The Playlist

Cannes: Tilda Swinton Suggests ‘Only Lovers Left Alive’ Could Be A Documentary For The Outsiders Of The World; Jim Jarmusch Won’t Analyze This

By Rodrigo Perez
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May 25, 2013 3:12 PM
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1 Comment

Festivals

The 66th Annual Cannes Film Festival is quickly coming to a close. In fact the Un Certain Regard winners were just announced a short while ago (you can catch up with them right here). This year’s line-up, unlike years past, positioned a lot of heavyweights near the end of the festival, filmmakers like Roman Polanski, whose “Venus In Fur” screened today and Jim Jarmusch, whose deadpan, odd and deeply enjoyable vampire movie, “Only Lovers Left Alive” screened last night (you can read our review right here.)

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Cannes Review: Emmanuelle Seigner A Raucous Revelation In Polanski’s Otherwise Stagy, Pointless ‘Venus In Fur’

By Jessica Kiang
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May 25, 2013 1:04 PM
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26 Comments

Festivals

Ever had the feeling, when the credits roll and the lights go up, that you’ve been watching a completely different film to everyone else? Welcome to our morning, which was spent at a screening of the last Cannes 2013 competition film, Roman Polanski’s adaptation of the David Ives broadway play “Venus in Fur.”

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Watch: Teasers For New Seasons Of HBO's 'The Newsroom' & 'Boardwalk Empire'

By Jason McDonald
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May 25, 2013 11:08 AM
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0 Comments

Television

Though the phenomenon of big name stars finding a home on cable television has lost the shock value it once held, it’s still an event that can make us pause and nod our heads thoughtfully. For a long time Cable television has ceased to represent an elephant graveyard where celebrities go in order to disappear into obscurity. Instead it’s a new frontier filled with unlimited possibilities and a chance to break out and try new things, more often minting new stars than retiring old ones.

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'All Is Lost' Director J.C Chandor Sets Up 'A Most Violent Year,' Star Robert Redford To Helm 3D Doc For Wim Wenders

By Ken Guidry
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May 25, 2013 10:54 AM
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0 Comments

News

Before J.C. Chandor could fully soak in the experience of premiering his sophomore feature “All is Lost” at Cannes this week -- which was met with rapturous praise (read our review here) -- he had already lined up his next project, and it's slated to shoot later this year. His third feature, A Most Violent Year,” is planning to cast a bunch of big names, but none of them have been revealed as of yet. Given the buzz for 'Lost,' however, names may not be so difficult to come by. Plot details are being kept under wraps but considering how well he handled an ensemble cast with his debut film, “Margin Call,” it should be fun to see him working with another top notch cast. [Deadline]

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Cannes Review: Droll, Louche & Languidly Playful 'Only Lovers Left Alive' Is Jarmusch At His Most Enjoyable & Accessible

By Jessica Kiang
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May 24, 2013 6:52 PM
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7 Comments

Reviews

From the very first opening titles, written in a Germanic font that immediately conjures everything from “Triumph of the Will” to images of big-busted ladies screaming in campy close-up in 1970s cheapie horrors (it may be the only time in Cannes that a film got a big laugh for a typeface) it’s perfectly clear that the Jim Jarmusch in whose company we’re about to spend a couple of hours is not the wilfully obscure surrealist of “The Limits of Control,” nor the considered, melancholic philosopher behind “Dead Man,” nor even the oddball ragtag troubadour of “Down By Law." In fact, “Only Lovers Left Alive,” Jarmusch’s take on the vampire myth starring recent muse Tilda Swinton and Tom “fast becoming everyone’s favorite actor” Hiddleston, finds the maverick filmmaker on playful, referential and mischievous form with hugely enjoyable, if not exactly weighty or important, results.

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Cannes Review: J.C. Chandor Puts Robert Redford Through Watery Hell In Bruising, Formally Rigorous 'All Is Lost'

By Jessica Kiang
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May 24, 2013 4:31 PM
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5 Comments

Reviews

It almost feels like JC Chandor is showing off. In what is only his second feature film, after the chalk-and-cheese financial collapse movie “Margin Call," he sets himself a kind of exercise in filmmaking rigor, in the bare-bones, one-man survival-at-sea story “All Is Lost” and delivers. From the strong but talky, pointing-at-screens-spouting-financial-mumbo-jumbo of his debut, it’s initially hard to see how we could have predicted the filmmaker’s ability to deliver a much more visceral, physically gruelling, dialogue-free experience. But hindsight is 20/20 and what both movies share is an almost documentary-like immediacy to the material, and a hugely confident filmmaking style, unobstrusive and economical, that belies Chandor’s relative inexperience.

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Exclusive: Full Schedule For 5th Annual BAMcinemaFest; 'Peaches Does Herself,' 'William & The Windmill' & More Added

By Drew Taylor
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May 24, 2013 4:08 PM
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0 Comments

News

In a few weeks the fifth annual BAMcinemaFest at the Brooklyn Academy of Music kicks off, bringing a wide away of stellar content to New York’s hippest borough. Today, the full line-up has been revealed for the festival, which runs from June 19th to the 28th, which includes the New York premiere of the documentary “Peaches Does Herself” about punky synth pop star Peaches (complete with a live performance by the star) and the New York premiere of “I Used to Be Darker,” the new film by Matthew Porterfield. Get your subway tickets ready: it’s going to be a good one.

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What Are You Seeing This Weekend? 'Epic' Memorial Day Brings 'Fast & Furious 6,' 'The Hangover Part III' & 'Before Midnight'

By Emma Bernstein
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May 24, 2013 3:51 PM
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1 Comment

News

There are plenty of traditions associated with Memorial Day: barbeques, the return of white pants, massive sales, and, of course, the release of long-awaited blockbuster flicks. We get two this weekend, both hailing from impressively resilient franchises. Plus, there's the highly anticipated next chapter in the "Before [insert time of day]" series. But maybe you're not a sequel person, in which case you can indulge in a 3D animated feature for the kiddies (in all of us), probing documentaries, dark comedies, and a biopic. Because what's more American than variety? Happy Memorial Day, cinephiles: let us know how you'll be celebrating at the theaters!

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Watch: Trailer For Powerful Documentary 'The Act Of Killing'

By Jason McDonald
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May 24, 2013 3:05 PM
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2 Comments

News

Hailed as an incredible piece of documentary work, Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Act of Killing” -- after hitting festivals in the past year including Telluride, Toronto, Berlin, Sydney and more -- is on its way to theatres and a brand new trailer has arrived.

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Watch: 4 New Clips From 'Arrested Development'; Mitch Hurwitz Says Show Could Live On Past The Movie

By Kevin Jagernauth
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May 24, 2013 2:41 PM
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0 Comments

Television

So this weekend brings the the long awaited, highly anticipated return of "Arrested Development," and we're sure you've already got a viewing party marathon session ready to go. But of course, fifteen new episodes just isn't enough, as a movie has always been on the horizon with creator Mitch Hurwitz saying over and over again, that his new season is just a precursor to a feature. But could the show live on past that?

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