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Post by Viced on Nov 27, 2022 21:18:08 GMT
Slightly more annoying than the first, and I'm not sure how well some of its references will hold up in 20 years (though they definitely work now)... but overall, a ton of fun. Well structured, hilarious, wonderfully unpredictable... and never not entertaining. Ed Norton (MVP) still has it too. Definitely worth seeing with an audience.
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Post by DeepArcher on Nov 27, 2022 21:48:44 GMT
This was fine, but I can't help but feel like this franchise will continue to have diminishing returns until Johnson proves he can actually write a straightforward murder mystery without all the bells and whistles. I said in my brief LB blurb that this was a slightly better whodunit than Knives Out ... with an emphasis on the "slightly." This was a bit more knotty and convoluted (in a good way) and more effectively threw me off its scent, but the mystery still has a lot of the same frustrating elements as the first film's - namely the whole conceit of trying to conceal a way too obvious killer reveal behind a "the real mystery is who is/are the real victim(s)" curtain - it's annoying. And the pacing is extraordinarily clumsy. Takes way too long to get going and then once it does, it plays its most interesting twist almost immediately. I feel like they could've just killed off Bautista sooner and then had a proper second act before the big Monae reveal. But alas. The fact that this is still mostly entertaining despite that is a point in its favor... Monae has the de Armas role here and I can't really disagree with anyone saying she's the MVP; she gets to do a lot more than anyone else and it was a pleasure seeing her act again. Hahn and Henwick are two personal favorites of mine and I found them both delightful. From the trailers I had a feeling Bautista and Hudson would both just be doing obnoxious, overly-obvious social media personality parodies ... and they basically were but even they were pretty fun to watch. Craig is still funny in the role but doesn't quite get the same standout moments the first film gave him. Honestly, the thing I was most skeptical about going into the film (the outsized Netflix budget & how Johnson would utilize it) kind of looped back around to being the best part of the movie ... It allows the set construction and other creative decisions to be ludicrous in a pretty effective idgaf way. Even the gratuitous cameos mostly worked, specifically those actually playing characters (rather than themselves) within the film - Hawke and Grant were especially hilarious. And shoutout to Rian Johnson for doing the thing I mentioned re the Bardo trailer - just for a more commercial thing: Not really expecting this to be good, but contributing to the bankruptcy of Netflix by licensing Beatles music for your weird arthouse movie that invariably very few people will watch? I have to respect it. Overall, glad I got to go see this with friends on a holiday weekend & in a packed theater. Definitely the way to enjoy these things, and I hope they keep making 'em.
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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Nov 28, 2022 6:45:25 GMT
“Shitballs!” I was crying.
These movies are a rare breed for whodunnits. The kind where, even though I know the mystery, I know exactly what’s gonna happen… I still want to watch them again.
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Post by mikediastavrone96 on Nov 29, 2022 4:43:56 GMT
Netflix is burning money taking this out of theaters. This plays so well with an audience, especially during its tremendously satisfying climax. Cast is uniformly excellent and this has the Sixth Sense factor of inviting a rewatch just to catch all the tells before the reveal. It's not as clean as the first, but it makes up for that with more panache in its presentation. Also, Rian Johnson must've been giddy reading the news for the past month with how timely this feels, especially with Edward Norton essentially playing Elon Musk and having a fucking Kanye West mural in his living room. Wonderful.
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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Nov 29, 2022 19:45:12 GMT
Also, Rian Johnson must've been giddy reading the news for the past month with how timely this feels, especially with Edward Norton essentially playing Elon Musk and having a fucking Kanye West mural in his living room. Wonderful. I wasn’t sure if that was a fluke, or if he was just that on the ball. But yeah, it feels incredibly prescient, which does make me wonder if it may become dated in the future (then again, the original is aging like fine wine, and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon).
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Post by quetee on Nov 30, 2022 22:48:04 GMT
Entertaining movie but I agree that Rian makes it too easy for the audience. I wonder if that is on purpose. I knew that... Miles had done it there were two major giveaways. First, when you realize that Logan, can't remember name died Miles had to give him the drink. Then when the big reveal about sister is there, I didn't guess that. Then you think about the look on Miles' face when he first saw Andi, I was like that was not a surprised that she came that was shock that she's still alive. Anyway, I enjoyed it and looking forward to the 3rd installment.
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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Dec 8, 2022 20:10:17 GMT
By the way, Monae: Do we consider her Leading or Supporting? ‘Cause I’m leaning to Leading. And I know that seems odd when I’m one of the biggest “Manville is Supporting” champions here, but… enough of that second half is taken charge by her that I think she’s got claim to it
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Post by mhynson27 on Dec 9, 2022 6:14:50 GMT
By the way, Monae: Do we consider her Leading or Supporting? ‘Cause I’m leaning to Leading. And I know that seems odd when I’m one of the biggest “Manville is Supporting” champions here, but… enough of that second half is taken charge by her that I think she’s got claim to it I have her in Supporting, but it can really go either way.
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Post by mikediastavrone96 on Dec 9, 2022 14:11:52 GMT
I consider Monae lead.
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Post by Billy_Costigan on Dec 9, 2022 18:57:52 GMT
I agree about the references and commentary. It's like Rian decided to take the worst parts of Knives Out and amplify them for the sequel. The characters were even more insufferable than the first one. Once it actually gets rolling and focuses on the mystery (about an hour or so into the film), it's pretty great. Still, I don't know how anyone can say this was better than Knives Out. 7/10.
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VERITAS
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Post by VERITAS on Dec 24, 2022 0:03:37 GMT
Hmm. Wonder if Onion’s detractors would’ve appreciated the film more if de Armas played Helen instead of Monáe. Anyway, personally loved it. Turned me into an alcoholic, etc. Five stars. Ah, and Hudson was grating as all fuck get-out but appropriately so. Birdie’s definitely a Gemini...
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flasuss
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Post by flasuss on Dec 24, 2022 1:58:28 GMT
This was excellent. Not as funny as the first, but very timely and entertaining. Plays brilliantly with the "this character is obviously the culprit/can't be the culprit because it's obvious" that both Blanc and audiences would be trained to expect.
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Post by The_Cake_of_Roth on Dec 24, 2022 7:55:25 GMT
Decently entertaining, but not quite as sharp as Knives Out (no pun intended) and more contrived. Between this and Birdman, Norton excels at playing total douchenozzles.
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Post by Brother Fease on Dec 25, 2022 12:48:42 GMT
I absolutely love this movie. Definitely in the A/A- range for me. The writing, directing, editing, acting (Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monae were standouts), production design and costumes were top-notch. Rian Johnson really knows how to make an Agatha Christie-style story look fresh and relevant. The 40 million dollar budget was well-spent.
Unlike Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Death on the Nile, this was relatively unpredictable and made a nice tonal shift in the middle. The film is 2 hours and 19 minutes long, but I was never bored. I constantly wanted to know what was going on.
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Post by Brother Fease on Dec 25, 2022 12:51:33 GMT
By the way, Monae: Do we consider her Leading or Supporting? ‘Cause I’m leaning to Leading. And I know that seems odd when I’m one of the biggest “Manville is Supporting” champions here, but… enough of that second half is taken charge by her that I think she’s got claim to it I have her in Supporting, but it can really go either way. I think she's supporting too. Craig is the only lead in the film.
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 25, 2022 13:32:01 GMT
A nothingburger of a movie - not particularly entertaining, fun, interesting and.........less satisfying than the first and the first wasn't anything either.
I'd like to specifically go after Edward Norton who has never been that funny in the movies (I know he's made several comedies) but he went a long way towards changing that by getting Oscar nominated in a comedy that won BP and lampooning his self-serious, annoying image (Birdman).......that has all gone out the window for me with Motherless Brooklyn and this and I'll compare him to 2 actors he thinks he may be in the same general class as (he most certainly is not):
Dustin Hoffman in Wag The Dog and Al Pacino in Oceans 13 - who are both far more clever playing sort of comic goofiness inspired by real life guys than Norton is here and cashing a paychesk......
Didn't hate this but ........Nah.......Bah.........Humbug.......Exceedingly average.....
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Post by futuretrunks on Dec 25, 2022 18:28:19 GMT
Yeah, I found it terrible.
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Post by JangoB on Dec 25, 2022 20:51:58 GMT
Well I thought it was a lot of fun!
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Post by MsMovieStar on Dec 25, 2022 21:26:59 GMT
Oh honeys, I would have enjoyed it more if it had been edited down to 95 minutes.
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Post by ibbi on Dec 25, 2022 21:48:48 GMT
I really, really liked it a lot up until the first big death, and then it starts twisting and twisting and twisting and just kind of got on my nerves.
Its raging finale also felt completely toothless and it had absolutely nothing resembling the warm smug satisfaction the first films triumphant ending left you with.
Kate Hudson looked great though. Damn.
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Post by mhynson27 on Dec 25, 2022 22:36:46 GMT
I really, really liked it a lot up until the first big death, and then it starts twisting and twisting and twisting and just kind of got on my nerves. Its raging finale also felt completely toothless and it had absolutely nothing resembling the warm smug satisfaction the first films triumphant ending left you with. Kate Hudson looked great though. Damn. Very hot cast in general tbh.
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SZilla
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Post by SZilla on Dec 26, 2022 4:38:32 GMT
I really, really liked it a lot up until the first big death, and then it starts twisting and twisting and twisting and just kind of got on my nerves. Its raging finale also felt completely toothless and it had absolutely nothing resembling the warm smug satisfaction the first films triumphant ending left you with.Kate Hudson looked great though. Damn. Yeah, I just watched it and that's my exact feeling too. I was really digging it up until that point.
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Post by The_Cake_of_Roth on Dec 26, 2022 5:13:06 GMT
A nothingburger of a movie A burger with only onions
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Post by countjohn on Dec 26, 2022 5:34:15 GMT
I wasn't a huge fan of the first one, which I thought was like a mediocre episode of a basic TV murder mystery procedural slightly elevated by Craig hamming it up. Like, I figured out who the killer was in 20 minutes or so and nothing that ever happened made me waver from that. This was much better, a few of you seem to be saying it was obvious but I really had no idea until more than half way in when I think you were supposed to pretty much know and it became more about "making the bust" than figuring it out. A lot of it is that the whole time I was assuming Norton was going to be the one to get murdered all through the longer than usual setup. It seemed like the classic thing with like 5 people there with him who all had a motive to kill him. Then when Bautista died after drinking Norton's drink I just stuck with that and thought one of them had to do it until Monae got shot It's just a much more interesting cast of suspects too. Norton and Hudson are both terrific and the MVP's. Wouldn't mind a whole movie about that Hudson character being a moron and tweeting dumb crap. Would consider supporting nods for both of them. As others have said Craig feels more in the background this time but he's as good as in the first one too. Still wish they'd done the "different accent in every movie" thing for a dumb running gag And yes, Kate Hudson is hotter than ever. Would not have even paid any attention to that other influencer girl if I had been there despite the movie playing it off that she was jealous. The one thing is I agree a lot of the political commentary is excessively preachy or sloppy. The Bautista MRA parody just felt so on the nose that it wasn't funny. And what seemed to be the message of a veiled jab at nuclear power is already aging badly with the recent fusion breakthrough.
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Post by DeepArcher on Dec 26, 2022 5:51:22 GMT
Think this went up for me a tad on a Christmas Day rewatch with the fam. I still find it frustrating that this takes so damn long to actually get started but I really enjoy this cast of characters and most of the jokes still land on a second viewing. Though still probably no funnier moment to me than Ethan Hawke's "You're good"
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