Stardust
Hollywood Will Never Stop Loving the Music Biopic
This past week saw the release of Stardust, a biopic about David Bowie’s first trip to the United States. If you’ve seen any piece of media related to the film, you probably know that the movie was received poorly — to say the least. This isn’t surprising, though. When the film’s first trailer dropped months ago, the film was immediately scorched online for being a very blatant and very poorly executed attempt to piggyback off the recent success of other musical biopics such as 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody and last year’s Rocketman. Whereas those two films at least had the wherewithal to secure the rights to their stars’ likeness and discography, Stardust opted out of either of those things. Even so, the film chugged along on the strength of its premise alone, but mostly because it’s a musical...
David Bowie Undergoes a Transformation in First Official Stardust Trailer: Watch
Stardust is an upcoming film that recounts David Bowie’s first-ever US publicity tour. The 1971 trip would go on to heavily influence his Hunky Dory album, as well as helped birth his iconic Ziggy Stardust character. Following a teaser clip earlier this year, a full official trailer has been released today. In the visual, we witness Bowie (played by Johnny Flynn) slowly undergoing a transformation into otherworldly alter ego Ziggy Stardust. Guiding him on this path is his Mercury Records press person Rob Oberman (Marc Maron), one of the few label employees to really believe in his music and potential. Bowie’s first wife Angie (Jena Malone) also offers him uplifting pep talks. “Rock star or somebody impersonating a rock star, what’s the difference?” Flynn’s Bowie says to those confused by h...
US Republican senators confront Netflix over Chinese sci-fi show
Five Republican US senators have confronted Netflix over the streaming giant’s plan to adapt a Chinese sci-fi book trilogy, expressing concern over the original author’s comments about claims of forced labor in Xinjiang. Liu Cixin’s bestselling “The Three-Body Problem,” which tells the story of humanity’s first contact with aliens, is set to become a major Netflix series co-written by the creators of “Game of Thrones.” In a letter to content boss Ted Sarandos, the senators accused Liu of “parroting dangerous [Communist Party] propaganda” and suggested Netflix was “providing a platform to Mr Liu in producing this project.” They highlighted a New Yorker article from last year in which Liu is quoted defending mass internment in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, where activists say more th...
