Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives out Mystery + The Running Man
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Written & Directed by Rian Johnson
There's nothing like a cozy little murder mystery just in time for these long winter nights. A cast stacked high and low and a central story full of religious intrigue and biting social satire. No one is doing it like writer/director Rian Johnson, and we are so lucky to be blessed with an insane whodunnit every couple years. Folks I present to you WAKE UP DEAD MAN or KNIVES OUT 3 for short.
James Bond himself Mr. Daniel Craig (with the most glorious mane of long hair) returns as the supremely iconic Detective Benoit Blanc. Over the course of three movies, Craig has turned this into his trademark character. Life After Bond indeed! My boyfriend Josh O'Connor (he's back!) stars as the young priest in hot water after the "monsignor" of his church is murdered under impossible circumstances.
With deliberate, careful place setting and world building we are slowly introduced to the cast of suspects and red herrings. I was so engrossed in the story full of crackling pulpy dialogue and razor sharp satire, you hardly notice Craig's Detective Blanc doesn't show up until nearly an hour in! By then we are so locked in, so familiar with the almost claustrophobic church setting. Getting to know the locals like Glen Close playing SURPRISE SURPRISE a crazy bitch (the best to ever do it), Andrew Scott as a local author turned angry redpilled man and Josh Brolin (with the most clocky bad wig) doing what he does best playing an absolute evil sleazeball in his "monsignor" character.
There's too many actors to list and the fun is seeing them pop in like oh hello Thomas Hayden Church where have you been? (Not really in this either as he is pretty underused) The twists keep on twisting, the plot thick with details, so many glorious monologues! The big climatic reveal making me go "Huh? What! Ohhh...wait what? Wow! Hmm ok"
The best of 3 in a series that improves with each entry, I imagine actors are all clamoring for a role in one of these. Keep 'em coming baby!
☆☆☆☆ out of 4
The Running Man
Directed by Edgar Wright
What happened to Edgar Wright? The ONCE visionary director of cult classics like SHAUN OF THE DEAD and SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD has been on a steady decline for years. This remake of a Stephen King novel about a distopian future where everyone is poor and the only way out is by (literally) risking your life on reality shows, is DOA. Sorta promising wannabe leading man Glen Powell is stranded in a boring slop of lame stale satire, unimaginative generic action and hollow sentiment. Watch the Schwarzenegger original or better yet just read a book.
