If the Best Picture race is mostly a toss-up of potential players, there is even more room for surprises in the Best Director category. The only two frontrunners, and even that is a shaky qualification, are Sean Baker for his Palme d’Or-winning “Anora” and Jacques Audiard for another Cannes breakout, “Emilia Perez.” The other three slots are still very competitive, although Venice Film Festival Best Director winner Brady Corbet is certainly up there for “The Brutalist.” Then it gets quite interesting.

Continue reading Best Director Oscars 2025 Predictions & Contenders at The Playlist.

Well, that’s a wrap on Venice. The 81st Venice Film Festival came to a close today, and the full winners of the festival were announced. Jury president Isabelle Huppert and her panel awarded the top prize, the coveted Golden Lion Award, to Pedro Almodovar’s “The Room Next Door,” starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore in essentially an impermanence and euthanasia drama.

Continue reading Venice Awards: ‘The Room Next Door’ Wins Golden Lion, Nicole Kidman Win Best Actress & Brady Corbet Takes Best Director at The Playlist.

Matter and antimatter in contact will annihilate each other, leaving in its place pure energy. Still, millions of years ago, a particle of a billion managed to survive this frantic exchange of uncontained energy—an inconceivably small fraction of matter that would become responsible for creating life on Earth. Brady Corbet’s period epic “The Brutalist” understands that utter and complete annihilation can, almost miraculously, leave in its place not emptiness but a product of such magnitude the simple mind cannot begin to comprehend it.

Continue reading ‘The Brutalist’ Review: Brady Corbet Delivers A Masterful Period Epic For The Ages [Venice] at The Playlist.

Deadline reports that Brady Corbet‘s “The Brutalist” is finally in production in Hungary after a couple of years of delays. That’s great news, but Corbet had to overhaul his starring cast due to scheduling conflicts with original cast members. So while it’s not an entirely new ensemble for Corbet’s follow-up to 2018’s “Vox Lux,” four new actors are in the film’s central roles.

READ MORE: ‘The Brutalist’: Marion Cotillard, Joel Edgerton, Vanessa Kirby, Sebastian Stan & More Join Brady Corbert’s New Film

And who might they be?  Adrian Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, and Joe Alwyn are the new main stars of “The Brutalist.” The foursome replaces Joel Edgerton, Marion Cotillard, Mark Rylance, and Sebastian Stan in the film, who were originally announced as cast members in September 2020.  Vanessa Kirby is also no longer part of the cast.

Continue reading ‘The Brutalist’: Brady Corbet’s Ambitious Drama Overhauls Cast With Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones & Joe Alwyn Joining at The Playlist.

Brady Corbet is a filmmaker that seems to always gain our attention whenever he prepares a new film for release. He has a knack for putting together a talented cast for a project that always sounds interesting on paper. However, depending on your own tastes, the execution might not be 100% solid, with some praising all of his work and others wondering what went wrong (looking at you, “Vox Lux“).

Continue reading ‘The Brutalist’: Marion Cotillard, Joel Edgerton, Vanessa Kirby, Sebastian Stan & More Join Brady Corbet’s New Film at The Playlist.

As the Awards Season Hot Take Machine revs up, get ready to see a lot of conflicting opinions about “Vox Lux.” Once you see the movie, which our own Jessica Kiang called “actively, chewily unboring,” you’ll no doubt have some questions. Is Brady Corbet’s pop star picture intentionally, deliciously vapid and pretentious, or is it simply intolerable? Has lead Natalie Portman found her best role yet, or is she the lone shining light in an otherwise head-scratching film?

Continue reading Natalie Portman & Brady Corbet On ‘Vox Lux’: “It’s Almost Impossible To Go Far Enough” at The Playlist.

Director Bradey Cobert’s “Vox Lux” is something of a bone of contention around these parts and arguably Film Twitter as well. Following strong reviews during the film festival circuit, the Natalie Portman-starring movie began taking it in the teeth when a deeper swath of North American critics saw the film. While it’s fresh on Rotten Tomatoes currently (barely, 61% and falling which soon means rotten), the discourse around the film is polarizing and generally lands on a love/hate relationship with the film.

Continue reading Listen: Stream Full ‘Vox Lux’ Soundtrack Sung By Natalie Portman With Music By Sia & Scott Walker at The Playlist.

On this episode of Adjust Your Tracking, Joe and I search for meaning in the thematic concerns of two surprisingly connected films from different times. We look at the new movie, “Vox Lux,” starring Natalie Portman and directed by actor turned serious auteur Brady Corbet (“The Childhood Of A Leader,” discussed on AYT #135), and compare it to my HOLD UP of “25th Hour” by Spike Lee.

Continue reading In ‘Vox Lux’ & Spike Lee’s ’25th Hour,’ Real-World Tragedies Are Boldly Weaved Through Fictional Narratives [AYT Podcast] at The Playlist.

It wouldn’t be an awards season without at least one quality Natalie Portman performance, right? After receiving some strong reviews coming out of the Venice Film Festival earlier this year, “Vox Lux” looks to be the film that enters the actress firmly into awards consideration.

In the latest trailer for the film, we finally get a chance to really see what Portman and writer-director Brady Corbet have up their sleeves for their upcoming musical drama.

Continue reading ‘Vox Lux’ Final Trailer: Natalie Portman Is A Pop Star Born From Tragedy With Songs Written By Sia at The Playlist.

Watch out Lady Gaga. Natalie Portman is on the scene.

Although “A Star is Born” is still firmly planted in the minds and hearts of nearly everyone in America, it appears as if the upcoming musical drama “Vox Lux” might find itself in the role of the dark horse when it comes time to nominate the best films of 2018.

Continue reading ‘Vox Lux’ Trailer: Natalie Portman Attempts to Nab Another Oscar in the Upcoming Musical Drama at The Playlist.

Natalie Portman is one for three at the Oscars, but if NEON has anything to say about it, she’ll be batting .500 come Spring. After a strong showing at Venice TIFF, NEON is positioning “Vox Lux” for an aggressive awards season push, setting its limited release for December 7th (with a wider rollout in the two weeks to follow). The film will face stiff competition from other female-fronted awards contenders opening in that span, including Margot Robbie’s “Mary Queen of Scots” and Julia Roberts’ “Ben Is Back,” setting up a great awards season line-up of perennial favorites.

Continue reading ‘Vox Lux’: Neon Sets Awards Season Release For Natalie Portman Music Drama at The Playlist.

In our recent Venice review of “Vox Lux,” Jessica Kiang said that filmmaker Brady Corbet “is comfortably en route toward the truly great film he’ll one day make.” As our review also states, the writer-director already made leaps in craftsmanship between his first film “The Childhood of a Leader” and the aforementioned film. So, it’s exciting to see what the young filmmaker has up his sleeve next.

Continue reading ‘Vox Lux’ Filmmaker Brady Corbet To Write And Direct ‘The Brutalist’ at The Playlist.

“Interesting” is such a polite, lukewarm, colorless word. And given that Brady Corbet‘s arrestingly ambitious “Vox Lux” is about as polite, lukewarm, and colorless as Natalie Portman reimagined as a foulmouthed Ariana Grande sporting a spangled catsuit and a God complex, it is scarcely adequate here. But it does speak to the great strides that Corbet has made since his debut, “The Childhood of a Leader,” which went similarly hell-for-leather at its grandiose agenda, but for quite long periods managed, noisily and show-offily, not to be that interesting at all.

Continue reading Brady Corbet’s Impressive ‘Vox Lux’ Showcases Larger Than Life Performance From Natalie Portman [Venice Review] at The Playlist.

Natalie Portman, one of the most accomplished actresses of her generation, will now enter the world of music. Previously, Portman has played a mentally ill ballerina and a First Lady. Now, she will play a musician in the upcoming drama “Vox Lux” directed by Brady Corbet. 

Admittedly, Natalie Portman has dabbled into her musical talents before. Portman has proven her killer rap skills on “Saturday Night Live” as many of us know.

Continue reading ‘Vox Lux’ Teaser Trailer: Natalie Portman Plays A Rising, Bowie-Like Pop Star at The Playlist.

When you make a musical, no matter what the subject, a majority of the quality rests on the back of the music heard in the film. And when you take a look at filmmaker Brady Corbet’s upcoming musical drama starring Natalie Portman, titled “Vox Lux,” it’s clear that the quality of the music heard is going to go a long way to how people enjoy the finished product.

Continue reading Sia & Scott Walker Providing The Music For Natalie Portman Musical Drama ‘Vox Lux’ at The Playlist.

Of all the films premiering this fall, perhaps the most highly-anticipated is none other than actor Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut, “A Star is Born.” The film, which is scheduled to hit theaters later this year, has been building buzz since before anyone has even seen the footage. Coming out of CinemaCon, the film was universally praised and many people started to use the word “Oscar” when describing the project’s potential.

Continue reading ‘A Star Is Born’ To Premiere At Venice; Films From The Coen Bros, Rick Alverson, Brady Corbet, & More Reported To Join Line-Up at The Playlist.

Sure, the summer movie season has been rough. But there’s no need to belabor the point when the likes of Netflix are capturing the zeitgeist with shows like “Stranger Things,” the streaming service’s much discussed, massively popular homage to Steven Spielberg, Stephen King, John Carpenter and so much more.

That’s what myself and co-host Joe von Appen talk about on most of this latest episode of Adjust Your Tracking.

Continue reading Podcast: Adjust Your Tracking Takes A Big Hit Of Nostalgia With ‘Stranger Things’ at The Playlist.

To get an idea of the kind of charmed life actor/writer/director Brady Corbet has led —he’s starred in films directed by Lars von Trier and Sean Durkin and counts Olivier Assayas as a friend— here’s what he told the AV Club recently about how he met Michael Haneke and was cast in the remake of “Funny Games.”

“I actually had met Michael Haneke at a screening of ‘Code Unknown‘ in Los Angeles many years ago.

Continue reading Brady Corbet To Direct Pop Star Drama ‘Vox Lux’ at The Playlist.

This is a reprint of our review from the 2016 Venice Film Festival.

No guts, no glory. Actor Brady Corbet flings himself off the cliff of his directorial debut with a defiant disregard for safety or convention that is startling, admirable and exceptionally unusual to see from a neophyte filmmaker. It is also categorically lunatic, because for all there are moments when, arms windmilling and “Geronimoooooo!” ringing out, it almost seems like he might make it to the other side, of course he doesn’t: guts will get you so far, but gravity always wins.

Continue reading Brady Corbet’s ‘The Childhood Of A Leader’ Is Flawed, Yet Confident And Admirable [Review] at The Playlist.

Actor-turned-filmmaker Brady Corbet has had an interesting career. While he did TV work on his way up, even from a very early time in his career he was picking good projects. Starting with Catherine Hardwicke‘s “Thirteen” in 2003, by the time 2011 had rolled around he had already starred in films by Michael Haneke, Gregg Araki, Lars von Trier and more.

Continue reading The Movies That Changed My Life: ‘Childhood Of A Leader’ Director Brady Corbet at The Playlist.

Can the inkling of pure evil be sensed from a young, early age? If so, what would that portrait look like? Those are the thorny questions actor/filmmaker Brady Corbet looks to explore in his directorial debut, “The Childhood Of A Leader.”

READ MORE: The 40 Most Anticipated Movies Of Summer 2016

Liam Cunningham, Bérénice Bejo, Stacy Martin, Yolande Moreau, Tom Sweet and Robert Pattinson are the players in this story, which revolves around a pint-sized terror, the son of an American diplomat, who raises hell in post-World War I France, in a movie that makes it clear the child’s behavior will have wide-reaching consequences.

Continue reading Discover The Birth Of Evil In New Trailer For ‘The Childhood Of Leader’ Featuring Robert Pattinson, Stacy Martin & Bérénice Bejo at The Playlist.

Actor Brady Corbet has proved he has unique stories to tell as the screenwriter behind “Simon Killer” and “The Sleepwalker,” making it clear he has a voice worth paying attention to. Now he’s gone to the next level, directing his debut feature film “The Childhood Of A Leader.”

READ MORE: Sundance Review: ‘Simon Killer’ Loses That Lovin’ Feeling On The Streets Of Paris

Starring Liam Cunningham, Bérénice Bejo, Stacy Martin, Yolande Moreau, Tom Sweet and Robert Pattinson, the story revolves a child whose violent outbursts are just a hint at the monster he’ll be become later.

Continue reading Watch: First Trailer For ‘The Childhood Of A Leader’ Starring Robert Pattinson, Bérénice Bejo, Stacy Martin & More at The Playlist.

Review: Mia Hansen-Løve's Electronic Music Scene Drama 'Eden' Moves With A Universal Beat

Continue reading Review: Mia Hansen-Løve’s Electronic Music Scene Drama ‘Eden’ Moves With A Universal Beat at The Playlist.

Review: Biopic 'Saint Laurent' Is A Failed Attempt At Visualizing Artistic Soul

Continue reading Review: Biopic ‘Saint Laurent’ Is A Failed Attempt At Visualizing Artistic Soul at The Playlist.

Review: Striking, Provocative & Darkly Mysterious 'The Sleepwalker' Starring Brady Corbet

Continue reading Review: Striking, Provocative & Darkly Mysterious ‘The Sleepwalker’ Starring Brady Corbet at The Playlist.