Knives Out

Many movie fans have decided that Rian Johnson sucks, that he ruined Star Wars. I disagree, I’m not one of those people. In my opinion, Johnson’s The Last Jedi wasn’t nearly as bad as numerous super-nerds have made it out to be. I actually kind of like it. Johnson also wrote and directed Looper (2012), a pretty damn good and original film, especially when compared to most movies of the last decade. Still, there’s a cult of geeks that thought that movie sucked too, they saw it as “time travel crap.” Johnson’s latest vehicle, Knives Out (which he also performed double duty on, both writing and directing), is about a detective that’s brought in to investigate the death of a famous 85-year-old novelist. The movie is done in the murder mystery style/genre, which is something that we’ve all seen before, but it’s also something that isn’t done too often, so it’s actually quite refreshing to watch. It’s in the same vein as (and obviously influenced by) such films as Murder by Death (1972), Deathtrap (1982), Clue (1985), and Gosford Park (2001). If you don’t overthink this movie and go in with no expectations, you’ll enjoy this one.

[PG-13]