Mystery

Only Murders in the Building – White Room

  • Title: Only Murders in the Building – White Room
  • wiki: link

“White Room” takes its name from the multiple panic-induced breaks from reality Charles (Steve Martin) suffers while trying to get the patter song down for the play and deal with the realization he may have made a mistake in asking Joy (Andrea Martin) to move in with him. In each episode, Charles blacks out finding himself in a peaceful white room only to return to his consciousness to the horror (or, in the final example, delight) of what he’s done during his blackout. Although we don’t see exactly what Charles did during each of his episodes, the disgust of Oliver (Martin Short) and the others is certainly suggestive. The end of the episode’s realization that Joy the trio’s new prime suspect in Ben‘s (Paul Rudd) murder isn’t likely to calm him.

Only Murders in the Building – White Room Read More »

A Haunting in Venice

  • Title: A Haunting in Venice
  • IMDb: link

Kenneth Branagh stars and directs in his third adaptation of a Hercule Poirot mystery, this time Agatha Christie‘s 1969 novel Hallowe’en Party. Quite different from the novel, screenwriter Michael Green plays up a supernatural element to the story allowing the film to make use of a host of horror tropes. Relocating the story to Venice, where Poirot (Branagh) has apparently retired, the detective gets dragged into attending a Halloween party and séance by old friend and mystery author Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) who made them both famous after basing her fictional detective off of Poirot.

A Haunting in Venice Read More »

Amsterdam

  • Title: Amsterdam
  • IMDb: link

Loosely based on real events, David O. Russell‘s uneven film follows the travails of three friends and survivors of World War I (Christian Bale, John David Washington, and Margot Robbie) who for a time lived together in Amsterdam before being reunited later in New York and embroiled in a murder mystery involving a poisoned general (Ed Begley Jr.) and the daughter (Taylor Swift) who police mistakenly believe the two men pushed in front of a moving car. True events involve a mysterious organization and their plans to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Amsterdam Read More »

Only Murders in the Building – Grab Your Hankies

  • Title: Only Murders in the Building – Grab Your Hankies
  • wiki: link

The first episode of the season to stay completely in the present moves forward the threads of both the play and murder as Oliver (Martin Short) works furiously to turn his failed Broadway return into a musical, Charles (Steve Martin) hunts for a cast member without their hanky, and Mabel (Selena Gomez) spends a little time with documentarian Tobert (Jesse Williams) when the pair catch each other snooping for clues to Ben‘s (Paul Rudd) death. By the end of the episode, the show has new life and the podcast has a new suspect in Kimber (Ashley Park) who, given how early the season is highlighting her, suggests she is likely not the killer despite evidence of jealous rage, potential motive for the crime, and a missing handkerchief. 

Only Murders in the Building – Grab Your Hankies Read More »

Only Murders in the Building – The Beat Goes On

  • Title: Only Murders in the Building – The Beat Goes On
  • wiki: link

“The Beat Goes On” offers flashbacks to early days of rehearsal while in the present events surrounding Ben‘s (Paul Rudd) funeral put Charles (Steve Martin) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) in harms way chasing down leads to the murder. Meanwhile, the failure of Oliver‘s (Martin Short) comeback brings on a heart attack. The episode is notable for revealing the issue Ben had with Charles, Oliver’s dream sequence leading to an epiphany and a way to save the play, and Charles and Mabel deciding that (once again) the police have the wrong man and the true murderer is part of the theatrical production Oliver has now saved. I’m just guessing, but I don’t think this was the low-stress situation his doctor recommended.

Only Murders in the Building – The Beat Goes On Read More »