Knives Out - 1 nomination

Original Screenplay - Rian Johnson

Oh my gosh I loved this movie so much.  It's funny, it's clever, it plays with the murder mystery genre and it reminds me of one of my favorite books ever, Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie.  The movie starts with the death of family patriarch and author/tycoon, Harlan Thrombey, and everyone in the family and the help who were in the house is a suspect.  Benoit Blanc is a private detective who comes to investigate the case and interview each person who apparently has motive and means to have committed the crime.  Thrombey has a very special relationship with his caretaker, Marta, and she knows more than she is letting on, but apparently not as much as she thinks.  There are so many excellent twists and turns in this film that it is worth the over 2 hours (yet ANOTHER Oscars film that is over 2 hours this year).  That's all you get!  Every word I could convey is too close to being a spoiler and it's not worth it to ruin the surprises for you to give you more of the plot in this post.  I went into this film blind and you should too.

So many people ask me to prioritize the film options from the nominees.  I always give you my top 3.  This is not in the Top 3.  But if you're expanding out to a top 10, Knives Out is definitely going to be in that list.  It's everything a murder mystery is supposed to be, and it's everything an entertaining movie is supposed to be.  I LOVED it.  And I think it has a shot at being the winner of the category.  (a shot... Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is another one...)

If you didn't figure it out already, I recommend that if you loved Knives Out, you READ Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie.  You can certainly see the film (the 1974 version with Albert Finney and Lauren Bacall, NOT the 2017 version), but the book is the classic.