Thriller & Mystery > Grieve, Andrew Thriller & Mystery

Murder by letters of the alphabet

Advantages: Tense plot, great acting
Disadvantages: Plot a bit too contrived

...building up a collection of Poirot DVDs, which cost ₤6.99 per issue, even though I could probably buy them more cheaply separately. Whatever, so far, I've had huge amounts of pleasure from the DVDs and am looking forward to the next instalment. The creator There must be few people that have not heard of Agatha Christie. She is most famous for her books featuring Poirot, of which she has written over 30, and Miss Marple, but has also written ...
...films. The plot Hercule Poirot receives a series of letters from someone who signs themselves as A B C and gives Poirot advance warning of the location of the next murders. The first involves Alice Ascher from Andover, the second, Betty Barnard from Bexhill-on-Sea, then Carmichael Clarke from Churston. Each victim is found with a copy of the ABC Railway Guide. Yet there seems to be no link between any of the murders. Is the murderer simply trying ...

sunmeilan 24.02.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - The ABC Murders (DVD)

That mouse gets everywhere!

Advantages: Usual strong story, good acting
Disadvantages: The mouse

...subscribed to a series of Poirot DVDs and this is the latest offering. Not being one of Agatha Christie's most famous works, I was unfamiliar with the story, which made it all the more fun to watch. Agatha Christie's work has not always been successfully translated onto the TV screen - I'm particularly thinking of Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple and Peter Ustinov's Poirot, but there is very little to criticise about this particular series, featuring ...
...letter that she is typing, Poirot knows that something is really wrong. She confides in him that she is worried about her sister, Mrs Hubbard, who runs a hostel for students on Hickory Road, which has experienced a number of strange thefts. Poirot offers to meet with Mrs Hubbard and the students and see if there is anything he can do to help. Although the thefts are not particularly serious, Poirot seems very concerned and when the first murder occurs, ...

sunmeilan 26.08.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - Hickory Dickory Dock (DVD)

Action-packed with some witty dialogue but still flawed somehow

Advantages: Quite thrilling when it gathers pace, seemed an authentic depiction of London, some humour
Disadvantages: Something about Downey Jnrs depiction of Holmes didnt work somehow, not for all ages/the squeamish

...Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson start out by catching a serial killer who dabbles in the the supernatural, an evil man called Lord Blackwood who is sentenced to death, indeed Watson confirms he's dead after he's hung. Things take a distinctly sinister turn, however, when they discover than Blackwood has apparently risen from the dead and Holmes recalls what he told him before he was hung, which indicated that more ...
...actor (Robert Downey Jnr.) played Sherlock Holmes, while an English actor (Jude Law), played his right hand man, Dr. Watson. Now of course I knew that before I went to see the movie, infact I quite like Robert Downey Jnr. as an actor and I have enjoyed some of his other movies and the fact that he plays the main character was one of the main reasons I wanted to see it in the cinema but there was something about him playing this role that I just didn't ...

IzzyS 27.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Sherlock Holmes

What goes around comes around..

Advantages: Enigmatic
Disadvantages: Perhaps too long

...I wouldn’t say this was in that impact category but certainly a quality piece of film. The drama begins with the return of thirty-something award winning war photographer Paul Harris (Mathew McFadden) to the small rural town of Steimer where he grew up, his first visit for 17 years. The night bag over the shoulder arrival is for dad’s funeral, mum long returned to the Earth, Paul’s relationship with big brother Andrew (Colin May) still not good after ...
...As per normal in these movies Paul has awakened ghosts from his and others past on his return, none more so than a long lost relationship with Penny (Miranda Otto), the reason, we discover later, he skipped town. Deciding to stick around and sort out the family estate, his brother begrudging Paul’s promised third of the Will & Testament, the rest going to an unnamed charity, things take an unexpected turn in his closed world with the arrival of a ...

thedevilinme 22.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of In My Father's Den (DVD)

About as fun as being stuck in the Channel Tunel

Advantages: Acting
Disadvantages: Yawnnnnnnn

The dust-cover proudly states that this is the best film of the new millennium! They obviously haven’t seen Brazilian Girls Go Wild In Cancun then. I took both films up on their boasts and I can confirm there was only one winner—and I didn’t need the subtitles. Talk about over rated. I had heard good things about Hidden; it had won the Palm De Or` in Cannes no less. But it’s French and so that means its going to be very talky and actor centered, ...
...the limited and predictable script. For a movie pushed as a mysterious thriller the only mystery here is how it won anything, dribbling out to a very disappointing finish. One broadsheet even voted this film of the decade?? The movie opens with a single static shot of the front of one of those comfy urban secluded houses in a nice middle class Paris superb. From across the street we observe the house panacea and everyday movements in the street ...

thedevilinme 20.12.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Hidden (DVD)