One of the most bizarre TV series to ever air since David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks: The Return,” and certainly one of the oddest shows of this decade, is Showtime’s “The Curse,” which could potentially have more in store.

Created by deadpan comedian Nathan Fielder (“Nathan For You,” “The Rehearsal”) and filmmaker Benny Safdie (“Uncut Gems”) and starring Fielder and Emma Stone (both of them also executive producers along with Safdie), “The Curse,” which premiered last fall on Showtime, is a satirical black comedy thriller.

Continue reading ‘The Curse’: Emma Stone & Nathan Fielder Suggest Bizarre Series Could Continue & Was “Mapped Out” Beyond Season 1 at The Playlist.

Some shows meet their moment immediately; some slowly build a following, maybe even creating a cult audience. The latter might be the case for “The Curse,” the wild, subversive, uncomfortable, and audacious new Showtime/Paramount+ series. It came out in November, but with episodes arriving only week by week, it’s slowly been building an audience and a word-of-mouth following. And it should as it comes from actor/producer Emma Stone, actor/comedian/filmmaker Nathan Fielder, and filmmaker/actor Benny Safdie, one half of the Safdie Brothers directing duo.

Continue reading Christopher Nolan Says ‘The Curse’ Is “Unlike Anything I’ve Ever Seen On Television” In New Q&A With Benny Safdie & Nathan Fielder at The Playlist.

Who had Benny Safdie striking out on his own, becoming a character actor, creating a hit TV show, and setting up an A24 biopic with Dwayne Johnson on their 2023 Hollywood bingo card? No one? Yeah, it’s a massive pivot for one of the Safdie Brothers, best known for their gritty, frenetic NYC-set dramas. But thanks to turns in “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret” and “Oppenheimer” and the runaway success of “the Curse” on Showtime, Safdie is one to watch in 2024 and beyond.

Continue reading Benny Safdie Teases A Possible ‘The Curse’ Season 2, A Boxing Series For HBO & Another Secret TV Show As Upcoming Projects at The Playlist.

Man, it’s wild that “The Curse,” the new Showtime series from Emma Stone, Nathan Fielder, and Benny Safdie, got made. And or, maybe another way to say it is, if/when you package three immense talents and names like the aforementioned actor, writer/director, comedian, and filmmaker, you can really go for broke and push the envelope on the medium and what the audience can withstand and bear (more of this, please!)

READ MORE: ‘The Curse’: Emma Stone & Nathan Fielder Interrogate Altruistic White Privilege In Hilariously Cringe & Excruciating Series

That’s the crux of “The Curse,” a hilariously uncomfortable limited series on Showtime/Paramount+ that debuted in November and we named one of the best shows of 2023.

Continue reading Watch The ‘Fliplanthropy’ Pilot: The Fictional HGTV Show From Emma Stone & Nathan Fielder’s ‘The Curse’ Series at The Playlist.

Television feels like it’s at a turning point at the end of 2023. The form has said goodbye to some of its heaviest critical darlings, including losing HBO Emmy juggernauts “Succession” and “Barry,” along with the too-soon demise of FX’s “Reservation Dogs.” It really felt like there was a question of where TV goes next … and then it went nowhere.

Continue reading The 20 Best TV Shows Of 2023 at The Playlist.

Yes, trailers are just marketing material, and we’re not a BFD Advertising and Design class. But as any studio will tell you, a well-crafted trailer that builds hype and excitement for a movie can be a make-or-break part of the puzzle that creates much-needed anticipation and even word of mouth.  Sure, some trailers are just greatest hits of the movie, spoil or give too much away, or just a go-through-the-motions sizzle reel that can contain the moments but doesn’t turn that corner into activation: to compel that viewer to think, “Oh my god, I MUST see this movie.”

READ MORE: The 20 Best Posters Of 2023

But some are artful, clever, entertaining, thrilling, and even adrenaline-pumping when they are at their best, sometimes sustaining an audience’s anticipation for a movie for months on end.  The right combination of teaser and trailer can really do it, too (or overdo it if you seem to have a desperate final trailer and or you’ve just released too many trailers, period).

Continue reading The 25 Best Movie Trailers Of 2023 at The Playlist.

Showtime’s new limited series “The Curse,” comes from the inspired, perhaps unlikely, trio of actor/producer Emma Stone (“Poor Things”), comedian/filmmaker Nathan Fielder (“The Rehearsal”), and writer/director Benny Safdie—half of the directing duo The Safdie Brothers, known for “Uncut Gems.” But the true shorthand to understanding the hilarious, odd, sometimes downright bizarre series is its overwhelming sense of cringe-worthy discomfort.

Continue reading ‘The Curse’ Review: Emma Stone & Nathan Fielder Interrogate Altruistic White Privilege In Hilariously Cringe & Excruciating Series at The Playlist.

With the continuation of the SAG-AFTRA strike, the release schedule of Hollywood-produced series and films remains unpredictable. November at least sees several new releases, from Netflix animated series (two of them, actually) to even more Netflix with the first part of the final season of a long-running mainstay with “The Crown.” Beyond Netflix, it’s notable that of the series highlighted below, four of them are animated series, both original and based on existing titles.

Continue reading 11 TV Shows To Watch In November: ‘The Curse,’ ‘The Crown,’ ‘Fargo’ & More at The Playlist.

Well there’s a first time for everything; and in the case of “The Curse,” it’s surprising that it’s the first TV series to be part of the premiere lineup for the New York Film Festival. But Variety reports that Nathan Fielder & Benny Safdie‘s show is the first to do so, and NYFF artistic director Dennis Lim couldn’t be happier about it.

Continue reading ‘The Curse’: Nathan Fielder & Benny Safdie’s Show Becomes First TV Series To Premiere At NYFF, Wows Festival Artistic Director Dennis Lim at The Playlist.

Yep, that’s cursed, alright. That idea, a hex, a curse, the concept, the phrase, is explored in delightfully weird ways in “The Curse,” easily one of our most anticipated series of the year that’s almost upon us. From Oscar-winner Emma Stone, comedian Nathan Fielder (“The Rehearsal”), and indie filmmaker/actor Benny Safdie—all of whom star and executive produce—“The Curse” looks exceptionally wild, strange, and funny.

Continue reading ‘The Curse’ Trailer: Emma Stone & Nathan Fielder Host A Hexed Home Improvement Series Co-Starring Benny Safdie at The Playlist.

Benny Safdie‘s turn to acting in recent years has been a pleasant surprise. But now he’s branching out into TV, too. And his first TV credit gets a world premiere at the New York Film Festival, boasting Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder as the show’s leads.

READ MORE: Fall 2023 TV Preview: Over 35+ Most Anticipated Shows To Watch

“The Curse,” ready to hit Showtime and Paramount+ later this Fall, stars Stone and Fielder as a newlywed couple who co-star on a new HGTV series “Flipanthropy,” run by Safdie’s producer.

Continue reading ‘The Curse’ Teaser: New Showtime Series With Emma Stone, Nathan Fielder & Benny Safdie Premieres On Showtime On November 10 at The Playlist.

Very high on our list of the Most Anticipated TV Series of 2023, Showtime’s “The Curse” finally has a release date and will air November 10 on Paramount+ with Showtime ahead of its on-air Showtime debut on November 12, the network announced. From producers and writers Emma Stone, comedian Nathan Fielder, and Safdie Brothers filmmaker Benny Safdie—all of whom star, “The Curse,” is a bizarre genre-bending comedy series/riff on the Home Improvement series.

Continue reading ‘The Curse’: Nathan Fielder & Emma Stone’s Odd & Bizarre Home Improvement Comedy Premieres Nov 10 On Paramount+ [New Photos] at The Playlist.

If the debate a few years ago was the streaming glut age created an era of #TooMuchContent, we’ve got some good news for you: things are slowing down and the current SAG and WGA strikes likely aren’t helping. But the streaming age, and the Wall Street downturn that arrived last year have definitely caused a new epoch of disruption we’re still experiencing and aren’t sure where things will land. Warner Bros.

Continue reading Fall 2023 TV Preview: Over 35+ Most Anticipated Shows To Watch at The Playlist.

With SAG and WGA strikes and little talent to promote them, the deep worry about this fall was that festival season would suffer. And guess again, as the 2023 New York Film Festival proves, anything is but the case. The 61st edition of NYFF announced the inclusion of Bradley Cooper’s much-anticipated “Maestro” to lead its Spotlight section, and today, the complete Spotlight section has been announced, and it’s fantastic.

Continue reading Full 2023 NYFF Spotlight: Emma Stone Leads With The Safdies & Nathan Fielder’s ‘Curse,’ & New Yorgos Lanthimos Short & More at The Playlist.

Two years ago, Bob Iger pointed to the rafters and said, the future of our business is on streaming and Disney+. By then, everyone had a streaming service or one in the works, and it ushered in the age of #TooMuchContent. However, as we know, after the Wall Street Netflix crash of April 2022, which impacted the entire industry as the stock market totally reevaluated the worth of all streaming services, things are changing.

Continue reading The 70 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Mini-Series Of 2023 at The Playlist.

Spring is in the air, cinephiles are drunk with rampant Cannes speculation, and maybe we can get more Safdie Brothers films starring Adam Sandler as a treat. While this trio, filmmakers Benny and Josh Safdie and the Sandman gave us the terrific thriller “Uncut Gems” in 2019—where Sandler played the Jewish-American jeweler Howard Ratner, a man with a terrible gambling addiction—there could be more where that came from.

Continue reading Uncut Jams? Adam Sandler & The Safdie Brothers Reportedly Working On A New Project at The Playlist.

In the pre-COVID-19 time of February of this year, which feels about a decade ago at this point, there was an exciting announcement that the Safdie Brothers would be joining forces with Nathan Fielder for a new comedy series on Showtime. Those names alone made it an automatic must-see. But now, they’re adding Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone, making “The Curse” one of the most anticipated series of the next couple of years.

Continue reading ‘The Curse’: The Safdie Brothers Land Emma Stone To Star Opposite Nathan Fielder In New Showtime Series at The Playlist.

Sometimes a film or TV project comes together and you sit back and wonder, “Did the studio have me in mind when they approved this?” That’s the case with the upcoming Showtime series, “The Curse.” It appears that Showtime took a look inside my brain and decided to make a 30-minute comedy series based on my own interests, which include the Safdie Brothers, Nathan Fielder, and HGTV.

Continue reading The Safdie Brothers Teaming With Nathan Fielder For A Comedy Series At Showtime at The Playlist.