#(I just realized A QUARTER TO BEGIN AND END SO IT BOOKENDS WELL PLAYED JORDAN)

[pastafossa]

falling down the Nope rabbit hole for like the 5th time and I reeeally wanna hear your thoughts/take on the movie

also hope you are starting to feel better!

I'm feeling a little better tonight, thank you! I took yesterday and today off and wound up just spending 99% of it sleeping it off so much for my fanfic catchup list cause damn, that shit hits like a freight train. But we're coming around it now!

And oh my god, listen - I've wanted to see this since I saw the first trailer ages ago. I trust Jordan Peele to make a good movie out of the gate at this point, I'll see his movies without knowing a goddamn thing about them. AND IT PAID OFF, I LOVED THIS MOVIE SO MUCH. I'm going to try and do this without too many spoilers so people can see it.

For anyone reading: if you havent' seen this movie yet, go watch the trailer and then consider seeing it! It's an amazing scifi/horror film!

Like first off, on cinematography alone, this movie is stunning. The shots blew my mind (OJ opening the truck and looking up, the blood rain, Ghost charging across the pasture, the entire horse chase scene), and as someone who grew up in Los Angeles, I also can't easily recall anyone who's so wonderfully captured the dry, barren sort of beauty of the scrub/deserts in the area. It's the perfect place for a freaky scifi horror movie like this because it allows these huge, massive, open, terrifying shots that you can't get with a bunch of trees and buildings in the way. It's a reminder that there is nothing to stop you from falling up into the sky (which you know is relevant in this film).

Second off, something I found hysterical is the number of times your chain gets yanked in this movie. These moments where you're sure you absolutely know what's going to happen because this is what you've been taught by the genre to expect and he just rips the rug out from under your feet. It's a move only someone who loves this sort of film can do because they KNOW you know what should happen and so they're able to play on your expectations before throwing in a twist.

Third: THE HUMOR IN THIS GODDAMN MOVIE OH MY GOD. I did not expect to laugh as much as I did, but holy shit. Angel's a gem, and then the genre aware moments, moments when weird shit is going down where you'd absolutely want to go 'fuck this, not doing this, nope.' Even the HORSES do it. And of course OJ calmly closing that truck door after looking up is one of my favorite moments. I love Daniel Kaluuya to death and back for his expression because this will become a gif staple for me whenever I see a large bug outside.

THE CHARACTERS. I loved our main cast, even if Holst was a dick. OJ was a fucking badass (AND ON HORSEBACK NO LESS), Em was 10 kinds of amazing (and gets an AKIRA MOTORCYCLE SLIDE OH MY GOD), Angel is a precious dumbass bless his heart. Jupe was also a dumbass but like... Jesus it's kinda hard not to understand considering how fucked up he was by what happened to him (also that scene - not the first one, but you know... *waves up* that scene is going to haunt me for a LONG time). BUT I AM STILL MAD AT HIM FOR THE HORSES, FUCK YOU FOR THAT JUPE.

And FINALLY. The message. I love the message of spectacle, exploitation, and how it destroys, and I love how that carries into every part of this movie - OJ and Em's grandcestor, exploited as a black jockey, so much so that people don't remember his name despite him being IN THE FIRST MOVIE EVER. Their chase for fame/fortune is even the most understandable since they're also just trying to survive in a cutthroat business - Hollywood - that is all about exploitation. And an additional level of exploitation - despite Haywood's horses being used in western films, westerns are incredibly whitewashed and lack the true diversity the profession had. Meanwhile, Holt is chasing after the perfect film shot, exploiting the moment, even when it makes no sense. Jupe is over here thinking he can exploit and control the uncontrollable - even after being traumatized by exploitation that leads to literal death (for god's sake, STOP DOING STUPID SHIT WITH WILD ANIMALS). The TMZ reporter - HOLY SHIT the kings of exploitation, being more worried about his CAMERA.

And the beauty of it all - how do we save ourselves? Stop looking. Aka: the one thing humans just can't seem to do whenever there's some train wreck going on, even when it'll get us killed.

Anyway, that's *waves* my review of Nope, I've seen it once and now I'm really desperate for a rewatch and am eagerly awaiting it being available to buy so I can keep it on my metaphorical shelf! I have some things I want to look for in the second go round cause it's definitely a Watch More Than Once movie with all the clues and little things Peele slips in and I know I missed things. But it's now in my top 10 for both scifi and horror. FIVE STARS ANGEL. FIVE STARS.