REVIEWS: Death on the Nile and Uncharted

This past weekend, I saw two films in theaters! The first, on Saturday with my wife, was Death on the Nile, which we enjoyed quite immensely. Relative to other films, I wouldn't think seeing this in a theater versus at home would be much of a difference, but I have to say, the 70mm cinematography, sound and music in the theater all added to the experience and fun. (We saw it at a giant screen in L.A. and it must have been an "event" showing—there was absolutely no preview or anything else before the movie when the lights went down, which was a big startling and a welcome change of pace!)

We enjoyed Branagh's earlier Murder on the Orient Express fine, but whereas that film seemed cool and methodical, this one had more of a fiery passion that fit both the story and the setting. There even was an "origin" story for both Poirot and his 'stash, which was hinted at in the first film and is slightly fleshed out more in this entry. I wonder if Branagh's plan is to reveal more if he does another. Between this and Belfast, Branagh has had quite a past few months!

One of the main leads looked a lot like Margot Robbie, but I couldn't place her...after the film, I looked up the cast list, and it turns out she's the female lead in the Netflix series, Sex Education, whose first two seasons I binged last year. So it was fun to see her step up into an "adult" role with such a starry cast.

The second film was Uncharted... my son is a big fan of the game (and has even walked me through parts of it to show it off to me), so he wanted to see it with me, though the casting of Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg made him apprehensive. He ended up liking it fine, while still having his reservations about the actors. I hoped to be pleasantly surprised, but despite some ambitious big action set pieces and Holland's genial presence, it still felt like typical action fare that didn't particularly enthrall me or come together.