Notice to all Lumon employees: it’s time to return to the office. Taking audiences by storm in the winter of 2022, Apple TV+’s acclaimed Emmy and Peabody-winning series, “Severance,” finally returns for a second season in early 2025. Hailing from director and executive producer Ben Stiller and creator, writer, and executive producer Dan Erickson, “Severance” stars Emmy Award nominee Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, Zach Cherry, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman, Emmy Award winner John Turturro, Academy Award winner Christopher Walken and Academy and Emmy Award winner Patricia Arquette.

Continue reading ‘Severance’ Season 2 Trailer: The Lumon Staff Returns To Work On Jan 17, 2025 at The Playlist.

Immense, remarkably captivating, imposing, and right on the edge of overblown, filmmaker Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two” is a spectacular blockbuster epic in the grandest sense of the tradition. Picking up where ‘Part One’ left off, this darker, bleaker, moodier sequel is a grand war movie but also a devastating cautionary tale about messiahs, idolatry, and the dangers of false gods. Likened to “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,” with apologies to George Lucas, his film is a simple defeat and setback to the valiant heroes.

Continue reading ‘Dune: Part Two’ Review: A Darker, Devastating Blockbuster & Cautionary Tale About Prophecy, Fate & False Idols at The Playlist.

“Dune: Part Two” might be the second chapter of Denis Villeneuve’s epic space saga, but the filmmaker says it’s imperative to stress it’s not a sequel, as the film picks up exactly where the last one left off. “It’s important—it’s not a sequel, it’s a second part. There’s a difference,” Villeneuve told Vanity Fair earlier this year. “I wanted the movie to really open just where we left the characters.

Continue reading ‘Dune: Part Two’ Trailer: Fury Rises In Denis Villeneuve’s Much-Anticipated Sci-Fi Epic at The Playlist.

“Dune: Part Two” director Denis Villeneuve has finally found an actor to play Emperor Shaddam IV, the shadowy villainous figure that rules the “Dune” galaxy and essentially was behind the massacre of House Atreides as he saw Duke Leto Atreides as an impending threat to his throne.

Deadline reports that Oscar-winner Christopher Walken has landed the role, which is near perfect casting given the actor’s great body of work playing ruthless but quirky villains.

Continue reading ‘Dune: Part Two’ Taps Christopher Walken As Emperor Shaddam IV In Denis Villeneuve’s Sci-Fi Epic at The Playlist.

Over the course of nearly 15 years, filmmaker Martin McDonagh has only released three features. But when your debut film is “In Bruges” and your most recent feature, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” was nominated for a ton of Oscars, people tend to get excited about each release, even if there is a big gap between films. But it appears that McDonagh isn’t going to be wasting time over the next couple of years, already in production on one new film and lining up the cast for the one after that.

Continue reading Oscar Isaac, Sam Rockwell & Christopher Walken To Star In Martin McDonagh’s New Film Project at The Playlist.

Plus ‘Crestone,’ ‘F.T.A.,’ ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,’ ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High,’ ‘Merrily We Go to Hell,’ ‘Trances,’ ‘Masculin Feminin,’ ‘Smile,’ ‘The Hot Spot,’ ‘Tank,’ ‘Sweet Liberty,’ ‘All-American Murder,’ ‘The Cellar,’ ‘Winterbeast,’ ‘Horizons West,’ and ‘The Wages of Sin.’

Continue reading The Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘The Good, The Bad & The Ugly,’ ‘The Mitchells Vs. The Machines’ & More at The Playlist.

When we talk about technology and inventions, a lot of times, people think of some sort of product on “Shark Tank.” But as seen in the new film, “Percy vs. Goliath,” intellectual property created in a lab also falls under that umbrella of inventions and technology.

READ MORE: ‘Things Heard & Seen’ Trailer: Amanda Seyfriend Moves Into A Haunted Farmhouse In This New Netflix Thriller

“Percy vs.

Continue reading ‘Percy Vs. Goliath’ Trailer: Christopher Walken & Christina Ricci Take On A Farming Corporation In This New Drama at The Playlist.

So hasn’t himself from “Fifty Shades of Grey” gone all forty shades of green in the new fillum, “Wild Mountain Thyme,” named for the haunting ballad that we Irish are taught at the teat, and apt to burst into once we’ve a bellyful of stout in us. Mind you, the song is maybe more Scottish really but don’t be worrying; we get mixed up between Ireland and Scotland ourselves most days, never knowing if we’re to wake up in Dingle or Dundee and not much minding one way or the other cause aren’t there cows to be feeding, donkeys to be proposing to and a lot of things to be falling off, walls and rowboats and high horses and the like.

Continue reading ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ With Emily Blunt And Jamie Dornan: No, Lassie, No. [Review] at The Playlist.

It’s always necessary to work for the things you really want. That goes for all facets of life, including love. Truth be told, not everyone is the modern incarnation of Don Juan or Casanova, though. If only there were something to allay the trepidation of asking out a special someone. The answer might be thyme. Hey, it worked for the most chivalrous of folks. Women presented knights with gifts made from the herb to instill courage.

Continue reading ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ Trailer: Emily Blunt & Jamie Dornan Are Very Irish In New Romantic Comedy at The Playlist.

The fall does seem awfully bleak if you’re a film fan that enjoys going to the cinema to enjoy a feature on the big screen. With major studios running far, far away from the fall 2020 schedule, moving films into 2021, it’s beginning to look barren, to say the least. Well, thankfully there are distributors such as Bleecker Street and the upcoming film “Wild Mountain Thyme.”

READ MORE: Dwayne Johnson & Emily Blunt To Play Married Superheroes In ‘Ball & Chain’

The indie distributor, Bleecker Street, is set to release “Wild Mountain Thyme” this December in theaters (and VOD, if that’s what you prefer).

Continue reading ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ First Look: Emily Blunt, Jamie Dornan & Jon Hamm Star In New Romance From ‘Doubt’ Filmmaker at The Playlist.

Every few years, Robert De Niro likes to mix it up. He’ll throw in “Last Vegas” or “The Intern” to remind us all he’s more than Travis Bickle or Jake LaMotta. He can also be a generic old man with a deep voice and a contract that requires him to wear reading glasses for 70% of the movie. And so arrives “The War With Grandpa,” an adaptation of Robert Kimmel Smith‘s 1984 novel, directed by animation veteran Tim Hill, with a script by Matt Ember and Tom J.

Continue reading ‘War With Grandpa’: A Childish Comedy Offering Few Laughs [Review] 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. 

It’s a busy week on the new release front, with a handful of hits getting the 4K treatment, hidden gems and certified classics hitting Blu-ray, and one of the year’s very best movies making its Netflix bow.

Continue reading The 12 Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘Dick Johnson Is Dead,’ ‘The Elephant Man’ & 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, 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. 

Two potentially major productions caught in the wheels of the lockdown hit disc and (reasonable) VOD this week, alongside a Sundance doc on Apple TV+,  a lovely new musical bio-doc, and the usual bushel of marvelous catalog titles from Criterion, Warner Archive, and Kino-Lorber.

Continue reading The 13 Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘The King of Staten Island,’ ‘The Burnt Orange Heresy’ & More at The Playlist.

Turns out Quentin Tarantino wasn’t done telling “what if?” Hollywood stories. After telling the tale of how he nearly cast Laurence Fishburne in the role of Jules in “Pulp Fiction” and how him not getting it may have lead to Fishburne missing out on “Die Hard: With A Vengeance,” and how he originally considered Paul Newman and Gene Hackman for “Jackie Brown,” the director is back to tell the story of how Harvey Keitel was originally set to play the role of Frank White in “King of New York.”

READ MORE: David Letterman Says Quentin Tarantino Once Threatened to Beat Him To Death Over A ‘Late Show’ Joke

Abel Ferrara’s crime thriller “The King of New York” stars Christopher Walken as Frank White, a drug lord who leaves prison and decides to take total control of the criminal underworld of New York City in order to give back to the community.

Continue reading Harvey Keitel Was Originally Set To Star In ‘King Of New York’ Says Tarantino at The Playlist.

With only five more days until this year’s Oscar telecast the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has finally revealed it’s last set of presenters to join host Jimmy Kimmel on the Dolby Theater stage. And, as you’d expect, many of them are former winners with new films just around the corner.

Gal Gadot, Mark Hamill, Armie Hammer and more presenting at the 90th Academy Awards

Stars with upcoming projects to promote now include Emily Blunt (“Mary Poppins Returns”), Oscar winner Sandra Bullock (“Ocean’s 8”), Dave Chappelle (“A Star is Born”), Eugenio Derbez (“Overboard”), Ansel Elgort (“The Goldfinch”), two-time Oscar winner Jane Fonda (“Book Club”), two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster (“Hotel Artemis”), Eiza Gonzalez (“Alita: Battle Angel”), Ashley Judd (“A Dog’s Way Home”), Oscar winner Nicole Kidman (“Boy Erased”), Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey (“White Boy Rick”), Oscar winner Helen Mirren (“Anna”), Oscar winner Rita Moreno (Netflix’s “One Day At A Time”), Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o (“Little Monsters”) and Oscar winner Christopher Walken.

Continue reading Dave Chappelle, Nicole Kidman And Ansel Elgort Also Presenting at 90th Academy Awards at The Playlist.

Movies should be seen on the big screen. Comedies are buoyed by the laughter that surrounds you, horror films benefit from shared gasps in the darkness and well-shot action and sci-fi blooms into the larger scale. The one exception may be all-out weepies like “Irreplaceable You,” which are best seen in the privacy of one’s own home with an unlimited supply of tissues. This Netflix original is the perfect film to debut on streaming, where’s there no self consciousness about how loud you’re sniffling or how swollen your face is.

Continue reading Netflix’s ‘Irreplaceable You’ Is Flawed But Filled With Feeling [Review] at The Playlist.

Valentine’s Day is coming up, and Netflix is hoping that among their original content, you’ll want to curl up and chill with your special sweetheart and watch….a cancer rom-com? Uh, ok.

As befalls the fate of many Netflix original productions, “Irreplaceable You” is being marketed just a couple weeks out from release. The movie comes from director Stephanie Laing, veteran producer of “Eastbound & Down,” “Veep,” and “Vice Principals,” among others.

Continue reading ‘Irreplaceable You’ Trailer: Prepare For The Worst With Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Kate McKinnon, Steve Coogan & More at The Playlist.

“Father Figures” is another addition to the stable of raunchy studio comedies that made stars Owen Wilson and Ed Helms’ names, and caps off a year wherein Wilson is also looking for awards recognition in the weepie “Wonder.”

A new trailer has arrived for the Warner Bros. comedy which marks the directorial debut of “The Hangover” cinematographer Lawrence Sher — here’s hoping that this film can recapture some of that first film’s gonzo charm and less of the seedy and misogynist humor of the following films in that franchise.

Continue reading ‘Father Figures’ Trailer: Owen Wilson & Ed Helms Are Brothers Looking For Their Father at The Playlist.

Somewhere between a bunch of commercials and a half-time show, a game of football was played last night, and it was a doozy. The Super Bowl went into overtime for the first time in history, the New England Patriots reigned supreme and fans got one helluva show. And advertisers got a lot of eyeballs.

READ MORE: Melissa McCarthy Eviscerates Sean Spicer In Hilarious New SNL Skit 

You’ve likely already seen the onslaught of movie and TV related promos that dropped during the game, but if that wasn’t enough, the stars cashed some big paychecks to promote everything from tax services to jewelry and we’re rounded it all up below.

Continue reading Super Bowl: Melissa McCarthy, Adam Driver, Christopher Walken & More Feature In Star-Studded Game Day Ads at The Playlist.

It has been nearly four decades since Michael Cimino released his epic masterpiece “The Deer Hunter,” which to date has marked the only time Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken have teamed up in a movie. Their careers since have taken twists and turns, with both actors notching low marks this year with “Dirty Grandpa” and “Nine Lives” respectively.

Continue reading ‘The Deer Hunter’ Duo Robert De Niro & Christopher Walken Reunite For A New Battle In ‘The War With Grandpa’ at The Playlist.

Review: Jason Bateman's Endearing & Satisfying 'The Family Fang' With Nicole Kidman

Continue reading Review: Jason Bateman’s Endearing & Satisfying ‘The Family Fang’ With Nicole Kidman at The Playlist.

Kevin Spacey Is A Talking Cat In New Trailer For 'Nine Lives'

Continue reading Kevin Spacey Is A Talking Cat In New Trailer For ‘Nine Lives’ at The Playlist.

A lavish technological spectacle, Disney‘s “The Jungle Book” pushes the capabilities of computer-generated imagery even further than the recent efforts of Pixar and the special-effects orgy of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” You’d never guess these jungles and plains were shot in a downtown Los Angeles warehouse, with the bare walls and floor later replaced with photo-realistic scenery and exquisitely animated animals.

Continue reading Review: Jon Favreau’s ‘The Jungle Book’ With Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Scarlett Johansson, More at The Playlist.

Review: 'One More Time' With Amber Heard And Christopher Walken Is A Low-Key Pleasure With Big Rewards

Continue reading Review: ‘One More Time’ With Amber Heard And Christopher Walken Is A Low-Key Pleasure With Big Rewards at The Playlist.

Watch: First Trailer For Jason Bateman's 'Family Fang' With Nicole Kidman, Christopher Walken, Kathryn Hahn, And More

Continue reading Watch: First Trailer For Jason Bateman’s ‘Family Fang’ With Nicole Kidman, Christopher Walken, Kathryn Hahn, And More at The Playlist.