Rian Johnson's Knives Out

Pretty surprised we didn't have a thread for this movie already but whatever!

Last Wednesday, I went and saw Rian Johnson's Knives Out and...

Does anyone else want to shake the guy's hand? Because it was BRILLIANT!

I mean, how often do whodunnit movies go so far as to show who did it in the first 15-20 minutes, have you in suspense just waiting for the other shoe to drop, and in the last 10 or so minutes, out of nowhere, reminds you that hey, remember how you were told this movie's a whodunnit? It still is a whodunnit! Because look who ACTUALLY gone and done it!

This movie got nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Academy Award and now I REALLY want it to win that!

I do wish that there wasn't as quite as obvious a clue pointing to the real culprit. The dogs totally gave it away. But that isn't really the point of the movie anyways, though I do think it laid the message on just a little thick towards the end, but ultimately it's not a problem.

And Chris Evans absolutely nailed it with his performance. Even at the point in the movie where he technically doing all the right things and is Marta's best ally, he still subtly gets across that Ransom is clearly not on the up-and-up.

This was one of the best movies of the year and I love it. It really shows how Rian Johnson cares about characters as much as plot. Also, deconstructing genres and then reconstructing them.

Yeah.

....maybe he's just better with his own stuff than with other people's work.

Some guys fly better when they have room then when they are limited by someone else's work.

Eh, I wouldn't say that, but then again, I love The Last Jedi. But him working on his own stuff would be great, too. Have you seen Brick or The Brothers Bloom?

I would love to see him work in the Star Wars universe without having to make the middle movie of a trilogy — which might happen, considering he's said that his own trilogy is still in the works. But I would also love it if he tried something in the MCU or DCEU — perhaps an X-Men movie?

I've only seen Brick but it was pretty good. And while I've heard mixed opinions on Looper, it does at least sound like it has an interesting premise and themes.

I liked Looper, but I'm also of the opinion that it's not one of his best. I think The Brothers Bloom is better, but Looper made more money and was more well known, while The Brothers Bloom was quickly forgotten about, which is sad.

If you haven't seen it, here's the trailer:

Edited by alliterator on Feb 1st 2020 at 2:17:05 AM

Looper is an interesting story, but it's much more slow paced than its premise about assassins might lead one to expect. It arguably pulls off a "young Anakin" story better than The Phantom Menace, at least in my opinion. On the negative, while The Last Jedi was a lot better when it came to writing lots of different women characters, Looper doesn't have any ideas for depicting women besides "sex worker, mother, or sex worker mother".

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Feb 1st 2020 at 2:19:29 AM

The Last Jedi and Knives Out are two completely different beasts. Last Jedi is a science fiction melodrama from a franchise that's been around longer than a lot of us have been alive. Knives Out is a dark comedy mystery that's an original idea.

Dang it, now I want him to do an X-Men movie...

As a whole I enjoyed the movie, in fact I saw it twice in theaters; once with friends and once with my dad.

I do think it falls into a trap of thinking it is more clever than it is. The Summation took like 10 minutes to get through while I had figured out the culprit through story analysis about 30 minutes ahead rather than deduction of the clues. Ranson/Hugh stood out as an independent character, while the rest of the family blurred together as equal suspects. So either Ranson orchestrated the medicine switch or the rest of the family were in on it together, and Ranson in temperament, motivation and behavior made more sense.

Sequel is confirmed.

Also, an interesting article from its cinematographer about shooting on film or digital.

I feel that's a shame if it's just Daniel Craig's picture. For me, it's kind of like the sequel to Sicario lacking Emily Blunt. I took it to be Marta's picture so a sequel without her feels empty.

Personally, I think the movie was way too forgiving to the Patriarch. Bluntly, if his family was a bunch of spoiled entitled mouth breathers then that's on him. The Oompa Loompas said it best, "The Mother and the Father" are at fault.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Feb 8th 2020 at 4:42:29 AM

https://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2020/02/knives-out-2019-review.html

Here's my review of the movie.

I had a lot of fun with it but I think it engages in some Positive Discrimination and lets Harlan off too easy.

I kind of want them to keep the whole cast, playing different characters this time. Oh, and give Daniel Craig a new accent for the giggles.

Funnily enough, Rian Johnson DID say something about giving Daniel Craig a new accent.

American Murder Mystery sounds like a good title for that.

Maybe the sequel should be called Knives In....

Spoons In.

Forks off.

Guns out, suns out.

Anyway I got to watch this movie tonight and this just proves Rian Johnson is best working with ideas from the ground up. It’s funny, dramatic, the acting was good, the execution was inventive, etc.

Daniel Craig having a Southern accent admittedly threw me for a loop though.

x9

I agree and disagree.

On one hand, and especially as a teacher now, parenting is MASSIVLY important here and Harlan is partially to blame for how terrible the family has become.

On the other, Culture also has a massive impact here. There are outside influences at play. And... honestly some people are just fucking rotten. If we're talking crime in general here, not every murder can be traced back to 'Bad Parenting'. Some of them grew up in perfectly loving families with siblings who turned out fine. The cruel reality is that... there might not really be a correlation between the two. Just as bad parents don't always produce bad kids.

And another factor... We AREN'T talking about kids here. They're grown adults. Or are when we see them. We have no idea how they were when kids, teens, and young adults. For all the considering, they might not have initially been rotten people and only become such later on once they were far out of Harlan's influence as a father. They're their own people and Harlan can't shoulder all of that burden.

We also don't know if their mother could have been a contributing factor. I don't think one was ever mentioned, but her influence could be a contributing factor too. Good Parent/Bad Parent is hardly a new concept.

I'm not trying to say Harlan was a good parent, but more that there's not enough evidence to make the case on the situation.

Edited by InkDagger on Feb 14th 2020 at 11:06:30 AM

Also two of these people aren't even his kids. They're his son and daughter-in-law.

Should Ambiguous Ending be removed from the work page? It says that it's left ambiguous if Marta will share the money with the family or cut them out like Harlan intended but... I hardly see it ambiguous at all. The final shot of the film is Marta, standing in the house and above the rest of the family, drinking out of Harlan's cup which reads "My House, My Rules" while the rest of the family stares up at her and are NOT in the house.

Visual Storytelling dictates, no, she's not going to give them anything. Meg, maybe more ambiguous since they seem friendly still by the end, but to ignore what the film is saying in that final shot isn't ignoring subtly or ambiguity, but more ignoring a tsunami warning at the beach.

I kind of find a lot 'Ambiguous X' situations these days are just because the work doesn't outline and hammer in a certain point every 5 seconds in explicit address rather and uses the art of subtext instead. Subtext is still text. Especially in a visual medium where Visual Storytelling is a thing to be taken into account. Words aren't the only tool to paint the picture.

I agree with you.