The enduring appeal of comedian and filmmaker David Wain lies in his ability to channel the feeling of hanging around the most naturally funny friend in any group. He’s the kind of person whose sense of humor is always on and looking for the next opportunity to land a joke. The difference, of course, is that he can pull from a deep bench of high-profile friends like Elizabeth Banks and Paul Rudd to show up and help sell the vision. Continue reading ‘Gail Daughtry & The Celebrity Sex Pass’ Review: David Wain’s Latest Comedic Effort Is Unfocused Dumb Fun [Sundance] at The Playlist.

“Anatomy of a Fall” director Justine Triet is putting together her next big feature film effort,” Fonda.” It happens to be a psychological thriller that is being lined up as the filmmaker’s first full English-language debut, and the group of acting talent being assembled for “Fonda” is equally impressive. A report from Deadline reveals that Mia Goth (“Frankenstein”), Andrew Scott (“Ripley”), Frank Dillane (“Urichin”), and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (“Candyman”) have been signed up for roles in the picture, with Allison Janney (“I, Tonya”) still in talks to join as well. Continue reading ‘Fonda’: Mia Goth, Andrew Scott, Frank Dillane, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett & Allison Janney Star In Psychological Thriller From ‘Anatomy Of A Fall’ Director Justine Triet at The Playlist.

It’s a little less impactful following the release of the Oscar nominations last week, but the Brits have had their say, and frankly, the results were not that surprising. The 2026 BAFTA Awards nominations have rewarded Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” with 14 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Anderson), Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Best Actress (Chase Infiniti, snubbed by AMPAS), Supporting Actor (Benicio Del Toro, Sean Penn), and Supporting Actress (Teyana Taylor). Continue reading ‘One Battle After Another’ & ‘Sinners’ Top 2025 BAFTA Awards Nominations [Complete List] at The Playlist.

The pendulum scarcely swings so far in the opposite direction for a filmmaker looking for a reset as it does for Olivia Wilde with “The Invite.” Following a press debacle that overshadowed her scale-up to major studio filmmaking with “Don’t Worry Darling,” she pivots away from the grandiose imagination of that film’s incel metaverse trappings. Here, she presents an inverse through an intimate, single-location chamber piece about an unpredictable dinner party. Continue reading ‘The Invite’ Review: RSVP ‘Maybe’ To Olivia Wilde’s Scaled-Down Directorial Comeback Bid [Sundance] at The Playlist.

Well, it looks like Oscar-winning filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos is going to have multiple Super Bowl ads airing this year, as he’s not only doing one for Grubhub, but is set to reunite with his actress muse Emma Stone (her Super Bowl debut) for a second spot to promote the well-known website-building company Squarespace, called “Unavailable.” They’ve shared with us a teaser version of the upcoming spot, which sees Stone undergoing some emotional crisis while cutting to a shot of a house on a water-locked, isolated island. Continue reading Emma Stone & Yorgos Lanthimos Reunite For Squarespace Super Bowl Ad ‘Unavailable’ at The Playlist.

Marvel Television has unveiled the new trailer for Season 2 of “Daredevil: Born Again,” and it’s selling the next chapter as a pressure-cooker fight for the soul of New York City—one where survival, resistance, and redemption aren’t lofty ideals, but the daily math of staying alive. This time, Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) isn’t just looming over the city—he’s running it. With Fisk in the mayor’s seat, the trailer frames New York as a place being “crushed underfoot,” as he hunts down public enemy number one: the Hell’s Kitchen vigilante known as Daredevil. Continue reading ‘Daredevil’ Trailer: Jessica Jones and Childish Gambino Power ‘Born Again’ Second Season With The Man Without Fear  at The Playlist.

Kristen Stewart is speaking up about the stigma of being an actress while promoting her new movie “The Chronology of Water,” as the psychological thriller stars Imogen Poots (recently joined the cast of Michael Fassbender‘s new Joe Kennedy Sr. series at Netflix). As she’s detailing how she hasn’t been taken seriously for her intelligence until becoming a director, pointing out the discrimination actresses experience. Continue reading Kristen Stewart Says “Actresses Get Treated Like S***,” People Started “Talking To Me Like I’m Somebody With A Brain” After Directing at The Playlist.

The “Yellowstone” saga continues with Luke Grimes‘ “Marshals” (formerly, “Y: Marshalls“), seeing the country singer turned actor reprising the role of Kacye Dutton as he now enters the world of rural law enforcement after his time as a Navy SEAL and moving past his time as a cowboy on his family’s expansive ranch. With the show debuting in early March, we have a new promotional trailer showcasing what audiences can expect from the modern-era spinoff from the “Yellowstone” franchise. Continue reading ‘Marshals’ Trailer: Luke Grimes Leads Latest ‘Yellowstone’ Spinoff As Neo-Western Thriller Series Debuts March 1 On CBS & Paramount+ at The Playlist.

Rian Johnson recently came out to refute a narrative made by former Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy that his “Star Wars” follow-up trilogy fell to the wayside after the filmmaker “got spooked” by toxic online reactions to “The Last Jedi,” only for Johnson to deny that phrasing. He’s now hopeful that the studio will bring in “fresh voices and filmmakers” for the franchise moving forward, with Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan taking over those oversight duties from Kennedy. Continue reading ‘Star Wars’: Rian Johnson Hopeful New Lucasfilm Brass Brings In “Fresh Voices & Filmmakers” To Tell “New Stories In That World” at The Playlist.

After delivering A24‘s emotionally-driven wrestling drama “The Iron Claw,” director Sean Durkin is reuniting with the studio for “Deep Cuts.” That project has now landed on-the-rise actress Odessa A’zion (“Hellraiser”), who will be joining previously attached cast members Cailee Spaeny (“Civil War,” “Alien: Romulus”) and Drew Starkey (“Queer,” “Outer Banks”). That casting update comes to us from The Wrap, as A’zion was recently seen in the Oscar-nominated Josh Safdie-directed “Marty Supreme” co-starring with Timothée Chalamet and has a main part in the new HBO Max series “I Love LA” alongside Rachel Sennott. Continue reading Odessa A’zion Tapped For Sean Durkin’s ‘Deep Cuts’ At A24 Joining Cailee Spaeny & Drew Starkey In 2000s-Set Love Story at The Playlist.

You might remember that Travis Scott once provided music for Christopher Nolan‘s genre-bending sci-fi flick “Tenet” with the song called “The Plan,” but it looks like the popular musician is going to be playing a minor supporting role in Nolan’s upcoming Greek myth epic “The Odyssey,” led by Matt Damon. This comes after Scott was spotted in new promotional footage over the weekend. Continue reading ‘The Odyssey’: Travis Scott Revealed As Part Of Christopher Nolan’s Cast In Latest TV Spot at The Playlist.

Beloved genre filmmaker Sam Raimi (“Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness”) is back with his latest project, “Send Help,” and during a recent chat with MovieWeb, has revealed there is active development on a brand new “Darkman” movie that is in the works at his production banner Ghost House Pictures, with two unnamed directors attached. However, they’re having financing issues, which would obviously cause problems getting it ready enough to be thrust into production. Continue reading Sam Raimi Says He’s Developing New ‘Darkman’ Movie With Two Directors Attached, But Is Having Financing Issues at The Playlist.

PARK CITY – Adrian Chiarella’s “Leviticus,” a world premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, is not the first horror movie centered around conversion therapy. Granted, there have only been a handful, including some of the short variety, but perhaps the reality of what this archaic “treatment” entails is too terrifying for queer filmmakers to wrap their heads around. Chiarella has found an in by centering the narrative on a potentially tragic love story. Continue reading ‘Leviticus’ Review: Spirit Fueled Conversion Therapy Haunts A Passionate Gay Love Affair at The Playlist.

As if responding to a dare to see if she has the range, Swiss director Pietra Biondina Volpe follows up her heart-stopping emergency room thriller “Late Shift” with about as quiet a film as possible in “Frank & Louis.” This drama about the bond between an aging inmate succumbing to dementia and a younger incarcerated man looking for redemption by caring for him is a remarkably somber and still effort. Continue reading ‘Frank & Louis’ Review: Kingsley Ben-Adir & Rob Morgan Are Solid In An Unremarkable Prison Drama [Sundance] at The Playlist.

A warning to any animal lover. This is a difficult watch. From the opening moments of a documentary called “Sentient,” as a hidden camera takes us deep inside the cold, unforgiving hallways of a nondescript laboratory, layers of cages, each containing an animal soon revealed to be primates, emit wails of confusion and claw at their surroundings as workers begin to remove each from their respective dwellings in preparation for…something.   It’s not hard to guess what that might be. Continue reading ‘Sentient’ Review: The Ethics Of Animal Testing Undergo A Fierce Debate [Sundance] at The Playlist.

Remember August 11th, 2023? The town of Marion, Kansas does, as a police raid on the offices of a local newspaper known to all as the Marion County Record, along with the home of its editor-in-chief Eric Meyer, brought national attention to the town, raised enough questions about legal boundaries and freedom of speech to warrant its own publication and even may have inadvertently caused the death of its 98-year old owner, Joan Meyer, also the mother of Eric himself. Continue reading ‘Seized’ Review: Small Town Values Meet Big Journalistic Controversy In This Well-Made Documentary [Sundance] at The Playlist.

A documentary titled “Joybubbles,” with a premise focused on someone with a unique physical trait that, when applied correctly, can cause more than a fair amount of shenanigans. A life story just as fascinating. Where to begin? Captain Crunch, aside from being the name of one of cereal’s most memorable naval-themed mascots, was also the pseudonym of someone described as a “phone phreak,” an individual with the ability to manipulate telephone systems for their own financial gain. Continue reading ‘Joybubbles’ Review: What Appears To Be A Look At An Early Hacker Hides Much, Much More [Sundance] at The Playlist.

Despite all the movies made about addiction, the topic does not naturally lend itself to tidy cinematic narratives. (At least, when portrayed accurately.) While actors often visualize the condition of substance dependency through expressive physical outbursts, the reality of recovery tends to be much quieter. It’s a walking contradiction of presence defined by absence. It’s inside this liminal terrain where filmmaker Adam Meeks stages his feature directorial debut, “Union County.” The film operates on an anti-narrative logic for Will Poulter’s Cody, a recovering opioid addict at the start of a court-mandated recovery program. Continue reading ‘Union County’ Review: Will Poulter Is Sensational In An Addiction Drama That Avoids Sensationalizing [Sundance] at The Playlist.

PARK CITY – You may not be prepared for Giselle Bonilla’s feature directorial debut, “The Musical.” As the slate of world premieres at this year’s 2026 Sundance Film Festival has consistently proven, a narrative misdirect is the hot new thing. And in this case, we’re not mad at it. Whatsoever. The premise of the Alexander Heller-written comedy seems innocent enough. A middle school teacher, in the dumps over a breakup, has to put on the school musical while the principal keeps a close eye on him. Continue reading ‘The Musical’ Review: A Middle School Theater Teacher Plans His Revenge In Giselle Bonilla’s Outrageous Comedy [Sundance] at The Playlist.

It’s not entirely clear what co-writer/director Macon Blair thinks about God and Christianity, especially given how much airtime it gets in his new film, “The Shitheads.” What seems like an incidental profession for O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s Davis in the cold open – driving a youth group bus – ends up becoming a thread that runs throughout the story. His Presbyterian faith rears its head on multiple occasions and plays a significant role during the climax. Continue reading ‘The Shitheads’ Review: O’Shea Jackson Jr. & Dave Franco Are Riotous Fun In A Chaotic Road Trip Movie [Sundance] at The Playlist.

Veteran Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa is back after releasing “Cloud,” “The Serpent’s Path,” and his psychological horror short “Chime” back in 2024. His next pic is based on the 2021 novel (winner of 12th Futaro Yamada Award and the 166th Naoki Prize) penned by Honobu Yonezawa, “Kokurojo” (aka, “Black Prison Castle”), which takes place during the feudal era of Japan, the time of the samurai, as there is plenty of political and civil strife, making it a great time to set a mystery tale. Continue reading ‘Kokurojo’ Teaser Trailer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Follow-Up To ‘Cloud’ Is A Feudal-Era Samurai Mystery at The Playlist.

While David Harbour (“Stranger Things”) and Jason Bateman (“Ozark”) have ended their respective TV tenures at Netflix with mega-popular streaming shows, they have a new HBO dark comedy miniseries on the horizon called “DTF St. Louis” that features the two stuck in a love triangle, leading to deadly consequences. Thanks to Vanity Fair, we have a batch of first-look images from the upcoming series that hails from creator and director Steven Conrad, who was the screenwriter of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” “The Weather Man“, and “The Pursuit of Happyness.” Also, other actors named among the cast of the new show include Richard Jenkins (“Step Brothers,” “The Shape of Water”), Chris Perfetti (“Abbott Elementary”), and Joy Sunday (“Dear White People”). Continue reading ‘DTF St. Louis’ First Look: Jason Bateman, David Harbour & Linda Cardellini Star In HBO Dark Comedy About A Deadly Love Triangle at The Playlist.

A profoundly moving exploration of Vietnam’s first Black spec-ops team, J.M. Harper’s “Soul Patrol” is a fascinating window into a little-known story of military history. Framed around a reunion for all the living soldiers, the film utilizes first-person testimony, archival footage, and reenactments to stitch together the story of how the six-man long-range reconnaissance patrol navigated the racial, social, and cultural changes that were happening in both Vietnam and the United States in the ’60s, all while trying to stay alive. Continue reading ‘Soul Patrol’ Review: A Moving, Though Flawed, Account of the First African-American Special Ops Team in Vietnam [Sundance] at The Playlist.

Actress Natalie Portman is out and about at the Sundance Film Festival for her new film “The Gallerist” from filmmaker Cathy Yan (“Birds of Prey”) that sees her co-starring alongside Jenna Ortega, Sterling K. Brown, Zach Galifianakis, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Daniel Brühl, and Charli xcx (“The Moment”). While Chloé Zhao‘s “Hamnet” has been able to etch out eight award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Jessie Buckley, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay (Zhao and co-writer Maggie O’Farrell), many other deserving films have been overlooked. Continue reading Natalie Portman Slams ICE Brutality & Laments “Extraordinary Films” Directed By Women “Not Recognized” During Awards Season at The Playlist.

Oscar-winner Yorgos Lanthimos is becoming quite the prolific filmmaker, with “Bugonia” being his latest feature, which recently landed four Oscar nominations last week, including Best Actress for Emma Stone (previously won a statue for “Poor Things”) and Best Adapted Screenplay for Will Tracy (“The Menu,” “Succession”). The director’s next big venture? A quirky Super Bowl ad for food delivery service app Grubhub called “The Final Course,” both the company and Lanthimos are making their debut at the mega-popular sports event. Continue reading Yorgos Lanthimos Helms Quirky Grubhub Super Bowl Ad ‘The Final Course’ at The Playlist.