Thought I wasn’t all that impressed with Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express (2017), this film with the director playing Hercule Poirot is excellent.
Death on the Nile has a great cast of characters ALL of whom have a good motive to have committed murder.
Of course the fantastic Egyptian landscape helps.
In addition, I really liked Sophie Okonedo as Salome Otterbourne, jazz singer.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The new psychological thriller is getting great reviews.
It’s an “unreliable narrator” piece.
Sadly, it didn’t work for me. The plot is interesting, but was too painfully drawn out for too long.
Not one of the main characters held any appeal.
Emma is quickly approaching her 40th birthday — the same age her mother was when she began having trouble sleeping.
As she struggles with intergenerational trauma and balancing 10 hour days as a successful lawyer with life with her family life, Emma’s situation spirals into a dangerous and intense tale.
Without sleep, is Emma hallucinating? Or is she going mad?
On the other hand, if you liked all the other psychological thrillers — Girl on a Train, for example — you’ll likely enjoy this one, as well.
I went back to Wheel of Time — planning to follow the story this time. It’s the kind of television I should like.
Sadly — It’s no Game of Thrones.
Mixed reviews.
The main character that appealed to me is Daniel Henney as al’Lan Mandragoran, Moiraine’s Warder and companion. A nuanced prerformance.
Casting seems a bit uninspired. Interactions between characters not convincing.
Actually, Abdul Salis as Eamon Valda is a very believable bad guy.
And Loial portrayed by Hammed Animashaun is charming.
BUT … production values are surprisingly poor at times. The wolf attack in episode 5 was like bad TV from the 1970s.
This was one of the most expensive TV series of all time. Yet many of the special effects look fake.
The battle / birthing scene at the beginning of episode 7 is EPIC, however. Worthy of the film 300.
I’ll probably watch season 2. I hear it gets better.
The scenery is fantastic. Czech Republic, Slovenia, and South Africa are locations.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
A cute idea.
Queen Elizabeth II secretly solves crimes while carrying out her royal duties.
It is the early spring of 2016 and Queen Elizabeth is at Windsor Castle in advance of her 90th birthday celebrations. But the preparations are interrupted by the shocking and untimely death of a guest in one of the Castle bedrooms. The scene leads some to think the young Russian pianist strangled himself, yet a badly tied knot leads MI5 to suspect foul play.
When they begin to question the Household’s most loyal servants, Her Majesty knows they’re looking in the wrong place. …
Away from the public eye and unbeknownst to her closest friends and advisers, she has the most brilliant skill for solving crimes. …
Amazon
Adrian McKinty is an excellent author, under appreciated until his 2019 hit book The Chain.
An Uber driver at the time, the film option earned McKinty $1.5 million
The Island (2022) is intense.
Hulu has acquired the rights to develop The Island as a limited TV series.
After moving from a small country town to Seattle, Heather Baxter marries Tom, a widowed doctor with a young son and teenage daughter. …
When they discover remote Dutch Island, off-limits to outside visitors, the family talks their way onto the ferry, taking a chance on an adventure far from the reach of iPhones and Instagram.
But as soon as they set foot on the island, which is run by a tightly knit clan of locals, everything feels wrong. Then a shocking accident propels the Baxters from an unsettling situation into an absolute nightmare. …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Book #2 of the English translations of his Detective Galileo series.
Police are frustrated trying to solve the murder of a businessman in his own home.
Poison.
Was the mistress? Or the rejected wife? Or someone else.
Finally they call in a genius — Manabu Yukawa, a university physics professor who’s something like a Japanese Sherlock Holmes. His nickname is Detective Galileo.
Slow paced, like book #1 in the series – Devotion of Suspect X.
Yet I was never bored in either book. The professor is a fascinating character. And the slow burn feels authentically Japanese.
Here’s how Yukawa was cast in one TV adaptation.
Kaoru Utsumi, a rookie female detective, is wonderful too.
Rockin’ informed me of Vancouverism:
… an urban planning and architectural phenomenon in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
… high-rise residential towers
… reliance on mass public transit
… green park spaces … preserving view corridors
Vancouverism developed in part as a product of Vancouver’s geographical context. Wedged between the sea, mountains and the border with the United States, there was not much room to expand as the city grew.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer (1982) is the story of Florentyna Rosnovski, the daughter of Abel Rosnovski of Archer’s Kane and Abel.
Florentyna becomes the first female president of the USA in this book.
Archer got the inspiration for Florentyna’s political life from the elections of Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi.
A good story. One of Archer’s most popular.
Click PLAY or watch the author introduce the book on YouTube.
I took a year off after High School. A gap year.
And I’m glad I did.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I wanted to start my planned Bikepacking trip through Norway and (possibly / hopefully) Faroe Islands and Iceland on July 22, 2022.
Surprisingly, I made it to Tromsø, way far north of the Arctic Circle? 😀
Barely. Heathrow was a disaster.
BUT my bike is still in London. Who knows how long it will take to get to remote Tromsø.
Meanwhile …
Rick McCharles 