Nope Review: An Old School Alien Film

It takes three unique, memorable and well done films to become an auteur in my book. With three films, you can start to find patterns of the director and ensure it’s not a fluke. Nope establishes Jordan Peele as an auteur, with a unique perspective in telling stories cinematically! Don’t worry folks, if you think you saw the movie in the final trailers, you don’t know what you’re in for. 

OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) heads up the family business after his father passes from a freak accident. As Hollywood animal trainers on a horse ranch in an isolated gulch in California, there is always work to be done. His sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) is a rolling stone who comes by to look through some items at the house. It’s obvious that Em is feeling out if she’s wanted around or not. The likely dramatic history of the family seems thick, but their bond is thicker. 

As odd occurrences start happening around the property, OJ enlists the help of an electronics store employee named Angel (Brandon Perea) to capture it on camera. They’re looking for the money or “Oprah shot” as they call it. A once in a life time, first discovery image that will catapult them in the history books. Their neighbor, Ricky Park (Steven Yeun) runs a poorly attended theme park and he seems to know something is up as well. 

Kaluuya brings a presence to the film that is felt from the first time he appears on screen. Palmer gives a star making performance as the firecracker and comic relief in the film! Emerald has dreams, the gift of gab, past mistakes, and a heart of gold that won’t be denied all in the one bag she came home with. The lesser known, Brandon Perea, is one to watch as the lovelorn camera installer. The overall ensemble works well together.

It’s this desire to see train wrecks, mysterious occurrences or miracles that Peele explores here. It’s innate within us and we can’t seem to turn away, no matter the cost. Peele’s camera work is exquisite. Director of photography, Hoyte Van Hoytema, can take credit there as well. The setting leans to extreme wides that show the beauty of the landscape. Yet, Peele makes sure that we see what he wants us to see. It’s in the choices of using pans rather than cutting to another shot, or making the camera follow something with an obstructed view that builds suspense and tension. Peele’s genius and knowledge of film is on full display in the way that Nope is crafted from a cinematography and sound perspective. Sound and the lack thereof is used beautifully throughout the tale. A picture is worth a thousand words and Peele uses one frame, cuts to the next and then the next to give an intellectual montage that tells us a story while pushing the movie forward seamlessly.

There are some issues with the film. Certain storylines seem to be dead ends when all is said and done, but are mouth watering moments while watching. While this movie harkens back to 80’s and 50’s alien movies in feel, it is not in the same lane as Get Out or Us. However, there’s no question that it demands another viewing as his prior work has done as well. Trying to understand how this world works is part of the fun of being in the hands of an auteur!

Rating: B

"Queen & Slim" Review: A Must See

Looking for a thought provoking, unapologetic and unorthodox heroism movie? Then let me introduce you to Queen & Slim. Melina Matsoukas hits the ground running with her directorial debut, taking you on an emotional roller coaster of highs and lows equipped with twist and turns. Some may look at this film as a modern day Bonnie and Clyde but don’t let the sound bite from the trailer lead you astray, it stands in its own lane.

Imagine being on a Tinder date that’s not the one you run and tell your friends about. It's going down the “no serious connection and not really down for a second date” path before an aggressive cop pulls you for what should be a routine traffic stop.  In the midst of the interaction, your date gets shot by the cop and you accidentally shoot and kill the cop in self defense. That’s the story of Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim (Daniel Kaluuya), taking off with them becoming two of America's Most Wanted. Once they decide to flee the scene and go on the run they become instant icons to some and hated by others. As the duo tries to find freedom, they find they have more in common than they thought.

Matsoukas sets a pace that gives perspective for black people of all ages in a crisis situation like this. We've seen the aftermath of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, for example, but not played out from beginning to end in cinema. This film gives detail, perspective and voice to these situations and the effects it has on the those involved and watching. At one point I felt like the third passenger in the car giving directions to Kaluuya and Turner-Smith. Their character performances are executed effortlessly. They both exude the emotional make up of two people not looking for trouble, who grow to become rebels fighting for their lives.

Overall, you'll learn something about being black in America from this film. The movie is a relevant timepiece that captures the current state of certain situations of black culture. Laced with an incredible soundtrack, this film is noteworthy and a must see. The last fifteen minutes alone make a heart wrenching argument for racial equality without preaching, but instead showing us the bleak reality of society today.

Rating: B+

*Edited by Kevin Sampson

Middleburg Film Festival '18: "Widows" Review

In lesser hands Widows would be a run of the mill heist film. Give this script to any other director and you may not be challenged to keep up visually in the way Steve McQueen intelligently crafts this film. Give this script to any other cast and the words wouldn’t be elevated from the page to create characters that we see transform throughout the course of the film. Grab your popcorn folks; this is why we go to the movies!

Set in Chicago, Veronica (Viola Davis), Linda (Michelle Rodriguez), Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) and Amanda (Carrie Coon) are found grieving the loss of their criminal husbands. After the hubbies perish in their latest heist attempt, their death means nothing to the people they owed. Local crime boss turning politician, Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry), seeks the money that Harry Rawlings (Liam Neeson) and his crew stole from him on principle, but also because he’s running against Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell), the man whose family has been alderman of their district for two generations prior. Manning’s motive for getting the two million dollars is solid and with his cold-blooded gangsta brother, Jatemme (Daniel Kaluuya), eager to help his brother win the elected spot, Veronica has no choice but to get to work. Equipped with a notebook her husband Harry left, Veronica decides that she can get out of debt and start a new life if she and her fellow widows can pull off the big caper Harry plotted out.

McQueen’s work has always been raw, dark, and visually biting. He’s able to use those elements, set against the climate of current day Chicago, to give us a memorable, blockbuster heist film. The opening itself is a Soviet Montage of sorts that doesn’t lovingly bring you into the story but crashes together in a rhythmically edited mashup that quickly brings the audience up to speed. McQueen leads the story with his camera, laying the ground work for his actors to step in and knock the ball out of the park, and they come through.

This review would be too long if each cast member got their time to shine here, but know that they do. Of note, Davis delivers a stellar performance as per usual by giving Veronica an internal conflict that is exhibited in a way that only Mrs. Davis can do over the course of the film! Elizabeth Debicki may certainly have the best character development throughout the film as you literally watch a shutdown and abused widow become a leader and empowered woman. All of the lead and supporting cast give us well rounded characters to watch on screen.

McQueen and co-screenwriter Gillian Flynn never telegraph an overt message in dialogue, but rather McQueen uses visuals to explain the issues in Chicago. The political race between Mulligan and Manning is a plot point, but there is a larger conversation to be had in our minds as audience members about the violence in the streets of the Chi. There’s a beautiful single take shot that shows the economic disparity that pushes the story forward while making you think afterwards. 

The only small issue with the film may be in the eagerness to gain their dignity and respect, there is an ever pervasive message of the widows trying to prove themselves in their words. Their actions already show that they’re more than capable so we don’t need on the nose lines like “no one thinks we have the balls to pull this off!” While well delivered from Davis, it would be nice to be shown more than told. This in no way takes you out of the film or detracts from the empowerment that it delivers.

Widows proves that heist films can have layered meaning and story to them. It’s a good night out for the ladies, date night, and even time for the fellas! However you see it, make sure it’s in a theater. It will be well worth the money spent!

Rating: A

"Get Out" Review: An Instant Classic

Let’s face the facts, meeting any significant other’s parents for the first time is plain scary! Add in the fact that you’re an interracial couple and it can add a little weight to that. In writer/director Jordan Peele’s Get Out, he takes that premise, a dash of suspense, and real world issues to make a refreshingly original take on meeting the ‘rents.

Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) is an upcoming photographer who is going to his girlfriend Rose’s (Allison Williams) home for the weekend to meet her parents. While the love between the two is strong, there’s no question that Chris is a little anxious to meet her parents, Dean (Bradley Whitford) and Missy (Catherine Keener) Armitage. After encountering a deer the hard way, Chris gets his first introduction to Rose’s hometown through the local police. This is where we first see how Peele is telling his horror through real life issues of being black in America. During the exchange, we witness Rose talk back and be confrontational with the officer, while Chris does just the opposite with a smile. Thus, the dichotomy begins.

After arriving at her parent’s home, Chris navigates through the normal awkward attempts to relate with lines like “I would have voted for Obama a third time”, or “my man!” However, it’s Walter (Marcus Henderson) the groundskeeper and Georgina (Betty Gabriel) that make Chris squirm. As he attempts to talk with them, they seem to have no soul, which in this film refers to black culture, in them. Things only get more peculiar as the weekend goes on. Whether it’s a late night hypnosis session that Chris barely remembers, meeting Andrew Logan King (Lakeith Stanfield) who seems familiar, or his cell phone being unplugged at night, it all starts to add up into a horrifying tale.

The key to this film is the manipulation of space and time, framing, sound, and good storytelling. Peele’s pacing of the film is perfect. Things move at just the right pace as to lure you in and speed up once it’s too late to stop. He gives us in your face close-ups that heighten the sense of alarm within the film. Yet it’s his script that’s the backbone of this sure to be instant classic.

Kaluuya and Gabriel give memorable performances in their roles as black people “trapped” in a white world. Their faces say so much more than words. Simultaneously, without the creepy opposition of Williams, Keener, Whitford, and Caleb Landry Jones as Jeremy Armitage, you wouldn’t have the tension that is felt so much throughout the film.

Get Out is a film that you have to see more than once to catch everything that was thrown at you. There’s no doubt that it’s a horror/mystery for this generation! Equipped with the comedy of Chris’s best friend Rod (LilRel Howery) who stands in the gap for the audience who would regularly be yelling at the screen, this film knows what it’s doing and knows what you’re thinking!

Rating: A