2017 might be done with us, but we’re not exactly done with it. In traditional Playlist form, it’s never quite clear if the world has moved on from the last year during the early days of January, but regardless, we seem to exhaust all possibilities examining, breaking down and parsing the previous year in film.

It might have been a shit show of a year, but movies and quality Peak TV provided us riches and escape.

Continue reading The Best Films Of 2017 You Didn’t See at The Playlist.

We’re firmly into June now, and fast bearing down on the midpoint of 2017, a year that’s shaping up to be the longest goddamn year in history (fun fact: at the start of 2017, Barack Obama was President of the United States!). Fortunately, in between the insanity of the news, it’s been a pretty strong film year on the whole.

Sure, not all of the blockbusters have been great (*side eye to “The Mummy”*), but some have been terrific, and we’ve also seen several great and unexpected movies get their due at the box office.

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2017 So Far at The Playlist.

With only two feature films under his belt to date, writer/director Adam Leon has made a big noise by using very little. His breakout film, “Gimme The Loot,” was fresh, exciting, and low-key caper film that captured the attention of SXSW, Cannes, and beyond. For his followup, Leon tells another intimate, authentic New York City story with “Tramps.” Premiering last fall at the Toronto International Film Festival, it may not have had glitzy A-list stars, but the crowd-pleasing charmer sparked a small bidding war, with streaming titans Netflix coming out on top.

Continue reading The Movies That Changed My Life: ‘Tramps’ Director Adam Leon at The Playlist.

A heist movie and romance that manages to defy the expectations of both genres, “Tramps” is a low-key charmer that quietly gains your affection. The latest from “Gimme The Loot” director Adam Leon may not have grabbed the biggest headlines at TIFF last fall where it premiered, but it says something that Netflix snapped it up. And it’s one you’ll want to add to your queue.

Continue reading Romance & Crime Collide In First Trailer For Netflix’s ‘Tramps’ at The Playlist.

Well, here we are, in the brave (terrifying) new (still terrifying) world of 2017. Whatever else we have to expect in the 363 days to come (and actually, the first 48 hours have been pretty good on the whole), it promises to be a good year for the movies, as you might have seen from our 100 Most Anticipated Movies piece a month or so back. But somehow, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Continue reading The 20 Best Movies Of 2017 That We’ve Already Seen at The Playlist.

After ten days, at least 55 films and an obscene amount of poutine and Tim Horton’s breakfast sandwiches, Team Playlist is done with the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. TIFF is probably the world’s biggest film festival, and if there were any worries about the “death of cinema” spurred by thinkpieces written as the fest was getting underway, they were swiftly dispelled by a line-up that showed the medium to be in fine health, from expensive true-life disaster movies and starry biopics to weird world cinema and tiny microbudget indies.

Continue reading The 15 Best Films Of The 2016 Toronto International Film Festival at The Playlist.

Operating with an impressive storytelling economy, yet managing to spin a tale that takes its protagonists from the Bronx to Westchester and back again, writer/director Adam Leon’s second feature film, “Tramps,” is something of a marvel to watch unfold. However, its multiple charms are so sly, the performances so perfectly unflashy, you’ll likely be surprised at how affecting it becomes in its final stages. It’s a heist movie with a Macguffin in the middle, it’s a romance where risk is the reward, and it’s a must-see movie that doesn’t wear its heart on its sleeve, so much as carry it protectively in its pocket, though you can see it beating through the fabric.

Continue reading Adam Leon’s Impressive & Touching ‘Tramps’ Is A Low-Key Charmer [TIFF Review] at The Playlist.

Though we wish more people had seen it, Adam Leon’s 2012 film “Gimme The Loot” is one of the best films about being young in recent years. Detailing the story of two young New York graffiti artists attempting to break into Citi Field, it had an inventive energy, a richness, and a great soundtrack that set it apart from many similar U.S. indies out there.

READ MORE: Season 3 Of Amazon & Jill Soloway’s ‘Transparent’ Is The Show At It’s Best [TIFF Review]

Now, four years later, Leon is back with “Tramps,” which premieres at TIFF today.

Continue reading TIFF Exclusive: First-Look Clip From ‘Gimme The Loot’ Director Adam Leon’s ‘Tramps’ Starring Callum Turner & Grace Van Patten at The Playlist.