The Playlist

The Best & Worst Of SXSW '12: The Playlist's Complete Coverage

By Oliver Lyttelton
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March 19, 2012 4:55 PM
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2 Comments

Festivals

SXSW is officially done for another year. Well, technically, it's been done since Saturday, but it's taken a few days for The Playlist team members to emerge from their BBQ & queso comas. Nevertheless, the film strand of the festival is over and it's time to look forward, to Tribeca, Cannes and whatever else lies beyond.

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SXSW '12 Interview: Guy Maddin Talks Making 100 Short Films In 100 Days In Four Countries With Current Project 'Spiritismes'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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March 16, 2012 4:04 PM
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1 Comment

Features

If you've been at a film festival at the last few months, chances are you've bumped into Guy Maddin. The idiosyncratic Canadian director of "Twilight of the Ice Nymphs," "The Saddest Music In The World" and "My Winnipeg," has a new film, offbeat haunted house tale "Keyhole," starring Jason Patric and Isabella Rossellini, and he's been on the festival circuit in a big way, debuting the film at TIFF (read our review from there), before heading to Halifax's Atlantic Film Festival, and then last month Berlin (where we interviewed the director), before landing in the last week at SXSW.

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Review: 'Gimme The Loot' Is A Heartfelt But Dull Look At Two Teen Graffiti Artists

By Drew Taylor
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March 16, 2012 3:41 PM
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Reviews

Throughout "Gimme the Loot," you'll ask yourself the following question: why is this movie called "Gimme the Loot?" Then it becomes clear: if the movie were authentically named, it would probably be called "Bomb the Apple," since the two main characters (Tysheeb Hickson and Tashiana R. Washington) are young graffiti artists looking to tag (or "bomb") the giant apple that comes out after players hit a home run at CitiField (formerly Shea Stadium, which it's referred to as here).

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SXSW '12 Review: 'Bay Of All Saints' An Honest Exploration Of The Communities Of The Waterfront Slums In Brazil

By Katie Walsh
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March 16, 2012 1:43 PM
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Reviews

Winner of of the Documentary Feature Audience Award at SXSW, "Bay of All Saints," directed by Annie Eastman, is an affecting little gem of a documentary, a look inside a world very different from our own, in the waterfront slums of Bahia, Brazil. These slums aren't so much waterfront as they are in the water, shacks made of salvaged planks and stilts, swaying in an ocean of garbage. Known as palafitas, people have been creating homes there for 60 years, filling in the sea underneath their houses with bags of trash; creating land with refuse where there was none and then claiming it as their own.

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SXSW '12 Review: Richard Linklater's 'Bernie' Starring Jack Black Is A Harmless, But Charming & Funny Effort

By Edward Davis
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March 15, 2012 3:06 PM
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Reviews

Employing a laid-back, jovial and amiable mien, Richard Linklater's latest effort, the East Texas-set black comedy "Bernie," is not unlike the Austin-based filmmaker himself: affable, eager to please without pandering, and highly likeable. In fact, "Bernie," starring Jack Black as an endearing mortician and well-loved member of his small-town community in Carthage, Texas, is so delightful, and rather wryly comical, it’s easy to be charmed with the picture despite its modest ambitions, small-scale aims and slight nature.

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SXSW '12 Review: 'Paul Williams: Still Alive' Is A Wonderfully Weird, Surprisingly Moving Tribute To A Forgotten Musical Icon

By Katie Walsh
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March 14, 2012 7:15 PM
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Reviews

Paul Williams mean to you? Does it ring a bell? No? How about these songs: "Rainbow Connection," "Evergreen," "We've Only Just Begun," "Old Fashioned Love Song"? Williams is the legendary singer-songwriter behind those tunes, and a former '70s superstar and personality, who made appearances on just about every variety show, sitcom and talk show during that era of silly decadence. Maybe you know him from his cult classic movie "Phantom of the Paradise." With his diminutive stature, blond bowl cut and ever-present tinted aviators, he's not exactly the most glamorous '70s celeb, but he is one of the most distinctive and beloved by the fans who have managed to remember him through the years.

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SXSW '12 Review: 'Bad Brains: A Band In DC' A Kinetic, Frenetic & Long Overdue Tribute To The Legendary Hardcore Band

By Katie Walsh
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March 13, 2012 6:37 PM
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4 Comments

As Henry Rollins states early on in "Bad Brains: A Band in DC," a definitive documentary on the legendary hardcore band is long overdue. "Legendary" is even understating it a bit, as Bad Brains helped to invent what we know as American hardcore, taking inspiration from the Sex Pistols and The Damned, melding it with their own funk and soul inspired musicality and "positive attitude message” and electric performance style to birth a beast all their own. Bad Brains influenced everyone from Rollins to Minor Threat to the Beastie Boys to the Cro-Mags and more. The new documentary directed by Mandy Stein and Ben Logan attempts to capture and commemorate the history of this band while also dealing with the serious issues they have faced, mostly thanks to wonderfully (and destructively) unhinged lead singer H.R.

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SXSW '12 Review: 'Somebody Up There Likes Me' A Surprisingly Ambitious Deadpan Charmer

By William Goss
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March 13, 2012 5:36 PM
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3 Comments

Reviews

Bob Byington’s "Somebody Up There Likes Me" is about a guy who doesn’t grow up. In fact, he doesn’t even age over the film’s span of about three decades in his life. It may have something to do with a mysterious briefcase, the origins of which are only ever suggested by animated cloud interludes and the ethereal implications of the title itself. But that hardly matters, so long as Max (Keith Poulson) keeps bumbling through marriage, money and mortality.

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SXSW '12 Interview: 'Frankie Go Boom' Director Jordan Roberts On The Inspiration Behind Putting Ron Perlman In A Dress

By Oliver Lyttelton
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March 13, 2012 1:57 PM
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1 Comment

Features

We weren't sure what to expect of "Frankie Go Boom," the sophomore directorial feature from director Jordan Roberts. There were the helmer's diverse previous credits, from directing ensemble dramedy "Around The Bend," which starred Christopher Walken, Michael Caine and Josh Lucas, to writing the narration for the hit documentary "March of the Penguins." Then there was the film itself: with cast members like Chris O'Dowd and Lizzy Caplan, it seemed like it could be a post-Apatow comedy, but then came that teaser poster, of Ron Perlman in a dress. What on Earth was this thing?

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SXSW '12 Interview: Matthew McConaughey & Tracy Letts Talk Working With William Friedkin & NC-17 Rating For 'Killer Joe'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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March 13, 2012 1:05 PM
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Features

"Killer Joe" is a film primed to mark a comeback for its director and star. Not only has William Friedkin made his best movie in decades with the sordid Texan crime tale, but Matthew McConaughey continues to add to his recent renaissance of fascinating work that has seen him team with with filmmakers like Richard Linklater, Steven Soderbergh and Jeff Nichols.

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