a rian's johnson film
#Wake Up Dead Man
rose sun
glacial flame
pallid sinew
I think this is my favorite of the three movies and I haven't even finished it
I also think this movie would not function at all without Jud and Binot's dynamic but I'll save that for when I'm done
rose sun
ruining this movie for you all
mystic rover
pallid sinew
If I had seen this in theaters I probably would have stood up and clapped
Crazy how two of my favorite films from this year have been stories about Christianity that are handled with grace instead of edgy nonsense that were both on Netflix
https://tenor.com/view/phineas-and-ferb-doofenschmirtz-if-i-had-two-nickels-gif-16019850665821088652
I cannot believe that Snowplow finally got its revenge on Jeremy Renner
pallid sinew
I also think this movie would not function at all without Jud and Binot's dynami...
This film would completely fall apart if Jud wasn't a part of it
Thinking about it now this is probably the most nuanced of Rian's three mystery films
Not saying that the previous two are bad but they are lovingly crafted fuck yous to the Rich
But Rian handles the topic of Religion really well and presents a balanced view of it: Jefferson is everything wrong with Christianity in American, especially with how bad actors radicalize broken people and how easily the Alt Right can weaponize Christianity. But Jud is there to be a reminder of how that is not representative of all Christains.
I think if Rian had written this movie like how he had written Knives Out or Glass Onion it's commentary on Religion would have been very one sided
Jefferson is just the evil religious person that Blanc defeats because he's the cool atheist
Because this movie is a lot more nuanced with how it's written it has the most satisfying outcome for the Protagonist getting it over on the Antagonist
Jud is actually able to provide the services that Jefferson claimed to be giving and to me that really works
I don't think the other two Knives Out films are bad but this is the one that clicked the most for me
fair cypress
I think they definitely developed Jud more than Helen in Glass Onion, but I think what falls flat for me is that while they spend time setting up all the people that fall for Monsignor's ramblings they don't follow through the same way they do in the other films. All three films end with the poor down to earth protagonist getting the win that Blanc can't by learning how to play to their strengths and trust themselves. There's never a "epic progressive detective owns the conservatives with facts and logic!!!" moment for a reason, he can solve the mystery but that's it. It takes Marta realizing she's a good person for her to stop doubting herself and hold out long enough to lie and get Ransom to implicate himself. Helen has to destroy Miles's untouchable façade in order to convince the other disruptors to lie to take him down. This one similarly shows Blanc himself lying in order to bring justice, meanwhile Jud had already figured out how to stay a good person like twenty minutes prior so for me it didn't really hit the same. Martha's confession could've been more emotionally resonant if time was spent showing how her personality lead to this level of theatricality. Ransom was the grandson of an eccentric mystery author, Miles was obsessed with making himself look like a clever mysterious rich recluse, Martha...read a mystery book one time cause Oprah recommended it? And apparently that was enough to both come up with this insane plan involving special remotes, blood squib handles, poisons, acid baths, costume swaps, idk it all just felt too elaborate for her characterization as this devout elderly woman. I barely would expect her to know how to use a computer, much less all this. And maybe that's my own biases, but I can say the same about the doctor and Samson. Neither of them seemed interested or capable of this, both were written to be so paper thin that their motivations were just "samson can't say no to martha, and the doctor is just really stupid and easily manipulated." Meanwhie Cy's much more manipulative personality I guess was just a red herring? He just felt the most like he was going nowhere as a character and by the end the film is just like "lol that guy sucked, later loser" and that's that. I still don't even really get how he ended up how he did, I don't think they spent any significant time setting up him and Vera's dynamic. Vera especially felt like she was just there the entire movie. Idk it just didn't hit for me the same way the first two did.
pallid sinew
I think they definitely developed Jud more than Helen in Glass Onion, but I thin...
The one thing I do think wasn't done that well was laying clues for the greater story/mystery. I buy Martha keeping a lot of stuff close to her chest because she's a bitter old woman but neither Jud nor Binot do much investigating into the local legend outside of that bit at the start of the movie. I knew that they were probably going to expand on it more but it does feel like the movie dumped a lot of exposition at the end compared to the previous two films.
Something I do think is that Cy is the best of Rian's caricatures of Right-Wing figures. Nazi Boy and Joe Harkonnen are funny but are mainly there as joke characters and pale in comparison to the real villains of those movies. I think that Cy's defeat in this movie was a lot more satisfying that other Knives Out villains because while Ransom and Miles were more important to their stories, he was a much more relevant evil to his film's plot.
Vera just being there was kind of the point. It's showcasing another woman being forced to give up her own life because of men pushing their responsibilities onto her instead of taking accountability for their own actions. The only difference is that Vera is actually able to get a fresh start while Grace dies unable to do so. It also showcases how the Parish's treatment of Grace is incredibly judgmental before the story gives more context to her life.
Also I don't know if anybody else pointed this out but this movie threw so much shade at Star Wars with that "Cy is a Rebel" joke it blotted out the Sun
fair cypress
Vera just being there was kind of the point. It's showcasing another woman being...
Yeah but it the other movies would always give focus to the nobodies as either the main characters in Marta's case or still unique significant characters in the case of Peg (the intern girl in glass onion, I think that was her name at least it's been a bit). With Vera her story significance felt minimal, her characterization felt lacking, and thematically she wasn't much different than anyone else.
pallid sinew
Yeah but it the other movies would always give focus to the nobodies as either t...
I do wonder if that's intentional or not. It's like how Grace is just present for most of this movie as a folklore villain exclusively from Jefferson and Martha's testimonies before the story tells us more about her. If there was going to be a red herring in this movie it probably would be Vera because aside from Jud she has the most plausible reasons to want to kill Jefferson. But it does come across as her feeling like she doesn't contribute much.
glacial flame
i was invested enough in the core story to not care as much about the group being sidelined but it definitely stuck out
pallid sinew
I really liked how in this version the main person who dragged the group through the mud was Jefferson and not really the story itself
Most of Jefferson's devoted followers are bad people but he is actively exploiting them and making them feed into their worst tendencies because of how it benefits him
In the other movies the rich idiots are sympathetic but also they are rich idiots so I don't feel as sorry for them
fair cypress
Yeah idk I just also don't really feel sorry for anyone else here either and I think that's what's most frustrating. They got scammed, sucks to suck. There's lots of people that get screwed over way worse who do nothing wrong, especially religious people in poor communities. The movie didn't wanna be about them though, it wanted to be about people who were broadly successful like the first two and I think it needed to work harder to get me to have space in my heart for them.
mystic rover
fair cypress
quaint arch
https://youtu.be/gJxzhUAGBDw?si=3sMy7JFk9HxRn_0Y
God that’s perfect
pallid sinew
Not going to lie, I started screaming in fear when I realized that the female Sheriff was familiar because she was played by Mila Kunis - star of American Psycho 2
celest coral
I have a pitch for Knives Out 4
Bring in the cast of TLJ and set the murder in a movie set
mystic rover
celest coral
Too bad he’s forbidden from going into relationships
pallid sinew
celest coral
I can just hear Benoit Blanc saying “So this Nostalgia Critic”