Cinepals - A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE Reaction & Review w/ Jaby & Achara

Episode Date: August 6, 2024

Jaby & Achara watch, “A Quiet Place: Day One” a thrilling horror prequel that depicts the initial chaos and horror of the alien invasion, exploring how ordinary people like a teacher and a deaf teenager survive the harrowing first day of Earth’s transformation into a world ruled by sound-sensitive monsters. This film is directed by Michael Sarnoski (Pig & Olympia), & it stars: Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave & Black Panther), Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things & Catherine the Great), Alex Wolff (Hereditary & Old), Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond & Guardians of the Galaxy), and Denis O’Hare (American Horror Story & Dallas Buyers Club). You can watch the cut down reaction to this movie (and many others) on our YouTube channel https://www.YouTube.com/@Cinepals and the full length reaction is available on our Patreon page https://www.Patreon.com/JabyKoay SOCIAL MEDIA:  ~CINEPALS~ YouTube: @CinePals Insta: https://instagram.com/TheCinePals Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCinePals   ~ACHARA~ Twitter & Instagram: @Acharakirk YouTube: @Achara

Senna. Pals. A Quiet Place, Day 1. I've been looking forward to this for a while. Thanks so much for joining us. Some of you guys are wondering why it's myself and Achara and not Kristen and Andrew. Don't worry, fret not. That reaction is also coming.

I just really wanted to watch this because I'd seen part 1 and part 2 and really enjoyed those films and have been very much looking forward to this one. And you might be wondering, why didn't all four of you do it together? We don't have the space with that. And so you'll get both, Achara and Jabby, and then Andrew and Kristen. Without further ado, here we go. I'd forgotten how the city sings. You can hear it when you're quiet. wow wow how are you feeling uh well i wasn't expecting to like get this emotional in this movie

like i was i was fully expecting the scares and everything but i think i'm just really taken by what a great story it was and how actually uplifting it was at the end i think that's why i got so emotional because of like just the positive message of humanity and friendship, companionship, love, and all of that. I'm just like, oh, my little heart got touched. I guess they couldn't do the scream because that would have been too similar to the first Quiet Place film with John Krasinski when he saved his family. But I forgot about that up until just the second.

And so I would have been fine with it if they went there. because, like, she had that cathartic cry out in her apartment. Perhaps that she wasn't strong enough to even, like, emit too much sound with her throat at that point. I'm just a hair surprised that, like, she sees what's happening, just like, eh, something, just to draw the monsters back towards her. Right, yeah. But it was definitely a thrilling moment there at the end, you know, when he's almost had by the monsters and he jumps into the water. I have to just accept the rules of the movie.

it's just a little bit strange to me that these aliens are afraid of water that's all I had the same issue with signs by the way it's just so so odd I feel like that that's just like every monster or supernatural movie

there are always rules right it's like vampires don't like garlic and you have to invite them into your home was that a thing in the first two Quiet Place movies I remember the water being used to drown out so that they could actually have conversation but I don't remember water being a thing

that affected the aliens like that Wasn't it in part two? Didn't that one colony live on an island or something? Yeah, I watched each of the films once. I really enjoyed them a lot, but I only watched them the one time. So I don't remember if that was the thing that came up. I just remember it being a noise diffuser thingy. Yeah, which totally makes sense.

Like, I think this was such an interesting day one story, and I love how they grounded it with the character, like Lupita Niyongo's character. because I thought it was just so interesting that they gave us this protagonist who's dying of a terminal illness and so while everyone else is faced with their mortality

when these aliens arrive and everybody's dying and everybody's freaking out I was just struck with the fact that she's been dealing with this for a while you know so she's in a different place than a lot of these other people of course it's really scary because it's like you could die any second

but she's been living with the fact that she could die at any second for like the past two years or more. That's true. So I think it puts her in a different place to start with than a lot of the other characters that were following in the movie. You know, what I really enjoyed about it was the fact that we just had a new set of characters to follow because you have this post-apocalyptic situation

that's like it's rich with opportunity to tell stories. And I really enjoyed this sort of revisit to the feeling that I got with Cloverfield. Like what I was told, how it was communicated to me in the most simplistic terms is, you know, you see a lot of alien related destruction films. And you're often viewing it through the lens of like the heroes of the film that take out the aliens. But what if it was like, that guy running over there? What if we followed his story? What's that going to be like?

That's Cloverfield. And this felt so much like that in a lot of ways, even though there was a modicum, of blood armor that protected our heroes to the end of the movie. It still felt like that because, like, they had no way of battling this, really. Even when he saw the nest of food and whatever, it's like, well, normally in a movie, that would then lead the main characters to go, ah, we're going to get rid of that. Yeah. You know?

Let's blow it up, you know? Like, Ripley torching. Like, that didn't happen. It went against all the stereotypes of a film like this. And I really enjoyed that aspect of it. because, like, this is something that really is enjoyed after a series of other films. You know what I mean? In contrast to other films, if that makes any sense.

Because if this was the first film of its kind that I saw, I'd be frustrated. Like, what? You know what I mean? Like, okay, you exposed me to this over here, but you did nothing with it. And them doing nothing with it is special because we've seen them thousand films or they've done something with it. Right. And a lot of the time those films are focused on our characters surviving, right?

and because, you know, we're living vicariously through them. And of course, in that situation, we're like, we just want to live. Whereas in this one, our protagonist, at the very end, she's like, you know, thank you for showing me how to live again. And then also at the end, she's like, I'm just going to go out on my own terms, you know. Did you like that? I don't know. I think it was an okay way to go.

It moved me because I was just like, you know what? that's she had a beautiful day yeah she's in a place that she loves like it's making me emotional um but you know and so she's just like i just want to go now because think about it if it is you know it's the end of the world right like it's going to be pretty awful she's not going to have her meds it's going to be really difficult to get all the stuff that she needs she's going to be in so much pain yeah so may as well right i i hear you. I kind of wish that they didn't do that ending because it just, the open-ended version of that, I would have preferred. Oh, like, she's just in the jazz club. Well, like, no, she had her music and

she was walking, and that was a perfect place to end it. Just, just end it there. We don't know what happens. It could be that, you know, like, it's fine. It's a, it's a, it's a serviceable ending. I just was like, you didn't need to do that. I would have, I like the hope that maybe she is able to go on somehow because she made it this long she made it this long sure yeah i mean there's another way to look at it which is yes you've come this far yeah to say that you're not going to beat the disease yeah look at her like she did not look well so but yeah she survived this movie it's true so yeah she survived this movie to then you know not yeah i can understand how that could be a bit frustrating for some people. No, I'm not frustrated by any stretch. It's like, it's a valid way to go

as far as the writers, directors, you know, want to tell their story, their version, that's fine. All I'm saying is like, if it was me, I would have done this instead, but I'm happy with it, you know? I definitely had an experience watching this. I enjoyed it thoroughly, the feelings it elicited, you know, because I don't generally feel, I don't know, I should look back at the track record of horror films and stuff we've watched recently. Maybe I have to change my stance on my opinion on these things, feel like I don't normally get super scared like you do, for instance. Yeah. But this film definitely, quiet place in general, definitely works on me.

There's something about it. I think it's just the wildly unexpected that can come any time. Yeah, it was really hard for me because one of the things that I like to do when I watch horror movies is to cover my ears and my eyes. Oh. And so I was really struggling because I'm like, I can't because I've got headphones on. And it's even worse because the sounds coming. in, like, so close.

So I feel like I'm actually there. And then I can't cover my eyes because, like, no, you know, you guys want to see what's happening. So I'm just here, just like, the anxiety. It's too much. I want to commend Michael Sarnaski and as well as John Krasinski and Brian Woods. So Michael Sarnowski, John Krasinski and Brian Woods wrote this and Michael Sarnaski directed it.

And his approach. in the direction felt so much like children of men in a lot of ways because there's this chaos unfolding and you're just sort of tracking these characters on a slightly shaky cam. Not too much, not aggressively, but just enough that you feel like you're in the throes of it. And I really appreciated that artistic approach to it. You know, I think that if he borrowed from children of men, what a great inspiration. It felt like that, you know, but in the best of ways. Because I felt like I was there experiencing this in real time. And the way the trailer sells you is on this massive destruction.

And it gives you kind of the wrong idea because when you watch a quiet place, the appeal of it is it's a quiet place and that's what makes it scary. Yeah. Right? But the trailer kind of made it feel like as different from 28 months later

as 28 days later. Right. You know, I spent a long time since I watched the sequel. I just remember this, like the sequel felt very different from the first film, right? And so, but not in a great way,

is what I'm trying to say. Whereas here, it felt different in a really good way. and it didn't give in to the temptation of just Independence Day Destruction. It was like, yes, that's there in the movie for one scene, really, one or two scenes. But it's mostly, like, resembling

the attitude of the first two films, you know? Yeah, I mean, I guess it was different in the sense that when we watched the first quiet place, right, you learn the rules very quickly and everything is, like, very, very silent and very, very tense because we know that we can't make a sound. And I remember being in the movie theater and the experience of that was electric

because everybody was like too scared to even eat popcorn. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like we were there. And you felt like you couldn't breathe because the monsters might come and get you as well, which is like, of course they're not going to. You're in a movie theater. But here, they don't have to exactly follow those rules yet

because everybody's still figuring it out. It is noisier for me, you know? It's like, it's different. And it should be because this is the very first day And everybody's still like trying to learn the rules and all of that And so I definitely felt like this one being the third movie in the franchise now They were like, yeah, we've got more of a budget. Let's have more of the aliens.

There were so many. Like in the first movie, there were barely any at all. Well, yeah, it's also a different budget. But yes. Yes, right? I suppose the mysteriousness of the aliens, They weren't as mysterious. No.

Right. We already knew about them. Yeah. However, I think they still spent a considerable effort of not showing you the entire alien, you know, through a lot of it. It was often like in through the smoke and through the shadows and they're like these angles. And you're not seeing the whole body most of the time. You do see way more aliens and you do see their faces a lot more. Yeah.

So I guess if you have like a very purest attitude, then yeah, they didn't do as good of a job with the smoke screen and all that that the first two films give you. But I still really enjoyed it. No. I... Like, when Joseph Quinn, who plays Eric, when he's on the steel beam, and he, like, has a slip and the alien's head just comes right up, I'm like, oh, my God. Yeah. I knew that an alien was going to hear it, but it being right there like that freaked me out.

I had, you know what I mean? It was just, like, very uncomfortable in a good way. Yeah. And I think the reason why, like, this movie was so unexpected to me is because, like, I was expecting the scares and all of that. But then when Eric joins Samira, Lupita Njongo, right? When he joins her, everything changes and, like, their relationship was so sweet, so quickly. Because I think that he did a really great job of playing this character who is just very innocent and sweet.

Yeah. And the fact that he, like, just met this woman and, you know, finds out that she's unwell and offers to go out and get her medication and everything. and then, like, decides to give her, like, the best last day possible. It was just the sweetest thing that you could do for anyone that you just met, you know? It was just such a nice juxtaposition to have the end of the world happening. And then also this beautiful moment between two people just living life and enjoying the fun things that life has to offer in a situation where we're all concerned that we might die. Yeah.

So it was like that wonderful contrast that made it really beautiful and, like, just really touched my heart. Yeah. I'm debating whether or not to mention this, because it's going to sound like woke conversation. But it's just a thought that occurred to me. So I'm going to say it out loud and you guys can do what you want with it. But they went to Chinatown, right? Because that's where the puppet show was. Oh, was it?

I didn't know. Well, I just saw a lot of Asian stuff all around them. Oh, okay. I didn't see too many Asians in the movie, except for, like, extras. And I'm, like, a little surprised they couldn't turn one of the main characters, or one of the characters, Asian, just to be like, you know, like, Asians. There's a lot of Asians that live in New York. That's true. Like, a lot.

And so it's just a little bit surprising that, like, that couldn't be worked out somehow. But it's all good. I've been to New York so many times. Not once. Not once I've met a guy from England in New York. What? Not saying that they don't go there. I know that they go there.

I just personally. Some of them. I haven't met them. Well, you're English. I haven't, I personally haven't met anyone who's English in New York.

Not once. I've met lots of Asians. I met lots of black people. I met lots of, like, random white people. Like all kinds of it, Puerto Rican, but not once I haven't met an English dude.

So I was just like, oh. It was just a little surprising they couldn't work that out somehow. That's all. Trust me. They're out there. There's love.

I know. I'm not saying that they're not there. And Australians, too. In New York is full of everybody. Everybody. Right. Yeah. I'm just.

Like, they were in Chinatown. That's all I'm saying. Let it go. Like, the only, it occurred to me when I saw the dude being pulled into the boat. And I was like, oh, there's an Asian. Like, non-speaking role. Cool. Like, you know, you could have done without Jiaman Hanzu.

I guess. That was nice to have. I think it was also cool to kind of see where he started and then, you know, how he's getting on. Because that moment where he accidentally kind of maybe. on purpose killed that guy in order to save everyone and specifically save his family. I think that was a real turning point for his character. And as you get along in this world, you will have to do many things that you probably never thought you would have to do.

Yeah, he could have killed an Asian guy, though. That would have been messed up, though, if the only Asian guy was the speaking role in the movie. He gets killed. Then you'd be like, why'd they have to kill the Asian guy, though? Why couldn't he survive? No one wins. Yeah, there's no winning there. There's no winning.

It had to be a white guy. It had to be a white guy. You can only kill white guys now. Just kidding. You can kill whoever you want. I think I feel like I've seen movies recently where they're not killing the white guys. So it's fine. No, it's fine.

I mean, like, I am not that dude who gives a shit about like appeasing, like getting all of the ethnicities in a movie. I don't care. I don't care if you put a single Asian in the film. It's just a little bit strange to me. Like in Uncharted when they go to the Philippines and you don't see a single Philippines. I'm like, that's just a little bit odd. That's what's weird to me. You know what I mean?

Okay. Like, those kinds of things stick out as just odd. I really like the film. I'm not being funny. Like, I really like the movie a lot. I thought it was quite strong. And for a film that is like the third installment in this series, it could easily have been a mess. It could have easily been a cash grab.

And it went well beyond that. I really appreciated. I said it already during that reaction. I really appreciated the sort of misdirection. Magic. Kind of like the main, the just. Joseph Quinn's character. I enjoyed the misdirection, the pizza thing.

Because it really just seems so mundane, you know? It's just like, it's just pizza. I really love that. Like, it seems like just a random, cute obsession. And then finding what it's linked to and that being leveraged to give the character, like, a memory that she's held on to. Like, that I just thought that was really sweet. It caught me off guard. I didn't see it coming.

No. So. And I think that's what really got me. as well was just what it meant to her. I mean, I love pizza too, but hearing that story about, you know, how she used to go and get pizza with her dad and all of that and then tying that back into the jazz club

and then finally getting to see a picture of her and her dad, you know, all of that. Anything that has to do with family or like dads and stuff, it's always going to make me cry. So I was already like, oh, dang, I did not realize that I was going to need. all the tissues today but I'm glad I had them so fantastic work as far as I'm concerned I liked it quite a bit and I'm glad I got to I got to see it and so

hopefully you guys enjoyed the reaction and let us know your thoughts feelings in the comments below I'm Jabby Kui this is Achara Kirk peace out