Colman Domingo, action star? Believe it or not, that’s what Netflix‘s “The Madness” has in store for subscribers later this month. It’s quite an about-face for the Oscar-nominated actor, but for those who’ve seen Domingo’s turns in “Zola” and “Drive-Away Dolls,” maybe it’s not so surprising?

READ MORE: Fall 2024 TV Preview: 40 Must-See Series To Watch

But those roles were villainous and broadly comedic.

Continue reading ‘The Madness’ Trailer: Colman Domingo Is A News Man Framed For Murder In Netflix’s Upcoming Thriller Series at The Playlist.

Giancarlo Esposito struck career gold with playing Gustavo Fring in AMC‘s “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul.” He’s everywhere now thanks to that unforgettable villain. Now the actor returns to AMC for a new crime series, “Parish.” Will the New Orleans-set show be as big a hit as Vince Gilligan‘s two series for the network?

Continue reading ‘Parish’ Teaser Trailer: Giancarlo Esposito Stars In AMC’s New Orleans Crime Series This March at The Playlist.

Screenwriter Mark Boal has received worldwide acclaim for his highly detailed screenplays of military operations in the Kathryn Bigelow films, “The Hurt Locker” (for which Boal won the Oscar) and “Zero Dark Thirty.” He brings a journalist’s mind for detail—he was one for Rolling Stone, Playboy, and others—to his projects, and one can feel the veracity of his life’s work in his latest project, mostly in its elaborate action set pieces, usually long, dialogue-free sequences of soldiers meticulously trying to complete their missions.

Continue reading ‘Echo 3’ Review: ‘The Hurt Locker’s Mark Boal Brings His Visceral Style To A Military Family Kidnapping Thriller at The Playlist.

Do you really know the story of Romeo and Juliet? The new film “Rosaline” offers a different side to this classic play. Instead of focusing on the young lovers, this twisted comedy shines light on a previously unnoticed character. Rosaline, Juliet’s cousin, is not exactly thrilled to see her current love Romeo falling for someone else. She concocts a scheme to get him back and end this otherwise tragic romance. 

The film features a mix of young talents and industry veterans.

Continue reading ‘Rosaline’ Trailer: Kaitlyn Dever Plays Romeo’s Ex In the Greatest Love Story Ever Told at The Playlist.

A lot has changed since the award-winning adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s seminal dystopian novel premiered on Hulu in 2017. Handmaid red and white (designed by Ane Crabtree in Season 1) has become a go-to ensemble for those protesting restrictions on reproductive rights across the globe. There might be a different administration in the White House, but the landscape remains fraught, and “The Handmaid’s Tale” is the standard pop culture reference when discussing such oppressive laws.

Continue reading ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Review: Season 5 Offers Flickers Of Hope & The Story Finally Moves Forward at The Playlist.

How “How It Ends” ends: badly, and not soon enough. How it begins is not much better, and has the added disadvantage of being even further from the end than the end. Everything in the middle is great, though! Just kidding. The middle is likely the worst part. “How It Ends,” directed by husband-and-wife team Daryl Wein (“Lola Versus,” “White Rabbit“) and Zoe Lister-Jones (“Band Aid“), who also stars, delivers almost precisely the film you might have feared in darker moments, way back at the beginning of this ungodly pandemic, that someone was going to think was a good idea: a wildly self-indulgent, toothcrackingly twee feature-length therapy session for people whose experiences during this period of isolation and alienation, contrary to the popular notion that we’re all going through much the same shit, are clearly so deeply, existentially different from yours that you end up feeling lonelier than ever.  

Continue reading ‘How It Ends’: The Film You Worried Covid Might Produce Is Here [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.

On 19 August 2003, a car bomb exploded outside the United Nations Headquarters in Baghdad. As a result, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sérgio Vieira de Mello and Gil Loescher were pinned under tons of rubble after the blast. Six years later, in 2009, Greg Barker released a documentary covering the events that transpired. And now, more than a decade after the doc, Barker returns with a feature-length adaption of the tragedy and the man at the story’s center.

Continue reading ‘Sergio’: Wagner Moura & Ana De Armas Elevate An Otherwise Messy, Sluggish Biopic [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.

The name Sigmund Freud often immediately comes to mind when someone says the word “psychology,” but Carl Rogers deserves attention as well. Specifically, it was his development of person-centered psychotherapy that contributed to shining more much-needed light on the antiquated approach to mental health. At the very least, lending an attentive and unbiased ear as a friend who genuinely wants to help sure sounds like a better alternative to what Jack Nicholson’s McMurphy ultimately endured in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” The upcoming film “Three Christs” seeks to put this kind of approach to the test.

Continue reading ‘Three Christs’: Richard Gere Helps Self-Described Holy Men In New Film From Jon Avnet at The Playlist.

After handing out 46 winners last night, the Television Academy bestowed another 49 winners on Sunday night for the second and final night of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.  The remaining honors will be announced on Sunday, Sept. 22nd during a primetime telecast on FOX.  Tonight’s winners, in particular, showed a potentially fierce battle brewing for Comedy Series between “Fleabag” (two wins tonight), “Barry” (2 sound wins tonight)“Marvelous Mrs.

Continue reading ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Chernobyl’ & ‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Dominate Creative Arts Emmys Night Two at The Playlist.

Greg Kinnear is an Oscar-nominated actor that has starred in dozens of quality films over the last few decades. But up until now, he’s never stepped behind the camera. In the new dramedy, “Phil,” the actor-turned-director not only is the man at the helm but also the star of the show.

As seen in the trailer, “Phil” tells the story of, uh, Phil (Kinnear), a depressed dentist that begins to investigate the life of one of his patients after he learns that the patient committed suicide.

Continue reading ‘Phil’ Trailer: Greg Kinnear Directs & Stars Alongside Jay Duplass, Luke Wilson, Emily Mortimer & More In New Dramedy at The Playlist.

Bruce Miller’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” has experienced a fascinating, stuttering evolution since its accolade-encrusted premiere in 2017. The first season, which took the words and visions of Margaret Atwood’s eponymous sci-fi novel and brought them to blue-toned light, was a runaway success. The second season, which premiered last year, went noticeably off-book as June (Elisabeth Moss) metamorphosed from an everywoman just trying to get by into a full-blown leader of the revolution.

Continue reading ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 3 Chooses Between Compelling Humanity & Overwrought Drama [Review] at The Playlist.

TELLURIDE – There have been few films in recent memory that flip a switch like Karyn Kusama’s “Destroyer” does. Honestly, there are moments during the first half of this dramatic thriller where the clunky direction threatens to unravel the film; where scenes are not as sharp as they should be; where you wonder if Kusama could have filmed the proceedings in a more visually compelling manner. And then, out of nowhere, “Destroyer” just completely upends itself in a manner which is, in all seriousness, sort of amazing.

Continue reading Nicole Kidman Is Spectacular In Karyn Kusama’s ‘Destroyer’ [Telluride Review] at The Playlist.

A year ago, “Get Out” was simply a smash hit, horror sensation. Twelve months later, its astonishing journey has brought the picture to the Oscars, where it has four nominations, in some very major categories: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. But as it goes with so many great movies, none if it would’ve happened if they didn’t get the ingredients just right, and one wonders how “Get Out” would’ve been received if it went with its original downer ending.

Continue reading Jordan Peele, Daniel Kaluuya & More Talk Changing The Darker Original Ending To ‘Get Out’ at The Playlist.

Steven Spielberg’s career has always been marked by two distinct characteristics: optimism (there’s not a cynical bone in his body), and a sentimentality that underlines most characters, subjects and approaches. The former trait — supported by a thrilling, propulsive approach to storytelling — has contributed to countless classic pieces of cinema, but the latter, mawkish qualities have marred many of his films. When the two elements dovetail, one gets the magical uniqueness that epitomizes Spielberg at his best.

Continue reading Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Post’: A Stirring, Sentimental & Feminist ‘All The President’s Men’ Prequel [Review] at The Playlist.

When “Unicorn Store” opens, Kit (Brie Larson) is determinedly completing a painting awash in “My Little Pony” style colors and glitter, with a more is more approach that literally leaves the wall around her canvas splattered with her work. It’s an unintentional metaphor for the film itself, which alternately overreaches and underperforms as both a quirky comedy and indie dramedy, but nonetheless leans into both fairly hard.

Continue reading ‘Unicorn Store’: Brie Larson Gets Whimsical With Her Directorial Debut [TIFF Review] at The Playlist.

When you’re Steven Spielberg, you can get whoever the hell you want to star in your movies, especially if it’s gunning for Oscar glory. It may be June, but the director is fast-tracking his Pentagon Papers movie “The Papers” (formerly known as “The Post“), that will be led by Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. And if that leading duo wasn’t impressive enough as it is, the supporting ensemble is a bounty of talent.

Continue reading Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Carrie Coon & More Join Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Papers’ With Meryl Streep & Tom Hanks at The Playlist.

Dogs are our trusted companions and furry friends, but for members of a military, they can be a partner that’s just as vital as any human. So if you tell us that “Megan Leavey” is a true story about a solider and her dog, we’re in.

Kate Mara leads the Gabriela Cowperthwaite (“Blackfish“) -directed movie that follows the titular character and her canine sidekick Rex, who form a tight bond over the course of many military missions.

Continue reading Kate Mara Is ‘Megan Leavey’ In First Trailer For K9 Unit Military Drama at The Playlist.

As at odds as they may initially appear, comedy and horror share a lot of DNA, particularly in their reliance on timing to evoke a physical response. A pause can either prolong the tension or make a simple sentence even funnier. Rhythm lets the audience know what to expect — or throws them off intentionally, creating an even bigger reaction. A scene — or entire film — may deliver its laughs or frights sparingly at first, only to increase momentum in its final moments.

Continue reading Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’ Is A Brilliantly Executed Horror/Satire [Review] at The Playlist.

With “Key & Peele” behind him, Jordan Peele could’ve easily coasted on his comedy bonafides for his directorial debut, but instead, he’s turned toward horror. It was an interesting move, and the results look to be just as fascinating in “Get Out,” which dropped its first trailer today and looks like it could be an early horror treat in 2017.

Starring “Sicario” supporting cast member Daniel Kaluuya, “Girls” veteran Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, and Keith Stanfield, the film centers on Chris and Rose, an interracial couple who journey to the suburbs to meet the latter’s parents.

Continue reading Terror & Race Collide In First Trailer For Jordan Peele’s Directorial Debut ‘Get Out’ at The Playlist.

Sundance Review: 'Other People' Starring Jesse Plemons, Molly Shannon, Zach Woods, And Bradley Whitford

Continue reading Sundance Review: ‘Other People’ Starring Jesse Plemons, Molly Shannon, Zach Woods, And Bradley Whitford at The Playlist.

Watch: First Full Trailer For Tom Hiddleston's Hank Williams Biopic 'I Saw The Light'

Continue reading Watch: First Full Trailer For Tom Hiddleston’s Hank Williams Biopic ‘I Saw The Light’ at The Playlist.

Watch: Trailer For Former Philip Seymour Hoffman Show 'Happyish' Now Starring Steve Coogan

Continue reading Watch: Trailer For Former Philip Seymour Hoffman Show ‘Happyish’ Now Starring Steve Coogan at The Playlist.

Christoph Waltz Has 'Tulip Fever,' 'Game Of Thrones' Actor Is The New Frank Martin In 'Transporter 4' & More

Continue reading Christoph Waltz Has ‘Tulip Fever,’ ‘Game Of Thrones’ Actor Is The New Frank Martin In ‘Transporter 4’ & More at The Playlist.

BFI London Film Festival Review: 'Saving Mr. Banks' With Tom Hanks & Emma Thompson

Continue reading BFI London Film Festival Review: ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ With Tom Hanks & Emma Thompson at The Playlist.

Continue reading Rapper Who Sang ‘Fuck Da Police’ Now Going On A ‘Ride Along’ at The Playlist.