The Playlist

The Best & Worst Of 'Star Trek Into Darkness'

By The Playlist Staff
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May 20, 2013 3:37 PM
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29 Comments

Features

This past Friday saw the release of one of the more hotly-anticipated blockbusters of a packed summer; J.J Abrams' "Star Trek Into Darkness." The film was already on the radars of many, thanks to its well-liked 2009 predecessor, but sci-fi geeks everywhere became doubly keen to see when it was announced earlier in the year that Abrams would be helming "Star Wars Episode VII."

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The Lost, Forgotten & Unmade Projects Of J.J. Abrams

By The Playlist Staff
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May 16, 2013 3:10 PM
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5 Comments

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It's easy enough to think of J.J Abrams as some kind of overnight success. After all, it's only seven years since his first film as director, "Mission Impossible III," and "Star Trek Into Darkness," which opens on Friday, marks only his fourth film to date. And yet, even when he made that first film, he was already a brand name -- the man behind two bona-fide TV pop culture phenomena in "Alias" and "Lost," and that's only become more true since; his films have all taken at least $200 million worldwide, he's birthed several other successful TV shows, and he's taking over the Holy Grail of nerddom, "Star Wars," with 2015's "Episode VII."

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The 10 Most Promising Network Shows For Fall 2013

By Drew Taylor
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May 16, 2013 1:01 PM
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8 Comments

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This week concluded the yearly "up-fronts," where advertisers and affiliates convene in New York City so that the various networks can trot out their exciting new fall products. It brings an end to "pilot season," in which initial episodes are furiously produced and then handily judged, and kicks off the excitement for the following fall. (Even though, as we're becoming increasingly aware, the traditional notions of when shows are supposed to air and how long they're supposed to be are blurring considerably.) Out of all of the new shows – dozens and dozens of hours of freshly scripted content – we have chosen the ten shows that we find the most promising; five hour-long dramas and five sitcoms. Don't change that dial.

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10 Movies Booed At Cannes

By Drew Taylor
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May 15, 2013 2:35 PM
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34 Comments

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If the Cannes Film Festival is known for one thing, it's the festival's close proximity to topless beaches. But if it's known for two things, it's the emotional, emphatic responses that usually greet the films. These reactions come from audiences that are unafraid to tell the film (and the filmmakers, who are often sitting in the theater, squirming inside their rented tuxedoes and sequined ball gowns) how much they love or (just as often) hate, these movies. Not that these audiences are always right – far from it. Some of the movies that have been audibly shouted down are the ones (in the same festival) that take home the top prizes or garner widespread critical and commercial approval outside of Cannes. The Brooklyn Academy of Music is currently having a Booed at Cannes mini-festival, celebrating some of the best movies with the worst reputations. We wanted to also look at ten movies that got hissed at in Cannes and what happened afterwards.

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5 Things You Might Not Know About 'Star Trek Into Darkness'

By Drew Taylor
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May 14, 2013 12:57 PM
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8 Comments

Star Trek Into Darkness, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto

Features

This week, one of the most hotly anticipated (and deliberately mysterious) movies of the summer movie season boldly goes into theaters nationwide. "Star Trek Into Darkness" is director J.J. Abrams' follow-up to the ridiculously entertaining 2009 "Star Trek" reboot, which introduced audiences to a younger, sexier Enterprise crew and turned the occasionally lifeless original series into a zippy space opera. The first film was the best kind of surprise – Abrams only had a single feature under his belt (the somewhat disappointing "Mission: Impossible III") and had yet to solidify his magic-loving geek-cred persona into an identifiable, Steven Spielberg-like brand. "Star Trek Into Darkness" is less of an unknown quantity in that respect, but Abrams and his confederates have tried, tirelessly, to keep the movie shrouded in mystery, offering all sorts of red herrings and deliberate attempts at obscuring plot details from being delivered prematurely. Still, there are some things we can tell you about this new 'Star Trek' experience. And so, without further ado, we will deliver five things you might not know about "Star Trek Into Darkness." Because in space, no one will hear you nerd out.

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From Best To Worst: Elmore Leonard Movie Adaptations

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 14, 2013 11:57 AM
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16 Comments

Features

Today sees the release of a sparkling new Criterion version of "3:10 To Yuma," the perpetually-underrated 1957 Western that's somewhat overshadowed by the more recent 2007 remake. Even those who have seen the earlier version may not be entirely aware that it's based on a short story by a man that we consider not just one of America's finest crime novelists, but one of our finest writers full stop: Elmore Leonard.

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John Boorman, Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight & Ned Beatty Talk 'Deliverance,' Casting, Marlon Brando & More

By Diana Drumm
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May 13, 2013 5:58 PM
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1 Comment

Features

The 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival recently wrapped and we're still catching up on a number of great events that we got to sit in on. One of them was a screening of the '70s classic “Deliverance,” hosted by TCM host Ben Mankiewicz. Organizers managed to wrangle director John Boorman and three-quarters of the cast's leads – Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight and Ned Beatty (Ronny Cox was off somewhere playing folk music,) to introduce the film.

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The 5 Most Ridiculous Things About 'The Great Gatsby,' Old Sport

By Drew Taylor
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May 13, 2013 12:04 PM
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71 Comments

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Opening a bit bigger than expected this past weekend and getting ready to explode confetti over crowds at Cannes later this week, Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby, Carey Mulligan as Daisy and Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, is totally ridiculous. It’s a rococo doodle, one full of flash and dazzle and sparkle, but empty inside, which would be an apt metaphor for the titular character if Luhrmann would slow down long enough to establish such things (even if he did bother to try to the make the connection, it would probably be besieged by schizophrenic cutting and accompanied by a Jay-Z song). In fact, it was something of a chore to narrow down the list of the most ridiculous things about “The Great Gatsby” to just five. We could go on and on all day. Oh, and spoiler warning old sport.

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Happy Mother’s Day! 5 More Of The Worst Movie Moms

By Diana Drumm
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May 12, 2013 10:38 AM
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8 Comments

Features

Flowers, a brunch featuring eggs benedicts and mimosas, an ill-fitting spring sweater -- it’s Mother’s Day! Rather than bore you senseless with good movie mothers or create some awkward moments today with great movie mamas, we have compiled a list of 5 more of the worst movie moms. We began this endeavor a few months back with “5 Of The Worst Movie Moms,” and thanks to the holiday, we have an excuse to expand on the theme that may or may not make our mothers proud. From emotionally damaging to rising from the dead, these mothers are awful, horrible and terrifying, enough to spook you into making that dreaded weekly phone call to hear about your mother’s rhododendron and that darn squirrel that keeps eating all of the birdseed. Here’s to mothers and their ability to not turn you into a raging psychopath (we hope)!

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5 Things Learned From Baz Luhrmann On The Road To ‘The Great Gatsby’

By Edward Davis
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May 12, 2013 10:02 AM
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5 Comments

Features

This weekend Baz Luhrmann's gold-encrusted, glitter-covered, FM radio-fueled "The Great Gatsby" hit theaters, and while critics may be split, audiences turned up in droves. But it wasn't the easiest journey to the big screen. The expensive production underwent reshoots, was pushed back from its previously planned Christmas Day release last year, and some wondered if it was a sign that the movie was troubled. But undoubtedly, it's Luhrmann's vision through and through.

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