I’m thrilled to be launching movie reviews on The Escapist. Over the coming weeks and months, I will be joining a set of contributors in adding these reviews to the channel. For the moment, I’m honoured to contribute a three-minute film review of Candyman, which is released theatrically in Europe and the United States this weekend.
Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: candyman, Chicago, escapist, jordan peele, nia dacosta, review, the candyman, the escapist | Leave a comment »
It’s time for the Scannain podcast!
This week, I join Ronan Doyle and Jay Coyle to discuss the week in film. It’s a light week for Ronan and myself, but Jay has us covered with deep dives that extend from Varda through to the joy of Music and Lyrics or the siren call from Under the Silver Lake. In terms of film news, we mark the passing of Broncho McLoughlin, take a look at April at the Irish Film Institute, check in on the release date of The Dig and chart a number of upcoming Irish digital releases.
The top ten:
New releases:
Filed under: Movies, Podcasts! | Tagged: film, jordan peele, podcast, review, scannain, us | Leave a comment »
Us is fascinating, if undercut by comparisons to Get Out.
Get Out was a phenomenal feature debut from writer and director Jordan Peele, an unexpected left-turn from a comedian who was (at that time) best know for his work on one of the decade’s best sketch comedy shows, Key & Peele. It was an unexpectedly sharp piece of social satire, an incredibly pointed commentary on race and identity in contemporary America, one held together by an incredibly strong central metaphor. Get Out was driven by an almost single-minded commitment to its core ideas, which were skillfully wed to a genre vehicle. It was always clear exactly what Get Out was saying, and why it was saying that in the way that it was.
Taking a second swing.
Us is a fundamentally messier film, at once more conventional in terms of its structure and rhythms while being more abstract and confused in its central metaphors. One of the central throughlines of Us is the concept of “the untethering”, and it often feels like a metaphor for the film’s own internal creative process. Us is a lot less focused than Get Out, a lot less together. It often seems like the film is caught in a tug-of-war between its two core elements: on one hand, the desire to present an old-fashioned home-invasion-turned-national-crisis narrative in the style of everything from The Strangers to Dawn of the Dead; on the other, a central metaphor touching on everything from Jungian anxiety to class warfare to the modern division of the United States.
So, to answer the important questions about Us: no, the film is not as good as Get Out; and yes, the film is really good.
Face yourself.
Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: america, film, get out, jordan peele, Movie, non-review review, review, us | 2 Comments »
This film was seen as part of the Audi Dublin International Film Festival 2017.
Get Out is a fantastic horror comedy from Jordan Peele.
The premise of Get Out is relatively straightforward, with Rose taking her African American boyfriend Chris home to meet her wealthy white parents. What follows is essentially a twenty-first century horror movie twist on Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?, in which Chris finds himself growing increasingly uncomfortable in the presence of Rose’s very liberal parents. There is an awkward unease to his visit with the family, beneath all the welcoming smiles and the mannered politeness.
Terrorvision.
Get Out is a brilliantly wry and ironic piece of film-making, building a very traditional horror movie around a very intangible discomfort. After all, racism is not always something that can be cleanly defined and measured, often reflected in implications and patterns more than individual statements and actions. Get Out masterfully plays on this tension of something so horrifying being rendered so ethereal, most notably through its repeated (effective) use of scare chords and horror angles making normal social interactions especially uncomfortable.
Get Out is a promising directorial debut from veteran comedian Jordan Peele, one that skilfully uses the flexibility and surrealism of conventional horror beats to build a well-observed and uncanny piece of social commentary.
Couldn’t be Keener.
Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: African American, black, film, get out, horror, jordan peele, key and peele, Movie, non-review review, postracism, racism, review | 6 Comments »
the m0vie blog 