Cliche aside, time flies. It’s hard to believe how much Daniel Craig’s James Bond tenure has popped up over my career as a journalist. I was barely in the game when I interviewed Martin Campbell for “Casino Royale.” I was beyond lucky enough to visit both “Quantum of Solace” sets in  Bregenz, Austria, and at Chile’s Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert. Because, hey, it’s one thing to talk to Craig in a hotel suite for an interview, but it’s another to chit-chat after he’s done an action scene as 007.

Continue reading Daniel Craig & Cary Fukunaga In Conversation: ‘No Time To Die,’ Awards & What’s Next [Interview] at The Playlist.

Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This biweekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.

Our last streaming and buying guide of the year offers up plenty of fun for those of you lucky enough to have some time off— a handful of ace new releases, an eclectic assortment of catalog titles, and a must-have box set for martial arts aficionados.

Continue reading The Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘No Time To Die,’ ‘The French Dispatch,’ ‘Matrix Resurrections’ & More at The Playlist.

Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalogue titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This biweekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.

Our latest, extra-jam-packed look at the new release shelf includes noteworthy indies, genre flicks on 4K, a handful of horror favorites, and the usual assortment of classics on Blu-ray.

Continue reading The Best Movies To Buy or Stream This Week: ‘Annette,’ ‘Summer of ’85,’ ‘Dune’ and More at The Playlist.

With seven years having passed since its release, it’s safe to say that the 23rd entry into the James Bond franchise, “Skyfall,” is the most significant in the series.

READ MORE: ‘No Time To Die’ & The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2020

Beyond making well over a billion dollars and winning the series its first Oscar since 1965, it established the series’ aesthetic, tone, and action that has led to its resurgence in the last few years.

Continue reading ‘No Time To Die’ Trailer: Cary Fukunaga Takes Daniel Craig Out For One Last James Bond Adventure at The Playlist.

On this episode of Adjust Your Tracking, Joe and I eschew the theatrical route for a discussion on two recent high profile Netflix releases. With the streaming service’s current release mode set to full-on tidal wave, it can be overwhelming just thinking about what to watch and even keeping up on what’s new and worth your time. Hopefully, we can be of service, as both items on this show’s talk sheet are worth your time.

Continue reading Auteurs On Netflix: ‘Maniac’ & ‘Hold The Dark’ [AYT Podcast] at The Playlist.

What if I told you someone tried to bridge the gap between the bizarre world of Charlie Kaufman and the fantastic dimensions of Christopher Nolan? And then what if I also told you, a first-rate auteur who still has yet to peak, was behind it all with two top-shelf stars in tow? In theory, the idea of “True Detective” and soon-to-be “Bond 25,” filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga creating an absurdist, surrealist version of “Inception,” meets “Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind“— only, instead of dreams and erasure, using mental illness, depression and schizophrenia as a vehicle for exploring memories, fantasy, guilt and regret —sounds mind-blowingly interstellar.

Continue reading Cary Fukunaga’s ‘Maniac’ With Jonah Hill & Emma Stone Is An Absurdist ‘Inception’ Meets ‘Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind’ [Review] at The Playlist.

When Danny Boyle unexpectedly left the job of directing the 25th James Bond adventure last month over creative differences, it left the producers in a bit of a pickle. Boyle was a coup for the franchise — the second Oscar-winner to take on a 007 joint, and his take, with long-time writer John Hodge, was said to be a very particular pitch that had caused Eon to abandon a previous iteration that had directors like David Mackenzie, Denis Villeneuve and Yann Demange circling.

Continue reading ‘True Detective’ Helmer Cary Joji Fukunaga Replaces Danny Boyle On ‘Bond 25’ at The Playlist.

Recently, we were excited by the first look for director Cary Fukunaga’s upcoming Netflix series “Maniac,” and we wondered what was next for the filmmaker. Well, now we know, and the project is shaping up to be something special.

Fukunaga is teaming up with actor Jake Gyllenhaal for a film titled “The American.” Gyllenhaal, who is also producing, will star as the famed musical legend, and “West Side Story” composer, Leonard Bernstein in a story based on the biography by author Humphrey Burton.

Continue reading Jake Gyllenhaal Starring In Leonard Bernstein Biopic From Director Cary Fukunaga at The Playlist.

Nope, instead he surprised everyone, including some close associates that we know, by announcing he would now helm an adaptation of the classic Charlotte Bronte novel “Jane Eyre.”

And now he has cast members biting.

Continue reading Mia Wasikowska & Michael Fassbender In Talks To Star In Cary Fukunaga’s ‘Jane Eyre’ Adaptation at The Playlist.

Continue reading The New Auteurs: 7 Directors Breaking Through In 2009 at The Playlist.

We talked to Fukunaga last week — who has a first look deal with Universal and Focus Features (who enthusiastically put out ‘Nombre’) and he told us that he’s working on a musical that could feature the music of orchestral indie-rockers Beirut and Final Fantasy (a sometime-member of the Arcade Fire) if all goes well.

Continue reading ‘Sin Nombre’ Director Also Working On A Time Travel Sci-Fi Film at The Playlist.

As we just noted Condon was tapped to do the score of the Mexico-set “Sin Nombre,” but the collaboration didn’t work out (though it was still fruitful for Condon musically).

However, just because they weren’t on the same page, doesn’t mean they won’t ever work together again. Quite the contrary, in fact, in what is a wet-dream for “where movies meets music” nerds like us, Fukunaga is in talks with Condon and Owen Pallet of the one-man-band violin show Final Fantasy (and sometimes Arcade Fire member) to potentially write the compositions for a musical that the director has in mind for his next project.

Continue reading Cary Fukunaga May Do Musical With Beirut And Owen Pallet Of Final Fantasy at The Playlist.

Did you know that multi-culti indie-rocker Zach Condon of Beirut (he of the sometimes Eastern European oompapah mien) was set to compose his first score to the immigration drama cum human suffering tale?

Fukunaga, a fan of the Brooklyn-based songwriter approached Condon to compose the score, but after some failed attempts, including a trip to Mexcio, the collaboration fizzled out.

Continue reading Did You Know? Beirut Almost Scored Cary Fukunaga’s ‘Sin Nombre’ at The Playlist.

Continue reading The Four Best Films of 2009… So Far… at The Playlist.

Continue reading SXSW: Cary Joji Fukunaga Talks ‘Sin Nombre’ Soundtrack At SXSW at The Playlist.

As already noted by our brief SXSW Film Fest report and those who already saw the film at Sundance earlier this year, “Sin Nombre” is a pretty spectacular debut for filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga.

Continue reading ‘Sin Nombre’ Soundtrack Comes Out March 24; Digitally Today at The Playlist.

Blame the lack of updates today so far on me. I slept 13-plus hours after not really sleeping the night before.

Our quick SXSW trip was brief, but awesome and we saw about 10 films in about two days.

Continue reading We’re Back – The Brief SXSW Recap at The Playlist.