The Playlist

Review: Endearing & Buoyant ‘Frances Ha’ Marks A Terrific Gear Shift For Director Noah Baumbach

By Rodrigo Perez
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May 15, 2013 3:55 PM
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Reviews

Loose, limber and driven by a fierce energy and staccato/pause rhythm we haven't seen previously from this filmmaker, Noah Baumbach's sublime "Frances Ha" is a fresh and vivacious near-reinvention of the director/writer's comedic milieu. An enchanting riff on friendship and the late-20-something right of passage into true adulthood, while the buoyant comedy does focus on those who still don't have their shit together, it is however, leagues more rich and emotionally layered than the average arrested development dilemma that seems to characterize 20/30-something comedies of late.

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Greta Gerwig Says Her Secret Project Is "A Love Story About Girls"

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 9, 2012 9:38 AM
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News

After flirting with mainstream in 2011 in movies like "No Strings Attached" and "Arthur," in 2012 Greta Gerwig is reaffirming her indie darling status. With Whit Stillman's "Damsels In Distress" now in theaters, Woody Allen's "To Rome With Love," and rom-com "Lola Versus" on the way, Gerwig is back in the arthouse for the remainder of the year. And this fall, she'll once again be festival circuit bound as well.

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Greta Gerwig Shot Secret Film She Wrote Last Year, Could Hit Festivals As Soon As The Fall

By Oliver Lyttelton
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April 4, 2012 12:20 PM
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2 Comments

News

Indie darling Greta Gerwig is not, whatever her screen persona might suggest, an actress without ambition. Since her debut with a small role in Joe Swanberg's "LOL," she's been rising steadily through the ranks, working with many of the heavyweights of the so-called "mumblecore" movement like the Duplass Brothers and Ti West, moving into the mainstream with Noah Baumbach's "Greenberg," and even taking supporting roles in big studio comedies like "No Strings Attached" and "Arthur." And at the moment, she's on a run of working with a string of some of the most acclaimed filmmakers today: reuniting with Baumbach on HBO pilot "The Corrections," appearing in Woody Allen's "To Rome With Love," and leading the long-awaited return of Whit Stillman with "Damsels In Distress," which opens this Friday.

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Whit Stillman Still Plans To Make Jamaican-Set 'Dancing Mood' After 'Damsels In Distress'

By Benjamin Wright
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September 9, 2011 3:04 AM
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2 Comments

Calls New Comedy "Jane Austen Meets Judd Apatow"While we wait with bated breath to find out if director Whit Stillman’s first film in over a decade, “Damsels in Distress,” can deliver on expectations, it would appear that the director already has his next directorial effort in mind. And for longtime fans keeping score, it's an old one that's been brewing for several years.

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Rose Byrne In, Greta Gerwig Out For Derek Cianfrance's 'The Place Beyond The Pines'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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August 9, 2011 10:05 AM
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4 Comments

Filming is already well underway but it looks like one actress wasn't able to make it to "The Place Beyond the Pines."

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Whit Stillman's 'Damsels In Distress' To Close 2011 Venice Film Festival

By Oliver Lyttelton
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July 26, 2011 5:06 AM
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2 Comments

Frederick Wiseman's 'Crazy Horse,' Jean Marc-Vallee's 'Cafe De Flore' Head Up Venice Days Line-UpAnnoyingly, the fall film festivals seem to have gotten together and decided to release all their news at the same time, on the same day: just as Toronto was unveiling its line-up, Venice has now announced their closing film, ahead of the full line-up being revealed on Thursday. We already know that George Clooney's "The Ides of March" will open the festival on August 31st, rumors are flying thick and fast about the rest of the line-up, and now, we know the closer, which will wrap things up on September 10th. And it's a doozy.

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Greta Gerwig & Alison Pill Join Woody Allen's 'Bop Decameron'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 20, 2011 6:01 AM
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With "Midnight In Paris" getting some of the best reviews Allen has received in years, and hitting the box office with a force the director's works haven't seen in decades, it seems like the helmer is on a new peak with his career. As per usual, he's already at work on his next film, continuing his pace of one movie per year, and today the full cast has been announced with a couple of exciting additions.

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Eva Mendes Goes To 'The Place Beyond The Pines' With Ryan Gosling; Greta Gerwig Circling

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 14, 2011 5:14 AM
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While the two male leads -- Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper -- have been set for Derek Cianfrance's "Blue Valentine" followup, the generational crime flick "The Place Beyond the Pines," all that testosterone is about get balanced out by some strong female talent.

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Bloom! Shake The Room: 'Lord of the Rings' Star Teaming With Greta Gerwig For Rom-Com 'Lola Versus'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 3, 2011 1:02 AM
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3 Comments

It seems like the Orlando Bloom comeback is underway in full force. For a little while after he broke through in "Lord of the Rings," the actor was the go-to-guy for period actioners, with leads in "Troy," the "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Kingdom of Heaven." But he never had the same success in contemporary fare, or got to grips with the tricky task of delivering his lines as anything other than a bland, smirking robot, and the actor's been essentially absent from screens since the third 'Pirates' movie.

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Review: 'Arthur' A Tedious, Bland Comedy That Earns Intermittent Laughs Almost By Accident

By Kimber Myers
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April 8, 2011 2:21 AM
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1 Comment

“Why?” will echo through your head if you’re a fan of the 1981 “Arthur” starring Dudley Moore as you watch this useless remake. The original won a shiny pair of Oscars and is considered a classic, but apparently Warner Bros. thought it needed to be remade for contemporary audiences. But the larger philosophical question soon fades in favor of a strictly personal one: “Why me?” Though it has fleeting funny moments, this Russell Brand vehicle is a sputtering Pinto that surprises more when it runs well than when it lurches to a stop.

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