Alejandro González Iñárritu is one of the most highly respected filmmakers in the world, today. With back-to-back Best Director and Best Picture Oscar wins in 2015 and 2016, for “Birdman” and “The Revenant,” respectively, Iñárritu cemented his place among the very best the industry has to offer. So, when the filmmaker talks about the uncertain future of the industry, it’s probably important that everyone take notice.

Continue reading Alejandro González Iñárritu Supports Netflix But Worries About The Theatrical Experience: “Cinemas Are The Womb Of What We Are” at The Playlist.

The Playlist has never met a year we couldn’t exhaust with the endless examination, analysis, and decoding; it’s not that we love lists, it’s just in many banner years of cinema, there’s so much to pour over. 2018 was a stellar year for film and there were amazing movies to shout out, performances, new directors, breakout actors and actresses, documentaries, all kinds of new exciting talents and we genuinely can’t stop talking about them, honestly.

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2018 You Didn’t See at The Playlist.

As we post the year-end collection of publications’ Best of 2018, a few things become very clear. We begin to notice that some films appear almost on every list, and roughly in the same order. And we also are constantly surprised that some films pop up that are nowhere to be found in any other lists. This shows not only that the quality of films in 2018 is incredible, but also that there are just so many films that can be considered among the very best that this year had to offer.

Continue reading ‘Roma,’ ‘Burning,’ & ‘The Image Book’ Among Sight & Sound’s Top 20 Films Of 2018 at The Playlist.

A lot has been made about Netflix’s fall slate of awards-contending films. Primarily, films like “Roma,” “Bird Box,” and “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” are brought up as serious prestige films that could make noise during awards season. But let’s not sleep on the Cannes award-winning film “Happy as Lazzaro.”

Netflix released the first trailer for “Happy as Lazzaro,” which debuted to critical acclaim earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival, winning the Best Screenplay honors.

Continue reading ‘Happy As Lazzaro’ Trailer: Breakout Cannes Film From Alice Rohrwacher Is Another Netflix Awards Contender at The Playlist.

With Venice, Toronto, and Telluride becoming this fall’s go-to places to premiere a film, we had no idea that the BFI London Film Festival had an ace up its sleeve. Today, the LFF announced its lineup of films appearing in the Official Competition, and while there are some incredible films from throughout this year, the big surprise was a new entry from acclaimed filmmaker Ben Wheatley.

That’s right, Ben Wheatley, best known for his films “High-Rise” and 2016’s “Free Fire,” is back with a film that we didn’t even know was finished, titled “Happy New Year, Colin Burstead.” The film seems to be a bit of a departure for Wheatley, as its described as a family dramedy focused on the titular Colin and his dysfunctional family around New Years.

Continue reading Ben Wheatley’s Surprise New Film Headlines BFI London Film Festival’s Official Competition Slate 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.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the main selections for the 2018 New York Film Festival, and it won’t disappoint the city’s cinephile community.  It also confirms that barring a last minute addition or secret screening there are no world premieres at this year’s NYFF.  Then again, the fest is programming a significant number of Foreign Language Film contenders even if the homegrown selections are slight.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite,” Alfonso Cuarón‘s “Roma“ and Julian Schabel‘s “At Eternity’s Gate“ were previously announced as the opening, centerpiece and closing night films for this year’s fest.

Continue reading ‘If Beale Street,’ ‘Cold War’ & ‘Ballad Of Buster Scruggs’ Among Main NYFF 2018 Selections at The Playlist.