Murder on the Orient Express and 9 other train movies you should watch

Everything is better on a train, even closeups of a spectacularly groomed mustache

A grand adventure,
Branaugh inhabits Poirot,
Transcends absolutes

The haiku review I wrote after watching Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s iconic murder mystery that debuted on Friday. The negative reviews call the film out for being unsurprising, singularly focused on its creator and even boring—one of these points is correct, one is wrong and one should be expected.

Roger Ebert’s 1974 response to Sidney Lumet’s take on the same story is as true now as it was 43 years ago,

“Murder on the Orient Express” is a splendidly entertaining movie of the sort that isn’t made anymore: It’s a classical whodunit, with all the clues planted and all of them visible, and it’s peopled with a large and expensive collection of stars.”

Branagh has made a career out of making “classical” films that are often vehicles for what appears to be a fascination with himself, but Sir Branagh’s flair for the dramatic is coupled by a wonderful and deserving talent. Anyone going to see Murder on the Orient Express, should expect nothing less from him. Ebert continues,

What I liked best…