- Daniel Craig Agatha Christie Movies
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‘Knives Out’ is a mystery-comedy movie that presents a contemporary take on the whodunit genre. It is inspired by the works of Agatha Christie and has been warmly received for its intricate plot, engaging characters played by talented actors and amusing satire of a popular genre.
The movie follows a family whose members gather for a reunion cum birthday party of the family’s patriarch, the wealthy novelist, Harlan Thombrey. The next morning, when Thombrey is mysteriously found dead, the family members become top suspects in a murder investigation headed by a private investigator, Benoit Blanc. The character of Benoit Blanc played to perfection by Daniel Craig, has been inspired by Christie’s fictional detective, Hercule Poirot.
It was writer, director, and producer, Rian Johnson’s love for Agatha Christie that urged him to develop this project. Johnson is known for directing the 2017 Star Wars movie, ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi.’
Apart from Daniel Craig, this movie stars a bunch of exceptional A-listers including Chris Evans,Jamie Lee Curtis, Ana de Armas,Don Johnson, and Michael Shannon. The movie has been dubbed as a near-perfect murder mystery and is genuinely entertaining despite the outdated genre that it tries to satirize. Such a feat is rare due to the fact that both, mystery and satire are overcrowded genres and resultantly, have an extremely high bar for quality. If you enjoy whodunits and need more movies from that category that employs a lighthearted, satirical approach, you should definitely watch the following seven films. Many of them are available for streaming on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu.
'Knives Out,' an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, starred Craig as debonair private detective Benoit Blanc along with a star cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Don Johnson, Ana de. Looks like Daniel Craig has a new movie franchise after ending his role as James Bond. Craig is to star in two sequels to the 2019 'Knives Out' crime caper that will stream on Netflix in a multi. Daniel Craig to Sleuth His Way Through Murder Mystery 'Knives Out' Rian Johnson will write and direct the movie, which is inspired by the detective novels of Agatha Christie. Danjaq / United. Rian Johnson will write and direct the movie, which is inspired by the detective novels of Agatha Christie. Tweet Share Post Bookmark Moving from secret agent to detective, Bond star Daniel Craig.
7. Black Dynamite (2009)
‘Black Dynamite’ is one laugh-out-loud flick that you should see at all costs. To begin with, it features an African-American protagonist performing skilled martial arts stunts in a comic manner that is similar to the humor of Jackie Chan’s comedy movies. Moreover, it is a quality parody of the blaxploitation genre, a kind of movie that glorifies the African-American subculture and often romanticizes the ghetto.
The movie follows a former CIA agent, Black Dynamite who is skilled in martial arts. After Black Dynamite’s brother is murdered by a shady drug-dealing organization, he decides to clean the streets and wipe out a new drug from the market himself. It is scripted by and stars Michael Jai White as the titular protagonist.
6. The Nice Guys (2016)
‘The Nice Guys’ is a neo-noir black comedy movie that stars Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in leading roles. Apart from a suspenseful subplot, the movie mainly serves as a parody of the buddy cop genre. It follows a couple of private detectives, Healy and March.
While investigating the case of a pornographic actress who reportedly committed suicide, the detective duo discovers a conspiracy of epic proportions. The movie was lauded by critics with particular praise going towards the chemistry between Gosling and Crowe. In fact, Gosling was even compared to Nicholas Cage for his role.
5. Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
‘Manhattan Murder Mystery’ is a comedy-mystery movie that is directed by the veteran filmmaker, Woody Allen. He developed the idea for this 1993 movie from an early draft of his 1997 romcom, ‘Annie Hall’ that was not satisfactory. It follows a married couple, Larry and Carol Lipton living in Manhattan whose neighbor’s wife dies mysteriously.
Carol decides to investigate the murder without the support of his husband. However, when her friend starts to help her, Larry gets jealous and joins Carol in the investigation. Woody Allen acted in ‘Manhattan Murder Mystery’ as well, playing the character of Larry Lipton. Diane Keaton, who was Allen’s ex at the time played the role of Carol Lipton. The movie was praised for the lead actors’ impeccable chemistry and performance apart from its gentle, escapist tone.
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4. Game Night (2018)
‘Game Night’ is an American mystery black comedy that was released last year. It satirizes the serious tone of mystery movies in its poster itself, thanks to the words, “this is not a game.” The movie follows a group of friends who participate in a couples’ game night every week. Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams lead the cast as Max and Annie, a couple.
When Max’s brother hosts a murder mystery, the stakes get invariably raised when he gets kidnapped. As Max, Annie and their competitive couple-friends set out to solve the mystery and rescue Brooks, they discover something unknown about Brooks and the game. The movie received praise for its tight plotting that delivered genuinely shocking twists and turns and its ability to land silly humor at the same time.
3. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
A homage to neo-noir movies, ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ is a black comedy crime film that premiered in 2005. It is partially based on the novel, ‘Bodies Are Where You Find Them’ by Brett Halliday. It follows a thief who masquerades as an actor and becomes friends with a private investigator. However, his friendship leads to him getting sucked into a murder investigation in Hollywood that also draws in a struggling actress.
The movie received widespread critical acclaim and was noted for its decently sketched out characters and entertaining plot. Robert Downey Jr.’s performance was even dubbed as one of his most enjoyable ones.
2. Murder by Death (1976)
This 1976 comedy mystery is a parody of the whodunit genre and includes multiple references to popular mystery and whodunit stories. It follows five world-class detectives who are invited to a wealthy but mysterious man to play a murder mystery game with a $1 million reward for the winner. However, when the millionaire’s butler dies unexpectedly before the game can commence, the detectives and their associates are pushed into solving an actual mystery and face life-threatening danger while doing so.
The five detectives portrayed are satirical caricatures of famous, fictional detectives- providing an acclaimed allusion to the genre that the movie is a parody of. For instance, Milo Perrier and Jessica Marbles are caricatures of Agatha Christie’s characters, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple respectively. The movie was praised by critics for its smooth screenplay, background music, performances by its ensemble cast and hilariously re-watchable humor.
‘Murder by Death’ stars Peter Sellers as Inspector Sidney Wang (a caricature of Earl Derr Biggers’ Chinese detective, Charlie Chan), Maggie Smith as Dora Charleston and Truman Capote as the multi-millionaire, Lionel Twain. “By the time the world’s greatest detectives figure out whodunnit,” the movie’s poster warns, “…you could die laughing!”
1. A Shot in the Dark (1964)
If you love the pairing of comedy and mystery, you should have surely heard of Inspector Jacques Clouseau- the incompetent, absent-minded and chaotic police detective with a pronounced French accent. If not, the ‘Pink Panther’ film series is one franchise that you should get to bingeing right away.
The beloved character first appeared in the 1963 movie, ‘The Pink Panther’ in a supporting role. However, Peter Sellers’ rib-tickling performance in ‘The Pink Panther’ spurred a series of films and television series, starting with ‘A Shot in the Dark’ that focused on Jacques Clouseau. The 1964 film follows the detective as he is sent to investigate a murder whose biggest suspect is a woman named Maria Gambrelli. However, after Clouseau lets Maria free, thinking that she is innocent due to her beauty, several other people get murdered with Maria being the prime suspect in each case.
Daniel Craig Agatha Christie Movies
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Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” unravels not just a good old-fashioned murder mystery but the very fabric of the whodunit, pulling at loose threads until it has intricately, devilishly woven together something new and exceedingly delightful.
For all the detective tales that dot television screens, the Agatha Christie-styled whodunit has gone curiously absent from movie theaters. The nostalgia-driven “Murder on Orient Express” (2017), popular as it was, didn’t do much to dispel the idea that the genre has essentially moved into retirement, content to sit out its days in a warm puffy armchair, occasionally dusting itself off for a remake.
But Johnson has since his 2005 neo-noir debut “Brick” shown a rare cunning for enlivening old genres with densely plotted deconstruction. He makes very clever movies (“Looper,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”) that sometimes, like in the madcap caper “The Brothers Bloom,” verge on showy overelaboration, of being too much.
But in the whodunit, too much is usually a good thing. Give us all the movie stars, plot twists and murder weapons you can find. When done well, there is almost nothing better. And “Knives Out,” while it takes a little while to find its stride, sticks the landing, right up to its doozy of a last shot. The whodunit turns out not only to still have a few moves left but to be downright acrobatic.
The film begins like many before it: with a dead body that needs accounting for. Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), a bestselling mystery writer, is found with his throat cut in a small upstairs room in his sprawling Victorian mansion. Production designer David Crank deserves much credit for the film’s fabulously ornate and much-paneled setting — a Clue board come to life and a home that could rival the modernist abode of “Parasite” for movie house of the year.
Daniel Craig Agatha Christie Movie Death On The Nile
Thrombey is extremely wealthy with an expansive family of spoon-fed, entitled eccentrics that would likely mix well with the dynasty of HBO’s “Succession.” And as much intrigue as there is about Harlan’s death, for his children there’s even more about his inheritance. There’s his relator daughter Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her cheating husband Richard (Don Johnson), a vocal Trump supporter; his son Walt (a sweater-wearing Michael Shannon) who runs his father’s publishing house; lifestyle guru daughter-in-law Joni (Toni Collette); and his playboy grandson Ransom (Chris Evans), the black sheep of the family.
There are others, too, most notably Harlan’s trusted caregiver Marta (Ana de Armas). The Thrombeys casually refer to her as “the help” and, in a running gag, are all over the map when it comes to her native South American country. A deeper political dimension slowly takes shape as the family’s cavalier indifference to Marta plays a role in the movie’s unspooling mysteries. Juggling themes of class privilege, immigration and ethnocentricity, “Knives Out” is a whodunit for the Trump era.
Some mysteries first submerge themselves in set-up, the crime in question and the entrance of its central detective. Johnson is too restless for such an approach. He favors flashbacks, by the boat load, to go along with elaborate plot mechanics of reversals and perspective switcheroos. That gives “Knives Out” a somewhat clunky and imperfectly paced first act, something Johnson makes up for with the payoff of his finale. But for a movie with so many fine actors having so much fun, we get surprisingly little of the Thrombeys as a whole.
Instead, our detective calls almost immediately. Enter Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), a flamboyant Louisiana investigator of such renown that he’s already been profiled in the New Yorker as “the last of the gentleman sleuths.” Even with such immaculate set dressing all around him (the mystery writer’s house is decorated throughout with murder weapons, including a throne of knives), Craig still manages to chew plenty of scenery with his heavily accented Southern-style Poirot. One calls him “Foghorn Leghorn,” another “CSI: KFC.” He’s accompanied by another detective (an underused Lakeith Stanfield) but he quickly makes Marta his sidekick; she has a useful aversion to lies, throwing up every time she tells one.
There isn’t much that isn’t knowing in Johnson’s dialogue. He delights in playing by the genre’s rules and remaking them at once. There are winking references here to “Hamilton” and “Baby Driver,” and “Knives Out” more than once risks being overwhelmed by self-satisfaction.
But “Knives Out,” in the end, believes earnestly in the whodunit, it just wants to turn it inside out. To say more about that would spoil the fun. But keep an eye here, and elsewhere, on de Armas. The “Blade Runner 2049” actress (soon to be seen in the next James Bond film, also with Craig) isn’t the biggest star in a film awash with A-listers. But with neither cloak nor dagger, she seizes “Knives Out.” It’s hers.
“Knives Out,” a Lionsgate release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for thematic content, some disturbing images and strong language. Running time: 126 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.
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MPAA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
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New Agatha Christie Movie
Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
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