I really, deeply loathe driving. I don’t trust others, and I don’t like that I’m in charge of a risky hunk of metal (reliable car but yeah). Been driving like 13yrs, didn’t start out scared. Got there tho. My adrenaline spikes when I have to pass a school bus going the opposite direction, even though I can see there’s no lights flashing/sign out to stop. After a day of driving I review it in my head even tho I’d rather not. Idk how to beat it. Exposure/driving more doesn’t really make it go away, it’s just something I endure.
All of Man's works, all his cities, all his empires, all his monuments will one day crumble to dust. Even the houses of my own dear readers must--though it be for just one day, one hour--be ruined and become houses where the stones are mortared with moonlight, windowed with starlight and furnished with the dusty wind.
"[River] is very handsome and means well and is also maybe the dumbest man who has ever lived. He charges into situations with the confidence of a much more competent person, then finds himself in so far over his head he’d need a ladder to see where he started. It’s a little charming, actually, watching this man who thinks he’s James Bond find out he’s Mr. Bean over and over and over."
In the very last scene Cy Draven is referred to as Mr Wicks by a priest and...did this kid really legally change his last name to Wicks and insist everyone call him that instead of Mr Draven to further legitimize his association with/authority on Monsignor Wicks and thus tie himself that much more closely to possible virality/the potential online presence? Cuz that seems a very Cy thing to do
With three movies to compare between, I really appreciate how each Knives Out movie explores justice from a different thematic angle, not based on the murder that was committed but based on the cruelty that led to that murder.
In Knives Out, a compassionate, ethical young woman treats everyone around her with generosity, and the people around her repeatedly try to take advantage of her kindness to force her into losing the fortune that was gifted to her by a dear friend. There, justice means that she keeps the fortune and decides that actually, she doesn't have to be kind and giving to people who've proven themselves assholes.
In Glass Onion, a woman loses her sister to a gang of wealthy, successful people who've sacrificed their principles for the sake of ambition and ego. There, justice means that everyone involved will be made notorious: whatever their other accomplishments, they will forever be known for being complicit in the burning of the most famous painting in history.
In Wake Up Dead Man, the church takes advantage of a young girl's loyalty and faith to place her under a lifelong burden and fill her with guilt, shame, and hatred. Justice means helping her understand what was done to her and the women around her, and giving her compassion so she can find peace.
This is cool because it means the movies contradict each other! The compassionate justice of Wake Up Dead Man would be totally misplaced in Knives Out, and so would the toppling-monuments justice of Glass Onion. And because each movie has something different to say, they all stand on their own and feel fresh.
This is also why Benoit Blanc is the uniting figure but never the protagonist of these movies. He's an agent of legal justice in that he's the detective and it's his job to figure out whodunnit, but the protagonist -- Marta, Helen, and now Jud -- is always the character who delivers thematic justice.
oh I should probably talk about Wake Up Dead Man before it hits theaters this week
(mostly spoiler-free review of the film under the cut, there's a necessary preface about Christianity at the beginning but it's not that deep)
So I saw WUDM at the Philly Film Festival last month and I really, really enjoyed it. It's a bit darker than earlier films in the series, but I think it still follows the formula in a way that people will respond well to.
I do remember sitting in that theater for over two hours and the whole time I was thinking "ohhhh the man who made this movie is definitely exvangelical."
Like. It's a highly Catholic movie, but I was still convinced that Rian Johnson was exvangelical. And what do you know, I was right. He talked about it a little bit in the Q&A after and I was privately like "yeah, called it."
This is a movie that is largely about faith, I think. Not necessarily faith in God, but faith in something. And my god, it wants to believe. There is this almost sickening, desperate desire that suffuses the whole film to just--to want to believe that faith is worth having, to want to believe that faith won't always let you down.
When Rian Johnson told us that he was raised Evangelical but had lost the faith, I wasn't exactly surprised. I see similar vibes in a lot of media made by exvangelicals, myself included. This wrestling with love and nostalgia and belief and betrayal and above all faith. The ultimate question of--"what was this all for?" and the ultimate answer always needing to be "it was for each other."
But enough about that. Let's talk about the plot.
The hero at the focus of WUDM is a young, stubbornly earnest Catholic priest with a dark past. Despite his... everything... it seems like he really wants to help the congregation at the new church he's been assigned to--even if they really do not seem to want to be helped.
Rian Johnson's usual host of fascinating, enjoyable (if not always likable) characters can be found in Father Jud's new flock, and they're just as difficult to pin down as always.
I won't give any real spoilers in this review, like who dies and how, but I will say that the root of this story lies in the temperament of the priest that Jud has been sent to assist, Jefferson Wicks. Wicks is a cruel man, a fire-and-brimstone priest preaching fire-and-brimstone sermons to a fire-and-brimstone-loving congregation. Jud is repulsed by this loveless form of Christianity, but he quickly realizes that the congregation he sees is self-selecting; in each of their own ways, they seem to need the bitterness.
In Father Wicks's church, the cruelty is the point.
But Jud, to all appearances, is not a cruel man, despite his violent past. And Benoit Blanc, once he shows up, is not a cruel man either. He has (understandably) deep misgivings about Christianity and he does not trust any of these weird motherfuckers, but he is not and has never been a cruel man.
So how do two non-cruel men set about trying to dismantle such institutionalized cruelty?
That, more than any mystery or murder, is the real heart of this movie, I think. It's funny and silly and charming, just like any Knives Out movie is. It's also deeply dark in some ways and sometimes really truly disquieting.
But it is also, as always, a movie about the kindness and empathy at the soul of the human condition. To some degree, every Knives Out movie has been about that soul and how power--whether through money or politics or bigotry or, yes, religion--can tear it apart.
But this film... yeah. All of the films have pointed out modern society's ills, but I feel like this is the first film that feels really tortured by them. Like, I feel like as the films continue, Rian Johnson is becoming less content with poking fun at modern-day conservatism and is becoming consumed with the need to actually fix things.
It's a fantastic film, truly. The characters are memorable and the vibes immaculate. The plot itself is a little more convoluted this time, but I don't think it's to the point of incomprehensibility or anything. I do think you'll definitely need to pay close attention while you watch.
I think that some people will bounce off this one, though. Like I said, it's darker and denser than the previous outings. It's still funny but it's really not that lighthearted a movie. Blanc is forced to really wrestle with some questions about humanity that push him to his emotional brink, and the struggle there is real. The disillusionment, the burnout, the disgust is real. But so is the hope.
It's a movie that I found deeply cathartic in some ways, especially re: disability and chronic illness, but like I said... it's less of a crowd-pleaser. I'm not sure everyone will like this one.
That said, I thought it was fantastic. One of Johnson's best. And I think I probably will shell out to see it on the big screen again. 💜
Completely agree like I think the other 2 have more fun comfort movie vibes where this one is darker but it is an excellent movie. I was worried this being the 3rd knives out Rian Johnson might be losing steam but that doesn’t seem to be the case at ALL. Love this one
"Here's what's gonna happen. Benoit freakin' Blanc and I are gonna ask you all some questions and you're gonna answer them. We're gonna get to the bottom of who killed Monsignor Micks and why. And THEN... that's it."
DANIEL CRAIG AND JOSH O'CONNOR IN KNIVES OUT: WAKE UP DEAD MAN
i love you knives out i love you glass onion i love you murder mystery i love you silly southern detective i love you rich people getting fucked over i love you movies that are fun i love you movies with good foreshadowing i love you themes and motifs i love you poetic cinema i love you set design i love you good guy wins i love you
i love you wake up dead man i love you catholic imagery i love you this is how things should be but this is how things are i love you silly accent again i love you bad men get nothing i love you tailored suits i love you doing the right thing despite consequence i love you good guys win again i love you absolved of sins i love you
I fucking love the Knives Out movies. I love the different cast every movie concept, I love Benoit Blanc and his ridiculous accent, I love how they always come out around christmas for some reason, I love how original they are, I love a murder mystery. give me 14 of these films and I will eat them up
