Knives Out - Agatha Christiesque w/ Daniel Craig, by Rian Johnson

Rian Johnson, as a writer/director, is still 3.5/4 for me (he lost me in the back half of Brothers Bloom), so I’m very interested in his next project before all of his other Star Wars movies.

Looks like he is working on a whodunit. Since the next Bond was on hold, Daniel Craig was free, so he’ll play the Poirotagonist. The project boldly marches into development hell from there.

https://filmschoolrejects.com/daniel-craig-knives-out/amp/

My first thought was “Who the hell is Agatha Christiesque”

What is a “Poirotagonist”? Google is coming up empty on me, I’ve never heard of this one?

Sorry, I was getting cutesy with words. Craig’s character, they say, will be a detective patterned after Agatha Christie’s famous character Hercule Poirot, the guy from “Murder on the Orient Express” and a bunch of PBS shows. That is, he will play a protagonist based on Poirot. A Poirot protagonist. A Poirotagonist.

LOL ah, okay, sorry to make you explain your joke. I get it! Nicely done, despite my ignorance.

We just went and saw the early showing of this today. I’m actually amazed at how much I enjoyed it! It did a lot of clever things that I wasn’t expecting, and that’s all I’m going to say for now.

This one has been on my radar since I saw a trailer for it a few months back. It has an amazing cast and looks like its gonna be a fun yet dark murder mystery/comedy.

I thought it was pretty darned great. But I wouldn’t describe it as “dark.”

Other than, you know, the murder.

I haven’t seen it yet. Perhaps tomorrow night.

I meant dark as in dark humor. I probably worded it poorly. I figure riffing of a murder qualifies as dark humor.

I bailed on it after about 30 minutes (just before some interesting developments, apparently, to be fair.) Great cast, though; it was fun to watch them embody their characters.

Could you expand on this? Why did you bail out??

Just got back from a screening w/ the kids. Enjoyed the heck out of it. Loved the cast, the light-hearted moments, and my kids, natch, loved Marta’s ‘tell’.

I really enjoyed this a lot too.

What a surprise. I was turned off to this because I find Daniel Craig dreadfully boring in the Bond flicks, but he ended being my favorite of the bunch. Also, on our way into the theater my brother noted a popcorn advertisement saying something to the effect of “Knives Out - nothing brings a family together like hunger.”. Between that, the name of the movie, and the immediate medieval decorum depicting human anatomy shown in the house, we were CONVINCED the movie was going to devolve into cannibalism.

I haven’t seen this yet but if you’re bored by Craig as bond you should realllllly watch Logan Lucky ASAP.

Saw this today and loved it. I was expecting it to be good based on reviews and the cast, but it exceeded my expectations. Very sharp writing and LOL funny at times. Highly recommended. I’m really becoming a Rian Johnson fan.

Ohh yeah, I didn’t realize he directed it. I’m all the way out on Looper and his Star Wars movie, and haven’t seen Brick. Finally a Rian Johnson film I liked!

The editing felt bland to me–I’d rather have had the camera linger on the best shots and deliveries or deliver lines and cuts faster. The initial interesting close shooting of household features was dropped. I didn’t find the scenario captivating at all and the revealing of the potential motivations was rote. I’d seen everyone do their characters, which were perfectly good but hadn’t been established beyond mystery archetypes. I’ve endured worse but I had an opportunity to leave, so I did. No issue with everyone else enjoying it, in case that needs to be said.

Wife and I were an hour into it today when the theater lost power and the manager asked everyone to leave. Same theater that lost power right in the middle of the big Endgame battle on opening night.

You should rectify that asap. It’s still my favorite of his movies (though I haven’t seen this yet).

Also, you left off your list the little short film/video he made for LCD Soundsystem’s “Oh, Baby”- Sissy Spacek and David Strathairn in the most heartbreaking little silent sci-fi short film you’ll ever see.