"Us" Non-Spoiler Review - OSP Part I - Starting to Pick Up What Peele Is Putting Down - Ep 179

Episode Builds to an Early Oscar Lens & Compares to Other Horror Films. ***This is a Non-Spoiler Review of Jordan Peele’s Us*** Why a Two Part Review? - Top of Show Cast and Crew - 3:32 Story Inception/Production Notes - 6:06 Specs - 7:47 Potential Audience Reception - 13:04 Plot Premise/Expectations/Comparisons: Mike1 - 14:28 AlsoMike - 15:59 Production Values - 18:07 Jordan Peele as Modern Hitch - 23:30 Performances - 27:30 (Lupita vs Toni - 31:00) Oscars Lens - 32:17 Script Thoughts - 34:38 Watch/Don’t Watch - 39:06 Words of Wisdom/Questions for You - 39:42 “Us” merits a re-watch or several, and we’ll do that before recording & releasing our second part of this Oscars Sprint Profile for the first multi-category contender on the year. We have Lupita looking like a Best Actress nom, and yes, there’s a lot to be said for the rest of the cast. Then we have Peele’s script & direction, production design & several other technical categories, as well as a terrific orchestral score to possibly contend next awards season. Since all signs point to “Us” becoming a monster hit at the box office, we don’t have to look much further than the last two years and how Get Out & Black Panther & Bohemian Rhapsody all rode earlier release dates up to the Oscar stage. So it’s our first MAJOR awards contender, and we’re now paying “Us” its due with a two part review. That allows us Mikes to stretch our legs a bit more with a few of our usual segments. We discuss some filmographies beginning first & foremost with how Jordan Peele has begun his filmmaking career & who it reminds us of. Then we discuss the rest of the cast, who they are, where they’re from, & why we love them. Since we’ve previewed “Us” already with a Preview / Guess the Plot halfisode, we didn’t dwell on this section for far too long, but there are a few production notes to chat up. To finish the prologue, Mike 1 also chronicles all of the early numbers for you on the critical & audience reception, budget, & box office projections, as well as what that means for the film, for Peele’s career, and we tease how this film might be received by a wider audience. Our hallmarks to non-spoiler reviews follow. We describe our theater going experiences, chronicle our expectations and compare how we entered this film to other recent trips to the movies. Then we’re off & talking about the production values, performances, script thoughts, & all the while, we do it without spoiling much more than the premise & a few callbacks to the trailers. This builds to an Oscar Lens & our recommendation of Watch or Don’t before we leave you on the cliffhanger that is this two part movie review. Stay tuned for the next episode of Mike, Mike, and Oscar when we will do our damnedest to explain & break down Jordan Peele’s second film how only we can. Though if you cannot get enough of us Mikes previewing the “Us” movie (you knew that wordplay was coming at some point in these show notes), then go back a few pods ago in our catalog to enjoy our “Us” Guess the Plot, where we preview the film more extensively AND have some fun guessing what might happen. (Of course, this is how we flex our creative muscles. We don’t actually spoil anything there in those shows). But also tune into the first 5 or 10 minutes of the next episode as we’ll be non-spoilers for that intro for a new segment and follow up on the Oscar Lens as well as an update on how it’s being received by the moviegoing public. As always, please tell us what you think & how you feel about “Us.” We’re at MMandOscar on Twitter, and we are on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Gmail. You can subscribe / rate / review / like / share / & listen to us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify, and just about wherever you listen to podcasts. When reality sucks, keep watching movies with us. We’re Mike, Mike, & Oscar!