Murder on the Orient Express

This has the potential to be nominated for some serious Oscars. Boasting a star-studded cast and an exciting plot, this promises to be one of the best films of 2017. It diverted some from the book at the beginning, but that was actually a better choice. In the book, I felt I was thrown in without any context, and had to figure out the settings and characters. The movie took its time getting there, in a good way, and it was all the better for it. It established the characters clearly and made it easy to suspect each one of them for different reasons. Although the acting was good, there were still a few moments that fell flat. Johnny Depp's "New York" accent in particular. It was so obviously fake. And there was one scene where two characters are having a conversation, but one's back is turned to the camera and blurry. I hate that. It distracts, and sometimes makes it hard to follow crucial bits of dialogue, especially when a character's accent is hard to understand. This movie did something I thought would never happen. It made me like Josh Gad. I've been ragging on him for years about how I find him loud and annoying, but here, that doesn't happen. Maybe it's because he's in a more serious role, as opposed to a comedic one. Maybe "comedy" is his weakness, hence why he feels the need to shout every line but when he's in a serious role such as this one, he's got some serious accting chops. I wasn't blown away by his performance, but I was at least impressed. I'll go into future roles of his with an open mind, because this proves he can be a good actor. There was also some witty dialogue and some of it very sharp and snarky. The book did not have this, and it's a welcome improvement. If you're looking for a movie to make you feel smart and sophisticated, go see this. It's mostly worth it.
Grade: A-  9/10   4/5 stars