The Playlist

Olivier Assayas To Make U.S. Debut WIth One-Time Todd Field Project 'Hubris'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 22, 2013 4:20 PM
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3 Comments

News

French filmmaker Olivier Assayas is no stranger to English-language films; "Irma Vep," among others of his films, have had substantial English-language segments. But he's never made something entirely in English, and he's never come to the U.S. to make something. Until now, that is.

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Review: While Darker, ‘The Hangover Part III’ Ends Series In Forgettable, Unremarkable Fashion

By Rodrigo Perez
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May 22, 2013 3:59 PM
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3 Comments

Reviews

Director/writer Todd Phillips' filmmaking career has been fairly inconsistent so far, but the peaks and positive results have always been hilariously effective. "Road Trip" was unexpectedly funny and "Old School," a comedy touchstone of sorts, practically invented the fratty, bromantic, arrested development comedy of man children that’s become its own cottage industry genre (Example: while "Wedding Crashers" was not written by Phillips, that comedy classic owes much of its form to his college-set comedy). Then came the uneven "Starsky & Hutch" and the compromised "School For Scoundrels," which dulled Phillips' dirty politically-incorrect comedy edge.

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Watch: The First Trailer For Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Directorial Debut 'Don Jon'

By Drew Taylor
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May 22, 2013 3:29 PM
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9 Comments

News

After becoming a hit at Sundance and South by Southwest (our review called it "impressive and charming", Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut, the porn addiction comedy "Don Jon," finally has a trailer. And judging by the brief glimpse at the movie, it's easy to see why audiences went loony for this – it looks pretty damn charming, with Levitt leading a amazing cast (including Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, and Brie Larson) and an original, totally identifiable take on the modern romantic comedy.

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Billy Joel, A$AP Rocky & Ken Jeong Singing R. Kelly & NIN All Feature On 'The Hangover Part III' Soundtrack

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 22, 2013 2:52 PM
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0 Comments

News

"The Hangover Part III" brings Todd Phillips' comedy trilogy to a conclusion this weekend (unless that Mr. Chow spin-off becomes a horrifying reality, of course). But if you're looking for a way to extend the party, you can find it with the soundtrack for the movie, which has just been revealed, and is now on sale from Amazon, among other vendors.

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Watch: New Featurette Explains The Tech Of "Pacific Rim,' Plus 3 New TV Spots For 'World War Z'

By Cain Rodriguez
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May 22, 2013 2:25 PM
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1 Comment

News

Oh summer, it isn’t enough that you bring scorching heat outside but you also bring scorching heat -- in the form of fireballs hurtling at your face in 3D -- to the inside. That’s right folks, in case you didn’t notice the two sequels leading the box office this week, tentpole season is here and the studios have turned the screws on the marketing machines for two of the biggest gambles this summer.

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10 Essential Vegas Movies In The Hungover Spirit Of 'The Hangover Part III'

By Drew Taylor
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May 22, 2013 2:00 PM
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2 Comments

Features

Las Vegas is one of those distinctly American creations: it was designed and built by a gangster, in the middle of a deathly desert, as a utopian celebration for bad behavior, gilded excessive-ness, criminal activity and off-color kitsch. It's a place where you can stay in intricately themed hotel/casinos based upon the pyramids of Egypt, Arthurian castles, New York City, Paris, Amazonian rain forests, Roman coliseums and Robert Louis Stevenson's novel "Treasure Island," but you'd be hard-pressed to find a museum or library to whet your cultural appetite. And yet there's something hypnotically attractive about this place – we keep returning to it, again and again, both in real life and in the movies. This week's "Hangover, Part III" climaxes (as it were) in Vegas, high atop Caesar's Palace, and in keeping with this we decided to celebrate the bad taste and blinding neon lights of Vegas by showcasing ten of the very best Las Vegas movies.

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Nicolas Winding Refn Suggests You Should Lower Your Expectations For 'The Equalizer,' Plus NSFW New 'Only God Forgives' Clip

By Cain Rodriguez
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May 22, 2013 1:20 PM
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10 Comments

News

With "Only God Forgives" screening this morning at Cannes (read our review), it's clearly Nicolas Winding Refn day here at The Playlist. In the shadow of the success of the new film's predecessor, 2011’s “Drive,” one of the more surprising moves the director made was signing up for an adaptation of the TV show “The Equalizer” with Denzel Washington set to star, before just as suddenly bailing on the project. While no specific reason was given for his exit at the time -- Sony was unable to close the deal with Refn -- the director has hinted at the reason for his departure.

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Cannes Review: Cannibal Tale ‘We Are What We Are’ Threatens To Give Horror Remakes A Good Name

By Jessica Kiang
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May 22, 2013 12:55 PM
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1 Comment

Festivals

“When I saw his movie,” said director Jim Mickle in his opening thank you to Jorge Michel Grau, the director of “Somos Lo Que Hay,” “I was jealous of everything: the idea, the plot, the style, and jealous that it was playing at Cannes in Director’s Week.” And so Mickle went about securing the rights to remake the hit Mexican film, co-opting the idea, the plot and elements of the style for his English-language “We Are What We Are,” which played yesterday in Cannes, as part of, oh yes, Director’s Week. It’s a nice narrative to have surround your picture, and the admiration between the directors is mutual, as we reported recently, with Grau giving Mickle’s take fulsome, glowing praise, even calling it “an improvement of my story.” We admired the original, so could that dirtiest of concepts, the US remake, possibly live up to all the excited chatter? Happily, it does, pulling off the rare trick of remaking a strong original into a strong new version that honors the story but provides a different slant on it that feels as authentic to its transposed environment as the original did to its setting. It does a “Let Me In,” shall we say, rather than a Platinum Dunes.

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Todd Haynes Returns To Features For 'Carol' With Cate Blanchett & Mia Wasikowska

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 22, 2013 12:29 PM
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13 Comments

News

It's been six years since "Velvet Goldmine" and "Far From Heaven" helmer Todd Haynes last had a film in theaters -- the uneven, but intermittently transcendent Bob Dylan picture "I'm Not There." Haynes has been busy in the meantime, helming the awesome, Emmy-laden miniseries "Mildred Pierce," as well as an episode of "Enlightened," but we've missed him on the big screen, and so we're excited by Screen Daily's news that Haynes will direct a new film called "Carol."

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Interview: Justin Lin Talks Why Eva Mendes Didn't Come Back, And How Robert Altman Inspired 'Fast & Furious 6'

By Drew Taylor
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May 22, 2013 11:59 AM
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0 Comments

Interviews

This weekend the sixth "Fast and Furious" installment, "Fast and Furious 6" (or 'Furious 6,' if you want to be really cool), races into theaters nationwide. This new film sees much of the cast from the original movies returning, with some notable additions (like Gina Carano from "Haywire") and an even bigger scale – one action sequence involves a tank, the other a runaway plane. And a little while back, we got to chat with director Justin Lin, who has shepherded the franchise since the third movie, "Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," transitioning it from a silly "Point Break" rip-off to one of the most consistently entertaining action franchises around. Lin told us how he has been mapping out the franchise since the beginning, what thoughts he has for James Wan (who will direct the next installment) and how Robert Altman was a big inspiration on this movie (yes really).

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