Oh. What. Fun. (2025) – Meh, Humbug

Released: 3rd December
Seen: 13th December

Oh. What. Fun. opens with a voiceover by the main character lamenting that the history of Christmas movies ignores the hard work of the mother and to be fair, it’s got a pretty good point. For all the work that they do around the Holidays, there are more films about husbands and kids desperately trying to make it home than there are about mums in general. Any film about Christmas will focus on the husband or eldest son, relegating the mother to a supporting role. This is emblematic of a general problem in Hollywood that not only lacks a lot of good roles for women but is especially bad for women over the age of 40. With an opening like that, one would hope that maybe Oh. What. Fun. might have something about it that could really show off what a good female role would look like… instead it makes me consider cancelling Christmas.

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Murder On The Orient Express

Released 9th November

Seen 18th November

Murder on the Orient Express.jpg

Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Written by Michael Green
Produced by Twentieth Century Fox, Kinberg Genre, Mark Gordon Company, Scott Free Productions, Latina Pictures & The Estate of Agatha Christie
Starring Kenneth Branagh, Daisy Ridley, Josh Gad, Michelle Pfeiffer, Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr., Tom Bateman, Olivia Colman, Lucy Boynton, Marwan Kenzari, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Sergei Polunin, Miranda Raison.

The modern murder mystery owes a great debt to Agatha Christie’s work Murder on the Orient Express. Easily one of the most popular novels of all time, it’s a work that continues to inspire artists over 80 years later since it’s publishing and has been adapted into radio plays, TV episodes, games and even Anime. It also had a celebrated adaptation in 1974 by Sydney Lumet and now it’s Kenneth Branagh’s turn… just such a pity for him that those 80 years have worn the edges off this tale.

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