Nope, Nope, Nope Or Yup, Yup, Yup

Another scary movie, and you know what that means?  Yes, I had to talk about it, especially with the Jordan Peele name on it, that is like the seal of approval for the genre these days.  And with it comes the movie trip to see the latest of these, Nope, with a few friends on the show as fellow Nopers to give not only their Letterboxd ratings, but also, all of us try and come up with the moral or message of the movie.  That may be hard here with there being so much you can take away from this film staring Black Panther and Black Mirror's Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer from both Scream the TV series and Scream Queens, and The Walking Dead legend Steven Yeun!  So join all of us, this pack of movie-going people, as we dissect this new age alien movie, and see if you should also say, yup to seeing this modern day Jaws movie with feelings, or if you need to say nope and not get sucked into the hype. 

Let us know what you thought of this latest scaretastic movie filled with trauma and deep therapy and grief overcoming moments with the occasional dance breaks on social at either @NickNack_IC or @NickNack Movies on Letterboxd, Twitter, Tik Tok, Instagram, and all of the social media platforms you can think of that still function!

Transcript

Nick Nack Goes to the Movies Pod S3E14

-Intro/Jingle

-Hello Friends, and welcome to another episode of this pop culture palooza podcast, Nick Nack Goes To The Movies, where I, the aforementioned Nick, continues to watch and talk about movies and shows, no matter how random they are.  I have never met a movie I did not like, well unless it was Rob Zombie giving his horrid take on the Halloween franchise, or one of the latest and certainly not greatest A24 films, Men.  Starting off firing the hot take cannons already!  You already know my punching bag movies.  

-But what you should know, is my take on Nope.  Reviews have been fairly strong and consistent, excluding one 10 things list that has been making the rounds.  But we are not here to talk about that.  Instead, let’s see and hear how the latest of the Jordan Peele horror movies stacks up.  Not compared to each other, I already talked about Get Out on here a while back, and one day I need to re-watch Us to get and remember my take on that.  So instead, let’s see if Jordan Peele has another smash hit on his hands at the box office.

-Actors

-So, who is in this movie, the usual question before we get to the meat and potatoes of the episode.  Let’s be real, I probably know the exact same 4 actors you know from this.  The main draw outside of the Jordan Peele name on things.  One day I need to take a test drive at his take on the Twilight Zone series.  But how can you have a Peele movie without Daniel Kaluuya?  Yes, they did Us, but still, not the same.  Yes, he had to give up a role in the Black Panther sequel, which, yes that trailer looks fire and I am bummed out about it, it is a supporting smaller role, versus a lead in another Peele spooky movie, you gotta respect the choice, especially with how good he was in Get Out.  And he has so many movies I need to see with him that I haven’t gotten around to yet, Queen & Slim, Judas and the Black Messiah.  Especially with him being in one of my favorite Black Mirror episodes/movies, 15 Million Merits.  Can’t wait for the new season of that, and yes, go check that episode out if you haven’t yet.  Also, weirdly he is in Kick-Ass 2, a movie I keep meaning to re-watch to see if I like it or not. I saw it once and wasn’t sure, need to get on that.

-Wow that was a lot for one actor, but it won’t get any shorter talking about Keke Palmer.  Of course, there is Akeelah and the Bee and Jump Rope Disney Channel original movie, Jump In with Corbin Bleu.  Follow those early roles with her forays into Horror, arguably some of the lighter ones like Scream Queens, still waiting for that season 3, and Scream season 3.  Also, brief Scream franchise rant.  Neve Campbell should be in every Scream movie, pay her!  But for the shows, seasons 2 and 3 need hard releases for my collection on the bookshelf.  Also, the Lakewood Scream story needs a final wrap up season, ASAP.  Willa Fitzgerald, John Karna, Bex Taylor-Klaus, and Carlson Young deserve better.  But to Keke Palmer quick, yes, she was also in some odder things like Big Mouth and the spinoff, which I love.  And Hustlers, which, was not so good for me at least, even with the GOAT, Cardi B.  And now of course, Nope.  She is becoming a bit of a Scream Queen, and she never, spoiler alert, dies in any of these.

-Now while these are the main stays, everyone knows them both, I was super excited for Steven Yeun, now is most of this because of The Walking Dead and his excellent role as Glenn, it sure is!  I do still like that show and one of the spinoffs.  Yes, it is Fear, for sure not worlds beyond, hell no to that one.  But that show really did have some amazing actors and characters in the early seasons, when they lost Shane as Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey DeMunn as Dale, and after they ruined Andrea played by Laurie Holden, there was a bit of a drop, but I still like it.  Now he also had some great other roles, I love his Drunk History episode, that show really should be brought back.  His voice acting role has also done some great things with the other Amazon Super hero show, Invincible, and the free therapy show in the same vein has Bojack Horseman, Tuca & Bertie.  Go Watch Tuca & Bertie on either on Netflix and or HBO Max.

-And while his role is brief here, Keith David is a legend.  A true legend with an amazing Voice.  His villainous role in princess and the frog, the Saints Row franchise, and Rick and Morty recently enough, among so many others.  Now Let us appreciate and respect his career.  What a voice.

-Nope

- Outside of these big role actors, no one else is someone I have heard of.  But you came to this movie like I did, some unique take on horror and see another Peele masterpiece.  So here we are with Nope.  

-Now there are two things to talk about here with Nope.  There of course is the plot and the storytelling.  That is one thing and the usual thing to go through on Nick Nack Goes To The Movies.  The next one, specifically for this movie, is what does it all mean. There are so many different morals and messages you can pull out of this, and I will share with you all what they are.  What I thought, what others thought, and more.  We love an open interpretation mixed in with some scares!

-So to the plot first, you might be confused when this movie kicks off, or when it goes back to the past with something to do with a failed children’s family sitcom TV show taping.  I feel like I have had this happen a few times recently enough where the start of the movie is something that feels like I am in the wrong theater and I am nervous I am gonna start seeing a Despicable 3 minions rise of gru movie.  But with Jordan Peele movies, you have to kind of expect the weird and unexpected, and I am all about weird.  And this beginning scene is all about trauma and overcoming it, something near and dear to this podcast.  I was hooked from this alone.

-But outside of this, I had no clue Keith David was in this, and with his amazing voice acting prowess, I was jazzed for him, but man was he out of this quickly.  Even this was some crazy stuff with a mystery of getting coined in the eye, falling from the sky, and eventually he died.  Now us as the viewer knew something about aliens and such from the sky, that much was clear, and honestly, I am surprised the marketing for this movie gave even that away.  But many worse things have teased entire movie plots with trailers, so this was nothing compared to some whole summaries we have gotten in 2-3-minute trailers.

-Now, as a video movie guy myself, there is always a good moment of joy and recognition of any movie set type stuff, so seeing that, fun.  And finding a way to use real world events and moments in cinematic history to further convey parts of their story and the disenfranchisement, once again good.  That and the whole theme of controlling uncontrollable things, in this case those things are presented as animals, seeing things go so wrong and to have the animal replaced by another green screen thing, that has to be some take on cinema.  I love the prequel Star Wars movies and a lot of Marvel things, but those sets a lot of times are a bunch of green and blue screens, floors, and walls with a ton of effects put in after.  It is rare to see movies that are really shot in the real world for the most or entire parts.

-While Kulaya plays a very different character, less charismatic, that just leaves more room for Keke Palmer to shine in her over the top way.  Her constant dance breaks and dreams to make it big are top-tier.  She kills this movie and steals the show, but that was always going to be the point with the story.  Let’s not get it twisted, her over the top nature pairs well with the more reserved Daniel Kylaya character.  He did a good job too, let’s make sure people are saying crazy ish and slander about him and his role!

-Do I pretty much follow things Steven Yeun does because of his amazing role as Glenn in the Walking Dead, yes, yes I do.  I can admit that and have no problem with that.  He was one of the best characters and actors in the show, and while I still watch it, losing him was tough.  But Jeffrey Dean Morgan did and continues to bring good stuff to the show as well.

-So, to have him in this movie was a big deal for me.  I haven’t seen him in a ton of movies as a more titular lead.  Now the poster having his name was great, but even from the trailers, I wasn’t so confident in his role for this movie.  And I was kind of right.  He was fun, he was tortured, and eventually him trying to profit of his grief, which, props for monetizing that, and trying to control a much larger and meaner creature, he got got, he, his family, and everyone else at his crazy ranch attraction.  By the end of the movie, they were just a casualty to show us more so what is the deal with this, what we assume is a ship, but turns out, the big spoiler, the ship is a whole alien that sucks and eats things up.  And that scene with the alien eating everybody and seeing what they are dealing with being digested, that was…a lot!

-But before we move to the main group of people in the movie, the notion of aliens and having his kids dressed as aliens haunt the farm for a bit, that was pretty creepy to eventually funny.  Especially with Kulaya absolutely decking one of them in the face, a normal reaction we would all have.

-Now of course, the main part of this movie is outside of that broken up into two things, surviving this massive alien creature eating them up, and documenting its existence to get famous and get the “Oprah” shot.  Every interaction Palmer has with Kulaya, is just so much fun, and she really is a treat getting to act her over the top self out.  Same thing with Scream season 3, she kills it in that show.  Scream Queens she is more on par with everyone else for how absurd that show and characters are, she might actually be the more reserved character in that show.

-Every time that creature is chasing someone or something down, it is so fast, makes little noise, and it is pretty scary, especially seeing it spit out all the not people stuff, or making it rain, literally, making it rain so much blood it gives their house a new paint job.  -Another fun take on this movie Nope, is that this is Jordan Peele’s modern take on Jaws.  Or at least the same genre/style/energy to a movie.  There is a creature out there, people don’t buy it, a lot of people get eaten, and eventually someone has to deal with this creature.  I saw Jaws too late in life to be fully scared by it, but this could really scare some people of the other unexplored expanse.  First you could be traumatized by things deep in the water, now deep from the sky, or outer space, spooky!

-So initially this has nothing to do with killing this monster, or opening up the beaches for economic growth from a seaside town.  More modernly, this horrifying thing exists, and initially let’s get famous from it and make some money, which is a modern-day thing we all want.  Coworker Jeremy and I talk about it time and time again, the goal, the true end goal, of everyone, or at least the two of us, is to get paid to exist.  One day Jeremy!  But I think I would say Nope and the two of Us would probably Get Out with this alien above us.  Yes, that was wordsmith art to get a bunch of movie names into one coherent sentence, what are we some kind of Suicide Squad?

-So the quest to get the creature on camera is fun enough, first with a ton of security cameras, and eventually a legendary director, using his desire to get that perfect shot.  Something I get too in my sports filming job, but I don’t want to kill myself to get this piece of art, no ear cutting off for my artistic passions here.

-Also, while this capture it on camera or film is the main goal here, the idea of controlling this creature like an animal, one of his horses, is a neat dangled thread, something I hung onto time and time again as this theme came back up a few times over and throughout the movie.

-But when things are starting to shape up, they bring in not only the equivalent of a Best Buy Geek Squad guy, but a well-known cinematographer.  And I love his rough, gruff, and tough attitude.  There are not a lot of characters in this movie, but the main 5 or so all interact with each other in fun ways that make this small main cast sing!

-The whole plan is pretty fun of using a way to track the creature with electronics and inflatable waving arm tube men.  But like Jaws, or a lot of these kind of movies, someone wants to break the news and be the big story too, and the whole plan almost gets ruined not once, but twice by people who want to either get big or, for one cinematographer, get the perfect shot.  The plan works and he just can’t help himself, and let’s be real, his amazing cinematography and shot getting doesn’t really work when he gets eaten up and his camera and almost assuredly footage gets lost and damaged forever, the artists struggle hah.

-Now, as someone who was a big lovecraft country fan, that show was amazing on whatever we call HBO Max now.  For the love of all things DC, Warner Brothers, and more, please figure this ish out.  I wanted Brendan Fraser Batwoman.  The DCEU is a mess, and I wish so much we could have gotten the Snyder stuff and a normal coherent storyline, we were close, but now it is all over the place and HBO Max is on life support, sad times for what I thought was the best of the streaming platforms.

-But I bring up Lovecraft Country because this saucer vacuum creature was not just a big flat circle hiding in the clouds, the way it was found out first with some fake ass stationary clouds.  Instead it becomes some massive haunting and beautiful like angel creature.  It was so cool looking, the design and VFX designers made something really cool for this equivalent of a final boss form, you get it video game people, you get it and me.

-Now I really expected Kulaya to die sacrificing himself, another person who though he could control something he could not, horses are one thing, this flying alien thing, not so much.  

-But this of course led to the best part of this movie, the climax with Keke Palmer as another variation of another successful Final Girl!  Her fight and plan to not film this thing anymore, but to actually kill it, that was something else.  Getting all the way to that ranch to have this thing inhale a big inflatable, something that would really mess up and blow up its digestive track, all that and still getting a picture from this well sky photo machine from that old western place from Yeun’s character, what a tense visual spectacle.  And her brother being alive too, you know they are both gonna be making it big after that, not only stopping this creature, but capturing it in photo form, they are going to finally get that respect that was taken away from their family so long ago.  This was a tense, fun, and thought-provoking film that while maybe not as easily understood as Get Out and a bit abstract and ethereal, is something you should all watch at least once, probably twice as all good movies with scares are.  I can’t call this a true horror movie with elements of sci-fi, it is much more a hybrid.  So that is the plot, and I have danced around this.  With this movie, more than most, you could walk away with a what was the meaning, or have one in mind, so let’s dig deeper into that with this movie, which deserves it!

-The Meaning of Nope

-Now this is a hard one because there is no one real answer for this.  I think Get Out had a clear message, I don’t know if I can recall or remember the Us one, why I have to watch that again one day, but this movie had so many thought-provoking ideas out there, so before I give away some, let’s see what some of the people who watched Nope with me picked up from it.  What was their personal moral of the story moments from this latest Jordan Peele horror flick?

-(GUEST TAKEAWAYS FROM THE MOVIE NOPE MONTAGE HERE)

-Now you heard what some friends of the show and simultaneous Nope viewers took away from this, so here is what I got.  

-No this was not just an alien, or in this case, an alien horror movie.  No way is it that cut and dry.  I kind of like the idea of this movie being about the commentary and criticism about how much under surveillance we are, be it the alien monster or all the cameras being around the movie.  As this podcast is based a lot of the time on overcoming trauma and real-world therapy, that could be a part of it.  That sometimes is the clear-cut nature of the Steven Yuen storyline.  Especially with his idea to profit of that traumatic moment from his childhood.  There could be something about suffering for your art or people doing crazy things to “make it big” and influencer culture.  I also like that idea, a lot.

-But immediately after this movie, the takeaway for me was this.  I think there was some message about trying to control the uncontrollable, and the eventual failure of trying to do this.  In this case, personified by the movies constant reminders of controlling animals/creatures and when that fails or when that works.  Gordy the monkey, big failure and murdering people.  Kulaya and his taming horse’s thing, mostly working and nobody getting murdered.  Yuen trying to have an understanding with this massive sky vacuum alien, not good and people getting murdered.  But Kulaya kind of has some rapport with this.  There are so many takeaways from this very good movie, but this was my initial takeaway that stuck out in my mind the most.   But that brings up the Segway to the next part of this episode, I think it was good, but how good is good for me, and all my guests!

-Letterboxd Reviews

-First, we have a few fellow Nopers who not only gave their take on the meaning or takeaway they had from Nope, so it was only fair to get their Letterboxd ratings too as well as why.  For those unfamiliar with Letterboxd, it is the social media site for cinephiles like you and I.  You can rate, review, and connect with other media people, like me on there.  So make sure to check out @Nick Nack underscore IC there.  So these ratings are out of 5 starts, you can have half stars, so with that, take it away gang.

-(GUEST REVIEWS MONTAGE HERE)

-Nope - 4 Stars

-wrap/call to action

-So, we are all caught up once again until all of those early August movies come out again.  Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, Prey, and Bullet Train.  None of these are like OMG watches preemptively, but I am excited and hopeful that at least one of them will blow me away either in theaters or that Predator one on Hulu.  My money is on Bullet Train, but that is out adventure to discover next episode.  So, until then, cheers, and as always, until next time Cinephiles.