MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS Review

You know those times when you think something is unnecessary, let's say for the sake of this format it's a movie, and yet despite those initial hesitations and questions of purpose you come to realize that it's not a complete waste of time, but rather that you actually like certain aspects of this fresh perspective it once seemed was uncalled for. I have never before read the 1934 Agatha Christie novel, Murder on the Orient Express, nor had I seen what is probably the most famous adaptation of this work in Sidney Lumet's 1974 film that starred Albert Finney as one of Christie's most famous and long-lived characters, Detective Hercule Poirot. That was, until earlier this week when I decided to catch-up with what was no doubt much of the reason 20th Century Fox decided it was indeed necessary to bring Christie's work back to the big screen with no lack of prestige in either its talent or production. In doing so, it became clear how much that '74 film serves as a perfect blueprint for the murder mystery venture and while I certainly doubt it was the first film of its kind it certainly is a fine example of how to make this type of movie in an effective, fun, and engaging manner. So, what does Sir Kenneth Branagh do when he gets his hands on such rich material and the opportunity to play as famous a character as Poirot? Well, not much really. Branagh keeps to the guidelines of the genre for the most part while the changes in characters and character arcs in this latest adaptation feel more like attempts to differentiate this version from Lumet's more than they do organic changes that came out of adapting Christie's story for a more modern audience. Sure, there are changes made to certain character's ethnicities and the color of certain character's skin, but beyond these factors serving to be acknowledged as they might have been in the context of 1934 there is no reason to have changed anything about the character other than for the sake of variety and equality, which is never a bad thing, of course, but the hope was that whatever changes Branagh and screenwriter Michael Green (Logan, Blade Runner 2049) made for this latest adaptation they might have been done to either improve upon the story or offer some facet previously unexplored. And yet, this version of Murder on the Orient Express is a safe if not efficient take in the mystery genre that relies on star power for character development and handsomely mounted production values to fill in for substance leaving the experience of Branagh's latest to be perfectly serviceable if not exactly fulfilling.

2014 Academy Awards Round-Up

It is easy, as a member of an unofficial community of online film lovers, to forget that the majority of America tune into the Oscars in order to see some of the most famous movie stars in the world act like normal people and reward themselves or better yet, recognize the best of what they had to offer, from the previous year in the art of motion pictures. Host Ellen DeGeneres certainly made it clear she was there to make these stars act like us normal folk as she ordered pizza and took selfies all night (though her selfies, as featured above, cause Twitter to break). Still, as part of this kind of film loving community the Oscars have come to mean little more than a game of politics and who has the best backers promoting their films or who is willing to do the most campaigning for their nominations and hopeful wins. That being said, this years winners and the ceremony itself turned out to be a rather entertaining spectacle and was well distributed with little to no surprises, but highlighted some of my personal favorite films of the year. Gravity was the big winner taking home seven statues (most of these in technical categories) while 12 Years a Slave took home the biggest prize of the night and was able to capture two other wins in some major categories. Both of these films were in the top three of my favorites from 2013 and while I was obviously rooting for Leonardo DiCaprio to take home his best actor Oscar for what I believe will eventually become regarded as his career-defining performance, the speeches from both Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto who won for best actor and best supporting actor for their turns in Dallas Buyers Club both showed their understanding of the impact their performances carried as well as the state of mind in which they continue to strive to do better work. If you were watching only to see what to rent from Redbox in the coming weeks though, you at least received a few great recommendations.