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movie review - Glass Onion

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Kokubunji, 2023.01.01

This is a charmless sequel to a very different and original murder mystery. All that's really the same is the main character. But whereas in the first movie the detective is an unknown element among many, here he's the central story and I think the entire movie suffers for that. Because he's *too* present throughout, and he's just not really that interesting. I've been thinking about it this way: as the viewer's representative in the impenetrable world of the story, you can either be:

I don't find it works to be a flamboyantly implausible outsider with super-human capabilities and also the one from whose viewpoint the story is told.

Also, they inserted a more-or-less whole reproduction of Elon Musk - or at least palatable portions of his public image. I don't think there was any cause for such an action. The rest of the characters behaved in ways that I didn't find terribly realistic, as if written by someone who's efforts to write realistic dialog strained the entire story to the edge of breaking.

Not recommended. Not a great start to the year!

rand()m quote

I feel fortunate that I enjoyed the blandishments of modernity. I had hip replacement and root canal. I was able to travel on airplanes. I was able to take cheap food for granted. I went to the movies. I enjoyed rock 'n' roll. And now I'm ready to move on.

—James Howard Kunstler