The Playlist

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

Interviews

In Theaters: Make 'The Vow' To Stay Inside The 'Safe House' & Avoid The 'Journey 2' 'The Phantom Menace'

By Katie Walsh
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February 10, 2012 4:58 PM
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1 Comment

News

Happy Friday all, another week has gone by and another weekend is here with new releases for your eyeballs and eardrums (cause cinema is both audio and visual... get it..). There's a nice little salad bar of items to choose from, so just make sure you choose the right one and not a re-release of a bad movie in 3D. That's never the right choice.

By Christopher Bell
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February 10, 2012 11:01 AM
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0 Comments

News

"Return," the feature film debut by visual artist Liza Johnson, shakes up the traditional soldier's story by centering on a female protagonist, as she adjusts to her home life following a Middle East deployment. The film stars Linda Cardellini ("Freaks and Geeks," "ER") as Kelli, a woman who has trouble adjusting to the typical civilian life she left behind. Instead of finding comfort, she's more at odds with her environment, unable to enjoy the quiet moments with her husband Mike (Michael Shannon) or fall back into the easy routine of the job she left behind. Unable and unwilling to convey the despair within, Kelli soon finds her relationships and sanity crumbling without any idea of how to return to normalcy.

By Christopher Bell
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February 9, 2012 11:03 AM
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0 Comments

News

Looking for strong roles for women in film? Look no further than this week's "Return," (read our review here), a compelling tale of a woman unable to settle into her suburban life after she returns home from a tour of duty overseas. The debut feature by visual artist Liza Johnson, the film is an assured, bold look at a mother and wife who's become a stranger to her own life all wrapped up in a slick combination between Michelangelo Antonioni's "Red Desert" and the stark realism employed by the Dardenne Brothers. It's got quite a great amount of talent behind it, with Linda Cardellini ("Freaks and Geeks") in the lead role of Kelli and a supporting cast of Michael Shannon and John Slattery ("Mad Men") all giving ace performances.

By Alison Willmore
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February 7, 2012 11:59 AM
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1 Comment

Reviews

Homefront drama "Return" deals entirely in a creased and careworn realism, but its premise is reminiscent of the kind of theater experiments that look for a new perspective on a classic production by reversing the races of its characters or shifting the time period or setting. The basic story of artist-turned-director Liza Johnson's feature debut is familiar -- a soldier returns from war and is unable to assimilate back into civilian life, while loving family and friends grow impatient, unable to understand the difficulty. But the film's very contemporary displaced protagonist is female -- Kelli (Linda Cardellini) is a member of the National Guard coming home from a tour of duty in the Middle East. Her plumber husband Mike (Michael Shannon) has remained in the working class town in which they live, caring for their two young daughters. Despite Kelli's eagerness to be home, she finds it impossible to slip easily back into the place she once occupied, and looks around in frustration for what's changed while refusing to acknowledge that the answer may be her.

By Simon Dang
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January 4, 2012 9:45 AM
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3 Comments

News

It's somewhat odd that of all the "Freaks And Geeks" crew, the two leads, Linda Cardellini and John Francis Daley, haven't been able to capitalize on the cult show's success on the same level its supporting players such as James Franco, Seth Rogen or Jason Segel have. Daley is now a staple on television with Fox's "Bones," but for Cardinelli, any ascension went only as far as "Legally Blonde" and the 'Scooby Doo' films.