Now Over 5500 Reviews and (near) Daily Updates!

WELCOME! Use the search engines on this site (or your own off-site engine of choice) to gain easy access to the complete MAKSQUIBS Archive; more than 5500 posts and counting. (New posts added every day or so.)

You can check on all our titles by typing the Title, Director, Actor or 'Keyword' you're looking for in the Search Engine of your choice (include the phrase MAKSQUIBS) or just use the BLOGSPOT.com Search Box at the top left corner of the page.

Feel free to place comments directly on any of the film posts and to test your film knowledge with the CONTESTS scattered here & there. (Hey! No Googling allowed. They're pretty easy.)

Send E-mails to MAKSQUIBS@yahoo.com . (Let us know if the TRANSLATE WIDGET works!) Or use the Profile Page or Comments link for contact.

Thanks for stopping by.

Saturday, June 29, 2024

KNOX GOES AWAY (2023)

Directing for just the second time at 73*, Michael Keaton, who also stars, avoids any hint of sophomore slump assuming you can accept the film’s gimmick.  (A big ask!)  In fact, it’s a modest triumph.  Keaton plays a retirement age contract killer with a bad case of galloping dementia and a mess of affairs to put in order before mental oblivion overtakes him.  Sure enough, that's when estranged son James Marsden shows up needing help: he’s just murdered a guy.  Yikes!  Not that the victim didn’t deserve it, a serial teen rapist, including a grandkid Keaton’s never met.  The 16-yr-old is scheduled to go with Dad for an abortion next week.  Adding to these problems, Keaton’s latest hit left two extra people dead, and a crime scene loaded with clues.  Yet, as director, Keaton is largely able to pull off this whopper by laying back & turning the knobs down as low as possible, and, as his character, writing up a seven-step plan to point police, mob, girlfriend, ex-wife Marcia Gay Harden and big boss Al Pacino (amusingly amused at himself) in the right direction so he can settle scores, distribute his considerable wealth, then drift into Never-Neverland at the expense of a State Criminal Institution.  It shouldn’t work at all (either as a plan or as a script), yet you’re happy to go along with every twist & turn in Gregory Poirier original screenplay.  Kind of like an early Coen Brothers film noir, but filtered thru the sensibility of a ‘50s Ealing Brit-Com.  Satisfyingly witty rather than LOL funny, but very cleanly laid out, and with Keaton showing unexpected action chops as needed and nifty optical spasms to show his brain short-circuiting.  If he hurries, Keaton may have the time & energy to go for directing gig #3.

DOUBLE-BILL:  *Not seen here, Keaton’s first shot at directing was another hit man story, THE MERRY GENTLEMEN/’08.  Thoughts?  Our COMMENTS section awaits.

No comments: