Knives Out (2019)

Hercule Poirot returns as Benoit Blanc. That's the first feeling you get after the end credits of "Knives Out". Or otherwise said, since the distant ages when I had time to watch episodes of Midsommer Murders I didn't see anything more Agatha Christie than this. The difference is that we have a personal touch of Rian Johnson here, which transforms what would be a Sunday afternoon TV show in a bit more than the classic murder mystery story.

But that's where we start from, "the classic murder mystery story". Harlan Thrombey, a best-selling author of crime novels (how else), celebrates his 85th birthday in the company of his dysfunctional family, out of whom everybody seems to have a reason to not let him live up to his 86th anniversary. In this setting we also find Marta, a nurse, immigrated from somewhere in the South America (nobody remembers the exact country), who's responsible with the daily shots administered to the old man, and also acting involuntarily as a psychotherapist for the patient. An important character, especially due to a key element in the whole context - she cannot lie without triggering instant puke. The morning after the party, we find Mr. Thrombey in a pool of blood, with his throat slit, everything pointing to a suicide. But the verdict is postponed when Benoit Blanc, a renowned PI is hired by an unknown somebody to solve the case, and he asks the police to let him get involved in the investigation. So... "the plot thickens" ;)

Surprisingly the "thickens" part doesn't last more than a quarter of the movie, and we find out who did it. Which makes it close to impossible to continue this blog entry without spoilers. That's the cool part of "Knives Out". From a classic approach: group of suspects -> case investigation -> solved murder, we have an unexpected move into another movie pattern: we know who did it -> let's see if/how they catch the murderer. It's not exactly revolutionary, there are plenty of movies following that approach too. But more interesting is that after this twist providing the answer, clear and beyond doubt, leaving as only reason to continue just admiring the talent of Mr. Blanc in his path of unraveling the truth, surprise... Three quarters in the movie we get another major change in the action plot. Again, I won't spoil it. All I can say is that it's not as much of a surprise after all. Half the movie is enough to start catching some elements and doubt a bit about that clear answer not being that complete, but I would be an hypocrite to say I was expecting everything that followed ;)

To move out a bit from the temptation area of providing spoilers, let's talk about the movie making. We have many known names as actors, and their acting could compete for the best ensemble cast at the Oscars, if such a category would exist. Besides that, initially it seems to look like that Sunday afternoon TV show = a crime story with a decent plot, the typical complications + a comic part, but nothing very special, just up to the last quarter. Which is probably a bit long, although compensated by good editing, sound, witty dialogues, all of these summing up to a final verdict of a "light fun twisted movie". Still, I would say that the last part starts getting also some depth. It's a fine touch, but it's there, and besides the dark humor of the situation, in the end it also adds a more serious note of "karma fights back & the good wins" ;) That's it, I'm getting back to spoilers, and if I continue more like that it will get too cryptic - just watch the movie ;)

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

The Signal (2014)

Immersive ... That's a one-word description for "The Signal". It's been a while since I've watched a SciFi that kept me so engaged. Two students at MIT and the girlfriend of one of them are on the road to California. At some point, they decide to take a detour to meet a hacker - nickname: Nomad. An IP trace leads them to an address in the middle of nowhere, at night, where the only thing they find is a deserted house. And now for a short time you feel you're watching something between "Wrong Turn" and "Blair Witch Project" and you ask yourself why IMDb listed SciFi and not horror. But that goes fast ... And we're suddenly transported to "The Matrix". Or .. well, we have Laurence Fishburne as someone who seems to lead a quarantine compartment of a facility where the three were brought after a 3rd kind encounter in the desert. A bit further we're moving to "The Cube", at least conceptually. Probably I'm not giving the best references - somehow the right one eludes me, but is better like this: that's the proof that what we have here is original enough (although sort of predictable) and .. I'm not giving spoilers :) About the camera, sound, etc .. you can see it in the trailer, or just go for the movie, it's really worth it ;)

Rating: 4 out of 5

Man from Reno (2014)

"Man from Reno" is one of those movies that makes you ask "why is this good?" while watching, considering that if you look over the story somewhere halfway it seems that nothing's stands out compared to a standard TV crime series. I'm saying that because I actually couldn't watch it all at once and I had enough time in-between to think about going on with the final part. And the decision was: yes, do it ...

So, what's worth seeing here? First of all, the movie is impeccable in the making as a whole. If we split it piece by piece - directing, acting, camera, editing, sound, I can't say any of those is exceptional, but all complete each other so well that the result keeps your eyes on the screen. What about the story?... Well, the start is pretty convoluted. A sheriff in a small county near San Francisco hits an Asian guy on a foggy night ... or better said the guy stumbling on his feet hits the sheriff's car. Long story short - "the victim" ends up in a hospital from where he runs away as soon as he's able leaving lots of unanswered questions. Meanwhile, a successful Japanese crime novel author checks in to a hotel in San Francisco where she gets approached by a charming guy ... who disappears after a one night stand. And somehow the search of the two missing persons intersects ...

There are many movies passing through your mind when you watch "Man from Reno". From "No Country for Old Men" (that I'm not really fond of) to "Talented Mr. Ripley" (that I'm not really fond of either). I've seen here what's missing there. Still I can't get over a turning point towards the end where (spoiler) things move from what seems a comforting calm solution to a very dark outcome ... But maybe it's just my taste, or too much daily stress that wants only happy-endings :) ...

Rating: 4 out of 5

Devil (2010)

I'm very very tired after four days of walking through other places than my usual residence so I'm not in the very best shape for writing. Fortunately "Devil" is not a movie that takes to much time, at least not with the subject, because if I would say too much I would also spoil too much from what you get to see.

IMDb designates it as Horror, Mistery, Thriller (the usual alphabetic order). I consider that the movie is pretty far from the classic horror definition that you might have in mind, and it's oriented more towards the last two above. Remember "Fallen" with Denzel Washington ? It's probably one of the best movies I've ever seen which is somehow centered on the same theme = devil, demon, etc presence among humans. What we have here is pretty far in terms of quality I might say, but as "horror" level is in the same area. Which is one a bit more particular = I don't think it's scary (the trailer is deceiving) and it also doesn't have tons of disemboweled guts, eyes removed or other possible "dishes" from the classic "Saw" menu (what can I do, I'm giving the same example as usual, it's a reference after how many parts they released). The "horror" itself is just related to the evil presence in the title which here appears in a pretty original context. The idea is the next: one day .. a Philadelphia police investigator gets a new case just after breakfast = a corpse suddenly appeared on the top of a truck. After a short lookup it's determined that the body belongs to a suicidal who jumped from a floor on a high nearby building. In which building ... coincidence (or not .. obviously :) ), 5 persons are trapped into an elevator while going up. Elevator where ...

... the movie will show what happens ;) . I'll just stop at repeating the same boring everyday phrase without saying anything else :). I'm pretty sure that for the most the poster will not raise the interest for the movie and do exactly the opposite. Obviously the reason is the tagline "From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan". Ok, don't run now :) if you didn't noticed it before ... This guy actually succeded in getting out an excellent movie : "The 6th Sense" after which he pretty much messed up everything in which he was involved. Only "Unbreakable" was a bit above average, and "The Village" had some potential but didn't went forward than this. Besides those, worse and worse ... And I'm starting to believer that the main problem was the direction, or the changes the director does on his own script when he's working on the set. It seems that for the mentioned one, this position is not really recommended, because here we actually see the result when he sticks only to the story writing. And the result is definitely better. In most of his productions up to this point (I won't stay to count which one yes and which one not), he really tried to have a surprise factor in the ending, but he didn't make it to get something on par with the first one. It's also neither here, but u have some unexpected factor and the ending at least is not a catastrophe. Even if it might seem that's cut a bit short (and maybe also predictable if you're not very tired), the movie is far from being the mess "Signs" was at the ending. And, repeating myself, I believe that's quite a lot related also to the fact that the directing was left this time for somebody else.

Even if it seems to be distributed by Universal, I don't think that the movie had any big budget, and this actually makes it look a bit cheap on some parts. Even so, the cinematography, the editing and the sound are relatively ok. I especially liked the upside down travelings you get to see also in the trailer. But there is one thing that I liked even more, and that's the casting (maybe it's caused by the experience I had last week, I don't know ...). We don't have any box-office generator in the cast = some ultra known name, but the roles made are sufficiently well done and credible, and the most interesting part is that we have pretty different characters, and you get to see each personality transposed on screen. Ok, I won't get any longer with the entry (because I'm already yawning :) ) and even if down below I have a conclusion which might look partly similar with the last week one, I can say that the general impression was much better.

Rating: 3 out of 5 (more towards 4 .. I think I should start giving with a ratio ...)