Knives Out (Thanksgiving 2019) Old School "Who done it" with a twist...

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Simon A, Sep 9, 2019.

  1. AppleCorp3

    AppleCorp3 Forum Resident

    I just saw it today and oddly enough there was a good amount of middle/high school kids in the (mostly full) theatre.

    Maybe they screwed up and thought it was the new Bond film?

    Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot - good fun, funny, and yeah it kept you guessing until the end. I'd like very much if this style of film were to come back. The audience seemed to really enjoy the film too.
     
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  2. SBurke

    SBurke Nostalgia Junkie

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    I went with a crowd -- this is the perfect film to take your family to when you've gathered for the holidays, after having played "Clue" the night before, which we had. It's a good film, very enjoyable, funny, and an engaging mystery. I did not quite take to Daniel Craig as a Southerner. (I'd have preferred an overweight native.) For me the best moments were the flashbacks when Christopher Plummer was on screen.

    A tip: Make sure you don't drink too much before seeing this movie, as I foolishly did. You will not want to miss a minute on a trip to the restroom.

    Two tiny flaws for discussion, for mystery fans who have seen the film:

    1. Marta in the end turns out to be entirely innocent of fault, because she did not in fact administer the wrong medication; despite the labels having been switched she instinctively administered the analgesic instead of morphine after picking them up from the floor, as she knew it from its viscosity and clarity. That's plausible -- but if true, she ought to have recognized afterward what was left over (the morphine).
    2. Harlan, as a smart mystery writer, should have known that even if he slit his own throat, an autopsy still would include a toxicology report, detecting whatever drugs were in his system.
    Others?
     
  3. Jerrika

    Jerrika Mysterious Ways

    Location:
    Canada
    I really have to see this next week. It sounds great and has an amazing cast.
     
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  4. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    Saw it tonight. Very entertaining. Reminded me of '40's Lloyd Nolan detective dramas I used to watch on Saturday reruns as a kid, only "Knives Out" is far more sophisticated in story telling, character development and sheer imagination as plot twists go. It has that cozy settle in and watch a detective mystery vibe to it. It doesn't get boring nor does it drag or get bogged down in too much detail.
     
  5. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    I had to think through what you just said in your Spoiler 2. above for quite some time because that confused me as well, but came up with this...

    Can't get Spoilers to work. Sorry.
     
  6. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    Let's see if this works...


    NOPE! Doesn't show up.
     
  7. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    @Tim Lookingbill, just type SPOILER in brackets immediately in front of whatever you want to hide, and /SPOILER in brackets immediately behind it.
     
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  8. Daedalus

    Daedalus I haven't heard it all.....

    We saw it this past week-end. Big crowd in the theatre. It is a very entertaining, fun old-style whodunnit-very well -written and acted with terrific filming and locales. Daniel Craig has hit a home run with the character. I hope that there will be a reprise of his character in a future movie. At the end of the movie a lot of people were clapping.
     
  9. TheDailyBuzzherd

    TheDailyBuzzherd Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeast USA

    That'll ruin a movie fast. Thanks for the review!
     
  10. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    Ok, I'll give that a go and see if that works...testing...testing...

    testing for spoiler feature.
     
  11. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    WELL DUH! That worked! Now I gotta go rewrite that long reply to sBurke that got erased using the "Spoiler" select within the reply box drop down menu.

    Thanks for the tip Monosterio.
     
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  12. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    About your second point...

    2. Harlan, as a smart mystery writer, should have known that even if he slit his own throat, an autopsy still would include a toxicology report, detecting whatever drugs were in his system.

    Harlan had already put Marta in his will that excluded his entire family no one else knew about, but he was convinced (falsely) he was going to die anyway, so in order to prevent Marta's mother from being deported from Marta being accused of accidentally or intentionally over dosing his Morphine tying up his estate when Marta goes to prison, he slits his own throat to point to reasonable doubt that Marta murdered him along with the fact there was no evidence of Marta committing such an act.

    But remember the one drop of blood on her shoes. Where did that come from?
     
  13. AppleCorp3

    AppleCorp3 Forum Resident

    Spatter. She witnessed him slit his own throat. I'd say that's a hell of a stretch...but whatever!
     
  14. Veni Vidi Vici

    Veni Vidi Vici Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    Fun movie, saw it with my Louisianan mother-in-law who particularly enjoyed Daniel Craig (her favorite Bond). For a whodunnit I would be happy to see it again, very solid performances throughout and a lot of barbed humor. Two thumbs up!
     
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  15. NettleBed

    NettleBed Forum Transient

    Location:
    new york city
    I thought it was awful.

    Looper is the only Rian Johnson film that I think even qualifies as watchable - he's generally not very good, IMO.

    I'm sure I'll see Knives Out at some point anyway.
     
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  16. Veni Vidi Vici

    Veni Vidi Vici Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
  17. Paul Gase

    Paul Gase Everything is cheaper than it looks.

    Location:
    California
    Saw KO with the family this past Friday. We all enjoyed the movie quite a bit. We agreed that maybe it sags just a bit in the middle third? Maybe could've been trimmed 10-15 minutes. That said, a lot of fun and one of those you are glad you went to the cinema to watch with a big crowd looking to be entertained in that 'ol movie who-dun-it sort of way!
     
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  18. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    I didn't see that in the movie. I saw this...
    Marta just enters the room where across the room Harlan is laying down on some small couch and from his lifeless eyes and blood from his neck (knife in hand?) she can see he had slit his throat and was dead. She did not go near the body, but continued on with Harlan's instructions of establishing an alibi and time noted by family witnesses she wasn't in the room when he died as well as leaving the premise before security cameras caught her to further raise reasonable doubt.

    If anything this movie would be a good test for dementia and Alzheimer in regards to paying attention and testing one's memory which I now know I don't suffer from.
     
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  19. SBurke

    SBurke Nostalgia Junkie

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    I love these conversations that take place within spoiler covers. :)
    I don't know either where the drop of blood on her shoe comes from -- because she is in the doorway when he slits his throat on the sofa at the other end of the room, and then, IIRC, she just steps back from the door and closes it, without entering the room. Is it possible there was splatter onto her shoes from that far away? Maybe. (Blood splatter I guess is somewhat unpredictable; its analysis is a notoriously unreliable forensic science.)

    I love the scene with Harlan and Marta, after he's been given the injection and he gives her the instructions to cover it up. It's my favorite part of the movie, and it's incredibly well done. But he is so astute, I have trouble thinking he would not have realized that his plan, devised in a stressful moment but confidently so, isn't going to work. If she's inadvertently poisoned him, it's going to be found out even if he slits his throat, and all the things he wants not to happen will most likely end up happening.
     
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  20. SBurke

    SBurke Nostalgia Junkie

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    Yeah.
     
  21. Veni Vidi Vici

    Veni Vidi Vici Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    Entirely likely that the fatal dose might be seen as self-administered and accidentally too large. Opiate abuse!
     
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  22. SBurke

    SBurke Nostalgia Junkie

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    That's only possible if she weren't a truth-teller, which he and we know her to be.
     
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  23. Veni Vidi Vici

    Veni Vidi Vici Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    Murder mystery in New Orleans? It could be a potential goldmine for arch comedy down there. Last movie I saw set there was "Benjamin Button", and it made great use of the location. Certainly no shortage of murders there but most are entirely predictable alas :shh:
     
  24. AppleCorp3

    AppleCorp3 Forum Resident

    Which was really the only thing that really was a bit too far fetched for me.

    Sure I could buy into just about everything (I might have called an ambulance though) but that wasn't just far fetched, it was too convenient. [SPOILER/]
     
  25. SBurke

    SBurke Nostalgia Junkie

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    Oh, I loved that element actually. I gave the whole movie the air of a riddle, like the brainteaser in which you confront two robots, one that always tells the truth and one that always lies . . .
     
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