Shortly after “Blade Runner 2049” opened this fall, editor Joe Walker discussed the wealth of material that didn’t make the nearly three-hour movie we all saw in cinemas. The one tidbit that captured many people’s attention was his revelation that “the first assembly of the film was nearly four hours and for convenience sake and – to be honest – my bladder’s sake, we broke it into two for viewings.” Most assumed this meant there’s some kind super, extended cut of “Blade Runner 2049” kicking around, but according to Denis Villeneuve, it was an idea that really didn’t get very far.

Continue reading Denis Villeneuve Talks 4-Hour Cut Of ‘Blade Runner 2049’ at The Playlist.

With the prevalence of 3D and IMAX and every other visual innovation taking place in cinema right now, it’s easy to understand why black and white might not seem appealing to the average filmgoer. Where 3D and IMAX are exciting and loud, black and white is tempered and quiet, a stylistic choice that intuits a film more interested in the complex interiority of characters than the grand spectacle of a Hollywood blockbuster. Or so it may seem.

Continue reading The Noirish Beauty Of Black & White at The Playlist.

While James Bond’s super-spy allure has been sanded down some by the nitty-gritty realism of Sam Mendes and Daniel Craig’s recent iterations, it’s pretty safe to say when someone mentions title sequences, we all still think of the ardently unreal (and often beautifully psychedelic) openings of the two dozen-plus 007 films — or more specifically the assassin camera targeting Bond down the barrel of a gun. The truth is, though, that most title sequences — born from the necessity of simply telling audiences the name of the movie — are folded much more seamlessly into the fabric of the film.

Continue reading The 10 Best Opening Title Sequences Of All Time at The Playlist.

Watch: 5-Minute Supercut Presents Memorable Opening Shots

Continue reading Watch: 5-Minute Supercut Presents Memorable Opening Shots at The Playlist.

Note: this will all sound so much better —as would anything— if you imagine it read in Welles’ mellifluous, autumnal voice:

A century ago this very day, in Kenosha, Wisonsin, a mewling, puking infant was born to Richard and Beatrice Welles, and was named Orson, after his grandfather. Little Orson couldn’t know it yet, but the next 70 years would see him live an astonishing life, criss-crossing continents, living high and low, skittering across theater stages and film sets, intoning into microphones and megaphones, accruing laurels and loathing, dining with kings and duelling with fickle financiers, falling in love and fathering children, ever buffeted by the fair and foul winds of fortune but steering head-on into them, lashed to the mast of his immense self-confidence.

Continue reading The Essentials: The Directorial Films Of Orson Welles at The Playlist.