The Playlist has never met a year we couldn’t exhaust with the endless examination, analysis, and decoding; it’s not that we love lists, it’s just in many banner years of cinema, there’s so much to pour over. 2018 was a stellar year for film and there were amazing movies to shout out, performances, new directors, breakout actors and actresses, documentaries, all kinds of new exciting talents and we genuinely can’t stop talking about them, honestly.

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2018 You Didn’t See at The Playlist.

On this episode of The Playlist Podcast, I’m joined by Editor-in-Chief Rodrigo Perez and Managing Editor Charles Barfield, to discuss the 20 Breakthrough Directors of 2018, though it cannot be stressed enough that our topic at hand today was a collective pick from many members of our staff to which we are merely the mouthpiece for. We continue our extensive year-end coverage with our director’s conversation.

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2019

It’s been talked about at-length how strong the year in film was for 2018, but maybe not as much about how some of the best, most-acclaimed films of the year were from either first-time directors or filmmakers with few directorial credits who made a huge splash with a recent release.

Continue reading The 20 Breakthrough Directors of 2018 [Podcast] at The Playlist.

2018 saw the passing of a cinematography legend in Robby Müller, a regular collaborator of Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch, who with his work on “Paris, Texas,” “Down By Law,” “Dead Man” and Lars von Trier’s “Breaking the Waves” was responsible, perhaps more than anyone, for defining and expanding the aesthetics of the 1980s and 1990s arthouse. It is a sad note in a year that has been otherwise a banner year for the craft he perfected and elevated, and so as our small tribute, we dedicate our list of the Best Cinematography of 2018 to him.

Continue reading The Best Cinematography of 2018 at The Playlist.

If you’re a critic for a Hollywood trade like Variety, odds are you’re going to see just about every film that is going to be the in Best of 2018 conversation. And in consuming just the sheer amount of film content over the course of a year, you’re bound to come up with some interesting opinions. And this year, two critics for Variety, Peter Debruge and Owen Gleiberman definitely have some interesting opinions.

Continue reading Variety’s Dual Top 10 Films Of 2018 Lists Feature Hot Takes & A Couple Of Headscratchers at The Playlist.

The best part of heist films is the actual act of stealing whatever big item is in front of our heroes. But a lot of heist films gloss over the big question of what happens next. What do criminals do with these priceless items once they steam them?

READ MORE: ‘Museum’ Starring Gael Garcia Bernal Is An Endlessly Entertaining Heist Story [Berlin Review]

That’s the question at the heart of the trailer for the upcoming film “Museo” (aka “Museum”).

Continue reading ‘Museo’ Trailer: Gael García Bernal Robs A Museum And All Hell Breaks Loose at The Playlist.