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, catalogue 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.

This week’s disc and streaming debuts include the latest from an Oscar-winning international filmmaker, the latest from a Film Twitter favorite, a pair of great 2020 documentaries, and two classics getting the 4K Criterion treatment.

Continue reading The Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘Last Night in Soho,’ ‘A Hero,’ ‘A Hard Day’s Night,’ & More at The Playlist.

Garrett Bradley, the Oscar-nominated director of the astounding, intensely vivid and personal activism documentary “Time” will direct an adaptation of acclaimed science fiction author Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable of the Sower.” The first in a two-book series, the story is set in a near-future Los Angeles devastated by societal collapse; a teenager with a unique gift must lead humanity in a battle against extinction.

Continue reading ‘Time’ Director Garrett Bradley To Helm ‘Parable Of The Sower’ For A24 at The Playlist.

As we end a truly extraordinary year of movie-going (or movie-staying, maybe), and to add to our comprehensive array of Best of 2020 coverage, Be Reel assesses which directors broke through their indie roots to become household names, distinct voices, and burgeoning auteurs in 2020. 

READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2020

In order, we look back on these breakout directors, some of whom have arguably already broken out before (Sean Durkin being the most obvious), but are also re-emerging after a long time in the wilderness.

Continue reading The Breakthrough Directors Of 2020 [Be Reel Podcast] 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. 

Since we last met, a flurry of prestige new releases have hit the streaming services – awards season in full swing, it seems, even this peculiar, couch-bound version of it.

Continue reading The 11 Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘The Trial Of The Chicago 7,’ ‘American Utopia’ & More at The Playlist.

When it comes to the discussion of systemic racism and racial injustices in the US, the topic of prisons and sentencing will always come into play. And while the trailer for “Time” doesn’t really wear its messages on its sleeve, it’s clear that the upcoming Amazon documentary aims to shed light on an issue that faces so many Black people in the US.

As seen in the trailer, “Time” tells the story of Fox Rich, a woman that has spent the last few decades fighting daily to try to get her husband released from prison.

Continue reading ‘Time’ Trailer: Sundance Standout Doc Takes A Look At One Woman’s Fight For Her Husbands Freedom at The Playlist.

From the outside, Fox and Rob Richardson looked like the young couple who had it all. The high school sweethearts got married, were ready to move into their first home, and with twins on the way, they would soon start a family. However, their fledgling hip-hop clothing business in Shreveport, Louisiana was facing financial difficulties. It’s never quite clear how or why they decided to rob a bank to try and solve their problems, but that foolish mistake cost them immensely.

Continue reading ‘Time’ Clocks An Uneven & Incomplete Portrait Of Injustice [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.