Watching a Ben Wheatley film can be a wonderfully disorienting experience. Wheatley enjoys getting under his audience’s skin: he lives to make us uncomfortable and delights in showing us images that may make us lose our lunch. The characters in his films are bedraggled hitmen, schmucky mobsters, bloodthirsty lovers, and downtrodden, ordinary folks who are often one awful day away from regressing to a state of complete lunacy. Wheatley’s movies leave you aghast at their ingenuity and sadism and mischief, to the point where he’s become one of the most consistently unpredictable genre directors working today; certainly, no secret why the likes of Edgar Wright and Martin Scorsese count themselves as fans.

Continue reading The Essentials: The Films Of Ben Wheatley at The Playlist.

As much as we evidently love you, our glorious readers (why else would we toil so hard over such a breathtaking array of year-end features, for one thing), there is perhaps a group of people we love even more. And that is our contributors, who throughout the year give The Playlist its inimitable, sometimes cacophonous but always lively voice, and who help us to deliver the goods to you every day in the manner of a vigilant cat laying the eviscerated mouse of the day’s hot movie topics at your feet.

Continue reading The Most Underrated & Overrated Films Of 2017 at The Playlist.

While Edgar Wright‘s “Baby Driver” is currently providing some pure genre thrills on the big screen, there’s another movie that you might’ve missed this year that provides the same feeling of flat-out entertainment: Ben Wheatley‘s “Free Fire.” The good news is that we have some copies to give away to some lucky readers, whether you’re seeing it for the first time, or are a fan of the flick already.

Continue reading Contest: Win Ben Wheatley’s ‘Free Fire’ On Blu-ray at The Playlist.

Ben Wheatley, no doubt, has a twisted sense of humor. Just watch “High-Rise,” or, even, “Kill List” for further proof of his subtle dark comedy in the most twisted of situations. His latest film, “Free Fire,” is an ultra-violent action-comedy that features a barrage of bullets, zingy one-liners and, yes, even a little bit of slapstick added to the mix.

Continue reading ‘Free Fire’ Director Ben Wheatley Talks Movie Gunfights, Martin Scorsese & The Kinetic Action Of ‘Freakshift’ [Interview] at The Playlist.

The fastest film to reach $1 billion ever? That distinction goes to “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which hit the mark in all of 12 days. “The Fate Of The Furious” isn’t quite there yet, but revving to a $908 million haul in 10 days is still super-impressive. So yes, in case you were wondering, “The Fate Of The Furious” is the number one movie in the country yet again, but the real story is being told overseas.

Continue reading ‘Fast & Furious 8’ Hits $900 Million Worldwide In Just Two Week, Repeats #1 Spot [Box Office] at The Playlist.

On this episode of Adjust Your Tracking, Joe and I open with more talk of repertory cinema, in this case the recent 4K restoration of “Donnie Darko” currently playing in some arthouses around the country (and also getting a gorgeous new blu-ray release from Arrow Video). From there, I recommend you see “The Lost City Of Z” in a theater, and soon (also check out Rodrigo’s great interview with director James Gray on his new podcast).

Continue reading Adjust Your Tracking Has A Blast With ‘Free Fire,’ Talks New David Lynch Doc ‘The Art Life’ [Podcast] at The Playlist.

I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to say that Sharlto Copley is the best part of Ben Wheatley‘s “Free Fire.” The only character in the film who seems to have no clue how a gunfight is supposed to work – in one scene in the film, he leads an increasingly anxious line of inquiry about how long it’ll take someone to bleed out – Copley’s character gives the South African actor a chance to dial his normally restrained screen presence (kidding) all the way to eleven.

Continue reading Sharlto Copley Battles Infection In This Exclusive NSFW ‘Free Fire’ Clip at The Playlist.

By any reasonable expectation, “High-Rise” was poised to be Ben Wheatley’s crossover hit, the movie that would bring him mainstream attention after capturing the hearts of genre fans with “Kill List.” Certainly, Wheatley was in no hurry to curry favor with a wider audience, crafting movies like the pitch black comedy “Sightseers” and the wildly experimental “A Field In England” in the interim.

Continue reading Ben Wheatley’s ’Free Fire’ Is A Wickedly Enjoyable Shoot-Em-Up [Review] at The Playlist.

A free movie is one thing, but a free advance screening of Ben Wheatley‘s outrageously entertaining “Free Fire“? Well, it doesn’t get much better than that, and this week, some lucky readers are going to get their chance to see the explosive action movie before everyone else.

Starring Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer, Sam Riley, and Sharlto Copley, the film (mostly) unfolds in a warehouse where two gangs meet to make a deal for some guns.

Continue reading Contest: Win Tickets To Advance Screenings Of Ben Wheatley’s ‘Free Fire’ This Week at The Playlist.

In these increasingly heated political times, when our world is marked by confusion, division and dissent, it’s vital to stay engaged. It’s gnarly out there. But, as per usual, the cinema is a place for escape from and high engagement with this world we live in.

Perhaps this month’s column can serve as a clearheaded, evenhanded guide to remind you, dear readers and moviegoers, that there’s certainly something opening at a movie theater worth your time.

Continue reading 10 Films To See In April at The Playlist.

One warehouse. A deal gone wrong. And a whole lot of guns. That’s the simple, brilliant premise of Ben Wheatley‘s “Free Fire,” which unfolds an action-packed, hilarious thriller that would impress even John Wick with how many bullets are unleashed.

READ MORE: The 20 Best Movies Of 2017 That We’ve Already Seen

Endorsed by none other than Martin Scorsese, and coming in hot off strong receptions at the Toronto International Film Festival and BFI London Festival  (among others), “Free Fire” is now headed to SXSW where Austin audiences can watch the all-star cast — Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer, Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Jack Reynor, Babou Ceesay, Enzo Cilenti, Sam Riley, Michael Smiley and Noah Taylor — have a ball in this ’70s-set film.

Continue reading Exclusive: Take Aim With These New Photos From Ben Wheatley’s ‘Free Fire’ at The Playlist.

In the elevator of the Marriott Hotel in Rotterdam, Ben Wheatley grimaces at the noise of a drill nearby. It’s partly his hangover, but also partly deja vu: he was here, at this festival, in this hotel last year, he tells me, and the hotel was under renovation then too. But if it was oddly thematically appropriate to accommodate Wheatley on the upper floors of an unfinished skyscraper while he was touring his last film, the JG Ballard adaptation “High-Rise,” it feels wrong now: his new title, “Free Fire” which premiered in Toronto, is far more earthbound.

Continue reading Rotterdam: Ben Wheatley Talks ‘Free Fire,’ ‘Doctor Who’ And His Killer Approach To The ‘Wages Of Fear’ Remake at The Playlist.

Well, here we are, in the brave (terrifying) new (still terrifying) world of 2017. Whatever else we have to expect in the 363 days to come (and actually, the first 48 hours have been pretty good on the whole), it promises to be a good year for the movies, as you might have seen from our 100 Most Anticipated Movies piece a month or so back. But somehow, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Continue reading The 20 Best Movies Of 2017 That We’ve Already Seen at The Playlist.

We have a love/hate relationship with movie trailers (don’t even get Kevin started on teaser trailers), that is, we love to talk about how much we hate them. But they’re an unavoidable fact of the business, and while we try not to feed the beast of pre-trailer teasers and trailer release date hype, we can’t ignore that our trailer posts are among the best performing parts of our news coverage – we might dislike them in general, you might dislike them in general, but apparently most of us watch them.

Continue reading The 20 Best Movie Trailers Of 2016 at The Playlist.

Well, would you look at the date? It’s the first of December, which means we’re going to start looking back on all the great stuff 2016 has brought to us at the movies. And like the considerate film lovers we are, it’s a process we’re kicking off in gentle, colorful style by running down the best in movie posters.

Since we’re not limited to films that have already opened, just to posters that have appeared since January, there are a couple of teasers for films not yet playing included below.

Continue reading The 20 Best Movie Posters Of 2016 at The Playlist.

A warehouse, a bunch of guns, and some big personalities….what could go wrong? Everything and anything, as Ben Wheatley‘s “Free Fire” uses that simple premise to weave a wildly entertaining action movie that let’s the bullets and one liners fly. And now, we finally know what it’ll be hitting the multiplex.

READ MORE: Ben Wheatley’s ‘Free Fire’ Is A Joyous Blast Of B-Movie Mayhem

A24 has announced a March 17, 2017 bow for the movie, which will see it go up against “Beauty And The Beast” and the horror/thriller “The Belko Experiment,” though likely in limited release.

Continue reading Everyone’s A Target In New Poster For ‘Free Fire,’ Release Date Revealed at The Playlist.

After ten days, at least 55 films and an obscene amount of poutine and Tim Horton’s breakfast sandwiches, Team Playlist is done with the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. TIFF is probably the world’s biggest film festival, and if there were any worries about the “death of cinema” spurred by thinkpieces written as the fest was getting underway, they were swiftly dispelled by a line-up that showed the medium to be in fine health, from expensive true-life disaster movies and starry biopics to weird world cinema and tiny microbudget indies.

Continue reading The 15 Best Films Of The 2016 Toronto International Film Festival at The Playlist.

The pedigree of the TIFF People’s Choice Award speaks for itself. Past years has seen films like “Room,” “The King’s Speech,” “The Imitation Game,” “12 Years A Slave,” and “Slumdog Millionaire” earn the coveted prize and go on to awards-season success. Now, in 2016, one of the most buzzed-about movies of the fall has earned the stamp of approval.

Continue reading ‘La La Land’ Wins Coveted TIFF People’s Choice Award, ‘Free Fire’ & ‘Jackie’ Take Top Prizes at The Playlist.

There is no normal when it comes to the films of Ben Wheatley. As he’s shown in everything from “Kill List” to “A Field In England” to this spring’s surreal madhouse “High-Rise,” all you can do is strap in, and brace yourself for an experience like no other. Genre is merely semantics when it comes to the filmmaker who doesn’t just break rules, but makes up his own.

Continue reading Take Aim With The Explosive Red Band Trailer For Ben Wheatley’s ‘Free Fire’ With Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer, More at The Playlist.

By any reasonable expectation, “High-Rise” was poised to be Ben Wheatley’s crossover hit, the movie that would bring him mainstream attention after capturing the hearts of genre fans with “Kill List.” Certainly, Wheatley was in no hurry to curry favor with a wider audience, crafting movies like the pitch black comedy “Sightseers” and the wildly experimental “A Field In England” in the interim.

Continue reading Ben Wheatley’s ’Free Fire’ Is A Joyous Blast Of B-Movie Mayhem [TIFF Review] at The Playlist.

So far, 2016 has been one of most disappointing years for movies we can remember, and the fall film-festival season couldn’t come fast enough. And already, Venice opener “La La Land,” has made the cinematic landscape seem much rosier (read Jess’s rave review here if you haven’t already). The premieres will come thick and fast over the next few days, with Telluride getting in the mix on Friday, but we’re still a week away from one of the biggest events of them all, the Toronto International Film Festival.

Continue reading The 30 Most Anticipated Films Of The 2016 Toronto International Film Festival at The Playlist.

Ben Wheatley’s previous film, the enigmatic “High Rise,” was quite the head trip with its high-minded look at societal collapse, finding its fair share of both supporters and detractors. With his stylish display of class war anarchy at work, Wheatley nonetheless solidified his status as a visionary. Now, one year later, a new Ben Wheatley film already awaits us. It seems A24 hopes to now repeat the formula of the previous film, bringing “Free Fire” to Toronto International Film Festival‘s Midnight Madness program for its World Premiere.

Continue reading Ben Wheatley’s ‘Free Fire’ Not Opening Until 2017, Director Talks Influence Of Sam Peckinpah at The Playlist.

In less than a month, the entire industry will be in Canada for the Toronto International Film Festival, and as per usual, organizers are going to have an impressive and huge slate of movies to choose from. And their latest list of announcements highlights highly anticipated titles headed up north.

The cream of the crop is easily Ben Wheatley‘s “Free Free,” which will make its World Premiere as part of TIFF’s always terrific Midnight Madness lineup.

Continue reading TIFF Sets World Premiere For Ben Wheatley’s ‘Free Fire,’ ‘Colossal’ Starring Anne Hathaway, And More at The Playlist.

For cinephiles, film festival announcements are about the fine print when big movie titles are announced. For example, this morning, organizers of the BFI London Film Festival revealed that Ben Wheatley‘s highly anticipated “Free Fire” would be the Closing Film at the event. However, the movie will be making its European Premiere at the fest, meaning that it’s going to have its World Premiere somewhere else first.

Continue reading Ben Wheatley’s Action Thriller ‘Free Fire’ To Close BFI London Film Festival at The Playlist.

Let’s be honest, this summer movie season has been kind of a bummer. “Captain America: Civil War” got things off to a pretty good start, but since then, the big blockbusters — “X-Men: Apocalypse,” “Alice Through The Looking Glass,” “Warcraft,” “Independence Day” — have mostly been painful to sit through. And even the better wide releases, like “The Nice Guys,” “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” and “The Neon Demon,” have mostly done poorly with audiences.

Continue reading 50 Films We Hope To See At The 2016 Fall Festivals at The Playlist.