A Belated Nope on “Nope”: What to Watch on Thanksgiving

Award season has already begun, and online links to the studios’ Oscar hopefuls, along with special screenings, are flooding film critics nationwide.

So with positive expectations, I opened an email and sat down in front of my 27-inch computer screen to view Jordan Peele’s Nope. (Sadly, the link nixed hooking up with my Samsung.)

The experience was not exactly one of unbridled enjoyment. I should have been forewarned. When one of America’s more annoying reviewers, the New Yorker’s Richard Brody, titles his assessment: “Nope Is One of the Great Films About Filmmaking,” you know you’re in trouble.

There isn’t a piece of crap Brody hasn’t stuck a rose in, and not a rose he hasn’t crapped on.

Flowers aside, the first hour of Nope is pretty negligible fare with the exception of a flashback to a killer chimpanzee and the wonderful-to-see-again Donna Mills almost getting kicked in the kisser by an upset steed. Mostly we have Daniel Kaluuya walking about as horse trainer OJ Haywood. Picture John Wayne overdosing on Valium and you have his performance. Not since my turtle Willie pondered me when I was in the sixth grade have I confronted such inexpressiveness.