Before the release of Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer,” the film was the subject of online chatter about its runtime. Early rumors pegged the duration at over three hours, and its announcement in Venice Film Festival’s lineup initially listed 151 minutes before adjusting to the premiere’s length of 135 minutes. The Italian director claimed one aim of adapting the titular novel by William S. Burroughs with his “Challengers” screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes was to finish the unfinished text.

Continue reading ‘Queer’ Review: Luca Guadagnino’s Burroughs Adaptation With Daniel Craig Is Fascinating But Unsettled [Venice] at The Playlist.

Jason Schwartzman has made a career for himself in both major films and indie darlings. Throughout his filmography, you can see how he goes back and forth, effortlessly, to star in massive films like “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” and then in smaller, more intimate indie films like the forthcoming “Between the Temples.”

As seen in the trailer, “Between the Temples” tells the story of a cantor who is going through his own mental health struggles.

Continue reading ‘Between The Temples’ Trailer: Jason Schwartzman & Carol Kane Star In Acclaimed Sundance Comedy at The Playlist.

Seemingly not wasting one of its 111 offbeat minutes, sprawling and long for a comedy, but not undeserved here, Nate Silver’s “Between The Temples” begins with immediate hilarity. Ben Gottlieb (a terrific Jason Schwartzman) is a sad sack cantor living at home. In a concerned setting that resembles an intervention, his two moms (birth mom Caroline Aaron, partner Dolly De Leon) ask him if he needs to see a doctor.

Continue reading ‘Between The Temples’ Review: Jason Schwartzman & Carol Kane Shine In Nate Silver’s Hilarious, But Sweet Screwball Comedy [Sundance] at The Playlist.

TIFF 2023 kicks off today, and this weekend is flush with all sorts of intriguing world premieres. On the comedy front, one such debut is “Quiz Show,” a comedy from director Jessica Yu which hits Hulu later this Fall.

Awakfina and Sandra Oh star in the hilarious and heartfelt comedy, about a dysfunctional family and the game show that might be the key to their salvation.

Continue reading ‘Quiz Lady’ Trailer: Comedy With Awkwafina & Sandra Oh Has Its World Premiere At TIFF On September 9 at The Playlist.

Another Wes Anderson movie, another stacked ensemble cast: such is the case for “Asteroid City,” the director’s latest. But Anderson fans will notice a regular of his conspicuously absent from his latest film: Bill Murray, who’s had parts in each of Anderson’s past nine movies. So why wasn’t Murray in “Asteroid City”? Well, he came down with COVID-19 just days before he was supposed to show up on set in Spain.

Continue reading ‘Asteroid City’: Bill Murray Is Actually In Wes Anderson’s Latest Film, Kind Of at The Playlist.

Already in limited release, Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City” opens in a wider release this weekend, Friday, June 23. Essentially split into two parts, the film centers on a grieving father (Jason Schwartzman) who travels with his tech-obsessed family to a small rural ‘Asteroid City’ to compete in a junior stargazing event, only to have his perspective on life— his cosmology as it where— disrupted forever by world-altering events.

Continue reading ‘Asteroid City’: Scarlett Johansson, Jason Schwartzman, Jeffrey Wright & More Talk Uncertainty, Meaning & Wes Anderson’s Stargazing Creation at The Playlist.

Wes Anderson is a genre; one of decorative embellishment, ornamental whimsy, baroque fantasy, and symmetrical precision. It wasn’t always this way, and it’s also not just superficial embroidery. “Rushmore” had a moving bittersweetness anchoring its fanciful formal wit, and “The Royal Tenenbaums” refined Anderson’s patented wistful stories about romantics, failed dreams, and faded glories within imaginative color-coded costumes and increasingly meticulous aesthetics.

READ MORE: 2023 Cannes Film Festival: 21 Must-See Movies To Watch

Somewhere in the middle, the American filmmaker became a little unsure of his identity amidst sudden reproach (‘Life Aquatic,’ ‘Darjeeling Limited’); however, he quickly realized his inimitable cinematic handwriting made him unique.

Continue reading ‘Asteroid City’ Review: Wes Anderson Explores The Loneliness Of The Cosmos & Our Place In It Through Creation & Grief [Cannes] at The Playlist.

Variety reports that Luca Guadagnino will start shooting “Queer,” his next feature, in Rome this month now that he’s wrapped post-production on “Challengers,” in theaters this September. This marks the most rapid creative pace for Guadagnino in his whole career: three films in as many years. That’s great news for Guada fans.

READ MORE: ‘Queer’: Luca Guadagnino Wants To Adapt The Early William S.

Continue reading ‘Queer’: Drew Starkey Joins Daniel Craig In Luca Guadagnino’s Latest, Filming Begins In Rome This Month at The Playlist.

Directors like Wes Anderson are meticulous, with hyper-detailed work that usually only comes every two-three years at best. But the American ex-pat, who lives in France full-time now, has been working at a super-fast clip lately—some of that due to the pandemic pile-up. Last year was “The French Dispatch,” a movie about American ex-pats and a kind of love letter to The New Yorker, and this year, Anderson already has another film in the can and debuting in June.

Continue reading ‘Asteroid City’ Trailer: Wes Anderson Tackles Phenomenons, Aliens & More With An All-Star Cast In June at The Playlist.

Some of our favorite filmmakers are working at an insane pace right now. Claire Denis released two films in 2022 (“Both Sides of The Blade,” “Stars At Noon”), Yorgos Lanthimos could probably release two films in 2023 if he wanted (“Poor Things” is definitely coming next year and “And” has already been shot), and Wes Anderson’s moving at a clip too.

Continue reading Wes Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City’ With Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks & More Dated For June 2023 at The Playlist.

An official selection of the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, “There There” follows seven loosely intertwined characters to tell a story about connection while playing off of the isolation we became too familiar with during the pandemic. 

“There There,” which is the seventh feature film directed by Andrew Bujalski, throws away the norms of filmmaking and the so-called rules that directors follow to give us an insight into the life and conversations that we saw come to the forefront during the pandemic but don’t see represented on the big screen.

Continue reading ‘There There’ Clip: Jason Schwartzman Depicts The Pandemic Experience For Filmmaker Andrew Bujalski [Exclusive] at The Playlist.

The cast of Francis Ford Coppola’s long-gestating dramatic epic, “Megalopolis”—a film he’s been trying to make for nearly 20 years— has added a bevy of new actors, including Shia LaBeouf, Jason Schwartzman (Coppola’s nephew), Talia Shire (his sister), Grace Vanderwaal, Kathryn Hunter and James Remar.

READ MORE: Shia LaBeouf Acknowledges FKA Twigs’ Abuse Accusations: “I Hurt That Woman”

The controversial eye-opener in this list is, of course, LaBeouf, who is attempting something of a comeback after his ex-girlfriend FKA Twigs accused him in a February 2021 lawsuit of abuse, mental, physical, and sexual.

Continue reading ‘Megalopolis’: Shia LaBeouf, Jason Schwartzman & Talia Shire Join Francis Ford Coppola’s Epic Drama at The Playlist.

If you’re a fan of superhero films or just good films, in general, you have to be excited about “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” The sequel to ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ (which won the Best Animated Feature Oscar, btw) features animation that looks to push the boundaries of what was even done in the previous film and it actually has an even beefier cast than before. And the cast just keeps growing, as Sony announces even more familiar voices joining the animated sequel.

Continue reading ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’: Jason Schwartzman, Shea Whigham & More Join The Cast For Sony’s Upcoming Sequel at The Playlist.

Andrew Bujalski’s “There There” opens with a mellow, melancholy saxophone solo, the first of several musical interludes by The War on Drugs’ Jon Natchez that serves as bridges between the series of primarily two-person scenes that will follow. The first of them is probably the best – it makes a promise the movie can’t quite keep – as a doctor (Lili Taylor) and a restaurateur (Lennie James) wake up the morning after their first date and first sexual encounter.

Continue reading There’s Not Much ‘There There’ in Andrew Bujalski’s Latest [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.

Sins of the past influencing the decisions of the present weighed heavily over season one of “The Righteous Gemstones,” HBO’s comedic lambasting of televangelist mega-church culture. Putting on a pious show, the drifting, uber-rich Memphis family looked down the barrel of ruin of their own making, bringing them to the brink. Dr. Eli Gemstone (John Goodman), the patriarch of the world-famous Gemstone Salvation Center, spent much of the first season desperately trying to keep his creation from imploding after several calamities set into motion by his ungovernable offspring.

Continue reading ‘Righteous Gemstones’ Season 2 Review’: An Ambitious, Intermittently Hysterical Mess & Mixed Bag at The Playlist.

2022 TV season is ramping up and doing so fast. HBO is getting out there quickly and early and has revealed the new trailer for the televangelist satire show “The Righteous Gemstones” from Danny McBride and his Rough House Pictures company co-run with his filmmaking friend and partner David Gordon Green (the guys who made “Eastbound And Down” together.) “The Righteous Gemstones” features Danny McBride, John Goodman, Edi Patterson and Adam Devine, debuts its nine-episode second season with two new episodes on Sunday, January 9 (10:00-11:25 pm ET/PT), followed by additional half-hour episodes on subsequent Sundays at the same time.

Continue reading ‘Righteous Gemstones’ Trailer: Danny McBride Televangelist Series Adds Jason Schwartzman, Eric Andre & More at The Playlist.

While many are still waiting to watch director Wes Anderson‘s October release “The French Dispatch,” the filmmaker is already assembling a cast for his next pic, an untitled film reportedly heading into production this week in Spain.

READ MORE: ‘The French Dispatch’: Wes Anderson’s Latest Premieres At Cannes Then Set For October U.S. Release

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed two more additions to the secretive film’s cast.

Continue reading Wes Anderson Adds Rupert Friend & Jason Schwartzman To Latest Film: Begins Shooting This Week In Spain at The Playlist.

Social media and YouTube have shown our culture that they are new avenues towards fame and sometimes fortune. But there’s a dark side of celebrity that’s explored in “Mainstream,” the latest directorial effort from Gia Coppola (“Palo Alto“). Coppola, the niece of Roman and Sofia Coppola, obviously comes from filmmaking royalty roots, but she really impressed with her 2013 coming-of-age film “Palo Alto.” “Mainstream” has a major cast too, including Maya Hawke (“Stranger Things,” “Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood“), Andrew Garfield (“Silence,” “The Amazing Spider-Man“), Nat Wolff (“Paper Towns,” “Home Again“) and Jason Schwartzman (“Moonrise Kingdom,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel“).

Continue reading ‘Mainstream’ Trailer: Gia Coppola’s Satirical Social Media Riff Stars Andrew Garfield, Maya Hawke & Nat Wolff at The Playlist.

[Spoiler warning: Read this after watching the season finale.]

When FX’s “Fargo” premiered back in September, FX only sent out the first nine episodes of an 11-episode season to press, leaving critics hanging as to the resolution of this violent saga. It wasn’t just to reduce spoilers or build excitement—the final two episodes of this chapter weren’t filmed until after the pandemic lockdown changed the industry.

Continue reading ‘Fargo’ Ends Its Fourth Season With An Explosive Pair Of Episodes at The Playlist.

The fourth season of Noah Hawley’s highly acclaimed FX series “Fargo” was a notable casualty of the pandemic as production shut down back in March with only two episodes left to be shot. A couple of weeks ago, the team behind the series started up again, trying to bring this year’s story in for its final chapter with a heavy amount of protective precautions designed to make that as likely as possible.

Continue reading ‘Fargo’: Noah Hawley’s Season 4 Is An Ambitious, Artsy Coen Bros-Esque Look At Crime & Race [Review] at The Playlist.

The age of social media is a trap for contemporary writers and filmmakers eager to Say Something. From fusty old Facebook to Instagram to platforms most people over 25 couldn’t even name, it presents all manner of topical ironies and iniquities in society at large, all too easily open to commentary and critique by artists who needn’t look further than the device in their hand for research. The catch, of course, is that social media shifts and changes faster than the weather: a script that begins life as an urgently of-the-moment meditation on the Twitter/TikTok/Tinder era is liable to be a time capsule once the finished film reaches theaters.

Continue reading ‘Mainstream’: Gia Coppola’s Slender YouTuber Satire Misses a Cheap Target [Venice Review] at The Playlist.

One of the better developments in the era of peak television has been that of the non-sequential season orders. Gone are the days where a television network would crank out season after season of a popular show. This process often led to diminishing returns as the creators found themselves struggling to maintain their pace. Instead, if there’s mutual interest in continuing a show between network and creator, the new default gives the creator time to finish at their own pace.

Continue reading ‘Fargo’ Teaser: Two Crime Families, Only One Midwest at The Playlist.

We’ve been talking about Wes Anderson’s upcoming film “The French Dispatch” for months now. Unlike the films from Marvel Studios, there hasn’t been a whole lot of secrecy surrounding the project, as cast, plot, and possible Cannes premieres have all been leaked or speculated. In fact, the only thing we really didn’t know is the actual release date. Until now.

READ MORE: No, Wes Anderson’s ‘French Dispatch’ Is Not 4 Hours Long, But Here’s A Synopsis & New Details

According to Searchlight, “The French Dispatch” will arrive in theaters on July 24.

Continue reading Wes Anderson’s ‘The French Dispatch’ Lands July Release Date at The Playlist.

At last count, there are roughly 1,532,567 animated Christmas films. Trust me, I did the math. But that isn’t stopping Netflix from releasing one more, with the upcoming “Klaus.” And if the trailer is to be believed, maybe we shouldn’t write this one off as just another Christmas children’s film.

As seen in the trailer, “Klaus” tells the story of a postman that approaches a toymaker with a proposition.

Continue reading ‘Klaus’ Trailer: Jason Schwartzman Helps Create Christmas In New Animated Netflix Film From Creator Of ‘Despicable Me’ at The Playlist.

The first season of “Fargo” came out of nowhere, surprising folks that were naysaying the series, based on the Coen Brothers’ film of the same name, before it even aired. But could Noah Hawley actually make another season of the series just as good as the first? Well, a year later, it happened. Then in 2017, the third batch of episodes was released and guess what?

Continue reading Jason Schwartzman, Ben Whishaw, Jessie Buckley & More Join Chris Rock For ‘Fargo’ Season 4 Debuting In 2020 at The Playlist.