Nowadays, when people think of method acting, names like Lady Gaga and Jared Leto are often brought up. This is because there are plenty of news reports about those actors speaking out about the lengths they go to inhabit the character they portray on screen, often doing things that many think are a bit, uh, extreme. This has led to method acting getting a bad reputation amongst film fans, with folks thinking that method actors are just being difficult for the sake of being difficult.

Continue reading Andrew Garfield Defends Method Acting: “It’s Not About Being An A**hole” at The Playlist.

The Museum of the Moving Image has been celebrating and exploring filmmaker Martin Scorsese’s life, work, and his passion for cinema since December with a terrific exhibit drawing extensively from Scorsese’s own collection of key production material, objects from his childhood, behind-the-scenes images, and large-scale projections of scenes from his work and more. For the final weekend of the exhibit, MOMI put on a full-blown retrospective of his work over two days featuring the lesser-seen, more personal Scorsese films, “A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies,” “My Voyage to Italy (Il mio viaggio in Italia)” and docs like “No Direction Home” and “The Last Waltz.”

However, it was the impressive panel after the screening of“Silence” that brought a special salute to the exhibit in its entirety, which included cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, screenwriter Jay Cocks, who along with co-writing “Silence,” also co-wrote “The Age of Innocence” and “Gangs of New York,” longtime collaborator Academy-award-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker, and finally Scorsese himself, 30 minutes late thanks to an unexpected traffic collision in Queens.

Continue reading Martin Scorsese, Jay Cocks & Rodrigo Prieto Talk ‘Silence’ At MOMI at The Playlist.

It’s hard enough to get many people to go to church every Sunday, so a two hour plus movie about the philosophical and theological battle with faith doesn’t sound like something that would sell a lot of popcorn – even if it’s directed by Martin Scorsese. Indeed, the director’s passion project with “Silence” earned just over $7 million worldwide, which is disappointing for a movie so personal to the director, and so rich in ideas.

Continue reading Thelma Schoonmaker Says Martin Scorsese Wants To Make More Spiritual Films, Talks Reaction To ‘Silence’ at The Playlist.

Faith has always played a strong role in the cinema of Martin Scorsese, but never has he tackled it with such vigor as he does in “Silence.” And today we want some lucky readers to enter for their chance to take home this powerful drama on Blu-ray combo pack.

Starring Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, and Liam Neeson, the film tells the story of two Christian missionaries who travel to Japan in search of their missing mentor at a time when Christianity was outlawed.  

Continue reading Contest: Win Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ On Blu-ray Combo Pack at The Playlist.

Martin Scorsese‘s “Silence,” his rigorous look at the challenge of religious devotion, didn’t get much of an audience, which means that his cameo appearance in the film didn’t get much notice. However, it’s also a pretty well hidden one, coming at the end of an emotionally draining movie where you’re likely not keeping an eye out for an appearance by the director.

However, Twitter user Ian Mantgani (via The Independent) certainly caught Scorsese’s little turn, coming in the final moments of the film, as he plays a European visitor to Japan.

Continue reading Here’s Martin Scorsese’s Role In ‘Silence’ That You Probably Missed Plus Supercut Of All His Cameos & On Screen Roles at The Playlist.

Continue reading 1-Hour Producers Roundtable Talk With Matt Damon, Frank Marshall, Darren Aronofsky & More at The Playlist.

It’s been a helluva week, with Donald Trump becoming the first Buffoon In Chief of the United States, while women hit the streets around the world to protest the misogynist, xenophobic new leader of the free world. And somewhere in there, moviegoers found time to make the new movie from Indian-American M. Night Shyamalan the number one picture at the box office. Rebellions are built on hope…

Riding strong reviews, “Split” wowed with $40 million and change to take the top spot at the multiplex this weekend and become the fourth-biggest January opening of all time.

Continue reading Audiences Unite For M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Split’ [Box Office] at The Playlist.

The industry likes to paint movie pirates as guys in trenchcoats smuggling camcorders into multiplexes or as clandestine hackers taking down the industry with each 1 and 0 they plug into the matrix. And while it’s certainly true that piracy remains a problem, it’s not just coming from those outside the machinery of Hollywood.

The Independent reveals that Oscar season contenders like “La La Land,” “Arrival” and “Moonlight” are all being openly pirated on certain corners of the internet, with the source for high quality rips coming from For Your Consideration screeners.

Continue reading Major Oscar Contenders ‘La La Land,’ ‘Arrival,’ ‘Moonlight’ & More Being Pirated at The Playlist.

Much like its protagonists, “Hidden Figures” is the little movie that could, and appropriately on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend the movie has retained a hold on the top of the box office.

Wait, what? That’s right, while studios are eager to get their estimates out on Sundays, when the final figures were looked at last weekend, “Hidden Figures” edged out “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” but there should be no mistakes this time around as the movie has firm hold in the number one slot with $20.4 million.

Continue reading ‘Hidden Figures’ Calculates Top-Spot Placement As String Of New Films Flop [Box Office] at The Playlist.

Over the past decade, Martin Scorsese has given us “The Departed,” “Shutter Island,” “Hugo,” and “The Wolf Of Wall Street,” but this weekend comes something very different from the filmmaker. “Silence” is the director’s decades-long-in-the-making passion project that tackles head-on the struggle of the devout to maintain their faith during life’s most trying times.

Continue reading Exclusive: Adam Driver, Andrew Garfield Garfield & Martin Scorsese Talk ‘Silence’ In New Featurette at The Playlist.

The American Society of Cinematographers announced their film nominees for the 2017 ASC Awards this morning, almost always a key indicator of the Best Cinematography field at the Academy Awards. Last year’s winner, Emmanuel Lubezki, won both honors for his work on “The Revenant.”

READ MORE: The Best Cinematography Of 2016

This year’s nominees are as follows:

Theatrical Release

Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS for “Lion”
James Laxton for “Moonlight”
Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC for “Silence”
Linus Sandgren, FSF for “La La Land”
Bradford Young, ASC for “Arrival”

There are four first-time nominees this year: Young, Sandgren, Laxton and Fraser.

Continue reading ‘Moonlight,’ ‘La La Land,’ ‘Arrival’ Earn Key 2017 ASC Awards Nods For Best Cinematography at The Playlist.

With more and more reasons to just stay home and #Netflixandchill, the awards season is a strong reminder that movies were made to be watched on the big screen. Damien Chazelle‘s gorgeous realized musical “La La Land” is truly a cinematic experience, and trying to immerse yourself in Martin Scorsese’s “Silence” on a laptop would be somewhat futile. And THR celebrates the lensers who made visual magic this year with their latest cinematographer roundtable.

Continue reading Cinematographers For ‘Silence,’ ‘La La Land,’ ‘Arrival’ & More Discuss Going Digital, Using Instagram, And More In 1-Hour Talk at The Playlist.

Martin Scorsese has perhaps taken the hardest 180 of his career by following up the free-wheeling debauchery of “The Wolf Of Wall Street” with the pious rigor of “Silence.” The pictures are completely different in almost every way imaginable, and certainly it’s the latter that offers far more food for thought long after the credits have rolled.

READ MORE: Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ Is A Beautiful Passion Project For The Devoted Only [Review]

Last month, Scorsese discussed his then-recently completed movie with Alexander Payne at a DGA screening in New York City.

Continue reading Martin Scorsese & Alexander Payne Talk ‘Silence’ In New 33-Minute Podcast at The Playlist.

“Silence” is a film that stands outside anything else you’ll see in cinemas. A far cry from the populist Martin Scorsese of “Goodfellas” and “The Wolf Of Wall Street,” the director on display here is exceedingly patient. The cutting between shots is much longer, the film is almost entirely score-free, and its complex themes about the nature of religion and the enigmas of faith offer no easy answers for a culture that often seems to divide itself between follower and atheist, with no middle ground.

Continue reading Martin Scorsese Talks His Unmade Jesus In New York Movie & His Future Directing Films; Plus New Clip & Images From ‘Silence’ at The Playlist.

The Disney/Lucasfilm stratagem is easy: release a “Star Wars” movie every year and watch the money roll in. And while the stand-alone film “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” wasn’t as much of a gangbusters flashpoint as “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” was — it was never going to be of course; it wasn’t the first ‘Star Wars’ film in 33 years to feature the original cast — it’s still done remarkably well for itself (don’t be fooled by any of the conservative nitwits who think their #DumpRogueOne campaign made the slightest dent at all).

Continue reading ‘Rogue One’ Goes Intergalactic During Christmas Weekend While ‘Assassin’s Creed’ & ‘Passengers’ Struggle [Box Office] at The Playlist.

Have you been struggling to type out that script? The one you’ve sat on for the past few months/years or so? Trying to figure out how to make it work? Hell, do you need some help getting it started in the first place? If you want to look for the best of the best of the year, look no further than below. Compiled for the consideration of Oscar voters everywhere, you have the chance to download and read more than 40 of the most acclaimed, sought-after screenplays of the past year.

Continue reading Download Over 40 Oscar-Contending Screenplays: ‘Silence,’ ‘Moonlight,’ ’20th Century Women’ ‘Arrival’ & More at The Playlist.

Even the great Martin Scorsese had to make sacrifices to see his long developing passion project “Silence” finally get put into production. We heard earlier this year that everybody involved essentially worked for next to nothing, and speaking with Yahoo!, star Liam Neeson confirms that there was little that was particularly glamorous about making the movie.

“It wasn’t [a difficult decision to make], certainly for me, I can’t speak for the other actors,” Neeson said. 

Continue reading Epic International Trailer, First Clip And New Images For Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ at The Playlist.

As we slowly and eagerly await the end of a year that history will squint back on forever, we can take some solace in knowing that it hasn’t been completely devoid of good things. And if you’ve been following our marathon year-end coverage from the beginning of December, which course you have been, you know of what we speak. Today we finally zero in on the element that best illuminates the unassailable power of the silver screen — cinematography.

Continue reading The Best Cinematography Of 2016 at The Playlist.

“Silence” opens in mist, and that pervasive haziness quickly comes to serve as a visual metaphor for the unresolvable spiritual crisis at the heart of Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s 1966 novel, which was previously brought to the screen – in even more austere form – by Japanese filmmaker Masahiro Shinoda in 1971. A passion project the Catholic director has sought to make for the better part of three decades, Scorsese’s religious epic is consumed with the question of God’s muteness in the face of hardship – and, considering that lack of feedback, how man can truly know whether he or she is acting in accordance with His will.

Continue reading Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ Is A Beautiful Passion Project For The Devoted Only [Review] at The Playlist.

The countdown to the end of the cinematic year continues, and with “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” soon out of the way, it leaves one more major movie to arrive: “Silence.” Martin Scorsese‘s passion project will be in cinemas just in time for the holidays and some new footage has arrived in a fresh promo spot.

The trio of Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver lead this movie about Jesuit missionaries in Japan who are persecuted for their faith during the 17th century.

Continue reading There’s Evil & Hope In New Footage From ‘Silence,’ Plus 21-Minute Talk With Martin Scorsese at The Playlist.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 145 qualifying scores for the  2017 Best Original Score Oscar and there were three somewhat surprising omissions.

There was always some concern Johann Johannsson‘s work on “Arrival” would be disqualified by the inclusion of Max Richter’s “On the Nature of Daylight,” but many believed Johannsson still made the time qualification needed. That doesn’t appear to be the case.

Continue reading Updated: ‘Arrival,’ ‘Manchester’ And ‘Silence’ Ineligible As 145 Original Scores Make The Oscars Cut at The Playlist.

The early reviews have landed for Martin Scorsese’s “Silence,” and it sounds like the director’s long awaited passion project is a challenging, and for many, a very rewarding cinematic experience. However, it’s also a project that had many false starts, and moments where it almost went into production over the years, and even though filming finally begun in January 2015, it still seems like “Silence” raced to the finish line to get into cinemas this month.

Continue reading 23-Minute Talk With Martin Scorsese About ‘Silence,’ Says Film Was “Way Over Schedule” at The Playlist.

Despite kicking out half the journalists due to see the movie last week in New York, Paramount has screened Martin Scorsese’s “Silence” for critics and the reviews are in. It’s a long-time-coming passion project and seemingly concludes the faith trilogy that Scorsese began with “The Last Temptation Of Christ” and “Kundun.” The picture tells the story of two missionaries (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver, the latter of whom lost 55 pounds for the role) who face the ultimate test of faith when they travel to Japan in search of their missing mentor (Liam Neeson) — at a time when Christianity was outlawed and their presence forbidden.

Continue reading First Reviews Of Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ Describe It As Challenging, Moving & Powerful at The Playlist.

The American Film Institute released their yearly top 10 list for both film and television today and there were few true surprises.

Before discussing, here are the sections themselves.

AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR
“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“La La Land”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”
“Silence”
“Sully”
“Zootopia”

AFI TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR
“The Americans”
“Atlanta”
“Better Call Saul”
“The Crown”
“Game of Thrones”
“The Night of”
“The People vs.

Continue reading ‘La La Land,’ ‘Moonlight’ And ‘Game Of Thrones’ Make AFI’s Top 10 Of 2016 Lists at The Playlist.

Hey everybody, I know it’s just the first week in December and we’ve still got over a month before Academy Award nomination ballots are due, but I’ve got news for you. The race for Best Picture is over. The nail is in the coffin. You can start engraving the statue. Lionsgate can even start mocking up the digital and home entertainment release advertising with “Best Picture Winner” emblazoned across the top of the artwork. “La La Land” is your next Oscar superstar.

Continue reading Contender Countdown: Guys, Not Sure If You Heard But ‘La La Land’ Is Winning Best Picture at The Playlist.