As the scandal continues to unfold around Harvey Weinstein, “Una” is an eerily timely drama about the collision of sex and power. And today we have an exclusive clip from the explosive film.

Starring Rooney Mara, Ben Mendelsohn, and Riz Ahmed, and based on the play by David Harrower, the story follows a troubled young woman who confronts a man from her past with whom she shares a dark secret.

Continue reading ‘Una’ Clip: Ben Mendelsohn Declares His Love [Exclusive] at The Playlist.

With “Mary Magdalene” pushed to 2018, it means we’re going to have to wait for the next high profile Rooney Mara movie. However, fans of the actress will have something to look forward to this fall with “Una.” The small scale drama hit festivals last fall, but didn’t quite make a big splash. Nonetheless, there’s still enough of a ripple that we’re intrigued to see the film that pits Mara against Ben Mendelsohn.

Continue reading ‘Una’ Trailer: Rooney Mara Tracks Down Ben Mendelsohn at The Playlist.

Not every movie that gets slotted for premiere film festivals like Telluride and TIFF manage to find a home or are even remembered. That’s nothing new, but it’s certainly a bit curious that “Una,” which features the great trio of actors – Rooney Mara, Ben Mendelsohn, and Riz Ahmed – has fallen a bit through the cracks. The muted response probably didn’t help, nor the tricky subject matter, but any chance to see Mara and Mendelsohn face off is one we’d gladly take.

Continue reading Rooney Mara & Ben Mendelsohn Face The Past In New Trailer For ‘Una’ at The Playlist.

More Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn is always a good thing, and the New Year will bring them together in “Una.” The film hit Telluride and TIFF last fall (here’s our review), and though it didn’t make quite a big splash, the actors in the lead role (not to mention a supporting turn from the always great to see Riz Ahmed) make it one to keep an eye on.

Continue reading Rooney Mara Confronts Ben Mendelsohn In First Trailer For ‘Una’ at The Playlist.

TELLURIDE – There is something fantastic about a movie that can make people inherently uncomfortable without resorting to torture porn aesthetics or blatant sexual perversion. When it showcases characters you can relate to, who make decisions you can’t fathom for one reason or another. From all given accounts writer David Harrower accomplished this feat in his 2005 award winning play “Blackbird” which he’s now adapted into a film re-titled “Una” under the direction of noted Australian stage director Benedict Andrews.

Continue reading Rooney Mara Is Exceptional In Disturbing And Frustrating ‘Una’ [Telluride Review] at The Playlist.

The Venice Film Festival has kicked off, and now that we move into the Labor Day weekend, it’s time for the Telluride Film Festival. Quaint, peaceful and full of cinephiles — filmmakers like Alexander Payne and Werner Herzog often show up even if they’re not promoting movies — the lineup for this year’s event has been revealed.

READ MORE: The 20 Most Anticipated Films Of The 2016 Venice Film Festival

World premieres, though they are never technically called that at Telluride include: Clint Eastwood’s flight and disaster drama, “Sully” starring Tom Hanks; Benedict Andrews’ “Una” starring Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn; the boxing drama, “Bleed For This” featuring Miles Teller; Barry Jenkins’ much-anticipated follow-up to “Medicine For Melancholy,” the three-decade spanning drama, “Moonlight”; Werner Herzog’s latest documentary, “Into The Inferno”; “Maudie” by Aisling Walsh; François Ozon’s “Frantz” and “Wakefield” from director Robin Swicord.

Continue reading 2016 Telluride Film Festival Lines Up ‘Arrival,’ ‘La La Land,’ ‘Sully’ And More, Plus Our Most Anticipated Movies at The Playlist.

So far, 2016 has been one of most disappointing years for movies we can remember, and the fall film-festival season couldn’t come fast enough. And already, Venice opener “La La Land,” has made the cinematic landscape seem much rosier (read Jess’s rave review here if you haven’t already). The premieres will come thick and fast over the next few days, with Telluride getting in the mix on Friday, but we’re still a week away from one of the biggest events of them all, the Toronto International Film Festival.

Continue reading The 30 Most Anticipated Films Of The 2016 Toronto International Film Festival at The Playlist.

It’s six weeks away from the start of the Toronto International Film Festival, and the launch of the awards season. It surely will amount to a bounty of offerings for cinephiles, as Hollywood puts a troubling summer in the rear view and gets ready to show off prestige pictures. This morning, organizers at TIFF raised the curtain on the first wave of Gala and Special Presentation pictures.

Among the highlights of the films coming to Toronto this year in the Special Presentation slate are: Marc Forster‘s “All I See Is You” starring Blake Lively, Andrea Arnold‘s “American Honey,” Ewan McGregor‘s “American Pastoral,” Nate Parker‘s Sundance sensation “Birth Of A Nation,” Miles Teller‘s boxing flick “Bleed For This,” western “Brimstone” starring Guy Pearce, Rachel Weisz‘s “Denial,” Paul Verhoeven‘s controversial “Elle,” Park Chan-Wook‘s “The Handmaiden,” musical “La La Land” starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, Kenneth Lonergan‘s “Manchester By The Sea,” Christopher Guest‘s “Mascot,” Pablo Larrain‘s “Neruda,” Tom Ford‘s “Nocturnal Animals,” Jim Jarmusch‘s “Paterson,” Asghar Farhadi‘s “The Salesman,” Werner Herzog‘s “Salt And Fire,” “Toni Erdmann,” “Trespass Against Us” starring Michael Fassbender and “Una” starring Ben Mendelsohn and Rooney Mara.

Continue reading TIFF 2016 Brings ‘Nocturnal Animals,’ ‘The Magnificent Seven,’ ‘La La Land,’ ‘Arrival,’ ‘Deepwater Horizon’ & More To Toronto at The Playlist.

Let’s be honest, this summer movie season has been kind of a bummer. “Captain America: Civil War” got things off to a pretty good start, but since then, the big blockbusters — “X-Men: Apocalypse,” “Alice Through The Looking Glass,” “Warcraft,” “Independence Day” — have mostly been painful to sit through. And even the better wide releases, like “The Nice Guys,” “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” and “The Neon Demon,” have mostly done poorly with audiences.

Continue reading 50 Films We Hope To See At The 2016 Fall Festivals at The Playlist.

First Look: Rooney Mara And Ben Mendelsohn In 'Una' (Formerly Known As 'Blackbird')

Continue reading First Look: Rooney Mara And Ben Mendelsohn In ‘Una’ (Formerly Known As ‘Blackbird’) at The Playlist.