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  • 4.0 (35)
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Home to The Playlist Podcast Network and all its affiliated shows, including The Playlist Podcast, The Discourse, Be Reel, The Fourth Wall, and more. The Playlist is the obsessive's guide to contemporary cinema via film discussion, news, reviews, features, nostalgia, and more.

  1. 1d ago

    ‘Idiots’: Dave Franco Talks Macon Blair’s Gross-Out Comedy, A “Superhero” Diarrhea Shot & His Next Horror Film [Interview]

    There is a superhero shot that never was in Macon Blair’s “Idiots,” but nobody is saving the day. The camera is planted low, looking up at Dave Franco just before a practical diarrhea rig erupts from his shorts and completely browns out the lens. Somewhere between the Cocoa Krispies used to give the mess extra texture and Franco’s dainty bird tattoo singing “who farted,” the movie finds its beautifully stupid wavelength. Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr. play two spectacularly unqualified men hired to transport a wealthy, troubled teenage influencer (Mason Thames) to rehab. The job goes bad quickly and keeps finding new depths. Written and directed by Blair, the filmmaker and actor behind “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore” and “The Toxic Avenger,” the dark road comedy also features Peter Dinklage, Kiernan Shipka, Nicholas Braun, and Killer Mike. It is filthy, violent, oddly sweet, and packed with side characters who seem to have wandered in from their own movies. READ MORE: ‘The Shitheads’ Review: O’Shea Jackson Jr. & Dave Franco Are Riotous Fun In A Chaotic Road Trip Movie [Sundance] The film took the long way to theaters. Blair first approached Franco nearly a decade ago, when both agreed the actor was too young for the part. Eight years later, Franco circled back, joined as a producer, and helped assemble the cast and financing. The movie finally premiered at Sundance as “The Shitheads,” where Independent Film Company acquired it before everyone had to confront the difficulty of marketing a movie with that title.

    ‘Idiots’: Dave Franco Talks Macon Blair’s Gross-Out Comedy, A “Superhero” Diarrhea Shot & His Next Horror Film [Interview]

  2. 5d ago

    The Pitt’: Shawn Hatosy Teases Abbot’s Hidden Trauma, Season 3 & Why A Night-Shift Spinoff Probably Won’t Happen [Bingeworthy Podcast]

    Tell Dr. Jack Abbot to find a hobby, and the man joins a SWAT team. That is the version of healing “The Pitt” handed Shawn Hatosy in Season 2, and it gets right to what makes Abbot such a compelling presence. He is calm enough to walk into any medical disaster and damaged enough to mistake more danger for self-care. Hatosy has not been around the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center nearly as much as some of his castmates, but Abbot does not need much screen time to make an impression. His haunted introduction near the end of Season 1 earned Hatosy an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor. This year, he is back as an Outstanding Supporting Actor nominee, one of 25 nominations for the HBO Max drama’s second season. “The Pitt” led every program at this year’s Emmys, which is a pretty good diagnosis for a show that can make actual healthcare workers need to leave the room. READ MORE: ‘The Pitt,’ ‘Hacks,’ & ‘Widow’s Bay’ Dominate 2026 Emmy Nominations [Complete List] Season 2 picked up ten months after the first, following another 15-hour shift at PTMC, this time on the Fourth of July. Noah Wyle, Katherine LaNasa, Taylor Dearden, Patrick Ball, Sepideh Moafi, Fiona Dourif, and Gerran Howell were among the sprawling ensemble returning for another day of medical and personal crises, with hardly enough time to eat. Abbot returned with a few changes of his own. He is going to therapy, taking his mental health more seriously and, because he is still Jack Abbot, working as a SWAT medic on the side.

    The Pitt’: Shawn Hatosy Teases Abbot’s Hidden Trauma, Season 3 & Why A Night-Shift Spinoff Probably Won’t Happen [Bingeworthy Podcast]

  3. Aug 14

    ‘The X-Files: I Want To Believe’: Chris Carter On His 2008 Recut, Cutting A Mulder-Scully Kiss & The Story He Still Wants To Tell [The Discourse Podcast]

    After multiple films and revival seasons, “The X-Files” creator Chris Carter finally got another shot at his often misunderstood film, “The X-Files: I Want to Believe.” The new R-rated cut restores disturbing imagery, reshapes the music, and even strips away some of the Mulder-Scully relationship material. It also commits what a certain corner of the fanbase may consider the ultimate R-rated act: Carter cut the Mulder-Scully kiss. But don’t expect a “Snyder Cut” here. This cut is surprisingly shorter, with mostly very subtle changes for eagle-eyed fans. Now titled “The X-Files: I Want to Believe – Vrach Frankenshteyn,” Carter’s new version pushes the standalone thriller closer to the horror film he and co-writer Frank Spotnitz originally made. The movie reunites David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, years after they left the FBI at the end of Season 9, when a missing-agent case and a disgraced priest’s psychic visions pull them into a grotesque experiment involving stolen bodies and severed parts. On the latest episode of “The Discourse Podcast,” Carter joined host Mike DeAngelo to dig into what changed, why he traded some romantic material for bigger scares, and whether fans might ever see the larger Mulder and Scully story still sitting around in his head. He also discussed the unfinished business of Season 11, his conversation with Ryan Coogler about the “X-Files” reboot, and the horror fable he and his wife have made, “Queens for a Day.”

    ‘The X-Files: I Want To Believe’: Chris Carter On His 2008 Recut, Cutting A Mulder-Scully Kiss & The Story He Still Wants To Tell [The Discourse Podcast]

  4. Aug 5

    ‘Cape Fear’ Showrunner Nick Antosca On Javier Bardem’s Monster, Scorsese’s Notes & Finale Spoilers [Bingeworthy Podcast]

    There was no reason to make another polite, faithful version of “Cape Fear.” Thankfully, Creator/Showrunner Nick Antosca had no interest in one. Apple TV’s “Cape Fear” is sweaty, violent, emotionally ugly, and pitched somewhere between a domestic thriller and a full-blown hyper-violent fever dream. The show takes the basic machinery of the 1962 film and Martin Scorsese’s operatic 1991 remake, pulls it apart, and rebuilds it as a ten-hour nightmare about privilege, resentment, marriage and the strange gravitational pull of a charismatic monster. Or, as Antosca rather happily described it during his recent appearance on The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast, “It is the lurid nightmare that we set out to make.” Mission accomplished!

    ‘Cape Fear’ Showrunner Nick Antosca On Javier Bardem’s Monster, Scorsese’s Notes & Finale Spoilers [Bingeworthy Podcast]

  5. Jul 28

    ‘Furious’: Emmy Rossum & Liz Meriwether On Imperfect Victims, Weaponized Trauma, & A Possible ‘New Girl’ Reunion [Bingeworthy Podcast]

    On paper, “Furious” sounds like something we’ve all seen before. An FBI agent. A serial killer. A cat-and-mouse chase stretched across eight episodes. That’s technically what the show is, but it's also not really what the show is. The cat is carrying around a mountain of old trauma. The mouse has a disturbingly decent argument. Neither one is behaving in a way that makes it easy to decide who deserves your sympathy. That is where Liz Meriwether’s (“New Girl,” “Dying for Sex”) new Hulu series gets its hooks in. Loosely inspired by the 1987 thriller “Black Widow,” “Furious” follows FBI agent Alice Black (Emmy Rossum) as she hunts Catherine (Lola Petticrew), a serial killer targeting powerful men. Very quickly, though, the pursuit starts to feel less like a standard case and more like two damaged people slowly realizing they may understand each other better than anyone else does. That is not necessarily a good thing for either of them. The series also stars Scoot McNairy, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Jake Lacy, Rob Delaney, Rob Yang, and Steve Way.

    ‘Furious’: Emmy Rossum & Liz Meriwether On Imperfect Victims, Weaponized Trauma, & A Possible ‘New Girl’ Reunion [Bingeworthy Podcast]

  6. Jul 22

    Alan Ritchson On The Nearly Silent ‘Motor City,’ Systemic Rage & The “Carrie”-Level Bloodshed Of ‘Reacher’ Season 4 [The Discourse Podcast]

    “Motor City” feels like somebody found a filthy ’70s revenge movie in the trunk of a burned-out Cadillac, wiped off the blood, and restored the whole thing in 4K and Dolby Atmos. It is loud, violent, strangely romantic and, thankfully, almost entirely uninterested in people sitting around explaining themselves. The fists, engines, needle drops and occasional shotgun blast handle most of the talking. Directed by Potsy Ponciroli ("Greedy People," "Old Henry") and written by Chad St. John, the film stars Alan Ritchson (“Reacher") as John Miller, a working-class Detroit mechanic framed by a wealthy gangster after falling in love with the man’s girlfriend, Sophia, played by Shailene Woodley. After spending years behind bars, Miller emerges with revenge on his mind and very little concern for whether he survives long enough to enjoy it. Ben Foster, Pablo Schreiber, Lionel Boyce, Ben McKenzie and Amar Chadha-Patel also star in the nearly dialogue-free action thriller, which arrives in theaters on July 24 through IFC Films.

    Alan Ritchson On The Nearly Silent ‘Motor City,’ Systemic Rage & The “Carrie”-Level Bloodshed Of ‘Reacher’ Season 4 [The Discourse Podcast]

  7. Jul 16

    Jonathan Tropper & Cassie Pappas On ‘Lucky,’ ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ & The Lost Ronda Rousey ‘Road House’ [Bingeworthy Podcast]

    Apple TV’s “Lucky” joins the platform’s growing collection of prestige shows about attractive, deeply stressed people having the worst week of their lives. “Presumed Innocent,” “Hijack,” “Your Friends & Neighbors”—the streamer has become weirdly good at watching people sprint from one life-altering disaster to the next. Anya Taylor-Joy’s title character has a slightly more complicated relationship with disaster than most. Raised by a con artist, Lucky became an exceptional one herself before spending years trying to leave that life behind. When a multimillion-dollar job goes wrong, she is forced back into the world she escaped, pursued by law enforcement, criminals, and a family history she has never completely outrun. READ MORE: ‘The Agency’ Season 2: Jeffrey Wright & John Magaro Talk Spycraft, ‘The Batman: Part II,’ ‘Presumed Innocent’ Season 2 & More [Bingeworthy Podcast]

    Jonathan Tropper & Cassie Pappas On ‘Lucky,’ ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ & The Lost Ronda Rousey ‘Road House’ [Bingeworthy Podcast]

  8. Jul 8

    ‘The Invite’: Rashida Jones & Will McCormack On the Whirlwind Writing Process, Their Wild Eight-Day Workshop, & ‘Tom And Jerry’ [The Discourse Podcast]

    There is no graceful way to ask another married couple whether they would like to have sex with you. There are only varying degrees of disaster. That is the combustible premise behind “The Invite,” a sharp, funny, and increasingly bruising relationship comedy directed by Olivia Wilde. Wilde and Seth Rogen play Angela and Joe, a married couple who have become more like irritated roommates than romantic partners. Then their upstairs neighbors, Hawk and Piña, played by Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz, come downstairs for dinner and float a proposition that turns one awkward evening into an excavation of everybody’s marriage. READ MORE: ‘The Death Of Robin Hood’: Director Michael Sarnoski Finds The Brutal Roots Of A Legend, Talks Hugh Jackman, ‘Logan’ Comparisons & His ‘Death Stranding’ Film [The Discourse Podcast] On this episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo is joined by screenwriters Rashida Jones and Will McCormack to talk about adapting the film, rewriting it with its formidable cast, and finding the hurt underneath a premise that could have easily become a much broader sex comedy.

    ‘The Invite’: Rashida Jones & Will McCormack On the Whirlwind Writing Process, Their Wild Eight-Day Workshop, & ‘Tom And Jerry’ [The Discourse Podcast]
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Home to The Playlist Podcast Network and all its affiliated shows, including The Playlist Podcast, The Discourse, Be Reel, The Fourth Wall, and more. The Playlist is the obsessive's guide to contemporary cinema via film discussion, news, reviews, features, nostalgia, and more.

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