The third day of Peabody Awards results are in and in a wonderful reminder to Emmy voters, today’s big winner was Michaela Coel’s “I May Destroy You.” The HBO limited series was the only entertainment category winner announced today along with “La Llorona,” an International Film Oscar shortlist film that somehow qualified for a Peabody (I guess…streaming?). It’s in good company, however, as the organization also honors documentaries, this year’s Academy Award nominees “Crip Camp” and “Collective” were among the winners.

Continue reading ‘I May Destroy You,’ ‘Collective’ & ‘Crip Camp’ Win 2021 Peabody Awards at The Playlist.

Well, that was weird. 

Oscar night felt a bit like an off-brand version of an Oscar night – and not in a bad way (at least until the end). But there were times when the rehearsal-dinner vibe was impossible to ignore, especially at the end when it felt like ringmaster Steven Soderbergh handed the reins to Luis Buñuel, everyone was getting a little tetchy and impatient, the cake course was served before the entree and when it was time for Gramps’ speech he’d already gone to bed – possibly embarrassed by Mamaw’s twerking.

Continue reading The Snubs And Surprises Of The 2021 Oscars 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.

Every column has felt overloaded as of late, as if home video distributors know we’re all planning on finally leaving the house soon, and want to sell us a few more things while they can.

Continue reading The 14 Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘News Of The World,’ ‘Collective,’ ‘World Of Wong Kar-Wai’ & More at The Playlist.

Usually, the twists and turns during awards season are prompted by scandals, public relations goofs, or films that simply didn’t play as expected. This year, the ongoing pandemic has created changes in the process itself that continue to surprise longtime observers. The latest was the revelation last week that the International Film Oscar’s shortlist, a crucial part of paring down the usual 90+ submissions to an eventual five nominees, was being severely tinkered with.

READ MORE: Oscars move to April 2021 due to coronavirus pandemic

Since 2008, the International Film committee has helped determine the 9-10 films on the shortlist beyond the traditional voting process.

Continue reading International Film Race Gets Thrown A Curve With Shortlist Expansion at The Playlist.

It came close with both the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, but the National Society of Film Critics came through for “Nomadland.” The acclaimed Searchlight Pictures release won Best Picture, Best Director (Chloé Zhao), Best Actress (Frances McDormand) and Cinematography (Joshua James Richards). In an incredibly close Best Picture race, NYFCC winner “First Cow” was just two points behind.

Continue reading ‘Nomadland’ & Delroy Lindo Win Key 2020 National Society Of Film Critics Honors at The Playlist.

Call this feature “overlooked films” if you liked, and if you saw them, and yes, there’s some crossover with some of our other Best of 2020 features, like the 25 Best Films Of 2020, the 20 Best Performances Of 2020, etc. but that’s ok!

READ MORE: The Best Cinematography Of 2020

2020 was a year where movie-lovers learned how to watch movies in an entirely different way. Since theaters were shut down across much of America for most of the year and many of the year’s more anticipated offerings were either shuffled off the annual slate until 2021, or relegated to streaming services a la “Wonder Woman 1984,” our regular routine of watching, analyzing, and obsessing over films was more or less completely upended.

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2020 You Didn’t See at The Playlist.

If it’s a Sunday in December it means it’s time for the Los Angeles Film Critics Association to hand out their year-end honors. The big winner was Steve McQueen’s film anthology commissioned for the BBC and Amazon Prime Video, “Small Axe.” It took Best Film, Best Cinematography and McQueen was runner up for Best Director.

READ MORE: “First Cow” chosen as Best Film of 2020 by NYFCC

Chloe Zhao won Best Director for “Nomadland” which also was runner up for Cinematography.

Continue reading LA Film Critics Select Steve McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’ As Best Film at The Playlist.

“If only I had time,” I remember sighing at some point in late 2019, probably in a pub or a restaurant among a cluster of friends separated by <1 ft of space, lipstick doubtless boozily smeared across my maskless face. “If only I somehow had the time to do nothing but stay in and catch up on all the non-fiction releases I’ve missed through the year!” Little did I know that at that exact moment, the Ministry of Be Careful What You Wish For was listening in.

Continue reading The 20 Best Documentaries Of 2020 at The Playlist.

Who said there wouldn’t be any awards before the end of 2020? There are critics groups handing out (virtual) trophies in the weeks ahead and instead of New York or Los Angeles going first, we begin with their peers in Boston. And in what may be a familiar refrain, The Boston Society of Film Critics capped off their annual year-end winners by selecting “Nomadland” as Best Film.

READ MORE: The 25 Best Films of 2020 from The Playlist critics

The Searchlight Pictures release also took Best Director (Chloé Zhao) and Best Cinematography (Joshua James Richards).

Continue reading ‘Nomadland” Named Best Film Of 2020 By Boston Society of Film Critics at The Playlist.

In a tight Oscar race in the International Film category, Thomas Vinterberg‘s celebrated “Another Round” is increasingly looking like an easy bet for a nomination. The Venice Film Festival drama swept the major honors at the 2020 European Film Awards including European Film, Director (Vinterberg), Actor (Mads Mikkelsen) and Screenplay. The film, distributed by Samuel Goldwyn in the United States, was originally set to debut at the canceled 2020 Cannes Film Festival.

Continue reading ‘Another Round’ Dominates 2020 European Film Awards at The Playlist.

To many Oscar observers, there are already a ton of questions about this year’s Best Picture race. How many films will actually get nominated? Can Netflix actually land three Best Picture nominees? Will any films be seen in theaters before voting begins? But, one individual category that is even more wide open and puzzling for even the most veteran awards season strategist is the battle for the International Film, formerly Foreign Language Film, Oscar.

WATCH: “Collective” Exclusive Clip chronicles the discovery of massive corruption

On pace for potentially a record number of submissions, the International Film Oscar has taken on greater significance in recent years with winners “Amour” and “Roma” also earning Best Picture nods, Asghar Farhadi‘s “The Salesman” 2017 triumph seen as a rebuke by AMPAS members of the Trump Administration’s “Muslim Ban,” Sebastián Lelio‘s “A Fantastic Woman” being a landmark moment for transgender representation in film and, of course, Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” becoming the first non-English language film to win Best Picture.

Continue reading International Film Contenders Ready For A Wide Open Oscars Race at The Playlist.

If you look at Metacritic’s top-rated films of 2020, you may be surprised at the no. 2 ranked film of the year. Sure, Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland” has a firm hold at the no. 1 spot, but tied with Steve McQueen’s “Lovers Rock” (which should be under Television, which it was created for, but whatever) is Alexander Nanau’s “Collective.” A documentary so powerful that Romania selected it as its International Film submission for the 2021 Academy Awards.

Continue reading ‘Collective’ Exclusive Clip Chronicles Discovery Of Massive Corruption at The Playlist.

Despite a lack of theatrical distribution, 2020 has been another banner year for documentaries. It’s no surprise then that a number of acclaimed Oscar contenders didn’t make the cut for the prestigious IDA Documentary Awards. More on that in a minute, but first kudos to Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht’s “Crip Camp” which led all films with five nominations.

READ MORE: “Crip Camp,” a hopeful, joyous documentary with an activist spirit [Review]

Among other contenders, Garrett Bradley’s “Time” and Sam Pollard’s “MLK/FBI” both earned four nods while Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s “The Truffle Hunters” earned three.

Continue reading ‘Crip Camp’ Earns Five IDA Documentary Awards Nominations at The Playlist.

A common political cliché says that it’s not the scandal that gets you; it’s the cover-up. Alexander Nanau’s coruscating documentary “Collective” supersizes that formulation. Nanau begins with a terrible tragedy, which is likely enough of a subject on its own: the 2015 fire at Bucharest nightclub Colectiv, which killed 26 people. But in this movie, the fire—skin-crawling footage of which plays just before the credits—is just the beginning.

Continue reading Sickening Yet Riveting Documentary ‘Collective’ Shows A Cynical Nation In Collapse at The Playlist.

In 2015, a fire burned down Romanian night club The Colectiv, killing 25 people in its wake and injuring an additional 180 people. The new documentary “Collective” uncovers the mysterious truth about what really happened. The tragedy ended up exposing layers of corruption across the country.

READ MORE: ‘Collective’: Alexander Nanau’s Nail-Biting Doc Exposes Sickening Government Corruption [TIFF Review]

“Collective” shows the danger of what can happen when a government values profit over human lives.

Continue reading ‘Collective’ Trailer: The New Documentary Uncovers Tragedy & Corruption After A Deadly Fire at The Playlist.

Each year, countless films premiere at festivals across the world. Filmmakers are celebrated for their artistic vision. Projects are praised for their ability to push the boundaries of what we expect from national cinemas. Then, just as quickly as these films burst on the scene, many disappear from the public eye. Some fall through the cracks of distribution. Others are snapped up by discriminating studios but languish in the vault as executives work to puzzle out the perfect date and platform for their release.

Continue reading The 25 Best Movies Of 2020 We’ve Already Seen at The Playlist.

One of the most fascinating films about a massive political scandal that most have never heard of, Alexander Nanau’s documentary “Collective” tracks the Romanian newspaper Sports Gazette as it investigates a large-scale medical cover-up that extends into the upper echelons of the government. Beginning with the newsroom, before expanding its scope, Nanau, wisely, lets his subjects take over the film, content to linger in press conferences and meetings, as both the government and press attempt to make sense of the escalating series of medical catastrophes.

Continue reading ‘Collective’: Alexander Nanau’s Nail-Biting Doc Exposes Sickening Government Corruption [TIFF Review] at The Playlist.