Outside of Steven Soderbergh, we’d have to say that Guy Ritchie is one of the most prolific filmmakers of the past decade or so. Over the past couple of years, he’s had three major films released. Sure, not all of them did well at the box office, but the man is fast. Now, he’s already putting together a cast for a new film that will begin production in 2025.

READ MORE: 2024 Fall Film Preview: 50 Movies To Watch

According to Black Bear, Guy Ritchie has tapped Benedict Cumberbatch, Rosamund Pike, and Anthony Hopkins to lead his new film, “Wife & Dog.” Written and directed by Ritchie, the film is said to showcase the colorful, back-stabbing world of the British aristocracy. 

Continue reading ‘Wife & Dog’: Benedict Cumberbatch, Rosamund Pike & Anthony Hopkins To Star In Guy Ritchie’s Newest at The Playlist.

Before Wes Anderson skipped this year’s Oscars to film “The Phoenician Scheme” in Germany, fans already knew which actors would be at the heart of the director’s latest ensemble.  Benecio del Toro and Mia Threapleton star as a father and daughter whose family business leads them into a dark espionage tale, with Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, and Anderson regular Bill Murray also starring.  

Continue reading ‘The Phoenician Scheme’: Wes Anderson’s Espionage Flick Reportedly Also Stars Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Willem Dafoe & More at The Playlist.

In today’s episode of Bingeworthy, our TV and streaming podcast host Mike DeAngelo delves into the underworld to wrestle with the emotions of “Eric.” The Abi Morgan-written Netflix series follows Vincent, a neurotic puppeteer whose son goes missing, leading him to attempt to solve the case with his son’s imaginary friend – a monster named Eric. The show stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Gaby Hoffmann, McKinley Belcher III, Dan Fogler, Ivan Morris Howe, and more.

Continue reading ‘Eric’: Benedict Cumberbatch & Gaby Hoffmann On Their Thrilling Netflix Series, ‘Doctor Strange,’ & More [Bingeworthy Podcast] at The Playlist.

There’s something so frustrating about watching a show that should work but can’t quite figure out how to put its puzzle pieces together. Sometimes, the pieces just don’t fit. That’s the experience for the bulk of the six episodes of Netflix’s “Eric,” a drama that tries to do so many different things that it ends up doing too little of any of them. Its most fatal flaw might be that its conceit never feels thematically engaging, distracting from what works best about the show, a series of excellent performances that work on a scene-by-scene basis but never come together to form an effective show overall.

Continue reading ‘Eric’ Review: Benedict Cumberbatch’s ‘Sesame Street’-Meets-Kidnapping Series Can’t Find The Right Tones To Support Strong Performances at The Playlist.

These days, avoiding Marvel confirmation of any kind might be an occupational hazard. For example, today, “Top Gun: Maverick” star Lewis Pullman was on the Happy Sad Confused podcast to promote his Apple TV+ series, “Lessons In Chemistry,” co-starring Brie Larson, which is vying for Emmy Contention now. The actor was asked about this upcoming appearance in Marvel’s “Thunderbolts*” movie, reportedly playing the character of Sentry, and the actor skirted around the subject as much as possible in a squirm-inducing segment of the interview.

Continue reading Benedict Cumberbatch Talks Marvel’s “Big Machine” But Says He’s In The Dark About ‘Doctor Strange 3’ at The Playlist.

From the looks of “Eric,” Abi Morgan has cooked up a stirring psychological thriller for Netflix. And for her latest limited series, the writer of Steve McQueen‘s 2011 film “Shame” returns to the Big Apple, but this is a much different NYC than that film.

Set in the 1980s New York strewn with corruption, racism, elevated crime rates, and the AIDS epidemic, “Eric” follows Benedict Cumberbatch‘s troubled puppeteer Vincent as he takes matters into his own hands to try and find his missing son, Edgar.

Continue reading ‘Eric’ Trailer: New Netflix Limited Series Starring Benedict Cumberbatch Asks Where The Real Monsters Lie 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.

Netflix is doing its annual blitz, a big dog and pony show for the press that’s revealing its entire TV slate for 2024. Many heavy hitters are returning for 2024, including a confirmed “Squid Game,” season two, “Cobra Kai” season six, “Emily in Paris” season four, “The Night Agent” season two, “Outer Banks” season four, “Heartstopper” season three,  a second season of “That 90’s Show,” “The Diplomat” season two, “Girls5Eva” season three, and the fourth and final season of “The Umbrella Academy.”

Noticeable absent, “Stranger Things” season five and “Wednesday” season two from Tim Burton, so we may officially be waiting until 2025.

Continue reading Netflix 2024 Series Slate: ‘Squid Games 2,’ Keira Knightley Spy Series ‘Black Doves’ & More at The Playlist.

After a particularly brutal year for the brand, Marvel manages to end 2023 on a last-minute positive note with the animated series “What If…?” The series continues to surprise and even disarm the viewer with the unexpected. Just when you think it’s content to provide simply entertaining fan-service-y alternative multiverse stories of your favorite with a twist— and it surely can do that too— it turns and deepens leveraging the freedom of the inventive, imagined what-if presentation to tell darker, richer versions of Marvel Cinematic Universe tales, often with a meaningfully tragic bent that really compel.

Continue reading ‘What If…?’ Review: Conquerors Turn Liberators & The Darkest Hearts Find The Light In Marvel’s Engaging Animated Series [Season 2] at The Playlist.

As the year comes to a close, studios are getting into the mix, still releasing some last-minute titles into the fray (see Michel Franco’s “Memory” with Jessica Chastain). Another late entry in the 2023 films sweepstakes is “The End From Where We Start,” a new ecological disaster drama starring Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve”) and the directorial debut from director Mahalia Belo, a BAFTA TV Award winner for the 2017 TV film, “Ellen” and a 2019 BAFTA TV Award nominee for 2019’s mini-series “The Long Song.”

READ MORE: ‘The End We Start From’ Review: Jodie Comer Stars In A Refreshingly Grounded Disaster Drama [TIFF]

“The End From Where We Start” is based on the best-selling novel by Megan Hunter and adapted for screen by “Succession” writer Alice Birch.

Continue reading ‘The End From Where We Start’ Trailer: Jodie Comer’s New Disaster Drama Opens December 8 in Limited Release at The Playlist.

The artisanally-hand crafted worlds of Wes Anderson are obviously whimsically delicate, precious, often delightful, frequently ornate, and are globally renowned for their visual distinctiveness: precise, symmetrical, soft-hued pastel color-inflected, and rigorous to the point of being lovingly caricatured on social media TikTok videos. Perhaps what isn’t as apparent to the viewer is just how detailed and fastidious Anderson’s screenplays have become in recent years, like prescriptive miniature novels in their own right.

In other words, the written word is really just as important to Anderson’s film, though often overshadowed by his eccentric and idiosyncratic visual style (though he’s been nominated for Best Original Screenplay three times, so someone is paying attention).

Continue reading Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl Shorts Review: The Preciousness Of Wes Anderson-Isms Are Pushed To Their Artisanally-Crafted Limits [Netflix] at The Playlist.

How far would you go to win every bet?  Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Henry Sugar in “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.” The short film, based on a Roald Dahl story, sees a rich man seek his own rewards over doing the right thing; in the process, he seeks out a guru who may give him a gambling advantage. What follows is a story that shows what we wish for and what we get are two very different things. 

Continue reading ‘The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar’ Trailer: Wes Anderson Gets Whimsical With Benedict Cumberbatch On Sept 27 at The Playlist.

TORONTO – There always seems to be this assumption in Hollywood that when the end of the world comes, it will be quick. A nuclear holocaust will destroy the environment in hours, or a massive space object will send civilization back into the dark ages in an instant. But chances are it will begin and end slower than you might think. And that’s one of the most refreshing aspects of Mahalia Belo’s “The End We Start From,” which debuted at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival this past weekend.

Continue reading ‘The End We Start From’ Review: Jodie Comer Stars In A Refreshingly Grounded Disaster Drama [TIFF] at The Playlist.

BAFTA winner Jodie Comer came out of the gate so damn strong with her breakout turn in “Killing Eve,” and she’s shot up to the A-list ever since. Case in point, her new apocalyptic drama, executive produced by Benedict Cumberbatch, who also co-stars, is one of the most anticipated titles of the recently kicked off Toronto International Film Festival.

READ MORE: Toronto International Film Festival 2023: 26 Must-See Films To Watch At TIFF

The film receives its world premiere at TIFF tomorrow, so naturally, the first teaser trailer and poster has been released.

Continue reading ‘The End We Start From’ Teaser Trailer: Jodie Comer’s New Apocalyptic TIFF Drama Opens December 8 at The Playlist.

British author Roald Dahl has long been referred to as one of the best storytellers for children of the 20th century, a seemingly flattering but objectively flawed observation. Dahl is, after all, not just one of the best storytellers for children of the 20th century. He is one of the best storytellers of the 20th century period. 

This sentiment guides many cinematic Dahl adaptations, whether or not they come wrapped as children’s films.

Continue reading ‘The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar’ Review: Wes Anderson & Roald Dahl Are A Match Made In Cinema Heaven [Venice] at The Playlist.

Is Wes Anderson entering a prolific period of his career? It certainly appears so, as after premiering “Asteroid City” at Cannes in May, he has a new short ready for the Venice Film Festival. And after “The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar” debuts on the Lido, it will be a Netflix streaming exclusive.

READ MORE: Venice 2023: New Films From Bradley Cooper, David Fincher, Sofia Coppola and…Woody Allen

The streamer now has the exact date when subscribers should expect Anderson’s short film to arrive: September 27.

Continue reading ‘The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar’: Wes Anderson’s New Short Arrives On Netflix On September 27 at The Playlist.

With “Asteroid City” starting its limited theatrical release this weekend before going wide on June 23, Wes Anderson looks ahead to upcoming projects. And while he already has another projected line up he wants to shoot this Fall, before that comes “The Wonderful Life Of Henry Sugar.” The filmmaker’s Roald Dahl adaptation with Netflix is already in the can, but Variety reports (via IndieWire) that it’s less a feature film than a glorified short.

Continue reading ‘The Wonderful Life Of Henry Sugar’: Wes Anderson Says His Upcoming Netflix Project Is Only 37 Minutes Long at The Playlist.

READ MORE: ‘Eric’: Benedict Cumberbatch To Star In New Netflix Series About A Puppeteer Searching For His Son

According to Variety, Studiocanal is developing a new series titled “How to Stop Time,” which will star none other than Benedict Cumberbatch.

Continue reading ‘How To Stop Time’: Benedict Cumberbatch To Star In New Series From Director Tomas Alfredson at The Playlist.

READ MORE: ‘Book Of Clarence’: Benedict Cumberbatch, David Oyelowo, James McAvoy, Alfre Woodard & More Join Jeymes Samuel’s Biblical Story

According to Variety, Benedict Cumberbatch has signed on to star in the upcoming Netflix limited series, “Eric.” The series, written and produced by Abi Morgan, tells the story of a famous puppeteer from a kids’ show (Cumberbatch), who finds himself at the lowest point in his life after the disappearance of his young son, Eric.

Continue reading ‘Eric’: Benedict Cumberbatch To Star In New Netflix Series About A Puppeteer Searching For His Son at The Playlist.

Filmmaker Jeymes Samuel exploded on the scene last year with the release of his star-studded Western, “The Harder They Fall.” The film might have served as his feature directorial debut, but Samuel is no stranger to the world of art, having a long career in music as the artist known as The Bullitts. Now, as an established filmmaker, Samuel is hoping his next film, “The Book of Clarence,” continues his rise in the world of film.

Continue reading ‘Book Of Clarence’: Benedict Cumberbatch, David Oyelowo, James McAvoy, Alfre Woodard & More Join Jeymes Samuel’s Biblical Story at The Playlist.

It’s hard to not see how a Marvel Comics character like Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange has taken over the surrogate role of MCU leader post-Tony Stark as the cinematic universe has entered The Multiverse Saga, Strange’s domain. However, the British actor seemingly finds it hard to get those deeply emotional or character-driven scenes when you don’t have much screen time to play with in specific instances when they’re simply aiming to move the story along. 

As Cumberbatch tells The Talks in a recent interview, when you only have five minutes in a massive Marvel movie like “The Avengers,” it can be tough as an actor to land the emotional aspects when the development of character isn’t exactly the focus and it can be mostly about servicing the story at hand. 

READ MORE: Neil Gaiman & Guillermo Del Toro Pitched A ‘Doctor Strange’ Movie To Marvel That Would Have Taken Place In The 1920s

“It’s not some sort of acting gym where you’re stripping off layers of self to reveal a layer of truth all the time,” said Cumberbatch.

Continue reading Benedict Cumberbatch Says It’s Hard To Land Emotional Scenes In Marvel Movies When You’re There “To Service The Story” at The Playlist.

As this year’s Cannes Film Festival gets underway, the marketplace for upcoming films that happens each year at the festival heats up too. And the crop at Cannes 2022 looks very appealing so far, with Cronenberg‘s “The Shrouds,” a couple of films starring Jessie Buckley, and Michel Gondry‘s first movie in seven years all up for sale.

READ MORE: Cannes 2022 Preview: 25 Must-See Films To Watch

Add Paul Greengrass‘s latest film to that list.

Continue reading Paul Greengrass To Direct Benedict Cumberbatch In English Peasant Revolt Drama ‘Hood’ at The Playlist.

With Sam Raimi‘s “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness” out in theaters screenwriter Michael Waldron (“Loki“) is now doing a bevy of interviews (our own can be read and listened to here). During those conversations, Waldron has been revealing some of the characters that were considered for the latest installment in the Multiverse saga but didn’t make the cut because Marvel squashed those ideas early on.

Continue reading ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Considered Deadpool & Namor; Benedict Cumberbatch Reflects On Passing On ‘Thor 2’ Villain at The Playlist.

It’s the first week of May, and you know what that means, right? The Marvel Studios machine has pumped out another feature and is ready to take over the world yet again. This time, we get “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” and boy, oh boy, The Playlist Podcast has some thoughts. 

LISTEN: DC Entertainment Shakeup: Unpacking The WB/Discovery Merger Fallout & How Superman Is The Key [The Playlist Podcast]

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” brings back Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character, as he goes on a new adventure jumping through various realities thanks to the help of newcomer America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez).

Continue reading ‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness’: The Good, The Bad & The Sam Raimi [The Playlist Podcast] at The Playlist.

**Editor’s note: To properly review “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness,” you have to tread into the basic plot, and the basic plot has been kept secret from audiences and withheld from the trailers. Thus, this review will have to get into *some* basic spoilers, so if you want to be totally spoiler-free, we encourage you to read this review after you’ve seen the film. While we will refrain from the deeper spoilers within, you’ve been warned.**

“The multiverse is a concept about which we know frighteningly little,” Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) gravely warned in the past.

Continue reading ‘Doctor Strange 2 Review: Sam Raimi’s ‘Multiverse Of Madness’ Takes Marvel On A Thrilling, But Shallow Ride Of Frights at The Playlist.