It’s been a mad, whirlwind 2023, and we can’t believe it’s almost over. Despite the tensions in our industry, the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, those linger aftereffects, and the way that box office seemed to wobble all year long with highs and lows—#Barbenheimer being a big high, seemingly sure bets like ‘Mission Impossible’ and “The Marvels’ and all DC superhero films flopping or underperforming—it’s kind of been chaotic year for the film and TV industry.

Continue reading The 21 Best Films Of 2023 at The Playlist.

With the state of the film and television industry in disarray, as the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes continue to ensure better pay and treatment for writers and actors, the future theatrical release schedule continues to shift. While certain fall releases have already been pushed, August has remained largely untouched. With plenty of festival favorites making their way to the big screen along with heavy-hitting tent poles such as “Blue Beetle,” the month ahead offers an eclectic bunch of releases.

Continue reading 14 Movies To See In August: ‘Passages,’ ‘Blue Beetle,’ ‘Bottoms’ & More at The Playlist.

When it comes to “Passages,” Ira Sachs’ witty, wise and very sexy Parisian drama, it all started with Franz Rogowski, who plays the film’s self-absorbed film director, Tomas. “I had seen Michael Haneke’s “Happy End” starring Franz,” remembers Sachs, the auteur of richly textured, grown-up gems such as “Love is Strange,” “Little Men” and “Keep the Lights On,” recently joining me for an interview about his latest, opening in theaters this week.

Continue reading ‘Passages’: Ira Sachs On His New Film’s NC-17 Rating, The Movie’s Intimate Sex Scenes & Finding Pleasure In Men Behaving Badly [Interview] at The Playlist.

An NC-17 rating for a film may as well be a scarlet letter branded on it before release, limiting its audiences and causing certain theaters not to carry it at all. But that branding won’t stop MUBI and Ira Sachs from debuting “Passages,” Sachs’ latest, in theaters next month. Deadline reports the director and distributor will move ahead with their release schedule as planned despite the MPA giving the film an NC-17.

Continue reading ‘Passages’: MUBI Still Plans To Release Ira Sachs’ Latest Film Theatrically Despite NC-17 Rating at The Playlist.

Our review from Sundance put it perfectly in its opening line. Filmmaker “Ira Sachs prefers relationships of the doomed variety.” Throughout the indie writer/director’s career, Sachs has— in films like “Love Is Strange,” “Little Men,” “Keep the Lights On” and especially in his debut, “The Delta”—explored the difficulties and traumas of love and how the best intentions can go sour.

Continue reading ‘Passages’ Trailer: Ira Sachs New Love Triangle Stars Adèle Exarchopoulos, Franz Rogowski & Ben Whishaw at The Playlist.

Of all the buzzy films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, like “Past Lives,” “Eileen,” and the Grand Jury Prize winner “A Thousand And One,” Ira Sachs‘ “Passages” is undoubtedly the sexiest. And by year’s end, it may rank higher than those other three on critics’ top 10 lists for 2023.

Continue reading ‘Passages’ Teaser: Ira Sachs’ Sexy Sundance Drama With Ben Whishaw, Franz Rogowski & Adéle Exarchopoulous Arrives In Theaters This August at The Playlist.

There is a discussion on Film Twitter that the people excited to see Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” are not the same people that are excited to see Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.” We disagree. Whether the masses want to believe it or not, it’s a Barbie world, and we’re all just living in it–even Ryan Gosling has admitted that he’s finally discovered his Ken-ergy.

Continue reading Summer 2023 Movie Preview: 52 Must-See Films To Watch at The Playlist.

Ira Sachs prefers relationships of the doomed variety — tempestuous passions torn asunder, sometimes by external forces like capitalism, which complicated the search for a home through New York’s cutthroat real estate market in “Love Is Strange” and “Little Men.” His latest film — the sexy, frustrating, loose-yet-compact, altogether irresistible three-hander “Passages” — also concerns property contracts and a homeless protagonist. However, this one’s got nobody but himself to blame for that predicament, fluent as he is in the same toxic strain of amour fou that previously perfumed the air in “Keep the Lights On” and especially Sachs’ debut, “The Delta.” As in that film — also pitched at the admirably humble quotidian scale Sachs hasn’t felt the need to exceed in more than a quarter decade — “Passages” follows a bisexual chaos agent so wrapped up in his own narcissism that he can’t see where his self-exploration ends and insensitivity to those around him begins.

Continue reading ‘Passages’ Review: Franz Rogowski, Adèle Exarchopoulos & Ben Whishaw Star In Ira Sachs’ Irresistible Love Triangle [Sundance] at The Playlist.

The Sundance Film Festival is back in Park City. Really. It’s really happening this time. We swear. America’s greatest film festival (well, at one time, it deserved that title, let’s see moving forward…) is returning to the chilly confines of an in-person event in Utah after a two-year pandemic break. Will there be parties? Will people crash the festival? Will any premiere lead to an old-fashioned all-night bidding war? Those questions are hard to answer now, but there is one thing we know: moviegoers will be in attendance, and many screenings have already sold out (many, though, in case you’re looking to crash last minute, have not).

Continue reading 25 Most Anticipated Films At The Sundance Film Festival at The Playlist.

The Sundance Film Festival 2023 is on the horizon next month, taking place between January 19 to 29, and we’re getting a heap of first-look images for their lineup of movies. Some of those upcoming films on the festival slate include “Cat Person,” based on the viral New Yorker article about dating that became a sensation in 2017 with a star-studded indie cast, including Emilia Jones from Oscar Best Picture winner “CODA.”

READ MORE: Sundance Film Festival 2023: New Works From Nicole Holofcener, Ira Sachs, Brandon Cronenberg & More [Full Lineup]

Beloved indie filmmaker Ira Sach (“Keep the Lights On,” “Love Is Strange” returns with “Passages,” starring Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, and Adèle Exarchopoulos.

Continue reading First Look: Emilia Jones In ‘Cat Person,’ Adèle Exarchopoulos in Ira Sachs’ ‘Passages & More [Sundance] at The Playlist.