Sometimes, there’s a combination of actors on a project that demands your attention. Sure, that could be said about Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” But that pairing is a no-brainer. What’s even more compelling are the combos that just seem super strange, such as Mickey Rourke and Bella Thorne, as seen in the new film, “Girl.”

READ MORE: ‘Chick Fight’ Trailer: Malin Akerman Joins A Fight Club With The Help Of Alec Baldwin

As seen in the trailer for “Girl,” Thorne stars as a young woman that goes to find her dad and discovers that he was tortured and murdered.

Continue reading ‘Girl’ Trailer: Bella Thorne Hunts Mickey Rourke With A Hatchet In This Revenge Thriller at The Playlist.

Oh, boy. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association somehow managed to spread the love as much as possible with their 2019 Golden Globe nominations and still make almost every studio and network in town want to scream. Well, unless you’re Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. or Annapurna Pictures. If you’re Disney it’s pretty much a great morning especially when you take into account the success of future acquisition Fox Searchlight this rainy LA morning, too.

Continue reading Snubs & Surprises Of The 2019 Golden Globes Nominations at The Playlist.

Netflix has been making serious waves this fall with their incredibly strong slate of prestige films. But while “Roma,” “Outlaw King,” “Hold the Dark,” and “Bird Box” seem to be getting a majority of the headlines, one of the more acclaimed films that the streaming service picked up is “Girl” from filmmaker Lukas Dhont.

Continue reading ‘Girl’ Director Fights Netflix To Not Edit Out A Controversial Nude Scene From The Cannes Award-Winning Film at The Playlist.

In a surprise to no one, Mexico announced it was submitting Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” as the nation’s submission for the Foreign Language Film Oscar. This was a foregone conclusion months ago and was even more of a lock after the Netflix title earned rave reviews at the first three fall film festivals as well as took home the Golden Lion at Venice. Now the question is how much of an impact “Roma” can have in the other Academy Awards categories and who else is a player in Foreign Language Film.

Continue reading ‘Roma’ Is Mexico’s Foreign Language Film Entry But Who Else Is In the Mix? at The Playlist.

The Telluride Film Festival announced it’s official line up for 2018 and, if you’ve been paying attention or doing your due diligence there were few surprises.

The big narrative premieres are Joel Edgerton’s “Boy Erased,” Jason Reitman’s “The Front Runner,” David Lowery’s “The Old Man & The Gun,” Karyn Kusama’s “Destroyer,” Marielle Heller’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” and Yann Demange’s “White Boy Rick.”  Ralph Fiennes also returns to the director’s chair with “The White Crow” while Ed Zwick’s “Trial By Fire” will make its only festival appearance in Colorado.

Continue reading ‘Front Runner,’ ‘The Favourite’ & ‘First Man’ Among Official 2018 Telluride Selections at The Playlist.

Remember last fall? Netflix was promoting their upcoming major blockbuster film “Bright.” At the time, people viewed Netflix films as either big-budget disasters, small (but quality) indie films, or Adam Sandler “comedies.” Needless to say, the stigma around Netflix Original Films was pretty horrible. Now, a year later, there’s no “Bright” on the horizon. Instead, we have not just one or two quality films coming to the streaming service, but we actually have enough to justify a Netflix Film Festival.

Continue reading 14 Films Coming To Netflix That Prove The Streaming Service Has An Incredible Fall Slate at The Playlist.

It’s been almost a week since the 71st Festival de Cannes came to a close and the festival bubble is starting to dissipate. That means the realization of what we assumed before it all began comes into clearer focus: the 2019 Oscar season really isn’t starting until the Venice, Telluride and Toronto trifecta. Foreign Language Film category notwithstanding, of course.

Outside of “Black Panther” not one legit Best Picture contender that has screened publicly up to this point.

Continue reading Oscar Still On Hold After Foreign Language Focused Cannes at The Playlist.

CANNES – At the end of a relatively quiet Cannes Film Festival, competition jury president Cate Blanchett admitted her disappointment with the lack of female-driven narratives. But that shouldn’t take away from the fact diverse voices took much of the spotlight this year. The festival had more Asian films in competition than in many years, Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” was a rare African-American centered tale up for the Palme d’Or and, oh yeah, it was probably the gayest Cannes ever.

Continue reading Facts Are Facts: Simply The Gayest Cannes Ever at The Playlist.

Coming into this year’s Cannes Film Festival, we were excited to see Ali Abbasi’s latest film, “Border.” Described simply as a modern take on Nordic folklore, as told through the lens of border security, the film follows a border agent with an uncanny sense of smell, who meets a mysterious stranger at her job. Well, apparently, we were right to anticipate the film, as it was just announced as the big winner of the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes.

Continue reading Ali Abbasi’s ‘Border’ Wins Top Prize At The Un Certain Regard Section Of Cannes at The Playlist.

From its very first moments, the beautifully controlled and artful “Girl” – the feature debut of young Belgian director Lukas Dhont – grips and takes hold. This deeply emphatic portrayal of a trans teen has an expressive camera that observes and listens, rather than forces you to succumb to emotions. The trajectory of the story’s protagonist, Lara, who is determined to become a ballet dancer despite feeling trapped in a body she doesn’t recognize, sounds a little exploitative on paper, but the end result is quite the opposite.

Continue reading ‘Girl’: A Breakout Director & Performer Create A Tender, Artful Tale Of Trans Struggle [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.