The fourth major film festival of the fall season, following Telluride, Venice, and the Toronto International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival is, in many ways, a greatest-hits collection of all these films and titles from Cannes and even Sundance. But that’s not a pejorative. NYFF is arguably one of the best-curated festivals out there, carefully choosing films so that its line-up looks like an artful body of work.

This year, there are no major world premieres, but that said, the festival does boast the North American premiere of Steven McQueen’s highly anticipated WWII London bombing movie “Blitz” starring Saoirse Ronan, Harris Dickinson, and more.

Continue reading 2024 New York Film Festival Preview: 15 Films To Watch at The Playlist.

A trio of Oscar favorites are about to take a deep dive into history. Kerry Condon is the latest actor to join Anthony Maras’ “Pressure” which will begin shooting in the U.K. next month. The Working Title and StudioCanal title also features Emmy nominee Andrew Scott and Oscar winner Brendan Fraser.

READ MORE: Kerry Condon on Iron Man’s “Endgame” Death: Keeping Marvel secrets will “Drive you to Drink”

The World War II drama is the true story of the United Kingdom’s Chief Meteorological Officer James Stagg (Scott), who was responsible for keeping Dwight D.

Continue reading Kerry Condon Joins Andrew Scott & Brendan Fraser In WWII Drama ‘Pressure’ at The Playlist.

Every month, the boutique cinephile DVD/Blu-Ray Label the Criterion Collection adds many new cineaste gems to its ever-growing closet, and November 2024 is no different. Four new titles were announced this week, and two classic releases received 4 K upgrades.

New Criterion titles include director William Wyler’s acclaimed 1968 musical “Funny Girl” starring Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif, Peter Bogdanovich’s classic black and white road comedy-drama starring Ryan O’Neal and Tatum O’Neal (the latter won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and became the youngest competitive winner in the history of the Academy Awards at that time), Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar Best-Picture winning “The Shape of Water,” with Sally Hawkins and Michael Shannon, and Howard Hawks’ classic 1932 gangster picture “Scarface,” featuring Paul Muni.

Continue reading Criterion’s November Titles Include ‘The Shape Of Water,’ ‘Paper Moon’ & More at The Playlist.

It’s that mad time of year again, the fall season rush. In film terms, it’s manic in terms of releases and film festivals. And while slightly less hectic in the world of TV, there are a host of new and returning shows coming this fall, plus the Emmys in September. But the era of what we used to routinely call #TooMuchContent has reduced in the drastically changing streaming wars. The Netflix stock market crash in 2002 had a ripple effect as Wall Street reevaluated streaming value; the 2023 strikes didn’t help, but the end result has been slightly less content, which has made it more manageable for writers like us and audiences, frankly, many of which didn’t have time to watch everything.

Continue reading Fall 2024 TV Preview: 40 Must-See Series To Watch at The Playlist.

Yes, TV really ramps up in the fall, but must-see television to watch in August still has offerings. For one, there’s a decent amount of animated offerings, “Batman: Caped Crusader” on Netflix, a new “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” spin-off on Paramount, and Netflix is keeping the “Terminator” franchise alive on its streaming service. 

READ MORE: 12 Movies To See In August: ‘Trap,’ ‘Alien: Romulus,’ ‘Blink Twice’ & More

While there are a few new shows to take note of, “Kaos” with Jeff Goldblum (Netflix) and Apple TV+’s “Bad Monkey” dramedy starring Vince Vaughn, August TV is mainly driven by many famous and acclaimed returning TV shows.

Continue reading 12 Shows To Watch In August: ‘Industry,’ ‘Only Murders In The Building,’ ‘Rings Of Power’ & More at The Playlist.

It’s the dog days of summer, and while that sometimes brings some dire offerings to the world of cinema, August still has plenty of distractions worth looking into. For one, M. Night Shyamalan returns with the serial killer film “Trap,” starring Josh Harnett, Matt Damon, and Casey Affleck star in “The Instigators” crime comedy for ‘Bourne Identity’ filmmaker Doug Liman, and horror suspense filmmaker Fede Álvarez finds a new muse in Cailee Spaeny (“Priscilla”), for his scary-looking “Alien: Romulus” franchise installment. 

Continue reading 12 Movies To See In August: ‘Trap,’ ‘Alien: Romulus,’ ‘Blink Twice’ & More at The Playlist.

OK, it’s July, and we’re well past the mid-way part of the year, so it’s time for a slightly belated Best TV Shows Of The Year… So Far, piece, and yes, the Emmy announcements just hit, so we’re slightly behind, but you should also check out that nomination list here.

TV in 2024 has had some highs and lows. Some highly anticipated series, like “Sugar” with Colin Farrell, “The Veil” with Elisabeth Moss, and “The Big Cigar” with Andre Holland, underwhelmed not only us but also many critics (not to mention Lucasfilm’s “The Acolyte,” a mixed bag effort).

Continue reading The Best TV Shows Of The Year So Far at The Playlist.

With a fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 81, by all accounts, “The Fall Guy” was one of the most crowd-pleasing and entertaining films of the year, a mix of comedy, action, romance, and blockbuster-sized thrills. Our review of the film described it as “exuberant and kinetic” and a “bright and energetic action movie about the joy of making action movies.”

Directed by David Leitch (“Bullet Train,” “Deadpool 2,” “Atomic Blonde”), “The Fall Guy” stars Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling (“Barbie,” “La La Land,” “Drive”) as Colt Seavers, a battle-scarred stuntman who is drafted back into service after a near-career ending accident when Tom Ryder (Golden Globe winner Aaron Taylor-Johnson; “Bullet Train”), the star of a mega-budget studio movie—being directed by Colt’s ex, Jody Moreno, played by Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt (“Oppenheimer,” “A Quiet Place” films, “Sicario”)—goes missing.

Continue reading ‘The Fall Guy’ Contest: Win A Digital Copy Of Ryan Gosling & Emily Blunt Action Romance Crowdpleaser at The Playlist.

If you had to name the greatest documentaries of all time, well, that’s tough, but if you had to name the greatest portrait documentaries of all time, well, at the very least, “Burden of Dreams” would easily be in the top ten and likely on the all-time list too. Directed by the late legendary documentarian Les Blank, the award-winning “Burden Of Dreams” (1982) centers on German filmmaker Werner Herzog, actor Klaus Kinski, and the nearly disastrous making of their third collaboration, “Fitzcarraldo” (1982).

Continue reading ‘Burden Of Dreams’ Trailer: Les Blank’s Classic Werner Herzog Doc Gets A 4K Restoration & Theatrical Release at The Playlist.

After the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, the film industry is still trying to find its sea legs in 2024. While the box office has been lagging, and there’s been no “Super Mario Bros,” “Barbie,” or “Oppenheimer” so far this year, to be fair, most of those hits didn’t arrive until the summer (minus the Nintendo adaptation). While it’s been a relatively slow year at the domestic box office, there have been hits in “Dune: Part Two” and “Godzilla x Kong,”

And, while the movie industry seemingly slowed down production last year because of said strikes, there’s absolutely no lack of content this year.

Continue reading Summer Movie Preview: 50 Must-See Films To Watch at The Playlist.

Toss a coin to your witcher. Netflix has officially renewed its fantasy drama series “The Witcher” for seasons four and five, which will be its final two. The fourth season has just begun filming in the United Kingdom, with the fifth and final season being filmed immediately afterward.

These final two installments will cover Andrzej Sapkowski’s three remaining books in his “Witcher” series that the show is based on— “Baptism of Fire,” “The Tower of the Swallow,” and “Lady of the Lake.

Continue reading ‘The Witcher’: Netflix Renews Fantasy Series For 2 Seasons Ending With Season 5 at The Playlist.

See no evil. Hear no evil. Written for the screen and directed by James Watkins, the writer-director of “Eden Lake” and the award-winning gothic ghost story “The Woman in Black,” “Speak No Evil” is a new psychological thriller with a terrific cast. From Blumhouse, the producer of “The Black Phone,” “Get Out” and “The Invisible Man,” comes an intense suspense thriller starring BAFTA award-winner James McAvoy (“Split,” “Glass”) as the charismatic, alpha-male estate owner whose untrammeled hospitality masks an unspeakable darkness. 

Continue reading ‘Speak No Evil’ Trailer: James McAvoy & Mackenzie Davis Starring Psychological Thriller Hits In September at The Playlist.

Former enfante terrible filmmaker Harmony Korine (“Gummo“) has said he’s bored with conventional moviemaking and thinks video games, A.I., and experiential films are the way of the future. And well, he’s really putting his money where his mouth is with “Argro Dr1ft,” his latest feature, an experimental assassin movie that debuted at the Venice Film Festival last year (read our review).

Today, Korine’s Miami-based multimedia company EDGLRD (pronounced “edgelord”) announces the limited theatrical release of “Aggro Drf1t.” For one week only, this May 10-16, 2024, Korine’s new experimental action will screen at independent theaters across nearly 20 key locations nationwide: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, Portland, Raleigh, San Francisco, and Washington DC.

Continue reading Harmony Korine’s Experimental ‘Aggro Dr1ft’ Coming To Theaters For One Week In May at The Playlist.

Olivia Colman is reuniting with her “Favourite” screenwriter, Tony McNamara. The former wrote the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos‘ Best Picture-nominated dramedy which won Colman an Oscar and now has a new adaptation of Warren Adler‘s novel “The War of the Roses” ready for Jay Roach to direct. Benedict Cumberbatch will play the other half of the warring couple in the Searchlight Pictures release.

Continue reading Benedict Cumberbatch & Olivia Colman To Go At It In Jay Roach’s New ‘The War of The Roses’ Adaptation at The Playlist.

If you haven’t seen the paparazzi photos of Timothée Chalamet with a guitar swung over his shoulder on social media, let us be the first to inform you that James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” has already begun filming. Searchlight Pictures made it official today with a cast announcement that added Boyd Holbrook, Scoot McNairy, Dan Fogler, Will Harrison, and Charlie Tahan to a growing ensemble.

Continue reading Boyd Holbrook, Scoot McNairy & Dan Fogler Join Bob Dylan Biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’ at The Playlist.

It’s been a strange few weeks for Jennifer Lopez. Her recent hybrid drama-musical-self-awareness Prime Video exercise “This Is Me…Now” debuted to mixed critical reviews, and the accompanying album hasn’t necessarily burned up the charts. The good news is that Lopez has a big tentpole Netflix movie arriving on Netflix on Friday, May 24th, to distract from that endeavor, “Atlas.“

READ MORE: Netflix 2024 Film Slate Includes Jerry Seinfeld’s ‘Pop Tarts,’ New JLo, Lee Daniels, Mark Wahlberg Movies and more

Directed by Brad Peyton, Netflix says the film centers on “Atlas Shepherd (Lopez), a brilliant but misanthropic data analyst with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence, who joins a mission to capture a renegade robot with whom she shares a mysterious past.

Continue reading ‘Atlas’ Trailer: Jennifer Lopez Is Stranded Off Planet In New Sci-Fi Thriller at The Playlist.

There is a large, nostalgic fanbase that has been waiting breathlessly for the return of the “animated” X-Men. The original “X-Men: The Animated Series” ran from 1992-1997 on Fox’s Fox Kids programming block on Saturday mornings and weekday afternoons. When Disney+ launched it included a mandate for more Marvel Studios programming and that meant that cult revivals like the relatively inexpensive and beloved “X-Men” series were possible. That led to “X-Men ’97,” a continuation of the series (set in the same era) that was the creative vision of creator and head writer, Beau DeMayo.

Continue reading Shocker: ‘X-Men ’97’ Creator Fired Before Season Debut at The Playlist.

Last week, the trades revealed details about “The Department,” a new espionage political thriller series based on the critically acclaimed hit French drama “Le Bureau des Legendes.” Michael Fassbender was cast in the lead role, and the series came from George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures shingle. While early reports said Clooney would direct, a new Paramount+ announcement revealed that he’s just executive producing the project and Golden Globe and multi-BAFTA winner Joe Wright (“Pride and Prejudice,” “The Darkest Hour” and “Atonement”) will direct the series instead.

Continue reading Joe Wright To Direct ‘The Department’ Spy Series Starring Michael Fassbender at The Playlist.

“I’ve been trying to maintain just being truthful on camera.” Comedian Jerrod Carmichael is a comedic force with three previous comedy specials on HBO. But it arguably wasn’t until 2022’s intimate, naked, and very vulnerable comedy special “Rothaniel” (directed by Bo Burnham), where he came out of the closet for the first time, that he truly left an unforgettable mark on the comedy special landscape (the New Yorker called it a “vital” stand-up experience).

Continue reading ‘Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show’ Trailer: Famed Comedian Returns To HBO For A Comedy Docuseries About Love, Sex & Death at The Playlist.

In some ways, it’s been a pretty great 12 months for Ramy Youssef. Last spring he won his first Peabody Award as the co-creator and executive producer of Netflix‘s “Mo” and this winter he could be found on the big screen alongside Emma Stone in the global box office hit and Oscar-nominated “Poor Things.” As an Egyptian-American, however, he’s been vocal about his frustration with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and, it appears that may partially be the subject matter of his new HBO comedy special, “Ramy Youssef: More Feelings” which dropped its first trailer today.

Continue reading ‘Ramy Youssef: More Feelings’ Trailer: New HBO Comedy Special Arrives March 23 at The Playlist.

The second season of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” should arrive on Prime Video later this year, but the streamer is already making inroads into a third go-around. Series executive producers and showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne have just signed a new overall deal with Amazon Studios. And, while a writer’s room has not officially begun, it appears Payne and McKay are already working on a story outline for season three.

Continue reading ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Season 3 Already In The Works at The Playlist.

Apple TV+ is continuing its foray into acclaimed Sci-Fi adaptations. The streamer already has multiple seasons of “Foundation” and “Silo” in production and is now set to bring William Gibson’s “Neuromancer” to the small screen. The classic 1984 novel is part of the acclaimed “Sprawl” trilogy, which means 1986’s “Count Zero” and 1988’s “Mona Lisa Overdrive” are ripe to continue the journey long-term.

READ MORE: Guy Ritchie to direct “The Donovans” gangster series based on “Ray Donovan” show

A Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and Philip K.

Continue reading ‘Neuromancer’: J.D. Dillard & Graham Roland To Shepherd William Gibson Sci-Fi Drama Series For Apple TV+ at The Playlist.

Are you ready for the return of bumbling detective Frank Drebin to the big screen? Wait, chances are if you are under 35 you have no idea what we’re referring to. The character was a masterstroke of deadpan humor played by Leslie Nielsen in three motion pictures beginning with “The Naked Gun: From The Files of Police Squad!” in 1988. Today, Paramount Pictures revealed the long-rumored reboot starring Liam Neeson will arrive in theaters on July 18, 2025.

Continue reading Liam Neeson’s ‘Naked Gun’ Reboot Set For July 2025 at The Playlist.

After a production delay so star Jean Smart could recover from an undisclosed heart procedure, Max’s Emmy-winning comedy series “Hacks” is set to return for a third season. Today, Max revealed that Oscar-winner Helen Hunt, six-time Emmy Award nominee Christina Hendricks, and the legendary Christopher Lloyd are among this year’s guest stars. Last week, it was announced that co-creator Paul W. Downs and Megan Stalter have been promoted to series regulars.

Continue reading Christina Hendricks, Helen Hunt & Christopher Lloyd Among ‘Hacks’ Season 3 Guest Stars at The Playlist.

If you don’t recognize Benito Skinner’s name chances are you’ve seen his Instagram or TikTok videos. A content creator who exploded during the stay-at-home pandemic, Skinner made a name for himself with his impersonations of the Kardashians and his fictional characters such as LA relator Deliverance Richards and Jenni the TMI hairstylist. Now, after two years of development, Prime Video has greenlit his new series “Overcompensating” and pop star Charli XCX is giving him an assist by producing the soundtrack.

Continue reading Benito Skinner’s ‘Overcompensating’ Gets Prime Video Greenlight & A Charli XCX Soundtrack at The Playlist.