NOPE

I’m surprised PeTA hasn’t tried to hijack Jordan Peele’s Nope as the unofficial movie for their sometimes warped mission statement. This movie is new so I don’t want to get in to any spoilers but at the end of the day the film is mostly about the potential dangers of trying to “tame the beast” (horses, monkeys, mysterious lifeforms, etc). I promise I haven’t checked yet but I’m sure there’s already an assessment or two on Nope that has to do with animal abuse.

Not only does this movie play off of the famous phrase; “tame the beast”, but it also takes the phrase; “belly of the beast” quite literally at one point in a scene reminiscent of the climax in Pinocchio…

I enjoyed Nope overall but if easter egg-y/reference-heavy movies aren’t your thing (a Jordan Peele staple some folks aren’t too crazy about despite his immense overall popularity as a filmmaker), you might want to avoid this. That almost feels like a pointless statement because, like I just mentioned, Jordan Peele is very popular and I imagine most folks will see this without much coaxing.

Nope falls in line perfectly with the rest of Peele’s filmography. The basic plot is different from Get Out & Us, but it still touches on some of the same broad topics (social commentary & subtle nods to somewhat vague issues concerning race, the importance of family and tons of obvious movie references). Peele’s latest is a major improvement from Us (Nope is, in my opinion, his best paced movie thus far). I’m sorry but Us made no sense. I don’t care if I’m in the minority on this. And for folks who think that’s a weak excuse to dislike a movie, I call bullshit in this specific case because Jordan Peele clearly tried to connect the dots and have the film make (some) sense and I don’t think he succeeded. I understand Jordan Peele is a fan-favorite but it’s ok to admit when something didn’t work. You won’t lose any made-up film twitter or letterboxd points for giving a fair critique of something that’s popular.

Anyway, from the scissors on Jupe’s desk (an obvious nod to the scissors in Us) to the visual homages to folks like Spielberg & James Cameron, Jordan Peele does the Tarantino thing in a not-so obnoxious way…

The Forgotten /
Nope

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind / Nope

The War Of The Worlds /
Nope

A similarity pointed out to me by Toronto Film review:
 10 Cloverfield Lane /
Nope

This movie is new so I don’t have the images or gifs to show yet but the final act of Nope is essentially a slightly reworked final showdown from Jaws meets The Abyss (click here & here to read my thoughts on Get Out & Us and to see more of Peele’s movie references).

The Abyss / Nope

Peele even throws in a pinch of Pinocchio 

Pinocchio / Nope

If you keep your eye open (maybe on the second viewing) you’ll catch a nod to Buck and the Preacher.
I’m also convinced the casting of Keith David was a specific nod to his appearances in sci-fi classics like The Thing and They Live (I don’t want to give too much away but there are some similarities between the mysterious organism in The Thing and the entity in Nope). Black people as background players in Hollywood seems to be an underlying theme in Nope…

The Horse In Motion

It should be pointed out that Jordan Peele makes a few incorrect claims about the history of The Horse In Motion short film that he prominently features in Nope but it is still an important early artifact, and the technology used to make the short kind of comes in to play towards the end of the movie.

I guess I should also mention the most obvious homage…

The Wizard Of Oz /
Nope

What stood out the most to me in Nope was the “Gordy’s Home” subplot concerning Steven Yeun’s Jupe character. The way these flashback segments are shot are a bit different from the rest of the movie and is the kind of lane that I think I’ve always wanted Jordan Peele to follow as a director (darkly comical with an emphasis on the dark part). The “Gordy’s Home” section is the closest thing anyone has directed for folks like me that were brought up on Clifford (1994) & Bob Balaban’s Parents with pinches of the unspoken twisted side to sitcoms like Different Stokes & Small Wonder (with an obvious nod to Alf as well). 

Jupe’s backstory ties in heavily to the main plot of Nope in that he felt he could tame the beast in his adult life the same way he thought he tamed the beast from his childhood (I have to credit my wife for that point). 

Something about “Gordy’s Home” reminded me of the good sketches from Key & Peele (I wish Peele embraced more of his comedic roots). 

Nope is a success in my book that shows growth as a filmmaker. I just worry the more “prestigious” folks make Jordan Peele out to be, the more pretentious he may become.

ZEBRAS IN AMERICA EPISODE 89: SPECIAL GUEST JARED GILMAN

On this episode of Zebras we're joined by recurring guest Jared Gilman (Moonrise Kingdom & Paterson) to talk about Jordan Peele's Us and more.

Enjoy...

A FEW WORDS ON 'US'

Us is a pretty fun movie. Nothing more or less. Film snobs that aren’t in to horror (yet they somehow get paid by big film outlets to write about horror) will make up some pseudo sophisticated sub-genre or fancy label for US in order to make it ok for them to like horror movies as if the horror genre is beneath other movie genres. Critics & journalists also make up these labels in order to justify unnecessary acclaim. “Post Horror”, “High-art Horror”, “not really horror HORROR”, etc. Us is a horror movie. Straight up.

Now...this is not a masterpiece or the greatest horror movie ever made (yes, Us has been called that by quite a few reputable folks who clearly just want to be quoted on the Blu-ray box cover). But it’s ok to not be a masterpiece. It’s ok for a movie to just be entertaining. Us certainly has a few deeper thematic elements beyond just entertainment. The movie is about people being terrorized & haunted by evil doppelgänger versions of themselves. It’s no mystery that this movie is about being your own worst enemy and the fight within ourselves and all that stuff (not to spoil anything, but in a movie with doppelgängers & parralel universes, you can kind of guess the basic twist that Us builds up to)

Even though Us is not a masterpiece, I don’t think it’s “meh” or “bad” or “terrible”. This is an entertaining movie. I’m no horror aficionado by any means (although I know more than some unqualified people writing about horror these days), but I’ve seen enough (good) horror movies to know that Us falls right in line with other scary movies that folks seem to enjoy.

The problem we’re facing right now is that people want every movie to be a masterpiece. If a movie is just pretty good without anything offensive or challenging it’s dubbed as genius. But at the same time - when a good/solid movie doesn’t change the world and falls slightly short, then people have to automatically hate on it just because and not allow it to be "good" or even "ok". I get it. When something that I feel is just “ok” or even “good” is labeled a masterpiece by the majority, I immediately withhold anything positive to say about it just to balance things out. Right now Jordan Peele is being called one of the best directors working today and the voice of a generation (yes, people are saying that). I honestly don’t think he's either of those things. Perhaps he’s working his way towards that. But give him some time. We’re two movies in to his feature filmography. Let him be a great director naturally & organically. Let’s not get patronizing and start throwing undue acclaim his way. As a Black person I understand the excitement other Black people are showing for Us. It’s a horror movie about a Black family and the movie isn’t about race (I’m sure there are some folks who will think otherwise). The fact that they’re Black isn’t a “thing”. So I understand when casual Black movie fans get overly excited for something like Us. There's no "beautiful struggle" or slave tales or other things people might consider stereotypical. It’s the same with women/young girls & Captain Marvel or Asians & Crazy Rich Asians. Representation is important. Be excited for your race, sexuality, gender, etc. The world isn’t just White people. But the representation can’t be fake or forced which is, unfortunately, a problem we’re facing in film & tv today (that isn’t the case with Us. The “representation” seemed natural to me). Don’t just praise something because the needs were met on a surface level. Ok – a major motion picture has a Black/Female/Latino/Trans/Asian lead. But is it genuine. Is the movie actually good?

I understand it's difficult to remove the racial angle from this movie. This is the follow-up to Get Out. On a side note - I'm starting to feel like Get Out is turning in to another Drive or Pulp Fiction in that they were/are culturally impactful (even on a surface level) but it's dividing folks. You have people giving over-praise which naturally forces people to dislike and reserve praise simply because that's how humans operate. 

Just enjoy the movie for what it is. It's fun. It didn’t save or revive the horror genre (every time people say something like that it exposes how clueless they are), but it also isn’t a bad movie.

I went to see Us because I enjoy Jordan Peele’s work and his appreciation for the cinema that came before him. Peele always makes it a point to shout-out old movies that inspired him so it isn’t out of line to draw (visual) comparisons between Us and classic horror movies that came before it...

Nosferatu / Us

The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari / Us

Even non-horror movies...

Black Girl / Us

Black Girl / Us

Bamako / Us

Thriller / Us

The Shining / Us

I also like seeing my fiancee jump at scary movies which it certainly made her do.

So while this isn’t a masterpiece as far as I’m concerned, it’s still worthy of the ticket price and the big theater experience. I just don’t think it should be overly praised.