The tragedy at the center of “Love Life,” the new film from Japanese director Kōji Fukada which premieres in Competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival, does not come to disrupt a perfectly happy family. Cracks are visible in the facade of the life shared by Taeko (Fumino Kimura) and Jiro (Kento Nagayama) even before the fatal accident that claims the life of Keita (Tetta Shimada), her young son from a previous marriage.

Continue reading ‘Love Life’ Review: Kōji Fukada’s Film Is An Uneven Melodrama On Grief And Intimacy [Venice] at The Playlist.

One thing that’s instantly striking about HBO Max’s rom-com anthology series “Love Life” is the exacting period detail for each year of the 2010s it depicts. When the show declares an episode is set in 2012, the iPhones and text messages actually look like they did in that exact year. This even extends to a 2006-set flashback episode where a pink Motorola Razr, chunk HP inkjet printer, and needle-drop to D4L’s “Laffy Taffy” conjure a period in time with stunning specificity.

Continue reading ‘Love Life’: Anna Kendrick’s Charm Can’t Sustain A Full Season In HBO Max’s Flagship Series [Review] at The Playlist.

There seems to be an influx of exciting television in May, both new and returning. From new series from television titan Ryan Murphy to a new series co-created by a “Rick and Morty” mastermind and the returns of some of the most exciting comedy series of 2019, there’s no shortage of things to watch in the upcoming month.

READ MORE: ‘Betty’: HBO’s ‘Skate Kitchen’ Spin-Off Is An Imperfect Start To Skater Girl Magic [Review]

Better still, there’s such an array of genres and tone to explore that, if you have the time, there’s a likelihood you’ll stumble across something you never envisioned yourself watching and find a new show that you might not have found before.

Continue reading 12 Shows To Watch In May: ‘Hollywood,’ ‘The Eddy,’ ‘Snowpiercer’ & More at The Playlist.

Everyone knows that if you want to launch a successful streaming service, a deep library of well-known content helps, but the real way to gain interest is with killer original programming. And for HBO Max to be successful, it needs to be more than the place where you can find all your HBO content, as well as “Friends.” That’s where “Love Life” comes in.

As seen in the new trailer for “Love Life,” Anna Kendrick stars in the series about a woman trying to find love, while also going through her tumultuous history of dating.

Continue reading ‘Love Life’ Trailer: Anna Kendrick Stars In New Dramedy Series From Paul Feig at The Playlist.

As documented in our Best TV of The 2010 Decade feature, which you should read, the 2010s were the age of PeakTV, Prestige TV and the dawn of the streaming age. Now in this new decade of the 2020s, we enter the Streaming War era. Yes, Netflix is here and here to stay, HBO isn’t going anywhere and Showtime, FX and all the other major players are solidified in status.

Continue reading The 60 Most Anticipated TV Shows Of 2020 at The Playlist.