The Thursday Murder Club Movie Review

   

Since I have posted two reviews in the last couple of days, one about a book and the other about a movie, I figured I ought to do a movie review that is based on a novel written by Richard Osman back in 2020 titled The Thursday Murder Club. The adaptation to the big screen was a written screenplay by Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcote. The movie was directed by Chris Columbus. Yes that Chris Columbus who directed Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire, the first 3 Harry Potter movies and my personal favorite screenplay he wrote The Goonies back in 1985.

I have had this movie on my watchlist since August 22 of last year with the intent to read the book first and then watch the movie on Netflix. I have a long TBR list and wanted to see this movie because I have heard a lot of people have liked this story. The film is 2 hours long so I figured what the heck because I hoped it would at least be 90% of the material discussed in the book. I have talked with several people who had seen this movie after reading the book. The comments made about it was that the movie did justice to the book and I need to watch it and save my time reading the printed copy. 

The Thursday Murder Club stars Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie, David Tennant and several other supporting cast member actors. Mirren plays Elizabeth Best a retired sleuth. Brosnan plays Ron Ritchie a retiree. Kingsley plays, Professor Ibrahim Arif, as retired psychologist. Imrie plays a retired trauma nurse, Joyce Meadowcroft. Finally, Tennant plays Ian Ventham the co-owner of Cooper’s Chase.

The movie starts out with the viewers seemingly dropping in on a group of elderly amateur sleuths with a wide range of past experiences to give them abilities to solve murders. Their favorite cases were for their club called the Thursday Murder Club. They meet every month at the Cooper’s Chase retirement home and village where all of the characters of the story live.

As the murder club uncovers the clues and opens further the investigations that bring about other complications. One of the owners of Cooper’s Chase tragically is murdered. What a perfect time for this sleuthing club, to not only work on their cold case from 1973, but to help try to find the killer of their landlord of the property Ventham.

While this movie is just 2 hours long, it seems to be going at a fast pace revealing multiple layers to each character introduced and the parts they all play to the ultimate conclusions of all plots and subplots. I believe this movie has a good continuity throughout which is probably helped by the novelist Osman to be one of the executive producers of the film. However, it seemed to be a little too short of a movie and the ending was abruptly transpired but left open for a sequel so that is a positive.

I was very intrigued and invested with every character, setting and the flow of the picture from beginning to end. Finding out the important necessity of every person involved has made me want to possibly go back and read the actual novel and the subsequent novels in the Thursday Murder Club series. This movie is definitely worth watching. It is a Netflix co-production so you can find it on their service. What ratings do I give it? A thumbs up and 4.5 out of 5 stars because of the ending and the cinematography and direction by Columbus, giving the movie purpose and interesting qualities. I would love to hear your comments about this movie and if you have read the book or watched it. Please leave a comment below.

Matchbox The Movie Review

 
This week I watched Matchbox the Movie on Apple TV that premiered last week on the streaming service on October 9, 2026. It stars John Cena as Sean, Jessica Biel as Aimee, Arturo Castro as Ted, Sam Richardson as Crosby and Teyonah Parris as Charmaine as grown up versions of the kids that start at the story’s beginning. While growing up in a small town of Cartersville, Sean, Aimee, Ted, Crosby and Charmaine form a club as friends called the Matchbox club. They loved playing with all types of Matchbox cars and vehicles. This movie even tells of the fact of how the term Matchbox was coined many years prior by old man Smalley that ran a garage to fix cars and a great place for the kids to hang out after school. 

    Sean, as we find out early in the film, has a crush on Aimee and finds out she really loves one particular 1969 Chevy Camaro SS die cast. She also drops hints about it. Sean, as a boy, gets cold feet twice when he was trying to give her that die cast car he purchased for her.  When his dad tells him they have to move, his opportunity ended. Will he ever see her again?  Fast forward to an unknown point in the future. We see John Cena on screen and determine he is Sean and he is working on some kind of international mission or case. We find out soon that Sean Walker is an undercover spy and is unfortunately reunited with his childhood friends and they have to work together to save the world.

The special effects and camera work in this movie are very well done. There were a few mistakes I found at various points but it did not ruin the flow of the story and the writing for this blockbuster movie just made for Apple TV. John Cena does an excellent job leading this good cast and the surprising performances of Jessica Biel and Teyonah Parris showing woman power. Finally, the director of this movie Sam Hargrave, has a history being known as a stuntman and actor working alongside the Russo Brothers on many of their projects. I know he has directed in the past but Matchbox the Movie will stand out for me as a very good family movie with no a lot of bad language which is a very important point for this movie. This film is not a 10 out of 10 and a stand out as one of the greatest of all time, but it is really good for your collection to watch one day and maybe a few more times for things you might miss watching the first time. 

 My rating is a 8 out of 10. It is worth watching with a family or a date. I would say kids 12 years and up can see this Matchbox film. Sorry I did not get a review out last week but with the Hurricane in the Southeast I wanted to double up this week. Look for another over the next couple of days.

The Ghostwriter Book Review

 

     Before I start discussing this novel by A. R. Torre or Alessandra Torre as some version of The Ghostwriter was published under, there are several very sensitive topics and scenes written that might not be read, discussed or have thoughts about as clearly as this manuscript. This review needs an asterisk and warning ahead. I hope that you will continue with my take on this suspense / psychological thriller story. Also you need to know that I listened to the audiobook version and have not read a word so comments you might have should be taken through that set of lenses.

While the story starts out with the main character of Helena Ross a very successful New York bestsellers romance novelist, finding out that she has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Brain Cancer. Helena had a husband and daughter in her past and now that she is faced with the thought of dying, she wants to write one more final manuscript to be published with a ghostwriter’s help. This novel is unlike anything she has written before because this is her story that needs to be told. This story will be a suspense and not a romance like all her others.

The pacing of this book is very slow at first and then the speed picks up for about half of the novel. After that, the pacing changes with some of it necessary. For example, Helena has to explain why her daughter is not around. Another is the first time Helena meets her nemesis Marka Vantly that she has despised but realizes that she still needs her to write the last great book for her legacy to be completely finalized, releasing her for the afterlife. Marka is brilliant in her storytelling she believes. When the reality of everything starts setting in and Helena can’t be the OCD controlling mean witch, this is when she has mysteries unveiled to her which is a foreshadowing of all the plots, lies and mysteries that she herself will unload as she writes alongside Marka Vantly who really is a man named Mark.

The subjects discussed through the narrative first person by Helena on why the past is actually really horrible with crimes committed by several people. The more you read the book or listen in my case, I could not stop and wanted to know what bad things her husband did to people in his past. The consequences for actions by people to people and against people is clearly discussed. Does the old adage “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words they can not hurt me” really apply and mean something? Torre addresses that along with other sensitive topics of death and smoke and mirrors through Helena. Helena shows throughout this shocking unwound story she writes with Mark’s help how decisions impact lives lost. The final takeaway I get from this whole novel is to make the most of your life. Always tell the truth even if it is stranger than fiction. The Ghostwriter is a contemporary fiction or psychological fiction. I give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I would be cautious about reading this story if you get triggered by death, murder or abuse in any form or trying to make your life seem all right even if you are wrong in your approach.

The Brink of War Movie Review

    In my continuation of the theme of 250th Anniversary of the United States of America this year, I will discuss the movie The Brink of War starring Jeff Daniels as President Ronald Reagan, Jared Harris as Mikhail Gorbachev and J K Simmons as George Schultz the Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan. It was a thorough account of the famous negotiated talks between the two biggest leaders of power in the world at the time. This movie originally came out into theaters on August 14, 2026. It was later made available on streaming services on September 1 of this year to Amazon Prime, Fandango and other services. This movie was released by Angel Studios. Angel has their own streaming service and this was the platform I chose to watch the movie last night.

The Brink of War was directed by Michael Russell Gunn who is known for being a producer in Hollywood. Mr. Gunn has also produced and helped write the acclaimed tv series Designed Survivor that premiered on ABC starring Kiefer Sutherland showing the behind the scenes of what happens in the United States government during the President’s State of the Union speeches and what could happen in what if scenarios. Finally, he has also worked as a producer on the TV show Billions on Showtime and has had many years of experience in Hollywood. 

His just released directorial debut film that discusses the 1986 Cold War, The Brink of War was his first time behind a feature film as a director and producer for the big screen in his directorial debut that discusses about the 1986 Cold War Reykjavik Summit between the 2 world leaders. Because of his extensive work dealing with Presidential historical moments, I believe Mr. Gunn did a good job bringing the famous story most historians know about the famous Cold War negotiations between the United States President Reagan and General Secretary for the Soviet Union Gorbachev in Reykjavik, Iceland. A historical fact is the movie was really played out in the actual house used by those famous leaders. I would assume the actors and film crews there must have had goosebumps knowing they were filming at the actual spot and in the very house used back in the 1980s.

The acting in this movie was very good. It was written, directed and the cinematography was well captured and made me feel like I was actually there in that most historical set of days for the talks on Human Rights, Nuclear disarmament, the famous Star Wars or strategic arms and ABM treaty.

J K Simmons as George Schultz was surprisingly strong and well portrayed and I felt Schultz was just as intelligent and powerful as the two mighty leaders of Reagan and Gorbachev and his foreign minister counterpart.

My only negative take away by the Angel Studios film was the unnecessary bad language for a faith based and family film company. I was happy to see that Angel has offered a version of the movie that has removed the bad language for the family to watch and not be concerned of the language and adult topics if a younger audience that is watching alongside their parents.

This movie takes us through all the various levels of talk and how we were at the brink of war. This summit was not long after Reagan’s assassination attempt back in 1981. The subplot characters of Nancy Reagan played by Hope Davis and Raisa Gorbachev the wife of Mikhail Gorbachev were described in an interesting way. I was not aware of their places in these important talks. I was only 14 years old when all of this transpired and a little young to remember all of this was going on back then.

My take on The Brink of War is that it is a good movie that people should watch at least one time. It might not be a movie that is 100% accurate but it is at least 95% in the storytelling. The fact they were able to use the actual location for the filming of this very important and historic event should tell you how they were trying to get it right and be accurate as possible. I give this movie a 4.5 out of 5 stars.