Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Knives Out




Rian Johnson's deviously comedic, big house murder mystery, Knives Out, is artfully composed -- from the script to the art direction to the cinematography -- but not at all precious. The A-list cast for this story about the death of the wealthy patriarch (Christopher Plummer) of a ridiculously pampered family (see poster) are generous with their gifts in Johnson's rich story space; no scenery chewing here. The movie's surprises are abundant, many howlingly funny sequences. Daniel Craig's gentleman sleuth, Benoit Blanc, is a marvelous (awards-worthy) creation, erudite and cagey. The lovely Ana de Armas is the dead patriarch's young Latina nurse at the center of what appears to have been her employer's suicide ... but was it? This film is not what I expected.

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August Wilson's Century Cycle -- Gem of the Ocean

  August Wilson seems to have had a lot on his mind when he wrote Gem of the Ocean -- history, religion, folkways, maybe even politics, but ...