Female Film Critics 24/375
Working with screenwriter Michael Green, actor/director Branagh condenses so much that he never fully explores the subtle nuances of his rich cast of characters in what seems like a foregone conclusion to the whodunit, particularly when compared with screenwriter Anthony Shaffer’s 1978 version in which Peter Ustinov, Bette Davis and Maggie Smith exchanged barbs.
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Kenneth Branagh does Agatha Christie. Again. After a Pandemic Pause, Death on the Nile returns, a follow-up to Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express. Again, Branagh is behind the camera, directing. When he’s in front of the camera, he’s behind a mustache that looks like a pergola covered in wisteria. Death on the Nile is good for a little nap midway before everyone gathers for Poirot’s little grey cells to expose the murderer. Maybe it’s time for another story — say, a continuation of the World War chapter, or more about the singer, or with Russell Brand as the ex-fiancé. There’s no mystery left in Death on the Nile, and that affects the film.
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If you viewed Kenneth Branagh’s 2017 film, Murder on the Orient Express, you’ll have a good idea of the premise of Death on the Nile. The mystery thriller is based on the 1937 Agatha Christie novel, with Branagh returning as director and star. Branagh is on a roll with his ever-popular film Belfast and his follow-up film Death on the Nile, does not disappoint.
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Billed as a globe-trotting, comedic action/adventure, Red Notice is a total waste of time and talent. There’s a mystery surrounding three exquisite bejeweled eggs given to Cleopatra by Mark Antony on their wedding day. Problem is: clumsy screenwriter/director Rawson Marshall Thurber hasn’t a clue how to delineate characters, write dialogue, and propel the incoherent mystery/action plot in order to set up this future franchise.
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When Wonder Woman (2017) debuted, the origin story of the Amazonian Princess was sensational! It detailed her background, childhood and how she fell in love with a dashing-but-doomed W.W.I pilot. Director Patty Jenkins proved female super-heroes were just as mighty as men. Its sequel, beginning on the island of Themyscira, recalls how fearless, young demi-goddess Diana learned tough lessons about truth and honesty That’s the best part of the entire movie.
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Anyone who thinks 2020 has been a fiasco should be grateful to escape to Wonder Woman 1984’s Orwellian year. Despite its “Me Decade” setting, the long-delayed sequel to the character’s 2017 introduction proves strikingly timely. WW84 may take place in the greed-is-good Reagan era, but its central villain — a con-artist TV personality turned megalomaniac — may remind you of a certain contemporary figure. (Any similarities are, we’re sure, hardly coincidental.)
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Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins are reteaming to tell the story of Cleopatra. Paramount Pictures has won an auction for the epic Cleopatra, besting Universal, Warner Bros, Netflix and Apple. The historical drama will be penned by Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island), which means we will finally get a major motion picture that tells Cleopatra’s story from a female perspective.
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A limited series about the legendary actor and inventor is heading to Apple, which has given a straight-to-series order to Hedy Lamarr, starring Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman). The eight-episode drama, originally set up at Showtime, will air on Apple TV+.
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Gal Gadot has teamed with her husband and producing partner Jaron Varsano to form the production company Pilot Wave, which will launch with her starring in the historical thriller Irena Sendler. Irena Sendler will tell the harrowing story of a woman’s brave stand against Nazi Germany’s occupation of Poland and the remarkable network she devised to save and care for 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto
Read moreJulie Taymor will helm a coming-of-age biopic about feminist journalist and activist Gloria Steinem, based on Steinem’s bestselling memoir My
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