It’s true. After months of lockdown and at least one failed reopening attempt, some cinemas in China are expected to reopen later this month. And while the theaters will feature some of the local films that are sure to attract audiences, Hollywood studio films are also getting involved, with the first slate of imports being announced, including an Oscar-winning feature a couple of, well, duds.

According to Deadline, Chinese theaters are expected to reopen on July 20.

Continue reading ‘Dolittle,’ ‘Bloodshot’ & ‘1917’ Expected To Be First “New” Hollywood Films In China Since January Shutdown at The Playlist.

Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This weekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching. 

Leading this week, we have the movie that seemed like a shoo-in for the Best Picture Oscar clear back in (checks notes) February is out this week on disc and demand, along with a pair of grisly little indies on your subscription streaming platforms.

Continue reading The 7 Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘1917,’ ‘Blow the Man Down’ & More at The Playlist.

How long can Hollywood ride the “Parasite” Best Picture Oscar-winning high? Can we bottle it? Have it delivered via Postmates? Because this town hasn’t felt this light in ages. Of course, it won’t last long for one reason or another, but we’ll gladly breathe it in for another day or two. Maybe three if we’re lucky. (If events in Washington, D.C. will let us.)

The shortened Oscar window led to a very busy January, but overall, the season felt like it moved quicker than you’d expect with just two weeks cut from the calendar.

Continue reading New Oscar Rules 2020: Anything Is Possible After ‘Parasite’ at The Playlist.

While the talk of the town seems to be the surprise dominance of “Parasite” at last night’s Oscars, there’s still plenty of other winners worth discussing. And how best to do that than to just present the various awards speeches from the winners?

READ MORE: Oscars 2020: ‘Parasite’ Shocks & Rules Academy Warfare With Huge Historical Best Picture Win [Full Winners List]

Leading the way, we have two-time award winner, Renee Zellweger, who capped off her awards season run of Best Actress wins with one more on Oscar night.

Continue reading Laura Dern, Brad Pitt, Taika Waititi & Others Delight With Their Oscars Acceptance Speeches at The Playlist.

It’s that time of year, again. The members of the Academy have voted and tonight, the world finds out which people will take home the Oscars. Did “1917” continue to dominate and take home Best Picture? Or maybe, Hollywood came to its senses and recognized the greatness that is “Parasite?” Tonight, we found out.

READ MORE: ‘Parasite’ Wins Best Picture, Makes History And Also Making Everything Alright For Once [Oscars 2020]

As the night wore on, it was clear that the buzz that surrounded “1917” might have worn off by the time Oscar voters turned in their ballots.

Continue reading Oscars 2020: ‘Parasite’ Shocks & Rules Academy Warfare With Huge Historical Best Picture Win [Full Winners List] at The Playlist.

The 92nd Academy Awards are just a week away, but the other film academy across the pond got a chance to have their say in the awards game as the 2020 BAFTA Awards were handed out in London. Universal Pictures’ “1917” dominated the proceedings winning Best Film and Best Director, Sam Mendes. The WW I thriller is a frontrunner to win both awards at the Oscars next Sunday.

“1917” also won Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Production Design and Best British Film.

Continue reading ‘1917’ Wins Best Film & Dominates The 2020 BAFTA Awards at The Playlist.

After years of cratering in Noah’s office Oscar pool, Be Reel is dispensing with the predictive bubbling and bringing in a third voice to make sense of Hollywood’s biggest (and often most obtuse) night. 

LISTEN: Greta Gerwig Infuses ‘Little Women’ With Deep Reflection & New Vigor [Be Reel Podcast]

Returning guest and “Sweet and Low” author Nick White joins the program to help us blitz through most of the 2020 categories, pausing for historical context, announcing the favorites, and a little bit of wishful thinking.

Continue reading A Scholar, A Gambler & An Optimist Walk Into An Oscars Preview [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

As we all expected, not even the combined efforts of Guy Ritchie’s return to the crime genre and a new horror film were able to topple Will Smith and Martin Lawrence at this weekend’s box office, as “Bad Boys For Life” easily scored yet another win. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything new to talk about with the top earners this weekend.

After a surprisingly strong debut weekend, “Bad Boys For Life” proved, once again, that people are really embracing the decades-old franchise with another #1 weekend, dropping only -46% and earning another $34 million domestically.

Continue reading ‘The Gentlemen’ Can’t Stop ‘Bad Boys’ While ‘The Turning’ Earns Audience Contempt [Box Office] at The Playlist.

The race for Best Picture took an interesting turn tonight as Sam Mendes took the top DGA Award prize for Best Director of a Feature Film for “1917.” The Universal Release has now won both the PGA Award and the DGA Awards top honor. The third major guild honor, the Best Ensemble Award at the SAG Awards, went to “Parasite.” The last time a film won both the PGA and the DGA and didn’t win Best Picture was when “Moonlight” triumphed over “La La Land” 2017.

Continue reading Sam Mendes Wins Top 2020 DGA Award For ‘1917’ at The Playlist.

There have certainly been surprises at the end of the annual Oscar telecast’s the past decade. “Green Book” wasn’t necessarily a given to win versus “Roma.”  “Moonlight” was a joyful surprise over what was believed was an ineveitable winner In “La La Land.”  And some believed “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” could absolutely overtake “The Shape of Water.” In terms of competitive races for weeks on end, however, there were really only two true races after the nominations were announced during that span: “12 Years A Slave” vs.

Continue reading A Best Picture Race For The Ages? at The Playlist.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed the nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards bright and early Monday with the Oscars telecast less than a month away.  As always, some lucky nominees saw their dreams fulfilled while even more will have to wait for another day.

READ MORE: Bong Joon Ho Delivers A Demented, Uproarious Class-Conscious Satire With ‘Parasite’ [Review]

Todd Phillips and “Joker” led the pack with 11 nominations, beating the record for the most nominations ever for a comic-book movie, adding to its previous record of being the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, now a follow up is all but guaranteed.

Continue reading Oscars 2020 – Joker Leads The Pack With 11 Nominations at The Playlist.

In a night where three awards resulted in ties and a ton of winners didn’t show up, the Critics Choice Association handed out the 2020 Critics Choice Awards top honor, Best Picture, to “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.”  “Joker’s” Joaquin Phoenix took Best Actor while Renee Zellweger won Best Actress for “Judy.”  Bong Joon Ho and Sam Mendes tied for Best Director for “Parasite” and “1917” respectfully.

Continue reading “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” Wins Best Picture At Critics Choice Awards at The Playlist.

Who says movies based on original ideas and not established franchises or IP are dead? Okay, yes, everyone says that. But at least in the case of “1917,” those people are wrong. For this week.

After a strong couple of weeks in limited release, Sam Mendes’ World War I one-shot film “1917” not only debuted atop this weekend’s domestic box office but did so in truly impressive fashion, as it bested even the most optimistic predictions.

Continue reading ‘1917’ Rides Golden Globes Momentum To Big Box Office Win As Kristen Stewart’s ‘Underwater’ Sinks at The Playlist.

The Writers Guild of America announced the remaining nominees for their 2020 awards and despite a number of key films being ineligible, the screenplays selected turned out to be more than worthy of the honor.  The WGA Awards’ Original Screenplay category was led by “1917,” “Booksmart,” “Knives Out,” “Marriage Story” and “Parasite.”  The Adapted Screenplay field features “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” “The Irishman,” “Jojo Rabbit,” “Joker” and “Little Women.” 

Screenplays that were not eligible because the writers are not members of the WGA included last night’s Golden Globe winner for Best Screenplay, “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood” by Quentin Tarantino, “Pain and Glory” by Pedro Almodovar and “The Farewell” by Lulu Wang, among others. 

Continue reading ‘Knives Out,’ ‘Parasite’ & ‘Little Women’ Earn 2020 WGA Awards Nominations at The Playlist.

All it takes is one trailer for “1917” for you to probably realize that the film deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible, with the best possible picture and sound. Much like “Dunkirk” (and all Christopher Nolan films, honestly), Sam Mendes‘ latest film is an experience that many will find 100% more enjoyable with a bucket of popcorn and a massive cinema screen.

Continue reading Sam Mendes Is “Optimistic” About The Future Of The Theatrical Experience & Thinks “It’s In The Hands Of Filmmakers” at The Playlist.

There were a number of moments that will stand out in the post-Golden Globes madness at the Beverly Hilton hotel this particular season. Best Supporting Actress in a TV program winner Patricia Arquette wearing a Viking helmet for most of the night. Tiffany Haddish taking over the mic at the Netflix shindig and demonstrating someone might want to sign her to a record contract. And, despite only two wins for the company overall, most of the partiers heading to the aforementioned Netflix soiree to be seen and pay respects (Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson all made a stop).

Continue reading ‘1917’ Gets A Major Awards Season Boost Following Golden Globes Wins at The Playlist.

Six days.  That’s it. Today, Thursday, January 2 through Tuesday, January, 7.  Six full days for members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to vote for the nominees for the 2020 Oscars.  This rare shortened season has been a knockout in many regards. Fewer controversies this year (so far, at least), but the barrage of campaigning has been hard to ignore.  And, as always, there is nervousness all around.

As we noted earlier this week if any film is likely to have an Oscars “comeback” in terms of key nominations its Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women”.

Continue reading Seven Perplexing Questions As Six Days Of Oscars Voting Begins at The Playlist.

The week of Christmas is one of the more unpredictable frames at the box office. Sure, we all know that people just love going to the movie theater during the holidays, but with the sheer number of highly-anticipated films being released around this time (especially with a new “Star Wars” feature), the 2019 holiday box office has been surprising, to say the least.

Of course, we have to start the discussion with a review of what “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” was able to do during the holiday week.

Continue reading ‘Rise Of Skywalker’ Catching Up To ‘The Last Jedi’ After 2 Weeks As ‘Uncut Gems’ Scores Big For A24 [Box Office] at The Playlist.

The opening day reviews have been rapturous and the early box office strong. From an awards perspective, that’s exactly what Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” needed. In fact, its Oscar hopes may hinge on it.

The Sony Pictures release kicked off its campaign with strong initial screenings at the end of October. Many, including this pundit, thought it was more than a likely Best Picture nominee. Adapted Screenplay was a given and stars Saorise Ronan and Florence Pugh were pretty safe acting nominees in the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress fields, respectively.

Continue reading Is ‘Little Women’ Making A Best Picture Comeback? [Contender Countdown] at The Playlist.

George MacKay has been bubbling beneath the surface of stardom. He’s starred in a number of both British and American independent features such as “The Boys are Back,” “Pride” and “Captain Fantastic,” but even most cinephiles would have a hard time remembering his credits. He’s familiar most because of the latter release, but he was recognizable on the Hulu mini-series “11.22.63” a few years back as well. 

Continue reading George MacKay Couldn’t Really Say No To Doing His Own Stunts In ‘1917’ [Interview] at The Playlist.

Trailers are tricky business. As a studio, you have to figure out how to properly sell a film to an audience in a span of two minutes. Do you put a ton of teases with no context, hoping that will be enough to intrigue moviegoers? Or perhaps you have to include the basic explanation of the plot, some key moments (maybe the best moments), showing that your film is something that can’t be missed?

Continue reading ‘1917’ Trailer: Sadly, Universal Has Included Too Much Greatness In The Final Trailer For Sam Mendes’ War Film at The Playlist.

Sam Mendes is back in the game.  Well, he’s back in the prestige filmmaking business that is. After a five year or so jaunt helming the critically acclaimed 007 thrillers “Skyfall” and its follow up, “Spectre,” the “American Beauty” and “Road to Perdition” director is tackling a decidedly more serious and awards-friendly subject, the first World War.

Continue reading Sam Mendes Couldn’t Have Made ‘1917’ Without Directing James Bond First [Interview] at The Playlist.

Along with eight other categories, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the shortlist for the Hairstyling and Makeup Oscar this afternoon.  As expected nominees included films such as “Bombshell,” “Joker,” “Judy” and “Rocketman.” For the first time ever, there will be five nomineees in this category when the Oscar nominations are announced next month.

Snubbed films included “Jojo Rabbit,” “Harriet,” “Us,” “Marriage Story” and “The Irishman.”

READ MORE: Renee Zellwegger captures the final days of Judy Garland in “Judy” [Review]

This year’s potential nominees are as follows:

“Bombshell”
“Dolemite Is My Name”
“Downton Abbey”
“Joker”
“Judy”
“Little Women”
“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”
“1917”
“Once upon a Time…in Hollywood”
“Rocketman”

All members of the Academy’s Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films on Jan.

Continue reading ‘Bombshell,’ ‘Joker’ & ‘Judy’ Make 2020 Hairstyling & Makeup Oscar Shortlist at The Playlist.

The Oscar chances of many film’s visual effects have soared or crashed following their presentations at the annual Visual Effects Branch Bake Off. This year’s will be no exception and after the announcement of the official shortlist those contenders are finally known.  After previously being paired down to 20 contenders, 10 titles including “Avengers: Endgame,” “The Irishman” and “Alita: Battle Angel” made the cut.

Surprising omissions included “Ad Astra” and “Ford v.

Continue reading ‘Avengers: Endgame’ & ‘The Irishman’ Make Oscar’s 2020 Visual Effects Shortlist at The Playlist.

While war films have been made since the dawn of the entertainment medium, you’ve probably never seen one quite like “1917.” Utilizing a technique that makes the film feel as if it was done in only one, long take, “1917” has an intensity and immersive feeling that you previously haven’t seen in many movies in this genre.

And in honor of the film’s impending release, as well as the soundtrack coming several days sooner, we are thrilled to give our readers a chance to listen to an exclusive track from the film’s score composed by Thomas Newman.

Continue reading ‘1917’ Exclusive Music: Listen To A Track From The War Film’s Golden Globe-Nominated Score at The Playlist.