The Playlist

Review: 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Often Thrills, But Undone By An Underwritten Villain & Thin Story

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 3, 2013 5:44 PM
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25 Comments

Reviews

Cast your mind back four years or so, to stardate early May 2009, and remember a time when J.J Abrams wasn't yet the anointed savior of Hollywood. He had an ever-growing fanbase, and had already been behind at least one bona-fide small screen pop culture phenomenon. But his influence on the big-screen up to that point only extended to a few screenwriting credits, mostly forgotten, a producing credit on disposable sleeper hit "Cloverfield," and directing "Mission: Impossible III," an enjoyable, but somewhat interchangeable entry to the Tom Cruise spy franchise.

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New Pics & Clip From 'Star Trek Into Darkness'; Chris Pine Says The Movie Has Parallels To Real Life Terrorism

By Kieran McMahon
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April 29, 2013 1:44 PM
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0 Comments

News

Having raised the temperature a few degrees with a tease of a nefarious Benedict Cumberbatch and some pretty thrilling trailers, details are starting emerge about what to expect from the long under-wraps storyline of J.J. Abrams' hotly anticipated space epic “Star Trek: Into Darkness,” and a new clip that just premiered is almost exclusively centered around Cumberbatch's mysterious villain John Harrison.

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Review: Steven Spielberg's 'The Adventures Of Tintin' Is A Gloriously Enjoyable Mo-Cap Marvel

By Oliver Lyttelton
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October 24, 2011 4:05 AM
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5 Comments

Across his 40 year career as Hollywood's most beloved filmmaker, Steven Spielberg has tried his hand at many different things -- the blockbuster thrill ride, the family film, the comedy, the war film, hardcore science-fiction, serious dramas and whatever it was that "The Terminal" was, a diverse range of pictures united by that certain Spielberg je-ne-sais-quoi. But there's something he's never tackled directly himself; the animated film. Sure, he's produced TV cartoons like "Animaniacs," and even the occasional big-screen one, like "An American Tail" and "We're Back," but for the most part, the Bearded One has always preferred live action to ink and pixels.

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Review: Sorry, 'Burke & Hare' Is Simply Not The John Landis Comeback We Were Hoping For

By Drew Taylor
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September 11, 2011 10:00 AM
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It seems like nowadays, especially in our gimme-gimme-gimme, now-now-now society of instant, hyperlinked gratification, that when a movie’s release is delayed or postponed, that it takes on a mystical dimension of importance and fascination. This leads to endless speculation about why the film hasn’t made its way to (domestic) theaters yet; what’s the reason behind the hold-up? In the in-between time, a new reputation for the film has already been forged, one based on tenuous material and (possibly) overseas reviews. In the case of John Landis’ “Burke & Hare,” which was released almost a year ago in England, the word was that the film was something of a return to form.

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Simon Pegg Starring In Dark Comedy 'A Fantastic Fear Of Everything'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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July 27, 2011 1:22 AM
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For weeks now, Simon Pegg has been teasing his Twitter followers with a secret project that he's been filming for the past couple of weeks. With the British comic having broken through with Edgar Wright, and gone on to star in Hollywood blockbusters like "Star Trek" and "Mission Impossible 3," speculation flew: was it a secret shoot for "Star Trek 2"? Had they somehow got "The World's End" ready under the radar? Of course not. But this morning, the film was finally revealed, as an intriguing-sounding British indie.

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Watch: Jamie Bell IS Tilda Swinton In First Trailer For 'The Adventures Of Tintin'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 17, 2011 12:28 PM
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20 Comments

One of the biggest question marks of the year has been Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin." The director's coming off the worst film of his career, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," and tackling a comic book that few in the U.S. have heard of, in the performance capture manner that's seen the undoing of Robert Zemeckis in recent years, seemed like a fairly risky move, all things considered. And it doesn't help that the film's been mostly shrouded in mystery.

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Nifty Teaser Posters Debut For Steven Spielberg & Peter Jackson's 'The Adventures Of Tintin'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 16, 2011 5:22 AM
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2 Comments

First Trailer To Arrive Tomorrow MorningFor one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the year, at least everywhere except the U.S, word's been strangely quiet on "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn." Uniting blockbuster giants Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson for the first time (the former's directing, the latter producing), on an adaptation of the massively successful graphic novel series about a Belgian boy detective, his dog Snowy, his best friend, a drunken sea captain, and the adventures they go on, we had a glimpse of a handful of images before Christmas, but little since then. We guess because the film's being realized in performance-capture computer animation, and so Sony and Paramount have presumably had to wait until the polish has been put on properly.

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Adam McKay Courting Russell Crowe & Simon Pegg For Comic-Book Adaptation 'The Boys'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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March 29, 2011 2:07 AM
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3 Comments

Script's Almost Done, But Director Admits That It's A Hard Film To Get MadeThe career of Adam McKay is at an interesting juncture now -- having delivered four successful comedies starring BFF Will Ferrell ("Anchorman," "Step Brothers," "The Other Guys" and "Talladega Nights": and yes, those are ranked in order of brilliance), the former "Saturday Night Live" writer is starting to look at stepping outside of his comfort zone, with a couple of projects percolating that look to take him into slightly less ludicrous waters and away from Ferrell. One is a biopic of legendary political consultant Lee Atwater, from "In The Loop" and "Four Lions" writer Jesse Armstrong, although that seems further off at the moment.

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SXSW: Simon Pegg & Nick Frost Reveal Bad Weather Was The Inspiration To Make 'Paul'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 18, 2011 6:21 AM
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Yes, it's Friday. SXSW Film is over, SXSW Music is in full boozy swing and "Paul" -- after running a helluva pace through the press gauntlet at the festival and in the preceding weeks -- is finally hitting theaters. And while it seems that the chatter and buzz around "Paul" has been non-stop, this is the rare case of the film that actually deserves it. Directed by Greg Mottola, the film is much more than it what appears to be combining the breeziness of a '70s road trip film, the magic of early Amblin entertainments and of course, the distinct humor of the film's leads Simon Pegg and Nick Frost who are joined by Seth Rogen who voices the titular creature. It's a winning combination in a unique film that brings together a tremendous ensemble cast to play along including Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Jane Lynch, Sigourney Weaver, Jeffrey Tambor, Joe Lo Truglio and Bill Hader.

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Watch: Simon Pegg & Nick Frost Recreate 'Star Wars'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 16, 2011 6:40 AM
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0 Comments

'Paul' Soundtrack Gets U.S. Release; Comic Duo Reveal Early Drafts Of Film Were Quentin Tarantino-esqueYes, you're going to be seeing a lot of Nick Frost and Simon Pegg in the lead up to "Paul" but frankly, better them than Adam Sandler. And when they're doing goofy, very funny riffs like their recent "remake" of "Star Wars," we're glad they're getting the attention. So yeah, like we just mentioned, the duo recently teamed on a riveting shot-by-shot homage to George Lucas' classic -- only for things to not go so well between the oil and water team. You can watch it below.

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