With today’s never-ending sea of content production, we all inevitably miss out on seeing at least a few films on our radar. Catching up the movies somehow passed us by is often how many cinema lovers spend the early months of the new calendar year. Unless you’ve been a-hankering for all the groundbreaking achievements that studios love to drop in January (buy your opening night tickets for “Dr. Dolittle” yet?), most trips to the multiplex will find your average film buff checking out the awards players and festival darlings which friends have been buzzing about for months that passed them by.

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2019 You Didn’t See at The Playlist.

While most film publications stick to a fairly typical list of Best of the Year, Film Comment does things a bit differently. Instead of just listing the very best films that 2019 produced, the outlet goes a step further and also does a list of films that arrived at film festivals and haven’t yet been released this year. Because, as we are all well aware, just because a film arrives at a film festival, that definitely doesn’t mean audiences are guaranteed to see it any time soon (if at all).

Continue reading Film Comment’s Best Of 2019 Includes Underseen Gems Like ‘Transit,’ ‘Atlantics,’ & ‘An Elephant Sitting Still’ at The Playlist.

OK, so we’re in June and basically, we’re at the midway point of 2019. What’s the year like been so far for the cinema? Well, if you’re paying attention to Film Twitter, at this very moment, you will find a lot of writers justifiably griping about 2019’s summer movie season after bombs and flubs like “Dark Phoenix,” “Men In Black: International,” “Godzilla: King Of The Monsters” and the like, but one, barely-even-started season of blockbuster, a year does not make.

Continue reading The Best Films Of 2019… So Far at The Playlist.

From reviews that raised eyebrows raving about its 40 minute – some reporting up to a 59 minute – tracking shot (in 3D, no less) to stories leading many to scratch their heads over how the heck an art house movie – with a plot that sounds like every almost other Murakami novel (see: “Burning”) – possibly outgrossed “Avengers: Infinity War” in presale marketing, Bi Gan’s film, “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”, has received a rapturous response since its premiere at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Continue reading ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’ Trailer: Bi Gan’s “Flat-Out Masterpiece” Looks Beyond Gorgeous at The Playlist.

We are robots. We cover film and our best of year-end lists cover every single possible angle of film and TV. And yes, we’re oh so tired and we hope this doesn’t feel too perfunctory. Look, we’ve covered, as suggested, every stripe of 2018 movie and TV coverage performances, new directors, breakout actors and actresses, documentaries, all kinds of new exciting talents and each year we say to ourselves, “eh, let’s dial this back, it’s too much, no one cares that much do they?” And each year we find ourselves going, “Oooh, ooh, oooh!

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2019 We’ve Already Seen at The Playlist.

Here’s something you probably wouldn’t expect to read – Bi Gan’s latest film, “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” has Chinese presales numbers that are eclipsing “Avengers: Infinity War.” You read that right, the arthouse drama/thriller that debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, from the director that is notorious for his David Lynch-esque sensibilities, has earned more in its first day of presales than the latest ‘Avengers’ film.

Continue reading Bi Gan’s Arthouse Drama ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’ Uses Clever Marketing To Outgross ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ In Chinese Presales at The Playlist.

The 56th Annual New York Film Festival is upon us once again, gifting the cinematic landscape with thrilling and compelling films carefully curated from all over the world.  Last year’s favorites included “Call Me By Your Name” and “Lady Bird,” the latter of which went onto become A24’s highest grossing film and earn not one but five Academy Award nominations.  This year is no different, the festival will unleash future classics like “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” directed by the Coen Brothers, the sweeping Mexican epic “ROMA,” the latest effort by Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuaron.

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The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the main selections for the 2018 New York Film Festival, and it won’t disappoint the city’s cinephile community.  It also confirms that barring a last minute addition or secret screening there are no world premieres at this year’s NYFF.  Then again, the fest is programming a significant number of Foreign Language Film contenders even if the homegrown selections are slight.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite,” Alfonso Cuarón‘s “Roma“ and Julian Schabel‘s “At Eternity’s Gate“ were previously announced as the opening, centerpiece and closing night films for this year’s fest.

Continue reading ‘If Beale Street,’ ‘Cold War’ & ‘Ballad Of Buster Scruggs’ Among Main NYFF 2018 Selections at The Playlist.

It’s remarkable and perplexing that a landmark work such as director Bi Gan‘s latest film, “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” is not part of this year’s official competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The mezmerizing, mysterious film, an indisputably great one, is coming off the heels of the equally otherworldly 2014 film “Kaili Blues,” but this sophomore effort is a game-changer of the highest order.

Continue reading Bi Gan’s ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’ Is A Masterfully Mysterious Effort & Maybe The Best At Cannes [Review] at The Playlist.