Daniel Craig | Cinema Parrot Disco

Knives Out (2019)

Directed & Written by Rian Johnson

Starring: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Christopher Plummer, Frank Oz

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
Described as a modern take on the whodunit, the film follows a family gathering gone awry, after the family patriarch’s death leads a master detective to investigate.

My Opinion:

I’m waaaaay behind on reviewing the 2019 releases that I’ve seen so I’ll try to catch up on reviewing them over the next few days. So here’s a quickie for Knives Out, which was a thoroughly enjoyable film. I don’t have a lot to say about it, though. It’s a really fun take on an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery but it’s exactly what I expected. I remember taking a special trip into London to see Rian Johnson’s Brick when it came out so knew he was capable of an intriguing story in this genre.

I loved the “star power” in this. What a cast! Being an old fucker myself, I appreciated the fact that so many older actors were used. Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette & Frank Oz were all great. For the younger crowd, they got to lust over Chris Evans in sweaters. He was good as well, although his role was smaller than I expected. Daniel Craig was good as the detective too but he had a weird accent that got a little annoying. The two best performances, however, were from Christopher Plummer & from Ana de Armas as the breakout star of the film. Damn – I thought she was just a pretty face after Blade Runner 2049 but she’s fantastic in this film.

The strong characters are what really make this movie, and that’s the main thing I care about, but the story was damn good as well. Who doesn’t like a murder mystery? I personally don’t like intense murder mystery dramas, though. I’m not a gritty “true crime” thriller fan (in fact, it’s probably my least favorite genre – I started watching Zodiac recently and have yet to bother finishing it). Knives Out isn’t like that. It has a lighthearted approach & a sense of humor & brilliant characters. In fact, as I write this I’m starting to like it even more. I don’t think it quite lives up to the massive amount of hype (it’s currently in the IMDb Top 250, which is ridiculous) but I really appreciated seeing an original story for a change as I’m so sick of sequels, remakes. reboots & superheroes. Hey Hollywood – Can we please have more movies like this one?

My Rating: 7.5/10

Meh.

Okay – I’ll say a little more than that but there’s not much else to say.

I’m not a big fan of current horror movies, especially ones that are excessive on the gore (Saw type films). The Dream House type of “horror” has always been more my type of thing. Once upon a time (when I had far too MUCH time on my hands), I loved made-for-TV “horrors”, thrillers, and suspenseful dramas (usually starring the likes of Melissa Gilbert & Nancy McKeon – Oh yeah! Showing my age again!). Years ago. When I had time to waste on stuff like that. Now I want to spend time on movies a BIT better than those. But Dream House isn’t really better than any of those Lifetime types of TV movies. It felt just like one of those, only with much bigger stars.

Dream House stars Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz & Naomi Watts. (See what I mean?! Big stars!). I guess even big stars have to pay the bills, eh? I won’t go into the details of the plot because it really doesn’t matter. You’ve seen it before. Okay – a family moves into a new house with a secret & disturbing history. See? Told you you’ve seen it before! 😉

If you’re bored and have nothing better to do and it’s your type of thing – go for it! It’s short. Or you can just look at the above movie poster. It’s quite a good poster. It’s better than the movie.

To sum up…

Meh.

My Rating: 5/10