The 2019 Sundance Film Festival is upon us and we’re feeling good about most of our Most Anticipated 2020 Film feature predictions; many of the films with early February release dates are indeed making Sundance premieres (“Wendy,” “Downhill,” etc.). This year feels rich already, with new films by Dee Rees, Josephine Decker, Miranda July and many, many more.

READ MORE: Sundance 2020 Lineup Revealed: Films By Josephine Decker, Miranda July, Viggo Mortensen & More

But let’s get to some quick first looks, shall we?

Continue reading Sundance First Look: Anne Hathaway in Dee Rees’ Latest, Miranda July’s ‘Kajillionaire,’ Riley Keough In ‘Zola’ & More at The Playlist.

The Oscars have come and gone. The trophies have been collected and acceptance speeches have been made. And everyone now knows what an “inclusion rider” is, thanks to Frances McDormand. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t take a moment to recognize two of 2017’s best films and offer a chance for three lucky winners to enjoy these Oscar-nominated films from the comfort of their home.

READ MORE: Margot Robbie To Play Sharon Tate In Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’

While he may not have picked up the Best Picture trophy, writer/director Jordan Peele has to be happy that he was able to win the coveted Best Original Screenplay Oscar for his debut film “Get Out.” The socially-conscious horror/thriller caught everyone off-guard when it was released a year ago, earning a ton of money at the box office and widespread critical acclaim.

Continue reading Contest: Win Copies Of The Oscar-Nominated Films ‘I, Tonya’ And ‘Get Out’ On Blu-Ray at The Playlist.

Rounding out her Awards Season on a high the likes of a perfect Triple Axel, Allison Janney has won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance of LaVona Harding in “I, Tonya.” Janney is a first-time nominee and helms a career with over 100 credits. A large presence in film and television, she has been nominated for over ten Emmy Awards, and won seven. Janney is an alum of critically acclaimed shows and films such as “The Help,” “The West Wing,” and “Juno,” to name a few. 

Continue reading Allison Janney Wins Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for ‘I, Tonya’ at The Playlist.

Click here for more from our Oscars 2018 coverage, including the Best & Worst of the ceremony, all the speeches, and the Snubs & Surprises.

2017 was a wonderful year for the movies, as evidenced by this evening. It was another memorable night spent with Oscar. Frances McDormand took home her second Oscar for Actress in a Leading Role, Roger Deakins earned his first Oscar after 13 nominations, Jordan Peele won his first Oscar for horror hit “Get Out,” and no one mixed up the envelopes.

Continue reading ‘The Shape of Water’ Wins Best Picture & Director: The Full List Of Oscar Winners Here at The Playlist.

The Costume Designers Guild handed out second to last industry guild honor of the season Tuesday night (the CAS Awards are Saturday) and they left the audience gagging.  Luis Sequeira‘s work on “The Shape of Water” upset the expected Oscar winner Mark Bridges‘ constructions for “Phantom Thread” in the Excellence in Period Film category.  It doesn’t mean that “Phantom” will lose at the Academy Awards a week from Sunday, but it’s another great sign of broad industry support for Guillermo del Toro‘s hit fantasy flick.

Continue reading ‘Shape Of Water’ Upsets ‘Phantom Thread’ At 2018 Costume Guild Awards at The Playlist.

The biopic or true story film is always a draw for audiences. Seeing recreated scenes and historialc figures presented on screen offers a moment to relive actual events. Beneath the sweeping music and added dramatic license, exist nuances that are riveting and techniques that offer a greater appreciation for this real life events. Reliving true stories isn’t just entertaining, it’s contemplative too, bringing us close to experiences we may have only seen on the news or read on the page.

Continue reading ‘Based On A True Story’ Supercut Brings Together Dramatization & Reality at The Playlist.

The nominations for the 20th Costume Designer Guild Awards were revealed today and thanks to three thematic categories for both Movies and TV there were few omissions to complain about.  Expected Oscar nominees “Phantom Thread,” “The Shape of Water” and “The Greatest Showman” all made the cut in the very competitive Period Film field with Jacqueline Durran‘s work in “Darkest Hour” and Ann Roth‘s costumes for “The Post” being the only true snubs (although Durran did earn a Sci-Fi/Fantasy nod for “Beauty and the Beast”).

Continue reading ‘Phantom Thread,’ ‘Black Mirror,’ ‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Costumes Make 2018 CDG Awards Cut at The Playlist.

Over 6,500 BAFTA members around the world voted for the 2018 British Academy Film Awards and Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” led all films with 12 nominations. “Darkest Hour” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” each earned nine nominations with “Blade Runner 2049” and “Dunkirk” each.taking eight nods each. “Call Me by Your Name” and “Phantom Thread” took four each while “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool,” “I, Tonya,” “Lady Bird” and “Paddington 2” receive three nominations each.

Continue reading ‘Shape of Water’ And ‘Three Billboards’ Lead 2018 BAFTA Awards Nominations at The Playlist.

Another year, and another Golden Globes ceremony in the bag. The big winner tonight was “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” which took Best Picture — Drama, Best Actress,  Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay.

The quartet of wins for the Fox Searchlight was somewhat of a surprise, given that during much of the awards season run-up, the love for the film seemed to be somewhat cool for the guilds.

Continue reading 2018 Golden Globes Winners: ‘Three Billboards’ Wins Best Picture at The Playlist.

At its best, cinema is a medium of visual poetry, and the challenge of a critic is to express thoughts and feelings about those works of art through words…and numbered lists. I’ve somehow managed to make the process of rating and ranking the films of 2017 even more prosaic by tracking the 200+ movies I watched in a spreadsheet, turning the magic of the images on screen into rows of data.

READ MORE: The Playlist’s Best Films Of The Year

More than two dozen films earned an A or an A- from me in their appointed cells, but I keep coming back to the movies below in my own thoughts as well as recommendations to others and repeat viewings.

Continue reading Kimber Myers’ Top 10 Films Of 2017 at The Playlist.

The Writer’s Guild of America announced the film and documentary nominees for the 2018 WGA Awards and many of the expected nominees made the cut. “Lady Bird,” “The Shape of Water,” “Get Out,” “I, Tonya” and “The Big Sick” were nominated in the Original Screenplay category.  “Call Me By Your Name,” “The Disaster Artist,” “Logan,” “Molly’s Game” and “Mudbound” all earned Adapted Screenplay nominations.

Continue reading ‘Get Out,’ ‘Logan,’ ‘The Big Sick,’ ‘Lady Bird’ Among 2018 WGA Awards Nominees at The Playlist.

[Updated Feb. 4]

Winner prediction:
1. “Darkest Hour”
2. “Wonder”
3. “Victoria & Abdul”

Current predictions:

Best Picture
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Director
Original Screenplay
Adapted Screenplay
Editing
Cinematography
Production Design
Original Score
Best Song
Costumes
Sound Mixing
Sound Editing
Documentary
Foreign Language Film
Animated Feature Film
Makeup and Hairstyling
Visual Effects

Continue reading 2018 Best Makeup and Hairstyling Oscars Predictions at The Playlist.

An annual tradition has returned to Hollywood, and we’re not talking about the awards season. We’re talking about the screeners that get sent to Oscar voters, and every year, they wind up in the hands of their children, friends, associates, neighbors, and eventually on the web.

As much as the industry works to fight it, it seems they can’t solve the problem in their own backyard as once again, awards season screeners have been leaked.

Continue reading ‘Lady Bird,’ ‘Call Me By Your Name’ & ‘I, Tonya’ Awards Season Screeners Pirated at The Playlist.

As strange as it might be that a hundred or so international journalists have such sway over awards season thanks to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Golden Globes, we have to say that we always enjoy nominations morning: the HFPA very much march to the beat of their own drum, and their picks rarely fail to induce eyebrow raises, adding a touch of unpredictability to an awards season.

Continue reading Snubs & Surprises Of The 2018 Golden Globe Nominations at The Playlist.

So we’re off and running, galumphing through our end-of-year coverage like a giant hippo-pig destroying an underground mall. But with all of you doubtless still working your way through our immense 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2018 (which is basically our massive trailer for the year to come) we thought we’d take it pretty easy on you today, and take a look at the teasers, advance clips and promos that have whetted our appetites this past 12 months.

Continue reading The Best Movie Trailers Of 2017 at The Playlist.

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association handed out their year-end awards today anointing “Call Me By Your Name “ as Best Picture and it’s director, Luca Guadagnino, Best Director in a tie with Guillermo del Toro.

The organization also awarded “Call Me’s” Timothée Chalamet as Best Actor while “Shape of Water’s” Sally Hawkins won Best Actress.  “The Florida Project” won Best Supporting Actor, Willem Dafoe, and also was the runner-up for Best Picture. 

Continue reading ‘Call Me By Your Name’ Named Best Picture By Los Angeles Film Critics at The Playlist.

Just like that, it’s December, end of year lists are being curated (if not already posted) and the Sundance Film Festival has released their lineup for the upcoming fest which will subsequently, technically, begin chatter for the 2018 Oscars.

There’s a lot going on at the end of the year and that’s not even when we account the personal stresses that come along with the holiday season. December is pretty light for the first two weeks with only really three films posed to make any sort of splash and then the latest in the “Star Wars” saga enters the race and obliterates its competition.

Continue reading 13 Movies To Watch In December at The Playlist.

There are a couple ways to approach the Tonya Harding life story. First, you can make this your typical biopic, where the subject of the film is shown as a tragic figure in a big dramatic ensemble. Or, like they’re clearly doing in “I, Tonya,” make it a dark comedy where the complete absurdity of the situation is front and center, led by a magnetic leading actress like Margot Robbie.

Continue reading ‘I, Tonya’ NSFW Trailer: Margot Robbie Hits The Ice With Olympic Dreams at The Playlist.

If you live in Los Angeles and haven’t caught up with most of this year’s awards season titles you can breathe easy.  No, screeners aren’t arriving early, but AFI Fest has added some unexpected starpower and prestige to its 2017 slate.

Joining previously announced galas “Mudbound” (opening night), “All The Money In The World” (closing night), “Call Me By Your Name,” “The Disaster Artist” and “Hostiles” are seven films that hope to make a dent in the Oscars race in various categories.

Continue reading ‘I, Tonya,’ ‘Shape of Water’ And ‘Molly’s Game’ Added To 2017 AFI Fest Slate at The Playlist.

One of the best-reviewed films out of TIFF, “I, Tonya” just had its first trailer released, and it’s looking more and more to be an awards contender (especially for Margot Robbie). Our own A- review, by Kevin Jagernauth, was enamored with the film, as he called it, “the best work of director Craig Gillespie’s career, and a terrifically entertaining picture.” The official synopsis reads:

“Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) was the first American woman to achieve figure skating’s holy grail move, completing a triple axel in competition in 1991.

Continue reading ‘I, Tonya’ Trailer: Margot Robbie Faces The Haters at The Playlist.

The Telluride Film Festival is in the rear-view mirror and the Venice Film Festival will finish up this week and that means they’ll both give way to the Toronto International Film Festival, easily the largest film festival in North America, and in terms of sheer size and volume, probably the largest film festival in the world. TIFF usually houses around 300 films or so, and it’s such a wide and varied event, you can curate it to your tastes: you could stick with glossy mainstream picks with stars, indie up-and-comers, Midnight Madness pictures, foreign films, documentaries, experimental films, and shorts if you wish.

Continue reading 2017 Toronto International Film Festival: 21 Must-See Films at The Playlist.

This morning, the Toronto International Film Festival unwrapped their first wave of titles, and their 2017 lineup is looking very impressive out of the gate.

It’s auteurs and high profile titles left and right, with plenty of dive into. Right at the top of our must-see list is Darren Aronofsky‘s “mother!” starring Jennifer Lawrence, with Scott Cooper‘s “Hostiles” starring Christian Bale, and Sebastian Lelio‘s “Disobedience” high on our list.

Continue reading TIFF 2017 Lines Up ‘mother!,’ ‘Hostiles,’ ‘I, Tonya,’ ‘The Current War,’ ‘Battle Of The Sexes’ & More at The Playlist.

When Margot Robbie was cast as disgraced U.S. Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding in the amusingly titled “I, Tonya” it was mostly seen as a curiosity. But when cameras recently started rolling, and set pictures emerged of Robbie transformed into the personality, the buzz was nearly instantaneous. And now the first footage has landed from behind-the-scenes of Robbie channeling the brassy athlete.

READ MORE: David Ayer Returns To Direct Margot Robbie As Harley Quinn In ‘Gotham City Sirens’

Craig Gillespie (“Lars and The Real Girl,” “Fright Night,” “Their Finest Hours”) is directing the movie that also features Sebastian Stan as Jeff Gilloly and Caitlin Carver as Nancy Kerrigan, in the story of Harding, an outsider who broke into the exclusive world of Olympic athletes.

Continue reading Margot Robbie Gets Foul Mouthed As Tonya Harding In Behind-The-Scenes Footage From ‘I, Tonya’ at The Playlist.

This morning the Golden Globe nominations were revealed, providing your guide to the movies you need to catch up with if you want to stay in the awards season conversation. But if you want to get an idea of the movies or writers will be making an awards season wave in the years ahead, then you might want to peruse the 2016 Black List.

The annual ranking of the best unproduced screenplays by those in the know in Hollywood is always fun to look at.

Continue reading Madonna Biopic ‘Blond Ambition’ Leads 2016 Black List Of Best Unproduced Screenplays at The Playlist.

Continue reading John McClane Returns For ‘A Good Day To Die Hard’ On February 14, 2013 at The Playlist.