Smash Cut

Tag: Jordan Peele

  • ‘Him’ strives for greatness—and falls short

    ‘Him’ strives for greatness—and falls short

    An NFL prospect who falls under the tutelage of an enigmatic star of the game who may have sinister intentions in Jordan Peele-produced “Him”

    “Him” has a lot of potential, but mostly disappointment. Though it is teeming with ideas about sport, sacrifice, and legacy, they never become more than just that, ideas. Tyriq Withers, a genuine star-in-the-making, lights up the screen with every moment, but is ultimately let down by a weak screenplay and directorial vision.

    “Him” is in theaters September 19th. Watch the trailer.

    Few things are more terrifying to me than American Football. Pushing the limits of the human body, the toxic levels of testosterone, and the thirst for literal blood, sweat, and tears draw a visceral reaction. It is a culture and industry ripe for a horror movie. Frequently, director Justin Tipping’s “Him” draws comparisons between the sport and the gladiators of ancient times. So much of the way the sport (and business of the sport) is played today is akin to the forced violence of the Colosseum, where men are coerced into a spectacle. When the movie is actively drawing those comparisons, it finds its footing both thematically and narratively. The horrors feel close to reality. However, the movie too frequently strays from those ideas in favor of shock.

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    Something that Jordan Peele, whose company Monkeypaw produced the movie, has perfected is using terror as a means to an end. Nothing feels gratuitous, and everything has a line back to his ideas. It’s something that “Him” lacks, specifically in its main characters. Cameron Cade (star-on-the-rise Tyriq Withers) has been tapped as the next best thing in football as he ends his college career and begins to weigh his prospects in the NFL. That is, until a devastating attack leaves him with a potential traumatic brain injury that threatens his campaign for greatness.

    Not all is lost, however, when his agent (Jim Jeffries) reveals that football legend Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) has invited Cam to train at his sprawling, isolated private compound. Over five days, in the dark, bruatlist passageways, Cam is treated to the highest quality care and training with the hope of reaching the heights of White’s career. And for White, he hopes he leaves a lasting legacy. However, as with all things that seem too good to be true, they often are. 

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    At first, Isaiah’s tutelage seems simply strict—no phones, no outside distractions, and no masturbation. However, very quickly, his instruction becomes increasingly devious as he strips Cam down—at times, literally—to his most animalistic tendencies. In one scene, perhaps the best of the film, Isaiah turns a passing drill into a game of survival. For each hesitation or dropped pass, Isaiah has a football shot into the face of a hapless free agent player desperate to get on his good side. It’s horrifying and forces Cam to be better, faster, and more than human.

    However, moments like these feel few and far between as the horror begins to feel formulaic—terrifying training drill, calm tension-building recovery, jump scare to the next day. Wayans is menacing enough as a tormenter, but the screenplay doesn’t allow him to explore all the intricacies of Isaiah as a character. There’s an idea about success and sacrifice percolating in some scenes, but the movie never fully explores them. It is simply terror without meaning.

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    By the time “Him” reaches its endgame, which is admittedly thrilling and shows flashes of the premise’s potential, there’s a sense of coldness. Unlike the rousing ending of Peele’s “Get Out” that feels like the natural conclusion, the finale of “Him” doesn’t feel earned. Instead, it simply ends because it must. Isaiah’s wife Elsie (a devilishly entertaining Julia Fox) and trainer (Tim Heidecker) add some amount of satisfaction to the conclusion, but you find yourself with more questions rather than answers.

    “Him” feels like the outline of a great film. It has the ideas to form into a compelling story about greatness and sacrifice and the aesthetics to derive real terror as you push the human body to its limit, but it never fully combines those things into something that feels complete. Each scene simply feels like it attaches to that last with the thinnest of threads, and the characters all the same. Tyriq Withers is a movie-star-in-the-making and very often when the movie works, it’s because of his performance. But it’s all wasted potential. It’s all greatness gone to waste.

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  • Jordan Peele Unleashes the First Trailer for ‘HIM’

    HIM, produced by the Oscar winner and directed by Justin Tipping, is a chilling descent into fame, football, and obsession

    The first trailer has dropped for HIM, the latest psychological horror film from Oscar winner Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us, Nope) and Monkeypaw Productions — and it’s sending shivers down the spine of sports and horror fans alike.

    Starring Marlon Wayans in a chilling dramatic turn, HIM follows rising football star Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers, Atlanta), a gifted quarterback with his sights set on greatness. But when a violent encounter with an obsessed fan leaves him with traumatic brain injury, Cam’s dreams are all but shattered. Enter Isaiah White (Wayans), an eight-time championship legend and Cam’s childhood idol, who offers him a second chance — at a price.

    Isolated at Isaiah’s mysterious, high-tech compound alongside his glamorous influencer wife, Elsie (Julia Fox, Uncut Gems), Cam’s rehabilitation quickly spirals into something darker. As the mentorship turns sinister, Cam is forced to question the very identity he’s sacrificed everything to build.

    Directed by Justin Tipping (Kicks) from a Black List script by Zack Akers & Skip Bronkie (Limetown), HIM blurs the lines between ambition and manipulation, asking: how far would you go to become the best?

    The film boasts a unique supporting cast that includes comedy icons Tim Heidecker and Jim Jefferies, as well as feature film debuts from MMA fighter Maurice Greene and musicians Guapdad 4000 and Grammy-nominated Tierra Whack.

    Produced by Ian Cooper, Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, and Jamal M. Watson, HIM promises an intense, genre-bending experience that explores the toxic underbelly of fame and hero worship — all with Peele’s signature psychological dread.

    HIM is set to terrify audiences later this year. Watch the trailer now and prepare to question everything you thought you knew about greatness.

  • Jordan Peele’s ‘Nope’ is a chopped and screwed summer blockbuster | review and analysis

    Jordan Peele’s ‘Nope’ is a chopped and screwed summer blockbuster | review and analysis

    Nope follows two siblings that become convinced that UFOs are visiting their ranch to abduct horses. Seeing a path to fortune, they set out to capture it on video.

    Nope is Jordan Peele’s Jaws. A chopped, screwed, and depraved homage to the summer blockbuster with stunning anxiety-inducing, white-knuckled suspense pieces that had my heart racing. Peele’s loving hate letter to the blockbuster is his most ambitious project to date that forces us to question our obsession with spectacle. Wildly creative, constantly twisting and turning, masterfully crafted with Oscar-worthy sound design, Nope is a worthy follow-up to Get Out and Us.

    Jordan Peele has had perhaps the most prolific run for a new director in the last decade. Get Out his debut film became a cultural phenomenon and garnered Best Picture and Director nominations at the Oscars in addition to a win for Best Original Screenplay. His win felt like the coronation of an exciting new auteur, which was further evident with his equally terrific sophomore movie Us. How does a director of that caliber top himself? Enter his latest movie Nope, Peele’s most ambitious, off-the-wall, and deranged movie yet. Like a studio gave him a blank check and asked no further questions—best indicated by the movie’s chilling cold open the features a bloodied sitcom set sitting lifeless except for a motionless body and a chimpanzee who seems to be the culprit of the carnage.

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    After the relatively modest narratives of his first two movies, Nope ups the scale to an astronomical degree—to a near blockbuster size.

    Interestingly, the closest analog to Peele’s career thus far is Steven Spielberg, who created the modern-day blockbuster. Coincidentally—or not since nothing seems to be a coincidence with him—Nope is Peele’s Jaws. Or at least an homage to it and the many other summer blockbusters that followed. Though the movie is packed full of references from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Jurassic Park to Twister and War of the Worlds to Signs and Creature from the Black Lagoon it is every bit as original and electrifying as Get Out and Us. Watching it felt the way I imagined audiences felt the first time watching any of those classics—at least if my shrieking friend next to me was any indication.

    Though the movie pulls from a lot of corners, Nope is another story of humans and the curiosity—and invasiveness—that plagues them. Think Creature from the Black Lagoon, which inspired Jaws. At the center of the movie are siblings OJ (Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald Haywood (Keke Palmer), the co-owners of a ranch in California that specializes in horses for entertainment. Following the sudden death of their father, a reluctant OJ runs the ranch while Emerald dreams of doing something bigger.

    An image from the movie Nope
    (from left) OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya), Angel Torres (Brandon Perea) and Emerald Haywood (Keke Palmer) in Nope, written, produced and directed by Jordan Peele.

    That something bigger reveals itself to be really big when the pair become convinced that a UFO has been visiting their ranch to abduct their horses.

    One night, all electrical devices on the ranch suddenly stop working. And right as the lights dim, an unearthly sound blankets the vast landscape. Right then, a mysterious cloud produces an isolated tornado to snatch up one of the horses. Seeing a way out of financial ruin, OJ and Emerald set out to capture evidence of the phenomenon with the help of electronics store employee Angel (Brandon Perea). After a genuinely frightening night with fake and real frights, the trio determines that the UFO is sitting in a cloud perched just over a ridge by the ranch waiting for its opportunity to take its prey. Realizing they’re in over their heads, they enlist the help of cinematographer Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott) who dreams of capturing the impossible.

    The comparisons to Jaws are clear. A ragtag group of locals on a mission to “capture” an unpredictable, menacing, and deadly wild animal. OJ and Emerald are equivalent to Police Chief Martin Brody, Angel to oceanographer Matt Hooper, and Antlers to fisherman Quint. There’s even a scene where Antlers quotes the song “One-Eyed, One-Horned Flying Purple People Eater” in a tongue-in-cheek homage to Quint’s famous USS Indianapolis monologue. But just when you think you know where Nope is going, it finds a way to surprise you—like with a subplot involving Jupe Park (Steven Yeun) and an infamous incident on the sitcom he starred in as a child involving the cold open chimpanzee.

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    While all of Peele’s movies have been horror, Nope might be the most frightening to date.

    Though there is comedy to cut through some of the tension, Peele steps on the gas and doesn’t let up for the 135-minute running time. The creeping sense of dread, real danger, and suspense kept my pulse racing the entire time. In particular, a stellar sequence—the best of the movie—that sees the UFO attacking the ranch in an action setpiece mashup of War of the Worlds and Jurassic Park may have taken a few years off of my life. It highlights the movie’s immersive and dominating sound design—which more than deserves attention from the Oscars.

    There are twists and turns in the narrative, but what keeps you engaged is the movie’s increasingly intense setpieces that tie together threads of horror, sci-fi, action, and comedy perfectly. Nope is Peele firing on absolutely every cylinder masterfully using Michael Abels’ cinematic score, Hoyte van Hoytema’s sweeping cinematography, and Nicholas Monsour’s editing to hit you with setpieces that feel equal parts grand, intimate, and dangerous.

    With Nope, Peele weaponizes the tropes and iconography of summer blockbusters to criticize both the genre and our relationship to spectacle.

    What are the themes in Nope?

    Get Out and Us became phenomenons because of the cultural discourse they sparked. Peele weaponized genre movies to reach a broad audience to then explore deep societal themes. Nope is a meta deconstruction of the summer blockbuster. Much like The Cabin in the Woods was a loving hate letter to the horror genre, Nope is meant to criticize our fascination with spectacle—the subplot following Steven Yeun’s character reinforces this. In the face of disaster or tragedy, why is our first instinct as a society to exploit it for fame or fortune? Yeun’s Jupe keeps an entire room in the wild wild west theme park he owns dedicated to the incident—one that should be traumatizing for him. Instead, he exploits it.

    And despite the threat that the UFO poses, the OJ and Emmerald do everything in their power to capture it on video. Despite its danger, they can’t look away. Perhaps the theme isn’t as devastating as those of race and class that were explored in Get Out and Us, but Peele commits to exploring it just as deeply.

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    Nope is an imperfect movie, but its ambition vastly outweighs any nitpicks with the plot or characters.

    Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer give wholly committed performances that feel lived in. The characters are defined by their past baggage. Palmer, in particular, eats every scene with her emotional and expressive physicality. However, I wish that more time was dedicated to the siblings and their relationship to make the movie’s payoff all the more impactful. In general, I think the characters are underdeveloped. Whether purposefully or by design I’m not sure. At the very least, I was charmed by them but didn’t feel the emotional attachment I felt to Kaluuya’s Chris in Get Out or Lupita Nyong’o’s Adelaide in Us.

    Nope in itself is a spectacle that deserves to be seen and heard on the big screen.

    In his copped-and-screwed version of a summer blockbuster, Jordan Peele makes us question why we can’t look away. Why are we so easily drawn in by a spectacle—both on screen and in the real world? Why is it so hard to look away from disaster? In the opening shot of Nope, there is a curious phenomenon happening amongst the carnage. You might notice it, you might not. With that shot, Peele is asking us why we’re not looking deeper? Why are we so distracted by tragedy that we can’t see the wonder around it? Interestingly, it was impossible to stop looking at Nope on the screen. It’s a spectacle through and through. The movie isn’t challenging us to look away, but instead look deeper. You might be surprised by what you find.

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    More movies, less problems

    Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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  • 2020 Oscars Update #1: Are ‘Us’ or ‘Captain Marvel’ contenders?

    2020 Oscars Update #1: Are ‘Us’ or ‘Captain Marvel’ contenders?

    This is the state of the 2020 Oscars race. At the end of every month, I’m going to take a look at the state of the Oscars race — breaking down the contenders that made a splash, those that fizzled out, and the ones to come.

    317 days until the 2020 Oscars

    Oscar contenders that were released this month

    By this time last year, three Oscar-nominated films had premiered — Best Picture nominee Black Panther, Best Animated Feature nominee Isle of Dogs, and Best Visual Effects nominee Ready Player One.

    Most notably, it was the second year in a row that a best picture nominee was released in the first quarter of the year — Get Out was released in February 2017. And what do Get Out and Black Panther have in common? They were both massive hits at the box office. It makes sense considering it takes a lot for a voter to remember your film almost a year later.

    2019 has been notably slow at the box office, but there have been two massive hits that could be in the Oscar conversation. Funny enough, they both have connections to past early Oscar contenders:

    (more…)