Death on the Nile, a 2022 remake of Agatha Christie’s 1937 classic novel, is directed by and stars Kenneth Branagh. Cinematic adaptations from books, especially from beloved authors like Agatha Christie are only for the intrepid. And Branagh is on a path to making a series of Christie screen adaptations, starting with his first film, “Murder on the Orient Express (2017).”
In the opening scene the young Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, devises a brilliant strategy to defeat the German forces in the trenches of World War One. Seriously wounded, his face scarred, his fiancée...
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart– Planting Seeds of Power
This seven-episode mini-series, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, is based upon Holly Ringland’s novel of the same name. Little Alice Hart (Alyla Brown), a nine-year old girl, suffers a very violent set of family circumstances living in the outback of Australia. Her father is abusive , especially when Alice wants to feel somewhat safe around him. Always guarded, the mother she adores is almost an angel for the child’s living hell. When her parents die in a horrific fire, Alice finds her life changing dramatically when she is sent to live with her grandmother, June Hart (Sigourney...
Full Circle–Around and Around
The title, Full Circle, represents a belief in Guyana ritual and magic to break a family curse. Savitri Mahabir (CCH Pounder), a Guyana racketeer, has had a curse placed on her family, resulting in the murder of her beloved brother-in-law. Intent on breaking the curse, Mahabir creates a circle of vengeance–what comes around, goes around. Literally, she orders a retaliatory murder in Washington Square Park, in New York City. To break the curse Guyana traditions must be followed, requiring a circle for the crime to be drawn...
Paradise–Time is Money?
In Paradise, a German dystopian sci-fi thriller, Aeon has become a multi-billion dollar big-pharma conglomerate, founded by Olivia Theissen (Iris Berben) and her team of scientists. The biotech corporation has developed a revolutionary genetic tool that can reverse the aging process and presumably delay death. Donors of DNA, who are compatible with wealthy recipients, exchange years of their lives for money–lots of it.
Time is the currency. And only the very rich can benefit from this age-defying technology. In...
Hijack–Unfriendly Skies?
In this seven-episode miniseries, released June 29, we see Sam Nelson (Idris Elba), a professional business consultant and expert negotiator, attempt to persuade four terrorists to peacefully land a Dubai-London flight. Each one-hour episode simulates an hour of the seven-hour flight.
The panicky passengers, mostly from Dubai and Great Britain, are ill-suited for the required teamwork and unified strategy to overcome the terrorists. Sam, walking a tightrope between the passengers and hijackers, must convince the hijackers that passengers only want to see their families...
Living–A Life Worth Remembering
Inspired by the Japanese cinematic masterpiece “Ikiru” (“to live”) by Akira Kurosawa, Living is set in a post-war 1950s London office, the Department of Public Works, responsible for issuing building permits.
In a stultifying, paper-shuffling bureaucratic agency, septuagenarian Williams (Bill Nighy in his 2023 Academy Award nominated role) manages a crowded office crammed with young civil servants. They are terrified of the old geezer, whom they have nicknamed “Zombie” for his lack of apparent emotion and his robotic demand for propriety at all times.
Williams...