Crocker Jarmen

This bugged me as well, but I was forced to accept it as an "urban legend" included in the movie because it was cool.

No, in the first scene where OJ is working at night, the radio news is talking about a group of missing hikers who've yet to be found.

But speaking of the horses, I questioned the economics of Jupe buying OJ's horses. Since these were trained animals, I'd think he must have been selling them at a higher price than what Jupe could have gotten from buying horses at the glue factory or whatever.

Noonan

Yeah, wasn’t Lucky like $11k? Why not just wrangle some wild horses in the valley for free.

maxfisher

On food and the transformation, considering the variation we see in terrestrial nature, I don't have a problem with something alien being a bit incomprehensible to us initially.

Regarding the balloon, I initially had the same thought, but wrote it off to a 'lucky shot.' As in, if the creature had an internal weak spot, was squeezing incredibly hard and the balloon happened to pop in just the right direction, I can buy it causing damage. At that point, it'd basically just be turning the creature's strength against itself.

TomOpus

Jordan Peele Hints at ‘Nope’ Sequel: ‘We’re Not Over Telling All of These Stories’

There might be mild spoilers in the story linked so I won't post any text. I haven't seen it.

Boba Fett

Finally saw this tonight. Was initially disappointed when I heard there were no Greys and then I guessed the UFO was alive.

Was blown away at how wonderful the movie was; not scary but ethereally unsettling at key points. Also pleasantly surprised at the Grey fakeout scene.

I think this is Peele’s best work so far and his most nuanced.

TomOpus

It's now on my short list of possible movies to watch this Friday for National Cinema Day.

Abob Teff

Another theme of the movie ... do you really think Jupe was capable of wrangling wild horses? No, he was an entertainer, not a rancher. It is yet another theme tying back to the animals ... humanity trying to maximize profit off of nature and nature's work.

Rival11

Ugh, what a disappointment. I loved it all the way up until "The plan".

I love Jordan Peele's style. "Us" was so damn good, I love that movie. Get out was very generic and bland.

I was really into "Nope", was just so onboard and loving it then it just all went to shit. Too bad but I'll always tune into whatever Peele does next.

Decker

Gunde

You don't think "Us" turned to shit with that stupid, stupid, STUPID ending and explanation?

JZ1276

IMO this was just as good as Get Out and Us was not anywhere near as good.

Troy Stiffler

Loved this. Was surprised by its simple plot. Not a bad thing. I just expected it to get bigger and deeper into everything.

Not knowing any details going in, it’s fun to experience movies knowing so little.

Rival11

No because I didn't think it was a stupid, stupid, STUPID explanation.

You didn't think that stupid, stupid, STUPID spaceship named jean jacket was a beyond stupid, stupid, STUPID idea?

JK, I posted my opinion on the film - you loved it and I hated it - all good.

johnnysd

I gave this 1 star and I seriously considered half a star. I "got" it. I understood the chimp sub-plot (to be honest that might have been a better movie). I even think the concept of a UFO alien was clever. But holy hell the movie was just completely idotic and stupid. It was incredibly boring. Characters were in no way interesting despite trying to make them quirky and interesting. It was SOOOOO slow. It did not connect with me on any level. The plot was idiotic, the acting was overdone, the direction was poor and there was no payoff. I guess I am weird because I don't see how anyone could think this was a good movie. FWIW I hated US as well.

I did like the one shot where the creature is sort of beaming up a horse in the daylight.

Also, if we are to accept that this dude has for 6 months shown an UFO alien eating a horse and the place (and show) was not mobbed by a million people is completely nonsensical.

Decker

I disagree with most of what you said, but not this. If he were showing a horse-eating alien to a crowd of paid spectators, it wouldn't be a secret for long at all.

Crocker Jarmen

I never got the idea he'd been having the alien eat horses for audiences for six months. Based on the lights OJ sees at night, I'm pretty sure he's doing "rehearsals", thinking he's training it. The show we see that everyone gets eaten at is the first time he's doing this show for an audience of anyone.

Abob Teff

This. Jupe saw the thing, attracted it back with horses, it ate the hikers*, crapped out all the trinkets and killed Otis, Sr., and Jupe kept it coming back with horses every Friday night. During that Friday night ritual, he began "training" it so he could unveil it to an audience (which goes horribly wrong, just like the chimp).

*TMIB studio note: the "hikers" should have been a group of trail riders on horseback. This would emphasize this thing doesn't have an attraction to, or appetite for people, but rather accidentally eats them (like a whale or a shark, it just opens mouth and eats what it sucks in). It was eating their horses which were hitched for the night. They just got sucked up, too. Explains why it wasn't just eating people all the time and that our protagonists have pissed it off.

Why So Blu?

I watched Star Trek TMP last night and couldn't help noticing that parts of V'ger look somewhat like Jean Jacket. From the patterns and intricacies to the weird noises and pops it made. I wouldn't be surprised if Peele pulled some inspiration from it.

Josh-da-man

I think the Gordie business was the highlight of the movie. I agree with Crocker Jarman about the creepypasta/urban legend vibe that gave off. And it was the most genuinely terrifying sequence I've seen in a movie in years. It also had this kind of weird thing going where if you know what chimpanzees are capable of despite them being used by Hollywood and advertising as the prototypical "cute monkey," it just becomes terrifying.

That said, I think that the themes and messaging in this movie were so heavy-handed that they got in the way of the plot and made the movie too clunky and clumsy for its own good. And, with the themes being "wild animals are unpredictable and hard to tame" and "people are drawn to grotesque spectacles," they aren't exactly controversial, but the movie just kind of beats you over the head with it. When these are being applied to a giant flying saucer monster, it got in the way of its own story and it became so blatantly metaphorical that it pulled me out of the movie. I think the script could have used a touch-up to make this stuff more subtle.

One metaphor that I did like, which was more subtle, was the use of Fry's Electronics. It sort of felt like product placement, but knowing that the chain was dying a slow death really added to the dystopian and apocalyptic feel of the movie, with the washed up child actor desperately clinging onto and trying to recapture his past fame, and the Hollywood horse wranglers facing a changing Hollywood landscape where they're no longer needed, being replaced with CGI (and, apparently, camels).

RocShemp

I find the last sentence in this paragraph both informative and amusing since everything that precedes it sums up my experience watching Us. I hated that movie so much, despite enjoying (though not exactly loving) Get Out, that I was completely unsure I'd want to see this movie. The marketing also failed to pique my interest. I guess this'll be something I'll watch someday when there's nothing else to see.​​​​

Josh-da-man

I've said it before, but the problem with Us is that it would make a good, punchy episode of The Twilight Zone, but when it's stretched out into a two hour movie the central conceit falls apart. It gives you enough to time to sit there and think about how it doesn't really make much sense, and you start to figure out the logistics of the whole thing, like how they're keeping these millions of people alive in an underground facility with food and medical care and water and plumbing, and how those facilities are maintened. Get Out is a similar kind of Twilight Zone story stretched into a movie, but it works much better.

I had the same problem with Looper, which felt like three episodes of The Twilight Zone mashed together into a single movie. Where what would have been a cool twist ending to a short story (like the hitman who kills people sent to him from the future finds out his last kill is... himself) turns into "that's kind of dumb... what's the point of doing that?" when it's applied to a two hour movie.

RocShemp

Yeah, didn't care for Looper either. Almost made me pass on Knives Out. What a mistake that would have been.

johnnysd

Also didn't care for Looper. Loved Knives Out and almost skipped it after the dumbest SW movie ever IMO

As I said I like the general idea of Nope. But I think if you gave 10 directors like a short overview of the concept and had them film it, Peele would likely have made one of the worst versions.

Finisher

Seemed incredulous but we're talking about a movie about a giant UFO creature sucking things up. Yeah, let's hang around and try to film it. Jupe putting on that show. This is all just beyond stupid. People are over analyzing to justify an unjustifiably stupid plot.

Em character was insufferable and OJ was a muttering half wit. Aren't we supposed to care about the characters?

story

I forgot to post that I saw this a few weeks ago. It was very pretty and had a very good atmosphere. The last act really dragged for me, unfortunately.