The Playlist

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

Interviews

Saoirse Ronan's Irish Accent Will Be Heard For 'Grand Budapest Hotel,' Talks Ryan Gosling's "Stylized" 'How To Catch A Monster' & More

By Charlie Schmidlin
|
March 18, 2013 10:59 AM
|
6 Comments

Interviews

This month's tentpole adaptation, “The Host,” stands to bring Saoirse Ronan to a new level of exposure, but for fans of the actress looking beyond Stephenie Meyer's creation, there's plenty of promising projects soon to come: she's nabbed lead roles in both Wes Anderson's latest, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and Ryan Gosling's directorial debut, “How To Catch A Monster.” Recently, we got the opportunity to chat with her about each of them, as well as her upcoming role in director Kevin Macdonald's latest effort "How I Live Now."

By Kevin Jagernauth
|
July 12, 2012 1:22 PM
|
7 Comments

News

Yes, we realize all these films couldn't be more different, but they are images nonetheless from some upcoming movies and there's gotta be at least one you're curious about...

By John Lichman
|
April 19, 2012 3:59 PM
|
1 Comment

Features

Talking about icons can take a while, especially when you're tasked with an international icon like Bob Marley, whose face and music are synonymous with Jamaica, reggae and college dorms. Kevin Macdonald's new documentary, "Marley," takes nearly two hours to explore the culture and relationships that the singer forged in Jamaica, his politics and the fact that people shouldn't be too freaked out by the running time. The Playlist sat down with Macdonald to bring up Boney M, how "Marley" is the opposite of "Senna" and his upcoming projects.

By Oliver Lyttelton
|
March 23, 2012 11:56 AM
|
67 Comments

Features

Today sees the release of "The Hunger Games," the much anticipated adaptation of the popular young adult novel series about a future in which children are forced to compete in a fight to the death for the entertainment of the overclass, and to help their district fight off starvation. The books have been bestsellers, and Lionsgate have pegged the film to be their own answer to another hugely popular teen-skewing franchise, vampire romances "Twilight." And it looks as if the gamble has paid off, with most prognosticators pegging the film to open well over $100 million in the U.S. this weekend.

By Kevin Jagernauth
|
February 14, 2012 4:57 PM
|
5 Comments

News

Pop quiz: when was the last great movie set on a submarine? You had to think about that one for a little bit didn't you? Well, at any rate, it's certainly been a while since a filmmaker has gone underwater into the cluttered environment of a submarine, but Kevin Macdonald hopes to do just that. The filmmaker, currently in Berlin where "Marley" is unspooling to festival audiences, is lining up a new film that he hopes will be strictly some solid genre flair.

By Oliver Lyttelton
|
December 14, 2011 9:05 AM
|
5 Comments

News

Since her impressive debut in 2007's "Atonement," Saoirse Ronan has made a career out of taking some of the toughest, least conventional teen roles. From her youthful fibber in Joe Wright's film, she's played the deceased victim of a rape and murder in Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones," a Polish girl struggling for survival in Peter Weir's "The Way Back," and a pair of fresh-faced assassins, in Wright's "Hanna" and Geoffrey Fletcher's "Violet and Daisy." And she's still only seventeen. Ronan is currently filming the vampire tale "Byzantium" from Neil Jordan, and is next set to play the dual role of a teen girl and the alien parasite that possesses her in Andrew Niccol's adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's "The Host." Now she's just lined up a third, a film so firmly inside her wheelhouse that, to be honest, we'd assumed she'd signed up to months ago.

By Kevin Jagernauth
|
May 6, 2011 3:09 AM
|
0 Comments

Director Kevin Macdonald has had an interesting career thus far. He came out of the documentary world with the acclaimed "One Day In September" and "Touching The Void" under his belt, and then helped Forest Whitaker win an Oscar for "The Last King Of Scotland." And while his follow up features -- "State Of Play" and "The Eagle" -- have been somewhat underwhelming, his choices continue to fascinate.