The Playlist

Drew Taylor's Favorite Films Of 2011

By Drew Taylor
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December 24, 2011 9:25 AM
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21 Comments

News

2011 was undoubtedly the year of Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life." It just wasn't for me. After winning the Palme d'Or on the same day that I saw the movie, I was left feeling baffled. Like I had missed something.

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Gabe Toro's Best Films Of 2011

By Gabe Toro
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December 21, 2011 3:30 PM
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55 Comments

Features

Great art challenges. Bad art flatters. But those of us who don’t dedicate our lives to film don’t always seek to be challenged. Sometimes we want to experience art at our leisure. One doesn’t schedule, or plan the impact of art (making a film review deceptive, as it can never be a critics’ final thoughts).

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'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' & 'Drive' Lead London Film Critics Nominations

By Drew Taylor
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December 20, 2011 3:02 PM
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1 Comment

News

The London Film Critics' Circle has released their nominees this morning, with some surprising frontrunners. Tomas Alfredson's Cold War thriller "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and Nicolas Winding Refn's pulpy blast "Drive" were the top nominees, with six nominations apiece, while Lynne Ramsay's chilling "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and Asghar Farhadi's emotionally devastating "A Separation" each picked up five nominations. Steve McQueen's sex addiction drama "Shame" and indie black-and-white silent thingee "The Artist" each secured four nominations. Sadly "Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star," was, again, overlooked.

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Hope You Like Synths: The Best Scores & Soundtracks Of 2011

By Oliver Lyttelton
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December 14, 2011 2:29 PM
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30 Comments

Features

Way back in the day, The Playlist started as a site focused principally on the places where movies and music met, and in particular, on scores and soundtracks. We've widened our net in the intervening years simply because that sole focus felt too small and we're movie lovers just as much as music lovers, but that interest has never gone away. And how could it? In many ways, we've reached the most interesting time in film scoring in years, with 2011 in particular seeing a number of electronic artists bringing the synth back into fashion in a big way. Between these and last year's Daft Punk-abled "Tron: Legacy" score, has there ever been a time when movie music has been so, well, danceable?

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From Bloody Murders To Bridesmaid Speeches: The 25 Best Movie Moments Of 2011

By Oliver Lyttelton
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December 13, 2011 1:59 PM
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49 Comments

Features

The great Howard Hawks once famously said that what makes a good film is "three great scenes, and no bad ones." While we'd argue that that's not an absolute hard-and-fast rule, he wasn't far off. With 2011 providing a number of above-average films, there've been plenty of memorable moments to go around, even if we couldn't attest to them all following Hawks Law.

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'Drive' Sequel 'Driven' Coming In April 2012 (In Book Form)

By Benjamin Wright
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December 12, 2011 9:20 AM
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2 Comments

News

As the year-end lists start to roll out proclaiming the best films of 2011, Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive” seems to be receiving a lot of the love from critics and audiences alike. Though many will forget that Refn’s assured thriller found its basis in crime novelist John Sallis’ work, it looks like they will have a new chapter to the tale, as the author has revived the monosyllabic Driver character that Ryan Gosling portrayed on screen once again.

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Awards Mania As 'The Artist,' 'The Tree Of Life' & 'The Descendants' Earn Top Critic Organization Honors

By Gabe Toro
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December 12, 2011 8:59 AM
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1 Comment

News

Sunday was a major day for Oscar prognosticators, as a number of critics organizations went live with their end-of-2011 honors. Some films gained support, and some lost quite a bit of steam, but for those of you who look at the whole thing like a horse race, there was a lot of movement amongst a thick group of thoroughbreds.

National Board Of Review Gives Best Picture & Director To 'Hugo'; Tilda Swinton & George Clooney Take Acting Awards

By Kevin Jagernauth
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December 1, 2011 4:14 PM
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8 Comments

Awards

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Carey Mulligan Talks The Ugliness & Effortlessness Of Shooting Sex-Addiction Film 'Shame'

By Todd Gilchrist
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November 30, 2011 12:56 PM
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1 Comment

News

Since giving her breakthrough performance in 2009’s “An Education,” Carey Mulligan has become well-known to audiences for playing winsome, beautiful characters who convey intelligence and vulnerability in equal measures. But in Steve McQueen’s searing new drama “Shame,” she insists that audiences will see a new side of her, and not just because she quite literally exposes herself to them. “This character is kind of me in extremis,” she told The Playlist at the recent Los Angeles press day for the film. “Sissy is sort of me at my ugliest and my worst, and at my most sort of daring – or relaxed, maybe.”

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'The Artist' Wins Best Film & Best Director, While 'The Tree Of Life' Wins 3 From The New York Film Critics Circle

By Kevin Jagernauth
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November 29, 2011 1:18 PM
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2 Comments

Awards

You know what's a really good idea? Drawing out your award winners on Twitter all day. In what seems like the final act in a disastrous public relations year for the New York Film Critics Circle, they made the ridiculous decision to tweet their winners, one-by-one, as they vote today, turning the simple act of compiling a press release into a drawn-out social media exercise by people who clearly don't understand how to use it (case in point: Roger Friedman tweeted out the Best Director win before NYFCC could). Couple that with new president John Anderson's embarrassing whining that Warner Bros. wouldn't screen "Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close" in order to meet their arbitrary and way too early voting date (so they can be first out, and consequently first forgotten), which they had to move anyway for "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo," and you have a 2011 the members are likely glad is over. Politics and infighting aside, the group, having got their Fincher on last night, finally met to pick their winners, and while their standing has certainly been diminished by recent controversies (there goes our invite), the results are always a strong barometer for Oscar.

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