Greek “Weird Wave” auteur Yorgos Lanthimos is a profoundly idiosyncratic filmmaker known for comedically bizarre and far-left-of-center films like “The Lobster” and “Dogtooth.” His 2018 period film, “The Favourite,” earned ten Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and Lanthimos is already plotting a follow-up with its Academy Award-winning star Emma Stone. Titled “Poor Things,” and co-starring actors like Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe, the film was shot late last summer, so there’s hope we’ll see the movie later this year somewhere on the film festival circuit.

Continue reading ‘Bleat’ Trailer: Emma Stone Stars In A New Yorgos Lanthimos-Directed Short Premiering May 6 In Greece at The Playlist.

The 2010s saw the return of a number of forgotten trends: tiny sunglasses, hating “Star Wars,” and – most importantly – the word “horny.” The once juvenile, decidedly-male word has shifted into something greater: more gender-woke, more surreal. “Horny” still refers, of course, to sex, desirous hunger, thirstiness, and this image (and this one too). But it has also evolved to feature many more implications and describes any number of feelings – excitement, transgression, titillation, and intrigue.

Continue reading The Horniest Movies Of The Decade [2010s] at The Playlist.

It may not have won the Best Picture Oscar, but a little over nine months later “The Favourite” is in the winner’s circle again.  Yorgos Lanthimos’ dramedy took European Film, European Director (Lanthimos), European Actress Olivia Colman and Best Comedy at the 32nd European Film Awards in Berlin, Germany on Saturday.  It was the first almost completely English-language film to win the top prize since Paolo Sorrentino’s “Youth” in 2015.

Continue reading ‘The Favourite’ Is Crowned Best Film At 2019 European Film Awards at The Playlist.

The nominations for the 2019 European Film Awards were announced on Saturday morning at the Seville Film Festival and in no surprise, Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain and Glory” took four nods including European Film, European Director (Almodovar), European Actor (Antonio Banderas) and European Screenwriter (Almodovar). Two other films surprised with four nominations including the top prize; Roman Polanski’s “An Officer and A Spy” and Marco Bellocchio’s “The Traitor.”  And, thanks to a unique qualification calendar, Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite” earned three nods including European Film.

Continue reading ‘Pain & Glory,’ ‘Les Miserables,’ & ‘The Traitor’ Get 2019 European Film Awards Boost at The Playlist.

A house divided against itself cannot stand, so said Abraham Lincoln, a mostly forgotten historical figure plucked from obscurity by an Oscar-winning 2012 film directed by Steven Spielberg. But if the house was Hollywood’s Dolby Theater on Sunday, February 24, 2019, it stood quite often, especially when not to do so would have seemed racist. So civil rights activist Rep. John Lewis received a dutiful standing ovation, Spike Lee got an immensely hard-earned one, and despite being white, B-Coops and L-Gags doing “Shallow” got a weird kind of swoony standing O because everyone’s knees were so weak by the end of it.

Continue reading The 2019 Oscars: A Diverse “New” Academy At War With Itself at The Playlist.

Despite the bad rep it has in some quarters, there are many things that are great about the Oscars. Well-deserved recognition for actors who’ve been working for years, the highlighting of bright new talents, moments in the spotlight for undersung behind-the-camera talent, spontaneous speeches, good jokes, great frocks.

Another thing we love? Cold, hard stats. Trivia and facts and figures are always a fun thing to parse the afternoon after the ceremony once the shock and the hangover have passed, and luckily, we’ve found some of the more interesting ones and collected them below.

Continue reading The 2019 Oscars By The Numbers at The Playlist.

With there being such a cottage industry of prognostication and precursors around the Oscars, it sometimes feels that the true surprise is a thing of the past when it comes to the actual day itself. Take last year for instance, where almost every major winner was one that was heavily predicted without much in the way of an upset.

This was not one of those years. Most of the major categories remained competitive until late in the day (only Best Actor was truly locked down, and even that felt like Christian Bale could potentially surprise), and plenty of expected and overdue winners went home empty-handed with only their wildly valuable gift bags and an offer to play the villain in the “Black Widow” movie to show for it.

Continue reading The Snubs & Surprises Of The 2019 Oscars at The Playlist.

Continue reading In The End The 2019 Oscars Turned Out To Be An Epic Tease at The Playlist.

Glenn Close won the Golden Globe, the SAG award, last night’s Indie Spirit Award and nearly all of the precursor prizes, but tonight at the 91st Academy Awards, it was Olivia Colman who took home the Best Actress prize for “The Favourite,” in what many will describe as the upset of the evening (though our Awards Editor, Gregory Ellwood, predicted Colman, too).

Continue reading Olivia Colman Becomes ‘The Favourite’ & Wins Best Actress [Oscars 2019] at The Playlist.

The Costume Designers Guild handed out their 2019 awards on Tuesday night and they recognized two of the major frontrunners for the Costume Design Oscar.  Excellence in Period Film went to Sandy Powell and “The Favourite” and Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy went to Ruth E. Carter for “Black Panther.”  Mary E. Vogt took the Contemporary Film honor for “Crazy Rich Asians,” but the film didn’t earn an Academy Award nomination.

Continue reading ‘Black Panther,’ ‘The Favourite,’ ‘Westworld’ Take 2019 Costume Designers Guild Awards at The Playlist.

One of the pleasures of awards season is when it shines a light on new talents.  In the case of “The Favourite” we knew of director Yorgos Lanthimos, legendary costume designer Sandy Powell and even long respected cinematographer Robbie Ryan.  Fiona Crombie?  Well, she’s now made her mark on the global film stage with her first Oscar nomination for Production Design.

READ MORE: “Black Panther,” “The Favourite” lead 2019 ADG Awards winners

Crombie has actually had a banner few months.  

Continue reading Fiona Crombie On Being A Shapeshifter & Building A ‘Favourite’ World [Interview] at The Playlist.

Sandy Powell is one of the coolest people I’ve ever met.  There’s no debate.  The three-time Oscar-winning costume designer oozes style and sophistication the moment she arrives in a room. And when you speak to her you immediately know not only is this woman f***ing brilliant, but she’s blunt and suffers no fools. And she masterfully lets you know it with grace and a welcoming smile. Frankly, if you’re a filmmaker who doesn’t want to work with Powell you’ve got some insecurities you need to deal with.

Continue reading ‘The Favourite’s’ Sandy Powell Turned A Bedcover Into An Oscar Nom [Interview] at The Playlist.

Academy members are currently voting for the winners of the 91st Oscars.  And after voting, or before, they are letting their anger be known about the Academy and ABC’s decision to award four of the categories, Cinematography, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling and Live Action Short, during commercial breaks.  If that isn’t enough to get some members to run against already embattled president John Bailey I’m not sure what else will.  If this town loves anything it’s drama and in that context it’s no surprise we’ve got another close Best Picture race coming down to the wire.

Continue reading Best Picture Battle Down To ‘Roma’ & ‘Green Book’ Or Is It? [Contender Countdown] at The Playlist.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts revealed the winners of the 2019 BAFTA Awards on Sunday and it crowned a frontrunner for the Best Picture Oscar, “Roma.”  Alfonso Cuaron’s autobiographical drama took Best Film over “The Favourite” which dominated the rest of the proceedings.

“Roma” also won Best Director (Cuaron) as well as Film Not in the English Language (Foreign Language Film) and Best Cinematography.  Along with the DGA honor for Cuaron, it nudges the Netflix release into pole position for Oscar’s top prize.  

Continue reading ‘Roma’ Wins Best Film As ‘The Favourite’ Dominates 2019 BAFTA Awards at The Playlist.

The Art Directors Guild handed out their annual ADG Awards on Saturday night in what is seen as a precursor to the Production Design Oscar.  Two of this year’s nominees, “Black Panther” and “The Favourite,” won Fantasy Film and Period Film respectively and are now the front-runners for the Academy Award.

READ MORE: “Green Book” takes PGA Award for Best Film 

In other categories, “Crazy Rich Asians” won Contemporary Film and “Isle of Dogs” took Animated Film.

Continue reading ‘The Favourite’ & ‘Black Panther’ Top 2019 Art Director Guild Awards at The Playlist.

This awards season has featured one surprise after another so perhaps it’s not that shocking that the top prizes at the 69th ACE Eddie Awards for Editing went to two unexpected winners.  The American Cinema Editors chose “The Favourite” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” over some stiff competition in the Feature Film Comedy and Feature Film Dramatic categories respectively.  Both films are nominated for the Best Editing Oscar as well as Best Picture.

Continue reading ‘The Favourite’ & ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Surprise At 2019 ACE Eddie Editing Awards at The Playlist.

The weekend after Oscar nominations is always interesting at the box office. With common sense dictating that the films being named by the Academy as the best of the year will get a bump at the box office, analysts are always curious about which films will spark renewed interest from film fans and which can’t even benefit from a bit more notoriety. This weekend also had the added bonus of a highly divisive adult thriller, a critically-acclaimed kids film from an up and coming director, and a flurry of holiday leftovers still staking a claim.

Continue reading ‘Aquaman’ Passes ‘Dark Knight Rises’ To Become Biggest WB Superhero Film Ever [Box Office] at The Playlist.

Every year, GLAAD likes to shine a light on films and TV series that are going above and beyond to present fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of LGBTQ people and issues. These awards aren’t there to mirror the Academy Awards or Golden Globes, but for the LGBTQ community, these are the films and TV series that GLAAD feels are the best of 2018.

However, with that being said, there’s one major omission from this year’s awards – “Bohemian Rhapsody.” While your mileage may vary on how well you think the film presented the LGBTQ community, it’s hard to ignore a film that grossed $800 million worldwide and featured a queer character at its core.

Continue reading ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Pulled From GLAAD Awards After Singer Accusations As Group Announces Full List Of Nominees at The Playlist.

Yorgos Lanthimos has been quietly building his filmography for decades. Studying theatre directing in Greece, the filmmaker is having his best year to date with the rapid critical, awards, and box office success of “The Favourite.” Earning near-universal acclaim and now well into the grind of awards season, “The Favourite” feels like a crowning achievement for the filmmaker. The road to “The Favourite” has been just as fascinating; the director has created some of the most interesting pieces of modern cinema with his own idiosyncratic style and collaborations.

Continue reading Yorgos Lanthimos Discusses The Irrational Physicality & Ridiculousness Of ‘The Favourite’ In 45 Minute Talk [Video] at The Playlist.

After countless screenings, Q&A’s, red carpets, screeners, hand holding, for your consideration ads, talk show appearances and cocktail parties, between 160 and 190 contenders are going to be rewarded with Oscar nominations bright and oh, so unnecessarily early on Tuesday morning.  And almost just as many who didn’t hear their name called will try to get back to sleep knowing they no longer have to starve themselves for the February telecast.  Granted, this season hasn’t had the distraction of a historic presidential election or an industry-changing #MeToo movement, but have been controversies late in the game.

Continue reading Final 2018 Oscar Nominations Predictions: ‘Roma,’ ‘Burning,’ ‘A Star Is Born’ at The Playlist.

You’ll have to look online to hear who won early in the show, but if “Green Book” or “The Favourite” takes it, Best Picture is way up in the air. “Bohemian Rhapsody” should take it because of John Ottman‘s work in helping shape the “director-less” movie together, but the flashy “Vice” from Oscar-winner Hank Corwin (“The Big Short”) could win as well.  [Updated Feb. 12]

Predictions
1.

Continue reading 2019 Best Film Editing Oscars Predictions at The Playlist.

This category will likely go to either of the ADG winners: “The Favourite” or “Black Panther.” We expect those films to split this category and costumes and think “Favourite” will prevail here. “First Man” would be the spoiler. [Updated Feb. 12]

Predictions
1. “The Favourite” – Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton
2. “Black Panther” – Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Jay Hart
3.

Continue reading 2019 Production Design Oscars Predictions at The Playlist.

With less than two full days of Oscar nomination voting left, many contenders have pushed the pedal to the metal in order to ensure they land as many member votes as possible.  Saturday night saw likely nominees such as Alfonso Cuaron accepting awards at the LAFCA film awards and even more will be on hand for the Critics Choice Awards Sunday night in Santa Monica (actually how many big names show up remains to be seen).  

Continue reading Brad Pitt Celebrates ‘Beale Street’ As Oscar Campaigning Goes To The Wire at The Playlist.

The Costume Designer Guild became the second to last guild to announce their year-end awards on Thursday (the VFX society is the straggler) and peppered in some unexpectedly fun players amongst the expected nominees.  Awards season contenders such as “A Star is Born,” “Black Panther,” “The Favourite” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” were joined by “Crazy Rich Asians,” “Ocean’s 8,” “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,” “A Wrinkle in Time” and “Avengers: Infinity War.”  Surprise omissions included “A Simple Favor,” “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” “Roma” and “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.” 

READ MORE: “Aquaman,” “Vice” lead 2019 Make-Up and Hair Guild Awards nominees

On the television side designers from “Sharp Objects,” “The Marvelous Mrs.

Continue reading ‘Black Panther,’ ‘Drag Race’ Among 2019 Costume Designer Guild Awards Nominees at The Playlist.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced the nominees for the 2019 EE BAFTA Awards early Wednesday morning and their clear cut favorite was Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite.”  The Fox Searchlight and Film 4 production earned 12 nods including Best Film, Director (Lanthimos), Lead Actress (Olivia Colman), Original Screenplay and two Supporting Actress nods (Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz), among others.  “Roma” landed seven nods including Best Film, Best Director (Alfonso Cuaron), Original Screenplay (Cuaron) and Editing (Cuaron), among others.

Continue reading ‘The Favourite’ Leads All 2019 BAFTA Awards Nominees With 12 at The Playlist.