MUSIC

Petition for Lupita Nyong'o to Start a Rap Career

The star showed off her rapping capabilities on last night's episode of The Tonight Show.

Lupita Nyong'o has already given us so much.

She's performed incredible roles in a variety of films, from Us to Black Panther. She's stunned Oscars audiences and fueled awards show dreams. She's spoken out about social issues like sexual harassment and colorism, and is writing a children's book about the latter.

It seems that there's nothing she can't do. On last night's episode of Jimmy Fallon, she showed us that if she wanted, she could easily take over the music industry. Appearing as her alter ego "Troublemaker," she once again proved that she has a talent for rhythm and wordplay.

This isn't the first time she's shown off her rap capabilities. On the way to the Black Panther premier in 2018, she gave us a glimpse of her freestyling alongside Letitia White. She also rapped alongside the cast of Us in another YouTube video.

Us Movie Cast Rap Video Jordan Peeles Us(Lupita Nyongo,Winson Duke)www.youtube.com

In 2017, she appeared alongside Chrissy Teigen in Comedy Central's Lip Sync Battle and showed off her dancing abilities. The pieces are all there, and judging by the signs, it'll only be a matter of time before we get our first Troublemaker mixtape.

FILM

'Us' Movie Review: A Disappointing, Not-So-Scary Jumble From the Mind of Jordan Peele

'Us' edges so close to greatness but never quite comes together.

It was hard not to enter Us with high expectations after Jordan Peele's incredible directorial debut, Get Out.

Posters even advertised the film as being "from the mind of" Jordan Peele, a line of promotional copy typically reserved for much more seasoned auteurs. That's not to say he doesn't deserve it – in just two movies, Jordan Peele has established himself as a unique voice with a distinct style, one who will hopefully continue to direct, write, and produce visionary works throughout his career. Unfortunately, Us doesn't live up to the hype.

Us opens on a young girl vacationing with her family at the Santa Cruz pier in 1986. While her dad attempts to win a prize playing Whack-A-Mole, she wanders off onto the darkened beach, her candy apple glistening in the moonlight. Cinematographer Mike Gioulakis (It Follows) tracks as she enters a creepy funhouse, gets lost in the hall of mirrors, and eventually comes face-to-face with her own flesh-and-blood doppelgänger. The scene expertly blends nostalgia, childhood innocence, and paranoia, starting the movie on a perfectly unsettling note.

From there Us jumps to the present day where the little girl, Adelaide, is now an adult with a family of her own – husband Gabe (Winston Duke) and children Zora and Jason – vacationing at their summer home a short drive away from the Santa Cruz pier. Played by Lupita Nyong'o, who steals absolutely every scene she's in, Adelaide still remembers the trauma of encountering her double all those years ago. Her fears come back in full-force when her doppelgänger returns one night, along with "Untethered" versions of the whole family, and begins a night of terror.

This is where the movie starts to lose its footing. Up until this point, Us retains a sharp sense of foreboding that permeates throughout the tense home invasion scene. But after the two families sit face-to-face and Adelaide's double, Red, responds to her, questioning their identities by saying, "we're Americans," the Untethered lose a lot of their initial mystique. Obviously, they're a metaphor for something, but that something is never really clear.

At times, the Untethered seem like they might be a metaphor for the American underclass or the expectations set upon black people, or perhaps conflicting political ideologies. Us has kernels of all these ideas, but none of them track throughout, especially after it becomes clear that everyone in America has a corresponding doppelgänger out to kill them. Further attempts at explaining the Untethered only create more plot holes.

All of this would be fine if the movie presented itself as a "turn your brain off, don't think too hard" horror romp, but it doesn't. Peele's directorial style is too crisp, too polished, too thoughtful to be written off as shlock. It's meant to be taken seriously and, as such, it's important that the deeper message comes through. That doesn't mean the deeper message needs to be immediately graspable, but there needs to be a sense that the director clearly understood his intent. Us felt more like Jordan Peele was sloppily mashing lots of ideas together, which is a shame, because there was a lot to like.

Us is a rare example of a movie with great acting, great directing, great cinematography, great dialogue, and great individual scenes that fail to live up to the sum of its parts. The problem lies entirely with the script.

7/10


Dan Kahan is a writer & screenwriter from Brooklyn, usually rocking a man bun. Find more at dankahanwriter.com


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Welcome back to "Now in Theaters: 5 New Movies for the Weekend."

This week we have Jordan Peele's highly anticipated movie, Us.

WIDE RELEASE:

Us

Director Jordan Peele's follow up to his 2017 hit, Get Out, Us, features a family of four who find themselves targeted by an evil group of strangers who look exactly like them. The trailer suggests a movie chock full of terrifying, borderline-surreal imagery alongside the genuinely hilarious comedic notes that made Get Out such a success. The movie currently boasts a 98% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so if you can stomach the horror, this is my main recommendation for the weekend.

LIMITED RELEASE:

Ramen Shop

Ramen Shop Trailer #1 (2019) | Movieclips Indiewww.youtube.com

A Singaporean film, Ramen Teh or Ramen Shop, tells the story of a Japanese ramen chef who travels to Singapore after discovering his Singaporean mother's notebook amongst his recently deceased father's belongings. He travels with the purpose of learning more about his family history, ultimately finding romance and a greater connection to food. The trailer features some gorgeous shots of ramen, so if you're into stories about the power of great food, Ramen Shop may be worth your while.

Dragged Across Concrete

Dragged Across Concrete (2019 Movie) Official Trailer – Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenterwww.youtube.com

Vince Vaughn and Mel Gibson star as two cops gone bad in director S. Craig Zahler's newest crime thriller. After Gibson's act of police brutality leads to his and his partner's suspension from the force, the disgraced cops use their underworld connections to secure financial support while they're off-duty. Zahler has a knack for depicting violence, as evidenced by his previous feature Bone Tomahawk, so it stands to reason Dragged Across Concrete will have a similar flair.

Hotel Mumbai

HOTEL MUMBAI Official Trailer (2019) Dev Patel, Armie Hammer Moviewww.youtube.com

A thriller based on the real 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in India, Hotel Mumbai stars Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) as a hotel employee working his shift when the terrorists strike. Now, Dev, his fellow staff members, and a number of guests, including Armie Hammer, must band together to survive and escape the bloodshed. If you're a fan of thrillers and dramatizations of true events, Hotel Mumbai should be right up your alley.

Out of Blue

OUT OF BLUE Official Trailer (2019) Patricia Clarkson, Toby Jones Mystery Movie HDwww.youtube.com

In mystery/suspense drama Out of Blue, Academy Award-nominated actress Patricia Clarkson plays Mike Hoolihan, a cop investigating the murder of a renowned astrophysicist. The trailer is baffling. The dialogue seems really bad, so bad it might be a joke, although it's honestly hard to tell. For instance, when a man utters, "Jesus Christ," Clarkson responds, "I don't think Jesus had much to do with this." Could that line have possibly been written seriously? If you're brave enough, watch the movie and find out.


Dan Kahan is a writer & screenwriter from Brooklyn, usually rocking a man bun. Find more at dankahanwriter.com


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