The Playlist

French actress Léa Seydoux has been bringing her Gallic brand of beauty and skill to Hollywood films for a few years now. But while she was reportedly on one of the shortlists to play Lisbeth Salander in "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" she has yet to lead a U.S.-made film, and instead has been slowly increasing her confidence in English-speaking roles by working in smaller parts for well-respected directors like Ridley Scott, Quentin Tarantino and Woody Allen.

The prologue of each of the four episodes of “Death Row” is the same: a restless camera prowls through the dismal ante-room, holding cell and injection chamber of an unnamed execution facility, while director Werner Herzog tells us in his familiar teutonic monotone that, as a German and a guest of the United States, he “respectfully disagree[s]” with the death penalty, legal in 34 states, and performed regularly in 16. And so he sets out his stall up front. What's perhaps surprising, however, is that what he then delivers is neither polemical nor propagandistic in its approach; Herzog's storytelling instincts trump his didactic ones here, to compelling effect. Having already tackled this subject in his feature-length “Into The Abyss” (the central figure of which makes a fleeting appearance here in the "Joseph Garcia and George Rivas" section), it's clear that in exploring the stories of these condemned men and women, Herzog has found a rich vein to mine, and he brings to this latest endeavor, a four-part TV series for Investigation Discovery, an uncharacteristic restraint. His even-handedness serves the subject matter well, largely refuting any accusations of liberal whitewashing before they can even be made. What he delivers instead is a series of nuanced, meticulous and gripping portraits of several death row inmates, unflinchingly portrayed, mostly in their own words and those of the men and women who arrested, reported on, prosecuted and/or defended them.

The Berlin International Film Festival continues to firm up their slate before events kick off next month, and this morning they've announced a handful of special screenings, with a couple drawing particular attention.

You would think that with 16 Academy Award nominations (2 wins), 26 Golden Globe nominations (7 wins), 2 Emmy Awards, 2 Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Cannes Film Festival award, 5 New York Film Critics Circle Awards, 5 Grammy Award nominations, a BAFTA award, an Australian Film Institute Award, a Tony Award nomination and an AFI Life Achievement Award, Meryl Streep has enough statues, ribbons and certificates to last a lifetime. But apparently not. This awards season continues to see more praise showered upon the legendary actress, who recently added a Kennedy Center Honor to her list of achievements (you can watch that video below).