Beastie Boys were an American hip hop/rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1981. The group was composed of Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz, Adam "MCA" Yauch, and Michael "Mike D" Diamond. Beastie Boys were formed out of members of experimental hardcore punk band The Young Aborigines, which was formed in 1979, with Diamond on drums, Jeremy Shatan on bass guitar, John Berry on guitar, and Kate Schellenbach later joining on percussion. When Shatan left New York City in the summer of 1981, Yauch replaced him on bass and the resulting band was named Beastie Boys. Berry left shortly thereafter and was replaced by Horovitz.
Adam Spiegel, known professionally as Spike Jonze, is an American filmmaker, actor and photographer. His work includes films, commercials, music videos, skateboard videos and television.
Ill Communication is the fourth studio album by American hip hop group Beastie Boys, released through Grand Royal and Capitol Records on May 31, 1994. Co-produced by Beastie Boys and Mario Caldato, Jr., it is among the band's most varied releases, drawing from hip hop, punk rock, jazz, and funk, and continues their trend away from sampling and towards live instruments, which began with their previous release, Check Your Head (1992). The album features musical contributions from Money Mark, Eric Bobo and Amery "AWOL" Smith, and vocal contributions from Q-Tip and Biz Markie. Beastie Boys were influenced by Miles Davis's jazz rock albums On the Corner (1972) and Agharta (1975) while recording Ill Communication.
Adam Keefe Horovitz, popularly known as Ad-Rock, is an American rapper, guitarist, and actor. He was a member of the hip-hop group Beastie Boys. While Beastie Boys were active, Horovitz performed with a side project, BS 2000. After the group disbanded in 2012 following the death of member Adam Yauch, Horovitz has participated in a number of Beastie Boys-related projects, worked as a remixer, producer, and guest musician for other artists, and has acted in a number of films.
"Sabotage" is a song by American rap rock group Beastie Boys, released in January 1994 as the first single from their fourth studio album, Ill Communication (1994). The song features traditional rock instrumentation, turntable scratches, heavily distorted bass guitar riffs and lead vocals by Ad-Rock. A moderate commercial success, the song was notable for its video, directed by Spike Jonze; it was also nominated in five categories at the 1994 MTV Music Video Awards.
Where the Wild Things Are is a 2009 fantasy adventure drama film directed by Spike Jonze. Written by Jonze and Dave Eggers, it is based on Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's book of the same name. It combines live-action, performers in costumes, animatronics, and computer-generated imagery (CGI). The film stars Max Records, Catherine Keener, and Mark Ruffalo, and features the voices of Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, and Forest Whitaker. The film centers on a lonely young boy named Max who sails away to an island inhabited by creatures known as the "Wild Things", who declare Max their king.
Marwencol is a 2010 American documentary film that explores the life and work of artist and photographer Mark Hogancamp. It is the debut feature of director Jeff Malmberg, produced through his production company Open Face. It was the inspiration for Welcome to Marwen, a 2018 drama directed by Robert Zemeckis.
Her is a 2013 American science-fiction romantic drama film written, directed, and co-produced by Spike Jonze. It marks Jonze's solo screenwriting debut. The film follows Theodore Twombly, a man who develops a relationship with Samantha, an artificially intelligent virtual assistant personified through a female voice. The film also stars Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, and Chris Pratt.
Killers of the Flower Moon is a 2023 American epic western crime drama film directed and produced by Martin Scorsese. Eric Roth and Scorsese based their screenplay on the 2017 non-fiction book by David Grann. Set in 1920s Oklahoma, it focuses on a series of murders of Osage members and relations in the Osage Nation after oil was discovered on tribal land. The tribal members had retained mineral rights on their reservation, but a corrupt local political boss sought to steal the tribal members' wealth.
For All Mankind is an American science fiction drama television series created by Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi and produced for Apple TV+. The series dramatizes an alternate history depicting "what would have happened if the global space race had never ended" after the Soviet Union succeeds in the first crewed Moon landing ahead of the United States. The title is inspired by the lunar plaque left on the Moon by the crew of Apollo 11, which reads, in part, "We Came in Peace for All Mankind".
Greyhound is a 2020 American war film directed by Aaron Schneider and starring Tom Hanks, who also wrote the screenplay. Set during the Battle of the Atlantic, the film is based on the 1955 novel The Good Shepherd by C. S. Forester.
Higher Ground Productions, also known simply as Higher Ground, is an American production company founded in 2018 by former United States President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama.
The Elephant Queen is a 2018 documentary film directed by Victoria Stone and Mark Deeble, and narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor. It tells the journey of a family of elephants in the African savannah when they are forced to leave their waterhole. The film was produced by Lucinda Englehart under the banner of Deeble & Stone.
The Beatles: Get Back is a 2021 documentary series directed and produced by Peter Jackson. It covers the making of the Beatles' 1970 album Let It Be and draws largely from unused footage and audio material originally captured for and recycled original footage from the 1970 documentary of the album by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. The docuseries has a total runtime of nearly eight hours, consisting of three episodes, each of duration between two and three hours covering about one week each, together covering 21 days of studio time.
Boys State is a 2020 American documentary film directed and produced by Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine. It follows a thousand teenage boys attending Boys State in Texas, coming to build a representative government from the ground up.
American Utopia is a 2020 American concert film directed and produced by Spike Lee, from a screenplay by David Byrne. The film is a live recording of a Broadway performance of the show adapted from the touring show that supported the album of the same name. The film features selections from that album, as well as songs from throughout Byrne's career. Byrne performed alongside eleven musicians, all of whom used wireless or portable equipment. Frequent collaborator Annie-B Parson served as choreographer.
The Velvet Underground is a 2021 American documentary film directed and produced by Todd Haynes that chronicles the life and times of the rock band the Velvet Underground.
Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry is a 2021 American documentary film directed by R. J. Cutler and centered around singer-songwriter Billie Eilish. The film details Eilish's rise to fame since the release of her 2016 single "Ocean Eyes" and the creative process behind Eilish's debut studio album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019), with the title referencing a lyric from the album track "Ilomilo". The film was released in select theaters via Neon and on Apple TV+ on February 26, 2021.
