Author Robert Daniels

January 5, 2021 2:26 pm

News, Reviews, Television

On April 14, 2019, a wicked Chicago ice storm swept over the McCormick Convention Center greeting Jedis with their lightsabers, princesses in their cinnamon bun wigs, and Sith Lords, some with what sounded lik...

‘The White Tiger’: Ramin Bahrani’s Latest Is A Lumbering, Dreary Satire [Review]

January 5, 2021 1:38 pm

News, Reviews

“The white tiger is the rarest of animals that only comes around once in a generation,” shares Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav) in Ramin Bahrani's latest feature, "The White Tiger." Balram originates from a small...

‘Education:’ Steve McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’ Film Is His Most Tender Work To Date [Review]

December 6, 2020 7:00 pm

I was born with a speech impediment. For years, I received speech therapy in special education. I don’t remember why, but for some reason, for instance, I would trip over the word “yellow” as though, ironicall...

‘Let Them All Talk:’ Steven Soderbergh Lets Meryl Streep, Dianne Wiest & Candice Bergen Consider Friendships Lost At Sea [Review]

December 5, 2020 9:31 am

Meryl Streep is Alice Hughes, a demanding well-renowned writer struggling to complete her newest manuscript. Karen (Gemma Chan) is her young new agent. Desperate to discover whether Alice is writing a sequel t...

‘Alex Wheatle’ Is The Weakest Strike In Steve McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’ [Review]

November 30, 2020 10:58 am

News, Reviews

One of 2020’s few joys has been Steve McQueen’s Amazon anthology “Small Axe,” a series telling, in some instances for the first time, the stories of the Black Brits who faced oppression during the '60s and '70...

‘She Paradise’ Is A Love Letter To The Autonomy of Young Women [AFI Review]

October 23, 2020 12:27 pm

So far, between Kelly Oxford’s “Pink Skies Ahead” and Angel Kristi Williams’ “Really Love,” AFI Fest has delivered some incredible first-features from directors. Maya Cozier’s “She Paradise” is the newest addi...

‘Pink Skies Ahead’: Kelly Oxford’s Debut Is Charming And Irresistible [AFI Review]

October 19, 2020 10:05 am

The blue-haired Winona (Jessica Barden), while driving, vents to an unseen man about living with her parents. She fumes, “I want to stick a fork into an electrical socket every minute that I’m there.” A recent...

‘Really Love’: Angel Kristi Williams’ Debut Is A Timeless Black Romance [AFI Review]

October 17, 2020 12:00 pm

We all need a little bit of romance right now. So often the romance genre offers escapist fairytales of destined love, people whisked away by an unlikely figure from their unlucky loneliness to an assured stat...

‘I’m Your Woman’: Rachel Brosnahan Is Staggering In Julia Hart’s Wickedly Entertaining Thriller [AFI Review]

October 16, 2020 10:40 am

Adorned with sunglasses and in a pink fur-trimmed robe, Jean (Rachel Brosnahan) sits reclined on her patio chair as she sips champagne. Bobbie Gentry’s “I Wouldn’t Be Surprised" — one of the film’s many soulfu...

Luca Guadagnino Talks ‘We Are Who We Are,’ Unmade Projects & His Definition of Cinema [Interview]

October 15, 2020 12:09 pm

Features, Interviews, News

It seems even a pandemic cannot quell Luca Guadagnino’s creative spirit. The Italian auteur, known for the arresting “A Bigger Splash” and the body horror-remake “Suspiria,” among a bevy of uncompleted project...

John Boyega, Small Axe, Red White And Blue

‘Red, White And Blue’: John Boyega Is Superb In Steve McQueen’s Challenging, And Unafraid ‘Small Axe’ Film [NYFF Review]

October 3, 2020 8:02 pm

Features, Festivals, News, Reviews

One of the great joys of the New York Film Festival has been watching Steve McQueen’s new film anthology “Small Axe.” Composed of five works set between the late-'60s and early-'80s, the two recently screened ...

‘Good Lord Bird’: Ethan Hawke Is Delightfully Unhinged In Showtime’s New Abolitionist Series [Review]

September 28, 2020 10:29 am

Features, News, Reviews, Television

Did John Brown, the infamous abolitionist who led the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, really take a cross-dressing teenage slave under his wing and name him Onion? No, not at all. “The Good Lord Bir...

‘Mangrove’: Revolution Sparks In Steve McQueen’s Uplifting ‘Small Axe’ Courtroom Drama [NYFF Review]

September 25, 2020 6:21 pm

A West Indian proverb holds, “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.” “Lovers Rock,” the first film made available of Steve McQueen’s Amazon miniseries “Small Axe,” first interpreted the saying as a me...

‘The Trial Of The Chicago 7’: Aaron Sorkin’s Courtroom Drama Provokes Your Outrage, But Often Feels Manufactured [Review]

September 24, 2020 9:00 pm