KNIVES OUT -- dir. Rian Johnson; Daniel Craig, Michael Shannon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, etc. etc.

This tender biopic of Thom Yorke circa Amnesiac will thrill and delight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGqiHJTsRkQ

I'm up for a modern take on the Agatha Christie formula, but this looks a bit smug.

Complaints complaints. (Also I already like it better than Gosford Park.)

it's been a long time since I've seen a trailer for something this strongly predestined to be a flop

that is one helluva cast

has daniel craig had some work done? he looks kinda... odd

Friend who saw it already says it's his second fave film of the year, behind Ford V. Ferrari.

Rian Johnson's Bad Times at the El Royale

Rian Johnson should be banned from making films, hate him so much.

too bad, cuz this cast looks very entertaining

Friend who saw it already says it's his second fave film of the year, behind Ford V. Ferrari.

this fits

Perhaps also relevant:

Also if you like watching movie stars being movie stars, you will love KNIVES OUT. https://t.co/96i1mGcDGJ

— Karina Longworth (@KarinaLongworth) July 2, 2019

it's been a long time since I've seen a trailer for something this strongly predestined to be a flop

You never saw the trailer for Valerian?

I *saw* Valerian lol

going by the trailer I can 1000% live without Chris Evans' version of being a movie star

it's been a long time since I've seen a trailer for something this strongly predestined to be a flop

― Simon H., Tuesday, July 2, 2019 8:54 AM (twenty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

so it's a non-star wars rian johnson film

Looper did fine, no?

Budget $30 million[4]
Box office $176.5 million[4]

pretty good!

lol yeah i always forget about looper, the other rian johnson film namechecked in the trailer

trailer really got me when chris evans started telling a roomful of people to eat shit

but yeah I also hated The Brothers Bloom which is reason enough to avoid this one

(since this seems to be in a similar register)

that said, I would still see the cubicle-farm-set Brick sequel that lives in my head

when it comes to upcoming movies featuring rich people trapped in mansions, I would rather go see Ready or Not:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtYTwUxhAoI

(which pretty much looks like Get Out without any social commentary but either looks preferable to the movie above)

FWIW, Longworth is Johnson's partner.

nb that the ppl she's addressing are interested in movie-star-era Hollywood bcz of her own criticism and research and analysis and biographing and writing and speaking and broadcasting and publishing, not randos who know who her boyfriend is

i am going to see the hell out of this

when craig said "i suspect foul play" i shrieked

Something something "Clue: The Movie."

Very low bar but this looks way more interesting/entertaining than Joker

Why'd you pick that one?

Because it looks like one of the worst movies ever made and I want to take any and every opportunity to talk shit about it

“This slime mold is horrible and clogging my pores but at least it isn’t fucking Joker.”

^^^ gets it

heh, now I get it.

I’m on board, I am already prepared to defend this movie at length against the gripes of you tedious aesthetes

guy hitting the piano key only good thing in that trailer

That was a confusing trailer to watch trying to figure out when Thom Yorke appears.

So it's like the Westing Game?

Lakeith Stanfield chuckling at "CSI:KFC" also very funny.

I would honestly be pretty OK with seeing a non-comedy version of this, but once it became clear during the trailer that it was just a setup for lots of sitcom-y joke exchanges I was out.

It looks like a Saturday Night Live video piece where they take a 70s Agatha Christie movie and turn it so it's all about the Trump family.

This looks ridiculous and I am here for it, can't wait.

lol unperson otm

the ironic thing is that I can imagine a non comedy version of this actually being pretty funny if they just did it without all the JOEK moments and let it be campy pulp. But instead it looks like that weird mode of modern comedy where so much of the humor is just based on breaking the tension of dramatic moments by having characters suddenly say something snarky or confused. It's such a weirdly nervous and insecure style, like the filmmakers are constantly reminding you that they know they are making a comedy. You can just see them giving the script to a bunch of punchup sitcom writers and saying "make sure there is 1 joke on every page, no matter what"

so you do not like jokes, noted

I like jokes

Along the lines of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXn8CsQU1-U

Yeah but without peter sellers in yellowface

Yeah, that's pretty unwatchable.

Paging Morbs

So it's like the Westing Game?

once you see it... it can't be unseen

I wonder if everyone who watched Logan Lucky is going to get Daniel Craig to do ridiculous American regional accents now. It's a good bit.

yeah lol

i like jokes fine but i'm just very bored w/stuff like toni collette's "no we cant ask?" bit, that style of gag is just so overdone and all over the place these days

I do not think this is supposed to be a Comedy...?

Like, yes there are some jokes in the trailer and the overall feel is ridiculous but it seems like it is aiming for irreverent drama over comedy; like is everyone assuming Chris Evans telling his whole family to eat shit is supposed to be a punchline or something? Did people think The Last Jedi was a comedy?

I mean, the referenced Toni Collete line doesn't land like a joke at all to me. This doesn't even scan to me as trying to be funny in the vein of The Royal Tenenbaums.

i guess it depends on how finely you want to split the hair between "an irreverent drama that seems to have lots of jokes" vs "a comedy"

someone on twitter speculated that the film was pretty straight but they're hoping to market it as a parodic kind of thing

this looks like Brick or Brothers Bloom register aka "semi-wacky/irreverent/quirky genre exercises" (though the latter is considerably wackier)

Watching trailers on purpose is for the birds so I have v little idea of what this film is you’re all talking about

But murder by death, speaking of “jokes” and “doesn’t land” and “at all”, is a fascinating watch & entertaining if only for falk’s gumshoe bit and capote yelling at the Charlie Chan guy for stereotypically mangling his grammar while clearly being capable of genius-level deductive reasoning

the entire enterprise of miserable/cynical people being acerbic to each other is a cornerstone of british comedy and I at least give Johnson some credit for attempting an American version

I just googled Rian Johnson fully expecting Rhys Ifans to appear. I am disappointed.

It's such a weirdly nervous and insecure style, like the filmmakers are constantly reminding you that they know they are making a comedy. You can just see them giving the script to a bunch of punchup sitcom writers

who are the "them" you are imagining throughout this scenario

(also haven't watched the trailer, I am not a disgusting savage)

I shouldn't've clicked because "Rian Johnson" is good enough for me but oh well, I'm not a purist

it's pronounced like "ryan" which is the most disappointing part

KNIVES OUT is a diabolical, hilarious, and massively entertaining whodunnit that updates the musty genre for the modern world and all of its MAGA assholes.

see it with the biggest crowd you can find. here’s my #tiff19 review: https://t.co/SQumxnFZ6q pic.twitter.com/hSTsJBg4Me

— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) September 8, 2019

I'll wait for some non shit critics to weigh in

lol otm

I’m on board, I am already prepared to defend this movie at length against the gripes of you tedious aesthetes

ready to tag team, silby

I get Uhlich and and Erlich confused

This looks fun! On the other hand, I don't really get the critical interest in Johnson. He hasn't made an movie that's more interesting to watch than to talk about - and some of them aren't very interesting to talk about. He's like the Hold Steady of film criticism - an easy dilettante for frustrated critics to aspire to.

He’s awful

Nah

Murder by Death was a great movie

I mean, how interesting The Last Jedi is to talk about depends on who you're talking about it with - but all of his movies that I've seen (I never saw The Brothers Bloom) have been good to watch and to think about.

It looks like a Saturday Night Live video piece where they take a 70s Agatha Christie movie and turn it so it's all about the Trump family.

― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Wednesday, July 3, 2019 2:35 PM (two months ago)

Sometimes I like being right, and sometimes I hate being right. Not sure which this is yet.

lol omg you guys are like a bunch of old hens!

talk abt unearned drama jesus

Brothers Bloom is his least-to-talk-about movie, obviously he should be set on fire for making a fun Saturday afternoon international adventure romp

I like Brothers Bloom. It’s twee in a no-aping-Wes Anderson way, although you could draw the comparison.

I'm glad Ricky Jay got paid.

reviews of this are overwhelmingly positive. i'm ready for it.

I was finally going to see Ready of Not tomorrow, and while I know it is a different kind of movie, horror vs. who-done-it, isn't it also a rich Trumpy-jerk family stuck in a house at each others' throats movie?

Enjoy a character poster thread. Fashions! Color coordination! Vague spoilers as to what each of the character roles are if you care about that sort of thing.

What’s that you say? In the wake of our smashing Toronto debut the world is clamoring for some #KnivesOut character poster goodness? Alright FINE lemme see what I can do! In the style of those enticing character breakdowns that began Dame Agatha’s books, here we go...

— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) September 16, 2019

if this movie is good then whoever edited the trailer should be getting a kick in the arse for making it look so horrendous

horrendous? srsly?

never saw a potential smiley in craig before but

:o

Also, new trailer:

Nothing brings a family together like murder. Watch the new trailer for #KnivesOut now – In theaters this Thanksgiving. pic.twitter.com/2XuzPvyixH

— Knives Out (@KnivesOut) September 18, 2019

Two weeks to go (for me at least). In the meantime I enjoyed this -- I watched Evil Under the Sun as a kid more times than I can count.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsJXuzjBc_Q

Death on the Nile is def on I remember watching as a kid

Okay, just got out of an early screening. My not-actually-saying-anything-in-any-detail report: I loved it of course, I was predisposed to. A busy film though, it's trying to do three separate things at once, and how it does all that is where people will differ greatly I suspect. Maintains a pretty solid 'just go with it' flow to the whole thing where you try not to question anything too much, at least if you're me. Deeply meta out of the gate but that may be the only way to make it work. The marketing of the film has pulled off a major successful headfake; the lead character as such is not who you think it is. Was still guessing at a couple of things up to the final couple of minutes. Some beats/twists you could juuuuust see coming, but in the best way. Classic 70s/80s Christie adaptation eight-million-stars-at-once folderol and just enough hamminess. Daniel Craig sure loves going Southern (Logan Lucky et al). Couple of fun cameos and a solid running joke or two. Real fun/unexpected music choices at points. Seeing it again on Tuesday and I'll see if I can catch some details I missed first time around.

Second viewing as mentioned tonight, meantime new Rian Johnson interview here, nothing too spoilery per se but it does delve into some of the clear themes of the movie -- and the less you know going in the better.

https://www.gq.com/story/rian-johnson-knives-out-interview-2019

Stopped a little short of loving it because I was kind of hoping for more actual "whodunnit," and I do kind of think that the large cast of great actors were somewhat wasted in the premise (would seriously watch a streaming series with Toni Collette's character any day). But as far as entertainment machines go, um, more like this in the future please!

A very fair take!

Can't really call it "subtext" either if the characters are openly voicing "MAGA" and "Nazi" and so forth, but I'm sure lack of subtlety is a defining feature for the movie on every level.

I'm gonna see this tomorrow. kind of looking forward to it. not my usual kind of thing

I'm totally looking forward to it tomorrow, looks fun, gonna take a (big) kid.

the donut monologue

Even funnier the second time around. Craig is having a total blast with this role.

I got to see slightly more than one viewing due to a newer theater in the area completely fucking up the aspect ratio and taking long enough to fix it that I saw the first twenty minutes twice. It's a lot more effective when everyone's head is visible on screen instead of just a hideously elongated torso.

first i hated the Craig voice, then i got used to it and loved it. fuckin' donuts

the laziest insult was "CSI KFC" but I still laughed

This was tons of fun. I guess I was expecting maybe one more twist, but this really didn't feel like a movie of twists. Just good actors playing good character actors playing good characters.

Felt maybe 20 minutes too long but overall I enjoyed it. I did liked the payoff of JLC’s character at the end.

seeing this tomorrow morning :D

enjoyed how all of the foreshadowing played out, although nearly always in a slightly less obvious way

It's a pretty clever subversion of a whodunnit, if you think about it.

This was a real hoot.

Loved it!

I liked the way the “mystery” was structured, in that it gives you so much up front that you *think* you need to second guess, when actually you kinda don’t. Really v funny all the way through, Craig’s donut speech was hilarious. Toni Collette was brilliant, and Chris Evans’ handsome rich d-bag was a+ right down to the loafers.

Also a lot of bad takes earlier in the thread have come home to roost, which is nice.

I'm always happy to be wrong about stuff like this (in that it's good when an original movie performs well)

this was highly entertaining. I was maybe slightly disappointed as my expectations were risen a little higher by Ned's effusiveness above and I thought perhaps there was going to be maybe, something else or something more tricky or artsy about it (like, I started scanning the background set thinking there was some kind of clue in all the skulls); there isn't, really; and I did think the Nazi kid was kind of wasted. I guess the subtext of the immigrant coming in and "stealing" everything was a bit compelling. But then not everything needs to be a grand comment on society either. Well acted throughout, I really enjoyed it.

There's at least one scene referred to in the first trailer that didn't make the final cut -- assuming it's all the same scene, it's a bit where Walt's wife, whose name I can never remember, steps out of the car with some groceries in front of what is presumably their house and there's somebody in a knit cap seemingly lurking ominously on the front porch. I half wonder if that's meant to be some acquaintance (or enemy) of Nazi kid, but until/unless it surfaces on home release we won't know; I'm guessing he has more scenes with just about everybody that he trimmed down for time and focus.

I liked the way the “mystery” was structured, in that it gives you so much up front that you *think* you need to second guess, when actually you kinda don’t.

Yeah this was key for me -- part of me was wondering the whole time after it's clear that Harlan really did die that way whether Marta was an unreliable narrator the whole time even WITH the puke giveaway. Which is a sign of a good first watch, if you ask me.

I guess the subtext of the immigrant coming in and "stealing" everything was a bit compelling. But then not everything needs to be a grand comment on society either.

What I really appreciated was that for all the supposed political/Trump subtext, it's less about overt stuff -- there's the one family argument scene for sure but that's a lot of back and forth -- than the just barely concealed subtext of 'if you're well off and 'from here' you don't even have to think about this shit no matter who you support, and when you do you're almost certainly going to get it constantly wrong and be a patronizing dick looking out for yourself.' Absolutely one of the most effective jokes was how none of the Thrombeys really know what Marta's exact background is, and it was an even cleverer move by Johnson never to show what it exactly was either.

Also I'd either missed or forgotten that after the making of this de Armas ended up joining the new Bond film -- I'm willing to bet that Craig was behind that, especially since it's all tied in with him getting Waller-Bridge onboard for screenwriting -- so I think it's kinda great we'll get these two again in scenes together playing completely different characters in a few months.

Toni Collette was brilliant

Her hippy/wine mom dancing to Roxy Music to JLC's obvious total disdain was fantastic.

Their total ignorance of Marta's background, even from the more "woke" family members, was hilarious. Great throwaway gag.

(I assume we can include a few semi-spoilers in the thread, right?)

Since I loved this film but also love second guessing creative choices, I wonder if it would have been a better reveal/stinger at the end had the drop of blood not been revealed earlier? Esp. since the drop, as revealed earlier, never really comes up again, and never really serves (imo) as a point of suspense (unlike all the other clues left behind). Absolutely harmless the way it is, but might have been more fun if it was revealed as something Craig noticed that no one else noticed, not even the camera.

For lots of reasons, seems like there could have been room for Adam Driver in this, either in the Chris Evans role (though Evans was great) or maybe even in the Michael Shannon role, since both Driver and Shannon share the same sense of mass and menace.

I'm going to see this again sometime, but I was trying to remember why Jamie Lee Curtis was cut out of the will, since she seemed the least reliant on her father (vs. all the others coasting or stealing).

The drop of blood felt like a (unknowing) point of suspense to me when Blanc was closely examining the hall outside the study.

Absolutely harmless the way it is, but might have been more fun if it was revealed as something Craig noticed that no one else noticed, not even the camera.

On my second watch I was looking closely to see what Blanc does when he first meets Marta out on that porch, and he does take a clear quick look down at her shoes -- he might even do two, now that I think about it. But it's quick enough that it doesn't stand out at all.

I'm going to see this again sometime, but I was trying to remember why Jamie Lee Curtis was cut out of the will, since she seemed the least reliant on her father (vs. all the others coasting or stealing).

I've wondered a bit about this myself. He seems to care for her the most -- otherwise why tell her what her husband is up to (and I love the unspoken sense shown via various shots that he's been sending her notes this way for a long time) -- but probably *because* she's made the most for herself as a result and still something of a jerk regardless he probably thought "Welp, doesn't need me at all!" (Which him telling Walt he made a mistake by handing him the business on a plate reinforces.)

I wanted you to be at the funeral but I was outvoted

funny how everyone wanted that

so many chekov’s guns in this sucker. the bit toward the beginning where Harlan says something about people — or was it specifically Ransome? — not being able to tell a real knife from a trick knife may have had my fave payoff

yes!! i was going to say that too.

Agreed though I admit I only caught that in full on the rewatch! My other favorite rewatch bit — realizing that (establishing shot of house and dogs aside) it essentially begins and ends with the ‘my house/my rules’ coffee mug.

And yes the knife comment was specifically Ransome. I enjoy how Harlan honestly respects/is wary enough about Ransome to let him into his plan, realize even if he doesn’t say it that Ransome probably came up with the murder scheme that he loves so much he scribbles it down in his notebook and, realizing he’s fucked as far as he knows, trusts/appreciates Marta enough to get her out of the jam to the best of his knowledge at the time. A storybook setup and one of the meta touches but — and on a second watch I was looking for this closely — the logic of the story generally holds up beat for beat.

the knife comment, and a few other moments, are these intriguing hints that Harlan’s written the plot of his own murder mystery in some way and while that doesn’t pan out, it’s devious in its execution

These characters are so richly (no pun intended) drawn, with the exception (ironically) of the nominal lead (Craig), but he's an audience surrogate anyway. Love how much we learn about everyone through subtle actions and fleeting line readings

Do we ever learn why Shannon has a cane?

Just 'cause, I guess. I like we don't know everything.

Nice interview with Noah Segan here. Among other things, that little 'shh-shh' moment in the climax of his was an improv.

https://nerdist.com/article/knives-out-noah-segan-murder-friends/

this was great... one clever bit no one has mentioned yet; when Craig first mentions the Donut, he’s shot through a reflection of a storefront wreath.

Noah Segan was very good in his role, but I couldn't entirely concentrate due to his resemblance to Elon Musk.

I thought he looked like the SNL cast member that plays Eric Trump.

loved this

Even better the second time. Two new takeaways: Daniel Craig does hint that he knows about the blood drop when he chats with Marta on the patio. He gives the "Gravity's Rainbow" monologue, which more or less ends with him knowing where the projectile is going to land, just following its arc until it "lands at your feet" (or something like that), which implies he knows the blood is there, it's just a matter of figuring out how and why.

Other takeaway was Ransom. It's stated he and his grandfather were very similar, which is how his plan comes to him instantly, just like the stories game to Harlan. And then later, when he notes he was his grandfather's researcher for a summer, that indicates how he knew about the slayer rule. Not that these things were big reveals, just little touches that made more of an impact the second time around.

Oh, and one last thing I thought was funny was how the family was constantly using Harlan's clearly prized baseball to play fetch with the dog. Jamie Lee Curtis even puts it back in its perch dripping with slobber.

(And to tie it in with my apparently misbegotten post on another thread, this movie, with this cast, reportedly cost $40 million, which makes the $200 million price tag of certain mob epics seem even more nuts, since there's no way that one offers more bang for five times the bucks.)

Great movie and I loved that they didn't have Marta in any of the advertising. Reminded me of Raiden in Sons of Liberty...

xp No one had to be de-aged in Knives Out dude

is Scorsese and Marvel going to come up in every thread now that is about movies of any kind

All of the teeth in Knives Out were CGI, iirc.

This was good! Happy that the plot was played relatively straight - I thought they might go somewhere like Daniel Craig accuses the wrong person, or everyone confesses but nobody was guilty. Ransom having dunnit was on the cards as soon as he started "helping" Marta, but they didn't make it too obvious.

Strangely covetous of some big suspended eyeballs to hang in my study.

one Chekhov's gun that went unfired was the vomit in the big gulp cup - I was sure Blanc was going to sip on some of that liar puke, and the theater reacted to a very obvious setup that quickly evaporated.

In a way it had to be Ransom of all of the Thrombeys just because, as well written and enjoyably acted as they are, it would have been odd to single one of them out.

yeah I figured it was either going to be none of them or Marta

Felt like the original family member suspects sans Ransom got pushed to the back in the back half of the film, aside from that brief Shannon scene outside Marta's apartment, that up until the end it felt like it was either going to be Marta or Ransom.

It's almost as if when they're written out of the will they're written out of the movie, too. But really, that back half is all about Marta, there's really no more role for those other jerks she's escaped.

And yeah, two broad jokes I never expected but that the movie avoided anyway: the barf in the big gulp payoff and, when Blanc is talking to grandma and he asks her what she is thinking, I thought a lesser film would have had her pass gas for a quick gag.

This ruled

yeah I was missing the ensemble for a lot of the movie

I wonder how intentional obscuring Marta from the advertising was. it just strikes me as a deliberate, possibly subversive move to sell a film with an ensemble cast of stars that actually revolves around a relative unknown, and however that might relate to its well intentioned but on the nose political commentary.

the best character was secretly the fanboy deputy cop

Def. provided one of the best gags at the end, when Blanc finishes his monologue and starts to say "Trooper Wagner ..." and Marta immediately goes "Trooper Wagner killed Harlan?!" and Blanc just turns to her incredulously and drawls out "no."

Thing I didn't catch on two viewings: that was Frank Oz as the lawyer!

Funny thing I did catch: this is the second thing this year that featured Edi Patterson and M. Emmet Walsh as supporting actors.

I thought this was ok, not great. Benoit Blanc feels like a franchise character set up for Craig post-Bond.

wasn't apt to see this, NYT pan was death blow

The Times panned it? Lane's New Yorker review was positive in the end but pretty ambivalent, too. I can't imagine anyone outright panning this.

Eh, Morbs, that Dargis review is no pan. It sounds as if she, like Lane, just thought the movie a little smug, and for that reason is intentionally (if transparently) keeping it at arms' length, as if reluctant to concede its merits without a vague counterbalance of sorts.

I didn't know Ricky Jay was supposed to play the Walsh role, and that's why his photo as a fleeting cameo.

the house had incredible Ricky Jay vibes, almost felt like a tribute

can't imagine reading more than six words of any given Anthony Lane review, I get angry within seconds of glancing at any random sentence, the horny shmuck

Heard an interview with Rian Johnson on the Unspooled podcast and came away really impressed the three movies he would add to the AFI list were Modern Romance, The Master and Meek's Cutoff.

Another in-joke I just realized. The movie ends with the Stones' "Sweet Virginia" ... a British band pretending to be an American country band, sort of a musical analog to Brit Daniel Craig pretending to be a Kentucky fried detective.

feels like a stretch

if they wanted to that, Faraway Eyes would have been a better choice

It's def. a stretch! But I can still see them doing it for their own amusement. I mean, they must have picked that song for a reason.

Ha, I just found this: "The closing credits of KNIVES OUT feature The Rolling Stones' "Sweet Virginia." During the Q&A, someone asked how Rian Johnson picked that song. "Expensively," he said."

But here's the "sometimes a cigar is just a ... " explanation I found from Johnson: "Ultimately, I wanted it to end not in a cynical place, and that’s a part of the reason why I picked the Rolling Stones song, “Sweet Virginia.” I wanted the audience leaving the theater bobbing their heads and feeling good."

this was very enjoyable. though the marta storyline was just a little too close to my own personal nightmares for comfort.

i wanted to know more about the house, but apparently it's a private residence that the filmmakers aren't supposed to disclose much about.

my dad noted the use of the Stones song, "a deep cut from Exile, they were never better"

xp Whoa! yeah the house was incredible - I figured this is a shoe-in for a production/art design Oscar

https://ew.com/movies/2019/11/27/knives-out-production-designer-crazy-house/
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/11/30/the-story-behind-massachusetts-mansion-knives-out/4LHnGPZKcw4JiNz4V0BuTN/story.html

they make it sound like the first floor and exterior were mostly used as-is, but the upper floors were sets and the library room is from a different old mansion.

Not much to say that hasn't been said, but this was SO MUCH FUN. I could watch a gif of Toni Collette dancing to Roxy Music forever, on an infinite loop. I saw it at the Capitol, an old, restored theater in Cleveland, and the audience just loved it. Tons of laughs throughout.

Def. provided one of the best gags at the end, when Blanc finishes his monologue and starts to say "Trooper Wagner ..." and Marta immediately goes "Trooper Wagner killed Harlan?!" and Blanc just turns to her incredulously and drawls out "no."

YES.

Also, Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown" playing while Marta and Ransom were talking in the diner . . . . so great.

Loved this. Daniel Craig singing in the car, oblivious to the ambulances behind him, was great.

yeah loved all the goofy elements of Blanc's character, the odd haplessness underlying his Gentleman Sleuth persona

"I read a tweet about a New Yorker profile about you!"

it was a pleasure to watch a mystery-comedy in which the mystery actually drives the plot from start to finish and the comedy doesn't hinge on stupid parody or gags ... I suppose the casting gives it a little youth appeal, but this felt like a throwback to an era when Hollywood made and marketed comedies for grown people of all ages

even the meta elements and the topical satire, fresh as they are, are in classic Golden Age mystery style

this movie is very old-fashioned and I want to see it again

Yeah it was really refreshing to see them sidestep the winking that was probably tempting, and that it remained grounded, though over-the-top enough when it needed to be.

Outrageous accent duel between Craig and Branagh’s Poirot

Have you ever watched the John Malkovich Poirot? Ooof!

the ILX love for this unbelievably shitty director continues to baffle me

Hardly limited to ILX fwiw.

bruh you were just stanning the Lindsay Lohan sentient Volkswagen movie, go sit in the corner

Herbie: Fully Loaded >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Brick >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Looper

Are u postin about another movie u ain't seen?

I have seen all three movies

ok full disclosure, I couldn't finish Looper.

Speaking of Fully Loaded

(I have no skin in this game tbrr but wiseacres gonna wiseacre.)

ILX love for this unbelievably shitty director continues to baffle me

This conflates the movie with the director, which is usually a mistake, imo. Good material, good actors, and good editing can overshadow the effect of a poor director. You say you saw it, what was it, other than the identity of its director, that you thought was unbelievably shitty?

the ILX love for this unbelievably shitty director continues to baffle me

I didn't like Looper, thought the Brothers Bloom (saw it on a plane) was fine but a misfire, liked Brick at the time but don't remember anything beyond that, and The Last Jedi was what it was. But this was really good. Sometimes it happens!

Johnson has just one response for the haters

https://media.giphy.com/media/2jv2kK9eLalOB6CYsh/giphy.gif

Good material, good actors, and good editing can overshadow the effect of a poor director. You say you saw it, what was it, other than the identity of its director, that you thought was unbelievably shitty?

did not say I saw Knives out, I said I saw the three films I cited. Brick and Looper were both written and directed by him and contain ideas/execution that made me actively angry. I will grant that it's possible that this movie does not repeat the mistakes of his others, but it doesn't seem likely ("Agatha Christie update!" doesn't exactly sound like much of a shift in his approach tbh) and frankly I'm not going to waste my time finding out. Fool me once, etc.

Shakey you get angry about some silly things

Rian Johnson should be banned from making films, hate him so much.

too bad, cuz this cast looks very entertaining

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, July 2, 2019 8:58 AM (five months ago) bookmarkflaglink

We should have a special thread dedicated to ILXors reviewing movies they haven't seen.

Last (x) Movies you are going to Avoid

Yeah, but we should also lock Shakey into it.

what did rian johnson do

murdered star wars iirc

the faux-whimsical sort-of-precious tone used in Brothers Bloom and Brick don't quite work in their execution for me but I think Knives Out works better because the more twee bits are jettisoned

Brothers Bloom felt like he was trying to do some sort of fairy tale junk, like a Just So Stories about criminal brothers

I was actually hoping after they said his name was Benoit that he was going to do a ridiculous, Poirot-esque accent, but the colonel sanders was entertaining enough on its own.

mh otm re 'brick' -- i remember it being really irritating, actually? didn't see brothers bloom

it's been a while since I've seen Brick but wasn't it sort of like a budget Donnie Darkoish crime film set in studentland.. It was okay but very much of its time even then. He's improved as a filmmaker and writer since then, obvs

We don't talk enough about how great the ending for Looper was

Brick was edited on a macbook (iirc) and made for a teensy budget and I'd take it over anything else he's done tbh

I was actually hoping after they said his name was Benoit that he was going to do a ridiculous, Poirot-esque accent, but the colonel sanders was entertaining enough on its own.

― Jordan Pickford LOLverdrive (Neanderthal), Tuesday, December 3, 2019 2:53 PM (forty minutes ago)

I thought making him genteel and Southern in the rich suburban Boston milieu was a clever England-to-America transposition of Poirot being a Belgian fusspot.

Brb going back in time to smash that macbook

Xps

I love Brick intensely

yo this was great! the only other two I’ve seen were his Star Wars and Looper, neither of which made much of an impression

So Drew Daniel noticed something. (And I'm annoyed I completely missed this, since Johnson had already talked about Deathtrap in the run up to release.)

two Chris-es
in white sweaters
in mysteries,
both alike in dignity . . . pic.twitter.com/TAJ1HmpgsD

— DREW DANIEL (@DDDrewDaniel) December 4, 2019

Would've paid good money to watch Thanksgiving family crowds watch Chris Evans make out with Daniel Craig.

Brick was edited on a macbook (iirc) and made for a teensy budget and I'd take it over anything else he's done tbh

― Simon H., Tuesday, December 3, 2019 3:34 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

yes

I think they put Evans in that sweater to reduce some of the Captain American mass he was still carrying.

I have no particular investment in Rian Johnson as a director. I saw Brick and Looper, and they were fine. My interest in Knives Out was mostly because it looked fun, and it was!

xp

Didn't they already solve that in the first Captain America movie? Bring back skinny Steve Rogers!

I have no particular investment in Rian Johnson as a director. I saw Brick and Looper, and they were fine. My interest in Knives Out was mostly because it looked fun, and it was!

― jaymc, Wednesday, December 4, 2019 5:02 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

same - I saw Brick in 2006 and liked it and I guess missed everything else since, altho tbh I think I saw Brothers Bloom...didn't know he did that, totally forgettable.... anyway Knives Out is really good, and a great Thanksgiving movie to see with a big crowd. also appeals to almost everyone.

i don't understand how anyone can get mad about Looper or Brick.

in this economy? me neither

idk I think feeling irritated by things that try for a tone, and you dislike that tone or feel they didn’t pull it off, is actually fine?

many movies don’t reach for a specific tone or have directors that don’t try new-to-them things and that’s the largest segment of the theater. for all the dumbasses howling about directors who didn’t get final cut... well, most of those dudes were churning out product, but it just wasn’t quite short enough or punchy enough

I’d take a few Rian Johnson missed shots over having a movie theater of screens showing completely on the nose productions

you can feel irritated by a movie and still happy you went to it over Angry Birds 3

in his Atlantic interview, Johnson said the superheroes in sweaters similarity was entirely coincidental https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/12/rian-johnson/602884/

either way, very into the Chris-es in sweaters look.

Chris Evans in cozy sweaters is the tumblr i never knew i needed

I liked how for such a New England film, no one tried for a New England accent, not even Evans, the only cast member afaik actually from Massachusetts.

Have we talked about the final shot of the film yet? Cause it was fantastic.

That was actually something that I think they kind of messed up (in a minor way). The mug (that's what you're talking about, right?) is iirc the first shot in the movie, but almost at the end you see Marta standing on the balcony, and her fingers are very deliberately, carefully positioned over the three "my house, my rules" etc. lines. Setting it up for the punchline, of course, but it called enough attention to itself that when they do deliver the punchline it lost (imo) some of its punch . Too telegraphed. Still funny, though.

The mug was part of it, but I also really loved the wide shot after of her looking down at the family from the balcony.

That's not the last shot though? The coffee cup is.

I dunno, it’s possible I may have misremembered - movie was hell of a ride! But that shot is the one that sticks in my mind.

Really enjoyed it.
Laughed a lot.
Was reminded of Ready or Not which is also pretty much must see.
THough that might just be the upper middle class bit.;
Some great lines including the heritage of the house thing.
& a lot depending on earlier foreshadowing but won't go further into that until people have seen it.

the line about the house having been purchased in the 80s was hilarious in context of "our family's legacy"

oh yeah stuck around to see if there was a post credits scene. wasn't a visual one.
Did hear a dog bark right at the end of the credits though which I assume must be intentional.

xxxp it's a great shot!

this sucked c'mon

Oh man never thought about it that way

-daniel craig's southern accent was distractingly bad (ditto his creepily light blue irises)
-the MAGA/SJW jokes were super corny and forced
-wtf is up with that idiotic steampunk sword chair???
-twist ending was obvious from the moment daniel craig said he was hired by an unknown person
-hateable rich family were so much less funny + realistic than in succession

pfft

-the MAGA/SJW jokes were super corny and forced

Both of them?

-hateable rich family were so much less funny + realistic than in /succession/

Lol i know many real families far worse than the Thrombeys

the house has a bunch of references to the book series Harlan’s written, with a couple of bits of dialogue mentioning that! the chair’s pretty obviously one of them, and they also mention the hidden window entrance and it’s concealing door is another

I kind of enjoyed it mostly, but dozed off in the luxurious comfort of the Electric Cinema Portobello Road.

I did notice a lot of restless checking of phones throughout the film however.

the southern accent was bad not good but this movie was good not bad

is how i break it down to a certain extent

Dude he was doing community theater southern as a choice.

Nobody after Kevin Spacey on HoC does that shit as a legit attempt

spacey’s HOC accent was also trash

The southern accent was meant to be bad, they literally make jokes about it in the movie

spacey’s HOC accent was also trash

― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, December 5, 2019 7:20 PM bookmarkflaglink

That was my point

ah okay.

the real problem with actors putting on accents isn't so much the accuracy of them or not it's that unless they're great at it, the act of doing the accent tends to get in the way of their thought processes - some proportion of their brain is occupied with forming the sounds correctly, so they end up as less sharp versions of themselves and don't wring the sort of nuance out of their lines as they would otherwise. i thought this was true of craig here and made him less essential - i can pretty easily imagine a number of other actors who could have owned this role at least as well.

i did have a great time though. just the right combination of smart and stupid for me. even if i did accidentally buy tickets for an audio description screening lol. (MEG GASPS)

the real problem with actors putting on accents isn't so much the accuracy of them or not it's that unless they're great at it, the act of doing the accent tends to get in the way of their thought processes

This is otm. Speaking bas someone who has done them....if you can't pull it off seamlessly, better not to do it.

There have been one or two movies I've seen where a close but unconvincing accent has turned out to be a plot point. eXistenZ, maybe?

Dude he was doing community theater southern as a choice.

Nobody after Kevin Spacey on HoC does that shit as a legit attempt

― master of nuggets (Neanderthal), Friday, 6 December 2019 00:16 (one hour ago) link

ah i see, acting badly on purpose, what a bold and advanced move

Have you seen movies before doggie

Most actors don’t act in movies so acting badly on purpose is a lot more fun

“combo of smart and stupid” — otm

loved this.

Loved Daniel Craig's ridiculous accent. That character would have been way less interesting without it. That whole donut within a donut speech would not have worked without that accent.

ah i see, acting badly on purpose, what a bold and advanced move

please somebody restrain flopson from seeing any previous mega-cast country-house murder-mystery screen comedies made from the 1930s to the 1980s, or stage ones ever, lest he utterly implode with disgust

One plus one plus two plus one

there's a bit where Craig says 'I suspect... foul play' which sounds like a direct echo of a line spoken by Edward Woodward in The Wicker Man. Made me wonder if it was deliberate or just very very uncanny

Did like that chair. Positively garish.
Harlan must love GoT.

May need another look at the film.had just assumed that the decoration had been some kind of family legacy until hearing it had very short family history. Was it supposed to say nouveau riche at all?

I saw that Joseph Gordon Levitt was credited as a random detective, and assumed he was one of the ones at the medical office or something - it turns out that he's the narrator in the show that Marta's sister's watching on her laptop.

please somebody restrain flopson from seeing any previous mega-cast country-house murder-mystery screen comedies made from the 1930s to the 1980s, or stage ones ever, lest he utterly implode with disgust

― insecurity bear (sic), Friday, December 6, 2019 12:32 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these. if they are like bad movie knives out, probably i will also find them bad

Is there a single famous person with a deep South accent? i'm struggling to think of any. Morgan Freeman? (not really deep South though)

I thought Stephen Colbert congratulated Craig on his accent. Colbert's from Carolina, not sure how much it shows in his current accent though.

Well, there are definitely actors with a southern accent, and lots of Texans, but like a Col. Sanders accent? I don't know.

Walton Goggins?

I assume a lot of actors from all over work to limit their strong regional accents in order to land roles.

the accent is a lot but it never seemed ~wrong~ to me. like you're benoit blanc from southern louisana? sure, okay, i can go with this. the real colonel sanders was from indiana anyway and the "colonel sanders accent" just actors projecting vague southernness.

Fred Dalton Thompson had a pretty good shitkicker accent, didn't he?

I hate bad Southern accents in movies and I was worried Craig's would be a distraction, but I thought it was fine, internally consistent and of a piece with Benoit Blanc's fulsome self-regard

the crazy decor of the Thrombey house I took to be mainly artifacts gathered by Harlan during his long mystery-writing career, so the place is a house of mystery in a couple of different ways

the most distracting lapse in the movie is the scene in which the detectives are talking to Marta on the veranda and you can see their breath misting in the cold and Marta (always shown in separate shots) is not misting

I noticed that too. The first time I wondered if it was just Craig's cigar smoke. Or maybe it was because Marta has been inside, but they came in from the chill?

Fred Thompson, the asshole Republican and sometimes actor, is from Tennessee, so not “deep” South à la Foghorn Leghorn et al. Billy Bob has a wonderful accent but it’s hillbilly, not Georgia/Louisiana/Alabama/S Carolina etc

ANYWAY

The problem I had with the accent was not that it was "good" or "bad" but placed Craig on a broader parodic bandwidth than every other actor, which in an ensemble film like this is just interruptive. I just don't understand what value it added.

I enjoyed this movie but reading all the high praise can't help but wonder if people are just finding it refreshing relative to the lack in multiplexes of this kind of harmless fun.

Calling bullshit on that "I got outvoted" line though. However racist or superior the family was they all demonstrated a real affection and gratitude for her personally. Also duh ppl don't get "invited" to funerals. Surely there was a smarter funnier option for what they intended here.

a broader parodic bandwidth than every other actor, which in an ensemble film like this is just interruptive

the white cop was v broad tbf. but it did sit very strangely with lakeith stanfield's awesome, understated, perceptive thing. speaking of lakeith stanfield i kept waiting for him to get his moment and show up blanc for the self-regarding blowhard he was but it never came :(

Well, he does chuckle at Chris Evans' "CSI KFC" joke, which was at Craig's expense.

xpost I thought the "I got outvoted" line was a joke. That is, who exactly was voting? The kids? The grandkids? They never say. I just assumed it was the kids, and if two of them say they were outvoted, then I suspect they never even held a vote and just used it as an excuse.

Well yeah, but the joke is for the viewer, not for her, and it’s predicated on the idea that no one would want her at the funeral, which doesn’t ring remotely true, and on the idea that close friends get “invited” to funerals

just a wrong note I thought

placed Craig on a broader parodic bandwidth than every other actor, which in an ensemble film like this is just interruptive. I just don't understand what value it added.

1) it was fun
2) it was not much broader than Curtis or Shannon or
3) it deliberately sets him apart / as other from the self-regarding waspiness of the family
4) ‘ave you nevair SEEN any screen portrayal, be it large or small, of m’sieu ‘Ercule PoiROT, ze esteemed privat detecteeve from BELZHUM??

Poirot is also Definitely Gay which I don't think Craig was playing towards, probably for the best

People hold private memorials, especially for famous and/or rich ppl. It’s not that engraved invitations are sent out, it’s that the ceremony is stated to be private, or for family only, or “at an undisclosed location.”

However racist or superior the family was they all demonstrated a real affection and gratitude for her personally.

That affection is shown many many times to go a short distance only, and not to be especially profound.

Definitely Gay which I don't think Craig was playing towards, probably for the best

I’m fine if the next Benoit Blanc Mystery implicitly or openly has all the sweater-clad hunks murmuring “wreck me daddy” to themselves every time he looks away from them though

xp I have, yes! And Clouseau and even Columbo, Peter Falk leans into something a little OTT. None of those struck me as this jarring

However racist or superior the family was they all demonstrated a real affection and gratitude for her personally.

lol that lasted all of ten minutes the moment she gets the money. this was clearly a case of going through the motions and being charitable to staff that was always tenuous and only needed one event to completely unravel. none of it was real.

sic it was literally referred to as “the funeral”

anyway who cares, this movie was alright

xo that’s just not true, she is very evidently treated like family from the outset, long b4 the will is read. I

and yeah, co-signing sic, not all funerals are public. wasn't the idea that she didn't even know the funeral had already happened when she arrived at the house? generally if you're not wanted at a funeral due to it being private, you're just...simply not provided the details. or it's announced, like sic said, that we're keeping it to immediate family only. def have had people die where I didn't attend because I basically knew it was a smaller private thing.

that’s just not true, she is very evidently treated like family from the outset

lol have you never known a bullshitter before?

there’s my thumby Zing-post hug/kiss crosspost for you Neanderthal

Yeah it just didn’t scan to me that their bullshit extended to secret disdain for this character

As you were

born-on-third assholes, which is what most of the Thrombeys are*, are often like this. they're very good at coming across as caring and kind, but also classist assholes that think a thing like having "the help" show up at a rich patriarch's funeral is "beneath" them.

*meaning that at first it makes most of them look like they built their own empires but it's quickly revealed they did so either from direct million dollar loans from Harlan or illicit means like double-dipping on a daughter's financial aid.

(disregard, rather than disdain, as shown every time they refer to her parental country of origin)

wasn't the idea that she didn't even know the funeral had already happened when she arrived at the house?

that’s how I read it the first time, wasn’t sure by the third

moreso, it always felt like they were just faux-kind to Marta just like these types of people can be. kind of like "Smurf" Cody in Animal Kingdom with her grandson J. she comes across as a loving grandmother when she takes him in, embraces him, calls him sweety, talks to him in a sweet grandma voice, yet the moment he's a threat to her, she orders him killed, because none of those feelings were 'real'.

similarly they all "like" Marta and they make shows of kindness to her, but they're empty - like they say they're going to take care of her financially! How nice! But it's an empty gesture because they're doing so with the money they assume they're going to get from Harlan's estate, not their own money. and the moment she gets the money, instead of being happy that she's going to be well-off, they all turn on her like selfish, vile pricks.

xpost yeah I don't mean to suggest that they secretly "hate" Marta, but that they don't care as much about her as they let on.

born-on-third assholes, which is what most of the Thrombeys are*, are often like this. they're very good at coming across as caring and kind, but also classist assholes that think a thing like having "the help" show up at a rich patriarch's funeral is "beneath" them.

― master of nuggets (Neanderthal), Friday, December 6, 2019 2:21 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Exactly. Fran also wasn't invited, which was why she was home to see Ransom.

michael shannon's eye was really wandering overtime, wonder if it was CGI or if he can do that at will -- acting!

It is a little weird watching this discussion from the UK - she's the help! They're kind to her because you're kind to the help, but I have no idea where you're getting "very evidently treated like family".

In fact she's treated better than the family treats each other, because she's not on the radar. If you'd asked any of them before the will scene if Harlan was schtupping her, they would have politely changed the subject because who cares what you do with the help?

(Something at one point - I annoyingly forget what - did make me wonder if they were going for something Father Brownish where class makes people dangerous through invisibility)

The most glaring example of How Things Are is the scene with Don Johnson prattling on while holding up his empty cake plate. It's only after a second that you realize he is holding it up for Marta, who is standing just off screen and a little bit out of focus in the foreground, to take.

prattling on about how much he appreciates her

don johnson was my favorite in this, so effectively squirrely when being interrogated

Does Don Johnson ever play characters that aren't garbage people?

A Boy And His Dog

Maybe the twist in Watchmen finale is he's a cool dude.

reaching back to: acting badly on purpose, what a bold and advanced move

It never much hurt Peter Sellers when he was playing Inspector Clouseau.

A Boy And His Dog

are you referring to the character that kills and feeds his g/f to his dog

Yeah, lol, seriously.

But to be fair, that dog was great. Man's best friend.

He kept the dog alive!

Yeah, exactly! He probably made the right choice, because the dog was his friend.

the girl he raped, murdered, and turned into dogfood, eh not so much

It's a dog eat dog world.

Dog eat girl, I guess.

What a shit movie that was.

It never much hurt Peter Sellers when he was playing Inspector Clouseau.

*NARRATOR VOICE ...*

very different sorts of movies Aimless

main diff is that peter sellers is funny

Hmmm.

The biggest hint that none of them actually really cared about Marta was how all of them had different ideas about which country her family was actually from.

The granddaughter seemed to care about her, at least to some extent. Yeah, she called to get her to renounce the inheritance, but it implied she was doing so under duress.

Even the family members who were most on her side were not really with her.

they were very kind to the nice girl from bolivia

Meg fuckin told the family that Marta's mother was undocumented! Then she tearfully apologizes and Marta's like it's OK.... it's not OK!!!!!

Surprised no Choose Your Own Adventure fans notice the homage.

Did someone descend into an ant hill?

Again, Meg sold her out, but there was more than a hint of implication that she was pressured to do so. At least she's portrayed as distraught and in tears when she calls her in front of everyone else's glares.

Lol i totally did. "Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey?"

I would pay money to see a short of the family’s 4th of July mafia game

Also, loved the changing details every time we see a replay of the same scene.

Grandma asking Ransom if he’s leaving already -> grandma sitting quietly as Ransom leaves -> grandma sitting with a slice of cake as Ransom leaves

re whether the family really likes Marta or not, I think the question is a bit beside the point. If you're from a family like the Thrombeys and one of the household staff walks away with your ENTIRE family inheritance including the house you're not gonna just smile and say, "Welp, she sure deserves it!"

The will is not read until after the funeral.

But whether they love her or hate her or simply don't think of her at all, they would still react the same way to her getting all of their money. That's human nature. (Unless I'm missing your point?)

the point was whether they sincerely liked her so much that they would have invited her to the private family-only funeral or not, so what happens after the funeral can't rly nullify that

JiC - Meg tells them Marta’s mom is undocumented! She isn’t pressured to tell them. That’s the point of her character afaic, to make the point that class interests are always going to win out, no matter how liberal her views or how genuine her liking for the hired help.

She isn’t pressured to tell them

Curious where you're getting this from - I'm aware that Meg claiming the opposite shouldn't be taken as gospel truth, but it also feels like something the family would do.

How would that pressure work? 'Meg - is there anything we can blackmail her with? C'MON MEG' and then Meg.. offers up the undocumented mother?

Grudgingly of course

Ahhh you guys fancy Meg and are looking for reasons she's not an asshole - n/m

Ignoring that last post - yeah? "Marta is going to make most of your family penniless, I know you like her, but are you really going to choose her over us?" is pretty much how that would go - like Joe Stork isn't wrong that she puts class/race over friendship, but she can do that while also being pressured into it and feeling terrible afterwards.

Not that I'm saying this is definitely what happened - I'm pushing back against Joe's definite "she isn't pressured"

My favorite line reading: Chris Evans saying "Yep" (hard p).

Points in Meg's favor: we know she's close and friends with the housekeeper Fran, to the extent that she not only knows about Fran's stash, but actually recommended vaping to her over cigarettes. Even in MA (assuming the film is up with current law), stashing and smoking pot on the job would have been a fireable offense, so clearly she had Meg's confidence. Then at the family party, Meg blows it off, only coming back late. Later, when Meg calls Marta, she's in tears, clearly distraught, and when she hangs up (upset enough that she doesn't even say goodbye), the rest of the family is literally staring at her from a couple of feet away; of course they told her to call. (For that matter, Meg is one of the few calls Marta accepts, iirc.) Now, we know Meg's mom is an asshole and crook, but there is no hint Meg knows her mom was stealing, though we do see Meg's mom manipulate her about the loss of the tuition money (without taking the blame she deserves). And then of course, at the end of the movie Meg (as far as I remember), is the only person who gives Marta a hug goodbye, and even then she's tearful as she apologizes.

Of course the movie doesn't show her being pressured to give up Marta's family status, but that's probably intentional, to keep it more ambiguous, which despite the aforementioned it is. Though it's telling that none of the others have the benefit of ambiguity. For that matter, it's also telling the Marta confided in Meg in the first place. So who knows. Fake movie person doesn't need my real defense.

The movie was fun, but I'm not sure it's worth this jesuitical untangling of the plot. With mysteries I don't care about plot.

lol Alfred, dropping another "who cares?"

the fact is that nobody went to bat for marta apart from harlan. who should have known the hell he was plunging her into tbh.

Yeah, that's the most important thing.

*reads Alfred's comments*

Yep!

I just think Meg is designed to be a wealthy young liberal who is perfectly kind to Marta and seems genuine enough in her sympathies that she gains Marta’s trust, and then when Marta becomes a threat to her own financial interests Marta’s trust in her is useful ammunition against her. She’s the most dangerous non-murderer member of the family. She feels bad about what she’s doing, but if I was going to extrapolate a little from what we’re given in the movie I’d say that she wants to have her inheritance/free education and feel like a good and righteous person, the former wins out over the latter when push comes to shove, so she seeks out absolution from Marta immediately after betraying her in a way that no one else in the family could.

Great post, otm.

Most of that is fair enough (and is indeed what I said) but "She’s the most dangerous non-murderer member of the family" is just bananas.

“Most is that” is a patient, perceptive explanation of why it’s not bananas. The others don’t have her trust.

it's not bananas it's donuts

Michael Shannon literally shows up to her house to threaten her!

What other murderers are there besides Hugh?

I just think Meg is designed to be a wealthy young liberal who is perfectly kind to Marta and seems genuine enough in her sympathies that she gains Marta’s trust, and then when Marta becomes a threat to her own financial interests Marta’s trust in her is useful ammunition against her.

i think this movie is surprisingly powerful because of how marta responds to meg. she isn't shocked in the least by how meg is responding. you get the feeling that she has already considered the depth of meg's 'sjw' convictions just by nature of what her character has already seen in life, and yet she decides to forgive marta anyway -- she sees who these people are objectively and yet decides to show them kindness. and then it seems that meg would accept 'help' from marta in the end without feeling threatened by her. the power of the movie comes from the fact that there is this potential for absolution from marta even as she becomes the boss. de armas's performance balancing those two sides, clear-eyed understanding of exactly who the family is with a deep empathy for them, is the best one in the film imo (and daniel craig was abominable). the scene between her and christopher plummer in the attic was just beautiful -- you could sense exactly the reasons they were so close and the honest tension from their different positions in life.

ugh that was confusing ... and yet she decides to forgive *meg* anyway

michael shannon was also really good i think. oh don johnson too, what a filthy performance. jamie lee curtis and toni collette were a little too broad for my taste but they had some really hilarious scenes. i was a smirk-ass and laughed at the gravity's rainbow exchange. my theater was dumb as bricks (old white utah in the richer suburbs) and no one laughed. they probably felt attacked lol.

Michael Shannon literally shows up to her house to threaten her!

With the information he got from Meg: the shared confidence is what made Meg dangerous.

What other murderers are there besides Hugh?

well, there’s Ransome

(one is enough!)

a third of my downtown multiplex audience laughed at the Pynchon gag, I was startled

shannon's mouth twitch when he first mentions his son to the detective was perfect

xxp Isn’t Michael Shannon’s leverage when he threatens Marta just Meg’s information?

too slow

Yeah, but he's also physically threatening (those close ups of menacing Shannon gripping that cane), and he's the one who weaponizes the information to threaten her family. But yeah, he gets the information from her first, sure.

he’s pathetic

In the eyes of someone of much smaller stature?

He’s a pathetic creep, but Meg knows that she can count on another family member weaponizing the information when she provides it.

michael shannon manages to exude the pathetic-ness like fine wine

He's a weiner to us because he basically earned off his dad's book and created nothing himself, but he practically has a Nazi son and is the only person of the non-murderers to confront her at her own home, choosing the one place she felt safe (the back door).

Ima wager Marta didn't think he was pathetic or non-threatening.

Tho i agree Meg posed the bigger threat by possessing the damaging information.

Some of you maybe never been threatened before IRL i take it

him going ham on ransom ('have a cookie!') was great projection.

it felt honest to me that marta was scared of him in that scene. i don't know if there's supposed to be an argument here or what i lost track.

i didn’t mean that he wasn’t threatening. he was. threatening and pathetic. the point isn’t a league table of danger the point is that meg is as on the hook as any of them, and in a particularly disappointing and creepy way.

meg is a child though, you get the impression that she might change with some growth. the others are children in old peoples' bodies, calcified and disposable wastes.

I have no reason to believe she might change with some growth--there isn't an example in this movie where someone otherwise bad surprises you with their goodness.

true

I'm also not sure it's something we're supposed to consider about her character? It sort of runs counter to Meg's function in the story; to demonstrate how someone will call out Nazis until it's their neck on the line, and then they'll leverage the same power they previously admonished.

Yea, just a jab at some of the performative woke folks really.

it's pretty obvious that meg is not marta's friend at all and that hers is the worst betrayal. i do think the fact that she said "thank you" when marta offered to keep paying for her school instead of flat-out screaming at her or w/e, plus her response that she just needed to smoke a lot of weed to forget it all, demonstrates that mostly her response is born out of unthinking childishness, immaturity and fear, that she hasn't accumulated the excuses and conscious maliciousness and "sense of the correct order of things" of her older relatives, that youth presents a slightly more innocent and malleable shade of hypocrisy. it doesn't make what she does any better, in fact it probably makes it worse, but, idk just my experience with human nature here and not the diegesis of the film or w/e, childishness when one is young (she is like 21 in the film iirc) is more likely to grow into consciousness when one is older if the steps toward independence from family happen early. all i'm saying is that her youth has a function in the film that isn't just "even people of your generation in a different class will betray you" but "there is space for change and growth in young people that there just isn't in older people who have made a long series of choices."

This is pretty cool as a piece of production trivia:

#KnivesOut subtly features art by Matt Mania, Key Grip. We had many closeups of characters with eyeglasses, so he cleverly sculpted mattes to reshape our lighting equipment into scenery you'd realistically expect to see reflected in the glasses.#NerdyFilmTechStuff pic.twitter.com/n3ZrGcEOIJ

— Steve Yedlin (@steveyedlin) December 7, 2019

that's fucking fantastic.

That's awesome. Years ago I interviewed Bill Paxton, around the time of "A Simple Plan." That was around peak Raimi but his direction was seemingly restrained, yet Paxton told me about all kinds of insane tricks shots you'd really have to pay attention to to catch.

boy this movie was a ton of fun. exactly what i wanted from this or any other "caper" movie. johnson talks about sticking a hitchcock movie in the middle of a whodunit (can't recall if that was discussed upthread) and boy does that work well to keep things exciting. did not find meg the least bit sympathetic, for all the reasons given above - our attention is specifically called to her putative allyship early on, but it's dropped like a hot potato when her fancy school tuition is cut off, and her betrayal opens the threat of the one thing marta most fears, that her family will be *fucking deported*. she's awful!

and as far as her fate, the film is generally on harlan's side: ALL of these inheritance brats (remarkably blind to their own privilege when they call other people trust-fundies) would be better off if they had to actually work for a living etc etc, so why not her?

Makes sense, but she's not even out of school yet. Maybe she would have been better written a little older, in perpetual grad school or something?

Are we ever given much of a reason why JLC in particular would be cut off? She seems to be the closest to her father, what with all the secret note writing and whatnot. Seems more like a whim of the plot than anything else.

She is also (unless I missed something) the one who is independently wealthy and had no motive for murder - her rage seemed to be Defend The Family rather than anything else.

JLC is not getting cut off, her husband is, by the threat of his infidelity being revealed

Yeah, I think when we talked about it earlier on this thread we determined that while yes, she needed a million-dollar loan from her father to start her business, she was currently independently wealthy and no longer needed him to underwrite her endeavors. Unlike Michael Shannon, or Toni Collette. And Don Johnson was perhaps the biggest asshole of all and ultimately the target of Harlan's ire.

P sure she expected to get to have a stake in the house though

For sure.

she is cut off, it just doesn’t leave her high & dry

If there's one thing we know about rich people, it's that they always want to be richer and get extremely pissy when denied an opportunity to do so.

yup!

saw this yesterday and liked it quite a bit. the structure was really clever--you come in thinking it's gonna be a whodunnit, but it seemingly solves the crime for you in the first 30 minutes, before pulling the rug out over and over again. i actually really enjoyed daniel craig's performance once i got used to the accent, and enjoyed how feral the entire family became once they realized they weren't getting anything.

The ability to win at go translates as being a good tactician doesn't it.
Need another look to see how that works for Marta.
Or is there a near fairtyale like level there where her essential goodness is the main factor which I guess holds true at the end. Like she is apparently thinking of looking after the people who are expecting her to just hand over what is now her inheritance.

The game proceeds until neither player wishes to make another move.

Man my friends and i have apparently been playing Go my whole life

The "jokes" in the trailer are cringe to the max

the little detail of the white detective being a fan of thromby's, dropping all these little fanboy comments throughout, pays off so perfectly at the end when he shushes the other detective as benoit blanc is doing his big reveal.

i saw this a second time this weekend and it seemed a lot lighter than the first time i saw it. i don't know why i took it so seriously the first time, probably just a mood.

i love that the shush turned out not to be in the script, the actors asked if he could do it on set

(he did it for real in rehearsal, then pitched it to be in the film, and Johnson finally agreed to one take at the end of the shoot day)

A nice touch.

I’m thrilled to announce the #KnivesOut in-theater commentary! Yes, now you can enjoy another round of whodunnit goodness with me squawking in your ear. Did this on Bloom & Looper, happy to try it again. Audio file and instructions here: https://t.co/0VZ453YYs7 pic.twitter.com/Cc8DvgjyCb

— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) December 19, 2019

ah, I'd been checking his Soundcloud to see if this was gonna happen!

yess I went to Looper a second time with that one, I recall learning Fun Facts about very young child actor Pierce Gagnon

now I have to go to Knives Out again when I'm back from vacation

fun fun fun

lol gonna take some time tomorrow to read this thread, clearly ten different versions of this movie exist based on quick scan of (ninety percent blatantly incorrect) opinions

twist ending was obvious from the moment daniel craig said he was hired by an unknown person

twist ending obv from trailer, but the obvious twist ending wasnt used (harlan set it all up)

i mean, introducing the marta-versio. of events twenty mins in was actually imo a pretty novel approach

I did think Columbo at that point

I went to see it a second time during the week - something that only appeared the first time was an opening address from Rian Johnson asking us not to spoil the ending.

its not rly that big/good of a twistery tbh, the worth is more in getting there

tbh even after the reveal I half expected Harlan to appear from behind a corner

It's a film that seems to take a lot of pleasure from obvious twists as well - the held vomit at the end, the will leaving everything to Marta - the enjoyment there is that it's obvious to everyone except the Thrombey's (and I suppose Marta in the latter, though it reflects better on her).

100mg of Morphine seem to kill you in 10 minutes - unless someone sits you on a chair, then you're fine for a few hours.

relative age tbf, perhaps

Sure, or it might've been less than the full dose - I appreciate that it didn't need exposition, but it still niggled.

its not rly that big/good of a twistery tbh, the worth is more in getting there

― Banáná hÉireann (darraghmac), Friday, December 20, 2019 3:23 AM bookmarkflaglink

Otm i meant to say

It's not that it kills you in ten minutes, it's more that there's no coming back from it after that.

Maybe.

i liked this

it really does make for a good companion piece to Ready Or Not. like obv this is better but it's not...an open and shut case B-)

loved this movie

twist ending obv from trailer, but the obvious twist ending wasnt used (harlan set it all up)

― Banáná hÉireann (darraghmac), Thursday, December 19, 2019 6:50 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

didn’t see the trailer; probably wouldn’t have watched the movie if i had

I saw the trailer and the movie. I don't see how thw twist ending was obvious from the trailer. I'm sufficiently confused by that that I'm not even sure what twist darraghmac is referring to.

the most distracting lapse in the movie is the scene in which the detectives are talking to Marta on the veranda and you can see their breath misting in the cold and Marta (always shown in separate shots) is not misting

was watching for this on my with-commentary viewing: most of Blanc's is cigar smoke, you do see Marta's breath misting in the shots which aren't separate (and thus have the same lighting and background as Blanc), and then Johnson talked about how extremely cold it was and Marta's costume for that scene had to be designed to have extra layers to protect Cuban de Armas from the Massachusetts winter.

I was briefly hoping that it was someone else with a bad accent and a cigar, pretending to be Blanc to find out what Marta knows.

I saw the trailer and the movie. I don't see how thw twist ending was obvious from the trailer. I'm sufficiently confused by that that I'm not even sure what twist darraghmac is referring to.

― JRN, Sunday, 22 December 2019 08:45 (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

.....i said what that twist would've been...in that same post...

this was less a whodunnit and more a howdunnit which I liked

more a case of "howduzzitendup" rly

tr00

I keep forgetting that Toni Collette is Aussie. mostly cos I haven't seen her in a movie with her natural voice yet.

Don't worry, we all make mistakes.

sic otm

Finally saw this movie and loved it. The audience actually applauded that final shot of the coffee cup. What a beautiful setup and pay-off.

I was spoilered on "Sweet Virginia" by the Exile on Main Street thread, but it still made me happy.

A bit all too cosily wrapped up at the end (which was to be expected and par for the course!), but still thoroughly enjoyed it.

fair review imo

and even at that, the too-neat wrapping up is as likely as not a bit of a send-up of the genre, maybe

Saw it again today with the Johnson commentary, good fun. Interesting sign as well -- while it was in one of the smaller screens at my local, it was still sold out, not a bad sign over a month after release.

It broke $100 million, I saw.

Great to hear!

200 ww on a 40m budget

That's the beauty of whodunnits. All you need is to break into someone's mansion and start shooting

The film, not the inhabitants

well, I mean

"Friend who saw it already says it's his second fave film of the year, behind Ford V. Ferrari."

dvdscr of the latter has leaked as well. Was just childishly guffawing at this Stephanie Zacharek quote from a review of it:"some scenes leave unnecessary skidmark trails." It's a UK thing .. ignore me!

Sometimes this bad website is good pic.twitter.com/UxvfA8edvv

— Hubert Vigilla with Nutmeg (@HubertVigilla) December 30, 2019

Finally saw it New Year’s Day. Very fun. Wondered if Craig’s donut speech was Rian Johnson poking fun at David Lynch’s “keep your eye on the donut, not the hole” refrain.

Tremendous film! One of the best I've seen in a year.

Again, sold-out screening weeks after release.

Hilarious tweet just above!

Saw this yesterday. It was good! Though I don't get why Johnson is talked about like he's an auteur when he's just a guy who reliably turns out well-made, memorable mid-budget movies. Maybe because that is itself a dying art?

agree tbh

There’s certainly an art to making delightful, off-axis genre exercises. He’s not a Paul Thomas Anderson or whatever (to pick a contemporary) but why should he be?

i could just tell how much this movie enjoyed telling its story and it kept giving me opportunities to share in that joy. i sorta feel this energy running through most of rian johnson's movies

yeah hes a story guy, its a strength when so many lauded directors have other priorities cf nolan and whatever the fuck it is hes doing with "plot" nb i may be overstretching it with "lauded"

johnson is also a writer-director who, Star Wars aside, has only done original screenplays not tied to any existing material, so i can understand people developing a stronger sense of his voice, interests, themes, etc., than in some other people working at his level. also IIRC auteur theory was birthed from the study of people who reliably turned out well-made, memorable mid-budget movies, no?

That's true.

I didn't know he was talked about as anything much, but I think a tincture of auteurism can be usefully applied here as he started with an unusual detective story and has now produced a slightly less unusual detective story.

Yeah, I mean, I just think it's interesting that Johnson is a director people know by name, precisely because it's hard (for me) to pinpoint his "voice." He's no hack Ron Howard-type, to be sure, I'm just not sure what are the aesthetic hallmarks of a "Rian Johnson film." If there is a throughline to all of his work that I've noticed, it's a sense of playfulness and a commitment to telling a good story, but these are pretty general qualities.

This might be unnecessary, but I feel the need to clarify that this slipperiness is what I find interesting about Johnson, and is not meant as a dis on him or his work (which I've enjoyed all of, except for the Brothers Bloom, which gave me twee poisoning)

He's got clever style and writing. There's definitely a line through Brick, Looper, his Breaking Bad work, and Knives Out. I hated Brothers Bloom too (and I'm a Wes Anderson fan).
The Last Jedi was a departure from his usually small-mid budget films, but I appreciated the character work on the script; praying his own trilogy still happens.

He doesn't have a clear visual style (he seems to like shooting from unusual angles but not in a way that's particularly distinctive) but there's def a theme that runs through his writing - both a reverence for and a willingness to subvert genre tropes, whether it's noir or high school flicks, a whodunit, a time travel movie or a franchise blockbuster.

I thought this was pretty good. lotta great little touches - loved "Sundown" playing at the diner. and I actually thought the political stuff worked. I've heard that exact argument play out practically word for word

this is one of the few films of its kind where I've actually been able to guess most of the ending. the fact that the Narcan (or whatever that was) went missing seemed like something that was obviously going to come back. and the thing about the dogs. the fact that it wasn't set up by Harlan from the get go was pretty cool though - the 'mixing up the bottles' plot was pretty clever

saw that bottle swap straight away tbh

just presumed that plummer had set it all up

Driving around on errands this morning, I remembered Plummer's response when he realizes he might've been given the wrong injection = classic.

Sequel otw as expected: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/knives-sequel-works-centered-daniel-craigs-detective-character-1266533

Nice nice

Knive Harder

Knives Over Forks

Knives In?

craigs character would be fairly low down the list of those id follow to a sequel tbh

much rather follow shannons tortured and twisted failed publisher

Could be interesting if it's a Better Call Saul thing where it shows Craig with a different name and accent until a threat to his life forces him to assume another identity.

Wait that's a Tana French novel nm

I hope he casts Kelly Marie Tran.

craigs character would be fairly low down the list of those id follow to a sequel tbh

Poirot stories are not about Poirot

I would totally see a Knives Out sequel, and yet one of the great things about the movie is that it's a star-studded Hollywood entertainment that's not a franchise.

Why has Knives Out — an old-school whodunnit, unrelated to any established franchise or source material — done so well? Some of the movie’s success might be thanks to good holiday timing, but it also has something that the latest entries in the Star Wars, Jumanji, Frozen, Addams Family, and Maleficent franchises do not: incredible word-of-mouth buzz.

...

The sort of word of mouth that sells out theaters five weeks into a film’s release often has very little to do with critics and everything to do with people telling their friends and family that a movie is actually good. Not “good for a Marvel movie,” not “a little long but has some good special effects” or even “definitely going to win some Oscars,” but good in that way that makes it hard to shut up about — usually the result of a movie exceeding expectations in some, often ineffable, way. That’s what Knives Out is: a pretty good movie that’s exceeding people’s expectations because their expectations for the movies are so damn low.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/knives-out-rian-johnson-box-office-movies

(Johnson has repeatedly said that while he's always been disinterested in sequels, the beauty of doing further Benoit Blanc Mysteries is that they'd not be sequels, just new mysteries about different characters.)

xp it manages to be a whodunnit and fun in a very contemporary american way, whereas a lot of pure whodunnits try to be period pieces or otherwise entangled and it limits the audience

the joke about the house being acquired contemporarily pokes fun at that, because it’s the atemporal element

whodunnit and fun in a very contemporary american way

... while using and playing with all the traditional genre tropes. Obviously "genre tropes, but contemporary!" is not a new idea, but normally it's not done this well.

this was fabulous, loved the coffee cup framing and all the delicious overacting and mugging, like an updated parody of Murder By Death. all the acting was pitch perfect.

Why has Knives Out — an old-school whodunnit, unrelated to any established franchise or source material — done so well?

because America want to see rich people get theirs for once

Kinda surprised how un-twisty it was. I was expecting at least one more surprise in the final third. I think movies like Wild Things have permanently messed up my ‘twist anticipation’ gland.

really happy i went out to see this in the theater, it was so much fun. i was cracking up at random daniel craig line deliveries. the way the tone modulated from farcical to sinister was a neat and difficult trick--thinking of the family descending on marta's failing car like zombie vultures vs. the genuinely unsettling encounter with walt in the hallway of her apartment. it made the last shot feel very well-earned. also, since i haven't seen it mentioned in this thread at least, what a delight christopher plummer is in his scenes.

great cameo by downtown maynard, massachusetts too

I appreciated that Ana de Armas, probably 29ish when this was shot, was able to play a nuanced character that didn’t seem artificially old or young. Just a responsible person, not a kid, who lives with her mom and works a private nursing job, but still has social potential to live out

Just saw it again with Rian Johnson’s commentary in my ear, some great stuff about sets and locations, improvised moments, and especially cinematography. Biggest revelation for me was hearing that Benoit Blanc’s voice owes the most to Ken Burns talking head, writer, and Lost Causer Shelby Foote.

Also Johnson storyboards his movies himself with bad line drawings, and one of the key payoffs for Marta’s story, of knowing by look and feel which drug was which, wasn’t in his first draft but was pitched by his first readers.

wow yeah shelby foote did basically talk like that

omg that is awesome

We’re still in theaters this weekend! If you haven’t caught @KnivesOut yet or if you want another shot of whudunnitness we’ve got you covered. Though I can’t promise it will equal the splendor of my original storyboard vision. pic.twitter.com/95rzRbSmBE

— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) January 19, 2020

lmao

nice to know that i share the drawing ability of a successful film director

I don't :(

Hahah I love the Safdies reply to that.

People laughed at my boards, but they’re helpful. pic.twitter.com/jzGPHWSnjM

— SAFDIE (@JOSH_BENNY) January 19, 2020

that last effort has me humming "that aint workin, thats the way you do it"

And we're off:

Update: Lionsgate's CEO says a Knives Out sequel is officially happening. Production is getting underway soon. https://t.co/USnQHmBWN7 pic.twitter.com/atjZjrlL39

— Peter Sciretta (@slashfilm) February 6, 2020

Blanc. Benoit Blanc.

this movie fucking ruled!!!

I always associate detective stories with medicine, but daniel craig reminded me of someone particularly charismatic and brilliant I trained under which endeared me to his character even more than I might have otherwise. totally bought the accent and was ROLLING at “detective KFC” or whatever that diss was

ensemble cast overall was fantastic I thought. ana de armas was really good! so much goodness in her character. hope she gets some critical love for this role. and man did she look good in this movie

"CSI: KFC"

how's the novel

SUPER racist! v glad he updated it.

what novel?

saw this around Xmas and k3vin otm, Daniel Craig was great as was everyone else especially Ana de Armas. it is always good to see Craig cutting loose w/an accent and w/his not inconsiderable comic chops and natural charisma. the manner in which the mystery was "solved" early on was an excellent red herring, for how it all continued to pile up thereafter. biggest laughs in the theater came from the Gravity's Rainbow zing and "that was the dumbest car chase of all time!" plus:

"I spoke in the car about the hole at the center of this donut. And what you and Harlan did that fateful night seems at first glance to fill that hole perfectly. A donut hole in a donut's hole. But we must look a little closer. And when we do, we see that the donut hole has a hole in its center. It is not a donut hole, but a smaller donut with its own hole, and our donut is not holed at all!"

This movie was lit

i am somewhat ashamed, but also not, to share with you that at the climactic shot of marta holding the mug on the balcony i whispered to myself, "boom. suck it"

very good movie, i think it's safe to say that the shushing during the denouement was the best part.

A donut hole in a donut's hole.

I heard the rest of his monologue but I was giggling through it after he dropped this

I appreciated that Ana de Armas, probably 29ish when this was shot, was able to play a nuanced character that didn’t seem artificially old or young. Just a responsible person, not a kid, who lives with her mom and works a private nursing job, but still has social potential to live out

btw this is super OTM

When they were like "Harlan was friends with his nurse" I was ready to roll my eyes and grimace through a bunch of painful pandering that played up the lecherous old man angle but then they showed the two of them interacting and I sat there going "wait, I'm buying that they ARE friends, this rules, what is happening" and that reaction made me so much more invested in the subsequent events and the family's behavior; all of that rests on how pitch-perfect de Armas was in that role and her obvious chemistry with the rest of the cast.

i probably said this already but her joy and saltiness and confidence with harlan was utterly at odds with how she behaved with anyone else (apart from her family) - it was a great, bold choice to show that contrast and reveal this other side of her that’s basically hidden throughout the rest of the movie

otm

Love Finds Knives Out
Out West with Knives Out
Knives Out Rides High
Knives Out Gets Spring Fever
Judge Knives Out and Son
Knives Out Meets Debutante
Knives Out's Private Secretary
Life Begins for Knives Out
The Courtship of Knives Out
Knives Out's Blonde Trouble https://t.co/GnIHqL8Pt3

— Matt Prigge (@mattprigge) February 11, 2020

btw i guess i will see this. MoMA is having a Craig retro in March; do you think the theater audience experience will add much?

Sure, it's well filmed!

(Plus, I love watching any movie with a twist or surprises or shocks with a crowd just to hear the reactions.)

The audience I saw it with was really into it. Lots of laughs throughout. Definitely enhanced the experience.

It absolutely benefits from a packed theatre and a big screen for laughs, gasps, and pretty / unshowy photography.

idk how he missed Knives Out II: The Sharpening

SPORKS THROUGH

— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) June 25, 2019

this was extremely entertaining

I just saw this a third time. The writing, direction and acting remain air-tight, and like my last viewing there were all sorts of subtleties I caught that I hadn't quite noticed before. But one of my biggest fresh take aways this time is that the lighting and make-up are impeccable.

I honestly don’t know from cinematography digital or otherwise but Steve Yedlin is evidently thinking about these things on his very own level

I wonder if he'll graduate to more of an A-list, since most of his stuff has been Rian Johnson or ... gunk?

Still on 949 US screens in its 13th weekend!

This was good. Need to watch it again for sure

I honestly don’t know from cinematography digital or otherwise but Steve Yedlin is evidently thinking about these things on his very own level

The behind the scenes stuff (which is quite good, as is the commentary, which includes Yedlin) very much had Yedlin making the case about what one can do with digital cameras in particular, and Johnson, self-admittedly one for preferring film, freely admits Yedlin pretty much showed him the way on this front for the shoot.

Best bonus feature on the disc probably has to be the cast/Johnson chat after the SAG preview screening in LA in mid-November. Tons of amazing cut-up moments; Craig and Evans in particular seem like they should do some sort of separate comedy, they'd probably kill at it.

Saw this yesterday (it's on Amazon Prime now). Enjoyed it quite a bit. Not a single bad performance, but de Armas was amazing - the best performance I've ever seen her give. (I counted four different places people thought she was from, with the correct answer never revealed.)

she says where she's from but I can't remember now

doesn’t appear to be on prime in the US

It is, just not for free

I was about to clarify what Prime means but wgaf, it’s definitely available for rental on all your local digital rental platforms

I had to look this up and it is still designated as prime video even if it isn't free for prime members, which is very confusing

did they invent some idiotic new designation where things are available for early rental, but just for prime?

thank god for watchable movies that keep my mind off of shit like that

I think it's just anything you can stream is prime video

To clarify, I paid $6 for the rental - I said it was on Amazon Prime because that's where I rent movies, as opposed to YouTube or wherever else.