It” last season to using a Kurt Vile track for its third season premiere. The HBO series will follow-up last year’s soundtrack release with a second installment that includes some new tracks by some great artists. EW has posted the cover art for “Girls Volume 2: All Adventurous Women Do...” which uses the same poster artwork that can be seen on subway station walls advertising the new season, along with the tracklisting. While there is some previously released material on the disc -- Father John Misty, Vampire Weekend and Beck, among others -- what’s most exciting are the...

It's official: After 11 years, Fred Armisen is done with "Saturday Night Live."

In an interview with Splitsider, not only did the "Portlandia" star confirm his exit, but he said he felt he went out with a bang.

"I think it's clear," Armisen said. "I didn't do any kind of official announcement, but I really felt like it was obvious. An ending that was a love letter to all the music I grew up with, and also to my friends and to SNL and to Lorne and to the cast. There was a lot of emotion attached to it, but it was a very positive emotion."

The ending Armisen is referring to is a sketch he performed in May in which he played Ian Rubbish, a member of an English punk rock band. He was joined onstage by his "Portlandia" co-star Carrie Brownstein, plus several music legends including Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones,...

This weekend’s season finale of Saturday Night Live was an especially emotional episode, one that saw beloved cast members Bill Hader and Fred Armisen bid the show a fond adieu. Hader’s big farewell sketch was, of course, the epic wedding between Stefon and Seth Meyers, while Fred Armisen was joined by a calvacade of indie rock legends—Carrie Brownstein! Steve Jones! Aimee Mann! Michael Penn! J. Mascis!—for an emotional performance as his punk rocker alter ego Ian Rubbish.

Both Hader and Armisen were incredibly versatile performers whose contributions to the show will be greatly missed but, in particular, Armisen’s ability to consistently inject an element of musical theatricality into the show will be near impossible to replace. Before he became a SNL cast member back in 2002, Armisen was the drummer for an indie rock act called Trenchmouth, and he always managed to keep his foot in...

Fred Armisen has not announced whether this week's "Saturday Night Live" season finale will indeed be his last episode as rumored, but a sketch during that show was all but a clear farewell from the longtime cast member.

Appearing as Ian Rubbish, his English punk rock character introduced earlier this season, Armisen sang a song with the repeated chorus "It's been all right / It's been a lovely night with you" while on the British music show "Top of the Pops."

During the performance, Armisen was joined by several musical legends, reflecting his own background as a musician: His "Portlandia" collaborator and Wild Flag and Sleater-Kinney leader Carrie Brownstein, Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon, J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., and musical powerhouse couple Aimee Mann and Michael Penn.

The band supporting him included Bill Hader, who confirmed he is leaving after this season, and Jason Sudeikis,...

Last year, Kristen Wiig’s emotional SNL sendoff set a high water mark for cast member farewells. (Compare it to, say, the way Chris Kattan said goodbye with a “terrible re-enactment” of his SNL career during his last show 10 years ago.)

I’d say that mark was met — and possibly exceeded — by the closing sketch of tonight’s show, in which Fred Armisen (as punk rocker Ian Rubbish, first introduced when Vince Vaughn hosted a few weeks ago) sang a sweet original tune filled with simple, evocative lyrics like, “It’s been all right, I’ve had a lovely night.

Fans hoping that Saturday Night Live might close out its lackluster 38th season on a strong note probably abandoned that sense of optimism after the evening’s first three sketches (not counting the opening monologue or that amusing, pre-taped Xanax: Gay Summe Weddings ad parody) proved about as funny as running your winning Powerball ticket through the washing machine.

Yet while Ben Affleck‘s introduction into the “Five-Timers Club” certainly won’t go down as a particularly good episode, there were some rewards in store for those who didn’t shut off their TV sets and call it an early night.

Fox hasn’t officially confirmed it, but sources close to American Idol are buzzing that Season 12 Top 4 week will be a two-theme kind of party: One-Hit Wonders and Contestant’s Choice.

The former — which topped an At&T “fan’s choice” vote — has the potential to be fantastic, as long as producers don’t try to force the contestants toward novelty hits or tired old songs that have been covered on Idol a million times before (and simply happen to qualify under the one-hit wonder header).

Related Video | Idol‘s Lazaro Arbos on Sassing the Judges, Smuggled Whitney CDs, and ‘Courage’ Critiques!

A companion soundtrack album for season one of Girls will be released in the New Year. Artists such as Robyn and The Vaccines are featured on the album, which will be released via Warner Music Group subsidiary Fueled by Ramen. The record also features new tracks from Santigold, Michael Penn, 2013 Grammy nominees fun. and Grouplove. Girls star and creator Lena Dunham posted the album artwork on her Twitter page, writing: "The official @girlshbo soundtrack drops, hard, on January 8th." The tracklisting for the album's standard edition is as follows: 1. Robyn - 'Dancing on My Own'

2. fun. - 'Sight of the Sun'

3. Harper Simon - 'Wishes and Stars'

4. Santigold - 'Girls'

5. White Sea - 'Overdrawn'

6. Grouplove - 'Everyone's (more)...

"Girls" fans, rejoice! It was just announced that Lena Dunham's HBO show will be getting a soundtrack.

Due out from record label Fueled by Ramen on Jan. 8, “Girls – Volume 1,” features music from the show and debuts a few exclusive tracks. Standout songs on the album include a new single "Girls" from Santigold, Robyn's "Dancing On My Own" of "Girls" season one fame, and Michael Penn's "On Your Way," a previously unavailable track written exclusively for the "Girls" finale.

"Music is such a huge part of my creative process,” Lena Dunham, the creator of "Girls" said in a statement. “I make playlists to write by and listen to as I head to set in the morning, and I experiment in editing with songs that the characters would love and that accurately reflect their struggles. 'Girls' music supervisor Manish Raval and I are crazy about everything from the...

A few days ago, Relativity Music Group released the soundtrack to Paranorman, which is out in theaters today. The soundtrack is from singer-songwriter Jon Brion, and is streaming all week on AOL Music and MSN Music and can be purchased from iTunes here. We have the press release straight from Relativity Music below:

Los Angeles, CA - August 14th: The soundtrack to ParaNorman by famed composer, record producer, and singer-songwriter Jon Brion is available today, August 14th from Relativity Music Group. The new stop-motion animated comedy thriller, will be released in theaters everywhere on Friday, August 17th. The soundtrack is streaming all week on AOL Music and MSN Music and is available for purchase on iTunes here: http://bit.ly/ParaNormanITUNES.

When a small town comes under siege by zombies, who can it call? “Norman!” From Focus Features and Laika, the companies behind the Academy Award-nominated animated feature Coraline, comes the comedy thriller ParaNorman.

The “Coffee Talk: Composers” panel is always a highlight of my Laff-ing each year and this year may haven taken the cake as it not only featured my number one composer from last year (Mr. Cliff Martinez, thanks to his outstanding scores for Drive, Contagion and The Lincoln Lawyer), but it also began with panelists Martinez, Rolfe Kent (Young Adult), and Michael Penn (Girls) breaking out into an impromptu performance of the Lawrence of Arabia theme with Martinez on djembe, Kent on ukulele, and Penn on theremin. These odd instrument choices made it clear from the start that this was a lively group and the discussion would prove to be just as unpredictable. Moderated by Bmi’s Doreen Ringer-Ross, it was apparent from the start that this trio all have a great deal of respect for one another, but it was hard not to notice the good-natured competitive tinge to their respective relationships as well. Read...

Season 1, Season 10: "She Did"

Suddenly, everything has changed. That might be the recurring theme of "Girls" across its first season, one that has seen Hannah (Lena Dunham), Marnie (Allison Williams), Jessa (Jemima Kirke) and Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) navigate their early 20s and the curveballs that come with it. As we've said time and again, Lena Dunham's focus on character, combined with a willingness to allow them to be unlikeable, wrong, selfish or simply unsure -- as one tends to be at that pre-adulthood age -- has afforded the show a real resonance that belies its standard sitcom set up. Besides a couple mid-season episodes that wobbled, Dunham's instincts have proven right more often than not, with "Girls" delivering unexpected big laughs and tender moments in the unlikeliest places. And so it's fitting that the season finale reorients the lives of everyone. Well, almost.

Following on the bitter blowout last week,...

HollywoodNews.com: Several new events at the 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival were announced this morning including this year’s Festival Keynote Speaker, Chris McGurk, Chariman and CEO of Cinedigm Entertainment group. On June 16, McGurk will speak on the art and business of independent film by addressing the Renaissance of Indie Film. The keynote speech will also open a full day of panels at the Afci Locations Show. Also announced is a new event on June 19 featuring comedian Marc Maron hosting his Wtf podcast live with a to-be-announced guest in front of an intimate Festival audience. Past Wtf podcast guests include Judd Apatow, Louis Ck, Jon Hamm, Patton Oswalt and Amy Poehler.

The Festival’s popular Coffee Talks will take place on June 17 featuring actors Jason Isaacs and Melanie Lynskey, directors Lawrence Kasdan and Catherine Hardwicke, screenwriters John August and Zak Penn, composers Rolfe Kent, Cliff Martinez, and Michael Penn, plus more to be announced.

Sometimes Mad Men would rather be murky and disturbing than fabulous, and last night's episode featured more chills and less "Chiiiiild," which is what I exclaim when fabulous Joan smirks at an underling. Peggy, Roger, Jane, and Don (no Joan or Betty in sight) spent the episode scaring us with forays into unknown worlds of seediness, trippiness, and violence. Not very glamorous, I'm afraid. But I still dredged up a handful of moments suitable for drag reenactments and exaltation.

1. Peggy knows your stupid beans better than you do.

First of all, when Peggy serves up her infuriated thug grimace, stand back. Shut up. And most importantly, don't pretend you know more than her about beans. After the Heinz exec rejected Peggy's campaign idea, the well-ascoted dame strode to the table, raised her thug jawbone in defiance, and spat, "You have to run with this! It's young! And it's beautiful! No...

SXSW is barely 24 hours away from starting (catch up with part one and part two of our preview pieces here), and at this point, it's important to be reminded that one of the things that makes the festival unique is a particular focus on the crossover between music and film, something that's been a special interest of ours since the very earliest days of The Playlist. SXSW doesn't just have a whole sidebar dedicated to music documentaries (with this year's batch including films centered on LCD Soundsystem, Paul Simon and Big Star), and a music festival that runs alongside, but the films screened seem to attract a disproportionate number of scores by indie and rock musicians.

And with more and more names who broke out from the pop and rock world -- from veteran composers like Danny Elfman and Clint Mansell to newbies like Trent Reznor and The Chemical Brothers -- moving into composition,...

Big Sean, Foster the People, Kreayshawn, Tyler, the Creator or Wiz Khalifa will follow in their footsteps come Sunday.

By Gil Kaufman

Eminem accepts the award for Best New Artist at the 1999 VMAs

Photo: Frank Micelotta/ ImageDirect

We're all rookies at some point, but when it comes to the MTV Video Music Awards' Best New Artist category, you only get one shot at being the new kid on the block. And for this year's nominees — Big Sean, Foster the People, Kreayshawn, Tyler, the Creator and Wiz Khalifa — now is their time to shine and join an illustrious list of previous winners that includes Lady Gaga, Guns N' Roses, Justin Bieber and 50 Cent.

Since the very first Moonman was handed out in this category in 1984, MTV has a pretty stellar track record for picking artists who either went on to superstardom or at least represent a very specific moment in time (we're looking at you,...

Two new movies are opening wide this weekend:

The 3D horror thriller Priest directed by Scott Charles Stewart and starring Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q, Karl Urban, Lily Collins and Christopher Plummer is opening in almost 3000 theaters. Christopher Young has composed the music for the film. A soundtrack album has been released by Madison Gate Records this past Tuesday. Check out our soundtrack announcement for more information.

Also opening nationwide is the comedy Bridesmaids directed by Paul Feig, produced by Judd Apatow and starring Kirsten Wiig, Rose Byrne, Maya Rudolph and Jon Hamm. The film’s score is written by Michael Andrews. A soundtrack album, featuring twelve songs from the film, as well as one score track by Andrews has been released by Relativity Music. Visit our previous article to see the full track list.

Opening in limited release is the indie comedy drama Everything Must Go. The film...

In this week’s Music in the movies, we look back over the work of Jon Brion, whose compositions have graced such films as Magnolia, I Heart Huckabees and The Other Guys...

Producer for the likes of Aimee Mann, Kanye West, Of Montreal, Spoon and Elliott Smith, to name but a few, Jon Brion is a name you may have seen appearing on some credits for great movies over the years.

His break into composing for movies came through helping out Michael Penn on P T Anderson's score for Hard Eight (aka Sydney). Since then, he has composed two other scores for the director, as well as appearing briefly in Boogie Nights.

Below are the notable scores he has composed to date:

Magnolia

Brion's debut score for Paul Thomas Anderson's epic is somewhat overshadowed by the songs featured by Aimee Mann (covered in this column last year), but does...

Boogie Nights (1997), Paul Thomas Anderson's follow-up to his stellar chamber/crime drama Hard Eight (Aka Sydney, 1996), is a film that has stayed with me since I saw it as a freshman or sophomore in high school. Contrary to what may be your gut reaction, my favorable reaction to the film was not inspired by the nude beauty of either Julianne Moore or Heather Graham. Rather than being swept away by the sensual presence of the female form, I was dazzled and intoxicated by Anderson's embrace of film form to capture the tone and mood of what is essentially a three-hour version of a VH1 "Behind the Music" special except, in this case, the story is the rise and fall of a porn star primarily; Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) only attempts to be a pop star...poorly.

When the film begins in the late 1970s at a discotheque in the San Fernando Valley,...

The 2010 MTV Video Music Awards are fast approaching, which means that soon you'll be treated to an excellent night of performances and appearances by the likes of Eminem, Linkin Park, Usher, Paramore, Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence and the Machine, B.o.B and Deadmau5 (who will serve as the house DJ at the show). While people tend to remember the classic performances and the unhinged moments, the coveted Moonman is the reason why people show up and tune in. This year, there are 16 categories wherein some of the biggest music stars in the universe will compete for the coolest trophy in awards shows. Today, we take a look at the nominees in the Best New Artist category.

By design, the MTV Video Music Awards are always looking back at the work of the previous year and honor the artists who have delivered the best work in the world of music videos.