moment to moment i had a lotta fun, visually great, lots of genuine laughs and thrills and fun moments between the cast (getting hyped about the non-electric camera was a highlight for me). loved the monster's design as well (ribbons guy!!)... but i'm not sure it quite all cohered for me. feeling similar to Us -- where Us i feel like spoils its striking visuals with over-explanation, this feels like opposite, where it sets up a lot of Themes and Ideas but it just leads up to a Grand Monster Movie Finale. i'm thinking Jordan Peele's gotta lotta cool ideas about films and how to make them! i remain interested in them! hope they are a little more focused next time!

willing to chalk my relative lukewarm-ness up to Not Having Subtitles and thus Probably Not Understanding Potential Key Plot bits -- it remains unclear to me why the cinematographer decided to die then and there, and it remains unclear to me why the monkey did that.