As it was foretold: "Thou shall haveth what thy seek and you shall reign” 🙏

The burning Christmas Trees is such a MOOD.

LOOK AT THESE JOLLY MEN!

I think what I like most about the Rian Johnson style here is pulling a great bait and switch.

We expect Blanc to be the central figure, he's the detective who solves it!

But the "sidekicks" in each film. Marta, Helen, and now Jud - they're who the story focuses on!

This is where the series transcends from the simple murder mystery into good social commentary imo.

We get glimpses into Blanc's character in each movie, but it's never the dominating story!

The emphasis is off the detective and onto the crime.

Zooming through the parking lot and not letting me back out? Tesla.
Cutting me off? Tesla.
No turn signal? Tesla.
Angry honking at me in a slowdown (my guy I can't do anything)? Tesla.

It's been like that all week.

There was one guy in a BMW who broke pattern but that's it.

If we donate enough money to Child's Play at the next Make a Strip can the mullet come back for a show?

Yes! It's a priest/faith movie with special guest star Benoit Blanc in the background solving a crime!

Delighted with the departure. Makes this series so much more versatile.

The KO series will leave its mark. There's so much more but damn the movie was a treat.

Lighting? Great. Comedy? Good and not overdone. Emotional gut punches? Hit. Narrative framing? Delightful.

Can't wait to watch this again at home.

And maybe open up a Christie book too.

Where this was most effective for Johnson in WUDM, imo, is his treatment of religion.

Now a days we get a lot of either AI religious movie slop, or corrupt priest exposes.

This is right down the middle, neither mocking nor praising. And it shows a lot of thought in tackling modern faith.

Usually I only see the "mystery also holds up a social mirror" effectively done in stage plays or in TV (Foyle's War is a great example).

Something that mystery can do well is also be a vehicle for social criticism.

Characters can represent archetypes in society. The detective, in "interrogating" them, allows us to do the same, but also critique what they represent.

Johnson excels at this in KO, GO, and now WUDM.

Also Daniel Craig, my guy, he is having the f-ing best time of his life out their as Benoit Blanc.

You can tell on screen he loves the Gay Creole Colonel Sanders energy.

Speaking of priests, O'Connor does a superb job. I have already texted a friend that he should go into her "hot Catholic priest" bin of movies.

Something I like in the KO franchise is Johnson is constantly experimenting with mashing up mystery w/ something and it's fun!

Knives Out? Mystery + Heist
Glass Onion? Mystery + Comedy
Wake Up Dead Man? Mystery + Priest Film

WUDM (weird acronym) is a good mystery, imo, just like the others in the Knives Out series, in that Johnson gives you all of the puzzle pieces.

If you pay attention you can follow along and spot the clues.

If you don't want to (like me sometimes), the flashbacks to a prior scene are an "aha!"

There's plenty of homage in this movie to the giants like Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie.

Winks and nods to their locked room mysteries, but also a completely separate thing.