You can accuse writer/director/star Katie Holmes of doing a lot of things in her sophomore feature “Alone Together,” but you certainly can’t say she doesn’t wear her influences on her sleeve. The picture opens with a throwback jazzy vocal track over shots of the NYC skyline, Central Park, and the Upper West Side; the Nora Ephron vibes are palpable. June (Holmes) is a food critic with fabulous friends and a handsome fella; it’s a perfect little New York life.

Continue reading ‘Alone Together’ Review: Katie Holmes’ Pandemic Romance Is A Bland, Banal Bore [Tribeca] at The Playlist.

Six years ago, Katie Holmes made the leap from actress to director when her feature directing debut, “All We Had,” had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016. In that film, Holmes stars as a single mom who moves with her teenage daughter during the 2008 financial crisis. Now, Holmes returns to Tribeca this year with her sophomore film, “Alone Together,” another film that takes place in another global crisis: the COVID-19 pandemic.

Continue reading ‘Alone Together’ Trailer: Katie Holmes Writes, Directs & Stars In A Pandemic Romance On July 22 at The Playlist.

Last year, Robert De Niro, co-founder of the Tribeca Festival, stated, “The Tribeca Film Festival was born out of our mission to bring people together in the aftermath of 9/11.” With that mission still leading the charge, the annual festival is returning to New York this week, June 8-19, to bring artists together and allow them a platform to grow their audience and their network. With films from 40 different countries, we believe the festival will do just that again this year. 

The full lineup includes 109 feature films, some of which we’ve seen in previous festivals such as “A Love Song” which was an official selection at Sundance, “Beba” which first premiered at TIFF last fall, and “Cha Cha Real Smooth” which we fell in love with when it took Sundance by storm earlier this year.

Continue reading Tribeca 2022 Festival Preview: 24 Films & TV Series To Watch at The Playlist.

At this year’s SXSW the pandemic has been a prominent presence in films, either through direct plot lines or simply the conversation surrounding how the movie, in particular, was shot. However, one of the better films to explore the time we’re living in was, somewhat unexpectedly, the documentary following pop singer Charli XCX in the early stages of quarantine as she set forth to create an album in five weeks with reliance on sharing the process with her fans.

Continue reading Bradley Bell & Pablo Jones-Soler Talk ‘Alone Together,’ Working With Charli XCX & More [SXSW Interview] at The Playlist.

The relationship between any creative individual—musician, actor, director—and their fandom is complicated. The term “fandom” itself suggests a certain kind of enthusiast, someone who is so passionate in their devotion that they’re practically unswayable, and the nature of modern fame is that the celebrity on the receiving end of that loyalty is almost certainly hyper-aware of it, and of the protection it provides. (Let me whisper here for a moment: Snyder Cut.) So the Charli XCX documentary “Alone Together,” for all of its heartbreaking honesty on Charli’s part, for all her willingness to invite viewers into her creative process, and for all her candor in discussing her mental health, also raises a question: At what point does inclusion cross over into exploitation?

Continue reading ‘Alone Together’ Captures Charli XCX Confessing To Fans, But Questions Of Exploitation Linger [SXSW Review] at The Playlist.

The 2021 Sundance Film Festival is in the rear-view mirror, so that means, next up, the SXSW Film Festival that has unleashed its line-up today. Running March 16-20, 2021, SXSW announced the full program for the 28th edition of the SXSW Film Festival. Like Sundance, rather than an in-person physical festival, SXSW Film will be a virtual event online.

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021

The 2021 Film Festival program has 75 features, including 57 World Premieres, 3 International Premieres, 4 North American Premieres, 1 U.S.

Continue reading SXSW 2021 Film Festival Line-Up: Music Docs Take Over Headliners With Films On Tom Petty, Demi Lovato & Charli XCX at The Playlist.