We know — it’s February and the last thing you want to hear about is another awards show, but believe us when we say that the American Independent Film Awards are different. Generally speaking, the awards season tends to celebrate the best in cinema, with the caveat being that many movies get on the Oscar radar because they have the money and influence behind them helping to make that push. And while the Indie Spirit Awards somewhat the fill the gap of the Oscars, focusing on movies produced outside the studio system for less than $20 million, it still means that worthy films get overlooked.

Continue reading Nominations For Inaugural American Independent Film Awards Revealed at The Playlist.

There’s too much TV, too many films, and there have been a few other things going on in 2016. So for sure, there are very few of us, even among the fraternity of full-time film commentators, who can say they’ve seen everything. Thus, here’s our annual roundup of the films we feel most likely either fell off your radar while you built your nuclear bunker, disappeared from their short runs while you attended an underground resistance meeting, or languished in your Netflix queue while you researched alternate-universe theory and the likelihood of a life-sustaining nearby planet being discovered in the next four years.

Continue reading The 25 Best 2016 Films You Might Not Have Seen at The Playlist.

“It will all turn out alright, it always does,” says Leah, the protagonist of Elizabeth Wood’s provocative first feature-length drama, “White Girl.” It speaks to Leah’s utter naiveté, but the all-too-real nature of her white privilege; she’s never faced true consequences and she might never. For Leah, with parents who have money and status, things generally do turn out fine, but for her Puerto Rican boyfriend who sells drugs to get by, it’s a much different, darker reality.

Continue reading The Movies That Changed My Life: ‘White Girl’ Director Elizabeth Wood at The Playlist.

This week we looked at the winners and losers of the summer 2016 season, but the usual dismal Labor Day weekend box office has provided two more entries to add to the latter category, while a late-season horror hit has stayed on top.

Screen Gems‘ “Don’t Breathe” comfortably took first place for a second week in a row, earning $15 million. The results push the domestic earnings for the picture over $50 million, which isn’t too bad for a movie that only cost $10 million to produce.

Continue reading ‘Don’t Breathe’ Stays On Top As ‘Light Between Oceans’ & ‘Morgan’ Among Worst Summer 2016 Debuts [Box Office] at The Playlist.

“I always figure it out.” Could any other five-word phrase better express the brash, privileged spirit of Elizabeth Wood’s “White Girl”? The speaker is Leah (Morgan Saylor), a Midwestern transplant attending college in New York City; her audience is Blue (Brian “Sene” Marc), her low level drug dealer boyfriend. Their conversation takes place in jail after Blue gets busted by an undercover cop.

Continue reading Elizabeth Wood’s ‘White Girl’ Mixes Vibrant Filmmaking With The Grimy Realism Of ‘Kids’ [Review] at The Playlist.

While filmmaker Elizabeth Wood didn’t win any awards at Sundance this year for her feature-length directorial debut “White Girl,” the harrowing film depicting New York City youth has nonetheless made a lasting impact. What she might be most well known for at this moment is that she is reportedly in the mix for Marvel’s “Captain Marvel.” Now, Marvel typically meets with dozens of directors per project, so it’s likely that Wood was asked in for a meeting.

Continue reading A Night Of Partying Goes Wrong & Wild In Red Band Trailer For Sundance Indie ‘White Girl’ at The Playlist.

Sundance Review: 'White Girl' Goes On A Wild Ride Through New York City

Continue reading Sundance Review: ‘White Girl’ Goes On A Wild Ride Through New York City at The Playlist.