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What are the hallmarks of a best-selling Agatha Christie novel? Crisp, accessible prose and memorable characters culminate into classic murder mysteries that have stood the test of time. There's also a sprinkling of clever sleight of hand, where subtle, essential clues are peppered right up to the big reveal hiding in plain sight. Although her stories make little space for what might be termed as morally grey, this very insistence on treating morality as an easily definable standard grants us comfort in a messy, volatile world. This is also why Christie's brand of escapist fiction makes for good adaptations, with figures like Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple steering these quasi-fantastical detective stories.

Christie's oeuvre has been adapted across mediums, including film, from 1928's mystery drama "The Passing of Mr. Quinn" to the more recent Kenneth Branagh-helmed "A Haunting in Venice." In terms of television adaptations, a chunk...

Marlene Dietrich in Witness For The Prosecution, Albert Finney in Murder On The Orient Express, Maggie Smith in Evil Under The Sun, Kenneth Branagh in Murder On The Orient ExpressGraphic: United Arists/Emi Films/20th Century Fox

It makes sense that filmmakers have been turning to Agatha Christie for source...

If you thought you'd seen the last of Hercule Poirot, think again. Agatha Christie's famous Belgian detective, who has appeared in countless of her mystery novels, returns in "A Haunting in Venice," which is set to premiere on Sept. 15. The movie is based on Christie's 1969 novel "Hallowe'en Party," which revolves around Poirot embroiled in another murder mystery. The original story takes place at a Halloween party, while the upcoming adaptation sees the detective at a séance.

"A Haunting in Venice" coproducer and director Kenneth Branagh is set to reprise his role as Poirot for the third time in the upcoming film. He first made his debut as Poirot in the star-studded 2017 film "Murder on the Orient Express." Five years later, he returned as Poirot in the 2022 movie "Death on the Nile," which also had a stacked cast. The third film in the Branagh trilogy will also feature huge stars...

'And Then There Were None' movie with Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, June Duprez, Louis Hayward and Roland Young. 'And Then There Were None' movie remake to be directed by Oscar nominee Morten Tyldum One of the best-known Agatha Christie novels, And Then There Were None will be getting another big-screen transfer. 20th Century Fox has acquired the movie rights to the literary suspense thriller first published in the U.K. (as Ten Little Niggers) in 1939. Morten Tyldum, this year's Best Director Academy Award nominee for The Imitation Game, is reportedly set to direct. The source for this story is Deadline.com, which adds that Tyldum himself “helped hone the pitch” for the acquisition while Eric Heisserer (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010, The Thing 2011) will handle the screenplay adaptation. And Then There Were None is supposed to have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, thus holding the...

Annette Bening looks older. Well, hurrah for that! It's a rare but pleasurable example of a woman my age in a Hollywood film

The Kids Are All Right has several things going for it. Close behind Mark Ruffalo at his most adorably Ruffaloesque, Julianne Moore's scrumptious rump and the title being The Kids Are All Right and not The Kids Are Alright, is the rare but pleasurable spectacle of a woman my age up on screen in big close-up. We haven't seen much of Annette Bening of late, and apparently she's been too busy rearing children to worry about getting lifted or Botoxed, because she looks older. Well, hurrah for that! That's what my neck looks like too!

There are, of course, inevitable online comments by wet-eared oiks who sneer: "She's beginning to look like the Crypt Keeper." But this is what fiftysomething females look like, tykes, so get over it.