Tag: whodunnit

A Haunting in Venice (2023) | REVIEW

Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in A HAUNTING IN VENICE — PHOTO: 20th Century Studios.

Directed by Kenneth Branagh — Screenplay by Michael Green.

Trying to play an iconic character that has been portrayed by a litany of actors is a challenge. The challenge is more than doubled when you’re also the chief creative involvement shepherding the entire production. Such is the case for Kenneth Branagh with his Agatha Christie adaptation film series, in which he plays her mustachioed Belgian star detective, Hercule Poirot. After two so-so or at best lukewarm entries with his versions of Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, Branagh has taken a far less well-known story and adapted it for his third attempt. So, is the third time the charm for Branagh’s Poirot? Well, I’ll say this, it is by far the most interesting of his three Poirot whodunnit adaptations thus far, even though it’s not without issues.

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REVIEW: The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

Christian Bale in THE PALE BLUE EYE — PHOTO: NETFLIX.

Directed by Scott Cooper (Hostiles) — Screenplay by Scott Cooper.

Netflix’s first major film release of 2023 is Scott Cooper’s (very late entry into the 2022 movie year) The Pale Blue Eye. The film, which is based on a historical fiction novel of the same name from author Louis Bayard, features an incredibly well-known author, Edgar Allan Poe, as a character that is integral to the narrative, and it should go without saying that the film does not come close to becoming even a little bit as notable as the author the creatives have built a fictional mystery around. That would be a tough ask, to be honest. Still, though, this is a pretty decent crime thriller, even if it won’t end up on many best of 2022 lists. 

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REVIEW: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc in Rian Johnson’s GLASS ONION — PHOTO: NETFLIX.

Directed by Rian Johnson — Screenplay by Rian Johnson.

In 2019, Looper and The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson released his original ‘whodunnit’ ensemble crime mystery Knives Out. It was a huge success as it received critical acclaim and notable Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Oscar nominations. The film also helped to bring new life to the ‘whodunnit’ genre. It was so successful that this year there are several of those stories including See How They Run and the Apple-series The Afterparty. The massive success also led to a bidding war for Johnson’s Benoit Blanc-led Knives Out sequels. That bidding war was won by Netflix (they paid a whopping $469 million) and they have released its first sequel today just in time for Christmas. It brings me great joy to report that Glass Onion is almost exactly as good as the original film that preceded it, even though it no longer feels quite as fresh.

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