Denis Villeneuve is that most uncommon of contemporary filmmakers, to the degree where he’s pretty much a unicorn in Hollywood terms. Put more plainly, Villeneuve is one of a handful of noteworthy studio directors capable of re-imagining venerated properties in ways that shouldn’t work – like say, for instance, a sequel to Ridley Scott’s beloved “Blade Runner” or an epic take on Frank Herbert’s long-thought-to-be-unfilmable “Dune” – and making them sing onscreen.

Continue reading The Essentials: The Films Of Denis Villeneuve at The Playlist.

Like many brilliant women throughout cinema history who toil in obscurity before eventually being recognized for their greatness, it took some of us a while to notice Amy Adams. After all, Adams wasn’t always enjoying the kinds of starry, awards-friendly roles she is now more or less synonymous with. For some time, Adams was competing for screentime with male co-stars who happened to be comedy icons (“Talladega Nights”) and getting cast in such illustrious parts like “Gorgeous Woman” in mid-tier farces (“Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny”).

Continue reading Amy Adams: The Essential Performances at The Playlist.

READ MORE: Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Directorial Debut Film To Premiere At Berlin 2020, Two Years After His Death

For many film fans, Jóhannsson’s career is highlighted by his three collaborations with filmmaker Denis Villeneuve.

Continue reading Denis Villeneuve & Darren Aronofsky Remember Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson Two Years After His Death at The Playlist.

Maybe it’s time to let the old ways of this almost-finished decade die, yeah? But it wouldn’t be complete without our deep dive into the best soundtracks and scores of the 2010s. It’s admittedly somewhat weird and difficult to do. Scores and soundtracks are different beasts; one original musical written for a film that gives it its emotional shape—often the secret MVP of a movie—and the other more of a mixtape, but when well-curated and used next to picture, can be just as deadly and help craft what we know as the visual and aural transcendence that’s known as cinema when it’s at its best.

Continue reading The Best Soundtracks & Scores Of The Decade [2010s] at The Playlist.

Look, making a Best of Decade list is an impossibility. As the 2010s come to a close, we’ve been agonizing over this (long-delayed) list for half a year now and even had to take a break and put it away this summer when things got too contentious and overwhelming. And then there’s the notion of resonance and what really lasts and is released too late (Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” is phenomenal, for example, but it’s not even released yet, and it’s just going to have to sit this one out).

Continue reading The 100 Best Films Of The Decade [2010s] at The Playlist.

One of the profound stylistic elements of a Denis Villeneuve vehicle is the camerawork. Over his career, Villeneuve has worked with cinematographers Bradford Young, Andre Turpin, and recent Oscar-winner Roger Deakins, to capture grand vistas and explore the vast landscapes and close-quartered rooms of his worlds. What may go unmentioned, however, are the intimate, reflexive close-ups featured throughout his work. Here, fans of the director are given a composite of those silent close-ups.

Continue reading Highlighting The Silent Close-Ups In The Films Of Denis Villeneuve at The Playlist.

The nominations for the 60th Grammy Awards were announced very early this morning and there were some positives and some negatives.

For the first time in 19 years there are no white men nominated in the Best Album category. Unless you’re an Ed Sheeran fan that’s not necessarily a bad thing. “Despacito” earning a Record of the Year nomination after being snubbed at the VMAs is nice payback. “Feel It Still” by Portugal, the Man getting a nod is nice for the underdog as are Cardi B’s two nominations.

Continue reading Taylor Swift Crashes The ‘La La Land’ And ‘Moana’ Rematch In Grammy’s 2018 Visual Media Categories at The Playlist.

Dark and haunting are the worlds director Denis Villeneuve brings to the screen. Often obstructed by oblique lines and brimming with suspense, Villeneuve frames his films in a way that pulls the audience forward by their already contorted, anxiety-ridden gut. Villeneuve’s most recent film “Blade Runner 2049” will, no doubt, earn its place in the canon of thought provoking and awe-inspiring science fiction cinema. A large portion of praise “Blade Runner 2049” has garnered is due to the transcendent camera work of cinematographer Roger Deakins, with whom Villeneuve previously worked with on “Sicario” and “Prisoners.” Translated by way of Deakins’ incomparable talent and style, Villeneuve marries the feeling of unease and the framework of film to create images that are possessive.

Continue reading Peer Through The Glass Of Denis Villeneuve’s Films at The Playlist.

Director Denis Villenueve’s “Arrival” is unique among sci-fi films for its thoughtful and humane depiction of alien first contact.  Visually, cinematographer Bradford Young uses a muted color palette and an austere sense of composition to create an atmosphere of foreboding and awe.  This new video essay focuses on Young’s use of silhouettes, a technique used with great frequency in the film and for good reason.  In “Arrival,” the protagonists are put in the uncommon position of representing their entire species. 

Continue reading Showing A Shared Humanity: Silhouettes in ‘Arrival’ [Video Essay] at The Playlist.

Yes, the entire world knows “Moonlight” was the huge upset shocker of last night’s 89th Annual Academy Awards ceremony. Though there’s obviously a huge argument to be made that the biggest surprise of the night was the painful mix up itself. Still, as we continue our comprehensive post-mortem on the Oscars, we analyze the winners and losers, what films were snubbed and what surprises the evening had in store.

Continue reading Oscars 2017: The Biggest Snubs & Surprises, Minus ‘Moonlight’ Of Course at The Playlist.

Well, that was something. As per usual, the Oscars were a marathon, and it was the very last category that provided the biggest spark the show has seen in decades, and maybe the most embarrassing moment in Warren Beatty‘s life.

The show trudged along into Best Picture to cap off the night, with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of “Bonnie & Clyde,” coming out to present the winner.

Continue reading Oscars 2017: ‘Moonlight’ Surprise Best Picture Winner, ‘La La Land’ Wins 6 at The Playlist.

It’s Oscar week, and all week long we’ll be running features to amp you up before Sunday’s ceremony brings awards season to a close and we learn whether “La La Land” sweeps or if “Moonlight” can be a spoiler to the party. And having ranked all the Best Picture winners a few years back, we thought, how else to kick off Oscar week but to rank all the Best Picture nominees?

Continue reading Ranking Every Best Picture Oscar Nominee Of The 21st Century at The Playlist.

Hollywood’s annual celebration of themselves arrives on Sunday with the Oscars, which will undoubtedly be a star-studded, glitzy, evening of hardware being handed out, braced by an array of political speeches. You might want to get the laughs in now, and luckily Screen Junkies takes an amusing overview of the Best Picture field in their latest Honest Trailers.

READ MORE: How The Oscars Fail Movies

From suggesting that Mel Gibson will inevitably torpedo his return to the spotlight to calling out “Arrival” for that scene with the Chinese general, this is a light-hearted look at the contenders.

Continue reading Honest Trailers Takes On The 2017 Best Picture Oscar Nominees at The Playlist.

We’re less than a week away from the big show. On February 26, first-time host Jimmy Kimmel will lead us into another night of surprises, upsets, disappointment, elation, fancy suits, lovely dresses, golden statues, cheers and jeers. We can practically smell the microwave cooked popcorn and homemade chili dip as we speak. The Oscars are nothing without ferocious opinions, hard-wrought cynicism and reformed faith in the (supposedly) “dying” art of cinema.

Continue reading Where To Watch All The 2017 Oscar Nominees at The Playlist.

“Arrival” unfolds a beautiful science fiction story about time, memory, loss, and yes, big alien ships. And it’s the film’s gorgeous ending that ties all those threads together into something truly stirring and moving, with screenwriter Eric Heisserer rightfully earning an Oscar nomination for his adaptation of Ted Chiang‘s “Story Of Your Life.” However, were it not for Christopher Nolan, “Arrival” would’ve been a very different movie.

Continue reading Screenwriter Eric Heisserer Explains How ‘Interstellar’ Made Him Change The Ending Of ‘Arrival’ at The Playlist.

Over the weekend, the Directors Guild of America invited the five feature film nominees to a theater to discuss their nominated work. DGA winner Damien Chazelle (“La La Land“), Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival“), Garth Davis (“Lion“), Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight“), and Kenneth Lonergan (“Manchester By The Sea“) all sat with moderator Jeremy Kagan to talk about the process of making their respective films.

Continue reading Massive 2 Hour 40 Minute Talk With DGA Nominees Damien Chazelle, Denis Villeneuve, Garth Davis, Barry Jenkins & Kenneth Lonergan at The Playlist.

If you’re a music fan and love breaking down the details of how great songs come together, then you’re probably well aware of the Song Exploder podcast. Hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway, it’s a great show about the intricacies of creating great music, and over the past few months, he’s landed some terrific guests who helped craft some of the best scores of the past year.

READ MORE: The 30 Best Film Scores & Soundtracks Of 2016

Jóhann Jóhannsson (“Arrival“), Justin Hurwitz (“La La Land“) and Nicholas Britell (“Moonlight“) have all dropped by Song Exploder for their own episodes, and they are all must-listens.

Continue reading Composers Jóhann Jóhannsson, Justin Hurwitz & Nicholas Britell Talk Crafting Some Of The Year’s Best Scores at The Playlist.

The 2017 ACE Eddie Awards Winners were announced Saturday night in Beverly Hills and there were a few surprise winners that deviated from the usual awards season trends (or were creating new trends in the TV categories).

READ MORE: New Videos Highlight Whip-Pan Frenzy & Classic Cinema Cues In ‘La La Land’

In the film categories “La La Land” took the Comedy Film honor while “Arrival” upset “Moonlight,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “Hacksaw Ridge” and “Hell or High Water” to win the Dramatic equivalent.

Continue reading ‘Arrival,’ ‘La La Land’ And ‘Game of Thrones’ Major 2017 ACE Eddie Awards Winners at The Playlist.

The Oscar nominations are in, and now begins the road to the ceremony next month, and the conversation tends to turn toward which movies deserve to win. There will be backlash against contenders (“La La Land“) and controversies about those nominated (Mel Gibson, Casey Affleck), and it can be easy to forget that the nine nominees for Best Picture are, mostly, pretty damn good.

Continue reading Oscars: Supercut Celebrates The 2017 Best Picture Nominees at The Playlist.

So as of this morning at 08:18 ET (and seriously, what a weirdly specific time slot — does it have numerological significance?), the weeks of speculation about what the 2017 Oscar nominations would be came to an end. The weeks of speculation about what the 2017 Oscar nominations mean can now begin.

READ MORE: Analysis: Wonderfully Progressive Oscar Nods Won’t Slow The ‘La La Land’ Train

There is, firstly, considerable good news especially if you or your fave film professional is listed under the “surprise” portion of this feature and not under “snubs.” In a more general sense, the 2017 nominee list also resoundingly addresses a fear some had expressed in the lead-up: namely that, while there were several black filmmakers, black-issues films and a lot of actors and actresses of color in the running, those films — specifically “Moonlight,” “Hidden Figures” and “Fences” — could end up cannibalizing each other’s votes.

Continue reading It’s #OscarsNotSoWhite But Still #OscarsSoMale In 2017 at The Playlist.

It’s awards-nerd Christmas today, with the reveal of the 89th Academy Award nominations this morning. We’ve already gone through the snubs and surprises of this morning’s announcement, as well as some analysis, reactions and a discussion of how it completes Mel Gibson’s comeback, but there’s plenty more to be unpacked, especially if you’re a stats fan.

As we do every year, we’ve broken this morning’s nods down to the numbers, from awards trivia to box office of the nominated films.

Continue reading The 2017 Oscar Nominations By The Numbers at The Playlist.

It’s time for the Oscar nominations, or as they’re known this year, “La La Land” Day. The musical was expected to scoop up a slew of nominations, but it really did a number on the Academy Awards this year (sorry).

The Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone starring musical earned a staggering 14 nominations, tying “Titanic” and “All About Eve” for most nods. Coming in strong behind were the sci-fi “Arrival” and “Moonlight,” each earning 8 nominations, with “Manchester By The Sea” landing 6 nods.

Continue reading ‘La La Land’ Ties Record With 14 Oscar Nominations at The Playlist.

The industry likes to paint movie pirates as guys in trenchcoats smuggling camcorders into multiplexes or as clandestine hackers taking down the industry with each 1 and 0 they plug into the matrix. And while it’s certainly true that piracy remains a problem, it’s not just coming from those outside the machinery of Hollywood.

The Independent reveals that Oscar season contenders like “La La Land,” “Arrival” and “Moonlight” are all being openly pirated on certain corners of the internet, with the source for high quality rips coming from For Your Consideration screeners.

Continue reading Major Oscar Contenders ‘La La Land,’ ‘Arrival,’ ‘Moonlight’ & More Being Pirated at The Playlist.

Ok, we’re done looking back on 2016, but if you have an appetite for more and or missed it, here’s all our Best Of 2016 coverage.

OK, I know, I know. We’re waaaaaay past the sell by date on Top 10 lists, I’m all too painfully aware. My tombstone will read, “Life got in the way,” and life is, again, the reason I’m woefully (embarrassingly?) behind.

Continue reading The Best Movies Of 2016: Rodrigo Perez’s Picks at The Playlist.

It’s now 5 PM in Los Angeles on the final day of Oscar nomination voting and as fellow awards season watcher David Poland has said for years, “pencils down” everybody.

READ MORE: 9 Things We Learned About This Year’s Oscars From the 2017 BAFTA Awards Nominations

The 2017 Oscar season began early with “Birth of a Nation” being crowed an inevitable Best Picture winner a year ago at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival while “Manchester by the Sea” was seen as a Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams and screenplay opportunity at best (how times have changed).

Continue reading Oscar Nomination Voting Is Officially Over: Who’s In And Who’s Out? at The Playlist.