Freeze Frame: "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery" (PG-13), "Dust Bunny" (R), "Merv" (PG)

11/12/2025 2 min

Listen "Freeze Frame: "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery" (PG-13), "Dust Bunny" (R), "Merv" (PG)"

Episode Synopsis


The Netflix whodunit "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery" is the third movie in filmmaker Rian Johnson's tongue-in-cheek series featuring Daniel Craig as private detective Benoit Blanc. This time out, a young priest played by Josh O'Connor is accused of murdering a charismatic monsignor. The all-star cast includes Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner and Kerry Washington. They’re all obviously having fun and O'Connor, in particular, is excellent. But this mildly engaging mystery is overlong and really stretches credibility. Still, "Wake Up Dead Man" is more than entertaining enough to keep you awake.

The wildly original horror satire "Dust Bunny" plays like a midnight movie for the junior high set. A little girl named Aurora, sharply played by Sophie Slone, is haunted by a giant carnivorous dust bunny under her bed. After it has eaten her parents, she hires a neighbor, played by Mads Mikkelsen to dispatch it. It turns out that resident in apartment 5B is actually a hired killer, an associate of a handler played by Sigourney Weaver. The art direction and off-kilter humor are very imaginative, but "Dust Bunny" doesn't quite clean up as it tries to stick the landing.

The Amazon Prime holiday rom-com "Merv" is one shaggy dog of a movie...and that has nothing to do with the fact that it's about a canine. Zooey Deschanel and Charlie Cox play an estranged couple who share custody of a scruffy pooch who's depressed by their separation, Their efforts to cheer him up mostly fail but rekindle their romantic spark. "Merv" is well meaning, but as artificial as an aluminum Christmas tree.

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