Nope (dir. Jordan Peele)

Watched this a month or so ago and really enjoyed it. Not as much as Get Out or Us (what's with the Us hate here???), but I think that's mostly because I like horror stories way more than I like westerny alien stories. Apologies for not being that deep about it.

Absolutely loved the way it threw us straight into the Gordy's House narrative at the beginning before moving to the present-day, both a concrete way of introducing thematic motifs and adding surreality to create a disorienting experience. I was surprised to read upthread that there were criticisms of Daniel Kaluuya's performance - while I don't specifically know any 'horse guys' I do know 'understands animals but doesn't understand people' guys, and I thought it was pretty spot on, especially with the added weights of grief and responsibility.

I agree with you, I found a lot to enjoy in Us.

Re Gordy scenes: they were the most horrific in the film for me. I watched the main scene again after I finished the film and you can hear Gordy panting and sounding agitated as the family deliver their lines. Also the sitcom mother’s actress is wearing a necklace that looks like bared teeth, which probably doesn’t go great with a chimp.

Us is great

The Gordy cold open was particularly effective in the cinema

The first thing my bf said when the opening Gordy scene came up was "its Travis!"

Im certain the nod to Travis the chimp wasnt an accident - more so when they briefly showed the horror of Mary Jo's injuries when her veil lifted- her mouth/lips were missing, which is what Travis did to his victim. And that woman also used to wear a veil over a hat to hide her disfigurement.

(B did a podcast episode about Travis so it made sense he'd immediately see that)

Watched this last night, thought it was fantastic, clever and gripping. I wanted to watch with the subs on because I figured there'd be background sound/speech we'd miss otherwise but I was voted down and I WAS RIGHT (re him seeing Jupe's practice - I had no idea what that was til reading this thread).

It was a nice change to have a menacing alien movie where they showed the alien instead of being coy about it a la Predator/Cloverfield.

lol wtf

Somehow I totally missed this video of Jordan Peele pretending to be impressed by a terrible metaverse recreation of Nope. pic.twitter.com/JiL4RLaZW6

— Zack Zwiezen's Skeleton 💀 (@ZwiezenZ) October 17, 2022

I hope they paid him in more than stupid VR goggles.

It was a nice change to have a menacing alien movie where they showed the alien instead of being coy about it a la Predator/Cloverfield.

The smart move was just going for it in the last trailer and making everyone think "Oh, alien spacecraft" instead of what we got.

gyac otm. i really enjoyed this. and it was beautiful.

saw this finally, and was mercifully spoiler free going in

goddamn what a trip. scary & fascinating & disorienting & unsettling & funny & suspenseful

my favorite subgenre is movies -about- LA and/or moviemaking, and this is my new favorite just for sheer number of layers; horse ranch & animal trainers; child actors & animals performing for tv; mom & pop theme parks; theme park stunt shows; cameras & photography; down to the cinematographer has to go up the hill for the better shot in the good light at the expense of his safety, after already getting the shot

so much to chew on and think about but also so much that made me laugh

[tmz guy flips off his bike]
“no way he survived that”
[distant agonized scream]

also genuinely scary!

oh yeah and all the westerns iconography was faaaaantastic

also the thing that i can’t stop thinking about with the Gordy scene is the way the studio audience are all still dimly outlined in the background while the whole attack is taking place

i think that’s the subtle element that truly fucks Jupe up bc it blurs the line of performance where nothing is off the table, he has no boundary

I actually thought they were all dead! Like the chimp had killed everyone? But he hadnt I assume?

No, you can see audience members hiding behind seats.

Damn…I never caught that!

Yeah, the first time I saw it I couldn't figure out why the studio was empty. Then the second time I caught that people are there and cowering.

Good discussion on the latest ep of the Still Processing podcast: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/01/podcasts/still-processing-jordan-peele-nope.html

Thanks for sharing that - they hit a lot of angles that I hadn’t even considered about this film, and now I wanna see it again even more:

i need to listen to that! thx jaymc

Now on Peacock and there's an hour-long making of as well, which I will get around to soon.

it’s being shown on 70mm in London soon

https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/000/HO00011874/nope

Said making-of was a good watch. Also, Indiewire has the script up:

https://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/NOPE_Script_FINAL_2022.11.29.pdf

one thing that kinda confused me: keke palmer finally gets her oprah shot at the well, but she seems to forget about it, the plate just lying there in the collection tray as the police arrive?

the impression I got was that the news guys out of shot were talking about the footage they got of the thing exploding, rendering her photo worthless?

I enjoyed this a lot - probably more the first half which took on the character of kaluuya's laconic, aimless, mysterious, half checked-out performance - and y'know these nitpicks don't really bother me but the "don't look at it or you will spook it" thing works if the animal is otherwise content to leave you alone. if it's trying to eat you it's not such a good strategy.

i know awards are arbitrary & whatever but it’s depressing & frustrating that this didn’t get a ~single~ oscar nomination

like, not even cinematography? screenplay? editing for chrissakes!? fucking NADA?

Sound design alone should have gotten a nod. It was the only movie I saw twice in the theater last year and the second time was because I absolutely wanted to immerse myself in that more thoroughly.

Lots of horror got overlooked this year. "Nope," "Pearl," could even imagine someone throwing "Barbarian" a bone. I mean, this is a world where "Top Gun" and "Avatar" are awards players, so anything goes.

xxp Yeah, it's like what they say when you're hiking in bear country. If you encounter an angry brown bear or grizzly, you can try playing dead; it might get bored and wander off, and if you fight back the bear will likely respond with even more aggression. But if it's an angry black bear, *do not* play dead, because the bear will just kill you. And so says the national park service: "If any bear attacks you in your tent, or stalks you and then attacks, do NOT play dead - fight back! This kind of attack is very rare, but can be serious because it often means the bear is looking for food and sees you as prey."

these nitpicks don't really bother me but the "don't look at it or you will spook it" thing works if the animal is otherwise content to leave you alone. if it's trying to eat you it's not such a good strategy.

As far as Oscars go, Nope would seem to have been a strong contender given that it was both a critical and popular hit, not to mention the precedent of Get Out earning several Oscar noms including best pic and best director. I wasn’t surprised that Us didn't land with the Oscars since that had more straight-up horror elements and also had a more divisive reception. But Nope is *less* of a horror movie than either Us or Get Out, *and* it's about the movie industry!

exactly

yes but it’s about how the movie industry exploits crew members and commodifies trauma. the academy only likes it when hollywood is portrayed as an unequivocal good

ding ding ding ding

and how it’s racist

I don’t think the Academy likes it when you point out how they’re racist

(sorry, couldn’t resist)

loll

On a related note, MOMI has a really well-curated series of movies that got zero Oscar nominations despite being viable, in the mix, and certainly should've been up on merit:

https://movingimage.us/series/snubbed/

I stayed spoiler-free all this time... I'm in the midst of a run through recent big movies and Nope is so clearly ahead of most of what I've seen. No need to explain or dig any further, just a fucking, fun movie.

That's actually the second best thing about Nope, the best is that Agua Dulce, for once, gets to star as itself. Decades of filling in for some other places - or in the case of Vasquez Rocks, other planets as well.

the mirrorball is just a standard tool used by VFX studios - so when OJ has one he probably just copped it from antlers or w/e

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCfHQL4kLnw

https://beforesandafters.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/hdri.jpg

playing in 70mm in new york right now. our screening yesterday was weird because the first reel wasn't delivered in time so the first 40 minutes were DCP and the rest was 70mm. pretty cool to do the A/B.

What were the differences?

the 70mm print had more dynamic range and was more contrasty than the DCP - so much so that it almost seemed 'washed out' for the first few min after the switch was made. but after you adjusted to it, it was great

Finally saw it. Pretty good.
I missed what caused flying saucer to become giant blooming iris/Lily diaphanous thing.

Good to finally see it. Good film.