To say 2020 has been a rough year would be a gross understatement. Sometimes, it helps to pinch one’s self, as a kind of gentle reminder that what we’re living through is not normal, and that it won’t always be this way. Many of us have been put through the wringer this year (again, an understatement), and we can only hope to emerge on the other side with more reluctant hope for what comes next, less time for Donald Trump and his criminal ilk, and dreams of a vaccine reaching the American public sooner rather than later.

Continue reading Nicholas Laskin’s Best Films Of 2020 at The Playlist.

With December right around the corner, it’s time for endless “best of” lists, and this year John Waters returns with his signature early and peculiar selection of best movies of the year. Waters is famously one of the most opinionated filmmakers with a truly varied taste for films, and his list for 2020 is just what you’d expect from the man behind “Pink Flamingos” and “Hair Spray” during the year 2020.

Continue reading John Waters’ Best of 2020 List Includes ‘Mangrove,’ ‘Swallow’ & Also, ‘Butt Boy’ at The Playlist.

Sure, the new trailer for “Small Axe” dubs the anthology as a “new series,” but this project from filmmaker Steve McQueen is no TV series. In fact, it’s a group of five feature films that can be viewed separately or together and paint the picture of life for a group of people in London’s West Indian community throughout the decades. But again, this is not a TV series.

READ MORE: ‘Red, White And Blue’: John Boyega Is Superb In Steve McQueen’s Challenging, And Unafraid ‘Small Axe’ Film [NYFF Review]

The trailer for “Small Axe” begins by showing how much music plays a role in the lives of various folks in the London West-Indian community, as a way for everyone to come together.

Continue reading ‘Small Axe’ Trailer: Steve McQueen’s Acclaimed Anthology Arrives On Amazon Later This Month at The Playlist.

A West Indian proverb holds, “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.” “Lovers Rock,” the first film made available of Steve McQueen’s Amazon miniseries “Small Axe,” first interpreted the saying as a metaphor for the joyous spirit in the Black British community. But his newest installment, “Mangrove” swings a different emphasis on the rebellious phrase. Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes) owns the Mangrove, a new restaurant located in Notting Hill.

Continue reading ‘Mangrove’: Revolution Sparks In Steve McQueen’s Uplifting ‘Small Axe’ Courtroom Drama [NYFF Review] at The Playlist.

“If you are the big tree, we are the small axe,” this is the Jamaican proverb that has inspired filmmaker Steve McQueen‘s, “Small Axe,” a collection of five films inspired by real-life events about ordinary people showing courage, belief, and resilience to overcome injustice and achieve something transformative in their West Indian community.

READ MORE: NYFF 2020: 12 Most Anticipated Films You Need See

Three of the “Small Axe” film are playing at the now-started New York Film Festival, “Mangrove,” “Red White And Blue,” and just premiered before the weekend to much critical acclaim, “Lovers Rock.” Our review by Robert Daniels described the film as an atypical Steve McQueen affair.

Continue reading New ‘Small Axe’ Trailer Teases Steve McQueen’s ‘Lovers Rock’ Acclaim & 5 Film Anthology Coming In November at The Playlist.

As we’ve mentioned ad nauseum this fall, cinema is different this year and so are film festivals. While the pandemic knocked Cannes, Telluride, and SXSW out of action, festivals with the benefit of more time have worked extremely hard to find a way to pull off a virtual film festival with drive-in screenings. Chief among them and so far, the only major American film festival to pull it off, the New York Film Festival, has done a remarkable job of pulling their festival together, using both virtual screenings, that expand all over North America and not just New York, and drive-in screenings around the five boroughs.

Continue reading NYFF 2020: 12 Most Anticipated Films You Need See at The Playlist.

While the world only seems to be moderately better now than it was months ago when the pandemic began to wreak havoc across the globe, we are now officially in Fall Film Festival Season. And though the festival schedule is different and some events have either gone fully digital or a combination of digital and in-person, there is a sense that the industry is returning to some sort of normalcy. And with that, it’s nice that we can talk about the upcoming BFI London Film Festival and its 2020 slate of films.

Continue reading BFI London Film Festival 2020 Lineup: New Projects From Steve McQueen, Lena Dunham & Pixar To Screen at The Playlist.

Ever since its announcement as part of this year’s Cannes Film Festival Official Selections, Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology series from Amazon has been positioned as one of the 2020 fall festival darlings. And it appears that is playing out at this year’s New York Film Festival, which will not only debut a feature-length episode of the anthology as its Opening Night film but will also showcase two additional episodes as part of the main slate.

Continue reading ‘Lover’s Rock’: Steve McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’ Feature Will Open This Year’s New York Film Festival at The Playlist.

Even without an event happening in 2020, the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival announced their lineup of films that make up this year’s “Official Selections.” And perhaps the most surprising announcement to be made is the fact that Steve McQueen had two features selected. Yes, you read that right—two films.

READ MORE: Letitia Wright & John Boyega To Star In Steve McQueen’s TV Series ‘Small Axe’

According to Thierry Fremaux, during his announcement of this year’s Cannes selections, McQueen has two films, titled “Mangrove” and “Lover’s Rock” that are given the Official Selection badge for this year’s festival.

Continue reading Steve McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’ TV Anthology Comprised Of 5 Feature-Length Entries, Including ‘Mangrove’ & ‘Lover’s Rock’ at The Playlist.

After weeks of “will they or won’t they?” the Cannes Film Festival was recently officially canceled due to COVID-19. However, in place of trying to emulate the “digital” festival model that folks like SXSW and Tribeca put on earlier this spring, the organizers of the prestigious French event decided to forgo any screenings of films, digital or otherwise, and instead just release a list of films that make up its 2020 “Official Selections.” And now, thanks to the recent announcement, we know the 56 films that would have been selected to play at this year’s Cannes.

Continue reading Cannes 2020 Line-up: Wes Anderson’s ‘French Dispatch,’ 2 New Steve McQueen Movies & Much More at The Playlist.