The Playlist

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

Interviews

What Are You Seeing This Weekend? 'Would You Rather' 'Glimpse Inside The Mind' Of 'Side Effects' Or 'Identity Thief'?

By Emma Bernstein
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February 8, 2013 4:58 PM
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1 Comment

News

It's a big weekend for names. Steven Soderbergh is back for one last go-round on the theatrical circuit (read our retrospective of his work here). Indiewood favorites of this past fall, John Hawkes and Bill Murray, show up to remind us how fantastic they are (and why they should have gotten Oscar noms). Even Charlie Sheen makes a (rather central) appearance. It's a big weekend for experiments too: surrealism, wuxia, and modern-day Shakespeare are here in full force. And, of course, no theatrical release bundle is complete without the "torture porn" of a middle school game gone adult and awry. So, uh, get ready. And let us know what you'll be seeing in the comments below! (And if you're on the East Coast facing Nemo, stay warm and safe!)

By Jessica Kiang
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February 8, 2013 9:57 AM
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0 Comments

Reviews

In a prison in Rome, real-life convicts prepare to mount a production of William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” and as the night of the public performance draws nearer, their real lives and the play’s narrative conflate to the point of indistinguishability. So runs an approximate logline for the Taviani brothers’ “Caesar Must Die," the Golden Bear and Ecumenical Jury Prize winner from the Berlin International Film Festival in 2012. And given that summation, it’s easy to see why it won – there are few themes more festival-friendly than the interrelatedness of art and life. But there’s a difference between suggesting that such a relation exists and exploring or commenting on its nature, a difference the veteran directors, and the more breathless of the film’s admirers, seem only sporadically to acknowledge.

By Jessica Kiang
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July 2, 2012 1:56 PM
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0 Comments

Festivals

In a prison in Rome, real-life convicts prepare to mount a production of William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” and as the night of the public performance draws nearer, their real lives and the play’s narrative conflate to the point of indistinguishability. So runs an approximate logline for the Taviani brothers’ “Caesar Must Die” which arrived at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival trailing glowing reviews and the Golden Bear from Berlin in its wake. And given that summation, it’s easy to see why it won – there are few themes more festival-friendly than the interrelatedness of art and life. But there’s a difference between suggesting that such a relation exists and exploring or commenting on its nature, a difference the veteran directors, and the more breathless of the film’s admirers, seem only sporadically to acknowledge.