Anyone who has experienced Mike Leigh‘s body of work can appreciate the fact that he clearly loves his country and its people. The prolific filmmaker has chronicled numerous eras of England’s history from modern-day dramas such as“Secrets and Lies” and “Happy-Go-Lucky,” to the Victorian era of “Topsy-Turvy,” to the stifling conservative morals of the 1950’s in “Vera Drake.” After segueing to the life of a celebrated 19th-century British artist in 2014’s “Mr.

Continue reading Mike Leigh’s ‘Peterloo’: A Worthy Ensemble Can’t Spark A Rebellion [Review] at The Playlist.

British filmmaker Mike Leigh has been in the film game for a long time now. Going back decades now, the director developed his own style, made his films, and released them to an adoring public like clockwork. Along the way, he’s picked up the Palme d’Or at Cannes and 7 Oscar nominations, among countless other awards and nominations. Needless to say, Leigh has seen it all, and now he is starting to notice a change in how films are made, and he’s none too happy about it.

Continue reading Mike Leigh Explains Working With Amazon Studios & Why Cannes Passed On ‘Peterloo’ at The Playlist.

The Telluride Film Festival announced it’s official line up for 2018 and, if you’ve been paying attention or doing your due diligence there were few surprises.

The big narrative premieres are Joel Edgerton’s “Boy Erased,” Jason Reitman’s “The Front Runner,” David Lowery’s “The Old Man & The Gun,” Karyn Kusama’s “Destroyer,” Marielle Heller’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” and Yann Demange’s “White Boy Rick.”  Ralph Fiennes also returns to the director’s chair with “The White Crow” while Ed Zwick’s “Trial By Fire” will make its only festival appearance in Colorado.

Continue reading ‘Front Runner,’ ‘The Favourite’ & ‘First Man’ Among Official 2018 Telluride Selections at The Playlist.

It’s that time of year again: the madness that is the fall film festival season is upon us and the first festival up to bat, as usual, is the Venice Film Festival.

The Lido, as its affectionately known, kicks off on Wednesday, August 29 and the festival is turning 75 years old. It’s an excellent milestone and many are looking back. In fact, the Hollywood Reporter just wrote a piece about the fact how “how the once-struggling event has transformed itself into an essential appointment on the awards-season calendar.”

It’s true, big time players and many Oscar Best Picture winners have debuted there including Alfonso Cuaron‘s “Gravity,” “Spotlight,” Alejandro G.

Continue reading Venice Film Festival Preview: 20 Most Anticipated Movies at The Playlist.

At this point, is it possible that filmmaker Mike Leigh will make a bad film? Sure, you may not be his biggest fan, but it’s hard to argue against the critical reception that his filmography has received over the years. Going back over three decades, Leigh’s work, including “Secrets & Lies,” “Life is Sweet,” and most recently, “Mr. Turner,” has been nothing but critically-acclaimed film after critically-acclaimed film.

Continue reading ‘Peterloo’ Trailer: Acclaimed Filmmaker Mike Leigh Tells The Story Of One Of Britain’s Bloodiest Days at The Playlist.

We’re just getting started with our look at the best in film and TV of 2017, but before we really got sucked into the retrospective, we wanted to take a minute to look forward to what’s to come in the next twelve months or so. Lord knows we need things to keep us going in the shitshow that has been the second half of the 2010s, and fortunately, cinema has provided.

After a slow start, 2017 turned out to be a pretty great year for movies, and 2018 looks to keep that up in a big way.

Continue reading The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2018 at The Playlist.

A new film by Mike Leigh is pretty big deal — at least for us — especially considering “Peterloo” is his first effort since 2014’s “Mr. Turner.” However, there’s been somewhat of a shroud of secrecy on the movie, the most ambitious of the director’s career.

READ MORE: Hand-Painted, Hard-Won ‘Loving Vincent’ [Review]

Starring Maxine Peake, Pearce Quigley, Philip Jackson, Karl Johnson, Tim McInnerny and David Moorst, the historical drama will tell the story of the infamous 1819 massacre at a peaceful pro-democracy rally at St Peter’s Field in Manchester, when many working people were injured and killed.

Continue reading First Look: Mike Leigh’s ‘Peterloo’ at The Playlist.

It’s been three years since Mike Leigh‘s “Mr. Turner,” and now he’s gearing up what might be the most ambitious project of his career. Titled “Peterloo,” the film sounds like a bit of a gear shift for the English filmmaker and tells the story of the infamous 1819 massacre at a peaceful pro-democracy rally at St. Peter’s Field in Manchester, when many working people were injured or killed.

Continue reading Mike Leigh Starts Shooting ‘Peterloo’ & Nuri Bilge Ceylan Already Planning For Cannes 2018 at The Playlist.