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Death on the Nile (2022)

Death on the Nile (2022)

4/10


 Starring

Kenneth Branagh

Tom Bateman

Annette Bening

Russell Brand

Ali Fazal

Dawn French

Gal Gadot

 

Directed by Kenneth Branagh


The claustrophobic setting of Murder on the Orient Express made it very appealing to see Poirot solve the case in such tight circumstances. Kenneth Branagh’s adaption of the film in 2017 was a joyful ride, even though it felt a tard dull at times. He as Poirot didn’t feel the same as seeing Albert Finney play it or Ustinov’s 1978 adaptation of this movie of the same name. Even though I believe these two trump Branagh portrayal none trumps all three like that of David Suchet, which he did for like two decades.

This new take on another Agatha Christie masterpiece with Branagh working both in front and behind the camera is just similar in take to his first role as Poirot.

There is something about this movie’s plot that makes me mad at the way Branagh decided to adapt it. The movie is also overlay-ed with needless CGI too obvious to miss that I just wonder why. He wanted to be smarter than Christie in his additions here and there, and upstage her in her own novel. Where Christie takes the very complicated and makes it so simple for everyone to follow with no needed addition to where Poirot started. Branagh did the opposite. Christie’s book didn’t look at the past of Poirot, his time in the war or how he got his mustache. The book and the last two adaptions for screen went straight to the matter at hand no needed for overly annoying sexual dramatizing of an two characters. It was obvious there was something off between Gadot (Linnet) and Hammer (Simon), so the whole sexual drama by the Egyptian statue seemed planned to help show their love, but for me it was so unneeded. Another Branagh addition to the story that did not aid the plot.

The book and the previous two adaptions if you have no idea how it will end can drive you up the wall with the minute matters coming to play with twin guns, nail polish, jewellery, theft, blackmail, and murder all happening at once. The case takes place on a luxury steam liner voyaging across the Nile, where Linnet and Simon were having their honeymoon. Linnet stole Simon from her best friend and the two had a hasty marriage and ran away together. Simon poor and penniless, Linnet rich and an heiress boarded the cruise to get away from the jilted ex-lover and ex-best friend Jacqueline.

On the cruise a murder happens as Linnet has her brain blown off. All possible suspects (including Jacqueline) were onboard as we discover that everyone who is anyone on the cruise has a connection to Linnet and will benefit from her death. The whole setup seemed so well crafted that even Poirot had to dig deep to be able to uncover who the killer or killers are.

I prefer the 1978 adaption of Death on the Nile, but the David Suchet version on 2004 in the ITV TV series Poirot was the best. One thing is David Suchet himself. If you ever get the chance to watch the show, do so.

With a cast of A-list actors you will be expecting to be blown away by the chemistry and the fantastic work. But there seem to be some independent claps instead of an ensemble praise. The main power for this plot is Linnet and Simon falling for one another. Well, Gal Gadot and Armie Hammer did not have such chemistry (physically, mentally, or emotionally) their union felt forced with Gal acting ike she rather be anywhere else and it was too obvious to slip by unnoticed.

To note, the plot has been tweaked much enough to add some diversity to the film, some tweaks were worth it. And as I have mentioned in earlier posts, this new desire for every movie to be two hours long sometimes kill the motion. Half way into the movie Linnet was still alive and i could not wait for someone to kill her already. The poor pacing and the length I had to wait for the ball to get going, is a thing of wonder that I did not doze off while watching this.

Cheaper by the Dozen (2022)

Cheaper by the Dozen (2022)


3/10


Starring

Gabrielle Union

Zach Braff

 

Directed by Gail Lerner

 

I am black and fully African who spends way too much time watching movies. I am fed up with Hollywood trying to now bridge the gap in the lack of racial diversity in Hollywood and doing it poorly. An all-white movie is not a bad thing when the movie delivers. A movie with all the racial diversity of a New York subway and is poorly written, directed like a NickToon program for children does not solve the problem. The bad acting of the child actors was even worse, I have seen better acting in churches when children act out the nativity scene. Boring is the understatement for all that is wrong with this movie. Then the ad placements by Cîroc and Cheetos what happened to being subtle

The political correctness and the whole idea of diversity has ruined movies for me. I have no problem with the new redesign of a movie. I had no problem with the Cheaper by the Dozen to have children from one side, add up with children from another side. Add a little shake of adoption, with unexpected pregnancies and viola number twelve shows up. My problem was when this movie moved from just being fun to being a current husband vs ex-husband battle. Adopted dad vs biological dad battle. The movie for me made absolutely no sense when this started happening in the early minutes.

As said the couple in question is Paul and Zoe Baker (Zach Braff and Gabrielle Union a not-so-great onscreen pair). This is their second marriage with each first marriage ending with children, add the surprises and they got to twelve.

We see from the get-go that the way they keep their family going is surviving from any cheap help they can find. Things are not going on magically when Zoe’s ex (Dom) decided to move closer to the married couple to be close to his children. This did not go well with Paul who is intimidated by Dom’s stature, money, and fame. Add to that they are facing some financial challenges to which Paul wants to sell their family business. This new change and the personal challenge Paul is facing is making it hard for the family to stick together and function as a unit.

Suddenly, I have found respect for the older Cheaper by the Dozen with Steve Martin. At least there the children were his and his wife. We did not have ex-wife and ex-husband having a say in anything. The fun was watching this family try to keep it all together and finding out that they can’t all the time and watching everything go up in smoke as we see them try to make it all fit back again.

The fun then was the dramatic element that the movie brought into the game, not some racial differences and dad battles that stopped being funny in 2005.

This new Disney+ addition to the mix is a no no.

The Adam Project (2022)

The Adam Project (2022)

 

7/10

 

Starring

Ryan Reynolds

Walker Scobell

Mark Ruffalo

Jennifer Garner

Catherine Keener

 

Directed by Shawn Levy

 

The Adam Project is a wow movie. I loved the assembly of many ideas, which I feel were well placed together to give a cohesion that was slick and entertaining. With a solid cast, well-grounded visual effects, and a story that develops every minute you are watching, this movie is entertaining to say the least. I see no reason why you will not have a good time watching this flick.

You may find the different parts taken from many movies you love give you déjà vu, but from where I was sitting, it was some cool nostalgia. This Sci-Fi action comedy about time travel, has everything from the Back to the Future vibe and it works well because this is what Ryan Reynolds do, takes a character, and make you love it no matter what.

The character to love here is Adam Reed (Reynolds). Adam lives in a dystopian 2050 where time travel is a thing and according to him the world is all messed up. Time travel was achieved by creating a wormhole, which links the present to the past. Adam wanted to travel back to 2018 but crashed in 2022. The significant of 2018 is that’s the year time travel was invented and that’s the year the world was plunged into a dark place. In 2022 Adam goes to his home from twenty-eight years ago and visits his twelve-year-old self.

After some cool discovery on who is before who, the Adams decided to work together to get future Adam back to where he should be. They soon discover how much danger there were in as the hunt for Adam was intensified from the future by a lady named Sorian. Sorian wants to stop Adam from achieving his jump to 2018, because there is a fear that he would discover her dealings with her past self and ruin her future.

The Adams were able to survive the Sorian attack with help from Adam’s past, who was stuck in the past for four years.

I do have some criticism. The movie starts and after a while feels like there is a chunk missing in the beginning. Even though the movie does its best to update us on the things we have missed which led to the present predicament, the feeling never goes away.

The movie focuses on the two Adams, with Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo taking a more supportive role.

You can catch this movie on Netflix and you will be glad you did.

Turning Red (2022)

Turning Red (2022)

 


7/10

 


Starring the voices of 

Rosalie Chiang

Sandra Oh

Ava Morse

Hyein Park

 

Directed by Domee Shi

 

Turning Red is different from what we have been seeing. This coming-of-age work is very intense, with a strong story. The story is multidimensional, and it is created in such a way that you are seeing the slight changes in the characters as they mature and as the movie progress. You see behaviours that you will admire and the gentle building of characters in the young adults as they try to make things go their way.

I like the animation and voice casting. This development shows us a child trying to please a parent because she believes all her mothers hopes and dreams are placed on her. Then there is the mother trying to make sure her daughter never strays by micromanaging her life to the last detail.

The strong plot with its emotions may be too much for kids to follow. Also, the actions of the Mei and her crew may not be something you want your children to emulate.

Encanto had us by the horns in 2021, dragging us by the lips into 2022 because we don't talk about Bruno.

This Pixar’s 25th production may not have the same strength as Encanto, but it is just as good. Set in the early 2000s the animation is a coming-of-age fantasy comedy. The movie centers around a Chinese-Canadian family with a tricky past. One of their ancestors (like hundreds of years ago) was blessed with the ability to turn to a red panda to fight and save her family. The downside of that gift is, now that the danger to her family has gone, the ability to change is still with her. She then passed the same ability to her daughters which then became a genetic trait which was then transferred to Mei Lee.

Mei Lee is the young thirteen-year-old lady whose story we are following and her struggles to live a double life. One life being an exact replica of her mother in almost everything and the other being herself in front of her friends.

With a setup like this, you would know something will draw the two lives together, that something became this genetic trait. Mei turns into this giant red panda anytime she is excited and must wait until the next red moon, while keeping the panda in check to be able to free herself from this curse.

Her mother believes the best thing to do is to keep Mei hidden until that time comes. Mei and her three best friends have other plans. After Mei was able to master control of her emotions, she and her group decided to do what ever it takes to see their favourite boyband 4-town when they tour Canada.

Without their parents help, these four must raise $800 and find a way to sneak out to go to this concert. This is a side note and not the current issue at hand, Mei has to keep the panda transformation to a minimum and in check until the next red moon, less than two weeks away from the time she first transformed.

I have no qualms recommending this to anyone to see, it is amazing and much fun the moment the girls get together to make their dreams come true.

Uncharted (2022)

Uncharted (2022)


5/10


 
Starring

Tom Holland

Mark Wahlberg

Sophia Ali

Tati Gabrielle

Antonio Banderas

 

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

 

This movie is a live-action production of one of Naughty Dog’s bestselling video game title of the same name. As a whole, the movie sucked as much juice from the game that it could to make this movie. Video games do not need to give you so many details into stories but focus more on the gameplay to make users happy. Movies on the other hand are all about stories and it is in this aspect that this movie is a let-down.

There is this thing that movies do, where treasure seekers seem to have a link to one another. All of them having deep knowledge of history and such great thieves. The first link up between Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) and Sully (Mark Wahlberg), was just textbook heist movie style setup. This lack of originality in the thirty minutes of the film, echoed throughout the whole running time.

The movie of course played good work to taking cutaway video clips from the video game and employ it into the movie. The movie gives you that needed attention you want, when it comes to adventure/action, but with poor thrill (other than the falling out of a plane scene). When you see movies like those of Jackie Chan and the Mission Impossibles the stunts bring exhilarating thrill. Here the movie lacked it big time. I don’t know whether it is bad editing or just weak cinematography.

I liked seeing all the players introduced in the first forty minutes. I really wished the movie was done better with a more solid plot which starts outside the gaming universe and steers into it. Tom Holland was pleasant all through this movie and for me, he kind of outclassed everyone else on set, expect Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas). I don’t have much to say about Wahlberg his work in this movie was just average.

Moncada in this movie is the only living descendant of the Moncada family who bankrolled the Magellan expedition in the early 1500s when Ferdinand Magellan did his sail around the world. The movie tells us that the Moncada family sponsored this voyage because of a deal which they had with Magellan. Magellan was to seek gold in this voyage and bring it back to them. There is a story that Magellan had amassed a treasure in this trip, it was this treasure that Nathan and Sully were seeking. Funny thing is, Moncada whose family paid for this treasure is made to be the villain, when the treasure is his birth right

We get a first glimpse into Nathan's early life in an orphanage with his brother Sam. Sam was obsessed with finding this treasure of Magellan, which led to them being separated as children when they were caught breaking an entry. Nathan grew up to be an experienced thief working as a bartender and robbing wealthy marks. That’s how Sully tracked him down and pulled him into his own treasure hunt for the Magellan gold. He tells Nathan that he has been working on this with Sam before Sam vanished with no trace. Nathan agrees to help Sully and they begin their adventure. They steal a cross which Sully know someone (Chloe) who has the second cross which they used to help point them in the right direction with the aid of Elcano’s diary to where the treasure hunt should start. Chasing them is Moncada who had murdered his father to make sure their family wealth become his solely, but the movie decided to change focus when it comes to the villain. I still always wonder about treasure maps and diaries with just clues, why can’t anyone just write the thing located here in so and so address.

If you feel the movie plot summary here is light, well it is because the movie itself has a light story.

The movies plot is not well garnished to make you want to pay that much attention to what is being said, the plot is underdeveloped, and all the talk of a sequel is not appealing.