‘NOPE’: Spielbergian Sci-Fi Falls to Earth, Proves Jordan Peele is Human

July 20, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Brandan Perea, Daniel Kaluuya, Jordan Peele, Keke Palmer, Michael Wincott, Movies, Nicholas Monsour, Nope, Out in Theaters, Steven Yeun Leave a comment

Icarus Who Flew Too High…

The name Jordan Peele carries weight. The sketch comic turned horror auteur cut his teeth mocking the familiar. Often quite brilliantly. His skill as a caricaturist made Peele the perfect tool to spin something new from the weathered clichés he so often lampooned. He – more than most – knew the difference between frail and fresh. You mock enough knock-offs and you become the expert on what hasn’t been attempted yet. In time, the satirist became a sacred commodity. From his mind, two horror greats (Get Out, Us) were born. Nope, Peele’s third feature film, is one of the most hotly anticipated films of the summer, if not the entire year. All because of Jordan Peele. Read More

Social Horror ‘CANDYMAN’ Radically Addresses Black Trauma in Brutal Fashion

August 25, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Candyman, Colman Domingo, John Guleserian, Jordan Peele, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Nia DaCosta, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowes, Teyonah Parris, Win Rosenfeld, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II 2 Comments

For what it does right – and it does do plenty right – Bernard Rose’s 1992 cult horror-slasher Candyman feels like a dated product of its racially off-putting times. Hone in on where it focuses the spotlight: Virginia Madsen’s curious and lily white grad student Helen Lyle, out to deconstruct the urban myths of a hook-handed boogeyman terrorizing the Black community. A white woman in distress scouring the trauma of the African-American hood, Helen is a peculiar cypher for a story about the lingering horrors of race. Read More

“Not the Bees!”: ‘CANDYMAN’ Returns in First Trailer for Jordan Peele-Produced Sequel

February 27, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Trailers Tagged Candyman, Jordan Peele, Trailers, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Leave a comment

1992’s Candyman embodied the idea that good horror movies touch on greater social issues of our times. To an almost unwavering degree, the horror film spoke to racial superstition, director Bernard Rose using the projects as a backdrop to deliver an underrated supernatural slasher with something real on its mind. Leave it to Jordan Peele to pick up the ball nearly 30 years later and run with these ideas.

Thematic ‘Toy Story 4’ Puts Big Radical Ideas Over Big Radical Plot

June 14, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Andrew Stanton, Annie Potts, Jordan Peele, Josh Cooley, Keanu Reeves, Keegan-Michael Key, Out in Theaters, Pixar, Reviews, Stephany Folsom, Tim Allen, Tom Hanks, Tony Hale, Toy Story, Toy Story 4 Leave a comment

At the height of Pixar’s creative boon, Toy Story 3 threatened the impossible: a sequel would be the animation studio’s best movie to date. This on the heels of the triple-threat punch of Ratatouille, WALL-E and Up, to this day the finest consecutive output Pixar would manage. Toy Story, to this point in the studio’s history, was Pixar’s only ongoing franchise – Cars 2 would come along and bust their Fresh streak just one year later – but its sequels managed to keep pace with their starkly original one-off creations by diving deeper into the pathos of its collection of anthropomorphic toys and achieving an even greater sense of world-building. Woody, Buzz and the gang discovered things about themselves by exploring larger sandboxes and, accompanying them, we too saw the world with eyes renewed. Read More

‘US’ a Superfly Flurry of Inventive Horror-Comedy World Building

March 20, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Elisabeth Moss, Evan Alex, Horror, Jordan Peele, Lupita Nyong'o, Michael Abels, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Us, Winston Duke 3 Comments

Comedy and horror exist in harmonious marriage to one another. Even the grimmest horror exploits regularly squeeze uncomfortable laughs from packed crowds, too hopped up on their own nerves not to giggle with anticipation or great relief after a big scare. Screams and laughs are the wine and cheese of any good horror movie, a perfect pairing, and Jordan Peele’s uncompromisingly cool Us comes boasting a delicious vintage of both. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘KEANU’

April 28, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Jordan Peele, Keanu, Keegan-Michael Key, Method Man, Out in Theaters, Peter Atencio, Reviews, SXSW 2016, Will Forte Leave a comment

When Key & Peele premiered in 2012 on Comedy Central, it was as close to an overnight success as any sober TV producer could hope for. The sketch comedy show that covered anything from pop-culture fandom to racial relationships, all with unprecedentedly competent production value, found even more love on YouTube where many of their brief sketches ratcheted up views in the millions. From their jocular takedown of the Obama administration to nonsensical athlete names to 80s aerobic videos, there were few rocks left unturned and a remarkable percentage of hits to misses. When the show took its bow in September of 2015, fans were predictably heartbroken to see the righteous comic duo come to an end. If Keanu is proof of one thing and one thing only, it’s at the very essence of Key & Peele will live on so long as Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele continue to collaborate in any way shape or form. And that my friends is a fact worth celebrating. Read More