her best screen performance
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 25 March 2019 20:15 (five years ago) link
can we change thread title to ‘Us’
― flopson, Monday, 25 March 2019 21:48 (five years ago) link
Film people are really into ALL CAPS TITLES idgi myself
― A funny tinge happened on the way to the forum (wins), Monday, 25 March 2019 21:49 (five years ago) link
ya but in this case it’s confusing because titles only two letters so it looks like an abbrev. bothers me
― flopson, Monday, 25 March 2019 21:57 (five years ago) link
It's just a titling convention, sheesh
― Simon H., Monday, 25 March 2019 22:05 (five years ago) link
it's not tho is the thing
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Monday, 25 March 2019 22:09 (five years ago) link
see promotional material for the film and listings.
simon was saying what wins said. it's true that the title and thematic concerns of this movie mean that the standard titling convention creates confusion. the world's just a big ol mystery :(
― difficult listening hour, Monday, 25 March 2019 22:16 (five years ago) link
peruse new answers and you'll see several all-caps movies and TV titles
― Simon H., Monday, 25 March 2019 22:19 (five years ago) link
i realize it’s insanely pedantic ok
― flopson, Monday, 25 March 2019 22:22 (five years ago) link
Are we all tethered now
― early to board the Buttigieg train (Neanderthal), Monday, 25 March 2019 22:31 (five years ago) link
saw it again. decided that the ending isn’t illogical at all really, it makes the film make sense
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 28 March 2019 02:44 (five years ago) link
my main take was that an excellent way to have your audience leave with a more positive impression of your film than they previously had is by sticking Les Fleurs on at the end of it
― or something, Thursday, 28 March 2019 05:34 (five years ago) link
saw it tonight
flappy is nutso w/ this relentless "MAGA red jumpsuit" thing, as if jumpsuits or any red clothing items beyond transplant-protecting caps were associated with Trump
there's a broader melange of on-the-nose allusions: people wearing prison-style jumpsuits, chained and tethered and joined to each other, an underclass marked by this clothing and colour rising up
good night
― steven, soda jerk (sic), Thursday, 28 March 2019 07:32 (five years ago) link
good morning!
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 March 2019 10:51 (five years ago) link
sic otm
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 28 March 2019 11:29 (five years ago) link
also on top of the excellent performances from the central cast, tim heidecker and elizabeth moss are both phenomenal in this
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 28 March 2019 14:56 (five years ago) link
Heidecker was born to play a murderous subterranean ape who is also somehow still just an asshole
― Simon H., Thursday, 28 March 2019 15:14 (five years ago) link
I don't know if I ultimately more than merely liked the movie, but there was enough going for it that I loved, important stuff, like acting and direction and score, that I'd still recommend it to someone. I mostly wished there was less explaining and more sticking to the metaphors and fairy tale motifs.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 March 2019 04:11 (five years ago) link
I actually like it more the morning after than I did right after I saw it. Plenty of fuel for thought in this one, and I look forward to reading a bunch of think pieces. Honestly I agree that the MAGA metaphor is the most coherent one at work here (bar the unnecessary twist), but obviously there's a lot of other stuff going on as well.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 March 2019 13:12 (five years ago) link
Oh, and the uppercase US can't be a coincidence. US=U.S.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 March 2019 14:06 (five years ago) link
yeah it's not uppercase though, is the point
― Number None, Friday, 29 March 2019 14:10 (five years ago) link
Actually Us stands for "Universal Soldier" and the twist is this movie is in that universe
― Buttigieg comes right from the source (Neanderthal), Friday, 29 March 2019 14:13 (five years ago) link
The title in the opening credits is ambiguous re: upper v lowercase.
― dinnerboat, Friday, 29 March 2019 14:14 (five years ago) link
no it isn't
― Number None, Friday, 29 March 2019 14:22 (five years ago) link
the allusion is obvious, but the title is written as Us in the film and every piece of promotional material
― Number None, Friday, 29 March 2019 14:23 (five years ago) link
Still not a coincidence, imo.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 March 2019 14:25 (five years ago) link
well they say we’re americans
― flopson, Friday, 29 March 2019 22:25 (five years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, March 29, 2019 10:06 AM (eight hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
lol
look what you did Simon
― flopson, Friday, 29 March 2019 22:26 (five years ago) link
jesUs christ
― A funny tinge happened on the way to the forum (wins), Friday, 29 March 2019 22:59 (five years ago) link
justice, or just us?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 March 2019 23:17 (five years ago) link
The very beginning in the funhouse was great, and that twist at the end - which I winced at right after it happened (didn't see it but I never try to work stuff out in advance) and then it worked its way through as mirroring the kind of confusion that we find ourselves in. Until then this settled into a serviceable enough Romero-by-numbers with a hint of Haneke's Funny Games, with its play and violence in those well-off settings, but that ending hasn't yet let go.
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 29 March 2019 23:18 (five years ago) link
Haunting. Movie will stick with me. Great performance all around.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Saturday, 30 March 2019 06:59 (five years ago) link
this was great, all the performances were so excellent. i did sense the twist coming, starting from that early scene in the psychologist's office, but the movie didn't depend on the twist being surprising, necessarily.
― Neus Anneus (voodoo chili), Monday, 1 April 2019 00:23 (five years ago) link
Re: the final twist, is there anything really gained by that? I suppose it's just the final character beat of a villain who has played a veeeeeeery long game, but even so it (like the film) might have been a little more effective with some more ambiguity, though to be fair the movie's already ambiguous enough to bear a few different interpretations. Anyway, it's the rare movie definitely worth thinking about despite any number of elements that you're better off not thinking about. Peele toes a pretty precarious line with the exposition drop and the final twist, but he's such a good director and the acting is so good that he pretty much pulls it off.
Ending, fwiw, reminded me of the ending of "The Invitation." Lots and lots of echoes of "The Birds" in this, too, ending and all.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 1 April 2019 03:05 (five years ago) link
all the performances were so excellent.
yeah, I'd give this the imaginary casting Oscar
― steven, soda jerk (sic), Monday, 1 April 2019 03:13 (five years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, March 31, 2019 10:05 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
something i read pointed out that the final shot of lupita was a wink towards the final shot of the thriller music video and that makes so much sense
― Neus Anneus (voodoo chili), Monday, 1 April 2019 16:58 (five years ago) link
Huh. Yeah, I like that!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 1 April 2019 17:01 (five years ago) link
That owns
― A funny tinge happened on the way to the forum (wins), Monday, 1 April 2019 17:07 (five years ago) link
I was always struck at what a good actor Peele was (along with Key) in their show, which made the parodies and skits really convincing, but the downside is that every time I see him interviewed now I keep thinking he's playing a character.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 1 April 2019 17:14 (five years ago) link
lol maybe he is, did you see his Jack Torrance outfit?
― flappy bird, Monday, 1 April 2019 17:17 (five years ago) link
Winston Duke as Gabe = Winston Duke as Jordan Peele
― Neus Anneus (voodoo chili), Monday, 1 April 2019 17:28 (five years ago) link
― A funny tinge happened on the way to the forum (wins), Monday, 1 April 2019 17:36 (five years ago) link
i think it’s undercooked
― flopson, Monday, 1 April 2019 17:56 (five years ago) link
feels like ‘the metaphor’ was left ambiguous for the sake of interpretive ambiguity, but there’s not actually much there for rich inrerpretating...
― flopson, Monday, 1 April 2019 17:58 (five years ago) link
Haven’t seen again but my sense is that the “nonsensical” part is not at all the carefully foreshadowed ending but the expository speech in the dénouement, which was the one part I struggled with when I saw it.
i mean yes, it totally is, and yet i'm also not really bothered by the expository speech especially bc, even without the twist, it's much less expository than it seems
my feeling is that adelaide's submerged memory of being one of the tethered resurfaces gradually over the course of the movie though it also doesn't require this reading at all to *work* bc either way... she's a survivor in every negative and positive sense, whether she's aware of how corrupt her moral compass is or not
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Monday, 1 April 2019 18:01 (five years ago) link
also, the script wasn’t actually that good..? the dialogue between the family in the beginning felt stiff, most of the character development was cliched; dad is goofy (the scene with the boat fell flat, like the physical comedy wasn’t even well-timed), daughter’s on her phone, mom stares out window with uneasy dread... i really think this is a huge drop off after get out
― flopson, Monday, 1 April 2019 18:04 (five years ago) link
All fair enough, I need to rewatch both (and I am never your man to talk to about “character development”)
― A funny tinge happened on the way to the forum (wins), Monday, 1 April 2019 18:17 (five years ago) link
yeah I thought the same thing about the script flopson, remarkably awkward & stilted dialogue, and not the actors' fault (who were all great in this)
― flappy bird, Monday, 1 April 2019 18:52 (five years ago) link