Over the holidays, you probably saw Marvel Studios hype the hell out of the second season of animated hit, “What If…?” The series doesn’t necessarily qualify as “required viewing” for the MCU, but for those who just can’t get enough of the characters, it serves as an outlet to take these beloved icons and put a new spin on them. (More about that in our review.) But apparently, the real world shitshow that was going on in 2020 led to the showrunner of “What If…?” to change course a little and focus on having more fun, which meant ditching what would have been a very dark episode featuring none other than Spider-Man.

Continue reading ‘What If…?’ Writer Says A “Children Of Men With Spider-Man”-Esque Episode Was Written But Never Produced For Season 2 at The Playlist.

Generally speaking, if you’ve seen one “greatest films of all time” list, you’ve seen them all, with the top choices usually containing some configuration of “Citizen Kane,” “The Godfather,” and “Vertigo.” History tends to solidify critical consensus which makes a list of more contemporary movies all the more interesting. With less time and perspective to weigh in, one could argue that a list of the 100 Greatest Films Of The 21st Century, as recently put together by BBC Culture, rides a bit more on gut instinct and personal favorites.

Continue reading BBC’s 100 Greatest Films Of The 21st Century List Includes ‘Tree Of Life,’ ‘Mulholland Drive,’ ‘The Dark Knight,’ More at The Playlist.

It’s impossible for us to choose a single favorite genre from the wealth that cinema offers. But if some sort of “Sophie’s Choice” situation were to occur, we probably would be able to point to one that occupies a more central place in our hearts: science fiction. The term encompasses multitudes: sci-fi runs the gamut from stark, philosophical inquiry to space western to brainless robot-go-bang-bang; it hybridizes beautifully with other genres like comedy, horror and romance and as such is maybe the most expansive and elastic genre of them all.

Continue reading The 50 Best Sci-Fi Films Of The 21st Century So Far at The Playlist.

As kids, we looked ahead to the imminent 21st century and thought of a big bold, sci-fi future. The robot butler and trips to the drug store in hovercars version hasn’t yet arrived, but the first 15 years of this century have been extremely fruitful for big-screen science fiction.

Sci-fi is almost as old as cinema itself —1902’s Georges Méliès’ “A Trip To The Moon” is generally seen as the first example— but it became hugely popular in late 20th century filmmaking in the aftermath of “Star Wars,” if also somewhat watered down.

Continue reading The 25 Best Sci-Fi Films Of The 21st Century So Far at The Playlist.

Yesterday it was reported that Angelina Jolie had signed onto Alfonso Cuarón’s new sci-fi thriller called, “Gravity” instead of doing a sequel for “Wanted.”

Cuarón back in the game with a sci-fi thriller and Angelina Jolie? Hell yes, we’re there and excited, it’s been too long since Cuarón made a film (2006’s dystopian picture “Children of Men,” though he was one of the directors on the 2007 doc, “The Shock Doctrine,” not to be confused with the Michael Winterbottom 2009 documentary of the same name).

Continue reading Angelina Jolie Not In Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity? at The Playlist.

The project will see Jolie dominate the screen as the sole surviving human member of a space mission, desperately trying to return home to Earth and her daughter. It sounds similar to the tone of Sam Rockwell and “Moon” but it’s probably safe to assume that Cuarón and his son Jonás, who wrote the script together, have put their own unique spin on the genre tale as Alfonso did with his post-apocalyptic affair, “Children Of Men.”

Cuarón also had his children’s film”A Boy And His Shoe” in the works but after being pushed from a 2009 shoot and release, it remains to be seen whether that project will return.

Continue reading Angelina Jolie Abandons ‘Wanted’ Sequel For New Alfonso Cuarón Sci-Fi Thriller, ‘Gravity’ at The Playlist.

The mid-aughts were incredibly strong for movies — we dealt with 2005 yesterday, and had to expand the list it was such a good year, while 2007 (coming tomorrow) had several of the very best movies of the whole decade. In between the two, 2006 is less immediately stacked with goodness, but over time has been revealed as a truly great year for genre filmmaking.

Continue reading Best Of The Decade: The Playlist’s Best Films Of 2006 at The Playlist.

So we give major hats off to director Alfonso Cuarón who told MTV yesterday that any rumors of his involvement in a prequel or sequel to his excellent 2006, post-apocalyptic drama, “Children of Men” — about a world with infertile mothers, starring Clive Owen — were plain wrong.

Continue reading Well Played: Alfonso Cuarón Laughs Off ‘Children Of Men’ Sequel Or Prequel Suggestions at The Playlist.