The Menu, Armageddon Time and Glass Onion

 

There are very few satirical horror movies around but this was a great example. A movie that, unusually, almost plays throughout in real time. Ralph Fiennes is at his belligerent best as a chef who has taken exceptional cooking to ridiculous extremes. The rich people he invites to his secluded island are led by Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult.  It is Taylor-Joy as Margo who steals the show, an outsider who should not be there, the only guest who faces up the chef. This is fine dining with a twist. 

I saved the four star review by Tom Shone in the Sunday Times to see if I had missed something. In the lead is Banks Repeta as eleven year old Paul Gaff, the most nauseating character I have ever seen on film. Is he meant to be a young version of writer director James Gray? If so, I'm very glad I never came across him in school. So I had zero sympathy for when he gets into trouble, a spoilt privileged pathetic weasel. His teacher was right, trying to be the stand-out in class but just stupid. His only friend in black and even more stupid as being put down a year. I tried to find something I could relate to at eleven and failed.

 Paul has not been helped with a strict father and soft mother. Anne Hathaway is at the head of a good supporting cast. Anthony Hopkins as Paul's grandfather is exceptional. There is one extraordinary scene when Paul has been sent to his brother's expensive private school where former pupil US Attorney General Maryanne Trump delivers a stern lecture to the school. Admittedly the final third did have some excitement, and a final scene in his father's car after a funeral is the best in the movie, but overall the fact that it only lasted a week at the cinema said it all.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery was surprisingly enjoyable. I thought that changing the setting and the type of plot from the first film worked really well. The story is well crafted, the dialogue is decently written and the twists in the second half are just right. Writer director Rian Johnson has made a good follow-up to the original. The cast is fine with Daniel Craig revelling in his private detective role. The setting looks fabulous, and so are the costumes, Craig's striped twin set is hilarious. Even the ending is fine if predictable. And the Bee Gees song To Love Somebody is perfect as the visitors enter the mansion.