Topic: The Movie Thread

Oof, Death on the Nile was one of my most anticipated movies of the year, but it suuuuucked. Terrible pacing, a lame central mystery, poor writing, etc. Even the cinematography lacked any real pop to it. And the set-up totally gives the finger to the sequel hook of the last film, Murder on the Orient Express.

Actually, I went back to watch that previous film afterword, because I remember absolutely loving it, and DotN made me wonder if it was worse than I remembered. But... it wasn't. Orient Express was every bit as witty, engaging, and dramatic as it was on my initial viewing. That film is paced extremely well, does a great job of bringing dimension to a massive cast of personalities (including its lead, Hercule Poirot, who is so much more eccentric and likeable in that first film!), and, visually, again, it pops in a way that the sequel doesn't. The sets are great, there are some fantastic camera shots that do a great job of making the train feel like a cohesive environment, the lighting is on point throughout, etc. The sequel's imagery just looks... flat. My brother-in-law, who I saw it with, compared it to a film from the seventies because of its weird pacing and lack of visual flair, and I can kinda see that. It doesn't look like a modern film.

As mentioned, the mystery is awful in the sequel, which is disappointing given how clever Orient Express' mystery writing turned out to be. And... look, Poirot does actual detective work in the first film. Orient Express gives you several opportunities to see why Poirot regards himself as such a genius. But, like, he doesn't DO anything in DotN until almost the very end. Stuff just happens, and he reacts, and that's the entire film. The "mystery" doesn't even set itself up until more than midway through the film, and it's so lame there's almost nothing you can do to make it interesting. Anyone who has been paying attention will have guessed the solution to the mystery by the time it happens.

Some of this undoubtedly is due to the source material, but Agatha Christie can't be blamed for the numerous filmic failings of DotN.

How do you go from a modern classic to such a disappointing sequel when almost the entire crew from the previous entry seems to have stayed on-board? I don't get it.

@Ralizah There actually was an adaptation of "Death on the Nile" starring Peter Ustinov that came out in either the late 70's or early 80's - it could make for a fascinating exercise in comparison; I'm currently waiting on a copy of the Robert Wise "West Side Story" for just that purpose having recently seen the Spielberg remake. Interesting that you regard the recent version of "Murder on the Orient Express" as a modern classic - I thought it was beautifully crafted but ultimately rather dull. The AV quality on 4K blu-ray is exemplary if that sort of thing interests you.

@Ralizah Interesting. I’m a huge fan of Christie and while Suchet is the definitive Poirot, the Finney Orient Express is a classic too. But I didn’t really like the Branagh adaptation at all. I just found it quite dull despite being very nicely shot. So I was probably not going to watch the new one, especially since Armie Hammer is playing possibly the most inappropriate character he could have been playing at this point in his career. I’d say watch the Suchet adaptation of Death on the Nile as a comparison but honestly, that isn’t one of my favourite Poirot books anyway.

@LN78 Once some time has passed, I intend to do something similar with WSS, having only seen the Spielberg version.

It got mixed reviews, but I loved every aspect of the 2017 Murder on the Orient Express. Brilliant film all-around. Knives Out is the only comparably excellent mystery film that comes to mind. So it's shocking how incompetent Death on the Nile is in comparison. Once I've put some space between myself and this version, though, I'll definitely check out the older adaptation and see if it's more competent. Although at least part of the problem with that story, if this film adapted it properly, is with the mystery itself. We'll see.

I think we watched a normal DVD copy of Orient Express, although I imagine it looks quite good in 4K!

@nessisonett What would you say is your favorite book in this particular series of stories?

I hadn't read the (apparently quite wild) allegations against Armie Hammer. You're right, though, given the allegations, taking on a role like this seems a bit much.

@Ralizah Have you seen Altman's "Gosford Park"? It's essentially a Christie adaptation despite not actually being based on any of her novels and in many ways a precursor to "Downton Abbey". It's absolutely superb.

@Ralizah My favourite Poirot books are probably Dead Man’s Folly, After The Funeral and Curtain, the final Poirot book. There’s so many Christie books of varying quality but I always found myself drawn to those ones.

@LN78 Fast & Furious is all about family. There needs to be the word "Family" in title at some point like maybe "Fast & Furious: Family 10sion" for the next movie.

House of Gucci. An entire movie adaptation of the ‘when’s a your Dolmio day’ adverts. Bafflingly terrible. Jared Leto might give the worst performance I’ve seen in a movie in a long time.

@nessisonett What's even funnier is that Jared obviously thought he was going to be in all kinds of award contention when he was in fact the least convincing Italian since Hoskins. The ego on that guy.

@LN78 I think even the Shaddap You Face guy would have been more convincing.

Watched Cyrano. The plot itself is a little obnoxious insofar as it's hours of watching these two likable guys fixate on one largely oblivious, underdeveloped, and (IMO) entitled woman, but that comes with the material, I suppose. It's a musical, and... it's competent in that respect. There are no bangers you'll walk out of the theater humming to yourself, but the songs carry the plot and character development reasonably well, so I count it as a success in that regard. Musicals with bad music or that go on too long with their musical numbers really wear on my patience (In the Heights comes to mind).

The film is largely carried by Peter Dinklage's larger-than-life performance as the main character.

@Ralizah I haven’t watched that adaptation yet but I’ve seen Steve Martin’s Roxanne which is a modern(ish) adaptation and I studied the play a few years back. I think it’s probably possible to see all three of Roxane, Christian and Cyrano as fairly selfish or idiotic depending on your perspective. It’s really a play of misunderstandings and lies! Interestingly, I didn’t actually realise this new adaptation was a musical, but it makes sense as the original play is written in verse with a certain rhythm of the lines. Talking of musicals with obnoxious musical numbers, nothing will ever beat Into The Woods for that. Think I lasted about 3 minutes and most of that involved James Corden 😂

@nessisonett Roxanne is a far less interesting personality in this film, based on my fuzzy memories of the play. Also, I don't quite remember De Guiche being quite so explicitly rapey in the original.

@Ralizah De Guiche is probably the most realistic character in the play. I would probably say yeah, he’s always been a bit rapey but more in a sort of ‘I’m charming therefore I’m entitled to you’ way.

@nessisonett He's just a revolting rapist in this film. To the point where he sends her a letter pretty much informing he's on his way over to rape her (which pushes her to hastily marry Christian), and then sings some big number about how he's an entitled rapist .

For anybody interested, I just noticed that "Spider-Man: No Way Home" is out (purchase only) on the digital storefronts - I think a few days earlier than scheduled. Insofar as I can tell, the version on Apple is the only one with the Dolby Vision and Atmos bells and whistles included.

Turning Red - Pretty cute film. Given that it centered around a group of young teens circa 2002 (the same time I was a young teen) I was able to relate to it in parts (though as a guy I definitely wasn't into boy bands, lol).

Interestingly enough, I read an article the other day that stated that the director was partially inspired by Ranma 1/2 & InuYasha (oh, and Sailor Moon too I guess), which is one reason I was eager to give it a go (the Ranma influence can particularly be felt IMO, what with the coming to grips with an embarrassing transformation that's not much under control). I also watched the making of documentary (which was up on D+ the same day) which was pretty interesting (I usually don't watch such things), and during the brief segment they gave to their anime influences while Sailor Moon was the only series they specifically name dropped, they very explicitly referenced Takahashi & you could see some InuYasha & Ranma memorabilia around that part of the office too.

@Fragile Which one? The Golden Harvest indie or the Michael Bay CGI-fest from a few years back?

@Fragile I love that movie! The less said about the other two in that series the better.

@Fragile I think there was some insistence from the higher ups to make the sequel more child friendly after there were complaints from parents groups (and I believe the original April actress,too) in the States about the levels of violence in the first movie. What I liked so much about the original was how it combined elements from the firsr run of Eastman and Laird comics (which were pretty brutal) and the kids' cartoon show. The sequel almost completely ditched the former and replaced Casey Jones with Vanilla Ice. Not a fair trade in my view.