See How They Run

[Headache]

"In the West End of 1950s London, plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered. When world-weary Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and eager rookie Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) take on the case, the two find themselves thrown into a puzzling whodunit within the glamorously sordid theatre underground, investigating the mysterious homicide at their own peril."

 

 

This trailer popped up before the film I was watching tonight and it's the first I'd seen of it. To me the trailer feels like Knives Out directed by Wes Anderson, and I really enjoyed it. Release date is 9th Sept in the UK, so not too far away either.

[teddymeow]

Yeah, saw this trailer pop up on YouTube and am really looking forward to seeing the film.

[Stig]

Looks a lot of fun, my daughter (8) wants to see it.

[Uncle Mike]

8 hours ago, Headache said:

trailer feels like Knives Out directed by Wes Anderson

 

Yes it certainly does. I'll watch Rockwell in practically anything, so I'm probably game for this. I do think it's going to be a bit pub cover band though.

[Eighthours]

Hollywood sees a certain type of movie unexpectedly make money, greenlights more such movies. A tale old as time, but it's great that Knives Out has paved the way for the bean counters to think that detective yarns can do business.

[George Clooney]

Just come back from seeing this.  It’s no Knives Out, but I was entertained enough.

 

The main issue I thought was that it didn’t make the ending very satisfying.  There’s also some very ham fisted attempt at misdirection.  Spoiling the next bit as while I’m not going to name who did it and still be pretty vague, you’d probably be able to at least reasonably eliminate some people.

Spoiler

While they tied everything nicely to the killer, it was ultimately someone we didn’t really spend enough time with for it to be impactful, so the reveal felt a bit flat.  It spends some time establishing motives for people but then never really ramping up the suspense of it being any of them, in fact aside from the main red herring, it doesn’t really do much to try and point to a killer.

 
There’s a really good video on YouTube by hbomberguy about how the BBC Sherlock is actually kinda shite, especially the longer it went on.  His main argument is that the point of a whodunnit is to drop enough clues through the story so that the audience can at least try and follow along, and that the satisfaction of a good whodunnit is not being able to solve it yourself,  but seeing the hero connect the dots in clever ways that were there for you to solve too.  Whereas Sherlock often just pulls things out of his arse with information you couldn’t possibly figure out.  This does pull that off dropping in bits that it can then come back to so it makes sense, but none of them really feel like that “aha!” Moment where you realise the importance something had.  It feels a bit like in order to conceal things they showed as little as they could, so when they do connect it all up, it doesn’t land quite as well.  That and I just don’t think the reveal is super interesting.  It’s not terrible, just not great.

 

It does do some meta bits as well, which I was indifferent about.  The cast is great though.  Saoirse is great as constable Stalker, Brody plays the slimy director brilliantly, and Harris Dickinson makes a great young Dickie Attenborough.  Saoirse carries the film though as the likeable young police officer wanting to impress.

 

If you go in expecting something fairly light and with enjoyable characters and not to expect anything too clever, you’ll likely have a good time.

[Gabe]

That was my main problem with Death in Paradise - you could be er guess it because the 'gotcha' was always something ridiculous that you would never think.

 

Are there any TV shows that actually are good whodunnits? 

[grounded_dreams]

On 14/09/2022 at 23:11, Gabe said:

Are there any TV shows that actually are good whodunnits? 

 

Ones that come to mind are:

Big Little Lies

True Detective

The Sinner

Top of the Lake

The Night Of

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

Broadchurch

Mare Of Easttown

Only Murders In The Building

 

[Festoon]

BBC Sherlock is absolutely dreadful, not kinda shite.

 

So bad. The writers reading reddit and tumblr and shoehorning in plot in a second guessy manner is literally the worst screenwriting I've ever seen. The forced nature of literally everything. Internet baiting. Queer baiting. Plots that are dated before they hit the screen and/or incomprehensible unless viewed without 'fan forum' knowledge. Cliffhangers that are false or ignored because the writer think they're being clever but are actually distainful, sneery and self-congratulatory (Waititi suffering fron this too). Awful. 

 

Anyway, this looks good and Rockwell's usually good and Ronan is a proper star and, I'd guess, the highlight of the film. Might go see it tomorrrow.

[K]

This is now on Disney+ if anyone wants to see it - I was a bit surprised that it’s arrived on a streaming platform so quickly. 
 

To be blunt, I thought it was monumentally irritating, generally quite unfunny, (Saoirse Ronan and Tim Key aside), and pretty uninvolving as a murder mystery. Sam Rockwell’s English accent is pretty good, but more or less everything else I disliked.

[deKay]

I’ve just watched it and really enjoyed it. Didn’t know Sam Rockwell wasn’t English. Actually have no idea who he even is.

 

Killer was nonsense but did like the 

Spoiler

“Ridiculous ending” suggested by the producer being the actual ending, although did see it coming a mile off.

 

[Festoon]

All too obvious and not as smart as it thought it was unfortunately. Never felt like I got to know the cast, Ronan and Kay aside.

[deKay]

2 hours ago, DualSense said:

I’d recommend Moon from his back catalogue.

I’ve seen Moon. 

[BigShimmeryWall]

Took me a while to twig that Rockwell was *supposed* to be English in this as his accent was that weird nowhere one that Johnny Depp has these days.

[Silent Runner]

The ending of this and the killer reveal drops it from a solid 3.5/5 to a 1/5. And that 1 point is for Saoirses performance. 

[K]

I suspect the ending might land better if you’re familiar with the Mousetrap. I had more or less zero knowledge of the story or any of the context around it, so the revealing of the killer’s identity meant very little to me. 

[Mawdlin]

I saw this a couple of weeks back and I can't remember who did it.

 

It had that much of an impact on me.

[Don Wiskerando]

I enjoyed it but I do have some knowledge of the mousetrap,  its history and other related stuff so some of it really landed for me. 

 

It's impossible to judge how much of a difference that would make to someone who didn't have the same information.

[Sidewaysbob]

It's fine for a soggy afternoon when you could be watching the world cup but think its a bit distasteful to be having it in Qatar. 

The who dunnit bit is silly, it feels very "filmed in England on a budget".  and 

 

Spoiler

I had no idea why the tongue had been removed. what it supposed to be suggesting Dickie did if because the film guy waved it at his wife!!

 

also 

 

Spoiler

I laughed like a drain when Rockwell was making all the wood working stuff back in his flat, then felt confuse when it turned out his wife had left him and he was sad about not having a son .. "wait, i wasn't supposed to laugh at the mans pain, jeepers. Now i feel bad"

 

Ronan is the best thing in it and just about makes it all worth while. Biut there are much better murder mysteries out there. 

 

and i liked sherlock !!!