My Favorite Movies – Knives Out (2019)

By Tanner Smith

I actually want to say very little about “Knives Out” because I don’t know how many people have seen it by now. And to those people who haven’t yet, I say this: it is a perfect film to go into as cold as possible. All I’ll say about it is there’s a wealthy family, the patriarch is found dead, is it suicide (like the police determined) or is it murder (like Daniel Craig’s private-detective Benoit Blanc suspects)…and that’s all I’m going to say about the plot because believe me, it gets complicated. And fun.

You think you’ve seen it all in terms of “whodunnit” and “murder mystery”? I don’t think you’ve seen one quite like “Knives Out!”

This is a wonderfully crafted movie, so much so that as great as it is to see it for the first time, it’s surprisingly even better the second time. When you know all the secrets upon seeing this film again, it’s easier to admire and appreciate all the delicate care that went into crafting this BRILLIANT screenplay and the expert filmmaking that followed. Rian Johnson, who was on a lot of people’s sh*t-list for quite some time because of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” (those people, Johnson rubbed off as “trolls” and “manbabies”), showed everyone his truest talent by working super hard.

Thankfully, it paid off. I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t love this movie.

Again, I don’t want to go into too much detail here, because it’s too good for me to spoil. This is going to be one of those films that will stay with me and fascinate me with each passing viewing.

My favorite scene: I’ll try to be as vague as possible…but it involves a lot of people talking down to each other…and they have no idea what’s coming to them soon after. (If there’s anything I love more than seeing horrible people get theirs, it’s seeing RICH horrible people get theirs!) I remember at the theater I work at, my coworkers and I would catch glimpses of that scene when the film screened–we giggled hysterically because we knew what was coming, having already seen the film.

There’s been talk of a spin-off film featuring a new mystery involving Benoit Blanc–I will happily see it!