The Playlist

Sundance Adds 'S-VHS,' James Franco's Porn Documentary & More

By Kevin Jagernauth
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November 29, 2012 4:51 PM
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1 Comment

News

Let's face it -- until James Franco shows up, it's not a film festival, and Sundance, after announcing their inital slate yesterday, just got real. The folks in Park City have lifted the curtain on the Spotlight, New Frontier and Park City At Midnight offerings and there are a couple of curiosities worth noting.

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Lionsgate & Roadside Attractions Get Dirty With Jeff Nichols' 'Mud' Starring Matthew McConaughey; Eyeing 2013 Release Date

By Joe Cunningham
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August 16, 2012 9:36 AM
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2 Comments

News

Fans of Jeff Nichols’ 2011 film “Take Shelter” may be slightly disappointed to hear they'll have to wait a bit longer to see the director’s latest. “Mud” stars Matthew McConaughey (continuing his remarkable career turnaround) as the eponymous fugitive who forms an unlikely friendship with a pair of Arkansas teens who help him evade capture and reunite with his soulmate Juniper (Reese Witherspoon). Oh, and this being a Jeff Nichols movie, Michael Shannon also stars – no surprise there.

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The Amazing Race: Which Films Came Out Of Cannes As Potential Oscar Contenders?

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 1, 2012 1:09 PM
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3 Comments

Awards

Gosh, it feels like only yesterday we were talking about the 2011 Oscar season, with films like "The Artist," "Hugo," "The Descendants," "The Help" and "Moneyball" jostling for position in the chase for little gold statues. And that's because, well, it basically was yesterday: we're only a little over three months since Oscar season wrapped up. But time marches on, and with the arrival of the Cannes Film Festival, we've got some of the first indications of what might come into play in the awards season by the end of this year.

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Cannes Review: 'Mud' Starring Matthew McConaughey Is An Underwhelming Anti-Fairy Tale

By Simon Abrams
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May 26, 2012 8:28 AM
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18 Comments

Reviews

"Mud," American writer/director Jeff Nichols' underwhelming follow-up to the masterfully visceral "Take Shelter," is a shallow and contrived coming of age story. While both 'Shelter' and "Shotgun Stories," Nichols' promising debut feature, explore their respective characters' motives and emotions, "Mud" instead offers pat sentiments and bland bathos.

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Watch: 2 Great Clips From Jeff Nichols' 'Mud' Starring Matthew McConaughey

By Kevin Jagernauth
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May 10, 2012 12:18 PM
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6 Comments

News

So is Matthew McConaughey going to be the man of Cannes in 2012? The actor is already earning some serious buzz due to a recent string of roles that have seen him drop the shirtless rom-com act and man up for some juicy parts. He hits the Croisette with two movies in tow, Lee Daniels' "The Paperboy" (which we saw the first clip from this morning) and Jeff Nichols' "Mud." And it looks like again, he's delivering a helluva performance.

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The Playlist's 15 Most Anticipated Films Of The Cannes Film Festival

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 9, 2012 1:13 PM
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15 Comments

Features

A week from today, the 65th annual Cannes Film Festival will be getting underway on the south coast of France, opening with Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom," and as ever, it's possibly the biggest date in the cinephile calendar, with a host of hotly-anticipated films set to premiere over the ten days that follow. A jury headed up by Nanni Moretti, and also including Andrea Arnold, Ewan McGregor, Alexander Payne, Diane Kruger and Jean-Paul Gaultier will have to decide which of over twenty films to award the Palme d'Or to, but while the competition will be typically fierce in competition, there's plenty of gems to find in the Directors' Fortnight, Un Certain Regard and Critics' Week sidebars too.

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New Pics Of Matthew McConaughey & 'Tree Of Life' Star Tye Sheridan In Jeff Nichols' 'Mud'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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May 2, 2012 10:24 AM
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3 Comments

News

While bigger pics like "Lawless," "On The Road," "Cosmopolis" and "Killing Them Softly" dominated the buzz when the Cannes Film Festival lineup was announced a couple of weeks back, one film that we're eagerly awaiting that's also playing In Competition is "Mud," the third feature film from Jeff Nichols.

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Lucero Frontman Ben Nichols To Score 'Mud' Starring Matthew McConaghey & Reese Witherspoon

By Simon Dang
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March 27, 2012 10:03 AM
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1 Comment

News

In case yesterday's piece about "The Iceman" didn't clue you in, we're big fans of Michael Shannon around here. Last year, the actor shined in Jeff Nichols' psychological drama "Take Shelter," but before they made that film, the duo teamed on Nichols' directorial debut "Shotgun Stories," a beautiful Southern-gothic family drama produced by David Gordon Green.

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Michael Shannon Compares Zack Snyder To Martin Scorsese; Says 'Mud' Will Be Like A "Fairy-Tale"

By Christopher Bell
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February 8, 2012 9:58 AM
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8 Comments

News

It's a statement that's thrown around a lot, but there aren't many better working actors today than Michael Shannon. He's consistently proven to be a mesmerizing fixture in any film he's a part of, whether in a lead role ("Take Shelter") or just playing support to bigger names ("Revolutionary Road").

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First Look At Matthew McConaughey In Jeff Nichols' 'Mud'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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November 19, 2011 11:26 AM
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2 Comments

News

In case you haven't noticed, Matthew McConaughey is done being your buffed and tanned rom-com boy toy. Though he's still as handsome as ever, he's been putting his underrated acting skills first in a number of movies that have stepped away from the persona that made him famous. He led an unexpected box office hit earlier this year with "The Lincoln Lawyer," gives a memorable turn in Richard Linklater's upcoming "Bernie" and he will truly astonish everybody with his perverse performance in William Friedkin's amazingly wicked B-movie, "Killer Joe." Well, the actor is continuing his streak of Interesting Work against Easy Paydays, taking a role in "Take Shelter" director Jeff Nichols' next effort, "Mud." And even though it only started filming this fall, Empire has nabbed the first official look at the film.

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