TELLURIDE – The most intriguing aspect of Kitty Green’s new thriller “The Royal Hotel” is what she doesn’t tell you. Set in a town in the middle of the Australian outback, this is a movie that simmers in culture clashes, dangerous misogyny, and sexual tension. Green, who co-wrote the screenplay with Oscar Redding, is playing mind games with two visiting Americans, Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) awash in preconceived notions.

Continue reading ‘The Royal Hotel’ Review: Julia Garner Impresses In Aussie Outback Thriller [Telluride] at The Playlist.

“The Royal Hotel” just had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival (our review coming soon), and it’s definitely one to watch for several reasons. For one, it’s filmmaker Kitty Green’s follow-up drama to her excellent narrative debut film, “The Assistant,” which tracked the Harvey Weinstein story from a lowly assistant POV. For two, it reunites her with the film’s star, Julia Garner, who has won Emmys for “Ozark” and put in a tremendous performance in “The Assistant.” Additionally, this new film, an outback drama, adds rising star Jessica Henwick to the mix known for “Iron Fist” and “The Matrix: Resurrections.

Continue reading ‘The Royal Hotel’ Trailer: Julia Garner & Jessica Henwick Star In Outback Survival Drama For Director Kitty Green at The Playlist.

As we end a truly extraordinary year of movie-going (or movie-staying, maybe), and to add to our comprehensive array of Best of 2020 coverage, Be Reel assesses which directors broke through their indie roots to become household names, distinct voices, and burgeoning auteurs in 2020. 

READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2020

In order, we look back on these breakout directors, some of whom have arguably already broken out before (Sean Durkin being the most obvious), but are also re-emerging after a long time in the wilderness.

Continue reading The Breakthrough Directors Of 2020 [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage, and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This weekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching. 

After last week’s backbreaker, we’ve got a lighter load of must-buys and must-streams – unless you count every title in this week’s big box set as an individual recommendation, in which case, well, we’re back up to ten or so.

Continue reading The 6 Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘Marriage Story,’ ‘The Assistant’ & More at The Playlist.

Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage, and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This weekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching. 

One of the year’s best films hits disc and VOD this week, along with a TIFF ’19 sensation, a stellar new documentary, and an assortment of catalog Blu-rays with something for (almost) every taste.

Continue reading The 8 Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘The Assistant,’ ‘Bad Education’ & More at The Playlist.

Academy snubs be damned, 2019 was a spectacular end to a decade of outstanding films directed by women. Joanna Hogg reinvented visual memoir with “The Souvenir,” Lulu Wang challenged American conceptions of family and death in “The Farewell,” and Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” adaptation upended one of the most iconic American novels by and about a woman.

Continue reading 52 Films Directed By Women To Watch In 2020 at The Playlist.

You don’t need to know a thing about Hollywood scandals, the groundswell of #MeToo, and the enough-is-enough outrage over sexual abuse to identify and empathize with the characters in “The Assistant.” After all, everyone’s had the demeaning and degrading boss from hell.  

When producer James Schamus first announced that Australian documentarian Kitty Green’s (“Ukraine Is Not A Brothel” and “Casting Jon Benet”) next movie would be a drama about a Harvey Weinstein subordinate, many were expecting another explosive exposé of the Hollywood mogul’s many alleged predatory transgressions.

Continue reading ‘The Assistant’: Julia Garner Shines In A Harvey Weinstein-Inspired Procedural About Workplace Toxicity [Telluride Review] at The Playlist.

Unsurprisingly, the controversy surrounding disgraced producer/mogul Harvey Weinstein in light of last year’s sexual assault allegations has spawned many filmmakers to adapt the story for the big screen. Multiple documentaries and narrative features are being developed as we speak, with big names like Brad Pitt and Brian De Palma attached to their own respective projects. But it appears one of the first that is coming together is from filmmaker Kitty Green, who has just hired the lead for her untitled Weinstein film.

Continue reading ‘Ozark’ Actress Julia Garner Cast As Lead In Upcoming Harvey Weinstein Film at The Playlist.