There aren't nearly enough murder mysteries made these days. They're fun, but I get how they're difficult to execute. In these kinds of films, you have only the facts to look at. Whereas, in real life, you can look at if someone seems like they're lying. In a movie, everyone is lying because they're all actors. You can't solve it from that. So the clues are all given in what the audience--and, in this case, the detective--knows, and nothing else.
Fortunately, we're all on the same page in this one. Often times, the filmmakers have to give the on-screen detective some bit of information that we don't get to know, in fear that we might solve it before we're supposed to. But here, it's not a crap shoot because we can still figure it out if we really think about it. Yet, we still don't--unless we already know the story.
I suppose, however, that in these instances, the film is most enjoyable for those who haven't read the book or watched any previous adaptations. Because the best part, still, is the mystery and the conclusion, itself. If one already knows the outcome, then they are looking at other things. For me, I didn't know the story, so with fresh eyes, I thought it was truly well-executed. Though, by others' standards, maybe it won't quite live up to its predecessors. Taking on a project of this nature, you can't please everyone.
The movie starts off a little slow as our main character, detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh), is being established. We get to see him solve a case, meet with some friends, and then eventually get a telegram requesting his help solving a case in London. His friend gets him the last room left on his train, the Orient Express.
The murder on the train doesn't occur until almost the 40 minute mark, but then it significantly picks up the pace from there without losing its identity or tone established before.
Details pile up, but the dialogue is so fluid that it's pretty easy to follow unless you're not a fan of movies with a lot of talking.
Where it gets the most confusing, no matter what you like, is when the dialogue relies too heavily on the characters' names to let us know what's going on. There are about a dozen other passengers on the train that help make up this ensemble cast--which includes Josh Gad, Johnny Depp, and Judi Dench, to name a few--and it gets hard to keep them all straight at first. But eventually we catch on.
When watching a whodunit, there is always this inherent fear that the conclusion won't be worth the time you spend waiting for it. However, this story is one of the most famous mysteries for a reason. It's really clever. And as someone who has had no exposure to any Poirot in his life, this film has made me a fan. Now I want to see more. This is my own benchmark.
Twizard Rating: 98
At its core, Pixels is very very unique. We start off in 1982 when a young Adam Sandler and a young Kevin James are hanging out at their local arcade. '80s tunes are blaring in the background and everything. It's a great opening. Sandler's character, Sam Brenner, competes in the arcade game world championship. A time capsule with footage of the competition is to be sent into outer space in hopes that alien life will find it and learn about our culture. Flash forward to present-day where James' character, Will Cooper, is now the President of the United States and Sam is just an electronics repair guy. But Earth is in jeopardy as these aliens who found the footage see it as a declaration of war between planets and send in '80s arcade characters to attack Earth. President Cooper must now call upon his arcade-wiz friend to advise him in how to defeat these video games.
Besides its originality, it's deep cast of characters provides us with a lot of laughs and humorous situations. But it remains as exactly that--a comedy. The action sequences are mostly pedestrian, as well as few and far between. Although it's a great break from the over-self-importance of most other action films nowadays, don't expect Mad Max either.
The film's true downfall is the fact that it leaves nothing to mystery. There isn't anything left to be uncovered. Everything that needs to be revealed is done so early on, and the only thing that we have left to question is whether or not Earth will win. But we can obviously predict the answer to that.
Despite its fresh concept, it doesn't do as much as it can with it. With a better script it could have been an instant-classic, but now we see it as merely a comedy that doesn't seem to have a grip on action. It's full of plot holes and sloppy inaccuracies with chronology. And there isn't really any depth or character attachment. We are so far away from worrying about the characters that it just becomes all about the '80s references and jokes.
But it's popcorn entertainment--consistent in its narrative and keeps us laughing the whole way through. It's as harmless as they come.
Twizard Rating: 81
Between predicting every move before it happens and watching the characters make decisions that are so implausible you need to put your hand out, it seems like this movie is destined for eye rolling. But with a premise that begs all kinds of questions before our butts are even in the seats, you must already know what you're getting into.
We have Doug (Josh Gad)--occupation: something that gives him the ability to spend $50,000 on a whim right before his wedding without worrying that his future wife will notice. He has no friends and is trying to show his fiancé that he is worthy of her marriage. Then we have Jimmy (Kevin Hart)--occupation: a wedding ringer who is hired by grooms who have no friends (or Facebook accounts) to deceive their fiancés into thinking that he is their best man. He is hired by Doug to pull of a Golden Tux--a service package which requires Jimmy to find 7 groomsmen for Doug.
After sitting through a semi-slow setup that finds itself fishing for jokes, we get the typical antic-driven premise, much similar to The Hangover. But when you want consistent farce, you mostly get filler scenes, such as the groomsmen versus old men in mud tackle football, a dance montage between Doug and Jimmy, and a bachelor party scene that is pretty empty up until the end. Then the predictable happens, where Doug becomes smitten with a call girl from his bachelor party. But even though we predicted it, we didn't see this happening until Doug had a REASON to fall out of love with his fiancé, Gretchen (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting). At this point, the audience had no physical cue to sense that this was going to happen. And the character acts as if he knows he is going to fall out of love with Gretchen before he even has any reason to.
Although we all know what's going to happen and how this movie is going to end, we don't dislike it. And the reason for that is the humor. It's so smart and witty, with compliments to director, Jeremy Garelick, who makes up for his story arc mistakes with sharp cuts that help the jokes reach their maximum potential. Kevin Hart and Josh Gad are good together and display chemistry. However, I would have liked to have seen a better utilization of Gad as the straight-man. But where it's used, it's really funny. The group of groomsmen hired by Jimmy make you laugh-on-site as they all shine wonderfully without taking away from the stars.
While this film may be painfully unrealistic and ridiculously predictable, it has some touching moments and will no doubt make you laugh out loud a lot.
Twizard Rating: 76
