While introducing “Radical,” director Christopher Zalla (“Sangre de Mi Sangre”/”Blood of My Blood”) said it was a labor of love. In addition to that, he said it’s a “movie about what happens when kids are empowered.” And while the film definitely explores this in a well-crafted display of filmmaking, it also leaves a bit of a dark shadow in the minds of those allergic to the notion that your mind is all you need to succeed.

Continue reading ‘Radical’ Review: Eugenio Derbez Stars In Heartfelt But Flawed Teaching Drama [Sundance] at The Playlist.

“For once in my life, I wanted to make a movie without having all the responsibilities.” So moans Jeff, the director on the film-within-a-film in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “Beware of a Holy Whore.” The West German drama sequesters a movie crew in a coastal Spanish hotel, where the combination of cabin fever and psychological discord between a group of insecure, neurotic people breeds the rarefied level of hysteria only found in show business.

Continue reading ‘The Bubble’ Review: Judd Apatow’s Pandemic Filmmaking Blockbuster Comedy Is An Epic Disaster at The Playlist.

Nobody who knows anything about war would claim there are good or bad conflicts. Still, the warfare seen in Sergey Loznitsa’s savage Ukraine-set satire “Donbass” manages to seem even more harrowing than the fictional fighting we are used to seeing on screen. That is not because the film is gruesome in its visuals. Instead, Loznitsa shows us something potentially more frightening than a bloody drag-out battle between two armies: A war where one side is barely recognizable from the other, the stakes are hard to discern, and because it is not quite clear what the fighting is for, it is difficult to imagine it ending.

Continue reading ‘Donbass’ Review: Sergei Loznitsa’s Bleak and Brutal Ukraine-Set War Comedy is Eerily Timed at The Playlist.

While they’re perennial favorites, snowy survival dramas are having a moment right now. In the past month, we’ve been offered five of them from various distributors, including Hulu‘s “No Exit,” Netflix’s “Against the Ice,” and now, the nearly-silent thriller “Infinite Storm” from Bleecker Street. This gripping, taciturn thriller set in a frozen landscape isn’t necessarily any different from the other titles, but the well-crafted drama is a good reminder of how tangible atmosphere can transcend predictable narrative.

Continue reading ‘Infinite Storm’ Review: Naomi Watts Chills In This Wintry Survival Drama at The Playlist.

What happens after you blow up your entire life to be with the person you love? The second season of “Starstruck” explores the question that rom-coms generally leave unanswered after their happy endings, wisely acknowledging that a big romantic gesture doesn’t erase all the obstacles present between two people getting — and staying — together. On its surface, the British import on HBO Max seems like a standard wish-fulfillment fantasy à la “Notting Hill”: a “normie” finds unlikely romance with a star.

Continue reading ‘Starstruck’ Season Two Review: Rose Matafeo Continues to Charm in HBO Max’s Rom-Com at The Playlist.

Love letters rarely include knock-off Barbie dolls engaging in incest, but the conventional is often off the table when it comes to French director Bertrand Bonello. “Coma,” Bonello’s latest, begins with a miscellanea of incongruent images, zoomed in and blurred, an amalgamation of amorphous shapes that exacerbates the sharpness of the accompanying words. This twisted byproduct of the mind of an anxious parent is dedicated to the director’s daughter, 18-year-old Anna, who, like many others, has found herself locked in her bedroom during some of the most formative years of her life. 

Continue reading ‘Coma’: Bertrand Bonello’s Latest Is An Unforgiving, Nightmarish Blast [Berlin Film Festival] at The Playlist.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet can be a master juggler of a filmmaker, letting many different pieces achieve weightlessness while our attention is rapt. When it’s graceful and methodical, it can have the dreamy qualities of “Delicatessen” or “Amelie.” But when the trick doesn’t work, it can be mighty exhausting to follow along with, as with his new Netflix film “Bigbug.” This movie has Jeunet doing “The Jetsons” while ruminating on what a robot uprising might inevitably look like, but that proves to be less exciting than one could ever imagine. 

Continue reading ‘Bigbug’ Review: Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s ‘The Jetsons’ & Robot Uprising Sci-Fi Comedy Is Scatterbrained at The Playlist.

The 51st Karlovy Vary Film Festival ended Saturday night with an awards ceremony that found Michael Shannon unexpectedly presenting an award and President’s Award honoree Charlie Kaufman wowing the crowd with an acceptance speech completely in Czech. “Captain Fantastic” continues to garner accolades around the world as it took the coveted Audience Award and the competition grand jury granted a Special Jury Prize to the buzzworthy “Zoology” (read The Playlist’s review here).

Continue reading ‘It’s Not The Time Of My Life,’ ‘We’re Still Together’ & ‘Nightlife’ [Karlovy Vary Capsule Reviews] at The Playlist.

Review: Jason Bateman's Endearing & Satisfying 'The Family Fang' With Nicole Kidman

Continue reading Review: Jason Bateman’s Endearing & Satisfying ‘The Family Fang’ With Nicole Kidman at The Playlist.

Review: Tender But Uneven Drag Queen Tale 'Viva'

Continue reading Review: Tender But Uneven Drag Queen Tale ‘Viva’ at The Playlist.

Review: ‘The Wait’ Starring Juliette Binoche And Lou de Laâge

Continue reading Review: ‘The Wait’ Starring Juliette Binoche And Lou de Laâge at The Playlist.

Tribeca Review: Jenny Gage's Raw And Heartwarming Documentary 'All This Panic'

Continue reading Tribeca Review: Jenny Gage’s Raw And Heartwarming Documentary ‘All This Panic’ at The Playlist.

Review: Keegan-Michael Key And Jordan Peele's Big Screen Cat Comedy 'Keanu'

Continue reading Review: Keegan-Michael Key And Jordan Peele’s Big Screen Cat Comedy ‘Keanu’ at The Playlist.

Tribeca Review: 'Mr. Church' Starring Eddie Murphy, Britt Robertson And Natascha McElhone

Continue reading Tribeca Review: ‘Mr. Church’ Starring Eddie Murphy, Britt Robertson And Natascha McElhone at The Playlist.

Jon Snow is dead. Long live Jon Snow. 

We’re back in the land of Westeros, living in a post-Jon Snow world (for the moment? Maybe? We hope?) trying to pick up the wildly scattered pieces in Season 6 of “Game of Thrones.” The series, having transcended its book form, now has anywhere and everywhere to go.

So where do showrunners David Benioff and D.B.

Continue reading Recap: ‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 6, Episode 1 Gets In Bed With ‘The Red Woman’ at The Playlist.

Tribeca Review: 'A Kind Of Murder' Starring Patrick Wilson, Jessica Biel, Eddie Marsan And Vincent Kartheiser

Continue reading Tribeca Review: ‘A Kind Of Murder’ Starring Patrick Wilson, Jessica Biel, Eddie Marsan And Vincent Kartheiser at The Playlist.

Tribeca Review: Infectious And Joyful Dance Documentary 'Contemporary Color' Featuring David Byrne, St. Vincent, And More

Continue reading Tribeca Review: Infectious And Joyful Dance Documentary ‘Contemporary Color’ Featuring David Byrne, St. Vincent, And More at The Playlist.

Tribeca Review: 'The Ticket' Starring Dan Stevens, Malin Akerman And Oliver Platt

Continue reading Tribeca Review: ‘The Ticket’ Starring Dan Stevens, Malin Akerman And Oliver Platt at The Playlist.

Review: Understated And Authentic 'Sworn Virgin' Starring Alba Rohrwacher

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Review: Boisterous 'Men & Chicken' Starring Mads Mikkelsen Is Rambunctiously Good

Continue reading Review: Boisterous ‘Men & Chicken’ Starring Mads Mikkelsen Is Rambunctiously Good at The Playlist.

Tribeca Review: 'Between Us' Starring Olivia Thirlby, Ben Feldman, Analeigh Tipton & Adam Goldberg

Continue reading Tribeca Review: ‘Between Us’ Starring Olivia Thirlby, Ben Feldman, Analeigh Tipton & Adam Goldberg at The Playlist.

Review: Matteo Garrone's Entertaining But Fleeting 'Tale Of Tales' With Salma Hayek, John C. Reilly, Vincent Cassel, More

Continue reading Review: Matteo Garrone’s Entertaining But Fleeting ‘Tale Of Tales’ With Salma Hayek, John C. Reilly, Vincent Cassel, More at The Playlist.

Review: 'Elvis & Nixon' Starring Michael Shannon And Kevin Spacey

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Tribeca Review: TNT's 'Animal Kingdom' Starring Ellen Barkin, Scott Speedman And Shawn Hatosy

Continue reading Tribeca Review: TNT’s ‘Animal Kingdom’ Starring Ellen Barkin, Scott Speedman And Shawn Hatosy at The Playlist.

Tribeca Review: Tom Tykwer’s 'A Hologram For The King' Starring Tom Hanks

Continue reading Tribeca Review: Tom Tykwer’s ‘A Hologram For The King’ Starring Tom Hanks at The Playlist.