Movie review: The Thursday Murder Club

The Thursday Murder Club is based on a book by Richard Osman. Four retirees at the rather sumptuous Cooper’s Chase retirement home entertain themselves by technically solving cold case murders, as the eponymous Thursday Murder Club, until a real murder happens in their village. The murder of the property owner threatens their home as the property reverts to a co-developer. This nasty piece of work is intent on pulling down the wonderful old building and developing luxury apartments. Until he ends up dead too and it is discovered there is a third owner… The plot thickens. The police, while not exactly inept, find themselves obliged to accept the help of these enterprising OAPs, since they seem to know more than the police do. There are shoals of red herrings, loads of cosy murder tropes, and a wonderful script with top acting. It is a must-watch.

Fittingly, the movie arrived on my entertainment channel on Thursday, and I was eager to watch. Let’s talk about the setting. The retirement home boggles the mind. The only retirement homes I have ever seen are bland, okayish, not very deluxe outfits, but I am sure more luxurious ones do exist. The interior of Cooper’s Chase is positively palatial. It is like a giant Highclere on Laura Ashley steroids. Very English, lots of riotously patterned wallpaper, lots of ornaments, fireplaces, bookshelves, antiques, the works. The building itself is Englefield House in Berkshire, with some rooms ‘dressed’ for the filming, although the place is so gorgeous I have no idea what they would need to do. The adorable village with charming old buildings was filmed in the real-life village of Aldbury.

With top actors one can hardly go wrong and I am sure that this was a doddle for director Chris Columbus. Helen Mirren is Elizabeth, a sharp, driven, intelligent woman who one suspects worked for MI6. She did. Ron, who was a union leader, is played by Pierce Brosnan in a bluff, hearty manner. Ron is very sad that his son has ended up on TV entertainment like Dancing on Ice after an injury ended his stellar sporting career. I felt this casting was the only one that jarred. Brosnan is a good actor who is game for any part, but it did not work for me. Sir Ben Kingsley offers a lovely, detailed portrait of retired psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif. I just loved watching his expressions and gestures. He is a fine actor. Celia Imrie plays Joyce Meadowcroft, a retired nurse who is invited to join the club because she was a nurse and would know about blood and wounds. I’ve seen this actress play saucier, naughtier roles, so I was surprised she went for this simple part of a not very special person who is a dab hand at baking the most delicious cakes. However, watch for the scene where the sketching group are portraying a semi-nude male model of glorious proportions. In the film, the model is draped. In Joyce’s sketch, he is not….

The police. Not quite the Keystone Cops but Daniel Mays always bring an aura of hilarious and chaotic disarray to his policeman characters. Please watch The Magpie Murders…. In this movie, Mays is DCI Chris Hudson, rumpled, often confused, loves cake, and defers to his junior, the very competent PC Donna de Freitas ably played by Naomi Ackie. The remaining characters are well cast. The second property owner is played with maniacal nastiness and intensity by David Tennant. He is so awful (in a good way) that I was relieved to see him drop dead. Literally. A special mention must go to Jonathan Pryce as Stephen Best, Elizabeth’s husband, who is teetering on the verge of dementia with good days and bad days. What a beautiful, finely tuned performance. This proves the adage that there are no small parts…

I was captivated and transported into the fictional world of Fairhaven. Maybe it’s because the actors are such professionals that they made it seem easy. There are some hilarious scenes. Old people can be very funny. Old people are not the walking dead. They have life and vigour and likes and needs, just as they did when younger. It is a real eye-opener on senior citizens. A big plus for me is the total lack of wokery. I am so fed up with the UK production houses forcing an artificially conceived idea of demographics down an audience’s throat. Maybe the author got his way? The cast was honestly representative of British society. No men in dresses too, always a relief. No pink hair, no nose rings, and no one spouting on about feeling ‘fearful and unsafe’ etc. I can only imagine what Elizabeth would say to that. I’ve read several reviews that sneered at various aspects of this production, and they get it wrong. This movie is not pretending to be anything more than a cosy murder mystery with wonderful, relatable, realistic characters that anyone would just love. I will certainly be watching it again. And maybe even again…. Turn off your phone, make a cuppa, open a packet of biscuits and settle in for some serious sleuthing.

Movie review: The Man Who Invented Christmas

On Christmas Day, in keeping with the theme, I decided that the movie du jour should be The Man who Invented Christmas. This star-studded cast boasts some acting greats such as Christopher Plummer, Ian McNeice, Simon Callow, Donald Sumpter, Jonathan Pryce, Bill Paterson, and Miriam Margolyes. The story this time is not A Christmas Carol, the most beloved Christmas tale, but the story behind the story; how Charles Dickens came to write this 1843 novella. It makes for very interesting viewing, especially if one is a writer. The plot of the movie revolves around how Dickens, facing financial failure, conceives of and writes the story in just six weeks. He comes up with names, characters, ideas, and plot twists based on the people and events around him. But soon one wonders if the author is writing the book, or the characters are writing the book…

Dan Stevens plays Dickens rather frenetically as the somewhat self-absorbed, eccentric author who can’t stand failure and/or criticism, and very nearly loses his friends and family while he wallows in the mire of writer’s block and the pressure of creating a new work. The characters appear in his imagination but very quickly assume more corporeal proportions and offer their opinions of him, his attitudes, his character, his behaviour, and his words. Chistopher Plummer is utterly superb as Ebenezer Scrooge, a mean old scoundrel who knows the value of a penny but not of love. Can he change? Will he survive the three phantom visitations? I can’t think of any other actor being able to play Scrooge with the nuances that Plummer gives the character. He is brilliant. The excellent supporting cast is too large to mention everyone, but Donald Sumpter is wonderful as the ghost of Jacob Marley. 

The sets are fantastic as well, giving the right atmosphere and ambiance, with famous names of the era dropped in here and there. The audience is transported right into Victorian Engand. The scenes are well fleshed out, giving background to the period, and highlighting some of the sadder social issues. Dickens, as a writer and social critic, highlights the issues and desperate plight of the poor at the time. The movie epilogue says that Charles Dickens changed the way people viewed Christmas and revived the spirit of goodwill and giving. A bit of research shows that yes, the novel was so wildly popular that it reinvigorated the Christmas season and people’s interest in an ancient custom. Is it worth watching? Absolutely, it's a must-see. Stevens is chaotic in his interpretation of Dickens but the solid cast and superb performances, plus the poignant nature of the story, make this an excellent movie to both enjoy and ponder a little more thereon. This is a perennial Christmas movie the family can watch year after year without tiring of it.