Olde Phoenix Inn

Knives Out 2019

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8946378/

I just saw "Knives Out" - Its a very cool whodunnit sort of Agatha Christie like thing.

You can tell the actors really enjoyed it. It was directed well, shot well.

Daniel Craig and Chris Evans had fun. Jamie Lee Curtis chewed up the scenery. Don Johnson was self evidently happy to be an actor.

Ana De Armas is not only a decent actress, but still deliriously cute.

Everyone involved with this movie did their jobs very well and it shows.

If this sort of thing is your cup of tea run right out and grab it.

Also, in the last scene, behind the police detective, there is a Dollhouse that I suspect is the Doll House from the Twilight Zone Episode "Minature"

Nope I was wrong

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734589/

But anyway - if a character-driven piece written with wit and intelligence is your bag - If an improbable plot filled with twists and turns is fun.

Then this is your movie.

It's hard for me to grade this one - It sets out to be a thing and then it very clearly achieves that, elegantly with room to spare.

If I handed out the assignment "Make a mystery movie filled with twists and turns where actors get to play clearly drawn characters with fun scenes"

And Rian Johnson handed this in as his assignment, I'd give him an A+

But there was not one gun shot. There is one car chase and a fight scene - but both of these at there to subvert the notion. There are no explosions. There's not one space ship or pirate, or superhuman in sight.

So should I down grade it for that? I sort of think so, but I can't bring myself to.

No film can be everything. No film can fit ALL of the good things into a single film. A good film says "This is what I am doing here" and then stays true to that even if what it's doing is weird. It is honest with us about its world and its characters.

So this film, to me, sets out its goal "I am going to be a witty and intelligent Agatha Christie like movie about a murder or two."

And then it nails that.

So A+

There is little actual violence in a good murder mystery. The violence has already happened. How much shooting in the average episode of Colombo? They are about intelligence and wit, not action.

And characters saying stuff and telling you who they are, even while not necessarily saying the truth

jayphailey wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 08, 2019 7:13 am

And characters saying stuff and telling you who they are, even while not necessarily saying the truth

A good Who-done-it is fun.