"Knives Out" (2019 release; 130 min.) looks at the demise of Harlan Thrombey, the 85 yr. old patriarch and successful novelist. As the movie opens, the housekeeper finds him dead on a couch, an apparent suicide. We then go to "One Week After the Demise of Harlan Thrombey", as the police have gathered several people for interrogating them as to what exactly has happened, including Marta, the nurse caretaker, Linda, the patriarch's daughter, and Richard, Linda's husband. We soon are introduced to yet more central characters... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest film from writer-director Rian Johnson, best known for directing the 2017 "Star Wars - Tee Last Jedi". Here he brings us a murder mystery in line with those "who dunnit" mysteries from Agatha Christie and the like. Much of the movie takes place in the patriarch's Massachusetts house and in that sense the movie feels very much like a theater plat at times. It takes a nit of work to fully understand who is who and who may have done what. All if it is tied together by Daniel Craig's character, a private investigator who was hired by someone in the family (but we don't know who). I am not spoiling anything when I say that it is absolutely impossible to figure out who the true culprit(s) is/are, so you just sit back and wait for the last 20 min. or so when all is revealed. Marts is played by rapidly riding Cuban actress Ana de Armas, whom we also saw in "Yesterday" not long ago, and will seemingly be everywhere in 2020. Jamie Lee Curties has a second-tier role as Linda, as does Don Johnson as Richard. And Christopher Plummer has an even smaller role as the patriarch. Please note that the movie's title is indeed taken from the Radiohead song of the same name (Rian Johnson being a huge Radiohead fan), but that's where the connection stops (the Radiohead song does not play in the movie).

"Knives Out" premiered at this Fall's Toronto International Film Festival to positive reaction and opened wide in late November. The movie has performed much better than expected at the box office, being a genuine box office hit, and it is currently also rated 97% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. I really didn't plan on seeing this but seeing those numbers and sky-high ratings made me change my mind. The Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at here in Cincinnati was attended nicely (a good 30 people in a small theater). After all this, I'm sorry, but am I missing something? I mean, sure, this is a pleasant divertisment, nothing less, nothing more (for me anyway). But this is just okay and nowhere near as good as a bunch of other films I have seen this year (Apollo 11, The Mustang, The Lighthouse, The Report, The Two Popes, The Irishman, The Peanut Butter Falcon, Parasite, Waves, Richard Jewell, etc.). Of course I encourage you to check it our, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.