Death on the Nile

Agatha Christie wrote murder mysteries that are ripe for cinematic adaptation. Indeed, Kenneth Branagh, who already did a screen version of "Murder on the Orient Express" in 2017, now has a screen version of "Death on the Nile." In this podcast episode, HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano agree that as an actor, Branagh is really convincing as the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. However, they also agree that as a director Branagh achieves so-so results with supporting characters portrayed by a cast that includes Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer and Annette Bening. Speaking of familiar literary sources, Marie and Mike also discuss the latest screen adaptation of the 1897 play "Cyrano de Bergerac." This latest version, titled "Cyrano," is worth seeing because of the title performance by Peter Dinklage. Although they admire that inspired casting, Marie and Mike are less impressed by this musical version of the story. Simply put, the music is not especially memorable.