Manti Te’o deserves an apology. Te’o, a Notre Dame great and one of the preeminent Hawaiian football players of his generation, had everything going for him to be another NFL success story from the Aloha State. Though, it all changed the second he got a friend request from a Stanford student named Lennay Kekua, one that would forever alter his career path and sadly define what should’ve been the most exciting part of his life.

Continue reading ‘Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist’ Effectively Unpacks One Of College Football’s Craziest Scandals [Review] at The Playlist.

For the two hours, you might spend watching Jared Leto sulk around a Sony/Marvel B-side that somehow reportedly can’t muster the artistic integrity of the “Venom” movies, you could jump into one of the best international films released in American cinemas over the last few years. Part Sergio Leone, part David Lean, part Martin Campbell, part Michael Bay, part Quentin Tarantino, all Tollywood historical action epic extravaganza, “RRR” is more than enough proof that it’s high time stateside audiences prepare themselves for the rise of a globalized cinema, one that is, quite frankly, probably schooling our asses in the fine art of studio filmmaking.

Continue reading ‘RRR’ A Rollicking, Soulful Tollywood Action Epic [Review] at The Playlist.

Actor/filmmaker Ben Stiller is no stranger to examining the rigors of the American workplace. Ever since he shined a light on everyone’s favorite cable guy in, well, “The Cable Guy,” Stiller has spent some time dwelling on the relationship we have with our work and those who work with and for us. Jim Carrey‘s slapdash, stalky cable installation man is less an ugly caricature of a hapless blue-collar weirdo and more a dark dive into the delicate void of friendship, professionalism, and obsession that comes when we connect with people who we didn’t choose.

Continue reading ‘Severance’ Review: Ben Stiller Crafts A Fascinating, Eerie Meditation On Work Culture at The Playlist.

Earlier this year, NBA superstar LeBron James, now with the Los Angeles Lakers, engaged in some back-and-forth during a road game with an Atlanta Hawks fan. It’s not that uncommon for players and fans to engage in a little verbal trash-talking; it’s live sports, after all, and basketball is perhaps the sport that puts the fans closest to the stage of play. Though, the situation escalated with the fan’s wife, later dubbed “Courtside Karen” by James, engaged to a degree that required referee intervention.

Continue reading Netflix’s ‘Untold: Malice At The Palace’ Effectively Examines The Troubling History Behind An Infamous NBA Brawl [Review] at The Playlist.

Sir Paul McCartney is a Beatles fan. While that might seem painfully obvious, it’s actually not where the music superstar found himself when he was actually in The Beatles. After all, it can seem like a gargantuan task to grasp the profundity of your seminal work while you’re in the middle of making it. And maybe, rather than the impossible task of reckoning with it, you just move forward as so many musicians have done.

Continue reading ‘McCartney 3,2,1’: An Electrifying Conversation On Beatles Legacy Between Rick Ruben & Paul McCartney [Review] at The Playlist.

The challenges of bipartisanship are easy to spot. It’s casting a die for cooperation, a hope that with your differing neighbor you can find not just common cause but common decency. You have to bank on shared values and means to accomplish them, even on the rarest of occasions. Dig your heels in once or attempt to usurp the other side, and the very notion of bipartisanship melts like a block of ice being hurled into the sun.

Continue reading ‘The First Step’: A Challenging Look At Van Jones And Nature Of Bipartisanship [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.

When you’re driving down one of Alabama’s main interstates, it’s not hard to see gaudy Confederate flags flying atop a hill, a memorial site, gravesites, or basically, anywhere else. Growing up in the South brings gradual understanding to just how deep the permeation of Dixie is in the culture — “The Dukes of Hazard“ proudly had the flag on the hood of the General Lee car, a symbol for ’70s Southern pride.

Continue reading ‘The Neutral Ground’ Provides A Powerful Dissection Of The Lost Cause Myth [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.

Studying the cultural and political revolutions of the late 60s and early 70s won’t earn you any points for originality. It’s not that this period in world history isn’t important — it’s continually worthy of assessment, if only because history, as you know, repeats itself. Just look at the Trump years, the pandemic, and the years of protest over racial discrimination and police brutality — they mimic how Western culture shifted during the Civil Rights movement, the anti-Vietnam War/Nixonism protests, and the countercultural movement to push against the 50s Howdy Doody nuclear family, structural biases and lingering stains of McCarthyism.

Continue reading ‘1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything:’ AppleTV+ Docuseries A Sturdy Overview Of Early ’70s Culture [Review] at The Playlist.

Do you remember the story of Joshua from the Bible? The one where the Israelites, led by Joshua en route to Canaan, march around the city of Jericho for seven days until its grand walls collapse? It’s a story of perseverance, certainly, but also, for the folks in Jericho, one of caution. No matter how well you fortify the world around you, strong walls don’t really mean much if they’re flimsy and sieged by forces greater than you.

Continue reading ‘Servant’ Season 2: Apple TV+ Thriller Returns With A Fury [Review] at The Playlist.

With the “Child’s Play” revamp, another “Annabelle” sequel, and “Brahms: The Boy II” (and, honestly, depending on your view of the “Toy Story” franchise), creepy dolls are all the rage. The next “The Boy” installment finds our focus now, as that evil doll boy makes his return after his 2016 original outing. Though the film failed to really strike much of a chord in the grander genre conversation, “The Boy” was a sound investment for STX films, which made $64.2 million on its original $10 million budget.

Continue reading ‘Brahms: The Boy II’ Trailer: The Creepy Doll Returns In Delayed Sequel Starring Katie Holmes at The Playlist.

Noted devotee of psychological terror and surprise twist endings, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan goes behind the creative curtain of TV once more—his first time since 2016’s “Wayward Pines” finale— with Apple TV+‘s new series “Servant.” Working this time with creator/writer Tony Basgallop (“What Remains,” “24: Live Another Day“), a BBC network veteran, “Servant,” centers on a wounding trauma that’s built upon a ridiculous conceit.

Continue reading ‘Servant:’ M. Night Shyamalan’s Apple TV+ Chiller Is Creepy But Can’t Stick The Landing [Review] at The Playlist.

Ralphie May looks tired. The longtime comedian and “Last Comic Standing” runner-up gained fame by weaponizing his struggle with his size with his matter-of-fact, blue-collar presentation style. He wasn’t known for being someone overtly serious with any of his material. After all, the comedian didn’t make his living grappling with the ups-and-downs of life in such a way that left you crushed. He made you laugh. But May looks positively exhausted through the new documentary “What’s Eating Ralphie May?

Continue reading ‘What’s Eating Ralphie May?’ Is A Devastating Look At The Comedian’s Final Years [Nashville Film Festival Review] at The Playlist.

It’s not that Jai Courtney is a bad actor, but his latest film, “Semper Fi,” just shows how many times he hasn’t been able to tap into what makes him such an engaging on-screen presence. Excluding his delightfully-scrappy turn as Captain Boomerang in “Suicide Squad” (your mileage may vary on the rest of that one), Courtney really hasn’t had an opportunity to really prove his worth with only a handful of franchise nonstarters and supporting turns to build on.

Continue reading Dignified Military Drama ‘Semper Fi’ Presents Jai Courtney’s Best Performance To Date [Review] at The Playlist.

Few directors have had the abounding promise in an early feature as Destin Daniel Cretton, and fewer directors have inspired such anticipation for their career trajectory. Cretton’s 2013 masterpiece “Short Term 12” is still one of the defining humane dramas of the decade and was a launching pad for major talents like Brie Larson and Lakeith Stanfield. That film felt like a minor miracle, though Cretton’s not quite found his footing since that debut.

Continue reading ‘Just Mercy’ Trailer: Michael B. Jordan Headlines Legal Drama From ‘Short Term 12’ Director at The Playlist.

It’s been five years since Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones took awards season by storm in their Stephen Hawking biopic “The Theory of Everything,” which netted the former an Oscar and the latter a nomination. The two reunite five years later for “The Aeronauts,” a British drama from Amazon Studios and rising indie director Tom Harper (whose pretty great 2019 music dramedy “Wild Rose” is worth seeking out).

Continue reading ‘The Aeronauts’ Trailer: Eddie Redmayne & Felicity Jones Back Together In A High-Flying Drama at The Playlist.

We’re about to enter an awards season where Joaquin Phoenix will play the literal Joker in a film that’s been touted as a contender for the Best Actor Oscar by no less than a respected film festival director. It’d be less crazy a thought if he wasn’t the fourth Oscar nominee to don the role, and the second actor who could get awards love for playing the crazed clown. Jack Nicholson and the late Heath Ledger (who won the Oscar for his legendary performance) are among the most talented actors of their generation to play the character, Jared Leto won an Oscar in 2013 before donning the makeup in 2016’s flop “Suicide Squad.”

READ MORE:  2019 Venice Film Festival Preview: 15 Must-See Movies

Mark Hamill (Luke freakin’ Skywalker) holds the iconic vocal performance, and Golden Age actor Cesar Romero got it all started out in the 1960s on the Adam West Batman show.

Continue reading Smile! New ‘Joker’ Trailer Puts A Happy Face On Joaquin Phoenix Before Venice Premiere at The Playlist.

2009’s surprise zombie comedy hit “Zombieland” settled into a joyful niche in the aughts comedy scene. It escaped the overexposure its ’09 genre peer “The Hangover” suffered from while being just about as funny and paved the way for talents like Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to break out in the screenwriting world.

READ MORE: The Best Films Of 2019… So Far

Memories of the infamous Bill Murray extended cameo and endless quotable lines still linger to this day, and if you had to poll folks on which films from the last 10 years were deserving for sequels, “Zombieland” would probably come up.

Continue reading ‘Zombieland 2: Double Tap’ Trailer: Zombie Comedy Continues A Decade Later at The Playlist.

We’re getting close to seeing what producer Guillermo del Toro and company have in store for the anticipated “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” adaption, and a new trailer has us even more intrigued.

READ MORE: Summer Horror Movie Preview: 15 Films To Watch

Riding off the wave of kids-versus-horror in a small town trope that’s been revived with “Stranger Things” and the “It” adaptation, del Toro and director André Øvredal (“Troll Hunter“) are bringing Alvin Schwartz‘s beloved kid-oriented scary stories to life, and it looks like some of the more creepy PG-13 footage we’ve seen in some time.

Continue reading ‘Scary Stories To Tell In the Dark’ Jangly Man Trailer Hopes To Scare Folks Before Film’s August Release at The Playlist.

Though many studios are opting not to share their work at Comic-Con this year, the Russo Brothers, fresh off the box office and cultural behemoth “Avengers: Endgame,” are back rather quickly to pitch audiences on a newly produced project.

READ MORE: The Best Films Of 2019… So Far

“21 Bridges” looks like Touchstone made it for a February 2005 release.

Continue reading ’21 Bridges’ Trailer: Chadwick Boseman Goes On A Citywide Manhunt For Cop Killers In New Russos-Made Thriller at The Playlist.

One of the more mysterious titles of the fall film season, James Gray‘s sci-fi drama “Ad Astra,” has crash landed with a first look at the Brad Pitt-led star faring tale. The film captures a bit of a stoic, emotional glance into what Gray is cooking up with this one, the story of how a NASA engineer (Pitt) journeys across the solar system to discover his father’s (Tommy Lee Jones) whereabouts after the latter left 20 years prior to find alien life.

Continue reading ‘Ad Astra’ Trailer: James Gray Takes Brad Pitt Into Outer Space at The Playlist.

Sharks seem to be all the rage these days for location-based horror, with films like the Blake Lively thriller “The Shallows” and campy Jason Statham effort “The Meg” swimming up and trying to nibble on interested parties. Don’t forget 2017’s out-of-nowhere, low-budget success “47 Meters Down,” a film once destined for a straight-to-video fate that was picked up last-minute by Entertainment Studios and dropped right in the middle of the summer season.

Continue reading ’47 Meters Down: Uncaged’ Trailer: Not Even Underwater Ancient Mayan Caves Are Safe From Sharks at The Playlist.

If you wanted another installment in the “Conjuring” universe, then you’re in luck. Believe it not, the “Annabelle” spin-off franchise is already on its third outing, with the evil doll returning to theaters to scare audiences once more with “Annabelle Comes Home.”

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2019 

Interestingly enough, “Annabelle” writer Gary Dauberman makes his directorial debut with the film, which finds “Conjuring” stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga returning as the Warrens, once again hassling with the morbid porcelain-powers-that-be. 

Continue reading ‘Annabelle Comes Home’ Trailer: More Killer Doll Horror from ‘Conjuring’ Series Awaits at The Playlist.

After leaving the film audience with shaky knees and wet pants with his terrifying debut feature “Hereditary,” director Ari Aster proved he’s going to be keeping us up at night for a long, long time. Though, he insists his new film, “Midsommar” isn’t exactly a horror film like his first chiller was. He says this film is more “psychedelic” and made his own “Alice in Wonderland” comparisons.

Continue reading ‘Midsommar’ Trailer: Festival Goes Awry in ‘Hereditary’ Director Ari Aster’s Latest Freaky Horror at The Playlist.

It’s been roughly five years since Angelina Jolie said “I hate you” directly to a baby’s face in a Disney movie, and what a joy that was. Though 2014’s “Maleficent” wasn’t quite as memorable as its fierce lead performance, Jolie’s witty and regal turn as the “Sleeping Beauty” villain reimagined as an anti-hero was more than welcoming of another installment.

With original film director Robert Stromberg handing the reigns to “Kon Tiki” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” co-director Joachim Rønning, Maleficent will fly again this fall with “Maleficent” Mistress of Evil.”

The sequel sees quite an influx of talent, with Michelle Pfeiffer, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Harris Dickinson, Warwick Davis, and Ed Skerin joining the ensemble that already featured Elle Fanning, Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville, and Juno Temple.

Continue reading ‘Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil’ Trailer: Angelina Jolie Returns To Revisionist ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Tale at The Playlist.

Imagine if you took David Lowery‘s “A Ghost Story” and included a creepy-crawly terror that scratched at the door, or if Terrence Malick‘s “Badlands” took place in a desert close to where the worms in “Tremors” reside. It takes a true believer in the power of genre filmmaking to mount something so lovely and dreamlike against such a ludicrous, fanged backdrop, but that’s exactly what filmmakers Jeremy Gardner and Christian Stella pull in “Something Else,” a joyous, strange creation that you could potentially describe as a “rom-monster” film.

Continue reading ‘Something Else’: A Romantic Monster Movie With Terrific Balance Of Genre & Emotion [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.