All astronaut movies about losing your mind in the lonely, alienating depths of space essentially harken back, more or less, to Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Solaris” in 1972 (though yes, the novel and several others covered this ground, too). The premise, adopted in dozens of films since Steven Soderbergh’s “Solaris” remake, James Gray’s “Ad Astra,” and the recent Adam Sandler vehicle “Spaceman,” is practically its own sub-genre at this point.

Continue reading ‘Slingshot’ Review: Casey Affleck Loses His Mind In Reality-Warping Paranoia Space Thriller at The Playlist.

Known for 2003’s “Evil” and the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s short story “1408,” Swedish filmmaker Mikael Håfström follows up 2023’s “Stockholm Bloodbath,” with his new sci-fi film “Slingshot.” The film stars the notable pair of Laurence Fishburne and Casey Affleck, two famous actors who have never been paired up together like this before.

Continue reading ‘Slingshot’ Trailer: Casey Affleck & Laurence Fishburne Star In A New Haunting Space Film at The Playlist.

To be frank, watching episodes of the new limited series “Clipped” came with a bit of PTSD for this particular writer. As a longtime Los Angeles Clippers fan, the new FX program is sort of like revisiting one of the worst and most liberating moments in your team’s history. A moment that was so historic that the commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, banned an owner from his team and essentially forced him to sell the team.

Continue reading ‘Clipped’ Showrunners Shoot Their Shot At Capturing A Pivotal Moment In NBA History at The Playlist.

Let’s face it: from ‘Quantumania,’ to the Victoria Alonso and Jonathan Majors dramas, and “The Marvels,” Marvel Studios had a really bad 2023 (we went over their stressful year in much detail here). At the very least, they’ve ended 2023 on a very good note with “What If…?” season two, a series we gave some really top marks for for its mythical and archetypal writing.

Continue reading ‘‘What If…?’ Season 3 Is “Coming Soon” & New Surprise Teaser Features Red Guardian, Winter Soldier & Bill Foster at The Playlist.

Back in February, news broke that Rami Malek would star in a CIA thriller “Amateur,” about a cryptographer who blackmails the agency into training him to go after the terrorists who killed his wife. Sound like a good role for Malek? Indeed it does, and Deadline has the word on the supporting cast around him for the film.

READ MORE: ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Final Season Trailer: Rachel Brosnahan Returns One More Time In Prime Video’s Acclaimed Comedy Series

And it’s an interesting trio of actors to join the project, with “The Marvellous Mrs.

Continue reading ‘Amateur’: Rachel Brosnahan, Laurence Fishburne & Caitríona Balfe Join Rami Malek For Upcoming CIA Thriller at The Playlist.

At the end of “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum,” Keanu Reeves‘ Wick and Laurence Fishburne‘s The Bowery King agreed to join forces against The High Table. Now the fight is on, and it’s about to go global in “John Wick: Chapter 4,” in theaters next March.

READ MORE: ‘Ballerina’: Keanu Reeves & Ian McShane Reprise Their ‘John Wick’ Roles For Ana de Armas’ Upcoming Spinoff Film

Reeves returns as the legendary hitman in the franchise’s fourth installment, which sees the “John Wick” world expand beyond the confines of its fictional NYC backdrop.

Continue reading ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Trailer: Keanu Reeves Takes The High Table Fight Global at The Playlist.

Whenever you talk about “The Matrix” and its sequels, there are plenty of people that hate everything that came after the original film. However, even in the worst of the sequels, it’s hard to deny the trio of leads in the films, Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Laurence Fishburne, is great. So, when “The Matrix Resurrections” was announced and Fishburne wasn’t among the returnees, people were rightfully bummed.

Continue reading Laurence Fishburne Offers His Honest Take On ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ & Was Just Fine With Not Being Involved at The Playlist.

After decades of development and delays, Francis Ford Coppola starts production on his epic film “Megalopolis” this Fall. It’s the ultimate passion project for the 83-year-old director. Coppola first hatched the idea for the film, about an architect’s doomed attempt to rebuild New York City as a utopia, while making “Apocalypse Now” in the late ’70s. Now, over four decades later, “Megalopolis” is finally in the works, with a cast led by Adam Driver and a $100 million budget funded entirely by the director himself. 

READ MORE: ‘Megalopolis’: Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburne Join Francis Ford Coppola’s Opus

But this isn’t the first time Coppola has tried to make “Megalopolis.” In a recent interview at the Taormina Music Festival in Sicily, the director explained he almost shot the movie in 2001 before the tragedy of 9/11 made the film impossible to make.

Continue reading Francis Ford Coppola Wanted To Shoot ‘Megalopolis’ In 2001 But 9/11 “Shattered” His Vision at The Playlist.

Given that Francis Ford Coppola‘s independently-financed $100 million-plus budgeted passion project film “Megalopolis,” is one he’s been talking about for over two decades at least—a project he once abandoned and only recently came back to —when news arrived that Oscar Isaac had ultimately passed on the lead role, it made lots of cinephiles dying to see the project very nervous. Well, chalk that set back up to a blip as the director of “The Godfather” trilogy and “Apocalypse Now” has not only found a new leading man, but a whole new supporting cast as well.

Continue reading ‘Megalopolis’: Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburne Join Francis Ford Coppola’s Opus at The Playlist.

It remains to be seen if Chris Pine & Co. will indeed return for another “Star Trek” film. However, fear not, Chris Pine fans. The actor still has a slate of other upcoming movies, including 2023’s “Dungeons & Dragons” and a reunion with “Hell Or High Water” co-star Ben Foster in “The Contractor” on April 1.

Continue reading ‘All The Old Knives’ Trailer: Chris Pine Stars In A New CIA Thriller Coming To Prime Video This April at The Playlist.

When “MacGruber” was released in theaters in 2010, the general critical response was that it had the same problem that so many films do that are based on sketches from “Saturday Night Live”: What works in the length of a sketch doesn’t click in the same way when it’s stretched to the length of a feature. However, history has been kind to Jorma Taccone’s film.

Continue reading ‘MacGruber’ TV Review: A Funny, Ridiculous Story Is Stretched Too Thin In This Overlong Streaming Series at The Playlist.

Casey Affleck hasn’t been completely missing from films over the past several years, but you would really have to hunt down his movies to see them. Since the controversy arose with allegations of inappropriate misconduct on the set of “I’m Still Here,” that (re)surfaced after the release of “Manchester By The Sea,” Affleck has taken on smaller roles in indie films and lower-profile features. Well, his upcoming movie, “Slingshot,” looks to be his most high-profile project in years. 

Continue reading ‘Slingshot’: Casey Affleck To Star Opposite Laurence Fishburne In The Sci-Fi Drama at The Playlist.

Every week, 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 biweekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.

This week’s new release guide includes a couple of must-see new releases from the subscription streamers, an early-oughts fave in 4K, a quartet of new Criterion releases (if you’re a B&N 50%-er), and much more.

Continue reading The Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘Almost Famous,’ ‘Summer Of Soul,’ ‘No Sudden Move’ & More at The Playlist.

Completing a loose trio of ice-themed films, after 2011’s “The Grey” and  2019’s “Cold Pursuit,” the Liam Neeson-starring “The Ice Road” is a serviceable, if incredibly convoluted, addition to a recent run of bland action movies that ask the actor to do the bare minimum— scowling as things explode around him.

READ MORE: ‘Black Widow’: Natasha Romanoff Is Given A Final Farewell In Marvel’s Latest Entertaining, But Inconsequential Episode [Review]

The second film of 2021 to star Neeson, following “The Marksmen” (a film that you, and presumably Neeson, have already forgot existed), and written and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, the screenwriter behind such forgettably serviceable films as “Armageddon” and “The Punisher,” “The Ice Road” takes the basic premise of an episode of “Ice Road Truckers,”—melting ice roads and the types of people that choose to drive over them—and overlays it with a confusing narrative of a nefarious drilling company in northern Manitoba. 

Continue reading ‘The Ice Road’: Liam Neeson’s Latest Revenge Film Finds The Actor On Cruise Control [Review] at The Playlist.

When you have acting powerhouses like Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, and Ryan Phillippe, as the upcoming Peacock series, “MacGruber,” does, then you better have some equally amazing actors to play off them. And if a new report from Variety is to believed, it appears “MacGruber” has landed an all-star supporting cast to join in the hijinks.

READ MORE: Christopher Nolan Is Ready For A ‘MacGruber’ TV Series: “The World Is Waiting”

According to Variety, actors Sam Elliott, Laurence Fishburne, and Mickey Rourke have all joined the cast of the upcoming Peacock revival of “MacGruber.” If you’re a smart person (such as Christopher Nolan), then you are well aware of the fact that “MacGruber” is one of the most anticipated streaming series of the next year or so and will star Forte as the title character, an action hero badass that is also really bad at being an action hero and a badass.

Continue reading Sam Elliott, Laurence Fishburne & Mickey Rourke Join ‘MacGruber’ As Will Forte Debuts Another Scene From His New Comedy at The Playlist.

Having been a high-profile filmmaker for four decades, Spike Lee has had his fair share of projects fall apart. Films like his biopics about James Brown, Joe Louis, and Jackie Robinson or even “Inside Man 2” were all floated around at various points in Lee’s career but ultimately never came together. We even wrote about 10 of these projects back in 2013.

Continue reading ‘The Messenger’: Spike Lee Describes Pulling The Plug On Unproduced 1984 Film As “A Complete Disaster” at The Playlist.

In his latest Netflix special, “Black Mirror” creator Charlie Brooker and his collaborator Annabel Jones gather an ensemble of talented actors to comedically dissect the year that was 2020, a 12-month period often accused of being so ridiculous that no one would believe its plot twists if were they presented in an actual episode of Brooker’s award-winning show. More than once this year, Brooker and Jones had to have been told that something was straight out of one of their televised nightmares.

Continue reading ‘Death To 2020’: A Likable Cast Prevents Charlie Brooker’s Latest From Ending The Year On A Disastrous Note [Review] at The Playlist.

The fourth pre-taped (sorta) night of the Creative Arts Emmys saw some major category contenders win more trophies before Sunday’s big night. “Watchmen” took Composition for a Limited Series, TV Movie or Special, “Succession” took Drama Casting, “Schitt’s Creek” won the Comedy Casting Emmy and “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” snagged Music Supervision.

READ MORE: “The Mandalorian” takes five Emmys on Creative Arts night three

“Big Mouth” took two Emmys including one for Maya Rudolph, her first after six nominations, in the Voice Over category.

Continue reading Maya Rudolph &, Yes, Quibi Triumph On Creative Arts Emmys Night Four at The Playlist.

When you think of “The Matrix” and the most memorable characters, there are really four that immediately come to mind. You have Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne. And while we know that the first two are set to appear in the upcoming sequel, the latter two won’t.

Continue reading Laurence Fisherburns Explains Matrix 4 Absence: “I Have Not Been Invited” at The Playlist.

As we’ve talked about previously, the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has had a number of interesting pop culture impacts over the weeks. Perhaps the most obvious is the fact that Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 film, “Contagion,” has become one of the most-watched films of 2020, as the movie’s depiction of a global pandemic is eerily similar to what the world is experiencing right now.

READ MORE: ‘Contagion’ Writer Says Trump “Has Gut Our Defense” Against Coronavirus By Slashing Budgets

And with the popularity of his film at an all-time high, the filmmaker has teamed with the very same experts that helped him craft the film to help spread quality information about COVID-19 and how everyone can contribute to ending this pandemic.

Continue reading Steven Soderbergh, Matt Damon & Other ‘Contagion’ Cast/Crew Team Up With Experts For COVID-19 PSAs at The Playlist.

Quibi has yet to launch, but the mobile-focused streaming service already has unveiled quite a few programs that will fill up its library when it becomes available next month. And even though the vast majority of the programs offered by the new streaming service tend to be unscripted TV series, one of the real tests of how well this platform will do is likely the feature film, “#FreeRayshawn.”

READ MORE: Quibi Announces Its 50-Series Launch Lineup Featuring Sophie Turner, Christoph Waltz & More

As seen in the trailer for “#FreeRayshawn,” the film follows the story of a young veteran that finds himself trapped in his apartment after running from the police.

Continue reading ‘#FreeRayshawn’ Trailer: Antoine Fuqua’s New Film Is Coming To Quibi In April at The Playlist.

Nothing busts canons quite like living in interesting times. In our ongoing Inflection Point series, we look back at the films that have taken on new relevance due to our ongoing cultural and political upheaval. Some beloved, some undiscovered, these titles deserve newfound consideration as film criticism evolves to meet the moment.

If you grew up on a steady diet of post-apocalyptic cinema and video games, the past few weeks must feel like a bad piece of fan-fiction.

Continue reading Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Contagion’ Is Especially Sobering In Light Of Current Events at The Playlist.

There are tons of fascinating “what if?” stories around Hollywood. What if Quentin Tarantino had made a “Silver Surfer” film? Or what if Guillermo del Toro had made “Doctor Strange” or the third “Harry Potter” or a multitude of other unrealized projects by the famous director? There’s always at least one of these stories you can’t help but wonder, what if things had gone differently? The latest one involves Tarantino, Laurence Fishburne and the role of Jules Winnfield in “Pulp Fiction.”

READ MORE: Quentin Tarantino Says He Will Write & Direct All 5 Episodes Of Eventual ‘Bounty Law’ Series

It is commonly known that Paul Calderon, who has another minor role in the film, was at one point up for the role, before Samuel L.

Continue reading Quentin Tarantino Says Laurence Fishburne Turned Down ‘Pulp Fiction’ Which Led To Him Losing Role In ‘Die Hard’ at The Playlist.

Not a screwball comedy or inspirational tale of creativity unleashed but trying to be both those things and more, Richard Linklater’s lackluster adaptation of Maria Semple’s bestselling novel “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?” is a late, dull entry in a louder-than-usual summer movie season that truly needed something special, warm, and human-scale. Try as the filmmakers do to conjure a restorative kind of magic in its searching, yearning storyline of renewal, they are not able to come up with much more than a limping comedy about a woman with all-too-easily-explained mental issues.

Continue reading ‘Where’d You Go Bernadette?’: Richard Linklater & Cate Blanchett Totally Miss The Mark In A Limping Twee Comedy [Review] at The Playlist.

A new Nicolas Cage film seems to come out almost on a monthly basis, at this point. But somehow, even with that frequency, each of Cage’s films is unique in some way. The man definitely knows how to add some variety to his filmography. And that continues in the upcoming film “Running with the Devil.”

As seen in the trailer, “Running with the Devil” tells the story of two men, who work for a drug cartel, as they have to travel to another country (presumably in South America) to seemingly audit the creation of the drug.

Continue reading ‘Running With The Devil’ Trailer: Nic Cage Does His Best ‘Breaking Bad’ As A Drug Manufacturer In New Thriller at The Playlist.