Call this feature “overlooked films” if you liked, and if you saw them, and yes, there’s some crossover with some of our other Best of 2020 features, like the 25 Best Films Of 2020, the 20 Best Performances Of 2020, etc. but that’s ok!

READ MORE: The Best Cinematography Of 2020

2020 was a year where movie-lovers learned how to watch movies in an entirely different way. Since theaters were shut down across much of America for most of the year and many of the year’s more anticipated offerings were either shuffled off the annual slate until 2021, or relegated to streaming services a la “Wonder Woman 1984,” our regular routine of watching, analyzing, and obsessing over films was more or less completely upended.

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2020 You Didn’t See at The Playlist.

Not to exclude stellar photography all the world over, but there’s a common theme here in The Playlist’s picks for Best Cinematography ‘20: America. The year is littered with movies about the red, white, and blue in one form or another, to one extent or another, movies that capture either a period of time, or an enduring ethos, or tall tales and B.S. we tell ourselves as citizens of the self-styled greatest country in the world.

Continue reading The Best Cinematography Of 2020 at The Playlist.

I shook their hands. I remember a lot of what Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin, the on- and off-screen duo responsible for the new film “The Climb,” said. But mostly, I remember that in the last in-person interview I conducted before COVID-19 upended the entire apparatus of film distribution and promotion, I shook the hands of the interview subjects before enjoying a half-hour chat on how they constructed one of the year’s most inspired, intentional comedic romps.

Continue reading ‘The Climb’ Filmmakers & Stars Michael Angelo Covino & Kyle Marvin On Their Patient, Impulsive Buddy Comedy [Interview] at The Playlist.

Well, at least we still have movies – even if theaters are still relatively no-go zones. For all its ensuing stress, November has a strong list of films on its slate, some of which have already built significant buzz following rounds on the film festival circuit this year (some of which even premiered in 2019, approximately 20 years ago.) In the line-up, there’s a return of David Fincher, some of the finest animation in recent years, leading performances from perennial favorite Carrie Coon, and Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan as lovers.

Continue reading 11 Movies to See in November: From ‘Small Axe’ To ‘Happiest Season’ at The Playlist.

COVID-19 is over! Movies are back! And everything is… safe? Hardly. It’s been a weird 2020.5 (an adjunct year that started in March) and it’s been going on for about 2.5 years so far. Sundance and Berlin in the 1st half of 2020 were definitely a few years ago and the new normal is so normal… it’s ok to go back to theaters? We’re as dubious, nervous and hesitant as you. In fact, we’d given up on doing most kinds of film festival previews this year—we threw any ideas of a summer film preview out the window given that the summer schedule kept constantly changing and any predictions about reopening theaters turned out to be as premature and overly optimistic as we all thought.

Continue reading 2020 Fall Film Preview: 40 Most Anticipated Films To Watch at The Playlist.

Each year, countless films premiere at festivals across the world. Filmmakers are celebrated for their artistic vision. Projects are praised for their ability to push the boundaries of what we expect from national cinemas. Then, just as quickly as these films burst on the scene, many disappear from the public eye. Some fall through the cracks of distribution. Others are snapped up by discriminating studios but languish in the vault as executives work to puzzle out the perfect date and platform for their release.

Continue reading The 25 Best Movies Of 2020 We’ve Already Seen at The Playlist.

Toxic masculinity has become a common phrase these days, but what about toxic male friendships, or just poisonous friendships, regardless? Everyone’s had that selfish, narcissistic friend who’s not good for you – that’s manipulative, withholding, not always above board, and ultimately a friendship you had to extricate yourself from. But what if your bonds prove too deep to uproot despite all your best efforts?

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2020

The idea of BFFs turned frenemies, and a dubious bromance is explored in Michael Angelo Covino’s hilarious and droll comedy, “The Climb” which made its debut in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes Film Festival this year—no small feat for the feature-length debut of an unknown American filmmaker and a decision that turned heads among critics asking who Covino was (he’s made many shorts over the years, but “The Climb” is his big breakout; read our review here).

Continue reading ‘The Climb’ Trailer: Le Tour De BFF/Frenemies Comedy Is A Droll, Toxic Bromance at The Playlist.

The Cannes Film Festival is coming to an end tomorrow, as the closing ceremonies are expected to begin on Saturday. However, before the festival ends and the Palme d’Or is awarded, the event decided to honor those special selections that were chosen by the jury in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes.

READ MORE: Bruno Dumont’s Absurd ‘Jeanne’ (‘Joan of Arc’) Is A War Of Attrition [Cannes Review]

Leading the way is Karim Ainouz’s latest film, “The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao.” The drama about two sisters in 1950’s Rio de Janeiro on separate paths, longing to be reunited took home the section’s top prize.

Continue reading ‘The Climb,’ ‘Joan Of Arc,’ ‘The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao’ & More Chosen As Cannes Un Certain Regard Award Winners at The Playlist.

Comedies are few and far between in Cannes’ usually somber line-up, so for many festival-goers, “The Climb” is a refreshing change of pace. Compartmentalized into six tidy vignettes, sometimes spaced years apart, Michael Angelo Covino’s directorial debut follows two average joes Kyle (Kyle Marvin) and Mike (Covino himself) as they chart the rocky course of their friendship from one feud to the next.

READ MORE: 2019 Cannes Film Festival: The 21 Most Anticipated Movies

Unlike other buddy comedies of its genre, though, the plot structure of “The Climb” is more accurately charted as a series of sequential peaks, rather than building to one easily-defined climax.

Continue reading ‘The Climb’: Michael Angelo Covino’s Debut Is An Endearing, Relentlessly Funny Buddy Comedy [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.

Is horror making its way to the Cannes Film Festival this year? Granted, for many of these films they exist only as a logline and one official image, but prestige horror is seemingly destined to make its mark on the usually sunny usually Croisette. Then again, rain is in the forecast.

READ MORE: the 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2019 

There are a number of interesting trends this year at the French event, including a trio of new American filmmakers in the Un Certain Regard sidebar, semi-old school Hollywood star power (Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sylvester Stallone), a slight increase in female directors in competition (a big ol’ four of them), and, as always, filmmakers the festival simply can’t say no too (Pedro Almodóvar, Xavier Dolan, Ken Loach, the Dardennes, etc.).

Continue reading 2019 Cannes Film Festival: The 21 Most Anticipated Movies at The Playlist.