Review: Knives Out (2019) - ★★★★★
Reviewed on Dec 24, 2025 [originally watched on 13-DEC-19]
I Might Be Wrong, but I’m pretty sure this was the last movie I saw in a theatre before the pandemic. Borrowing its name from a Radiohead ditty about cannibalism and betrayal from 2001’s Amnesiac, Knives Out ended up being the beginning of Benoit Blanc mysteries and follows the implosion of the Thrombey empire with the death of the patriarch. This instalment covers rich people and generational wealth, hangers-on, class, alt-right nonsense, immigration, misdirections, donuts, and family dynamics Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box. Everyone seems to have their own selfish reasons and motives, and Rian Johnson reveals and shares them Like Spinning Plates. Evidence is concealed and recontextualized, like we’re on the prowl Hunting Bears. While the setting is a marvellous mansion with peculiar personality, the many interwoven characters and relationships show what Life in a Glasshouse can be like when you try to remain private and secretive with so many close to you. In the end, with death comes a will and the contested distribution of Dollars & Cents. It can be a lot to digest, so who’s up for such a challenge like this? You and Whose Army? 🔪
I Might Be Wrong, but I’m pretty sure this was the last movie I saw in a theatre before the pandemic. Borrowing its name from a Radiohead ditty about cannibalism and betrayal from 2001’s Amnesiac, Knives Out ended up being the beginning of Benoit Blanc mysteries and follows the implosion of the Thrombey empire with the death of the patriarch. This instalment covers rich people and generational wealth, hangers-on, class, alt-right nonsense, immigration, misdirections, donuts, and family dynamics Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box. Everyone seems to have their own selfish reasons and motives, and Rian Johnson reveals and shares them Like Spinning Plates. Evidence is concealed and recontextualized, like we’re on the prowl Hunting Bears. While the setting is a marvellous mansion with peculiar personality, the many interwoven characters and relationships show what Life in a Glasshouse can be like when you try to remain private and secretive with so many close to you. In the end, with death comes a will and the contested distribution of Dollars & Cents. It can be a lot to digest, so who’s up for such a challenge like this? You and Whose Army? 🔪
Review: Glass Onion, 2022 - ★★★★
Reviewed on Dec 25, 2025 [originally watched on 27-NOV-22]
Much more fantastical than the first Knives Out, and while clearly a pandemic movie, I can’t imagine being bubbled with shitheads like this on a remote Greek island. Edward Norton inhabits Miles Bron, a shallow tech billionaire surrounded by yes men and women, until Benoit Blanc mysteriously finds himself a guest at this gangs murder mystery weekend. Janelle Monáe is a delight and shatters any preconceived notions. It features and plays like a musical fugue, along with the stunt-casting of Hugh Grant, Ethan Hawke, Yo-Yo Ma, Serena Williams, Jake Tapper, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Natasha Lyonne, Stephen Sondheim, and Angela Lansbury. 🧅
Much more fantastical than the first Knives Out, and while clearly a pandemic movie, I can’t imagine being bubbled with shitheads like this on a remote Greek island. Edward Norton inhabits Miles Bron, a shallow tech billionaire surrounded by yes men and women, until Benoit Blanc mysteriously finds himself a guest at this gangs murder mystery weekend. Janelle Monáe is a delight and shatters any preconceived notions. It features and plays like a musical fugue, along with the stunt-casting of Hugh Grant, Ethan Hawke, Yo-Yo Ma, Serena Williams, Jake Tapper, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Natasha Lyonne, Stephen Sondheim, and Angela Lansbury. 🧅
Review: Wake Up Dead Man (2025) - ★★★★★
Reviewed on Dec 25, 2025 [originally reviewed on 26-NOV-25]
After seeing Glass Onion again, I think this deserves an extra ½ ★. This might be another group of shitheads under the spell of a flawed yet charismatic leader, but there’s also the culmination of dissecting the tools of the right-wing grifting machine, which emphasizes self-interest, opportunism, greed, and manipulation over humanity, empathy, and forgiveness. There’s something about the handling of this church, its leadership, and congregation that’s both deservedly critical while also uplifting. It’s also like the movie was somehow reverse-engineered from Tom Waits’ “Come On Up to the House” from Mule Variations (“Come down off the cross, we can use the wood.”) ⚰️
After seeing Glass Onion again, I think this deserves an extra ½ ★. This might be another group of shitheads under the spell of a flawed yet charismatic leader, but there’s also the culmination of dissecting the tools of the right-wing grifting machine, which emphasizes self-interest, opportunism, greed, and manipulation over humanity, empathy, and forgiveness. There’s something about the handling of this church, its leadership, and congregation that’s both deservedly critical while also uplifting. It’s also like the movie was somehow reverse-engineered from Tom Waits’ “Come On Up to the House” from Mule Variations (“Come down off the cross, we can use the wood.”) ⚰️