Last week, before Hollywood got dressed up to hand out the Golden Globes, Armond “I”m not a contrarian” White dropped his annual Better Than list. Of course, he starts it off with this pretty tasty line — “Ten Best Lists are Fake News and have been for years” [fire emoji!] — and then rolls up his sleeves, and gets right into one increasingly #hottake after another.

You’ll have to go over to National Review to read his full run down, but here are some examples of his shots fired at “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Wonder Woman,” and “Phantom Thread“:

Justice League > The Last Jedi
Zack Snyder’s best moments raise comic book sci-fi to eye-widening, soul-stirring art while the unoriginal, interminable Star Wars series trains kids of various IQs to be mindless consumers.

Continue reading Armond White Declares ‘Justice League’ Better Than ‘The Last Jedi’ & More 2017 Hot Takes at The Playlist.

Bruno Dumont built his reputation around the artsiest of arthouse movies, the kind of efforts that were mainstays of the festival circuit, but drew only the most devoted of cinephiles when they eventually went into limited release. Lately, while he hasn’t quite gone mainstream, the filmmaker has courted broader appeal. His TV series “P’tit Quinquin” was a hit, and showed he could capture a bigger audience with something more broadly entertaining (a second season is on the way), and he’s stayed in that vein with his latest feature, “Slack Bay.”

READ MORE: Cannes Review: Bruno Dumont’s Absurd & Decadent ‘Slack Bay’ Starring Juliette Binoche

While Juliette Binoche, Fabrice Luchini, and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi get top billing, the story actually revolves around Brandon Lavieville and Raph (yep, just one name), a young couple from vastly different backgrounds, who start falling in love, all while the police chase an elusive murderer.

Continue reading New U.S. Trailer For Bruno Dumont’s Madcap Comedy ‘Slack Bay’ Starring Juliette Binoche at The Playlist.

You might have a bit of nomination fatigue following yesterday’s Oscar nominations, but another sweep of sorts is happening overseas following the 14-nod domination of “La La Land” stateside.

READ MORE: The 2017 Oscar Nominations By The Numbers

Paul Verhoeven‘s “Elle” led France’s César awards with 11 nominations, including nods in major categories Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Continue reading ‘Elle’ & ‘Frantz’ Leads France’s César Awards Nominations at The Playlist.

December is almost here, which means top ten lists are going to start coming hard, but few of the them will be as eclectic as the one from Cahiers du Cinema. The cinephile publication always goes its own way (Nanni Moretti‘s “Mia Madre” was their best film of 2015, for example), but this year, few will disagree or question their top pick.

Maren Ade‘s critically acclaimed “Toni Erdmann” came out victorious, and hopefully that will put the movie on a few more radars as it gears up to open in limited release next month.

Continue reading Cahiers Du Cinema’s Top 10 Films Of 2016 at The Playlist.

Divinely grotesque or grotesquely divine? Bruno Dumont walks this tightrope in his latest farce, “Slack Bay,” unravelling three narrative threads around the picturesque Channel Coast like a circus ringmaster. Degenerate bourgeois families blend with cannibalistic fishermen while a toothless, obese detective bumbles around with his assistant, trying to solve a case of serial disappearances in the area. No one but Dumont could direct a premise like that, and his latest serves as something of a successor to his wonderful “L’il Quinquin,” the helmer continuing to cajole his dark tendencies with ornate buffoonery.

Continue reading Cannes Review: Bruno Dumont’s Absurd & Decadent ‘Slack Bay’ Starring Juliette Binoche at The Playlist.

It feels like we say it every year around the time the Cannes Film Festival lineup is unveiled, but this year we really really mean it: wow! There’s an embarrassment of riches across the whole selection, especially if you factor in the not-quite-so-official Directors’ Fortnight sidebar, which is where many of the more under-the-radar breakouts have bowed in recent years. It seems hard to believe we’re already going to be in the thick of it this time next week, but here are the 25 titles (plus copious honorable mentions) that we’ve circled most heavily in our program during our increasingly frazzled and giddy pre-Cannes research.

Continue reading The 25 Most Anticipated Films Of The 2016 Cannes Film Festival at The Playlist.

Watch: First Wacky, International Trailer For Bruno Dumont's 'Slack Bay' Starring Juliette Binoche

Continue reading Watch: First Wacky, International Trailer For Bruno Dumont’s ‘Slack Bay’ Starring Juliette Binoche at The Playlist.

Casting: Brie Larson Joins Ben Wheatley's 'Free Fire,' Juliette Bincohe Heads To Bruno Dumont’s 'Slack Bay' & More

Continue reading Casting: Brie Larson Joins Ben Wheatley’s ‘Free Fire,’ Juliette Bincohe Heads To Bruno Dumont’s ‘Slack Bay’ & More at The Playlist.

Arthouse: Mia Hansen-Løve Teams With Isabelle Huppert For 'L'avenir' Plus New Films From Bruno Dumont, Cristian Mungiu, More

Continue reading Arthouse: Mia Hansen-Løve Teams With Isabelle Huppert For ‘L’avenir’ Plus New Films From Bruno Dumont, Cristian Mungiu, More at The Playlist.