We love to see a creative keep scaling up. Watching Pamela Adlon evolve and progress over the last few years has been terrific. An outstanding comedian who rose in popularity on FX’s Louis C.K. comedy “Louie,” after the stint on that series, Adlon graduated to her own similarly personal show “Better Things.” Created by Adlon and C.K., she quickly took over the full reins and started directing on the series as well. And by season two, all the way through its final fifth season, she was directing the entire series and had a hand in writing a bulk of it, too.

Continue reading ‘Babes’ Trailer: Ilana Glazer Stars In Pamela Adlon’s Pregnancy Comedy Coming May 17 at The Playlist.

Well, it’s that time of year again, isn’t it? The Sundance Film Festival hasn’t even happened, the Berlin Film Festival line-up is not even out or complete, and we’re already looking ahead to March and the SXSW Film & Television Festival. There’s no rest for the wicked.

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2024

SXSW has unveiled its 2024 line-up, and the two biggest premieres in the headliner section are David Leitch’s “The Fall Guy” action comedy starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, and “Babes,” a comedy and the directorial debut of Pamela Adlon, the creator of “Better Things,” which stars Ilana Glazer from “Broad City.”

“The Fall Guy,” which is the festival’s Centerpiece Screening, is described as a “big-screen love letter to action movies and the hard-working and under-appreciated stunt performers and crew members who make them” and co-stars Winston Duke, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham and Stephanie Hsu.

Continue reading SXSW Sets ‘Fall Guy’ With Ryan Gosling, Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’ & More For 2024 Line-Up at The Playlist.

How do you tell the story of a life? That’s a question many of the characters in “Bucky F*cking Dent” poise aloud, a little too aware of their construction. It’s a question its star David Duchovny should have asked himself behind the camera, too. His direction of a script he adapted from his novel of the same name flunks page-to-screen 101 because Duchovny has put content so far ahead of form.

Continue reading ‘Bucky F*cking Dent’ Review: David Duchovny Strikes Out Swinging In Adaptation Of His Own Novel [Tribeca] at The Playlist.

After five seasons in the underrated FX comedy, “Better Things,” it appears Pamela Adlon is ready to move into the world of feature filmmaking. And she’s found the two ladies to lead the cast.

READ MORE: ‘Holler’: Jessica Barden Shines In A Drama About Scavenging The American Dream [Review]

According to THR, Pamela Adlon is set to direct a new comedy film with Ilana Glazer and Michelle Buteau leading the cast.

Continue reading Pamela Adlon To Direct A New Comedy Film Starring Ilana Glazer & Michelle Buteau at The Playlist.

While initially sold as a Louie C.K. executive produces and co-signs his buddy Pamela Adlon’s new show, similar in vibe and shape to the critically-acclaimed “Louie,” clearly things have changed for “Better Things.” For one, C.K. had his #MeToo moment and fell out of cultural favor, and was removed as an executive producer and creator on the show. And yes, while “Better Things” did have a similar aesthetic as “Louie” at first—the travails of getting older, parenthood, and watching yourself slowly age out of culture and to your kids—Adlon’s show has definitely found its own voice in recent years, a sweeter, but still darkly funny take on motherhood,  letting go and trying to accept that we cannot change all things.

Continue reading ‘Better Things’ Final Season 5 Trailer: All Good Things Come To An End, But There’s A “Road Ahead” at The Playlist.

Last year, we saw the film “Hillbilly Elegy” get roasted by critics for its depiction of poverty through the lens of white Americans. The film had a number of issues, including questionable politics, but it was clear that there’s a large group of people who don’t necessarily want a Trump-era film about how white people struggle. And on the surface, the new drama “Holler” looks like another one of those films.

Continue reading ‘Holler’ Trailer: Jessica Barden Struggles To Make Ends Meet In Forgotten America at The Playlist.

“Holler” is not the first film to chronicle the human toll of the flight of industry from the American Rust Belt to China and other countries abroad, but it might be the most direct.  “Holler” makes the subtext text by focusing on an Ohio group of scrappers, crews illegally stripping abandoned old factories and institutional buildings for raw metal that can be sold to Asian buyers. Writer-director Nicole Riegel uses this conceit, with expressive shots of breaking into haunted factories to rip copper from the walls, as an effective cinematic representation of the economic forces that have torn apart these communities. 

Continue reading ‘Holler’: Jessica Barden Shines In A Drama About Scavenging The American Dream [Review] at The Playlist.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: a lovable loser in a state of perpetual arrested development. A group of friends that love and support, but are probably holding him/her back. A good girl/guy, offering up a real relationship. A new, better life, if they’d only grow up a little. 

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2020

This is the story of “The King of Staten Island,” the new film by Judd Apatow.

Continue reading ‘The King Of Staten Island’: A Charming Cast Energizes A Formulaic Story In Judd Apatow’s Latest [Review] at The Playlist.

Writer/director/producer Judd Apatow (“Knocked Up“) has a long history of mentoring and helping out comedians in need, often vaulting them to the next level in the process. He forever changed Steve Carrell’s career with the “40-Year-Old Virgin,” elevated nearly every member of the “Freaks & Geeks” team with their own movies (Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel) and gave huge career boosts to popular comedians by directing or producing their breakout films (Kristen Wiig with “Bridesmaids,” Amy Schumer‘s “Trainwreck,” and Kumail Nanjiani‘s “The Big Sick“).

Continue reading ‘King Of Staten Island’ Trailer: Pete Davidson Tackles Grief & Weed For Judd Apatow at The Playlist.

The central dilemma for the movie industry right now and one that has greater ramifications they’d love to avoid if possible: wait until the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided and release films in theaters, or stop hemorrhaging money and release films on VOD. Unless studios get super desperate, you’re just not going to see blockbusters on VOD, it would just be a gamechanger that rocks the industry. But in a sign that some studios are just going to be forced to released mainstream wide releases that could have theoretically made at least $100 million domestically, Universal has decided to release Judd Apatow’s upcoming Pete Davidson comedy, “The King Of Staten Island” on June 12.

Continue reading ‘King Of Staten Island’: Judd Apatow’s Pete Davidson Comedy Now Arriving On Demand June 12 [Watch Announcement] at The Playlist.

One of the most underrated series in the FX lineup over the past several years is “Better Things.” Written, directed, produced by Pamela Adlon, the series has consistently been great and has sadly been overshadowed by some of the more headline-grabbing series that the network has released.

READ MORE: The 60 Most Anticipated TV Shows Of 2020

The story of “Better Things” follows a woman clearly going through her mid-life crisis, played perfectly by Adlon, who is raising her three daughters, Max (Mikey Madison), Frankie (Hannah Alligood) and Duke (Olivia Edward), while also trying to find a life of her own that doesn’t revolve around family obligations and drama.

Continue reading ‘Better Things’ Season 4 Trailer: Pamela Adlon Returns With A Ridiculous New Car & Plenty Of Family Drama at The Playlist.

Due out this February, FX’s hit tv show “Better Things” is back with Pamela Adlon in full control and coming for that Emmy Award. Since its origin in 2016, “Better Things” has only been rising in popularity all thanks to Adlon; no wonder, considering how much of herself the talented actress/creator is pouring into the hit comedy series. The show won a Peabody Award in 2016, and Adlon was nominated in 2017 and 2018 for the Emmy Award of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

Continue reading ‘Better Things’: Season 3 Teaser Trailer: A Blissed-Out Pamela Adlon Just Lets it Happen at The Playlist.

The Hollywood Reporter began to wrap up its “Close Up with the Hollywood Reporter” roundtable series with an intimate conversation with the showrunners, focusing on comedy. The panel included Emmy nominees Alec Berg (“Silicon Valley” and “Barry”) and Amy Sherman-Palladino (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel“), in addition to Pamela Adlon (“Better Things”), Whitney Cummings (“Roseanne”), Michael Schur (“The Good Place”), and Justin Simien (“Dear White People”).

Continue reading Pamela Adlon, Justin Simien, Whitney Cummings & More Discuss Comedy’s Place In Today’s Outrage Culture at The Playlist.

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” may not win Comedy Series, but the show’s break out star, Rachel Brosnahan, should triumph here.  Tracee Ellis Ross has a shot on her third nomination for “Black-ish,” but she’s likely a bridesmaid once again.  [Updated July 17]

Predictions
1. Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
2. Tracee Ellis Ross, “Black-ish”
3. Pamela Adlon, “Better Things”
4.

Continue reading 2018 Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series Emmy Predictions at The Playlist.

Louis C.K. has been in the news a lot recently, both for his recently premiered film “I Love You, Daddy,” whose first trailer was released today, and his refusal to answer personal questions about his past (noted in this NY Times article). His new film, in fact, seems to be courting controversy as our own Noel Murray’s B+ review talks about how the “challenging, at times mesmerizing feature film … dare[s] TV and movie bloggers to write tongue-clucking hot takes about it — while, at the same time, defying any simplistic unpacking of its ‘message.’ ”

As the movie debuted at TIFF without anyone knowing the plot beforehand, the film has no official synopsis.

Continue reading ‘I Love You, Daddy’ Trailer: Louis C.K. Embraces Controversy at The Playlist.

The sixth episode of FX’s “Better Things“’ second season opens with Sam (Pamela Adlon) teaching her acting class what is possibly the single most important lesson any actor can learn: that the vast majority of the words that they will speak as actors will be awful. That most writing is terrible. That the best actors can elevate bad material — taking crap and make it… better crap, I suppose.

Continue reading ‘Better Things’ Season Two Is Good, Even When It Really Isn’t [Review] at The Playlist.

Louis C.K. put his award-winning, critically acclaimed, hit FX series “Louie” on indefinite hiatus two years ago, claiming he wanted to do something else for a while. This raised a few eyebrows, since “Louie” has always been more like an eclectic collection of short films than a conventional sitcom. If C.K. wanted to overhaul the show entirely, there’s no reason why he couldn’t have just made an entirely new set of characters, themes, and ideas for his new “Louie.”

But it’s hard to argue too much against what the writer-director-comedian has done with his career since the last (for now) “Louie” aired back in May of 2015.

Continue reading Louis C.K.’s ‘I Love You, Daddy’ Is Challenging, But Enthralling Too [TIFF Review] at The Playlist.

The nominations for this years Emmys didn’t offer up much in way of surprises, but one delightful surprise was Pamela Adlon in the lead actress in a comedy category for FX‘s “Better Things.”

Previously known as one of Louis C.K.’s main creative collaborators as well as being the voice of Bobby on “King of the Hill” (a mind blowing revelation to this writer,) Adlon made quiet waves in her family-geared comedy series.

Continue reading ‘Better Things’ Season 2 Trailer: It’s Time To Fake Smile at The Playlist.

To review Pamela Adlon’s IMDb page and her long list of credits (voice of Bobbi Hill on “King of the Hill,” recurring role on “Californication,” to name a couple of the most notable) is to appreciate how inexhaustible she is as an actor, writer, comedian, and voice-over artist, all while being a single mother. She has been working in the industry since she was 12 and, avoiding the pitfalls that befall some child actors, Adlon has kept her brash humor, street smarts, and career intact.

Continue reading Pamela Adlon Talks Bringing Her Real Life To FX’s ‘Better Things’ at The Playlist.

Pamela Adlon is about to become a household name. Most know her as a frequent guest star on the FX series “Louie,” but now, with that show’s future is up in the air, she has landed her own show on the network called “Better Things.” If the recently released first trailer is any indication, fans of “Louie” should love this new series.

In “Better Things,” Adlon plays Sam, an actress and divorced mother of three girls trying her best to juggle her professional career and personal life.

Continue reading Check Out The New Normal In Trailer For Louis C.K. Produced FX Series ‘Better Things’ Starring Pamela Adlon at The Playlist.