Murder on the Orient Express

I am a huge lover of Poirot, not just the books but also of David Suchet which made it an agonising choice for me to go and see this film. Kenneth Brannagh is not and will never be as good as David Suchet but he tried to play the character differently, his French accent was acceptable but needs work and his moustache is disgraceful but all in all, once you accept that any new Poirot is unlikely to be better than Suchet then you can move on to attempt to enjoy the film.

I did enjoy it. My one criticism is that Poirot is not as athletic as he was made out to be in this film. The overall portrayal of Poirot was good and fairly accurate but the script writing wasn't anywhere near as good as the scripts written for television. Murder on the Orient Express is the one that David Suchet left to last because it was going to be the strongest test of his role as 'Poirot'. This book in itself is the strongest test of Poirot's character. Nothing about it is easy and nothing becomes clear until Poirot explains it all to you. When reading the book I felt like maybe Poirot had met his match, maybe he didn't solve this one or maybe he caught the wrong person but then once he figured it out (and that took most of the book to do) it made sense and it was an extremely complicated murder. When I watched this film, my companions and I felt that they had explained everything to early. This murder stopped being complicated the moment that he revealed the true name and started asking questions and making obvious assumptions. Branagah's Poirot gave away the missing piece of the puzzle that made it easy for everyone to solve the case. Halfway through the film we all knew and it shouldn't be like that. The book is more complicated, the characters are more complicated and this film didn't really do it justice.

Johnny Depp as Mr. Ratchet was fantastic and the most unlike Johnny Depp I have seen for a while. He wasn't as horrible and disgusting as the previous portrayals of this character have been but he still managed to make it clear that he was going to be murdered without really having to try which made his portrayal almost perfect. Michelle Pfeiffer was also fantastic and I spent most of the film thinking long and hard about who she was. Derek Jacobi cannot change his face so he changed his manner and became a totally different character. Even Daisy Riddley was strong in this movie. Everyone was strong in this movie and if Brannagh had a different moustache and they created a better script than this film would be almost fantastic.

They have set it up to make another film and make some of the books in to movies and that is okay but there are things that they need to work on. The script writer needs to improve and the accent needs a bit of work. The study of the character of Poirot requires further improvement and you can't make the argument of wanting to play the character differently because you have to be true to the character otherwise you end up like Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore- destroying the character entirely. Change other things about the movie, focus on other things that are in the books but don't make the character do a lot of running and hitting people because that's not who the character ever was, you need to be cleverer. Not a bad movie, I expected a lot worse but work to be done.

My Blueberry Nights.

Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman and Norah Jones all star in one of the weirdest and yet most fantastic movies I have ever watched.

This movie was made in 2007 and is filmed in a weird colour filter. It gives the impression of being entirely a memory but then within that, each character also has memories that speed up and slow down. This movie is like 'Begin Again' but before that movie was ever made. Director Kar-Wai Wong made the jump to making a film entirely in English and it really paid off. I don't think that I have ever seen a film of his before but this is a fantastic movie and one of the most 'different' movies that I have ever seen and it wasn't originally on the list because I had never heard of it but it came in to the shop in which I work and I took a chance on it because it was something entirely different.

The reviews stated that this film had 'thin material' but I don't see how that matters at all. The cinematography for this film is fantastic, Jude Law is fantastic and Norah Jones is stunning. The soundtrack is incredible and this film is just amazing. I had to watch the entire movie, I couldn't miss a second of it and it made me feel good. It wasn't intended to make me feel good and it mostly just shows how life goes round in circles, you meet people, you try to make different decisions and you run away from things but in the end, life either gets better or it gets worse. Some of the people you meet leave your life, some stay and some wait for you but that is how life is. You have to look past the material and see it as a film that wasn't trying to be too complicated or too long. It focused on executing the plot that they had to the best of their abilities.

I've asked for a second opinion on this movie because I want to review it better. It has a certain quality to it that I haven't managed to find in any other movie and I would love it if someone else could suggest a film to compare it to.

An no, I haven't forgotten, a huge cry out to Natalie Portman who is always incredible in every movie that she makes. As a gambler who never trusts anyone she is fantastic and she learns something from 'Beth' and 'Beth' learns something from her as well. Even though she wasn't the main star in this movie she did her job really well and played her part almost to perfection. She is one of the best actresses out there who is not aged 70-90.

Dick Tracy

Warren Beatty. Maybe the first time ever on this blog but a pleasure to be experiencing new things and reviewing some of the great movies from every generation. I do have to take this time to announce that sadly I will not be continuing the blog next year as I have a full time job and am studying part time and have found it too difficult to keep watching movies or really do anything with my not so frequent days off. Many things have to give and this is one of then. Any movies that I did not manage to watch this year will be watched and reviewed next year and any films that I see in the cinema or watch randomly will be but there will be nothing frequent.

Dick Tracy is the ultimate cop movie made before the millennium. Even though Clint Eastwood is known for making cop movies such as 'Dirty Harry' he has nothing on this guy. Beatty is faster and doesn't have to pull off the stupid limes that Eastwood uses to try and evoke fear because he is more threatening as a cop through the use of non conventional, or legal methods. What makes a good cop is his ability to use his team and even though the scrip for this movie is obviously better than the script for 'Dirty Harry', Dick Tracy does something that is never done in the Eastwood film, which is, use a small kid that you have taken from the streets as a part of your team. This kid is fantastic. He has an 'Oliver' feel to him because he steals from someone and is chased by Tracy all the way black to his falling down house and his abusive father, who is then beaten up by Dick Tracy for being abusive and Tracy intends to send the kid to an orphanage but the kid saves his life.

Warren Beatty is fantastic. This movie is fantastic and I liked it a lot. It has all the right ingredients. Hopefully it won't ever die out completely.

Sing

The animated children's movie about a singing competition and not the My Chemical Romance song. I have read a few mixed reviews on this movie and I don't understand why because it is a kids movie which means that it doesn't have to have a complicated plot because Children's films have to be simple enough for children to understand and a feel good movie.

Sing is fantastic. Watching all the characters sing and reveal their singing pasts is fantastic. Singing along to the songs that you know and hearing how they work within the scene and plot is a lot of fun. When you come home from work or school and you want to let go of your stress then you can do that, or certainly, I can do that with this film.

Weirdly, when I don't have to look at Matthew Mcconaughey and only have to listen to his voice as a koala I find him much more enjoyable to watch. There is no shame in being a good actor but a terrible actor non-animated movies. Taron Eggerton as a Gorilla is also fantastic and the fact that he reconciles with his dad, who breaks out of prison to reconcile with him and then there is a happy ending just gives it a double feel food factor at the end which really helps you to reflect positively on the film. I do  think that the people who negatively reviewed this film don't really understand  what a children's movie is about. Yes, 'Trolls' and 'Moana' where better movies than this film but they weren't as feel good as this film was and I can't say that their plots were anymore complicated than this movie.

A pig singing Katy Perry and a Gorilla singing John Legend is entertainment for anyone. Reece Witherspoon can sing and she is fantastic. She alone could be a reason for watching the movie. J just appreciate it for what it is, a feel good, animated, children's movie, with stars such as Reece Witherspoon and Scarlett Johansen, that did very well at the box office. Expecting too much from a film can cause you to suffer severe disappointment and failing to appreciate the intended audience can also do the same thing.

They are making a sequel and even though I can't quite see it doing particularly well, it just might do so.