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Benoit Blanc assists a Catholic priest in solving an impossible murder that seems straight from Blanc's favorite detective novels.

Once again, we're given a group of unlikeable suspects in a murder mystery. Unlike the previous movie, some of the suspects are only mildly unlikeable this time. They are mostly right-wing religious stereotypes. And even that is a bit downplayed this time. Most feel more like people who were drawn into a cult and radicalized than hardened jerks. You may even feel sympathy for some of them.

Our protagonist isn't really Blanc, but sometimes he does step up to the pulpit, even literally at one point. Daniel Craig's southern accent can get a little grating at times, but it's fun to watch his character get so excited by being involved in a classic mystery novel plot. I've seen this sort of thing before, but I liked that this tried to keep the excited fanboyism to a tolerable level.

The priest, played by Josh O'Connor, is pretty good. He was well-written, interesting, and likeable -- assuming, of course, that you're not one of the people that Rian Johnson is satirizing. He also represents a positive view of faith and religion, which is an interesting choice in such a satirical series. It's not blindly hostile to religion, and the themes are kind of hard to miss. They're spelled out to you, really.

Glenn Close and Josh Brolin are great and really bring their characters to life. If the movie had just been them, it still would have been good. Jeffrey Wright is also good, though he has a small part. The other characters are generally a bit forgettable, unfortunately, but they're played well and serve their purpose -- red herrings, satirical targets, etc., as the case requires.

The plot is long, convoluted, and takes its time getting anywhere. There are times when it feels more like a 7/10 movie, but I liked how it ended. It was a silly ending, yes, but it was also satisfying. It makes me wonder if maybe the next Knives Out movie could have this interesting priest return.

A disgruntled man takes a bombastic financial advisor hostage on live television.

If you watch this, it's probably because of George Clooney or Julia Roberts. They have starring roles, so they get a lot of screen time. Putting George Clooney in a Jodie Foster movie seems likely to result in a satire of greed and Wall Street, which does indeed happen. It seems to know that we know this, however, and it throws a few curve balls here and there.

It's not quite as predictable as might expect, but it's not going to subvert your expectations, either. I have a real soft spot for Jim Kouf's most B movie script, The Hidden. I love how bonkers and unpretentious it is while still sticking to the standard tropes of a low-budget science fiction movie. Probably because Jodie Foster is directing instead of Jack Sholder, this movie stays a bit more classy, but there are some amusingly crude elements, too.

Many of the characters float between likable and unlikeable throughout the runtime. This keeps things a bit more interesting and lively than you might expect from a hostage movie. Things also move at a brisk pace, and you get fed new information that moves the plot along pretty often. It's certainly no slow-paced drama.

It's not a biting satire, and I'm not sure it will stick with you for years. However, watching George Clooney's character dance with his own fly girls is hilarious. He actually pulls it off, too. It gets maybe a little preachy sometimes, and I guess I would have preferred if it had settled into a single genre and style, but the end result is enjoyable.

A bartender in New York City becomes embroiled with several gangsters after agreeing to watch his neighbor's cat.

This is a brutal take on After Hours, which itself was no slouch. I was a bit frustrated at first when I realized how similar it was to After Hours, but it won me over. If you're expecting something radically new and different, that could be a stumbling block, though.

I really loved Pi, Aronofsky's first movie. After that, it seemed to me like he leapt pretty far outside my demographic, though I enjoyed Black Swan. This is an unexpected swerve right back into my demographic, which is admittedly not a very profitable one.

Caught Stealing is full of odd characters. At first it seemed like it was potentially going to be a comic book world like The Warriors or Streets of Fire, which is probably how I would have done it. However, it settled into something more grounded in reality, like a Guy Ritchie movie. I have to wonder if maybe the British punk was a nod to this.

The characters feel like they could potentially exist in the real world. The antagonists, who are introduced in bombastic and amusing ways, could have stolen the movie, and I have to say that I'm honestly a little sad that they didn't. They are violent but amusing, especially the Russian gangsters.

Near the end of the movie, two Orthodox Jewish gangsters, played by Liev Schrieber and Vincent D'Onofrio, take center stage among the cast of oddball characters. These two get the most characterization and perhaps depth. It's interesting that possibly the most cartoonish characters turned into the most believable ones by the end.

I did not expect to like this as much as I did, and I understand why some people didn't. It seemed to me that Aronofsky was making a postmodern movie that referenced others movies. Why else would he cast Griffin Dunne? That's a very deliberate thing. The tonal shifts between comedy and violence were also rather deliberate, I thought.

If you're into this sort of thing, I think it will be a great watch, but After Hours fans will also likely enjoy it.