While 2020 kept so many families painfully apart, three acclaimed indies from last year made the opposite case: “Why do I see these people again?”

LISTEN: ‘The Fellowship Of The Ring’ At 20: Heralding An Unmatched Trilogy’s Journey There And Back Again [Be Reel Podcast]

Playing a little 2021 catch-up, Be Reel drops by to visit “Spencer” (2021), “Shiva Baby” (2021), and “The Humans” (2021), exploring how families—be they English royalty or middle-class Americans—banter, bristle, covet nostalgia, push buttons, and flirt with genuine horror.

Continue reading The Nightmare Family Function Movies Of 2021 [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

Here we are again — another year that somehow felt both five seconds and twelve eons long has come to a close. For me, a big highlight was definitely getting to see movies in theaters again (post-vaccination and with a mask on, of course). My first venture back was for “A Quiet Place Part II,” and soon after that I got to live my high school theater kid dream by seeing “In the Heights” on the big screen.

Continue reading Lena Wilson’s Top 10 Films Of 2021 at The Playlist.

We certainly have not resumed full normalcy as we continue to battle this pandemic, but at least we have movies—even more than last year. With certain reservations about how they were premiered, released, and distributed, this year in film brought back more festival favorites like Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” more massive franchise golden geese like Cary Joji Fukunaga’s “No Time to Die,” more awards-friendly fare that had been held over, like Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2021 at The Playlist.

Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This biweekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.

This week’s new release guide is especially stuffed (even by our normal standards), thanks to a trio of 2021’s best; new titles from Criterion, Arrow, and Vinegar Syndrome, and more; three new essential box sets; one of the best thrillers of the ‘90s in 4K; and an array of Blu-ray debuts for one of the greatest comedians of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Continue reading The Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘Nobody,’ ‘Shiva Baby,’ ‘Siberia’ & More at The Playlist.

Look, thanks to that godforsaken pandemic, which messed up the Oscars and the entire calendar year, it’s kind of hard to make the Best Films Of The Year, So Far feature because so many films were kind of released in 2020 — to qualify early for the Oscars — and or many were just released in a quiet limited release in December 2020. So, there is a tiny bit of crossover on our Best Films of 2020 list, but some films, “Nomadland” and “Minari” — which were essentially seen early last year at festivals — are not on this list and some films on the edge, like “Pieces of A Woman,” are okay?

Continue reading The Best Films Of 2021, So Far at The Playlist.

If you haven’t seen “Shiva Baby” yet, you really should. The comedy from writer-director Emma Seligman and star Rachel Sennott is one of the most uncomfortable, but hilarious viewing experiences you’ll have all year. And after all the acclaim the indie film has already received, it appears the duo is ready to work together yet again for a new comedy, “Bottoms.”

LISTEN: Rachel Sennott Talks The Anxiety Of ‘Shiva Baby,’ Bisexuality In Film, Brutal Zoom Comedy Shows & More [The Playlist Podcast]

According to THR, Seligman and Sennott have co-written a script for a film, “Bottoms,” that is now going to be produced by Elizabeth Banks and her Brownstone Productions.

Continue reading ‘Bottoms’: ‘Shiva Baby’ Duo To Reteam For New Comedy From Producer Elizabeth Banks at The Playlist.

What a weird time for movies. It feels like we’re in the limbo period with theaters slowly reopening (in a move that still at this point seems too soon), and big-budget films such as March’s “Godzilla vs. Kong” and this month’s “Mortal Kombat” are released as many of us continue to watch these made for the big screen films at home. Pre-COVID, April had begun to be a light starting date for blockbuster season with more and more high profile films being released just as spring was truly hitting us, and just as was the case last year, this April shows a different line up than what we may be used to.

Continue reading 11 Films to See in April: ‘Mortal Kombat,’ ‘Concrete Cowboy’ & More at The Playlist.

Unless you’re a fan of her stand-up or you’ve already seen “Shiva Baby,” you’re likely not super familiar with the work of Rachel Sennott. The young actress-comedian has been sitting on a breakout performance in her festival darling debut, “Shiva Baby,” for over a year now, and finally, the world is going to be introduced to her unique brand of comedy…and terror. In this episode of The Playlist Podcast, Rachel Sennott stops by to talk about “Shiva Baby,” how the film might be the scariest comedy of the year, why it’s great for bisexual representation, and how doing stand-up comedy via Zoom is terrible.

Continue reading Rachel Sennott Talks The Anxiety Of ‘Shiva Baby,’ Bisexuality In Film, Brutal Zoom Comedy Shows & More [The Playlist Podcast] at The Playlist.

One of the breakout films from last year’s festival circuit is finally hitting theaters and VOD this week. And to celebrate the release of “Shiva Baby,” the distributor has decided to unveil a new “trashy trailer” focused on the NSFW parts of the film.

READ MORE: 52 Films Directed By Women To Watch In 2021

Instead of focusing on reviews from media outlets, which were already overwhelmingly positive, the new trailer decides to focus on social media responses to the film.

Continue reading ‘Shiva Baby’ Red Band Trailer: Emma Seligman’s Breakout Comedy Gets A New “Trashy Trailer” at The Playlist.

In a normal year, without a global pandemic, odds are you would have heard a lot more about “Shiva Baby” last spring. The film was expected to have its official debut at last year’s SXSW, but that event was canceled. However, the film was still screened for critics and a groundswell of support for Emma Seligman’s comedy began to form, leading to a ton of anticipation when the film was finally screened at fall events.

Continue reading ‘Shiva Baby’ Trailer: Emma Seligman’s Festival Standout Comedy Arrives In April at The Playlist.

Every year is a good year to stan female directors, but 2021 has cooked us up a real feast. Acting veterans like Rebecca Hall, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Robin Wright, and Halle Berry are finally claiming their director’s chairs on feature films, while arthouse icon Jane Campion is returning to hers after 12 years. Foreign language directors like Lucile Hadžihalilović and Ildikó Enyedi are making their English-language debuts, and French juggernaut Mélanie Laurent is working on two releases back to back.

Continue reading 52 Films Directed By Women To Watch In 2021 at The Playlist.

The deck for 2021 film releases was shuffled yet again late last year, adding yet another wrinkle to what has undoubtedly been one of, if not the most tumultuous yearlong period for domestic film distribution in history. Obviously, some of 2021’s bigger blockbusters still have (tentative) release dates (see our massive 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021 feature): we’re thinking of Denis Villeneuve’s hotly-anticipated “Dune” adaptation, which was supposed to be in theaters last December, and also Adam Wingard’s long-delayed “Godzilla Vs.

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2021 We’ve Already Seen at The Playlist.

One of the many pleasures of the film festival circuit isn’t just getting to experience some of the biggest titles of the upcoming season, but, more often than not, finding hidden gems in the mix of it all that initially weren’t on our radars. This is the case with first-time director Emma Seligman, whose film, “Shiva Baby,” was one of the biggest surprises at this year’s Toronto Film Festival (after initially being selected for the canceled SXSW).

Continue reading Emma Seligman On ‘Shiva Baby,’ Claustrophobic Filmmaking & The Coen Brothers [Interview] at The Playlist.

Please Note: “Shiva Baby” was originally scheduled to premiere at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival. With the express consent of the representatives of the filmmakers, we present the review of the film here.

No matter who you are or where you come from, you will likely be able to relate to the agonizing embarrassments laid out like a delectable deli spread in “Shiva Baby.” The specifics are Jewish, but the pitch-perfect humiliation humor is universal. 

Continue reading ‘Shiva Baby’ Delivers A Hilarious Symphony Of Tension And Humiliation-Based Comedy [Review] at The Playlist.