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Agatha Christie’s life rivaled the mysteries she created

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Re: Agatha Christie’s life rivaled the mysteries she created

#31

Post by oldandtired »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #22
lobster_johnson wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the Poirot series is superb, but some of them suffer from stretching the runtime -- the best ones are about 51 minutes long, whereas the longer ones (which includes all of the last few seasons) click in at 1 hour and 29 minutes, some of which are based on short stories , not novels. As delightful as Poirot and his mysteries are, these are also admittedly somewhat shallow, implausible puzzles that rely on acti…

> the longer ones (which includes all of the last few seasons) click in at 1 hour and 29 minutes, some of which are based on short stories , not novels. What matters is how much content there is in the episode. People have gotten the idea from Peter Jackson's awful, awful Hobbit movies that pages of source material are a restriction on how much movie you can make. But the problem there was that the movies were terrib…

A personal question to you: Why and in what particular ways do you consider Peter Jackson's renditions of the The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to be so awful, awful?

I have enjoyed by stories since I first came across them 40 years ago. I thought that Peter Jackson did an excellent job on retelling the story. In point of fact, retelling it in a way that keeps the essence but is a new variation.

When I first obtained my copy of Lord of the Rings (which I still have), I read it 11 times in 8 months. I still read it when I get the urge. I have found that Peter Jackson has quite a different imaging of the story of the story compared to my own imagining and no less entertaining.

I have had people complain about the "licence" he took in the retelling, about not being true to the original writing. However, a good story teller will add to and change a story to make it more effective for his telling. That is the essence of good story telling - how you choose to emphasise various elements.

Re: Agatha Christie’s life rivaled the mysteries she created

#33

Post by Arn_Thor »

gajjanag wrote: post #17

For fans of film, essentially all of Agatha Christie's mysteries featuring the Belgian detective character Hercule Poirot have been adapted by ITV into a fantastic TV series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie's_Poirot I find it fascinating that they did this series over a span of over 24 years, with the same lead actor (David Suchet, CBE) as Hercule Poirot throughout! There is a behind the scenes intervie…

I grew up watching this series and treasure it dearly! To me it is the product of TV in its heyday. Based on a solid foundation, not explicit or overly dramatic to lure viewers, intelligent and family friendly (thanks to the source material) and lovingly produced.

I cannot count how many times I've seen it, and I look forward to share it with any future family I may have

Re: Agatha Christie’s life rivaled the mysteries she created

#34

Post by thaumasiotes »

oldandtired wrote: post #31
thaumasiotes wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the longer ones (which includes all of the last few seasons) click in at 1 hour and 29 minutes, some of which are based on short stories , not novels. What matters is how much content there is in the episode. People have gotten the idea from Peter Jackson's awful, awful Hobbit movies that pages of source material are a restriction on how much movie you can make. But the problem there was that the movies were terrib…

A personal question to you: Why and in what particular ways do you consider Peter Jackson's renditions of the The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to be so awful, awful? I have enjoyed by stories since I first came across them 40 years ago. I thought that Peter Jackson did an excellent job on retelling the story. In point of fact, retelling it in a way that keeps the essence but is a new variation. When I first obtai…

> Why and in what particular ways do you consider Peter Jackson's renditions of the The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to be so awful, awful?

A question to you: when did I say anything about The Lord of the Rings?

Re: Agatha Christie’s life rivaled the mysteries she created

#35

Post by kmonsen »

oldandtired wrote: post #31
thaumasiotes wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the longer ones (which includes all of the last few seasons) click in at 1 hour and 29 minutes, some of which are based on short stories , not novels. What matters is how much content there is in the episode. People have gotten the idea from Peter Jackson's awful, awful Hobbit movies that pages of source material are a restriction on how much movie you can make. But the problem there was that the movies were terrib…

A personal question to you: Why and in what particular ways do you consider Peter Jackson's renditions of the The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to be so awful, awful? I have enjoyed by stories since I first came across them 40 years ago. I thought that Peter Jackson did an excellent job on retelling the story. In point of fact, retelling it in a way that keeps the essence but is a new variation. When I first obtai…

I think the Peter Jackson of LOTR and the Peter Jackson from the hobbit must be two different directors.

LOTR is a pretty good adaptation, a little bit too action oriented for my tastes but it is his adaption.

The hobbit just feels stretched and with too many gimmicky scenes, IMHO of course.

The strange part is that in some ways I like the hobbit better as a book.

Re: Agatha Christie’s life rivaled the mysteries she created

#36

Post by spondyl »

kmonsen wrote: post #35
oldandtired wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A personal question to you: Why and in what particular ways do you consider Peter Jackson's renditions of the The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to be so awful, awful? I have enjoyed by stories since I first came across them 40 years ago. I thought that Peter Jackson did an excellent job on retelling the story. In point of fact, retelling it in a way that keeps the essence but is a new variation. When I first obtai…

I think the Peter Jackson of LOTR and the Peter Jackson from the hobbit must be two different directors. LOTR is a pretty good adaptation, a little bit too action oriented for my tastes but it is his adaption. The hobbit just feels stretched and with too many gimmicky scenes, IMHO of course. The strange part is that in some ways I like the hobbit better as a book.

If you watch the production diaries, you'll see exactly what went wrong.

tl;dr Guillermo del Toro was the original director with proper prep time and then Peter had to take over, without the prep time. He was winging it most of the time and making things up on the spot.

You can literally hear the above from his own mouth: https://youtu.be/SQkygZdZ_Vk

Re: Agatha Christie’s life rivaled the mysteries she created

#37

Post by lisper »

ghaff wrote: post #29
ubernostrum wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I watched the Branagh film on a recent flight. It's... OK, I guess. I'd recommend anyone who wants to see it read the book first . The twist is preserved, but in the film doesn't work quite as well. The basic problem (for those who are curious) is that the book takes you there through a couple iterations of Poirot interviewing the passengers, and showing exactly how he teases out each little piece of information that…

The whole way that Poirot/Branagh acted around the reveal and afterwards differed quite a bit from the 70s film as well. It's the main thing that knocks this version down at least a notch for me.

No one will ever surpass David Suchet's Poirot. They may as well not even try.

Re: Agatha Christie’s life rivaled the mysteries she created

#38

Post by thewhitetulip »

jacobkg wrote: post #5
lisper wrote: post #4

The essential Agatha (IMHO): The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Murder on the Orient Express Curtain Can't tell you why without spoiling it though. You have to read them.

I would add "And Then There Were None" Haven't actually read Curtain, I will now immediately go buy it!

> "And Then There Were None"

This is a fascinating book indeed.

Re: Agatha Christie’s life rivaled the mysteries she created

#39

Post by kmonsen »

spondyl wrote: post #36
kmonsen wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the Peter Jackson of LOTR and the Peter Jackson from the hobbit must be two different directors. LOTR is a pretty good adaptation, a little bit too action oriented for my tastes but it is his adaption. The hobbit just feels stretched and with too many gimmicky scenes, IMHO of course. The strange part is that in some ways I like the hobbit better as a book.

If you watch the production diaries, you'll see exactly what went wrong. tl;dr Guillermo del Toro was the original director with proper prep time and then Peter had to take over, without the prep time. He was winging it most of the time and making things up on the spot. You can literally hear the above from his own mouth: https://youtu.be/SQkygZdZ_Vk

Thanks!! That is like the most honest take I have heard, it is almost like they are a bit ashamed and want to explain what happened.

Re: Agatha Christie’s life rivaled the mysteries she created

#40

Post by stevekemp »

gajjanag wrote: post #17

For fans of film, essentially all of Agatha Christie's mysteries featuring the Belgian detective character Hercule Poirot have been adapted by ITV into a fantastic TV series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie's_Poirot I find it fascinating that they did this series over a span of over 24 years, with the same lead actor (David Suchet, CBE) as Hercule Poirot throughout! There is a behind the scenes intervie…

For some reason I've always personally preferred Miss Marple to Poirot, but again there have been a fine series of adaptations of the Marple books by the BBC:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Marple_(TV_series)

When it comes to Poirot I suspect I'm biased, because I love Inspector Morse, both the original books and the excellent ITV adaptation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_Morse_(TV_series)

For some reason I started watching Morse before I'd heard of Poirot, and the two styles are very different. I guess I preferred the one I'd seen first! (Although Morse has better music, so that's a win!)

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