Despite the need for a good VFX polishing, advanced tickets for Jordan Peele’s “Nope” are starting to go on-sale. The film is being advertised as having a 135 minute runtime. That’s fairly ambitious for Peele, whose other two films (“Get Out” and Us”) clocked in at 110 and 120 minutes, respectively.
It’s been a fairly limp summer movie season for Hollywood. What quality films has the industry actually had to show for so far? “Top Gun: Maverick”? That’s the best they can do?
“Nope” is one of the hopeful titles that could redeem a summer filled with lazy sequels, reboots and remakes.
However, there are other glimmers of hope. I enjoyed Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming “Elvis.” Maybe Taika Waititi can deliver the goods with “Thor: Love and Thunder”. David Leitch’s “Bullet Train” looks like decent fun as well. Otherwise, the dog days of summer have turned into the dog days of cinema.
Remember the summer of 2002? That’s when the big studios released original films like “Road to Perdition,” “Minority Report,” “The Bourne Identity,” “Insomnia,” “About A Boy,” “Signs,” and “Unfaithful.”
Or how about the summer of 1998? “Bullworth,” “The Truman Show”, “Out of Sight”, “There’s Something About Mary”, and “Saving Private Ryan” all released between the months of June and August.
Those were the days. Now we’re all clinging our summer hopes on “Nope” and “Thor.”