Like many brilliant women throughout cinema history who toil in obscurity before eventually being recognized for their greatness, it took some of us a while to notice Amy Adams. After all, Adams wasn’t always enjoying the kinds of starry, awards-friendly roles she is now more or less synonymous with. For some time, Adams was competing for screentime with male co-stars who happened to be comedy icons (“Talladega Nights”) and getting cast in such illustrious parts like “Gorgeous Woman” in mid-tier farces (“Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny”).

Continue reading Amy Adams: The Essential Performances at The Playlist.

Continue reading 72-Minute Screenwriters Roundtable With Kenneth Lonergan, Tom Ford, Pedro Almodovar, And More at The Playlist.

After a brief hiatus for self-care, spending the holidays with family, and catching up with the glut of titles that were released at the end of 2016, Over/Under Movies is back to ring in the new year.

For those new listeners who have come around the podcast since finding our home at The Playlist, we typically end the year (or, in this case, begin the new year) with a two-part episode of each host compiling their list for the most overrated and most underrated films of the film year, as opposed to our usual format of pitting two films against each other.

Continue reading Podcast: Over/Under Movies Discuss The Most Overrated Movies Of 2016 at The Playlist.

I couldn’t tell a well stitched dress from a beautifully designed gown, but that’s why the Costume Designers Guild are here. The group have looked over the year in television and film and nominated the cream of the crop when it comes to the attire we’ve seen on screens both big and small.

It’s a fascinating group of films that have been nominated together. The fashion forward comedy “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie” rubs shoulders with “La La Land” and “Nocturnal Animals” (note: Tom Ford did not design the clothes for his own film, that task went to Arianne Phillips).

Continue reading ‘La La Land,’ ‘Rogue One,’ And More Nominated For 2017 Costume Designers Guild Awards at The Playlist.

It wouldn’t be the 2017 Oscar season without another surprising turn in the road. The 2017 EE BAFTA Awards nominations were announced early Tuesday morning London time and, as expected, they loved “La La Land” giving it 11 nominations. What wasn’t expected were some of the snubs, some of the nominees and, most of all, the adoration for Tom Ford’s “Nocturnal Animals” which tied “Arrival” for the second most nominations, nine.

Continue reading 9 Things We Learned About This Year’s Oscars From the 2017 BAFTA Awards Nominations at The Playlist.

As expected, the awards season belongs to “La La Land,” and at the Golden Globes tonight, the picture swept up pretty much everything.

The hit musical won seven awards this evening, including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress (all in the Comedy or Musical category), Best Score, Best Original Song, and Best Screenplay. Another little movie that could, “Moonlight,” capped off the evening winning Best Picture, Drama.

Continue reading ‘La La Land’ Dazzles At The 2017 Golden Globe Awards, Full List Of Winners at The Playlist.

The Art Directors Guild of America announced the 21st Annual Excellence In Production Design Awards nominations this morning, and the biggest surprise had to be the tie in two categories.

Both the Period Film and Variety, Reality or Competition Series categories have six nominees due to a tie in the nominating voting process. Even with that extra slot in the former and the guild’s three film categories (Period, Fantasy and Contemporary), there were still some notable snubs.

Continue reading ‘Jackie,’ ‘Rogue One,’ ‘The Crown’ And ‘Game of Thrones’ Earn Key Art Directors Guild Awards Nods at The Playlist.

The Writers Guild of America announced their nominees for the 2017 WGA Awards this morning, and there were some interesting selections, to say the least.

The industry clearly adores “La La Land” as Damien Chazelle‘s screenplay, arguably the weakest aspect of the film, made it into the Original category over Mike Mills‘ “20th Century Women,” Noah Oppenheim‘s “Jackie” and Matt Ross‘ “Captain Fantastic.” The other nominees in this category include Taylor Sheridan‘s “Hell or High Water,” Kenneth Lonergan‘s “Manchester By The Sea,” Barry Jenkins‘ “Moonlight” and Jeff Nichols‘ “Loving.” These five will not repeat in the Academy Award nominations announced later this month as both “Moonlight” and “Loving” have been deemed adapted screenplays by the Academy’s writers branch.

Continue reading ‘La La Land’ and ‘Deadpool’ Earn Somewhat Surprising WGA Awards Nominations at The Playlist.

Have you been struggling to type out that script? The one you’ve sat on for the past few months/years or so? Trying to figure out how to make it work? Hell, do you need some help getting it started in the first place? If you want to look for the best of the best of the year, look no further than below. Compiled for the consideration of Oscar voters everywhere, you have the chance to download and read more than 40 of the most acclaimed, sought-after screenplays of the past year.

Continue reading Download Over 40 Oscar-Contending Screenplays: ‘Silence,’ ‘Moonlight,’ ’20th Century Women’ ‘Arrival’ & More at The Playlist.

There’s an old saying at the Playlist Mansion: you do not truly know a person until you’ve asked them to chose the one film they feel was most overrated and the one they feel was most underrated in any given year. It’s not very catchy. But it is a credo with a surprising amount of wisdom in it, as well as the welcome potential for our beloved, esteemed and generally faultless contributors to make complete public fools of themselves.

Continue reading The Most Overrated & Underrated Films Of 2016 at The Playlist.

The 74th Golden Globe nominees were announced this morning surprising many nominees who weren’t necessarily expecting any love from the HFPA.  Here are their statements and reactions to their nominations.

[We’ll update this post throughout the day as more reactions come in.]

“As I’m in LA, it was a very early start to the day but the best possible news to wake up to, and I am so honored and thrilled by the nominations.

Continue reading Updated: 2017 Golden Globe Awards Nominees Reactions: Viola Davis, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone And More at The Playlist.

Another weekend with more evidence that Hollywood’s box office tracking system is about as accurate as throwing darts blindfolded and seeing where it lands. It was only a few days ago that pundits were excitedly predicting that “Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them” would open to $90 million this weekend, but alas, the numbers are a lot smaller.

The first entry in a five film franchise, the “Harry Potter” spinoff debuted with $75 million.

Continue reading ‘Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them’ Makes Magic At The Multiplex [Box Office] at The Playlist.

The first thing Tom Ford asked me when I walked in for our interview was where I was from. He couldn’t place my accent (or lack of one, perhaps). He then asked what cologne I was wearing (full disclosure: Chanel Allure Homme Sport). Needless to say, I can’t remember a filmmaker ever asking me what cologne I was wearing.

I discovered about 45 minutes later that upon first meeting Jake Gyllenhaal, he’d also asked him what cologne he was wearing.

Continue reading Tom Ford on ‘Nocturnal Animals,’ Loyalty And His Struggles With Materialism at The Playlist.

From its opening titles, a seeming riff on a James Bond credits sequence in which naked, overweight-to-obese ladies dance in slow motion wearing nothing but majorette-style accessories while glitter flies through the air and Abel Korzeniowski‘s shamelessly romance-and-intrigue-based score swirls and swoops deliriously, Tom Ford‘s “Nocturnal Animals” is a feast for the eyes and a fun-size Mars Bar for the brain. It’s also highly enjoyable, when it’s not trying to be serious and make heavy points about the interrelation of art and life.

Continue reading Tom Ford’s ‘Nocturnal Animals’ Is A Feast For The Eyes And A Fun-Size Mars Bar For The Brain [Review] at The Playlist.

In all the conversation regarding this year’s Best Actor race it’s sort of stunning that Jake Gyllenhaal is not getting the attention he deserves for his performance (or should that be performances?) in Tom Ford‘s “Nocturnal Animals.” Sure, Denzel Washington (“Fences”), Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”) and Ryan Gosling (“La La Land”) are pretty much considered locks, but the other two slots are wide open.

Continue reading Jake Gyllenhaal Was ‘Shaken’ After Reading Tom Ford’s ‘Nocturnal Animals’ Screenplay at The Playlist.

Movie lovers have always found hope, reassurance and, of course, escape during anxious times. Now that we’re finally here in November, and this three ring circus masquerading as an election will (finally!) come to an end early next week, and there’s a crammed slate of titles all the way through the end of the year that should give plenty of options to find what each of us needs at the cinema or on VOD.

While it’s looking like another strong month of releases (many with awards hopes), the film of the month is one that won’t get a ton of theatrical play, unless you live in a city that has a cool arthouse theater to make room for it.

Continue reading 12 Films To See In November at The Playlist.

High art, potboiler crime, and lingering heartache are the ingredients of Tom Ford‘s upcoming “Nocturnal Animals,” an ambitious, glossy movie that walks a knife-edge of camp and gritty drama in what’s easily one of the more unique awards season offerings. And four new clips from the movie highlight the differing sensibilities found within the picture.

READ MORE: Michael Shannon & Imogen Poots Have An Explosive Affair In New Trailer For ‘Frank & Lola’

Starring Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Shannon, the narrative centers around an art gallery owner (Adams), who is sent an early copy of the new novel by her ex-husband (Gyllenhaal).

Continue reading There’s Romance & Crime With 4 Clips From ‘Nocturnal Animals’ With Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal & Michael Shannon at The Playlist.

Not many found much to love in Tim Burton‘s drama flop “Big Eyes,” but for filmmaker Tom Ford, he saw something in Amy Adams‘ Golden Globe-winning performance that made her the right fit for his upcoming “Nocturnal Animals.”

READ MORE: Secrets Don’t Die For Amy Adams And Jake Gyllenhaal In First Trailer For ‘Nocturnal Animals’

“I have obviously always admired Amy as an actress,” Ford told EW.

Continue reading Love & Hate Collide In New Trailer For Tom Ford’s ‘Nocturnal Animals’ Starring Jake Gyllenhaal & Amy Adams at The Playlist.

TORONTO – Michael Shannon has been everywhere this year. Over the past nine months he’s had nine movies either debut at a film festival or hit theaters (and we’re not even counting his corpse cameo in “Batman v Superman”). Earlier this month he took some time after the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of “Nocturnal Animals” to discuss Tom Ford’s latest directorial effort, Jeff Nichols’ “Loving” (which also screened at the festival) and more.

Continue reading Michael Shannon On ‘Nocturnal Animals,’ ‘Loving’ And Guillermo Del Toro’s Pitch [Interview] at The Playlist.

Now that the triumvirate of early fall film festivals has come to an end, we can finally sit back and look at the race for Best Picture at the 2017 Academy Awards with a clear perspective. It may be somewhat surprising, but the biggest story isn’t Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land.” Granted, the movie musical is the undisputed and current frontrunner to win it all in February, but we have tons of time to talk about the feel-good movie musical ad nauseam.

Continue reading Contender Countdown: Before ‘La La Land’ Let’s Talk About ‘Sully’ For Best Picture at The Playlist.

While it was met with slightly mixed to mixed-positive reviews out of Venice, Tom Ford’s sexy new romantic thriller, “Nocturnal Animals” came out of La Biennale as essentially the big winner: while she didn’t win Best actress, Amy Adams walked away with tons of critical accolades and film itself won the Silver Lion: Grand Jury Prize. Now there’s talk of an Oscar run which would be some sweet redemption for Ford if it does pan out, as his last picture, the ravishing, “A Single Man,” was sadly overlooked in 2009.

Continue reading Secrets Don’t Die For Amy Adams & Jake Gyllenhaal In The First Trailer For ‘Nocturnal Animals’ at The Playlist.

TORONTO – As a long time executive in the awards season game noted just a few nights ago after another round of parties and celebratory drinks came to an end, “We’re still in a bubble right now.”  And they were absolutely right. For all the hype and buzz you’ve seen about this picture or this performance from Venice, Telluride and now Toronto, this is all almost virtual reality for the big Oscar prize. The multiple standing ovations at Toronto, for instance, are not audiences of Academy members, let alone guild or industry (granted, there are no doubt a token few here and there). 

Continue reading ‘Moonlight’ Becomes A Legit Oscar Contender And 7 Other Things We Learned In The Toronto Bubble at The Playlist.

After a week and a half of Mediterranean sun, fun and countless Aperol Spritzs, the Venice Film Festival came to a close this evening, with the annual awards ceremony ahead of closing film “The Magnificent Seven.” And as usual, the jury (headed this year by “Skyfall” and “American Beauty” director Sam Mendes) delivered some surprises.

The Golden Lion, the top prize, went to Lav Diaz’s “The Woman Who Left,” something of a surprise choice, given its three-and-a-half hour length, and Diaz not being the most accessible of filmmakers.

Continue reading Emma Stone & Tom Ford’s ‘Nocturnal Animals’ Win Big Prizes At Venice, Lav Diaz Takes Golden Lion at The Playlist.

From its opening titles, a seeming riff on a James Bond credits sequence in which naked, overweight-to-obese ladies dance in slow motion wearing nothing but majorette-style accessories while glitter flies through the air and Abel Korzeniowski‘s shamelessly romance-and-intrigue-based score swirls and swoops deliriously, Tom Ford‘s “Nocturnal Animals” is a feast for the eyes and a fun-size Mars Bar for the brain. It’s also highly enjoyable, when it’s not trying to be serious and make heavy points about the interrelation of art and life.

Continue reading Tom Ford’s ‘Nocturnal Animals’ Is Slinky, Surprising, And A Little Silly [Venice Review] at The Playlist.

Arriving after all the razzle dazzle of festivals in Venice, Telluride, and Toronto, the BFI London Film Festival may not have all the glitzy World Premieres, but instead, they have the cream of the crop in terms of high profile titles. And for those in the U.K. it’s a tremendous opportunity to catch up with the best movies of the year in one shot.

Continue reading 2016 BFI London Film Festival Brings ‘La La Land,’ Arrival,’ ‘Nocturnal Animals’ And More at The Playlist.