Robert Daniels, Author at The Playlist

Spike Lee’s ‘Jackie Robinson’ Is A Complex Biopic That Needs To Be Made

March 31, 2020 11:08 am

In 1992, Spike Lee released the Denzel Washington-fronted masterpiece “Malcolm X.” By 1996, the famed-director knew his next subject. “Jackie Robinson, 53 years old, hair completely white, sits back in his eas...

‘Falling’: Viggo Mortensen’s Directorial Debut Is An Exhausting Mess [Sundance Review]

Robert Daniels

February 1, 2020 1:36 pm

Festivals, News, Reviews

In 1984, Viggo Mortensen debuted as a Lieutenant in a George Washington miniseries. Since then, he’s portrayed a once and future king in the Tolkein universe, a father navigating the apocalypse, a Russian hitm...

‘Sergio’: Wagner Moura & Ana De Armas Elevate An Otherwise Messy, Sluggish Biopic [Sundance Review]

Robert Daniels

January 29, 2020 11:23 am

Festivals, News, Reviews

On 19 August 2003, a car bomb exploded outside the United Nations Headquarters in Baghdad. As a result, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sérgio Vieira de Mello and Gil Loescher were pinned under tons of r...

‘Charm City Kings’: An Outstanding, Unabashedly Black Coming Of Age Tale Made One Mile Of Road At A Time [Sundance Review]

Robert Daniels

January 28, 2020 12:28 pm

Festivals, News, Reviews

In Baltimore, among the city’s Black community, the sounds of dirt bikes echo down the streets, through the alleys, backyards, and by bedroom windows. Baltimore is more than riots and more than extralegal oppr...

‘Palm Springs’: Andy Samberg Delights In This Surprisingly Introspective Comedy [Sundance Review]

Robert Daniels

January 27, 2020 11:27 am

Festivals, News, Reviews

In the end, we all die alone. However, the people who usually stand by that statement have already decided they’ll die alone. They’ve yet to question what objects inhabit the tomorrows, yesterdays, and todays ...

‘Black Bear’ With Aubrey Plaza & Christopher Abbott Is Splintered, Madly Hysterical & Intoxicating [Sundance Review]

Robert Daniels

January 26, 2020 1:07 pm

Festivals, News, Reviews

A woman in a red swimsuit sits on a wooden pier in the murky fog, only to later walk into a room, sit at a table, and write in her notebook. Lawrence Michael Levine uses the same sequence three separate times ...

‘Wander Darkly’: Love Disintegrates For Sienna Miller & Diego Luna In A Surrealist Romance [Sundance Review]

Robert Daniels

January 26, 2020 10:34 am

Festivals, News, Reviews

Adrienne (Sienna Miller) and Matteo (Diego Luna) are a couple whose relationship is disintegrating. Even with the inclusion of a new baby girl Ellie, mistrust pervades their relationship. Like many soon-to-be...

Brandon Cronenberg’s ‘Possessor’ Is A Wild, Tech-Fueled Fever Dream [Sundance Review]

Robert Daniels

January 26, 2020 1:00 am

Festivals, News, Reviews

Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough) is a deadly contract killer, who works for a secretive biotech company run by a former hired gun Girder (Jennifer Jason Leigh). The organization carries out their kills by kidnap...

‘Scare Me’ Hilariously Lampoons The Mediocrity Of White Male Horror Writers [Sundance Review]

Robert Daniels

January 25, 2020 12:23 pm

News, Reviews

Fred (Josh Ruben) is an aspiring writer. And while he initially arrived to a secluded mountain cabin to write a book about werewolves, his ambitions far outweigh his talents. Instead, he can’t get any further ...

‘Little Women’: Greta Gerwig Crafts A Beautifully Enchanting & Heartrending New Version Of A Classic [Review]

Robert Daniels

November 25, 2019 12:30 pm

Features, News, Reviews

Louisa May Alcott changed how we and women hear their voices. Beginning in 1868, she released a semi-autobiographical work set during the Civil War focusing upon four sisters that would deservingly become an in...

‘Richard Jewell’ Is Clint Eastwood’s Best Film In Over A Decade [AFI Review]

Robert Daniels

November 21, 2019 10:12 am

Features, News, Reviews

A celebration became tragic on July 27th during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. That day, with a concert in progress in Centennial Park, a security officer discovered a suspicious backpack and alerted authorities...

‘Queen & Slim’ Is A Shot Heard Round The World [AFI Review]

Robert Daniels

November 15, 2019 9:56 am

Features, Festivals, News, Reviews

Tamir Rice. Trayvon Martin. Eric Garner. Not merely names, they’re heart-wrenching symbols of the seeming unimportance of Black lives in America. Their fates: a standing fear for Black men and women, summon gre...

‘Dirt Music’: Garrett Hedlund & Kelly Macdonald’s Love Affair Is Ruined By A Cheesy, Outlandish Plot [TIFF Review]

Robert Daniels

September 10, 2019 10:05 am

Festivals, News, Reviews

Set on the stunning coast of Western Australia, arrives Gregor Jordan’s adaption of Tim Winton’s acclaimed novel “Dirt Music.” A romance and mystery, the film follows Georgie (Kelly Macdonald) and Lu’s (Garrett...

‘Ema’: Pablo Larraín Creates An Erotic, Suspenseful Character Study [TIFF Review]

Robert Daniels

September 10, 2019 9:33 am

Features, News, Reviews

Night; crackling embers fall from a traffic sign set ablaze. A blonde woman with a blow torch stands admiring her work as the fire’s red glow envelops the screen. She’s the eponymous villainous heroine who open...

Despite a strained and scattered narrative, Rosamund Pike brings intelligence and sensuality to Marjane Satrapi’s ‘Radioactive.’

‘Radioactive’: Rosamund Pike May Be Great, But Marjane Satrapi’s ‘Radioactive’ Is Biopic 101 [TIFF Review]

Robert Daniels

September 7, 2019 4:23 pm

Festivals, News, Reviews

The earth was once flat, the sun revolved around us, and polonium and radium were unknown. In time, there were combustions—ripples across space that devastated longstanding establishments. Marie Curie ignited t...

Author Robert Daniels