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TRASH IN MY EYE No. 31 of 2022 (No. 1843) by Leroy Douresseaux
Death on the Nile (2022)
Running time: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
MPA – PG-13 for violence, some bloody images, and sexual material
DIRECTOR: Kenneth Branagh
WRITER: Michael Green (based on the novel by Agathie Christie)
PRODUCERS: Kenneth Branagh, Mark Gordon, Judy Hofflund, Simon Kinberg, Kevin J. Walsh, and Ridley Scott
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Haris Zambarloukos (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Una Ni Dhonghaile
COMPOSER: Patrick Doyle
MYSTERY
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Letitia Wright, Sophie Okonedo, Emma Mackey, Rose Leslie, Ali Fazal, Rose Leslie, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, and Naveed Kahn
Death on the Nile is a 2022 mystery film directed by Kenneth Branagh. It is based on the 1937 novel, Death on the Nile, written by Agatha Christie (1890-1976). In Death on the Nile the movie, Hercule Poirot investigates the murder of a young heiress that occurs on a ship sailing the Nile
Death on the Nile finds famous detective, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh), embarking on a luxurious cruise on the Nile River in Egypt. Poirot is delighted to discover that his friend, Bouc (Tom Bateman), will also be aboard the ship named the “Karnak.”
Also aboard are the newlyweds: wealthy heiress, Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot), and her husband, Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer). While in Egypt on their honeymoon, they are being stalked and hounded by Simon's former fiancé, Jacqueline “Jackie” de Bellefort (Emma Mackey), who was also Linnet's close friend.
When Linnet is found shot to death aboard the Karnak, Jackie is the most obvious culprit, but there are others on board who have reason to want Linnet dead. There is Linnet's maid, Louise Bourget (Rose Leslie), who was bitter because her mistress sabotaged her engagement. Linnet's attorney and estate trustee, Andrew Katchadourian (Ali Fazal), was stealing from her, although they were cousins. Linnet's godmother, Maria van Schuyler (Jennifer Saunders), is a socialist who gave away her wealth, but stands to inherit some of Linnet's estate. Bowers (Dawn French), van Schuyler's nurse, blamed Linnet's father for financially ruining her family.
Salome Otterbourne (Sophie Okonedo), a brassy blues and jazz singer and guitarist, and Rosalie (Letitia Wright), her niece and manager, were once the target of a racist complaint by Linnet. However, Rosalie became Linnet's friend in boarding school and admits that there are reasons to both hate and love Linnet. Dr. Windlesham (Russell Brand) was once engaged to Linnet, but she left him for Simon. Bouc's mother, Euphemia (Annette Bening), resented Linnet for introducing Bouc to Rosalie.
Poirot must uncover the identity of the killer. He better hurry because the bodies are starting to pile up.
In this new version of Death on the Nile, there is an attention to detail. The audience can see it in the lighting, the hair and make-up, the costumes, the art direction, the editing, and the score. This is also to create Hercule Poirot's world of light and much darkness and shadows. Early in the film, writer Michael Green and director Kenneth Branagh take us to the World War I life of Poirot, tragedy on the battlefield and off sets the stage for what would become the future great detective's world. Shadowy nightclubs filled with earthy blues and showy jazz music; sumptuous desserts; lavishly appointed night people; sunny paradises; and exotic locales – everything has a dark side. It does not matter how golden hued anything is; there is darkness. Even the dark side has a darker side.
All the performances are topnotch; Branagh even gets a showy transformation from comedian Russell Brand, here, being his best PBS Masterpiece self. Good acting sells Death on the Nile's central theme that envy, greed, lust, and pride will destroy friends and lovers. They will even lead to murder most foul, of course.
Branagh takes the cynicism of post-war American Film-Noir and pours it all over Dame Agatha Christie's storytelling. Rarely has such cinematic beauty dressed so much evil and darkness. The lovely meets the lethal.
Death on the Nile 2022 starts slow and drags for some time. For a time, it takes Sophie Okonedo lip-syncing Sister Rosetta Tharpe to give the film early heat. Linnet Ridgeway's murder, however, lights a fire under Death on the Nile as it moves to its ending of triumphant tragedy. There is no victory in the resolution of this case – only hurt and grief. Maybe, hurt and grief are the victors. The viewers are also victors, as Branagh orchestrates another unique and winning take on the cozy, old mysteries of Agatha Christie.
8 out of 10
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars
Saturday, May 14, 2022
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 of 2022 (No. 1818) by Leroy Douresseaux
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and thematic elements
DIRECTOR: Kenneth Branagh
WRITER: Michael Green (based on the novel by Agathie Christie)
PRODUCERS: Kenneth Branagh, Mark Gordon, Judy Hofflund, Simon Kinberg, Michael Schaefer, and Ridley Scott
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Haris Zambarloukos
EDITOR: Mick Audsley
COMPOSER: Patrick Doyle
MYSTERY
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Olivia Colman, Daisy Ridley, Leslie Odom, Jr., Tom Bateman, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Sergei Polunin, Lucy Boynton, Marwan Kenzari, and Johnny Depp
Murder on the Orient Express is a 2017 mystery film directed by Kenneth Branagh. It is based on the 1934 novel, Murder on the Orient Express, written by Agatha Christie (1890-1976). Murder on the Orient Express the movie focuses on a celebrated detective who is recruited to solve a murder that occurs on a train in which he is traveling.
Murder on the Orient Express opens in 1934 and finds renowned Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh), in the midst of solving a case in Jerusalem. When Poirot is ready to return to London, his friend, Bouc (Tom Bateman), the nephew of the director of the luxury Orient Express train service, arranges a berth for him aboard the train.
Poirot boards the train with Bouc and thirteen other passengers. There is the talkative American widow, Caroline Hubbard (Lauren Bacall). The English governess, Mary Debenham (Daisy Ridley), and physician, Dr. John Arbuthnot (Leslie Odom, Jr.), seem to be previously acquainted. Spanish missionary, Pilar Estravado (Penelope Cruz), is prayerful. American businessman, Edward Ratchett (Johnny Depp), is on a business trip with with his secretary/translator, Hector McQueen (Josh Gad), and his English manservant, Edward Masterman (Derek Jacobi).
There is a Cuban-American car salesman, Biniamino Marquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo). Elderly Russian Princess Natalia Dragomiroff (Judi Dench) travels with her maid, Hildegarde Schmidt (Olivia Colman). Hungarian Count Rudolf Andrenyi (Sergei Polunin) and his wife, Elena (Lucy Boynton), are always together. Austrian university professor, Gerhard Hardman (Willem Dafoe), has theories about different “races” and nationalities. The train's French conductor, Pierre Michel (Marwan Kenzari), attends to the passengers' numerous needs.
That first night, an avalanche derails the train. The next morning, Poirot discovers that Edward Ratchett has been murdered and stabbed 12 times. Poirot and Bouc begin investigating the passengers in order to discover Ratchett's killer, but this case will be quite trying for the esteemed Monsieur Poirot. He does not lie, and this case may force him to do just that.
The first film adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel, Murder on the Orient Express (1974), was one of only two films adapted from her work that she liked. [The other was the 1957 film, Witness for the Prosecution, which was based on Christie's 1953 play, The Witness for the Prosecution.] In the first film, the late actor Albert Finney gives a tremendous performance as Hercule Poirot, one that earned him an Oscar nomination. The 1974 film is a classic murder mystery film made classier and more artful by its stellar cast of stars from Hollywood films and international cinema.
Murder on the Orient Express 2017 is stylish and modern with plenty of production values created by computers. Its cast is a mix of established stars, Oscar-winning actors, and up-and-coming talent. The 2017 film is so stylish that it often comes across as too cold and too determined to be an Oscar-worthy period piece and costume drama. Kenneth Branagh, as the film's director and as its leading star (playing Hercule Poirot), sometimes seems lost in the technical details of directing his showy, award-winning cast and in creating an eccentric, OCD, smarter-than-everyone-else detective.
However, Murder on the Orient Express 2017 really shows its power in the last thirty minutes of the film. The 1974 film offered a tidy happy ending. The 2017 offers a thoroughly messy happy ending that is more befitting of these troubled, modern times. Branagh and writer Michael Green turn the last act's revelation of whodunit into an edgy, dark exercise. Truth be told, dammit! But it will be done so with all the rawness of grief and the bitterness and hatred of revenge. No one gets out of this resolution unscathed, and the healing will likely leave painful scabs.
I like Murder on the Orient Express 2017. I like that the ethnicity and national origins of the cast are more diverse than what is in the 1974 film and in the original novel. I like that it plainly leaves us with the message that murder is murder – no matter how good the intentions are – and that pain will temporarily make killers of those who are not really killers at heart. I wonder what Agathie Christie would think of this take on Murder on the Orient Express.
I like Murder on the Orient Express 2017 mainly because it decides not to be cozy about the murder mystery. I hope the follow up to this film, the just released Death on the Nile, is also this aggressive.
7 out of 10
A-
Thursday, February 10, 2022
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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TRASH IN MY EYE No. 33 of 2021 (No. 1771) by Leroy Douresseaux
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
Dark Phoenix (2019)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action including some gun play, disturbing images, and brief strong language
DIRECTOR: Simon Kinberg
WRITERS: Simon Kinberg (based on Marvel Comics characters)
PRODUCERS: Hutch Parker, Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler Donner, and Todd Hallowell
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mauro Fiore
EDITORS: Lee Smith
COMPOSER: Hans Zimmer
SUPERHERO/SCI-FI/ACTION/DRAMA
Starring: James McAvoy, Sophie Turner, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters, Tye Sheridan, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alexandra Shipp, Summer Fontana, Scott Shepherd, Ato Essandoh, and Jessica Chastain
Dark Phoenix is a 2019 superhero movie from writer-director Simon Kinberg. It is 20th Century Fox’s twelfth film based on Marvel Comics’ X-Men comic book franchise. This movie is also a sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). In Dark Phoenix (also known as X-Men: Dark Phoenix), one of the X-Men begins to develop incredible powers that will force the rest of the X-Men to decide if this one mutant's life is worth more than all of humanity.
Dark Phoenix opens in 1975 and introduces eight-year-old Jean Grey (Summer Fontana) and depicts the automobile accident that changes her life and brings Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy) into her life. Then, the story moves to 1992 and to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. There, Xavier has turned the X-Men into what some describe as a team of superheroes that steps in to protect and help mankind when no one else can.
The latest emergency involves a distress signal from a recently launched space shuttle, which has been critically damaged by a solar flare-like energy. Xavier sends his strike team, “the X-Men”: Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver (Evan Peters), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Scott Summers/Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and Ororo Munroe/Storm (Alexandra Shipp) to rescue the astronauts aboard the space shuttle. Raven goes along on the mission, but she is furious that Xavier puts his students in danger for the rest of humanity, which she still regards with suspicion.
The X-Men arrive in their jet, the Blackbird, to find the situation rapidly deteriorating and the strange energy mass approaching the shuttle. While saving the astronauts, Jean is struck by the energy and absorbs it into her body. This apparently helps her to miraculously survive the blast of the shuttle explosion. The X-Men and Xavier's other students start calling Jean “Phoenix” because of her miraculously survival.
However, the result of absorbing that energy causes Jean's psychic powers to be greatly amplified. In turn, that causes her emotional state to begin to deteriorate, leading to tragedy. Soon, the X-Men are hunting Jean Grey, and so are the X-Men's adversary/rival, Erik Lensherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and also the U.S. military. Vuk, the leader of a shape-shifting alien race known as the D'Bari, is also searching for Jean, specifically for the power Jean harbors inside her. Can Xavier and the X-Men save Phoenix, or will their act of salvation doom humanity?
Both film adaptations of the classic X-Men comic book story arc, “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand and 2019's Dark Phoenix, fail to approach the riveting melodrama and enthralling soap opera that readers found and continue to find in Marvel Comics's The X-Men #129-138 (publication cover dates: January to October 1980). The writers of both films alter the core original story – to the movies' detriment.
Writer-director Simon Kinberg apparently directed some of 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past and much or most of 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse, although Bryan Singer is credited as the director of both films. I consider both films to be disappointments, one more than the other. True to form, Simon Kinberg delivers in Dark Phoenix a film that is mostly a dud.
The storytelling feels contrived, and the screenwriting offers laughable concepts, especially the entire D'Bari alien subplot; that's just some stupid shit. Dark Phoenix is one of two final films in 20th Century Fox's X-Men film franchise (the other being the long-delayed The New Mutants, which was finally released in 2020). I say that Dark Phoenix is deeply disappointing, but honestly, I did not expect much of it, from the moment I first heard that it was going into production. In fact, this film is a devolution from the franchise's peak, which was released 16 years prior to Dark Phoenix, the fantastic X2: X-Men United (2003).
Even the acting is bad. Playing Vuk the alien is the lowest low point of Jessica Chastain's career, which includes two Academy Award nominations. James McAvoy as Xavier, Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, and Michael Fassbender as Erik are overwrought, and when they are trying to have serious conversations, they deliver hackneyed and derivative dialogue and unoriginal speeches. Maybe their bad acting is a result of uninspired script writing. However, I did find that Tye Sheridan as Scott, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt, and Alexandra Shipp as Ororo made the most of their scenes, especially Sheridan. If his Scott Summers/Cyclops were the center of Dark Phoenix, the film would be much better. Because of him, I am giving this film a higher grade than I planned to do.
Dark Phoenix just doesn't work, and it rarely connected with me. I don't think that it will connect with audiences the way some of the best and most popular X-Men films did. Oh, well – let's hope that Marvel Studios does better with its planned X-Men films...
4 of 10
C
Thursday, March 25, 2020
The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.
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by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:
JAMES BOND - From Variety: Apparently, Netflix and Apple were among the streaming services that considered the possibility of acquiring the next Bond film, "No Time to Die," which has seen its release delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
STREAMING - From YahooHuffPost: Even if you don't have Amazon, you can still see that notorious scene starring President Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, from "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm."
TELEVISION - From THR: "Seinfeld" creator Larry David reveals his favorite episode of the iconic NBC series, and it's (of course) "The Contest," the 11th episode of the series' fourth season.
TELEVISION - From THR: What is the Walt Disney Co. going to do with ESPN?
MOVIES - From Deadline: "Roxanne, Roxanne" star Chante Adams has landed the female lead opposite Michael B. Jordan in Sony’s "Journal For Jordan," directed by Denzel Washington.
TELEVISION - From Deadline: NBC has given a put pilot commitment to drama Sovereign, from Emmy winner Ava DuVernay and Bird Runningwater.
DISNEY+ - From ShadowandAct: Chosen Jacobs ("It") and Lexi Underwood ("Little Fires Everywhere") will star in the Disney+ pop/hip-hop musical, "Sneakerella."
CELEBRITY - From Variety: In his new memoir, "Greenlights," Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey reveals that he was sexually abused during his teenage years.
MOVIES - From Variety: Simon Kinberg will write and produce Universal's "Battlestar Galactica" movie (hopefully with better results than Kinberg's "X-Men" work for Fox).
TELEVISION - From Deadline: Tim Burton is looking to develop of a live-action TV series based on "The Addams Family" property.
STREAMING - From Deadline: Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman talk about their decision to shut down short-form streaming service, "Quibi."
From Deadline: And this is what they are talking about - Quibi shuts down.
POLITICS - From Deadline: In his first ever "political video," iconic American filmmaker and comedian Mel Brooks ("Blazing Saddles") endorses the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket for President/Vice-President of the United States.
DISNEY+ - From EW: Actor Warwick Davis and director Ron Howard are for a Disney+ sequel series to their beloved 1998 fantasy film, "Willow."
CELEBRITY - From Deadline: Oscar-winning actor, Jeff Bridges, has announced that he has been diagnosed with Lymphoma, but that his prognosis is good.
BOX OFFICE - From Deadline: The winner of the 10/16 to 10/18/2020 weekend box office is "Honest Thief" with an estimated take of 3.7 million dollars.
From Deadline: The international box office is being dominated by a Japanese anime film, "Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train," which is setting records for an animated film.
From Deadline: Movie theater owners are happy to be reopening their business in New York state.
POLITICS-AVENGERS - From Deadline: Directors Joe and Anthony Russo are gathering from some of the actors from their "Avengers" movies for a fundraiser for Joe Biden.
FILM FESTIVALS - From Deadline: The Danish comedy, "Another Round," which stars Mads Mikkelsen, won "Best Film" at the 2020 BFI London Film Festival.
MOVIES - From Vulture: Which "Welcome to the Blumhouse" Horror Movies Should You Watch? - guide.
OBITS:
From THR: Television writer and producer, Dana Baratta, has died at the age of 59, Sunday, October 18, 2020. Baratta was a writer and producer on several television series, including "Dawson's Creek" (The WB), "Private Practice" (ABC), and Marvel/Netflix's "Jessica Jones."
From Deadline: Broadway and television actress, Doreen Montalvo, has died at the age of 56, Saturday, October 17, 2020. Montalvo was appearing in the Broadway musical, "Mrs. Doubtfire," before it was shutdown due to COVID-19. Her television appearances included episodes of "Law & Order" and "The Good Wife." She is still set to appear in two films, director John M. Chu's "In the Heights" and Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story."
From ESPN: Pro Football Hall of Fame member, Fred Dean, has died at the age of 68, Wednesday, October 14, 2020 of complications of COVID-19. Dean played defensive end for the San Diego Chargers (who drafted him in 1975) and the San Francisco 49ers. Dean was a two-time Super Bowl champion with the 49ers and entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
9/23 - From CNBC: Mark Cuban, who owns the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and star of ABC's "Shark Tank," suggests that every household in American get a $1000 check every two weeks for the next two months.
9/28 - From Deadline: John Hopkins University's coronavirus tracker reports that over 1 million people have died of COVID-19 worldwide.
10/2 - From YahooNews: President Donald and the First Lady have tested positive for COVID-19.
BLACK LIVES MATTER:
From RSN: Judge's Blistering Opinion Says Courts Have Placed Police Beyond Accountability
From TheGuardian: Yusef Salaam, one of the "Central Park Five," says in an interview, "Trump would have had me hanging from a tree in Central Park."
From NPR: Prosecutors' plea deal required drug suspect to name Breonna Taylor a "co-defendant."
From ChicagoSunTimes: Rev. Jesse Jackson: America has millions of people in poverty because Americans choose not to demand the policies that would lift them out of poverty.
From APNews: No one will be held accountable for the killing of Louisville African-American resident, Breonna Taylor.
From Channel4: Revealed: Trump campaign strategy to deter millions of Black Americans from voting in 2016
From GuardianUK: California is going to consider paying reparations to the descendants of African slaves after adopting a landmark law to study and to develop proposals around the issue.
From TheRoot: What to Do When Your Country Turns Into a Dumpster Fire
From Vox: It's True: 1 in 1,000 Black Americans Have Died in the Covid-19 Pandemic
From CBS: Breonna Taylor's boyfriend certain cops didn't identify themselves