Movie Review: Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong adaptation of a classic mystery

Cons: A few nitpicks, but nothing major

The Bottom Line:

A deadly train trip

Poirot must find the killer

Great movie version

Classic Movie Adaptation of a Classic Story

I’ve long heard about the 1974 version of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.  Talk picked up when Kenneth Branagh made his own adaptation, with many people feeling the older version is far superior.  So when I spotted it on TV, I decided to watch it and see for myself.

If you aren’t familiar with the story, it features Christie’s detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney).  He’s been summoned to England and so takes a last-minute trip on the Orient Express to travel from Turkey as quickly as possible.  On board, he meets Ratchett (Richard Widmark), a business man who wants to hire Poirot to protect him.  Poirot isn’t interested, and that night, someone kills Ratchett.  Meanwhile, the train has gotten stuck in the snow, so Poirot is asked to find the killer.  Which of his fellow passengers did it?

I’ve read that this was the only movie version of her stories that Agatha Christie liked (it premiered not too long before her death), and I can certainly see why.  It does a good job of presenting the story in a condensed time.  At just over two hours, this movie has a lot of story to get in to fully understand the solution.  I feel like a few things are given too brief a mention, but maybe that’s because I know the story already.  I do feel like the solution works when Poirot arrives at it.

And look at the cast that was involved.  It’s a who’s who of actors from 50 years ago.  Among those I still recognize today are Anthony Perkins, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman (who won an Oscar for her role here), Sean Connery, and Vanessa Redgrave.  I suspect if I watched more classic movies, I’d recognize even more of the cast.  All this talent means that the suspects are all memorable.

If I had to nitpick, I’d argue we didn’t need the prologue.  Not only does it tease a revelation the film makes, but we could have used the time to better understand what happens when we are on the train.  Again, things make sense in the end, but a few more minutes would have been nice to allow a couple of plot points to breath.

I can’t help but make the comparison with Kenneth Branagh’s version as well.  While I still stand by my original review that his version was good, I can see why this one is better.  For one thing, Albert Finney’s mustache isn’t a distraction.  Apparently, this was Christie’s only critique of the film, and that’s only because she hadn’t seen Branagh’s over the top version.  Additionally, we don’t get the self-indulgent attempts to flesh out Poirot or the weird camera angles used in the more modern take on the story.

In fact, I was struck by some of the camera work in this movie, something I rarely pay attention to.  Here, it was used wonderfully, often spending an entire scene on one character as they were interrogated.  We didn’t need to see cut aways of Poirot, and the performances we watched as a result were masterful.

I will say there are a couple of times near the end of the movie that we get all the suspects paraded by us.  Both times felt slow and indulgent to me.  We could have done without those scenes or shortened them somehow.  Instead, they killed the pace when it should be been sped up.

Complaints aside, this is a wonderful adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express.  If you haven’t seen it yet, do so soon, whether you are already familiar with the story or not.

Candy Review: Hershey's Kisses - Snickerdoodle Cookie

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Enjoyable, with a hint of delicious snickerdoodle

Cons: Not enough of the flavor for me

The Bottom Line:

Sweet kisses taste good

Snickerdoodle flavor is

Not strong, however

Sweet with a Slight Hint of Snickerdoodle

While I don’t always buy them, I do pay attention to the special variations of candies that come out seasonally.  And one of the most creative seems to be Hershey’s Kisses.  This year, I spotted the Snickerdoodle Cookie flavor.  Since I like the cookies, I had to give them a try.

These kisses have a white chocolate base.  Or at least white color.  The packaging says they are snickerdoodle flavored white crème with cookie bits.

And that feels accurate when I have the first one or two.  The snickerdoodle flavor is subtle, and actually enhanced by the cookie bits.  I like them.

But, once I’ve had more than about half a dozen, I find the flavor often fades, and I’m left with just a sweet flavor.  Don’t get me wrong, I still like it, but it’s not the strong flavor I’m looking for from them.

In the end, these Snickerdoodle Cookie Hershey’s Kisses aren’t bad.  But they could use stronger flavor to be something I would consider buying again in the future.

TV Show Review: Step by Step - Season 1

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good laughs and performances, especially from the leads

Cons: Characters are weak cliches much of the time

The Bottom Line: 

New step family

Learning to live together

Needs growth, but still laughs

“We Do Things Together.  We Have Vicious Ugly Fights.”

Step by Step was somewhere in my pop culture subconscious, but it wasn’t a huge part of it.  I was too old to be the target audience, so none of my peers were talking about it.  And it was almost over when I graduated from college and started watching TV on my own.

But, with all the 90’s nostalgia I’ve been getting via podcasts in the last couple of years, I’ve started hearing more and more about it.  I finally gave in and got myself the complete series on DVD, and I’ve been listening to the rewatch podcast two of the stars are doing as I’ve watched season 1.  I’m glad I gave it a shot since I’m finding myself enjoying it.

Stop me if you’ve heard this premise before.  In the pilot episode, we meet a man and a woman who have recently gotten married.  They each have three kids, and everyone is going to have to learn to live together when they all move into one house.

Yes, the premise is very reminiscent of The Brady Bunch.  The wife/mother is even named Carol.  But this is a sitcom from the 90’s, so there is more of a bite to it.  It’s not without good messages and heartwarming moments, but it’s not quite as idealized as The Brady Bunch.

Let’s formally meet the characters, shall we?  The father is Frank Lambert (Patrick Duffy), and his three kids are J.T., Al, and Brendan (Brandon Call, Christine Lakin, and, Josh Byrne).  Meanwhile, Carol Foster (Suzanne Somers) was raising Dana, Karen, and Mark (Staci Keanan, Angela Watson, and Christopher Castile).  But these eight characters aren’t enough.  The first season features Carol’s sister and mother (Patrika Darbo and Peggy Rea).  Plus, pretty early on, we meet Frank’s nephew Cody (Sasha Mitchell) who lives in the backyard in his van.

Over the course of this first season, the new family competes together in the Port Washington Games and goes on a joint camping trip.  Dana sneaks out of the house to see her favorite folk singer, who is appearing in a dive bar.  A television show comes to doing an episode on the blended family.  Meanwhile, Carol gets a new car.  Mark has to deal with a bully at school.  And Frank is less than thrilled when the family gets an invite to join the local country club.

My biggest issue with the first season was the lacks of character development. I get it that we are starting with an insanely large cast, but I feel like we only got to know about half the kids. Aunt Penny and Grandma often just have a few walk on lines. It’s easy to see why they didn’t make it beyond the season 1 finale. And Cody has already devolved into a dumb character. 

We also fall into stereotypes for the characters we do have. This is obvious right from the pilot where Frank and his kids live in the messiest house ever since he’s a single dad. Men can’t clean anything, right? (The fact that my condo could use a good cleaning is beside the point.) Meanwhile, Carol is a hyper organized super achiever. Couldn’t they have found some other characteristics?

And yet, as I watched the first season, I found myself laughing and enjoying the episodes. Yes, the plot lines are familiar to anyone who watches sitcoms, but I’m having fun with it, which is what matters most to me. The insults the characters have for each other make me laugh. The physical comedy is wonderful as well. 

And the acting is great. Patrick Duffy and Susanne Summers are both phenomenal as the leads. The rest of the cast is doing their best with the material they are given. I’m blaming the writing not the acting for my earlier complaints about the characters. And the rest of the cast does get plenty of laughs.

I also appreciated that the family is starting to care for each other. They are far from a cohesive unit, but we get glimpses of the beginnings of those bonds. 

I do have to call out the chemistry between Patrick Duffy and Susanne Summers. You believe their characters are attracted to each other if they aren’t fully in love. The writing for their characters can be a bit risqué, especially for a family show, so keep that in mind. Still, we’ve got much worse on TV these days (or even back then in shows I enjoy).

Season 1 consisted of 22 episodes, what was the standard when this show premiered in the early 90’s. They are preserved in a three DVD set with their native full frame and stereo. The picture can be a little fuzzy at times, especially on modern tv’s, but it works to get the laughs. We don’t have anything in the way of extras. 

It can often be that shows get stronger in seasons two and three. I’m looking forward to seeing if that’s the case here. Because, yes, I was charmed enough by season one of Step by Step that I will continuing on with season two. If you haven’t seen this 90’s sitcom yet, I suspect you will be charmed as well. 

Movie Review: Double Indemnity

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Wonderful acting in a movie that builds suspense well

Cons: A few rushed moments in script and moments of dated acting

The Bottom Line:

Plot to kill husband

Classic movie for reason

Builds the suspense well

“You Want to Knock Him Off, Don’t You?”  “That’s a Horrible Things to Say.”

Being the mystery fan I am, I’ve heard of the film noir classics, including Double Indemnity.  Noir isn’t usually my thing, and, honestly, it didn’t sound that interesting, so I passed on it.  Until this year when I decided to give it a shot.  I should have watched it sooner.

When meet Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), he is going into his insurance office in the middle of the night, obvious wounded.  When he sits down, he starts to use his Dictaphone to leave a message for his boss about what has been happening over the last few months.

It’s then he tells the story of stopping by the Dietrichson house one afternoon to try to get them to renew their insurance policy.  The wife, Phyllis (Barbara Stanwyck) is the only one at home, but there is an instant attraction.

Which is why, when Walter learns how unhappy Phyllis is in her marriage, he begins to come up with ways that they can get her out of it, along with a hefty payment from his insurance company.  Since he works for the insurance company, he knows exactly what they need to do to pull it off.  Can they really do it?

Yes, I’m an accountant, but insurance didn’t strike me as an interesting plot point for the movie.  I should have known better.  The movie doesn’t truly get bogged down in that.  Instead, it uses that to help set up the stakes in the movie, and to keep raising them.

Another reason I didn’t think I’d like the movie is that I don’t like to root for the bad people in a story.  Yes, this is noir, and I suspected where the movie was going to go before I started.  Still, I got so caught up in the story that I was getting worried for the characters in all the right places.  I was conflicted as I was rooting for them even as I didn’t want to be rooting for them.  And I loved every second of it.  The script is brilliant in its reversals, which drew me in more and more as the story went along.

And the acting was wonderful.  I am mostly familiar with Fred MacMurray from his Disney comedies, and obviously, this was a different role from those.  I never struggled to believe his character.  And Barbara Stanwyck deserved her Oscar nomination.  Both of them have very subtle reactions to things that are completely believable and absolutely brilliant.  The rest of the cast is just as strong.

The movie did come out in 1944, and there are some elements that are dated by today’s standards.  The first is that the movie is filmed in black and white like most classic film noir films are.  Don’t let that stop you from what the film.  There were a few elements that felt rushed in the screen play, like how quickly Walter and Phyllis were in love.  I get it, they had to get the characters there to set up the story.  Also, at times the acting was a little over the top.  That was the style of the times, I get it.  Overall, those moments are few and far between.  I still stand behind my praise of the acting.

I don’t know that Double Indemnity is a movie I will watch regularly, but if you are looking for a masterclass in building suspense, this is the film to see.  I wish I’d seen it sooner, and I won’t hesitate to see it again.

Merry Christmas!

No new review today since I usually take today off.  If you celebrate Christmas, I hope you are having a great day with family and friends.  And I hope you take a few minutes to reflect on what Jesus coming to Earth means for us.

Ornament Review: Season's Treatings #17 - Charcuterie Board - 2025 Hallmark Release

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Festive salty treats

Cons: None for me

The Bottom Line:

Lay out salty treats

Diff’rent focus for series

But it’s still a treat

Some Treats for Your Salty Tooth

So far, the ornaments in the Season’s Treatings series have focused on sweet treats.  And, when it comes to Christmas, I usually do think of those sweet treats.  But this year, the series took a turn and is presenting something for those who enjoy salty snacks with a festive charcuterie board.

The board is shaped like a Christmas tree.  While the face of the board is white, it has a fun green border.  Up at the top of the tree, I mean board, we have a spread ball decked out to look like Rudolph complete with a red nose.  His antlers are pretzels and his eyes are olives.  Also on the board, we have a snowman spreader, crackers, a piece of Swiss cheese, and another spread.

The good ornaments in this series always make my mouth water, and this one is no exception.  Obviously, it’s watering for appetizers instead of dessert with this one, but the result is the same.  I love the creativity of the Rudolph ball.  And the rest look good enough to eat.  I have to keep reminding myself it’s fake.

As with most of the ornaments in this series, you can lay it out, but it is fairly flat.  It makes sense given when it is supposed to represent.  But this wouldn’t look that good even as part of a display if it isn’t hanging.

Fortunately, the hook is in the Rudolph spread, and the ornament hangs straight.  It’s looking very good on my tree.

And you’ll find the 17 in a Christmas tree on the back of the ornament.

Those who enjoy salty snacks and have been waiting their turn in the Season’s Treatings series will be thrilled with this charcuterie board.  Since I’m an equal opportunity snacker, I’m enjoying it as well.

Enjoy the rest of the Season’s Treatings ornaments.

Movie Review: Gremlins

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Fun third act

Cons: Dated effects; build up takes too long

The Bottom Line:

An early present

That gets very out of hand

Film slow and dated

“This is Christmas, Not Halloween”

Since I didn’t watch a lot of movies or TV shows growing up, I missed most of the popular 80’s movies.  I heard about them, but I didn’t watch them.  Every so often, I take a chance to go back and watch one of those, and recently, I caught Gremlins.

While an inventor (Hoyt Axton) is out trying to sell his latest gadget, he stumbles upon a shop in an alley in Chinatown.  There, he finds a weird little creature that he is sure his young adult son will love as an early Christmas present.

Sure enough, Billy (Zach Galligan), finds the creature cute.  He starts calling him Gizmo.  His father gives him the three warnings that taking care of Gizmo will require: Avoid light, especially sun light.  Don’t get him wet.  Don’t feed him after midnight.

As you can imagine, those rules get broken.  As Billy tries to figure out what is happening, the new creatures begin to change.  What will happen?

This movie originally came out in 1984, and is rated PG.  The sequel, which came out in 1990, was rater PG-13.  I think that’s probably about the right rating for the movie, so keep that in mind before you go to watch it.

Knowing very little about the movie before I sat down to watch it, I was surprised at just how much the movie was tied into Christmas.  There are carols in the soundtrack.  The third act takes place on Christmas Eve.  There are decorations everywhere.

Despite this, it is definitely not what I would consider a Christmas movie.  Then again, I lean toward the heartwarming movies during that season, not the mayhem we get here.  The gremlins that grow are pretty horrible to look at, for example.  They fit the film, but it isn’t Christmassy.  But I know others enjoy some mayhem with their holiday, so they will probably go for it.

I’m not sure I would quite label this as horror.  It’s more fantasy thriller, at least to me.  But I could see this being an intro to horror film.  Having said that, we do get some deaths.  Nothing too graphic, at least in the TV version I watched.  I can’t imagine there would be in a PG movie.

Overall, I was a little underwhelmed with the movie.  It was obvious to us early on something bad was going to happen, and it took quite a while for that to happen.  Once it does, the movie picks up.  The characters are only okay.  The creatures are the real star, and the characters just serve the plot.

This isn’t a reflection on the actors.  They are under served by the script.

This movie reflects 1984 technology.  For example, the creatures are all puppets of some kind, and we mostly see them in close ups, only occasionally in the scene with the actors.  Their movements are jerky.  Again, I get it, that’s what was available at the time.  But it is certainly dated at this point.

I’m glad I finally watched Gremlins.  And yes, I’m still curious about the sequel (even though it is, you know, a sequel).  But I have no desire to watch this movie again in the future, be it Christmas or Halloween.

Book Review: Five Golden Wings by Donna Andrews (Meg Langslow #38)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Great characters, laughs, and Christmas spirit

Cons: Mystery could have been a little stronger, but it’s a minor issue

The Bottom Line:

Two Christmas weddings

Bring chaos before murder

Laughs, holiday cheer

Dueling Weddings and Murder at Christmas

At this point, it’s a tradition for me to read Donna Andrews’s latest Meg Langslow Christmas Mystery in the middle of December. While the mysteries don’t always revolve around the holiday these days, the Christmas spirit is still strong. The latest, Five Golden Wings, is a perfect example of that. 

If you have missed this long running series, it follows Meg and her extended circle of family and friends. They are mostly set is a small college town in Virginia. While this is book 38 in the series, you can mostly pick these up in random order and enjoy time with these characters. 

This book finds Meg and her mother helping to organize two weddings for two of Meg’s younger cousins set to take place the Saturday before Christmas. Unfortunately, these young women are constantly feuding, so the weddings are taking place back-to-back, even though they are sharing the venues. The two brides bring nothing but drama in the days leading up to their events, and that’s before Meg finds the wedding photographer dead. Unfortunately, the suspect list is long, including members of the bridal party. Can Meg figure out what happened?

As you can see, the plot doesn’t really revolve around Christmas. Having said that, I have had friends who got married this time of year, so Christmas weddings are a thing. And the book still infuses Christmas into the story with some subplots and talk about Christmas traditions. At this point, mentioning some of these things are enough to make me smile since they’ve played larger parts in previous books. They feel like my traditions, too.

The mystery itself got over shadowed a bit by the wedding drama. The resolution, while logical was a bit abrupt. 

But I didn’t mind because I was having fun. Any fan of the series will tell you these books will make you smile and laugh, and this one is no exception. Some of the wedding stuff was pure gold. 

And there are the characters. At this point, Meg’s family, at least the ones we see regularly, feels like my family, and it’s so wonderful to spend time around them. The new characters are just as entertaining. There may not be too much growth from one book to the next, but I don’t mind. They work for this series, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Visiting these characters, especially this time of year, is like wrapping up in a warm blanket. If you are looking for a great cozy mystery to enjoy this time of year, you won’t go wrong with Five Golden Wings. 

Here are the rest of the Meg Langslow Mysteries. 

December 21st's Sunday/Monday Post

Welcome to this week's Sunday/Monday Post, where I will be linking up to:

Sunday Post
Sunday Salon
Stacking the Shelves
Mailbox Monday
It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

This week was definitely better at work. Calmer and I was able to focus on what I needed to. In fact, I even worked on something that I don’t need to do until January!  Hoping to do a bit more of that working ahead this coming week. 

If only the getting ready for Christmas were going as well. I keep finding things to distract me from wrapping presents, like my friend inviting me to join her dinner and games group Tuesday night. Or blog work. But I finished that Friday night before midnight! (It was 11:45).

And on Monday I finally had a plumber come for what I thought was going to be a simple but annoying recurring job. It turned into something major he will have to come back and tackle in January. Which means I will have to take down Christmas decorations as soon as Christmas is over so I can organize some stuff so he has access to what he needs. I’m not looking forward to that at all. I like keeping my decorations up until mid-January before I start thinking about taking them down. I’m just trying to remind myself how nice it will be when they are all down since I dread the undecorating. Which is another reason I often don’t start taking them down until mid-January.

Joke of the Week:

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: The Hunger Games - The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Tuesday - Book Review: At Death's Dough by Mindy Quigley

Wednesday - Ornament Review: Deck the Shelves

Thursday - Book Review: Home for the Homicides by Rosalie Spielman

Friday - Movie Review: Meet Me in St. Louis

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Book Review: Five Golden Wings by Donna Andrews

Tuesday - Movie Review: Gremlins

Wednesday - Ornament Review: Season's Treatings #17

Thursday - Merry Christmas!

Friday - Movie Review: Double Indemnity

Saturday - TV Show Review: Step by Step - Season 1

Book Haul:

Despite what I said last week, I’ve got two books to tell you about. Because I got two ARCs. 

The first is Lime and Punishment, the fifth in the Fatal Food Festival Mysteries by Cathy Wiley. This time, the main character is in the Florida Keys. I love this series, so I’m looking forward to it. The book actually came out this week, but I’m going to be reading it for review next month. Which is next year. Crazy to think about, isn’t it?

The other book is Buried in Shamrocks by Lisa Q. Matthews. This is the second in her Irish Bed and Breakfast Mysteries. Appropriately enough, it will come out close to St. Patrick’s Day at the end of February, so I’ll be reading it for review then. I’m looking forward to getting to know the characters a little better. 

What I'm Currently Reading:

I’m actually posting my last book review of the year tomorrow. So I decided to reread some to finish out the year. Specifically, I’m rereading Elizabeth George Speare. I finished The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which I enjoyed all over again. Now, I’m working on The Bronze Bow, which was my introduction to her books. I was hoping to get The Sign of the Beaver in as well, but I don’t get as much read typically when I’m with my family, so I might decide to save that one for later and start on 2026 books. That way, I don’t start the new year stressed about my reading.

And how crazy is it that we are looking at 2026!

Anyway, that’s it for me. Hope you have a Merry Christmas or happy whatever holiday you celebrate. 

December 20th's Weekly TV Thoughts

Percy Jackson and the Olympians – The books can be very episodic, which works well for this form for storytelling.  I know the story moved forward.  I just have to be patient as the quest slowly gets us to the real confrontation.  Not that I didn’t enjoy it.  But it feels like a side quest episode even though we got the information about the prophecy from Luke and made Anabeth question things.

Survivor – I finally figured out one reason why I couldn’t keep the women who wound up in the final three separate in my mind.  They all have names starting with S.  I guess I should have paid closer attention all along.  Pretty good finale, overall.  Entertaining season.  Not sure it was one of the best, but it’s hard to have a bad season of the show.

The Challenge – I fast forwarded through some of those screaming matches.  But I appreciated hearing a bit more about the mini-final.  Wish more people would have fessed up. 

Happy’s Place – I knew what the first twist was going to be, but still enjoyed how it was delivered.  And I really enjoyed how it played out.  It wasn’t quite as predictable as I thought it would be.  I guessed early on where the subplot was going, especially since they’d talked about the guest stars in the ads for this episode.  Still, enjoyed seeing them.  All told, another solid episode.