When we talk about the title of Greatest Living Actress, it seems as though many folks can only think of one answer to that question (we’ll give you a hint: her first name rhymes with Ferrell). While we are in no way trying to throw the goddess Meryl Streep under the proverbial bus, we are suggesting that perhaps it’s time to allow for more room in the conversation without showering all our attention on one admittedly iconic performer who, by now, has earned her just desserts.

Continue reading Frances McDormand: The Essential Performances at The Playlist.

If you go and see “Baby Driver” this weekend expecting another gag-heavy comedy in the vein of Edgar Wright’s earlier films, you’ll likely be in a shock. The absolutely tremendous car-chase-musical (read our review) is funny, sure, but that’s not its primary aim: in a big departure from Wright, it has more in common with classic 70s crime cinema than with, “Hot Fuzz” (for example) using the director’s formal gifts in service of a surprisingly hard-boiled heist movie.

Continue reading The 50 Best Crime Movies Of The 21st Century So Far at The Playlist.

By 2000, nearly two decades into their filmmaking careers, Joel and Ethan Coen had amassed a profile filled with features centered on the past. To simply label those movies as period pieces, however, would be an inaccurate observation. Their films, including “Barton Fink,” “Miller’s Crossing,” and “The Hudsucker Proxy,” to only name a select few, used a postmodern approach to look back on the past, which gave them a contemporary feeling.

Continue reading 25-Minute Video Takes An Odyssey In Style With Coens’ ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ & ‘The Man Who Wasn’t There’ at The Playlist.

If you’re struggling to find something new to watch on the big screen in a sea of underwhelming blockbusters, you’ll be delighted to know that right now, a re-release of “Blood Simple” in newly restored 4K is currently in theaters. The first film of Joel and Ethan Coen, it’s a great chance to catch the start of one of the most remarkable careers in American film.

Initially billed with Joel as the director and Ethan as the producer (sharing writing credits) due to guild complications, the pair have always been a tight team, and were finally able to recognize that from 2003’s “Intolerable Cruelty” onwards, sharing all their credits from then on out.

Continue reading The Essentials: The Coen Brothers Films Ranked at The Playlist.

Watch: Riveting 45-Minute Interview With Roger Deakins About Shooting The Coens' 'The Man Who Wasn't There'

Continue reading Watch: Riveting 45-Minute Interview With Roger Deakins About Shooting The Coens’ ‘The Man Who Wasn’t There’ at The Playlist.