Call this feature “overlooked films” if you liked, and if you saw them, and yes, there’s some crossover with some of our other Best of 2020 features, like the 25 Best Films Of 2020, the 20 Best Performances Of 2020, etc. but that’s ok!

READ MORE: The Best Cinematography Of 2020

2020 was a year where movie-lovers learned how to watch movies in an entirely different way. Since theaters were shut down across much of America for most of the year and many of the year’s more anticipated offerings were either shuffled off the annual slate until 2021, or relegated to streaming services a la “Wonder Woman 1984,” our regular routine of watching, analyzing, and obsessing over films was more or less completely upended.

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2020 You Didn’t See at The Playlist.

What’s most notable about 2020’s slate of great performances is the element of surprise. Sure, most anybody betting on Frances McDormand being heaped with praise at year-end will likely win their bets. But 2020’s best films range so far in terms of their “stuff”—themes, style, genre, atmosphere—that it stands to reason the best performances should range, too, in terms of gravity and veterancy. The Playlist’s picks for 2020’s best performances oscillate from bubbly to brooding, effervescent to angry, calm to utterly petrified; the actors responsible for these performances range from newcomers to old stalwarts, talents developing their careers and legends at the peak of theirs. 

Continue reading The 20 Best Performances Of 2020 at The Playlist.

Greetings, fellow exhausteds, and welcome to The Best Films of 2020, a year that, despite being less than 365 days old, has aged so rapidly that Gary Oldman is circling the biopic. Some, uh, unusual stuff happened this year – I don’t know if you noticed – and it made compiling this collective list even more interesting than usual. A record-breaking 34 regular Playlist contributors submitted top tens (you can find the complete list of those to blame/praise for this ranking at the end of the feature).

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2020 at The Playlist.

If 2020 manages to match a feature film debut as electrifying, devastating, hilarious, and original as Shannon Murphy’s “Babyteeth,” it will mark one of the strongest years in breakout director discoveries in recent memory. However, it seems highly unlikely. The Australian director and her screenwriter, Rita Kalnejais (making her screenwriting debut with the adaptation of the play she penned in 2012) have crafted a story both supremely relatable and utterly singular.

Continue reading ‘Babyteeth’: Eliza Scanlen & Director Shannon Murphy Talk About The Vibrant Coming-Of-Age Dramedy [Interview] at The Playlist.

As a young person, there are few things as scary as meeting your partner’s parents for the first time. And as seen in the upcoming film, “Babyteeth,” there’s a good reason why this is a situation full of stress.

IFC Films is set to release the highly-anticipated film “Babyteeth” on VOD this week, and in honor of the film’s impending arrival, we’re thrilled to give our readers an exclusive look at a clip from the film.

Continue reading ‘Babyteeth’ Exclusive Clip: A Young Teen Brings Her Drug Dealer Boyfriend Home To Meet The Parents at The Playlist.

June isn’t off to a particularly great start, following the already awful events of the rest of the year so far, but if there’s anything to look forward to it’s some terrific films scheduled for release this month.

From the latest films by Spike Lee and Josephine Decker to festival favorites that built buzz in the last year, there’s plenty to engage in. Things are far from “back to normal” as it pertains to theater-going (and likely won’t be getting there anytime soon,) but if we’re looking to seek out comfort in art, it’s comforting to know that the quality of the films being released isn’t diminishing – far from it.

Continue reading 8 Films To See In June: ‘Staten Island,’ ‘Artemis Fowl’ & More at The Playlist.

Marilyn Monroe once said, “We human beings are strange creatures and still reserve the right to think for ourselves.” Wise words coming from the woman who propelled the hearts of a generation of men, her peers—to be honest— and beyond to go gaga. And speaking of love, one of the bizarre but nevertheless beautiful things it does is produce the unlikeliest of matches. Hell, some relationships that start in rehab grow strong roots themselves.

Continue reading ‘Babyteeth’ Trailer: Eliza Scanlen Stars In Shannon Murphy’s Acclaimed Feature Debut at The Playlist.

Each year, countless films premiere at festivals across the world. Filmmakers are celebrated for their artistic vision. Projects are praised for their ability to push the boundaries of what we expect from national cinemas. Then, just as quickly as these films burst on the scene, many disappear from the public eye. Some fall through the cracks of distribution. Others are snapped up by discriminating studios but languish in the vault as executives work to puzzle out the perfect date and platform for their release.

Continue reading The 25 Best Movies Of 2020 We’ve Already Seen at The Playlist.

Australian director Shannon Murphy’s debut feature, “Babyteeth,” is a gentle, affecting tearjerker that hits so many of the right notes and a few jarring ones. Eliza Scanlen is Milla, the teenage daughter of a well-off psychiatrist and a classical pianist mother, but her privilege does not make her particularly fortunate: she’s just been diagnosed with cancer.

“Babyteeth” doesn’t open with hospital waiting rooms or tearful exchanges; instead with a startled 15-year-old girl on a train platform in her school uniform.

Continue reading ‘Babyteeth’ Is A Gentle, Affecting Tearjerker From Director Shannon Murphy [Venice Review] at The Playlist.

Let’s get right to it. The Venice Film Festival is about to pop off this week which means, welcome to the madness of fall and the annual season when we lose our minds. It’s a terrific time to be a movie lover, a festival goer especially, maybe not so much as movie critic or writer trying to stay on top of it all, but we suppose that’s our problem.

READ MORE: 2019 Fall Preview: The 45 Most Anticipated Films

As per usual, the Lido kicks things off first.

Continue reading 2019 Venice Film Festival Preview: 15 Must-See Movies at The Playlist.

Film festivals have their quirky picks and every year, there are one or two films that often make their premiere at the Venice Film Festival early in the season, but fail to turn up later at TIFF, Telluride or NYFF. Last year, one of those pictures was Jennifer Kent’s sprawling colonialism and harrowing revenge film, “The Nightingale,” not an easy sell by any stretch given the material and length (2.5+ hours).

Continue reading ‘Babyteeth’ Trailer: Ben Mendelsohn & ‘Sharp Objects’ Breakout Eliza Scanlen Lead A Bittersweet Comedy Headed For Venice at The Playlist.

The competition for this year’s Venice International Film Festival is stacked, to say the least. While there’s plenty to talk about regarding gender disparity, combined with the addition of Roman Polanski, just on paper, it would appear that Venice 2019 is going to have one of the most interesting competitions from any film festival this year. And with this morning’s announcement, we have some first look images from some of those films.

Continue reading Venice First Looks: Penelope Cruz In ‘Wasp Network,’ Johnny Depp In ‘Barbarians,’ Roman Polanski’s Latest & More at The Playlist.