The Playlist

The obsessives' guide to contemporary cinema via film discussion, news, reviews, features, nostalgia, movie music, soundtracks, DVDs and more.

Interviews

10 Potential Breakout Actors Of The Fall Film Season

By Oliver Lyttelton
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September 11, 2012 12:05 PM
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6 Comments

Features

One of the most exciting things about the coming of the fall movie season is the chance to see some new talent emerge from some of the prestige fare that'll be hitting theaters in the next few months. Last year, for instance, saw the likes of Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, Eddie Redmayne, Rooney Mara, Shailene Woodley, Elizabeth Olsen and Felicity Jones go from virtual unknowns to, if not household names, than certainly performers whose next moves would be watched closely.

By Gabe Toro
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April 25, 2012 8:05 PM
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0 Comments

Reviews

Edwin Alonzo Boyd was one of Canada’s prominent bank robbers following World War II. A splashy, glamorous war vet with a flair for theatrics, he managed to swindle several financial institutions in between two daring prison breaks, all in the name of his wife and children. And yet, the reason why this story hasn’t circulated all that much before “Citizen Gangster” is because Boyd’s story really is a whole lot like any other bank robber’s. Once you’ve seen a few of these movies, there’s not a whole lot of variation.

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 30, 2012 3:25 PM
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1 Comment

News

It's been a long, strange trip for "A Single Shot." Seemingly stuck in development hell, the project had an array of names circling over the past couple of years -- Michael Fassbender, Alessandro Nivola, Emily Mortimer, Terrence Howard, Juliette Lewis, James Badge Dale, Juno Temple, Leslie Mann, Thomas Haden Church -- but began finally firming things up this week. Sam Rockwell, Jeffrey Wright, Jason Isaacs and William H. Macy (who has been attached through various incarnations) were confirmed, and now we know the rest of the folks joining them.

By Oliver Lyttelton
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February 9, 2012 12:02 PM
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5 Comments

News

"The Guard" was one of the more pleasant surprises of last year, an under-the-radar little foul-mouthed dark comedy that featured something close to a career-best performance from the great Brendan Gleeson, and a sharp script from John Michael McDonagh, who demonstrated that he's just as exciting a talent as his older brother Martin (who helmed "In Bruges" and the upcoming "Seven Psychopaths"). So the news a little while back that the pair were reuniting for a new project, "Calvary," was exciting enough. But McDonagh's now filling out his cast, and the excitement only continues to build.

By Oliver Lyttelton
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September 12, 2011 2:48 AM
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1 Comment

Robert Zemeckis is finally returning to the live-action world, having spent the decade since the one-two punch of "Cast Away" and "What Lies Beneath" with dead-eyed motion-capture pixel people, with increasingly diminishing returns. It was confirmed last week that the "Back to the Future" helmer would be teaming up with Denzel Washington for the drama "Flight," and things are moving at top speed on the project, as Deadline report that Zemeckis has now found his female lead for the film.