The Playlist

10 Essential Cinematic Antiheroes

By Jessica Kiang
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April 25, 2013 3:48 PM
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34 Comments

Features

30 years since its release, the undersung "The King of Comedy" seems finally to be edging into the sun, to take its deserved place as not just one of the finest, smartest and most daring Martin Scorsese movies, but one of the greatest American movie satires, period. It's an excoriating, often excruciating watch, boasting razor-sharp insights into the excesses of celebrity culture and the quest for fame, but it's also, most unforgettably, a character study of one Rupert Pupkin, delusional sociopath, shit-poor comedian and all-out creep. Pupkin, whom Robert De Niro doesn't so much inhabit as crawl into, is simply one of the most offputting creations ever committed to celluloid -- a dreadful squit of a man, talentless, self-aggrandizing, self-deceiving, pathetic -- and at the same time one of the most compelling.

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Discuss: Is Charlize Theron Back On The A-List? And Why Did She Ever Fall Off?

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 7, 2012 12:57 PM
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14 Comments

Features

There's one person who's pretty much inescapable in movie theaters at the moment, and that's Charlize Theron. Last weekend, she was the evil queen Ravenna in "Snow White And The Huntsman," and this weekend, she's the biggest name (although not the biggest part) among the ensemble cast of "Prometheus" -- a film that she was originally pegged to play the lead in. And in a few weeks, she'll start filming on the long-gestating "Fury Road," George Miller's return to the "Mad Max" world. Between those three, she's become the queen of the blockbuster world, and with a performance in "Young Adult" that might have been her most widely acclaimed ever, Theron's as big a star as she's ever been.

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Contest Giveway: 3 Copies Of Jason Reitman's 'Young Adult' DVD Starring Charlize Theron

By The Playlist
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March 14, 2012 3:25 PM
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2 Comments

News

If we had to pick one grossly underrated film from 2011, definitely high up on our collective list would be Jason Reitman's "Young Adult." And if we had to pick one criminally undervalued performance from 2011 that deserved to score an Oscar nomination but didn't, Charlize Theron's dark, raw and funny turn in this brilliant and bittersweet picture would be right up there as well. So two pretty strong reasons why you should catch up on this film if you missed it earlier in the year, not to mention we described it in our review as "unflinchingly funny and painful" and gave it an A-grade to boot.

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Patton Oswalt Disappointed Charlize Theron Wasn't Nominated At The Oscars, But Thrilled For Melissa McCarthy & Demian Bichir

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 9, 2012 12:03 PM
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3 Comments

News

The Oscars, remember those? It all seems like a distant memory now, and it's hard to believe it was just a couple of weeks ago that we were sitting down in extra stretchy pants with some beer and unhealthy snack food to watch the annual Super Bowl for the movies. And while time will tell what the lasting impression from this year's ceremonies will be, debates will continue about who missed out and who should have won.

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'Young Adult' & Doc 'Side By Side' Featuring Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Christopher Nolan & More Headed To Berlin

By Kevin Jagernauth
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January 17, 2012 11:55 AM
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2 Comments

Festivals

The Berlin International Film Festival continues to firm up their slate before events kick off next month, and this morning they've announced a handful of special screenings, with a couple drawing particular attention.

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Patton Oswalt Talks With Garry Shandling About Preparing For 'Young Adult' & Being Cool With A Naked Charlize Theron

By Jeff Otto
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January 16, 2012 1:04 PM
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2 Comments

News

Tis the season for awards campaigns, which means that, all around Hollywood over the next month or so, studios and publicity firms will be hosting special screenings and mixer parties featuring delectable hors d’oeuvres and, even better, open bar.

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Hope You Like Synths: The Best Scores & Soundtracks Of 2011

By Oliver Lyttelton
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December 14, 2011 2:29 PM
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30 Comments

Features

Way back in the day, The Playlist started as a site focused principally on the places where movies and music met, and in particular, on scores and soundtracks. We've widened our net in the intervening years simply because that sole focus felt too small and we're movie lovers just as much as music lovers, but that interest has never gone away. And how could it? In many ways, we've reached the most interesting time in film scoring in years, with 2011 in particular seeing a number of electronic artists bringing the synth back into fashion in a big way. Between these and last year's Daft Punk-abled "Tron: Legacy" score, has there ever been a time when movie music has been so, well, danceable?

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'Young Adult' Star Patton Oswalt Talks Transforming For The Film & How His French Bulldog Helped Get Him The Job

By Drew Taylor
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December 14, 2011 2:15 PM
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2 Comments

News

Going into “Young Adult,” Jason Reitman’s new dark comedy, you kind of already have a sensation that Charlize Theron is going to dazzle you as the boozy, emotionally stunted author of a series of young adult novels who returns to her hometown in an effort to woo a former beau.

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From Bloody Murders To Bridesmaid Speeches: The 25 Best Movie Moments Of 2011

By Oliver Lyttelton
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December 13, 2011 1:59 PM
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49 Comments

Features

The great Howard Hawks once famously said that what makes a good film is "three great scenes, and no bad ones." While we'd argue that that's not an absolute hard-and-fast rule, he wasn't far off. With 2011 providing a number of above-average films, there've been plenty of memorable moments to go around, even if we couldn't attest to them all following Hawks Law.

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Audiences Celebrate 'New Year's Eve' Early On The Worst Box Office Weekend Of 2011

By Gabe Toro
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December 11, 2011 12:07 PM
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4 Comments

News

It’s not a surprise to see two of the year’s mildest weekends following each other. It is, however, a bit of a departure to see them at the beginning of December. The top twenty films at the box office brought a cumulative $73.2 million, the worst weekend of 2011. That's right, even worse than last weekend which had no new wide releases. You can keep filling up the theaters with crap Hollywood, just don't expect anyone to go.

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