The Playlist

NYFF '11 Review: 'We Can't Go Home Again' Is A Maddening, Fascinating Effort From Nicholas Ray

By Drew Taylor
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October 2, 2011 3:06 AM
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0 Comments

In 1971 Nicholas Ray, former Hollywood director of "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Bigger Than Life," accepted a teaching position at Harpur College of Arts and Sciences at SUNY Binghamton University in upstate New York. At the time the university was seen as the epicenter of experimental and avant-garde art (the film program at Binghamton having been started by renowned experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs). At some point during his two-year tenure, Ray moved into a house off campus with a group of his students and began collaborating on "We Can't Go Home Again," a project that would screen at Cannes in 1973 but was tinkered with, by Ray, until his death from cancer in 1979.

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Oscilloscope Pulls A Criterion, Pick Up Rights To Nicholas Ray's Final Film 'We Can't Go Home Again'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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August 31, 2011 5:50 AM
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2 Comments

Also Release New Documentary Don't Expect Too Much'We gotta hand it to Oscilloscope Laboratories. Founded by Beastie Boys member Adam Yauch, it could so easily have become a vanity DVD label without much influence or clout, but it has quickly risen to be strong independent player both theatrically and on home video. Their roster has accomodated a wide variety of strong films from "Bellflower," "Meek's Cutoff," "The Messenger," "Exit Through The Giftshop," "Dear Zachary" and much more. They have accommodated the arthouse and foreign films equally, and now are making a big stride into tackling classic films and directors.

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The Films Of Rainer Werner Fassbinder: A Retrospective

By The Playlist Staff
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July 29, 2011 5:39 AM
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12 Comments

Features

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In Theaters: 'Captain America' Doesn't Want To Be 'Friends With Benefits'

By Katie Walsh
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July 22, 2011 6:01 AM
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3 Comments

Ohhhh, Christopher Evans. Is Chris Evans 2011's Crush of the Year? Edgar Wright has a crush on him. GQ has a crush on him. And you know I wave my Chris Evans Crush Flag every day, readers. I mean, I suffered through THE SECOND FANTASTIC FOUR MOVIE FOR HIM. That is how I show my love. I watched "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" in the theaters. Also, I saw "The Losers" in theaters and greatly enjoyed it. Yes, I know that this is The Playlist, but I will admit that here in that forum. I will also admit this: I had a dream last night that I was flying around in a space shuttle above LA with Chris Evans and January Jones. So yes, you could say I am looking forward to "Captain America" A LITTLE BIT. But this weekend brings us a Sophie's Choice: everyone's other universal crush Justin Timberlake has a new movie in theaters! And "Bad Teacher" is still playing! Timberlake in glasses! 2 much Timberlake 2 choose. And he possibly shows his bum in "Friends With Benefits." Even the straight men want to see that! Guys, what are we going to do?! Blah blah there are also some other movies playing if you hate beautiful men.

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Review: 'World On A Wire' Is A Long Lost Rainer Werner Fassbinder Oddity Worthy Of Reconsideration

By Drew Taylor
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July 19, 2011 5:39 AM
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4 Comments

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “World on a Wire,” a once-thought-lost, nearly-four-hour-long sci-fi epic about the nature of reality and the ways in which we lose ourselves in that potentially futile quest, was made way back in 1973 and for that reason alone, it’s hard not to goggle in awe at how ahead of its time it was, even when it very nearly bores you to death.

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Mike Nichols Says The Moviegoing Experience Is Dying In 'Carnal Knowledge' Chat With Jason Reitman

By Cory Everett
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June 14, 2011 7:17 AM
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5 Comments

Plus 7 More Things Learned From The FilmLinc Conversation Sunday NightAs you may already be aware, this past weekend the Film Society of Lincoln Center celebrated the opening of their new film center with a marathon of events that included a conversation between the Coen Brothers and Noah Baumbach and a screening of the '80s cult film “Valley Girl” with its director Martha Coolidge being interviewed by Kevin Smith. But for their final night of the celebration they left a real treat: a screening of the 1971 classic “Carnal Knowledge” with director Mike Nichols there in person for a Q&A moderated by filmmaker Jason Reitman. The film stars a young Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel as two friends beginning to explore the opposite sex, with Candice Bergen and Ann Margret playing the women they become entangled with.

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Terrence Malick Punched Out A Producer & 10 Other Things We Learned About 'Badlands'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 3, 2011 4:46 AM
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15 Comments

It has been almost four decades since Terrence Malick's debut feature film "Badlands" and if you haven't seen the film in a little while, it's just as good you remembered it. Starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek, "Badlands" sounds about as un-Malick-esque as you can get. Loosely based on the true story of Charlie Starkweather and his 14-year old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate who went on a two-month road trip through Nebraska and Wyoming in 1958 and stacked up eleven murders, Malick re-imagines them as Kit and Holly, but this isn't your standard "Bonnie & Clyde" styled flick. Lyrical, enigmatic and pastoral, frame-by-frame the style and tone that Malick would become famous for makes its presence known. In fact, revisiting the film, one can almost see thematic parallels between "Badlands" and "The Tree of Life." Arguably, Kit and Holly represent "nature and grace" in their own way; Malick's penchant for nature as an unspoken force is definitely felt and more superficially, Jessica Chastain looks disarmingly like a young Sissy Spacek.

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Gorgeous Poster Debuts For Fassbinder's 'World On A Wire'; Film Gets Limited Re-Release This Summer

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 30, 2011 1:34 AM
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7 Comments

After years in a floating-head wilderness, the art of movie poster design has had a bit of a shot in the arm in recent years, thanks to Criterion covers, self-commissioned work by cult designers like Olly Moss, and artisan one-sheets for one-off screenings at theaters like the Alamo Drafthouse and the New Beverly. So much so in fact, that certain movie blogs seem to have become more or less devoted to minimalist posters. One new example just debuted, to promote the imminent re-emergence of a neglected picture by a legendary filmmaker, and it's pretty nifty.

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New Restoration Of Nicholas Ray's 'We Can't Go Home Again' To Premiere At Venice & New York Fests

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 18, 2011 4:36 AM
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2 Comments

Nicholas Ray is a truly fascinating figure. The filmmaker, who was born 100 years ago this year, directed a series of hugely influential pictures in the 1940s and 1950s, most notably "Johnny Guitar" and "Rebel Without a Cause," but never quite got the respect he was due in the States (although the Cahiers du Cinema crowd were obsessed with him), and spent much of his life in the throes of drug and alcohol addiction, working on difficult, experimental projects.

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Jerry Schatzberg's 'Scarecrow' First Had Bill Cosby & Jack Lemmon Attached And 4 Other Things...

By Christopher Bell
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February 27, 2011 3:03 AM
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0 Comments

Imagine an alternate universe where Jerry Schatzberg's underrated 1973 Palme d'Or-winning "Scarecrow" was a goofy comedy with Bill Cosby and Jack Lemmon (for further fun, imagine "Panic in Needle Park" in the same way). It sounds silly, but it could've happened had the stars lined up differently.

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