'Knives Out'

Bravo to rising-star writer-director Rian Johnson for his original take on the classic murder-mystery.
For me, Johnson recalls memories of Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot, although his leanings may be more toward Jessica Fletcher as “Murder She Wrote” plays in the background in one scene.
Daniel Craig heads a superlative cast as noted private detective Benoit Blanc, on hand to solve the death of famous mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), with enough red herrings to fill a pond. It’s a little weird to hear James Bond with an American accent, but he pulls it off.
Among the suspects are family members including Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon and Katherine Langford. They all play their roles to a T as seemingly loving but definitely flawed offspring and in-laws.
Playing the lead opposite Craig is Ana de Armas (Marta Cabrera) as Harlan Thrombey’s personal nurse and the mystery’s central figure. Craig and de Armas work well together which is no surprise, with both having filmed the upcoming Bond movie, “No Time to Die” due out in April 2020.
While it is suspenseful, the tongue-in-cheek humor keeps it moving along; there is political talk but it doesn’t beat you over the head on either side; and I enjoyed cameos from Frank Oz (“Trading Places”) and M. Emmet Walsh (“The Jerk”), who have accomplished much in their career but those are my frames of reference.
This movie was a delight and I hope Johnson keeps producing films in this genre.