“Hold Your Breath“ is directors Karrie Crouse and Will Joines’ debut feature, developed as part of the Sundance Institute’s Writer’s Lab program and likely a passion project. Unfortunately, due to an extremely familiar and well-worn cabin fever premise, it offers a highly repetitive and derivative experience – and cannot escape the shadow of its numerous predecessors that have covered similar ground. It does for dust what Alejandro Amenábar’s “The Others” did for light, but lacks its formal command, tactile texture,s, and enveloping atmosphere.

Continue reading ‘Hold Your Breath’ Review: A Fantastic Sarah Paulson Can’t Save Formulaic Horror Drama [TIFF] at The Playlist.

Does an invisible presence haunt one family? The new film “ Hold Your Breath” offers up a frightening possibility set during a historical tragedy. It takes place in 1930s Oklahoma, an area within the Dust Bowl. This decade saw landscapes devastated by drought and erosion — causing crop loss as well as powerful dust storms. Those storms present a haunting backdrop for the project. ‘Breath’ comes from co-directors Will Joines and Karrie Crouse.

Continue reading ‘Hold Your Breath’ Trailer: Sarah Paulson Stars In New Horror Film Coming To Hulu In October at The Playlist.

When the FX drama “The Bear” arrived out of nowhere in the summer of 2021, it was thrilling, a bolt of “Uncut Gems”-like electricity coursing through the veins of damaged, traumatized characters trying to survive not only the high-pressure-cooker stress of a highly dysfunctional kitchen setting but their highly dysfunctional and broken lives. Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who plays Cousin Ritchie on the show, perfectly described the series in our season one interview as “high-sodium volatility”; no one was coked up on drugs per se (though sometimes they were), but the surging blood pressure anxieties of their environment and lives made for a brilliantly toxic and gripping show about generational trauma, grinding through life and surviving grief.

Continue reading ‘The Bear’ Review: Carmy & The Dysfunctional Kitchen Struggle To Keep The Heat In Undercooked Season 3 at The Playlist.

FX’s highly acclaimed, highly anticipated dysfunctional kitchen/family drama “The Bear” returned to Hulu yesterday, June 26, to much online fanfare (fans were binge-watching the series immediately). Created by Christopher Storer and co-showrun by Storer and Joanna Calo, the two sole directors on the series thus far aside from a Ramy Youseff (“Ramy”) directorial guest spot in season two and a new slate of directors scheduled for season three, earlier this year, it was reported that “The Bear” was scheduled to shoot season three and four back to back.

Continue reading ‘The Bear’ Didn’t Shoot Seasons 3-4 Back To Back But Did “A Little Version Of That” According To Cast at The Playlist.

“If it’s not perfect, it doesn’t go out,” is the new tagline for everyone’s favorite dysfunctional family and kitchen drama, “The Bear,” from FX, which returns for season three on Hulu on June 27. Starring Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, all of whom have become fast-rising stars ever since the series took off in the summer of 2022, “The Bear” continues the drama and saga of Carmy and his cohorts going all-in on a fine dining establishment in Chicago, and trying to stay afloat despite demanding overhead costs.

Continue reading ‘The Bear’ Season 3 Trailer: Carmy & The Gang Return To The Dysfunctional Kitchen On June 27 at The Playlist.

It’s nutty to think just how fast FX’s dysfunctional kitchen drama “The Bear” ascended and how quickly it might just all end. Premiering on Hulu in the summer of 2022, “The Bear” literally seemingly came out of nowhere, wasn’t anticipated or known about, and wasn’t exactly heavily promoted in advance. But critics who got wind of it first knew immediately that the show sizzled with intensity and bruising emotional family baggage. By the end of the summer, when audiences finally had a chance to catch up and binge it all, the series became a bonafide word-of-mouth hit.

Continue reading ‘The Bear’ Trailer: The Dysfunctional Kitchen Drama Returns For Season 3 On June 27 at The Playlist.

Aside from FX’s recent breakout hit “Shōgun,” writer/director/producer Christopher Storer’s “The Bear” has got to be the network’s most popular shows of the last few years, catching everyone by surprise when it arrived in the summer of 2021. And we won’t have to wait too long before we get more episodes of the Chicago-set drama which centers on the simmering tensions in the hyper-stressful kitchen and restaurant world.

Continue reading ‘The Bear’ Season 3 Teaser Trailer: Acclaimed FX Series Returns June 27 at The Playlist.

FX’s. “The Bear” basically swept awards season this year, and this past weekend, they added more feathers to their caps with major wins at the SAG Awards and the PGA Awards. The show is definitely on top of TV at the moment and explains why the acclaimed show is watched and loved by people like Steven Spielberg. Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who plays Ritchie on the show and won an Emmy for his role on the series, was on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Continue reading Ebon Moss-Bachrach Says Steven Spielberg Loves ‘The Bear’ & Talks Keeping ‘Fantastic Four’ Secret at The Playlist.

It’s been one of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood for months, but it’s finally confirmed. After months of rumors and speculation, the cast of Marvel’s “Fantastic Four” movie has been confirmed by Marvel on Valentine’s Day (see the image below). Pedro Pascal, who was already reported to be in the mix, will play Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic; “Mission Impossible” star Vanessa Kirby will play the Invisible Woman; Sue Storm, “The Bear” breakout Ebon Moss-Bacharach will star as Ben Grimm, The Thing, and Joseph Quinn from the last season of “Stranger Things” will play Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch.

Continue reading ‘The Fantastic Four’: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach & Joseph Quinn Confirmed For Marvel Movie at The Playlist.

After her return to the world of character-driven indie cinema last year with the drama “Causeway,” which she also produced, it seemed Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence had found her way back to the kind of grounded cinema on which she cut her teeth. Yet her latest film as star-producer, “No Hard Feelings,” directed by Gene Stupnitsky (“Good Boys, “Bad Teacher”), is about as hard a pivot as is cinematically possible.

Continue reading ‘No Hard Feelings’ Review: Jennifer Lawrence’s Raunchy, Cringey Comedy Wastes A Talented Cast at The Playlist.

In case you’re living under a rock, FX’s “The Bear” took the TV world by storm last year, seemingly coming out of nowhere and turning the whole cast and crew into rock stars, especially the series’ lead Jeremy Allen White, known from “Shameless,” but seemingly receiving a whole new career overnight thanks to the runaway and critical success of the show (nearly everyone who covers TV put it on their list of the Best TV of 2022, including us).

Continue reading ‘The Bear’ Season 2 Trailer: Yes, Chef! FX’s Hit Dysfunctional Kitchen Show Returns For Seconds This June at The Playlist.

One of our favorite shows of last year, “The Bear,” returns for Season 2 in June. We named it one of the Best TV Shows of 2022, some of its episodes made our list of the Best TV Episodes of 2022, and it was on our list of the Most Anticipated TV Shows of 2023. So yes, we love the breakout series, “The Bear” which seemed to come out of nowhere last summer but took the world of TV by storm for all of those eagle-eyed TV viewers like us.

Continue reading ‘The Bear’ Season 2 Teaser: FX’s Breakout Dysfunctional Kitchen Drama Returns In June at The Playlist.

Actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach is riding high at the moment. Known initially for his work in Lena Dunham’s “Girls,” in the ensuing years, he’s put in the work and been in all kinds of indies, dramas, and varied film and TV works. 2022 has been something of a banner year for the actor, having a kind of second, breakthrough renaissance for his co-starring role in FX’s breakout series, “The Bear,” which became a massive hit this past summer.

Continue reading Ebon Moss-Bachrach Talks ‘Andor,’ Being In “Awe” Of Tony Gilroy & Feeling Like A ‘Star Wars’ Kid Again [Interview] at The Playlist.

While summer 2022 was full of anticipated TV franchises, “Obi-Wan: Kenobi,” “Ms. Marvel,” “The Boys,” “Hacks,” etc., nothing came out of nowhere and bum-rushed audiences as much as FX’s “The Bear,” an unlikely hit that quickly became the talk of the internet when it arrived in June and in the weeks after. As word of mouth built, everyone was talking about “The Bear.” And no, it’s not a wilderness show, but perhaps everyone’s just as desperate to survive.

Continue reading ‘The Bear’: Ebon Moss-Bachrach On The “High-Sodium Volatility” Of FX’s Dysfunctional Family Restaurant Series [Interview] at The Playlist.

What to expect from FX’s latest original show on Hulu? A hot kitchen, family, Chicago –and the occasional searing burn. “The Bear” stars Jeremy Allen White as a young chef who returns to the Windy City after a tragic family death to take over the family sandwich shop. Far away from what he’s used to, “Carmy” may discover what he truly needs.

READ MORE: Summer 2022 TV Preview: Over 35 Shows To Watch

Here’s the show’s official synopsis, courtesy of FX:

“The Bear” follows Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, a young chef from the fine-dining world, who comes home to Chicago to run his family sandwich shop – The Original Beef of Chicagoland – after a heartbreaking death in his family.

Continue reading ‘The Bear’ Trailer: A Young Chef Returns To Chicago In New FX On Hulu Show This June at The Playlist.

The region of New England, Maine might just be the inverted Florida of the North. While Florida is the obvious hot, sweaty mess we want to ditch into the sea, Maine’s quirks are much more subtle, ambiguous and even deceptive. Secrets, history, baggage, people that keep their cards close to the chest, all of these inscrutable dynamics cleverly come into play with murder, grief, and crime in the inventive and original “Blow The Man Down.”

READ MORE: Tribeca Film Festival: 15 Must-See Movies

Aiming for the off-kilter black comedy of “Fargo,” writer/director team Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy craft a film that’s as initially as cold as the area their characters inhabit.

Continue reading ‘Blow The Man Down’: Morgan Saylor & Sophie Lowe Set The Stage For Two Clever Filmmakers You Must Now Keep An Eye On [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.

The Bingeworthy Breakdown™ is back and this time we’re looking at Netflix’s Marvel’s “The Punisher,” the fourth iteration of the character following three rather unremarkable, unsuccessful films occurring before the days of Marvel Studios. Showrun by Steven Lightfoot, a writer and producer on “Hannibal,” “The Punisher” stars Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle, an ex-special forces soldier who becomes a vigilante fighting crime after his family is brutally murdered.

Continue reading Finally. ‘The Punisher’ Is Marvel’s Best Netflix Show [Bingeworthy™ Breakdown] at The Playlist.