Us (2019) movie *SPOILERS*

[trublu]

Something I found interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing this film.

Us 2019

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6857112/
Synopsis: A family's serenity turns to chaos when a group of doppelgängers begins to terrorize them.

https://variety.com/2019/scene/news/us-michael-jackson-reference-jordan-peele-1203167647/

Jordan Peele Explains the Meaning Behind the 'Us' Michael Jackson Reference

Jordan Peele's horror movie "Us" is filled with pop culture references, from "Jaws" to "Goonies." But the most divisive might be right in his opening sequence. Warning, minor spoilers ahead.

The movie about a couple (played by Lupita Nyong'o and Winston Duke) and their children being hunted and brutalized by a mysterious family that looks just like them opens with a scene from the 1980s. Nyong'o's character is a little girl when her dad wins her a "Thriller" T-shirt from a game booth at an amusement park.

She puts on the T-shirt just before she wanders into a house of a mirrors — a decision that will imprint on the character's life forever.

This "Thriller" throwback surfaces shortly after HBO's documentary "Leaving Neverland," centered around Jackson's alleged sexual abuse of underage boys. The film lead to many fans calling for a boycott of Michael Jackson's music.

Did the current controversy create a conversation between the studio and the director?

"No," Peele told Variety's Elizabeth Wagmeister earlier this week at the New York City premiere of "Us."

"No, we start in the eighties and it's an image of well documented duality and the film is about duality," Peele said, adding that this nod is, "a tone-setter, and I think it sets a chilling tone, but one of much duality."

One of the film's central themes is human duality and the battle between good and evil. "This movie is about the fact that we are our own worst enemy," Peele told Variety earlier this month at the South by Southwest premiere of the film.

https://youtu.be/i5U2XyQgcPM

It's also worth noting that the doppelgängers wear one glove throughout.

The whole duality theme, doppelgängers, Michael Jackson references are interesting, don't you think??

Plot from Wikipedia

In 1986, young Adelaide Thomas goes on vacation with her parents in Santa Cruz. At the beach, Adelaide wanders off and enters a funhouse, where she encounters a doppelgänger of herself in the funhouse's hall of mirrors. Adelaide is later reunited with her parents, although unable to speak.

In the present day, a now adult Adelaide heads to her family's beach house in Santa Cruz with her husband Gabe Wilson and their children, Zora and Jason. Adelaide, remembering the traumatic incident from her youth, is apprehensive about the trip; Gabe, eager to impress their friends Josh and Kitty Tyler, purchases a boat and brushes off Adelaide's concerns. At the beach, Jason wanders off and sees a man in a red jumpsuit standing alone in the sand with his arms outstretched and blood dripping from his hands. He does not tell his family about the man, but later draws a picture of him.

Later that night, a strange family of four appears in the driveway of the beach house. Gabe attempts to intimidate them, but they attack him and break into the home. The Wilsons realize that the four intruders are doppelgängers of themselves, led by Adelaide's double, Red. Each of them are wearing the same jumpsuit as the man on the beach, and Jason's doppelgänger Pluto is wearing a white skintight mask. Red, the only doppelgänger who speaks, tells the Wilsons the story of a girl who lives a happy life while her shadow suffers.

The family is then separated by their opposites: Red makes Adelaide handcuff herself to a table, Zora is pursued out of the house by Umbrae, Gabe is dragged outside and onto the boat by Abraham, and Jason is sent to "play" with Pluto in a closet.

While chasing Zora, Umbrae is interrupted by an investigating neighbor, whom she stabs with a pair of golden scissors; this distraction allows Zora to escape. Gabe is able to kill Abraham with his boat's malfunctioning motor, while Jason discovers that Pluto mirrors his actions almost exactly. Jason is able to distract Pluto with a magic trick and escapes, leaving Pluto locked in the closet. Red is drawn to Pluto's cries, allowing Adelaide time to break free. The family regroups and escapes on Gabe's boat.

Meanwhile, the Tylers are also murdered by a set of doubles shortly before the Wilsons arrive. The Wilsons kill the Tylers' doubles and turn on the local news to see that millions of doppelgängers, who call themselves "the Tethered", have been committing murders against their real counterparts throughout the United States. The doppelgängers subsequently join hands together to form a massive human chain, which the newscasters speculate is a form of protest.

The Wilsons drive away in the Tylers' car until they are attacked by Umbrae, who is killed after being launched into a tree following a skirmish on top of the vehicle. As day breaks, the Wilsons arrive at the Santa Cruz boardwalk, where they find their own abandoned car on fire. Pluto has set a trap to kill the Wilsons by lighting a gasoline trail to the Tylers' car, but Jason, remembering that Pluto mirrors his every move, walks backward so that Pluto steps into the burning car and is killed. Red then reappears and abducts Jason.

While Zora and Gabe recuperate in an abandoned ambulance, Adelaide returns to the boardwalk funhouse and walks through a secret tunnel in the hall of mirrors. This leads to an underground facility overrun by rabbits, where Adelaide finds Red. Red states that the Tethered were created by the U.S. government in an attempt to control the public, but the experiment failed and the Tethered were abandoned underground. For generations, the Tethered were trapped beneath the surface, doing nothing but mimicking the actions of their above-ground counterparts until Red organized them to escape. The two fight and Adelaide manages to kill Red. She finds Jason hidden in a nearby locker and promises him that things will return to normal.

The family reunites and drives away in the ambulance. As they leave town, Adelaide thinks back to the night she first met Red in the funhouse, revealing that she is, in fact, one of the Tethered, and had taken Adelaide's place in the surface world after knocking her out and trapping her in the underground complex. Jason watches her apprehensively, while across the United States the Tethered join hands.

Trailer
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hNCmb-4oXJA

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=51kRJr9dMIY

[trublu]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WZorfXa5pBc

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mj3MfUR35CM

[trublu]

The Story of Hands Across America, the Failed Fundraiser Featured in Jordan Peele's Us

Jordan Peele's Us opens with a sequence that seems deliberately designed to confuse viewers, or, at least, younger ones. On a vintage television, surrounded by VHS tapes, we see a promotional video for Hands Across America, an advertisement (and event) so fundamentally cheeseball, it almost seems like something Peele made up. But as with Gremlins 2: The New Batch, the truth of '80s entertainment was stranger than fiction, and Hands Across America was very real indeed, a true relic of the era — in terms of both its aims and its failed ambitions.

Hands Across America was part of a wider movement of celebrity/entertainment activism that swept the country, and the world, in the mid-1980s. It was a snowball effect, each all-star benefit prompting another that attempted to complement or outdo its predecessor: Bob Geldof's 1984 Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" begot an American counterpart, "We Are the World," which became the fastest-selling pop single of all time upon its release in March of 1985; U.S.A. for Africa, the organization behind the single, teamed with Geldof to mount the global benefit concert Live Aid that July.

And in October of 1985, U.S.A. for Africa announced its topper: On Sunday, May 25, 1986, 6 million Americans would lock hands and form a line winding from New York City to Long Beach, California. Each participant would contribute $10 toward the cause of aiding the country's homeless and hungry; sponsors (including Coca-Cola and Citibank) would, they said, cover the estimated $18.8 million cost of staging, advertising, and staffing the event. U.S.A. for Africa called it "the largest participatory event in the history of the world," and hoped to raise "at least $50 million."

Organization was, unsurprisingly, a logistical nightmare, particularly in that pre-internet, pre–cell phone age. The intended 4,152-mile route, stretching across 16 states, ten rivers, two deserts, and one mountain range, required 1,320 participants per mile. To volunteer for a spot, individuals could pledge their $10 (or more, if they wanted a T-shirt, pin, or other swag) via an 800 number, which would then send them an entry form. "When the form is returned," the New York Times reported, "the organization's computer assigns a particular one-mile segment." (We were really excited about our computers in the 1980s.) Corporate and individual sponsors could buy entire miles of the route; some offered to transport participants to fill them. But there were still questions about how to fill predicted gaps in Texas and through the Southwest, and about the route itself. (Senator Ted Kennedy complained that the route bypassed New England). Some even wondered if so many people linking bodies could prove an electrical danger.

And then there was the question of star power. Part of the draw of "We are the World" and Live Aid were the white-hot personnel: Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie co-wrote and anchored the song, while David Bowie, the Who, Queen, Elton John, Sting, Madonna, and Tom Petty were among the headliners at the concert. Hands Across America lined up Lily Tomlin, Kenny Rogers, Pete Rose, and (gulp) Bill Cosby as co-chairs, and more stars committed to participate on the day or sponsor miles. But the "Hands Across America" theme song was a decidedly low-rent affair, written by a trio of commercial jingle composers (their biggest hit was Chrysler's "The Pride is Back"), performed by studio singers, a New Jersey choir, and Toto, of "Africa" fame. In spite of a music video boasting cameos by the likes of Barbra Streisand, Robin Williams, and C3PO, the song flopped.

In the week leading up to the event, a mini-controversy brewed. Days before Hands Across America, President Ronald Reagan responded to criticism of his budget's reductions to poverty assistance by proclaiming that there were enough resources available to the country's poor. "I don't believe that there is anyone going hungry in America simply by reason of denial or lack of ability to feed them," Reagan said. "It is by people not knowing where or how to get this help." When those comments attracted criticism of their own, the president and his staff recognized the public-relations value of Hands Across America, and carefully placed themselves between adorable moppets for an official White House video at 3 p.m. sharp on the Sunday before Memorial Day.

Participants across the country held hands for 15 minutes that day, with radios tuned to stations participating in a simulcast, so all could sing along to "We Are the World," "America the Beautiful," and the sappy "Hands Across America" theme. Other Washington, D.C., participants included Reverend Billy Graham, Mary Lou Retton, and Coretta Scott King. Jesse Jackson joined the line in Iowa; Bill and Hillary Clinton lent a hand in Arkansas; Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck joined in at Disneyland. Migrant workers organized a 51-mile stretch in Texas. The chain also included 50 Abraham Lincoln impersonators in Springfield, Illinois, and 54 Elvises in Memphis. The AP reported five weddings along the chain.

But even the most optimistic reports noted "several gaps" in the line, some of them miles long; ribbons, banners, and even farm animals were used to fill in the noticeable voids. And optics weren't the only problem; due to astronomical administrative costs and unkept pledges, Hands Across America fell far short of its $50 million goal. A year later, the Times reported a net of "only $15 million for the hungry and homeless after all costs were paid." U.S.A. for Africa spent about the same amount to mount the event.

That relatively small payout, and the goofy music video, were Hands Across America's legacy — until now. Jordan Peele was 7 years old (roughly the same age as little Adelaide in Us) at the time of Hands Across America. And maybe it took eyes that young to look at this sweaty attempt at '80s activism and see something not corny, not self-aggrandizing, but deeply, undeniably sinister.

https://www.vulture.com/2019/03/hands-across-america-in-jordan-peele-s-us.html

[trublu]

Cry (written by R Kelly)

Somebody shakes when the wind blows
Somebody's missing a friend, hold on
Somebody's lacking a hero
And they have not a clue
When it's all gonna end
Stories buried and untold
Someone is hiding the truth, hold on
When will this mystery unfold
And will the sun ever shine
In the blind man's eyes when he cries?
You change the world (I can't do it by myself)
You can touch the sky (Gonna take somebody's help)
You're the chosen one (I'm gonna need some kind of sign)
If we all cry at the same time tonight
People laugh when they're feelin sad
Someone is taking a life, hold on
Respect to believe in your dreams
Tell me where were you
when your children cried last night?
Faces fill with madness
Miracles unheard of, hold on
Faith is found in the winds
All we have to do
Is reach for the truth, the truth
You change the world (I can't do it by myself)
You can touch the sky (Gonna take somebody's help)
You're the chosen one (I'm gonna need some kind of sign)
If we all cry at the same time tonight
And when that flag blows
There'll be no more wars
And when all calls
I will answer all your prayers
You change the world (I can't do it by myself)
You can touch the sky (Gonna take somebody's help)
You're the chosen one (I'm gonna need some kind of sign)
If we all cry at the same time tonight
You change the world (I can't do it by myself)
You can touch the sky (Gonna take somebody's help)
You're the chosen one (I'm gonna need some kind of sign)
If we all cry at the same time tonight
You change the world (I can't do it by myself)
You can touch the sky (Gonna take somebody's help)
You're the chosen one (I'm gonna need some kind of sign)
If we all cry at the same time tonight
Change the world

[trublu]

 :Speaking of Jordan Peele...look at his new series..we know who loved the twilight zone right???

https://mobile.twitter.com/JordanPeele/status/1112787215921213445

[Carrie]

If I remember correctly,  TJ Jackson spoke highly of this film on social media.

[trublu]

If I remember correctly,  TJ Jackson spoke highly of this film on social media.

Yes and Taj has posted about it a few times now. Did anyone see it yet? I was supposed to go see it but something came up. I'll have to watch it on DVD.

[trublu]

https://youtu.be/4_MHTK76FS8

[skyways]

😄👍😄👍😄👍👍😄👍😇😇