Saw an early preview in March. Really loved it then and have been waiting for it to release to see it again. Can't think of confession the same way ever again. Lovely comment on the calling and vocation of the priesthood.
I'm not much of a whodunit fan, but the political satire in the movie was great. Brolin played a perfect MAGA priest, and the titles/thumbnails on his YouTube page were hilarious. "There's G-O-D in DOGE." I wanted more of that.
I watched it yesterday, and loved it. Then I rewatched it today with my son, and picked up even more. Just a great movie. BTW, did anyone else notice they left the alcohol flask thread lose? They never talked about who broke in and took it. If they did, I missed it. I think that could have been a meaty little thread to add to the movie.
Reminder because in these days of eternally popping new content, important innovative ideas are old hat before most people have heard of, understood, or assessed them:
Netflix is on the predictable middle of the process of enshittification as explained in Cory Doctorow and Rebecca Giblin’s CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM. Having established dominance they are now cannibalizing their competitors. When the competition is gone or neutralized they will then begin extracting as much as possible from their customers, and they are preparing that now.
Eventually we will have a hollow shell that exists only to hold the market space and to extract and pass on residuals to the shareholders
This movie is the weakest of the three: boring, doesn’t trust the audience and doesn’t give them much to play along with the whodunnit. Felt like watching a box-checking exercise.
I agree that this 3rd movie doesn't have the sort of "play along with this fabulous cast to figure out whodunit" vibe that the first one had. The second one seemed cold to me. I wasn't engaged by it. But this 3rd movie wasn't box checked in my view. It was an exploration of much darker motives than the others and anytime you mix in religion it's going to be more serious, less fun.
Really enjoyed this one. I've seen a bevy of movies with the Man of Science/Logic and Man of Faith juxtaposition - honestly, I'm a sucker for these. But in this case, the paradigm isn't only about trying to explain a phenomenon. It gets stretched further...or in a different direction. The Man of Faith here differs from the Man of Logic, not because he is applying a supernatural explanation to a complicated question, but because he is not primarily concerned with the explanation (ie physical vs spiritual). He cares about the guilty and their prospect for forgiveness. Blanc, is of course, compelled by the desire to answer whodunnit? Or at least, until...well, I won't spoil anything.
Provides snarky remark that should the family want to gather around the TV on Christmas Day OKC and San Antonio are going to do it all over again at 1:30 Central Time. Absolute appointment television. Then Houston and the Lakers have the 7:00 game.
It serves the greedy NFL right that they may have 3 borderline meaningless games which could not have been predicted to start the season. (The Chiefs may need every win they can get.)
The Glass Onion movie dug such a deep black hole of shallow awfulness that I don't think I can continue the series. I'm so sick of this bullshit that everything has to be a franchise now then I'd rather down check a possibly ok movie on principle and spend my time watching something else new and different.
From Sonny Bunch "You can reveal the guilty but you cannot redeem them; that’s a choice they have to make for themselves." Yes, applies to politics, too? we loved the 3rd Knives Out movie, saw it at Alamo on Thanksgiving
Thanks for the review of the latest “Knives Out” murder mystery. I also don’t care for stereotyping people in films by social class, although truth be told, in my experience a “entitlement mentality” seems to inhabit the psyche’s of rich people more than poor folks, despite what you hear from right wing sources.
And Sonny, I share your concerns about the longterm viability of the theatre experience if very dominant streaming services come to distribute their product in anti-competitive ways. Isn’t this reminiscent of the famous antitrust case right after WW II where the theatre chains and studios were separated to avoid issues like a studio distributing their films only to the theatre chains they owned, and keeping other studios’ films our of their theaters? The Supreme Court’s decision ended the vertical integration of the studio system, and I hope todays antitrust authorities examine the acquisition of WB very carefully.
I’m fortunate to live in an urban area with a very nice “art theatre” nearby that has four screens, has a variety of film courses, and exhibits not only “art” films but classic films and current films like Oppenheimer and Nuremberg (but I generally prefer the classic films). And recently, when Eddie Muller came by our area with his film noir festival I discovered a new grand theatre about 25 miles away where the “czar of noir” was exhibiting his films. What a beautiful old theater with gorgeous architecture and a huge balcony. I hope these theaters don’t disappear. They give us a communal viewing experience…and nobody talks back to the screen!
Thanks for laying out the best case scenario for the WB sale. It give me a tiny bit of hope for the future of cinema. I wish that more content was available on discs though. And thanks for the review of "Wake Up, Dead Man". It will make a nice holiday palate cleanser between all of the college bowl games. ; )
I love reading mysteries and some TV adaptations and films are pretty good, like Dark Winds. Looking forward to this next installment in The Knives Out .... love Daniel Craig's portrayal of Benoit Blanc. I also love Andrew Scott. Your review made me queue it up!
Saw an early preview in March. Really loved it then and have been waiting for it to release to see it again. Can't think of confession the same way ever again. Lovely comment on the calling and vocation of the priesthood.
I'm not much of a whodunit fan, but the political satire in the movie was great. Brolin played a perfect MAGA priest, and the titles/thumbnails on his YouTube page were hilarious. "There's G-O-D in DOGE." I wanted more of that.
Yeah, it really would be sad if ordinary peoples' preferences were allowed to override those of journalists/critics/commentators.
I watched it yesterday, and loved it. Then I rewatched it today with my son, and picked up even more. Just a great movie. BTW, did anyone else notice they left the alcohol flask thread lose? They never talked about who broke in and took it. If they did, I missed it. I think that could have been a meaty little thread to add to the movie.
Reminder because in these days of eternally popping new content, important innovative ideas are old hat before most people have heard of, understood, or assessed them:
Netflix is on the predictable middle of the process of enshittification as explained in Cory Doctorow and Rebecca Giblin’s CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM. Having established dominance they are now cannibalizing their competitors. When the competition is gone or neutralized they will then begin extracting as much as possible from their customers, and they are preparing that now.
Eventually we will have a hollow shell that exists only to hold the market space and to extract and pass on residuals to the shareholders
This movie is the weakest of the three: boring, doesn’t trust the audience and doesn’t give them much to play along with the whodunnit. Felt like watching a box-checking exercise.
I agree that this 3rd movie doesn't have the sort of "play along with this fabulous cast to figure out whodunit" vibe that the first one had. The second one seemed cold to me. I wasn't engaged by it. But this 3rd movie wasn't box checked in my view. It was an exploration of much darker motives than the others and anytime you mix in religion it's going to be more serious, less fun.
Really enjoyed this one. I've seen a bevy of movies with the Man of Science/Logic and Man of Faith juxtaposition - honestly, I'm a sucker for these. But in this case, the paradigm isn't only about trying to explain a phenomenon. It gets stretched further...or in a different direction. The Man of Faith here differs from the Man of Logic, not because he is applying a supernatural explanation to a complicated question, but because he is not primarily concerned with the explanation (ie physical vs spiritual). He cares about the guilty and their prospect for forgiveness. Blanc, is of course, compelled by the desire to answer whodunnit? Or at least, until...well, I won't spoil anything.
Hadn't seen that approach before.
Provides snarky remark that should the family want to gather around the TV on Christmas Day OKC and San Antonio are going to do it all over again at 1:30 Central Time. Absolute appointment television. Then Houston and the Lakers have the 7:00 game.
It serves the greedy NFL right that they may have 3 borderline meaningless games which could not have been predicted to start the season. (The Chiefs may need every win they can get.)
Update: Chiefs eliminated
The Glass Onion movie dug such a deep black hole of shallow awfulness that I don't think I can continue the series. I'm so sick of this bullshit that everything has to be a franchise now then I'd rather down check a possibly ok movie on principle and spend my time watching something else new and different.
Wake Up, Dead Man surpasses The Glass Onion is shallow awfulness. It was annoying beyond imagining.
From Sonny Bunch "You can reveal the guilty but you cannot redeem them; that’s a choice they have to make for themselves." Yes, applies to politics, too? we loved the 3rd Knives Out movie, saw it at Alamo on Thanksgiving
Thanks for the review of the latest “Knives Out” murder mystery. I also don’t care for stereotyping people in films by social class, although truth be told, in my experience a “entitlement mentality” seems to inhabit the psyche’s of rich people more than poor folks, despite what you hear from right wing sources.
And Sonny, I share your concerns about the longterm viability of the theatre experience if very dominant streaming services come to distribute their product in anti-competitive ways. Isn’t this reminiscent of the famous antitrust case right after WW II where the theatre chains and studios were separated to avoid issues like a studio distributing their films only to the theatre chains they owned, and keeping other studios’ films our of their theaters? The Supreme Court’s decision ended the vertical integration of the studio system, and I hope todays antitrust authorities examine the acquisition of WB very carefully.
I’m fortunate to live in an urban area with a very nice “art theatre” nearby that has four screens, has a variety of film courses, and exhibits not only “art” films but classic films and current films like Oppenheimer and Nuremberg (but I generally prefer the classic films). And recently, when Eddie Muller came by our area with his film noir festival I discovered a new grand theatre about 25 miles away where the “czar of noir” was exhibiting his films. What a beautiful old theater with gorgeous architecture and a huge balcony. I hope these theaters don’t disappear. They give us a communal viewing experience…and nobody talks back to the screen!
I'm still waiting for a DVD or Blu-Ray release of the ONLY season of AMC's Rubicon...
For first time I guessed the perpetrator in a "Knives Out" movie. But I didn't know the "hows" until the end.
Thanks for laying out the best case scenario for the WB sale. It give me a tiny bit of hope for the future of cinema. I wish that more content was available on discs though. And thanks for the review of "Wake Up, Dead Man". It will make a nice holiday palate cleanser between all of the college bowl games. ; )
My first good laugh from Wake Up, Dead Man came when Lee Ross (Andrew Scott) says, "My last chance ticket out of Substack hell...."
I love reading mysteries and some TV adaptations and films are pretty good, like Dark Winds. Looking forward to this next installment in The Knives Out .... love Daniel Craig's portrayal of Benoit Blanc. I also love Andrew Scott. Your review made me queue it up!