Upon being accepted into the Hollywood Critics Association, their fine site-runners and admins assemble “Gradebooks” collecting early reviews and grades from their critics on popular releases. When I can get more work completed and a review submitted early enough, my take and connected quotes have the chance to make these shout-out posts. My newest was being included for DC League of Super-Pets playing now in theaters. Check out your boy!
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ReedPop’s Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, better known as C2E2, returns to Chicago this coming weekend. The event runs August 5-7 at McCormick Place. Tickets are still available from single-day general admission all the way up to VIP packages. Our very own 25YL film critic Don Shanahan will be representing 25YL with press credentials to scope out the scene. If you’re a first-timer, bring your cosplay style, comfy shoes, and a snack to enjoy this massive collection of fandom! You’ll definitely need a map to get around.
When you combine the Hollywood stars, professional wrestlers, comic book greats, and some of the best cosplayers in the world, the sheer amount of talent that will be in the building at one time will be the best you can get in Chicago. The headlining talent for this year’s C2E2 showcases many levels of genre media. Here’s a sample lineup from the entertainer side:
Diving into the comic book side, the many featured guests, including those who take exhibition residence in the huge Artist Alley zone of C2E2 annually give fans unprecedented casual access to the creative people who inspire so many of our genre obsessions. Stop by their booths to see them in action, scope out their work, or spring for a commissioned piece of personalized artwork. Filling much of the show floor around them are hundreds of exhibitors ranging from independent shops to major brands filled with unique gifts and buried treasures of memorabilia.
On the more immersive side under the spotlight, C2E2 is hosting over 70 panels a day, ranging from fan meetups and gaming get-togethers for all ages to educational courses and main stage interviews. Stop by The Yard, sponsored by Chicago’s Revolution Brewing Company, for a relaxing indoor garden spot for libations and lounging. Stay late for the After Dark C2E2 features which include after-parties, karaoke, anime watch parties, and even a charity art auction to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
Speaking of the wee ones, for the crowd bringing wide-eyed children, C2E2’s Family HQ and Gaming Zone areas are outstanding interactive spaces of demos, workshops, and free play for any future little wizard, hero, or Stormtrooper in your family. Fans of all things anime, manga, K-pop, and more have their own special area as well with the Pop Asia area featuring discussions from Chicago’s Japanese Cultural Center.
Follow C2E2 and ReedPop on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Join their Discord server and Facebook squad group for even more chatter. Lastly, download their app for Apple or Android for guiding you through the show floor and event calendar during your visit.
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For their 74th episode, our two conspiracy theory film critics, alien dads, and perfect school teachers Will Johnson and Don Shanahan are united together in person for the second time! Will was visiting family in Chicago and met up with Don to shoot the breeze and create some stellar content. A piece of that is a special shared microphone Cinephile Hissy Fit on Jordan Peele's Nope. It's one guy's middle film and another's new #1 of the year. Be listening here and be ready to watch a video version on YouTube! Come for the shared challenge and tirade and stay for the mutual love and respect for the fun movies encapsulate. Enjoy our podcast!
Cinephile Hissy Fits is a 25YL media podcast, brought to you by RuminationsRadioNetwork.com. Please visit, rate, review and subscribe. If you enjoyed this show, we have more where that came from, with interesting hosts, and wonderful guests. All available on iTunes, Spotify, and anywhere you find your favorite shows. Follow the show on Twitter at @CinephileFit and on Facebook. Also, find both Will Johnson and Don Shanahan on Letterboxd as the accumulate their viewings and build their ranks and lists.
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LESSON #1: THE LOGIC BEHIND GIVING TREATS– With a guarantee that this line of thinking is digging too deep for an animated family movie, DC League of Super-Pets calls to mind the logic behind why pet owners give treats outside of a balanced diet. In a 2015 article published on PetMD, Dr. Ken Tudor defined high-value and low-value treats and besmirched the practice by describing five guilt-ridden states of mind that stood out as the real reasons why a bone is thrown in a pet’s direction. They were:
1) Owners are not present
2) Compromise the quality of food
3) Social dynamics in multi-pet households
4) Trying to make-up for a bad start
5) Personal issues
Call this a crockpot theory all you want, but, if you put Warner Bros. and DC Comics in the owner’s position and us movie audiences in the pet position, this all makes astounding sense. The argument can be made that DC League of Super-Pets is being offered as a treat to us as an attempt to correct a little piece of every single one of those five deficiencies. Humor me for a second.
While Disney/Marvel churns out a steady parade of hit movies and shows, Warner Bros. hasn’t been as productive or organized with their big-screen catalog, many of which have been saddled with various delays. This is still a big-spending studio trying desperately to attract and please a multitude of fans, who have many other entertainment choices, to be returning customers. Removing the disconnected Joker and The Batman, their DC Extended Universe movies lately (Wonder Woman 1984, The Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and more) haven’t exactly been well-regarded or massive moneymakers. Making matters worse, behind-the-scenes scandals and frequent turmoil has generated the kind of bad press where Warner Bros. and everything they touch right now looks broken beyond repair.
Simply put, the guilt is heavy and they owe us a good show. That being said, with its buoyant humor and stellar energy, DC League of Super-Pets is the finest pampering treat we’re going to get and it’s a welcome one, even if a treat like this is a tad on the unhealthy side. With no apologies to Joss Whedon, Zack Snyder, or anyone else, it took bringing in a bunch of animal characters, the writers of The LEGO Batman Movie, and shifting to animation to give us the best theatrical Justice League movie we’ve had to date.
DC League of Super-Pets begins by adding the Man of Steel’s flying four-legged crime fighting companion, voiced by Dwayne Johnson, to his Kryptonian escape origin, complete with John Williams score motifs snuck in by composer Steve Jablonsky (Transformers). Compared to common Earth-born canines, Krypto lives the spoiled good life of superpowers, lifelong friendship from Clark Kent (John Krasinski), and poop that smells like sandalwood. Lately however, Krypto has been noticing a dip in his 100% hold of Superman’s attention with the increasing presence of Lois Lane (Olivia Wilde), the woman Clark is ready to marry.
Clark gets the idea that Krypto needs some additional friends. A visit to a Metropolis pet adoption shop introduces Clark, Krypto, and us to a motley crew of undesirable animals, which include the street-smart hound Ace (Kevin Hart), the hairless and very intelligent guinea pig Lulu (Kate McKinnon), the surly and near-blind turtle Merton (Natasha Lyonne), the plucky pig PB (Vanessa Bayer), and the anxious squirrel Chip (Diego Luna). The ringer of the bunch is Lulu.
She’s a former lab animal freed from kryptonite experiments conducted by Lex Luthor (Marc Maron). Rather than being hurt by the experience, she desires more power and approval from the bald supervillain. After a battle between Luthor and the entire Justice League rambles through the city, Lulu acquires a chunk of special orange kryptonite that grants her and the other castoff pets newfound superpowers of their own. In short order, Lulu imbues more powers into a muddle of recruited fellow guinea pigs and captures the entire Justice League. It’s up to Krypto to befriend Ace and the others and train them as new warriors while ingested traditional green kryptonite has rendered him temporarily powerless.
LESSON #2: HOW ONE IS ADDRESSED OR ADMONISHED MATTERS– In a heady little running issue brewing behind the frolic, many of the animal characters in DC League of Super-Pets are deeply affected by how they are seen by humans, owners, and their own creature peers. Each has been talked down to, scolded, or discarded for their looks, behaviors, or downright existence. That tracks with the formal advice of dog trainers to avoid “Bad dog!” language and other poor choices for correcting unwanted behavior. This hurt, which is new to Krypto and comes out in the line “The problem is you,” has long festered in the others to coalesce as either disappointment, distrust, low self-esteem, or all of the above.
LESSON #3: THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE OF DOMESTICATED PETS– The thematic opposite to all that adversity in DC League of Super-Pets is the devoted unconditional love pets have for their matched humans. All kinds of crazy things can happen and a good pet will still be there, licking your face for affection and appeasement. This strong bond of courage through hardship, enthusiasm for attention, and championed loyalty is an improvement for the lives of all involved, pet and owner. This simplicity is powerful and an easy victory for the movie.
The entertaining appeal of DC League of Super-Pets is multiplied further by a brilliant blend of characterization and voice casting. It should be no surprise a squeaky-clean version of the ball-busting and tortilla-slapping real-life friendship of Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson comes through in their digitized pooches. They are the rightful headliners, yet the undercard behind them, filled with the likes of Krasinski, Wilde, Keanu Reeves and more, is deep with perfect fits. The zingers zoom like streaks across the sky in designs and hues from the craft house of Animal Logic that radiate with a very polished and sunny golden tinge on every surface.
Normally, there’s always one or two out-of-place or over-the-top actors in these types of films that threaten to ruin a good thing with extra cheese. As the chief villain, Kate McKinnon could have easily been that offender in DC League of Super-Pets. However, the riffs of Kate’s endless wit, twisting her Ms. Frizzle flair, spur much of the comedy and punctuate lines that would normally be very tacky. Both the accompanying parents and their target demographic kids will find many reasons to roll in the aisles laughing and hop out of their theaters with a “Pup, pup, and away!” wonderment after this show.
The credit for this energy belongs to the writing and directing brain trust of Jared Stern (The LEGO Batman Movie, Happy Anniversary), Sam Levine (Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero), and John Whittington (The LEGO Ninjago Movie). Where has this bright levity been within the iconography of DC Comics? DC League Super-Pets is the style of presentation we and these great characters deserve on the regular. Even if it means admitting the aforementioned flaws of guilt, Warner Bros. needs to find a way to refine this kind of treat to become their regular balanced diet of heroic adventure. Maybe then they too will gain more of the unconditional love they have been missing and begging for.
LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#1057)
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John Lennon famously said, ‘Before Elvis, there was nothing.’ Well, before Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis (currently on release and doing great business), there have been several music biopics in recent years: Walk the Line (Johnny Cash), Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen), Rocketman (Elton John), Respect (Aretha Franklin) to name a few. Bohemian Rhapsody is the most commercially successful so far, but one for the money, two for the […]
The post The Wonder of Austin and Elvis: An Awards Season Reflection appeared first on Movie Marker.
I've been overdue advertising this on behalf of my film critic peer Caillou Pettis. Earlier this year, he invited me to contribute to his new book "The Inspiring World of Horror: The Movies That Influenced Generations," collecting formative horror film experiences from writers, creators, and fellow critics. I was greatly honored by the invitation and did my best to give him a solid story. I've got a section in there celebrating the original Candyman. Horror movie afficionados, grab it for your Kindle and support a good author! It’s quickly become a best seller!
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Reelgood published its Top 10 Titles in Streaming for this week (07/14/22 to 07/20/22). Netflix scores a whopping five titles making top marks, including the adaptation of Jane’s Austen novel Persuasion and the animated movie The Sea Beast.
The long-running video game franchise Resident Evil comes in at #5, and The Taiwanese horror film Incantation at #8. Hulu’s hit kitchen drama The Bear takes #1 as FX announced a second season last week.
The Reelgood Top 10 ranking uses first-party data from how its 5 million users in the U.S. interact with movies and TV shows on the platform in real-time.
Hulu
AMC+
Netflix
Netflix
Netflix
Hulu
Netflix
Netflix
Prime Video
Starz
2021 & 2020 Fast Company Most Innovative Companies in Video
2019 Webby Winner Best Entertainment App
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For their 73rd episode, two elevated film critics, worried dads, and non-kidnapping school teachers Will Johnson and Don Shanahan welcome back special guest Cati Glidewell of “The Blonde in Front” to the shows. She's back to talk about Scott Derrickson's successful horror comeback The Black Phone. Don didn't see this one, so he plays moderator while Will and Cati dial all the possible numbers for this Ethan Hawke vehicle. Come for the shared challenge and tirade and stay for the mutual love and respect for the fun movies encapsulate. Enjoy our podcast!
Cati Glidewell is a Chicago based freelance film journalist, reviewer, trivia expert, and prize-winning Oscar enthusiast. She is a lifelong cinephile who is trying everything and telling you all about it. Find her work across YouTube and social media at The Blonde in Front. She has plenty to say about Everything Everywhere All at Once—and more!
Cinephile Hissy Fits is a 25YL media podcast, brought to you by RuminationsRadioNetwork.com. Please visit, rate, review and subscribe. If you enjoyed this show, we have more where that came from, with interesting hosts, and wonderful guests. All available on iTunes, Spotify, and anywhere you find your favorite shows. Follow the show on Twitter at @CinephileFit and on Facebook. Also, find both Will Johnson and Don Shanahan on Letterboxd as the accumulate their viewings and build their ranks and lists.
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While I fully support my friend Ian Simmons’ year-long moratorium on “new” comic book films and TV shows, I like the chances he’s chosen to reflect on old titles for his Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel. Ian requested “Earth’s Mightiest Critics” to revisit the 15-year-old Spider-Man 3 from director Sam Raimi with fresh eyes and an open heart. I tried my best with a rewatch, but the movie only got worse for me. With many absentees from the usual crew, it ended up being Ian hosting Will Johnson and myself representing the Cinephile Hissy Fit podcast for this lovely conversation on all the emotions of success and failure that came from Spider-Man 3. Enjoy!
LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#95)
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by Adrian Johansen
Everyone loves a good hacker film. Your heart races when you see an actor's fingers flying across a keyboard, trying to break into a security system or crack some kind of code that will save the world — or perhaps launch a powerful weapon.
Whether they’re doing it for good or evil, it’s exciting to watch. This explains the popularity of tech-centered media.
However, these films might have more to teach us than we realize at the moment. While it’s fun to see cyber hacks on the silver screen, there are lessons that can be learned from some of these popular films and scenes. While you might not be worried that someone is going to hack into your personal computer looking for secret government codes, stealing your personal or business information is a real threat of which you should be aware.
We’ve seen over the years that no matter how large a corporation is, no one is completely immune to cyber attacks. Some of the biggest data breaches of the 21st century have impacted companies like:
Yahoo;
Facebook;
LinkedIn;
Marriott International;
Alibaba.
Perhaps the biggest film that comes to mind when you consider corporate cyber attacks is 1995’s “Hackers.” The film follows a super-smart teen who had previously been banned from computers for creating a virus that crashed the stock market. However, it centers around him trying to clear his name by going up against another hacker who is trying to embezzle funds from a large oil company.
While cybersecurity issues are no joke, even comedic films have taken a stab at them, including “Office Space.” The film centers around three computer programmers who hate their jobs and form a plan to embezzle money from their company. Obviously, that plan backfires and hilarity ensues — but it’s a clear picture of how insiders can often be the biggest threat to a company and why high standards in hiring practices are so essential.
When most people think about hacking movies, things like tapping into government information come to mind. That’s likely because there’s no shortage of movies that show programmers doing what they do best to stop a nuclear explosion from destroying the world — or to prevent a foreign country from invading U.S. networks. Some of the greatest cybersecurity movies that showcase these issues include:
“NetForce” (1999);
“Minority Report” (2002);
“Breach” (2007);
“Real Genius” (1985);
“War Games” (1983).
One of the reasons people continue to show interest in these movies is that they come with a sense of realism. They seamlessly blend entertainment with plausible hacking realities. For example, “War Games” makes viewers wonder if it is indeed possible for a teen to hack into a military computer and wage war against a different country. Maybe hacking isn’t exactly that black and white, but there’s an element of fear in the realism of these situations that make us realize the importance of organizational cybersecurity.
It becomes even more concerning when you look at films like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Granted, hacking probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think about the classic film. However, remember that the whole reason Ferris got his day of freedom was that he hacked into his school’s computer system to change grades and attendance records, showcasing the importance of something as simple as password protection.
Many people love a good, futuristic sci-fi film. It’s entertaining to watch people interact with highly-advanced AI on screen or use hacking skills for good in their personal lives. However, there are even more lessons to learn when it comes to “small” and personal cyber attacks.
One of the best depictions of this is in 1992’s "Single White Female." The film follows a woman who puts out an ad for a roommate, but she quickly discovers that the woman she ends up living with is trying to steal her identity through hacking. It’s hard to believe that something made 30 years ago was already touching on these subjects, but it offers some insight into how far we’ve come and how sophisticated personal hacking has become.
In 1995’s “The Net,” Sandra Bullock’s character faces a case of stolen identity — and potential murder. More recently, 2013’s “Identity Thief” takes a comedic approach to how hacking can change our personal lives. Melissa McCarthy’s character steals the identity of a man and ends up wrecking his credit score.
From a personal standpoint, these films can teach us a lot about everything from password protection to how we store our data.
Nowadays, so much information is stored in cloud-based programs. However, if you have any personal information on hard drives, it’s important to know how to dispose of them properly. This can be when they’ve worn out or you’re moving onto a different storage option. You should always contact a professional company to wipe and destroy old hard drives safely and securely.
Because we have a constant fascination with technology and how cybersecurity and AI will impact the future, movies like these will continue to get made. We’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to how cybersecurity efforts can shape our future. Which films did we miss? What comes to your mind when you think of the cybersecurity lessons we can learn from movies? Make sure to go double-check your passwords, and then pop in your favorite tech film tonight!
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CBD is a chemical compound found naturally in cannabis and hemp plants, and is not a mind-altering substance, unlike THC, which is a known mind-altering component of the plant. CBD and THC are two of many natural occurring cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant, along with CBC, CBG, as well as terpenes, flavonoids, and other compounds found throughout the plant. CBD, short for cannabidiol, is an entirely non-psychoactive, naturally occurring compound found in the marijuana plant. Cannabis contains about 150 cannabinoids; two of the main, and most widely used, cannabinoids are THC and CBD.
CBD oil remains a popular option for many patients, with studies showing its effectiveness at reducing the severity of chronic pain, among other uses. Keep in mind, although there may be a number of benefits from cannabis, it is not a cure-all, nor should it be considered as an alternative to other treatments to manage your pain. Remember, CBD usage for pain and associated symptoms is not an exact science, so you might have to try more than one brand and method before feeling relief. If you are trying CBD for arthritis, for example, it is best to start off with a lower dosage of CBD oil, test whether or not it eases the pain from arthritis, then increase your dosage as needed.
CBD creams may be used for treating muscle, joint, and nerve pain, and for skin conditions, in which applying the cannabinoid directly to the skin can be helpful in providing relief. It can be produced by Extracting CBD Oil From Hemp. CBD cream is considered to be a natural alternative for individuals suffering from chronic pain in their knees, as well as other forms of arthritis/inflammation-related pain. CBD creams are commonly used for a variety of different types of pain, including arthritis, inflammation, fibromyalgia, and carpal tunnel. Another popular use of CBD creams is as an additive to, or supplementation to, conventional forms of cancer patient care - like chemotherapy or radiation - to help with pain management.
So naturally then, the question would come up, of how CBD oil makes you feel if used for different reasons to those which seek to help with certain ailments? If you consume Full Spectrum CBD+THC Gummies, for instance, how would that make you feel if you’re not targeting a specific, serious ailment?
Definitely not “high!” That’s not what CBD oil is for - it’s not a clandestine way of getting the same “high” as that from something like smoking marijuana, through something like Loxa Beauty CBD infused Serum (50ml, 500g CBD).
While CBD products taken internally offer a whole-body effect, creams, salves, and lotions provide targeted relief, so that you can treat the pain in one area. For example, CBD pain-relieving creams may also contain menthol or capsaicin, which are both good at relieving even minor pain.
It’s more about giving your body a vitality boost you otherwise can’t seem to locate a seemingly missing source for. It’s about supplementing either a proactive stance on improving your health, or a reactive one of undergoing treatment on the root cause of some or other ailment, discomfort, etc.
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The story of the Titanic, which is about an unsinkable ship, is a timeless classic that still manages to induce passion in the viewers. This movie is a favorite among movie lovers and critics similar to TonyBet for betting lovers. In 1997, it was remade by James Cameron, who was the director and the co-writer of the film.
It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in the lead roles. The movie was awarded at various film award ceremonies. The story revolves around two individuals who fall in love on the Titanic's first voyage despite the odds against them.
The film begins in modern times, as an expedition team is exploring the wreck of the Titanic. They come across the 56-Carat blue diamond, which is the vessel's most famous item. During the telecast, Rose Calvert, a 101-year-old woman, claims to be the real owner of the diamond. She then reveals her love story and the story of the Titanic.
In 1912, Rose, played by Kate Winslet, is a 17-year-old who is about to sail on the Titanic with her boyfriend, Caledon, played by Billy Zane. She meets Jack Dawson, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. They both started to get along well and finally got in love with each other.
After they start to get intimate, Rose decides to dump her boyfriend and go on with Jack. However, fate intervenes and the couple's plans are thwarted when the Titanic hits an iceberg. As the two lovers struggle to save their lives, the audience can see the deep desperation in their eyes. As an outcome, Jack is tried to be killed when he tries to save Kate. In the movie's last scene, after narrating the story, Rose walks towards the stern of the ship and drops her blue diamond in the shape of a heart into the water.
Throughout the whole telling, Rose has pictures and things used in all the scenes of the movie. In one of the movie's scenes, Rose is seen raising the Grand Staircase of the Titanic and being reunited with Jack. She is surrounded by the people who died in the disaster afterward.
The director deliberately left it unclear whether Rose died in her sleep or she desired to stay in a conscious dream and never awake. The film is a high-intensity drama that keeps the viewers on their toes. It shows passionate feelings for both the characters and makes us ponder about the roles they play.
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Anne Elliot is a non-conforming woman living with her family on the verge of bankruptcy even not suspecting that she can play Hellspin Casino to make a fortune. When Frederick Wentworth, her former lover, returns, she must decide whether she should put the past behind her or listen to her heart. This is an adaptation of Jane Austen's novel.
During the 1970s, Gru, an aspiring villain, was growing up in the suburbs and was a fan of the Vicious 6, a group of supervillains. He hatched a plan to become one of them and he was aided by his loyal followers, the Minions.
Together, Bob, Stuart, Otto, and Kevin, became new members of the Vicious 6. With Gru, they started building their first hideout and testing their weapons. When the group's leader, Wild Knuckles, was suddenly removed, Gru had to interview to become their new member.
Gru's plan didn't go well, and after outsmarting the members of the Vicious 6, he learns that he's the enemy of the highest level of evil and turns to Wild Knuckles for advice. After getting bogged down by his own actions, Gru decides to run away from the group.
After more than three decades in the Navy, Pete Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is finally where he belongs. He’s a test pilot who is willing to go the extra mile to become the best.
When he learns that Top Gun graduates are being trained for a mission that no one has ever seen, he sets out to find them. Maverick faces Lt. Bradley Bradshaw, the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw.
As he faces his future and the ghosts of his past, Maverick finds himself encountering his own fears. The mission he's selected to lead demands the sacrifice of the pilots.
The culmination of the Jurassic era is upon us in this summer's Jurassic World Dominion, which stars Chris Pratt, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, and more. It is a bold and timely new adventure that spans the globe.
Written and directed by Colin Trevorrow, the film follows four years after the events of Jurassic World. After the destruction of Nublar, the world is faced with the question of whether humans can continue to be the dominant predators on Earth and this delicate balance will determine the human beings' future once and for all.
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The list below shows the most popular movies that are currently available in various forms of media, including streaming, on-demand, and theaters. If the audience remembers Woo Casino login, they can gamble from time to time in the meanwhile of movie breaks.
In "Thor: Love and Thunder," Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is on a journey that's unlike anything he's ever experienced. His retirement is threatened by a villain known as Gorr the God Butcher, who wants to destroy the gods. To save the universe, Thor enlists the help of Korg, King Valkyrie, and Jane Foster, his former girlfriend. When he discovers that his former girlfriend actually owns a powerful hammer, Mjolnir, as he does, he decides to use this fact.
Together, the two of them go on an epic cosmic adventure to find the God Butcher's secret as they must stop him before it is too late.
Based on the best-selling novel, "Where the Crawdads Sing" follows the story of Kya, who was abandoned in the marshlands of North Carolina. For years, the rumors surrounding the "Marsh Girl" kept her from her community.
When she meets two young men from the town, she begins to fall in love with a new world. However, when one of them is killed, she becomes the main suspect, and the case continues to get more complicated. The investigation also raises questions about the many secrets that are hidden within the marshlands.
13-year-old Finney is kidnapped by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screams are in vain. When a disconnected phone rings hanging on the wall, he finds out that the killer's previous victims have been able to communicate with him as he hears their voices. Moreover, they are firmly determined to make sure that nothing like this ever happens to the boy.
The film "Elvis" explores the life and music of the late singer, Elvis Presley, through the complicated relationship he had with his manager, Tom Parker. The film, which stars Tom Hanks and Austin Butler, explores the relationship between the two men over the course of two decades. It also features the influence of his former wife, Priscilla, who is one of the most influential individuals in his life.
During an era when monsters roamed the oceans, monster hunters were some of the most popular heroes. However, when a young girl named Maisie Brumble jumps aboard Jacob Holland's ship, he's suddenly faced with an unexpected ally. Together they embark on a magical journey into unexplored waters and make history.
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As admittedly peculiar as it is to say, the most dependable places of comprehension and safety, as it were, for a viewer to latch onto in Jordan Peele’s Nope are the horses. Yes, of all places, the hooved colts and mares with no dialogue offer you the straightest reads of every alarming moment and situation in this film. Now, what that says comparatively about the humans, predicaments, and otherworldly elements working beside them is an entirely different thing.
LESSON #1: THE INTUITION OF HORSES– With the tangent-spinning risk of having this film review, right out of the gate, sound like it is channeling 1998 Robert Redford or being published by Horse and Hound magazine, much to the joking delight of the Notting Hill fans out there, please know this appreciation and observation has its proven validity, even when applied to a twisted science fiction thriller. Horses are among the most in tune animals in the world when it comes to sensory processing and sensory awareness. They unquestionably rely on their instincts at the physical, mental, and emotional levels in assessing life and death situations.
To put it more casually and in a way fitting the movie, horses say “nope” with fight-or-flight responses faster than and far before us humans. When Nope pushes your buttons and raises your pulse rate, follow what the horses do and you’ll fare well. Alas, we know humans behave differently and so does Jordan Peele. He knows man’s curiosity, perceived dominance, and other courage-warping temptations bend people to test survivability beyond their instinctual triggers until their own exit point or fatal failure.
Working damn hard to disprove the old Hollywood adage of “never working with children or animals,” Jordan Peele lets those horses be the first and strongest vessel of many put through the survival wringer of Nope. With an ancestral homage to the black jockey of Eadweard Muybridge’s “Animal Locomotion” early film experiments of the 1880s, the brother and sister team of OJ Haywood (Academy Award winner Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald Haywood (recent Alice star Keke Palmer) work as show business animal wranglers specializing in horses. He’s the introverted farmhand and she’s the talkative and unfiltered face of the operation bequeathed to them by their deceased father Otis Sr. (the golden-throated Keith David).
The homebase of Haywood’s Hollywood Horses is located outside of Aqua Dulce in southern California. The ranch’s nearest neighbor is the “Jupiter’s Claim” western-themed entertainment park run by grown-up child actor Ricky Park (Minari Oscar nominee Steven Yeun) and his wife. His dubious shingle of fame is being the survivor of a horrific on-set incident where a trained sitcom chimpanzee turned on his cast and handlers. He feigns having lucrative happiness and closure, but the trauma has never gone away.
Speaking of tragedy, six months prior to the present time of Nope, Otis Sr. was killed atop his steed by deadly debris inexplicably falling from the sky. Nothing in Aqua Dulce has been the same since as OJ and his horses, and soon Emerald and their newfound techy friend Angel (The OA’s Brandon Perea), begin to witness and encounter unexplained sounds and flying phenomena emanating from a cloud on the horizon that never seems to move with the rest of the weather. The prevailing hypothesis is, naturally, aliens. Cue the Dramatic Chipmunk!
LESSON #2: THE REASONS WHY ALIENS WOULD COME TO THIS PLANET– That infusion of science fiction cements a threatening and interesting premise for Jordan Peele. The first two-thirds of Nope sinks into it deeper and deeper to evoke both comedy and horror at any given moment, two specialties of the Get Out and Us Oscar winner. Hilariously according to Angel, there are only three reasons why all aliens would come to Earth: 1) To seek peace, 2) It’s our future selves going back in time to prevent destruction, and 3) The world killer variety. That’s a sound list, and those possibilities prod which characters cower in fear and which are drawn to the danger.
LESSON #3: REACHING YOUR REFUSAL AND EXIT POINT– This escalation of frazzle and nerves also typifies the title of the picture. What a word! Go ahead and count how many times “nope” is dropped when something wholly and wild happens or when a peer asks another if they’re doing good. We, the audience, borrow that word ourselves to select which points we would be packing up and running for the hills out of Aqua Dulce. At the same time, viewers get to extrapolate how many horrific events could have been stopped or prevented by the uttering of and subsequent follow-through of action sprung by that quick word of refusal and exit.
Every time whatever is in that cloud comes near, the electrical power drops creating silence and darkness. Employing crack sound design work that booms in the IMAX format, these moments of mood change amplify the shrill symphony of terrifying noises that announce the presence of the unseen force of nature from above. True to Jordan Peele’s talent for suspense, Nope has many thrilling sequences brightened in some moments to shock us and shrouded in others to rattle our cages. The artistic engines for that anxious ambiance are ace cinematographer Hoyte Van Hotema (Tenet, Interstellar) and Peele’s trusty regular composer Michael Abels, both doing stellar work.
This high-wire act of fierce endurance has become Peele’s personalized playground for three feature films after making the jump from comedy television. Within his niche landscape, Peele is also one of the most exotic cinematic horticulturists, so to speak, we’ve ever seen. Few storytellers plant suggestive seeds of messaging and symbolism as sturdy or as deep as he does in his films. The challenges with his films, in that regard, have been the attention paid to which seeds and the eventual consequences of their outcomes.
Let’s start with the attention factor. That half of the difficulty rears an ugly head in Nope, and one that is getting scratched far more often than it should. From an intimidating opening Bible verse scourging the filth and vileness of man to the self-important chapter cards given to the names of OJ’s horses, there are cues and clues to be had everywhere in this film. Granted, that’s a credit to screenplay detail from Peele and the application of those elements through the production design of Ruth De Jong (Manchester By the Sea), the props from veteran TV property master Michael Glynn, and the striking visual effects of Guillaume Rocheron (Ad Astra). Even a single blood-splattered child’s shoe that can inexplicably stand on its toe cap elicits head-tilted dazzlement that gets the juices flowing.
However, Peele piles on the screenplay fertilizer for some seeds while leaving others barren with the California desert. Avoiding spoilers, the characters or anecdotes in Nope given the most dedicated caretaking end up being unimportant, causing the overall effort to be questioned. Look no further than the rich character history given to Steven Yeun’s sideshow Ricky Park versus the lack of growth or change awarded to Daniel Kuluuya and Keke Palmer’s main characters who dominate the screen time. No offense to the Judas and the Black Messiah Oscar winner or the former Akeelah and the Bee breakout, but maybe should have been Yeun’s movie.
That said, the overall goal has to be compelling by the end of all the mystery. With all that is packed into Nope, the grand sum is little more than a band of citizens trying to get a single shred of video or photographic proof of alien existence for a tabloid cash-in. That kind of chosen outcome feels too slight when coming from all the foreboding ominousness it took to get there.
From there, the entirety of Nope adds up to a sometimes wobbly balance of consequential and inconsequential outcomes because of those suspiciously selective and disproportionate points of focus. Peele was rightly coy and wise to scatter so much misdirection and symbolism overload. Investing an audience in fleshing out their own discovery is a welcome exercise if the culmination can justify the journey. In a frequently exquisite and stylized fashion, right down to the herky-jerky tube men imagery, Nope toes the line of keeping viewers entertained in the dark without making them feel too stupid.
LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#1056)
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