Tag Archives: Daniel Kaluuya

The Kitchen – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A thoughtful meditation on identity, community, and family.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

Izi pears out from behind the slit in his door.

The Kitchen Review –

I am always fascinated by the techniques that filmmakers use to hit you with emotions. Sometimes, it can be pretty forceful, like a slap in the face. Other times, it is like a tide coming in, almost imperceptible, until you realise that you have been engulfed. Today’s film skews closer to the latter and is just as powerful for it.  

So to set the scene, in the not-to-distant future, Izi (Kane Robinson) lives in The Kitchen. A large, dense residential area on the outskirts of London’s centre. It is a difficult life because the police are trying to move people out of the slum, but most have nowhere to go. Izi works for Life After Life, a company that repurposes the remains of people who have died to become the support network for a new tree to be planted in a reclamation project. It is here when he discovers one of the names is someone deeply familiar to him from his past. A woman whose only griever is her son Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman).

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A pure delight from start to finish in an absolutely stunningly realised world.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film

Gwen and Miles sit upside down looking at the sky line of New York.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Review –

If there is ever a tough act to follow, it is Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. A film that shifted an entire film production style that many movies like The Mitchells vs. The Machines and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish have taken onboard since. Indeed, I loved the movie so much that it sits on My Personal Top 10 Animated Films of All Time. There is no way a sequel could like up to that legacy … but hear me out … what if it could.

So to set the scene, It has been one year since the event of the last film, and Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) has been struggling with being all alone again after finding a kindred spirit with Miles (Shameik Moore). However, when a Vulture (Jorma Taccone) from a Renaissance-style universe trashes the Guggenheim Museum, she discovers that the Spider-verse is not closed off. But also her dad George Stacy (Shea Whigham), finds out she is Spider-Woman, and tries to arrest her. This could have ended badly without the rescue from Miguel O’Hara / Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) and Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman (Issa Rae), for a Spider-Society is protecting the Multiverse from all threats, and Gwen is the newest member.

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Nope – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that swings wildly, where you have moments of pure terror, but I am not sure it all comes together in the third act.    

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Warning – This film contains scenes that may cause distress.

a feild of waking inflatable men

Nope Review –

Today, I look at a film that is quite difficult to review. Challenging in that from a production perspective, I have rarely seen a movie that works as well as this. But from a narrative perspective, there were moments that negatively impacted me that I am still trying to process the day after. It is also a film that is hard to talk about without immediately heading into spoilers that might impact your time with the film. Well, it might be difficult, but I’m still going to take a solid crack at it. As such, it is time to dive into our review of Nope.

So to set the scene, we open on a TV set in the 1990s, a sitcom with rows for audience seating, but only there is no one there even though the applause signs still flash. But we see a chimpanzee sitting with blood on its hands while a lifeless body lies in the background. Flash forward to the current time, and we are introduced to Otis Jr. “OJ” Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya), who works with his father Otis Haywood Sr. (Keith David) at Haywood Hollywood Horses. A ranch that trains horses for TV and movie productions. While OJ is doing all the work and wondering where his sister Emerald “Em” Haywood (Keke Palmer) is, he hears something odd coming from the sky. Then what looks like hail starts hitting the ground on a clear day, but it is not hail but metal shrapnel like keys and coins, one of which strikes Otis Sr. in the head. While the siblings struggle to keep the ranch going in the wake of this tragedy, the story of the objects falling out of a plane just does not hold up, and they start to wonder what else might be out there in the sky.

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Judas and the Black Messiah – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that continues to show that Daniel Kaluuya is one of his generations best actors      

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Nominated: Stunning Costumes

Judas and the Black Messiah. Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Judas and the Black Messiah Review –

There are moments when a film is perfectly timed with what the world is going through, and after the 2020 Black Lives Matter protest movement, it was the perfect time to take a look back in time at the Black Panther movement. This film delves into a difficult time and explores the intersection of revolution and government control in America.

So to set the scene, we open in the FBI’s halls as its Director J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen), who is railing against a Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) of Chicago who has the power and charisma to unite many of the different anti-government movements across the country. FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) is looking for a way to get a mole into the local Black Panther organisation that Hampton leads when William “Bill” O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield) falls into his lap after being caught impersonating a federal officer, and now they have their Judas.    

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Movie Review – Queen and Slim

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TL;DR – It is a provocative and powerful film, while it does not hit every note right, when it excels it does so with gusto   

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Awards –

Nominated: All The Tension.

Queen and Slim. Image Credit: Universal Pictures.

Review –

Some films are just there to provide a little entertainment and then to be done and there is nothing wrong with that because everyone needs a little fun in their lives. However, other films want to be provocative, some films that want to educate, some films that want to hold a mirror up to society, and some that want to all of that and more.  

So to set the scene, we open in a diner in Ohio as two people start the awkward banter of getting to know each other. Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) is interested to know why Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) picked tonight to respond to his Tinder request after leaving it on hold for weeks, well Queen just didn’t want to be alone that night. After dinner Slim is taking Queen home when they are pulled over by police Officer Reed (Sturgill Simpson) for a very minor traffic infraction. While the officer is checking the car for drugs (which are not there nor was there any reason to believe there was) Queen, a defence attorney gets out of the car and the officer shoots her in her leg. A scuffle ensues and Slim in self-defence shoots the officer in the head killing him. What do you do? Do you stay and try to explain what happens, or do you run? You run!

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Movie Review – Widows (2018)

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TL;DR – This is a film that has one of the most ridiculous casts I have seen in a long time, but it just does not come together in end.    

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Widows. Image Credit: 20th Century Fox

Review –

It is rare that a film comes along with a cast just as ludicrous as this, with a premise as strong as this, indeed you should see it just to watch Viola Davis own every scene she is in. Add to this, we have a heist film, and ensemble heist films are some of my favourite films. Now,this should be an instant win for me, but while I think it is a good film, I am not sure it was a great one because it is held back but a couple of things.

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Exploring the Past – Sicario (2015)

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TL;DR – A masterful look at how to use tension to build a story in a brutal world

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Sicario. Image Credit: Lionsgate

Review –
Today I got to cross a film off my pile of shame that has been sitting there for quite a while. Sicario was one of those films that were made by people I have come to deeply respect in the film industry but at the time when it came out, I was not in the right head space to give it a watch. Ever since then I have been meaning to go back and give it a go if only to add to my understanding of some of these filmmaker’s work, but it sat there. Well, today that changes as we take a dive into the world, or at least one perspective of the world on the American/Mexican border.

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Movie Review – Black Panther

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TL;DR – Wow, just wow, every part of this film comes together to make something people will be talking for years to come.

Score – 5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and end credit sequence

Black Panther banner

Review –

I was expecting Black Panther to be good, all the Marvel films so far have been at least ok and this was tracking to be better than average. However, nothing prepared me for just how good the film was going to be, and also just how challenging it was going to be, it does not hold back, not one single bit. So today we will explore the world of Wakanda, the people, history, and locations. But before we do that, can I suggest if you have not seen the film to go do that right now, without reading on, you will be much better to go into Black Panther with as little pre-knowledge as possible, well other than it is really good.

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Movie Review – Get Out

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TL;DR – Get out is a masterpiece in tension, cinematography and action, it is perfectly cast, amazingly directed, and deeply affecting.

Score – 5 out of 5 stars

Get Out. Image Credit: Universal.

Review –

Wow, I had no idea, absolutely none, about just how good this film would be, and from a first-time features director no less. Get Out is a masterpiece from the acting, to the cinematography, to the music, everything, seriously this is the first 5 out of 5 film for 2017. Now because of the type of film that it is I can’t really discuss it without immediately getting into spoilers, so because of this, and also because it has been out in the rest of the world for months, this is going to be a [FULL SPOILER REVIEW] so if you have not seen it beware that we will be holding nothing back and it will be best if you go in as spoiler free as possible, a sentiment not held up by the trailer it seems. So if you want a non-spoiler review let me just say no movie has affected me in this way in a very long time and I highly recommend it as it is a masterpiece of cinema. So with that in mind, this is your last chance because we go full spoiler now.

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