Knives Out (2019)

[bijoux]

1 hour ago, xaxat said:

I look forward to watching this again when it streams. I'm sure there are a lot of little details I missed. Like how many countries Marta is from.

Definitely Ecuador and Brazil. There was a P in there, either Paraguay or Panama. I'm not sure whether they all stuck to South America or if someone ventured north into Central America. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oscar nomination:

Original Screenplay - Rian Johnson

[AD35]

On 12/4/2019 at 9:36 AM, kitmerlot1213 said:

I especially loved that none of the family seemed to know where Marta was originally from, was it Ecuador, Paraguay or Brazil or none of them?

Saw it this past weekend and I liked that little aspect about the family.  Sure they talked about Marta being one of the family, but they couldn't even be bothered to remembered where her actual family came from?  I took it that it showed how little they really knew her despite their words.  The actor/character that really stood out for me was Daniel Craig's Blanc.  I'm so used to seeing and hearing him as the very British James Bond that hearing him sound like Foghorn Leghorn threw me for a loop.  And for the longest time I wasn't sure if he was completely all there. Blanc's singing a few lines from Sondheim's "Losing My Mind" I thought might have been a clue of sorts.  "Sometimes I stand in the middle of the floor/ Not going left/ Not going right."

[xaxat]

Didn't everybody tell Marta that they voted to invite her to the funeral.

[Dandesun]

2 hours ago, xaxat said:

Didn't everybody tell Marta that they voted to invite her to the funeral.

There were at least two comments of 'I thought you should have come to the funeral but I was out-voted.' I mean, the writing was tight enough that you saw almost immediately that they didn't really give a shit about her at all -- what with the different countries her family is from, but there was enough time between Jamie Lee Curtis saying 'I was out-voted' to Michael Sheen saying the same thing that the build up to just how MUCH they didn't give a shit about her was drawn out in stark detail. And it just got worse from there.

And the grandfather pointing out that Ransom was probably the one who took after him the most and the whole bit about not knowing a prop from an actual weapon foreshadowed the ending but also clarified that, out of all of them, Ransom was the sharpest of the lot. Even though they were all spoiled assholes.

[Browncoat]

I went to see this again tonight, and enjoyed it all the more the second time around, even knowing what was coming next.

Both Linda and Walt tell Marta they were outvoted when it came to inviting Marta to the funeral.

I counted four countries the family thought Marta was from -- Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil.  I might have missed one or two, though.

The spider still creeps me right the hell out.

I tried to pay attention to the portrait -- I don't think it changed, but there *might* have been a little extra smirk to its grin at the end.

I did notice all the clues leading to Ransom this time.  Most of the time when I see movies like this, I don't actively try to figure things out.  I just go with the flow.  But the clues were all there if you know what to look for.  

And I'm still amused by Daniel Craig's atrocious CSI:KFC accent.  I'm usually quite offended by atrocious Southern accents, but for no reason I can name, his makes me laugh.  Maybe because it's so atrocious!  Maybe it's atrocious on purpose!  Anyway, I adore this movie so much!

[ribboninthesky1]

On 2/3/2020 at 11:35 AM, AD35 said:

I'm so used to seeing and hearing him as the very British James Bond that hearing him sound like Foghorn Leghorn threw me for a loop. 

Yes, Foghorn is an excellent reference to Craig's accent in this film! 

[BetterButter]

‘Knives Out’ Sequel Officially A Go As Lionsgate Hints At Franchise

[AimingforYoko]

On 2/3/2020 at 10:35 AM, AD35 said:

I'm so used to seeing and hearing him as the very British James Bond that hearing him sound like Foghorn Leghorn threw me for a loop.

I highly recommend checking out Logan Lucky.

[Browncoat]

Man, I hope they don't wreck everything with a terrible sequel, as sequels so often are.  What if this was lightning in a bottle?  What if it was so delightful because of the cast?  

[xaxat]

I hope it's a new Benoit Blanc story and not a direct sequel. They could cast a new slate of awesome actors and be free to craft a totally new mystery.

[scarynikki12]

20 minutes ago, xaxat said:

I hope it's a new Benoit Blanc story and not a direct sequel. They could cast a new slate of awesome actors and be free to craft a totally new mystery.

I wouldn't object to seeing Marta again. She doesn't have to be a major character but maybe they could give us an update on how she's doing via newspaper or something.

[Irlandesa]

54 minutes ago, xaxat said:

I hope it's a new Benoit Blanc story and not a direct sequel. They could cast a new slate of awesome actors and be free to craft a totally new mystery.

I am pretty sure that's the plan.  That Benoit Blanc will be kind of like the Rian Johnson's Hercule Poirot.

And while I do think a new mystery with new characters is probably the smartest way to go, I was meh on Blanc.  He's probably the only logical choice as a character to string the movies together but I can't really get excited until I learn more about who is going to surround him.

I do wonder of Lakeith Stanfield will in the sequel.  Since I would guess the next movie will be in a different location, perhaps he leaves his post to become his associate.

[Enigma X]

My hope is that this sort of turns into a modern-day Sherlock Holmes with each movie having an independent plot and different cast.

And I liked Craig as Blanc more than I liked him as Bond. I think the characters are supposed to be a tad ridicuolous. So, his faux accent did not bother me.

Edited February 7, 2020 by Enigma X

[Growsonwalls]

I'd like for Marta to make a cameo to see how she's doing. But I thought Knives Out set it up well that Marta would do good things with the money and house and we needn't worry about her. 

[Mabinogia]

On 2/7/2020 at 1:09 AM, Irlandesa said:

I do wonder of Lakeith Stanfield will in the sequel.  Since I would guess the next movie will be in a different location, perhaps he leaves his post to become his associate.

If any of the other characters, besides Blanc who is obviously coming back, I would like it to be Lakeith's character. The only way I see Marta coming back is if they all come back because one of them killed her. Now that would be fun. Each new movie there is one less character because they got the inheritance and were killed next. Kind of like a really long, extended Then There Were None. ( I don't actually want Marta to die as I liked her, but I don't see the point of bringing her back to show that she is obviously living a nice rich life. And it is too far fetched for her to join Benoit on his next case.)

I'll take Craig's Blanc over Branagh's Poirot any day! I love Agatha Christie's Poirot character but I HATE HATE HATE Kenneth Branagh turning him into a cartoon character. Blanc is also somewhat cartoonish but for me at least Daniel Craig has charm and isn't as full of himself. 

Edited February 8, 2020 by Mabinogia

[Milburn Stone]

On 2/6/2020 at 7:01 PM, AimingforYoko said:

I highly recommend checking out Logan Lucky.

That was a really good movie, and a really good chance to see Daniel Craig with a convincing Southern accent. Of course I realize there is not "one" Southern accent but a whole panoply of regional dialects, but he did the one in Logan Lucky well enough that I don't doubt he could do any of them with some accuracy if he wanted to.

Which is why when I saw Knives Out I assumed he was doing a deliberate send-up, and I still think that. In my mind, the imitation was not of Colonel Sanders, but of Kevin Spacey's equally atrocious Southern accent in House of Cards.

 

[jelaine]

On 2/4/2020 at 11:25 AM, Dandesun said:

Michael Sheen

Actually, that was Michael Shannon playing the son. Although now I really want to see the version with Michael Sheen as well. 

[BetterButter]

 

[Dandesun]

On 2/9/2020 at 7:16 AM, jelaine said:

Actually, that was Michael Shannon playing the son. Although now I really want to see the version with Michael Sheen as well. 

It IS Michael Shannon and I'm embarrassed for the mistake. *cringe*

[kiddo82]

6 hours ago, BetterButter said:

 

That Is America's Asshole

[jelaine]

19 hours ago, Dandesun said:

It IS Michael Shannon and I'm embarrassed for the mistake. *cringe*

Don't be. It not exacly a difficult mistake to make and gave the wonderful brain version with Michael Sheen as Walt. It's been very entertaining.

If it makes you feel any better, I'm always convinced Michael Shannon is English until I check IMDB. I have no idea why I think that, I just do.

[Spartan Girl]

Just saw this tonight and it was as great as everybody's been saying. Marta and Blanc were the best characters -- sign me up for a Blanc franchise!

Have to laugh at Chris Evans leaving Steve Rogers behind by playing assholes. Dammit though, his face is still so perfect it's unnatural!

Big laugh at the "eat shit" scene. I was dying.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

5 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Big laugh at the "eat shit" scene. I was dying.

Bookends nicely with "What the shit?!?!" later. XD

More later once I've processed everything.

[Spartan Girl]

I really loved the scene where Blanc approached Nana. She was the only person in the family I felt sorry for -- imagine outliving your son at that age! And everyone overlooked her because she was old and not all there, but Blanc. He was so kind and courteous to her, offering condolences and not rushing her to tell what she saw that night. "Take your time, I enjoy sitting here with you."

And of course I loved the irony that Blanc, a Southern gentleman, called the family out on their condescending racism toward Marta.

I'd like to think Marta did help Nana and maybe Meg (though she struck me as a bit phony too) but the rest of them can suck it.

[scarynikki12]

3 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I'd like to think Marta did help Nana and maybe Meg (though she struck me as a bit phony too) but the rest of them can suck it

I can see this. Nana is a given due to her age and health and I agree on Meg because that would piss off the whole family and it would be glorious. Here's what I'd do: agree to pay for tuition, books and materials, and housing (preferably on campus if the school allows it beyond freshman year) and refuse to pay for anything else. No exceptions. Meg can get a job if she wants new clothes or to go to the movies. And put a top notch financial team in charge of monitoring and enforcing this plan. The checks get mailed straight to the school rather than go through a third party. A member of the team (or Marta herself if she wants to twist the knife) joins Meg when she shops for her books and materials to make sure she doesn't sneak in anything unnecessary. Meg gets exactly one strike so if she's discovered a way around the new rules she loses all of it.

The family was shown to not care about Nana at all so I don't think just helping her would be enough to drive them crazy. Helping Meg finish school, even with strict rules, would do it.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

7 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I really loved the scene where Blanc approached Nana. She was the only person in the family I felt sorry for -- imagine outliving your son at that age! And everyone overlooked her because she was old and not all there, but Blanc. He was so kind and courteous to her, offering condolences and not rushing her to tell what she saw that night. "Take your time, I enjoy sitting here with you."

Earlier in the film, Marta told Blanc that she'd originally been hired to be Harlan's part time nurse, because of the medication he was on and that he needed help administering it. The her role was expanded, giving her more time with him, and Blanc asks if it was because of her nursing capabilities. She pauses for a few seconds, and then just says, "He needed a friend." Paints a clear picture of the oldest members of the family being quietly disrespected and not really liked, even if Harlan was sort of a bastard.

What strikes me is the similarities between this and last year's Ready Or Not, minus the human sacrifices. The sniping, backbiting family who present a united front with strangers, but in actuality can't stand each other most of the time. Linda accuses Blanc of baiting her, trying to get her to talk shit about Walt, and of course she theatrically refuses, and then one scene later Richard's saying that Walt didn't really run anything, he was just his dad's errand boy. We never find out what Joni was doing with all that money she was embezzling, I don't think, but Harlan discovering the stealing was just part of him deciding to cut all of his kids off.

I have to give major points to Chris Evans. Ransom's ability to fake being sincere held out longer than Meg's did, since Marta seemed to like Meg up until finding out she's the one who ratted her mom out about being in the country illegally. And I enjoyed the bit about the clock coming into play again - "Who opens a clock?" - about the toxicology report. I think Harlan decided to just end it, though, since Marta did give him the correct dosages by accident. He knew his money and the legacy his books had created would be in good hands with her, and it was a final way to give his mooching kids the finger. Well played, sir.

[Spartan Girl]

19 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

I have to give major points to Chris Evans. Ransom's ability to fake being sincere held out longer than Meg's did, since Marta seemed to like Meg up until finding out she's the one who ratted her mom out about being in the country illegally. And I enjoyed the bit about the clock coming into play again - "Who opens a clock?" - about the toxicology report. I think Harlan decided to just end it, though, since Marta did give him the correct dosages by accident. He knew his money and the legacy his books had created would be in good hands with her, and it was a final way to give his mooching kids the finger. Well played, sir.

Ha, Ransom never fooled me for a second.  Even when he was "helping" Marta, it was clear that he wasn't being altruistic, he wanted his share of the inheritance in exchange for his help.  Plus, his smirking during the will reading scene made it clear that he knew something was going to go down.

[Captain Carrot]

On 2/27/2020 at 4:27 PM, Cobalt Stargazer said:

I have to give major points to Chris Evans. Ransom's ability to fake being sincere held out longer than Meg's did, since Marta seemed to like Meg up until finding out she's the one who ratted her mom out about being in the country illegally.

I think Meg was being sincere when she spoke with Marta. But it's easy to be nice to someone when everything is going your way. It's a little harder when your mom and all your aunts and uncles are ganging up on you, and your mom is telling you that you're broke. Meg did something horrible, but I do feel sorry for her.

The Q&A extra that came with the movie had some interesting information, such as the fact that Michael Shannon got his SAG card for being excited about Wrestlemania in Groundhog Day. However, I found the most interesting fact that Daniel Craig based his accent on Shelby Foote. (The very southern historian from Ken Burns Civil War documentary).

 

[Cerulean]

I hope to see more of Ana de Armas. I kept thinking she looked familiar, one IMDb search later and she’s Joi from Bladerunner 2049. She was great in both roles and that’s quite a range!

[Growsonwalls]

Marta did generously say that she'd help Meg with whatever she needed. Meg repays her by ratting out Marta's mom's immigration status. I think Marta is done with Meg. I think Marta is the type of person who will be a decent person and if Meg truly needs anything for an emergency she'll help out, but I don't think Marta is going to be paying for Meg's college.

[kiddo82]

Meg was put in an unenviable position by her family in order to get Marta back to the house, but she also strikes me as an Instagram activist who only cares about Marta on the surface.  In regards to whether or not Marta would still pay for school I'm with Blanc when he said he has his own opinions but suspects that Marta will ultimately do things her way.

Edited March 1, 2020 by kiddo82

[Schweedie]

On 2/27/2020 at 10:27 PM, Cobalt Stargazer said:

The sniping, backbiting family who present a united front with strangers, but in actuality can't stand each other most of the time. Linda accuses Blanc of baiting her, trying to get her to talk shit about Walt, and of course she theatrically refuses, and then one scene later Richard's saying that Walt didn't really run anything, he was just his dad's errand boy.

I mean, Richard was married into the family and was a cheating bastard, so it makes sense he wouldn't have any qualms against shittalking his brother-in-law, heh. I liked Linda the best of the adults, until she turned so hard on Marta at the will reading. I thought she seemed sincere when she refused to be baited by Blanc; she seemed genuinely sad at their dad's death; and if I remember correctly she was the only one Harlan never had specific words with about anything that night - instead, he fought with Richard about him cheating on her. But of course, she turned out to be as vicious as the rest of them when she felt slighted.

I liked that even Ransom's parents had no illusions about him - they found out he was being cut off and were like, yeah, sounds about right. He must've been an ass his whole life for his parents to not be the least surprised or offended at that.

[jah1986]

Finally saw this and loved it! It was obvious it was not meant to be taken too seriously and that the cast were having a great time.

I was shocked to find that great nana was played by K Callan (sp?)! But great seeing her again and she did a lot with the little she was given.

From the trailers I was nervous about how over the top Blanc's southern accent was going to be, but it wasn't as grating as I thought it would be and I enjoyed his character a lot more than I thought I would.

I love Chris Evans too much to hate Ransom, but was glad he got his in the end.

Loved Richard realizing it was over with Linda when she read Harlan's note. It seems he really cared for her, even calling her My Sweet or something along those lines. And she knew immediately the page wasn't blank.

Had to watch it again to pick up on things missed the first time, but just really loved this movie.

[annzeepark914]

I just saw this movie yesterday (last day at the local theater) and really liked it...with the exception of the actress who played Marta. Probably because she was looking just a little too precious with her lips slightly open throughout the entire movie (a la John Cusick). The only folks who do this in real life are the mouth breathers, suffering from severe sinus issues. Jamie Lee Curtis was wonderful, as was Don Johnson.   We need more movies like this. Not everyone wants to see Disney or sci-fi.

[Ohwell]

I finally saw this at home today and I was underwhelmed.  Marta was on the screen too much and it went on too long.  I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had seen in the theater, but I still think I would have been lukewarm about it.   And seeing Toni Colette in HD was rough. 

[Luckylyn]

The idea of  this family trapped together in quarantine is really fascinating.   I wish this was a real sequel idea.   I think in general it would be a cool murder mystery where no one can leave because of quarantine but there’s a killer among them.

 

[ketchuplover]

That knife should've been unretractable

[VCRTracking]

Man, this movie would make a great double feature with GREEDY the comedy with Michael J. Fox and Kirk Douglas from 1993 also about a rich old guy and his relatives. Finally saw KNIVES OUT but I wished I seen it earlier because a few days before planning to see it I got spoiled for the ending seeing the title of a clip scrolling YouTube. Damn it! I think I would have been surprised too. But even after that Ransom had me convinced until the reveal he was just a misunderstood bad boy(Rian Johnson keeps warning us about those guys!) Anyway the plot still had some twists for me and I at least didn't expect how Marta caught Ransom and the retractable knife bit. I also enjoyed Daniel Craig's summation in that drawl and Chris Evans impressed me looking so evil. Ana de Armas and Craig work really well together. Makes me really excited to see them reunite in the next James Bond movie. Also like that he after directing him as Yoda Rian got Frank Oz to be Harlan's lawyer!

Edited May 4, 2020 by VCRTracking

[Luckylyn]

13 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

Man, this movie would make a great double feature with GREEDY the comedy with Michael J. Fox and Kirk Douglas from 1993 also about a rich old guy and his relatives. Finally saw KNIVES OUT but I wished I seen it earlier because a few days before planning to see it I got spoiled for the ending seeing the title of a clip scrolling YouTube. Damn it! I think I would have been surprised too. But even after that Ransom had me convinced until the reveal he was just a misunderstood bad boy(Rian Johnson keeps warning us about those guys!) Anyway the plot still had some twists for me and I at least didn't expect how Marta caught Ransom and the retractable knife bit. I also enjoyed Daniel Craig's summation in that drawl and Chris Evans impressed me looking so evil. Ana de Armas and Craig work really well together. Makes me really excited to see them reunite in the next James Bond movie. Also like that he after directing him as Yoda Rian got Frank Oz to be Harlan's lawyer!

I love Greedy.  It’s one of my favorite movie endings.  I agree it would make a fantastic double feature choice.

Everything Great About Knives Out 1

part 2

 

 

[VCRTracking]

16 minutes ago, Luckylyn said:

I love Greedy.  It’s one of my favorite movie endings.  I agree it would make a fantastic double feature choice.

Everything Great About Knives Out 1

part 2

 

The entire cast of Greedy is great but Phil Hartman was phenomenal. Such a loss.

 

[SoMuchTV]

This is on Amazon Prime now, in case anyone's been waiting for that...

[Scarlett45]

3 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

This is on Amazon Prime now, in case anyone's been waiting for that...

I just saw it with some friends (first time hanging out with them since the stay at home orders began). It was fun. I’m not a huge murder mystery person but I enjoyed it. 

[BlackberryJam]

I watched it on Prime. I'm a big mystery fan. I enjoyed the movie but it was a little too, "lemme bust this trope." Many tropes exist because they are enjoyable. 

What I enjoyed most though was the visual feast. The house, the furnishings, the costumes, all of it. My eye just loved all the color. So many times a murder mystery goes all blacks, greys and whites. That can be visually effective (the BBC 2015 And Then There Were None) but it was great to see a murder mystery that wasn't hitting 'bleak' as the main visual note. 

Also, the acting was spot on. 

[Bastet]

On 12/11/2019 at 6:48 PM, Jillibean said:

While I agree about the timelessness, and I went into this hoping it would be more early to mid 1900s like a Christie novel, I thought the current events were really important in setting up the context of what was going on. This was a murder mystery, but it was also ultimately a movie about Marta‘s handling of this situation, and the current culture and the family’s social standing as opposed to her social standing in present day American society played a big role in that. The contradiction of the family members telling Marta she was family and they would take care of her while excluding her from the funeral and having no idea what country her family from was from was disturbing in how realistic it was. The scene of Richard “rewarding” Marta for being a “good immigrant” by allowing her to agree with him that illegal immigrants deserve to be punished was also brilliant for both character understanding and societal reflection in general. Handing her the plate was just the cherry on the sundae. I thought it was sad but important that the movie suggested that even the family members who believed they had enlightened views or were allies quickly turned when they had anything to lose. To me, part of what made this a really good movie was that it wasn’t just a murder mystery, but social commentary portrayed through an engaging plot.

With the film being available on Prime, I finally got around to watching it, and this is what I loved about it.  I was "yeah, that was solid, what's next?" about it overall, but this aspect of it, I kept cheering.

The secret changed will didn't seem to have been witnessed, in which case it would be invalid, and they wouldn't even need to invoke the slayer rule, but I'll just pretend it was and that simply wasn't noted (I couldn't get a good enough look at the paper itself).  That leaves me with having to swallow that Marta didn't realize Harlan was having absolutely no reaction to a huge-ass dose of morphine; it doesn't even take five minutes with a normal dose!  When she told him what she'd done, and he was sitting there perfectly normal, I knew he actually hadn't been overdosed.  And if I knew that, she should have known that.

I know she was highly emotional, but recognizing and correcting mistakes is part of her training.  When he was not at all acting like a man who'd just been overdosed, she'd have been puzzled, asked him questions about how he was feeling, and probably looked at the vials again, at which point the same familiarity that caused her to give the correct medication, despite the labels, in the first place would tell her it wasn't morphine in that vial. 

Oh, well. 

I thought the extended donut metaphor went on a good three times longer than it should; I actually growled at my TV for him to shut up about the damn donut.  But I join everyone else in falling out at "the little Nazi child masturbating in the bathroom".  And, of course, the final scene, with her drinking from the "my house" mug as she stands on the balcony of the home from which the family has been evicted.  Glorious.

If I'd have been persuaded by the hype to see this in the theatre, I'd have been disappointed.  But I'm glad I watched it for free at home -- not a great mystery, but terrific cast and social commentary, with some delicious humor sprinkled throughout.

[Artsda]

The movie was great, liked kind how twists there were with the family.

[Avabelle]

Loved this film and just watched it on Prime.

Was Toni Colette channelling Busy Phillips? The voice affectation was identical.

[BetterButter]

Netflix Buys ‘Knives Out’ Sequels for $450 Million

[AimingforYoko]

3 hours ago, BetterButter said:

Netflix Buys ‘Knives Out’ Sequels for $450 Million

Daaaaamn. Subscription fees are going up, I guess.

[Irlandesa]

4 hours ago, BetterButter said:

Netflix Buys ‘Knives Out’ Sequels for $450 Million

Wow.  I'm surprised; especially since this was one of the rare mid-budget breakouts at the theaters.  Will cinema only be left for the boring blockbuster? 

I don't go to movies often but I did for this one.  It was so much fun to see in a theater. It was maybe the last movie I saw in a theater pre-COVID (nope, it was Little Women with plans to see Emma but everything shut down then.)

Edited April 1, 2021 by Irlandesa