Nope

I have been looking forward to Nope since the first trailer and I finally had the chance to see it last night at a Thursday preview.  It is incredibly intense and thought-provoking and I loved it!  OJ and Emerald "Em" Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer, respectively) are siblings who own Haywood Hollywood Horses, a ranch that trains horses for use in movies, but they are falling on hard times because most films now use CGI.  They have resorted to selling horses to a nearby Wild West attraction owned by Ricky "Jupe" Park (Steven Yeun), a former child star known for a tragic freak accident on a sitcom.  They all start to notice strange goings-on such as electricity cuts and objects that randomly fall from the sky but then OJ sees something mysterious.  They assume that it is a UFO and the Haywards want to capture it on film, first with surveillance cameras installed by Angel Torres (Brandon Perea) and then by a cinematographer (Michael Wincott) known for getting the impossible shot, while Park attempts to incorporate it into his live Wild West show.  There is a sense of unease, almost from the very first shot, that builds and builds until it is almost unbearable with brilliant sound design, atmospheric lighting, and stunning visual effects (I will never look at clouds the same way again).  I was completely captivated but also a bit uncomfortable in the very best way.  It is a spectacle that pays homage to other big blockbusters, such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws, and Signs, but it is also an indictment of our need to capture every experience and turn it into a spectacle.  There are lots of other ideas, such as the exploitation of animals and the marginalization of early Black contributions to moviemaking, that will have as many interpretations as there are viewers (which makes Peele so intriguing as a writer and director).  Kaluuya and Palmer, especially, are fantastic and portray the sibling dynamic very well.  This is another great addition to Peele's filmography and I recommend seeing it in IMAX!

Note:  The trailer for Oppenheimer played before this and I am so excited for it!