James Gunn’s DC Studios universe is coming together. And while the previous DC Universe has been disregarded from canon, some elements of his “The Suicide Squad” film will remain. Frank Grillo, who plays Rick Flag Sr., the father of Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag in the aforementioned ‘Suicide Squad’ film, recently revealed he would have a role in Gunn’s upcoming “Superman” movie starring David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan.

Continue reading Joel Kinnaman Says It Would Be “Ridiculous” To Appear In ‘Peacemaker’ Season 2, “It’s Not What I Do” at The Playlist.

Brad Anderson is a filmmaker who isn’t talked about nearly enough. Going back more than 20 years, the filmmaker has consistently made interesting thrillers. And his newest one, “The Silent Hour,” looks like it might be another solid entry for his filmography.

READ MORE: The Best Films Of 2024 So Far: ‘Challengers,’ ‘Civil War,’ ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ & More

As seen in the trailer, “The Silent Hour” tells the story of a Boston detective who is involved in an accident that makes him lose his hearing.

Continue reading ‘The Silent Hour’ Trailer: Joel Kinnaman Stars In Brad Anderson’s Newest Thriller at The Playlist.

It’s been 20 years since John Woo last worked on a big Hollywood production (2003’s “Paycheck“). But this year, the legendary filmmaker returned with a proverbial (and quite literal) bang with “Silent Night,” which combines Woo’s love of a revenge story, gratuitous action and over-the-top violence and the beautiful holiday of Christmas. 

READ MORE: The 21 Best Films Of 2023

And with “Silent Night” arriving on VOD just in time for the holidays, we are thrilled to give our readers an exclusive look at a clip from the action film.

Continue reading ‘Silent Night’ Exclusive Clip: Joel Kinnaman Is On A Rampage In John Woo’s Holiday Action Thriller at The Playlist.

Would you like a silent action film with little to no dialogue, or would you like the return of action-giant John Woo to the stage of American action cinema? And hey, how about both? Because that’s what you’ll get in Lionsgate’s “Silent Night,” a nonstop, action-packed thrill ride starring Joel Kinnaman (“The Killing,” “RoboCop,” “Suicide Squad”), with Catalina Sandino Moreno (“Barbarians,” “The Affair”), and Grammy award-winning musician and actor Scott Mescudi (aka “Kid Cudi”) 

READ MORE: Fall Film Preview: 60+ Most Anticipated Movies To Watch

“It was a very smart script, and the story really touched me [because] I have three children,” Woo, whose legendary action bonafides include 1989’s “The Killer” and 1997’s “Face/Off,” told Entertainment Weekly this week.

Continue reading ‘Silent Night’ Trailer: Joel Kinnaman & Scott Mescudi Star In John Woo’s Epic Return To American Action Filmmaking at The Playlist.

Let’s run this again for the uninitiated: Apple TV+’s acclaimed, hit space drama “For All Mankind” is a historical “what if” about the 1960s space race and spotlights the high-stakes lives of astronauts and their families. The series dramatizes an alternate history depicting “what would have happened if the global space race had never ended” after the Soviet Union succeeded in the first crewed Moon landing ahead of the United States.

Continue reading ‘For All Mankind’ Season 4 Recruitment Teaser: Apple’s Series Aims For Mars on November 10 at The Playlist.

There’s always that moment, that special moment, when an actor of some note first appears onscreen in any one movie or show. From the moment their presence becomes known, they instantly turn on an uber-signature persona that is unique to the individual. Many can pull this off, usually the more high-profile the personality, but few can elicit the type of smile Nicolas Cage can produce as he slides into the backseat of a car when the audience first lays eyes on him in his newest effort, “Sympathy for the Devil.“ Sporting his own menacing grin, it’s everything one’s come to expect from the offbeat character that is Cage, and in that briefest of seconds, is somehow able to remind the viewer of what this man is all about and what may lay in store over the course of the film’s 90 minutes.

Continue reading ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ Review: This ‘Collateral’-Esque Thriller Is Like Nicolas Cage Doing An SNL Version of Nicolas Cage at The Playlist.

Since its inception in 1996, Quebec’s Fantasia International Film Festival has grown into the premiere festival for genre film. And the 2023 edition of the festival, set to kick off on July 20, now has a guest of honor that’s perfect for its niche. Deadline reports that Nicolas Cage will receive the Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award at Fantasia Fest later this month. The actor will also be at the fest for the world premiere of his latest film, “Sympathy For The Devil.”

READ MORE: ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ Trailer: Nicolas Cage Is Unhinged As A Psychopath Terrorizing A Man In His Car

Directed by Yuval Adler, “Sympathy For The Devil” sees a cat-and-mouse game unfurl between Joel Kinnaman‘s “The Driver” and Cage’s mysterious “The Passenger.”  Luke Paradise pens the film’s script, where nothing is what it seems.

Continue reading Nic Cage To Receive Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award At This Year’s Fantasia Fest at The Playlist.

How do you make a superhero film for a multi-billion-dollar corporation feel like a personal endeavor? (please refrain from laughing at least until the very end) For filmmaker James Gunn that’s leaning into the two, sometimes contradictory elements of your personality, excavating the tension from that juxtaposition and letting it all bleed into your story. Gunn’s two sides—the vulgar and the empathetic—are perhaps best evinced in the 2018 Twitter scandal that saw the director fired from Marvel’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy” franchise (and then rehired a year later): a crass, disgusting pedophile joke from years ago (exploited on social media for political gain), and the inclusive, compassionate person Gunn had become on Twitter, mature and wise enough to accept the fate of his then-firing.

Continue reading ‘The Suicide Squad’: James Gunn Inspires The DC Universe With Gnarly Irreverence, Superhero Subversion & A Big Beating Heart [Review] at The Playlist.

From 2008 to 2010, HBO’s award-winning “In Treatment” was one of the most acclaimed dramas on television, launching the careers of Mia Wasikowska, Allison Pill, and Dane DeHaan, among others. Based on the Israeli show “BeTipul,” the show unfolded in real-time through revealing half-hour sessions between patient and therapist, played by Gabriel Byrne.

Continue reading ‘In Treatment’: HBO’s Reimagining Of Its Empathetic Therapy Show Doesn’t Quite Hit The Same Notes Of Truth [Review] at The Playlist.

As we’ve said in the past, “In Treatment” might not have been revered as it should be, but the HBO drama was extremely underrated and was a nice dramatic ballast to some of the more melodramatic and campy shows that were on HBO at the time (“True Blood“), etc. The series, about a therapist who sees patients, essentially and talks them through their problems, also launched the career of Mia Wasikowska and reminded us again just how good Gabriel Byrne was/is (Melissa George was outstanding on the show too, but she’s seemingly only now returning from a hiatus from acting).

Continue reading ‘In Treatment’ Trailer: Uzo Aduba Plays Therapist To A Reimagined Version Of HBO’s Hit Therapy Drama at The Playlist.

James Gunn is no stranger to superhero success. The director’s two “Guardians of the Galaxy” films for Marvel Studios are among the most commercially successful in the MCU catalog. Now, Warner Bros. hopes some of Gunn’s magic will rub off on one of their DC Films properties that’s right up the director’s alley: cinemagoers’ favorite group of villainous oddballs, “The Suicide Squad.”  

READ MORE: ‘The Suicide Squad’ First Look: James Gunn Reveals New Characters and Behind-the-Scenes Footage

The Squad’s first foray in the DC Extended Universe, David Ayer‘s “Suicide Squad” from 2016, wasn’t exactly met with the enthusiasm Warner Bros.

Continue reading ‘The Suicide Squad’ Trailer: James Gunn’s Take on DC’s Expendable Goon Squad at The Playlist.

2021 is shaping up to be a big year for Joel Kinnaman. The actor is not only appearing in multiple films, including the highly-anticipated “The Suicide Squad,” but on TV, he’s also set to star in the upcoming second season of “For All Mankind,” which is Apple TV+’s sci-fi, alt-history series that puts the Cold War on the Moon. And in a recent episode of Lights Camera Barstool, the actor spoke about both, including revealing just how he thinks “The Suicide Squad” is a film you should definitely see in theaters and not just on HBO Max.

Continue reading Joel Kinnaman Calls ‘The Suicide Squad’ Comedically “Gory & Sexually Depraved” & Hopes You’ll See It Theatrically at The Playlist.

There are few actors that have done such an eclectic body of work over the past decade like Joel Kinnaman. From his incredible performance in 2011’s “The Killing” series from AMC to his work in films such as “Knight of Cups” and “Suicide Squad,” Kinnaman has made a career of taking a wide variety of roles and putting his stamp on them.

Continue reading Joel Kinnaman Talks ‘Brothers By Blood,’ ‘The Suicide Squad’ & How He’d Do ‘RoboCop’ Differently Today [The Playlist Podcast] at The Playlist.

Joel Kinnaman is one of the few returning actors from David Ayer’s 2017 film, “Suicide Squad,” that is in the cast for James Gunn’s upcoming “The Suicide Squad.” (The ‘the’ makes all the difference, you see.) In having that rare honor, he’s able to compare and contrast the way each film was made and the extent to which Warner Bros.

Continue reading Joel Kinnaman Says David Ayer’s Cut Of ‘Suicide Squad’ Would Be “Much More Interesting,” Especially With More Joker at The Playlist.

Remember when the US landed on the moon? That effectively ended the space race and made it so America stood as the leaders in space travel for decades to come. Well, what if that event didn’t end the space race? What if Russia kept pushing us even further into the ’80s and added a whole new layer to the Cold War? Welcome to “For All Mankind.”

READ MORE: ‘Servant’ Season 2: Apple TV+ Thriller Returns With A Fury [Review]

As seen in the trailer for Season 2 of “For All Mankind,” the space race didn’t end in the ’60s.

Continue reading ‘For All Mankind’ Season 2 Trailer: The Cold War Takes Place On The Moon In Apple TV+’s Drama Series at The Playlist.

It’s been almost two years since we had the first trailer for the upcoming thriller, “The Informer.” And while delays almost never mean a good thing for a film, perhaps the long delay for “The Informer” is actually a benefit for the profile of the feature. You see, over the past two years, one of the leads, Ana de Armas, went from a relative unknown to one of the biggest names in Hollywood after her role in “Knives Out” and her upcoming role in “No Time to Die,” making “The Informer” a star-studded affair.

Continue reading ‘The Informer’ Trailer: Joel Kinnaman & Ana De Armas Star In This Long-Delayed Crime Thriller at The Playlist.

On its surface, “The Secrets We Keep,” a story about a European refugee who lives in a remote part of New Orleans, Louisiana, and realizes her abuser from 15 years ago is now in town, could easily sound like another variation on “Death of the Maiden.” Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll find a 1960’s thriller that shines a light on some very contemporary issues.

READ MORE: ‘The Secrets We Keep’ First Look: Noomi Rapace Kidnaps Joel Kinnaman In Post-WWII Revenge Thriller

Directed by Yuval Adler from a script by Robert Covington, the film portrays small town U.S.A as church picnics, American flags, grassy front lawns, and then shovels under those manicured lawns to find buried, war-time secrets.

Continue reading ‘The Secrets We Keep’ Is A Timely Revenge Thriller With Hitchcockian Vibes [Review] at The Playlist.

Of all of the actors in David Ayer’s 2016 superhero film, “Suicide Squad,” Joel Kinnaman is probably the one that got hammered the most by fans and critics. That isn’t to say that Kinnaman completely blew it in the role of Rick Flag, but the film’s rushed script and terrible editing seem to have affected the actor more than others. (Let’s be real, there’s no way to make this scene work, no matter if it’s Kinnaman or Leonardo DiCaprio.) But Kinnaman is getting a do-over, in a sense, with the upcoming James Gunn-directed pseudo-sequel/reboot “The Suicide Squad.” And the actor seems pretty damn psyched.

Continue reading Joel Kinnaman Says ‘The Suicide Squad’ Is “Heavily R-Rated” & Will Be “A F*cking Monster” at The Playlist.

Warner Bros. and DC Films have had a lot of false starts. Take “Suicide Squad,” from director David Ayer. That film was so poorly received that WB decided to reboot the entire franchise. It came at a fortuitous time for the studio: James Gunn had just been temporarily fired from “Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 3” and in a big coup, Warner’s was able to get him to switch teams.

Continue reading ‘The Suicide Squad’ First Look: James Gunn Reveals New Characters And Behind-The-Scenes Footage at The Playlist.

Blut und Ehre. It’s German for “Blood and Honor.” Not only that, but the phrase was also utilized as a reprehensible rallying cry for Nazi Germany during World War II and the years before. It was their baseless justification for committal of appalling crimes against humanity. Cinema has—however—provided some microscopic but—nonetheless—cathartic examples of such individuals getting their due comeuppance. Take “The Debt,” “The Odessa File,” “This Must Be The Place,” some scenes in “X-Men: First Class” or all of Amazon’s Nazi-hunting show, “Hunters.” A new movie entitled “The Secrets We Keep” sees another Holocaust survivor granted the opportunity to make the red stuff flow out of the person who tortured her years ago.

Continue reading ‘Secrets We Keep’ Trailer: Noomi Rapace Wants Vengeance On WWII War Criminal Joel Kinnaman at The Playlist.

Now that “Tenet” has a definite release date and movie theaters are re-opening, we’re finally hearing about all the movies whose release dates got delayed due to the pandemic. One of them is the revenge thriller “The Secrets We Keep” which stars Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman and Chris Messina, and we just got our first look at the film.

Continue reading ‘The Secrets We Keep’ First Look: Noomi Rapace Kidnaps Joel Kinnaman In Post-WWII Revenge Thriller at The Playlist.

One of the central problems with Hollywood, one of many obviously, is it never wants an intellectual property to sit dormant. Franchises have to keep churning out product and earn their keep even if that franchise or character has been bungled, poorly received, and just needs a rest away from audiences. With the advent of streaming, Hollywood found another way to keep brands and I.P. going and going, another revenue stream as it were: reconstitute all decent film ideas as long-form TV series that can keep running into oblivion.

Continue reading ‘Hanna’ Season 2 Trailer: Amazon’s Teenage Killer Goes Back To Assassins Boarding School at The Playlist.

Listen, chances are the first thing you want to know about Joel Kinnaman is how shooting is going on James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad.”  Kinnaman is one of just a handful of actors to make the jump from David Ayer’s 2016 “Suicide Squad“ to the long-anticipated sequel that Gunn segued too after it appeared he wouldn’t be directing “Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3.” So, let’s satisfy that hunger first.

Continue reading Joel Kinnaman Raves About ‘Suicide Squad’s’ John Cena & Says ‘For All Mankind’ Season Two Will ‘Shift’ More Than Once at The Playlist.

In the years following AMC’s rise from the new kid upstart to the raging hot titan of prestige television, a string of shows attempting to imitate what made exciting programs, like “Mad Men,” and “Breaking Bad” so groundbreaking began airing. Certain shows (“Pan Am,” and “The Playboy Club,” for example)  truly strained for greatness, whether through forced period social commentary or other overwrought writing designed to shock and subvert.

Continue reading ‘For All Mankind’: Lofty Alternate Universe Ambitions Lead To An Unfocused Period Drama [Review] at The Playlist.

One of the most defining moments in the history of the United States occurred 50 years ago when we became the first people to set foot on the moon. [Leave your Kubrick-ian conspiracy theories out of this. For the sake of argument, we’re going to assume that everyone believes the moon landing happened.] The first steps were broadcast all over the world and signaled a huge win for the country in the space race with the Soviet Union.

Continue reading ‘For All Mankind’ Trailer: Ronald D. Moore Presents An Alternate History Of The Space Race at The Playlist.