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

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