Movie Review: The Thursday Murder Club (2025)

Genre: Crime Mystery Dramedy 

Director: Chris Columbus  

Starring: Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan, Celia Imrie, Naomi Ackie  

Running Time: 118 minutes  

Synopsis: At the Coopers Chase retirement home in England, residents Elizabeth (Helen Mirren), Ron (Pierce Brosnan), and Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley) form an amateur club to solve cold murder cases. Elizabeth has mysterious connections in the enforcement world, Ron is a former trade unionist, and Ibrahim is a retired professor. They are soon joined by new resident Joyce (Celia Imrie), a retired nurse. A controversial plan to redevelop Coopers Chase and evict the residents seems to result in a murder, and the amateur sleuths team up with police constable Donna De Freitas (Naomi Ackie) to delve into the case.

What Works Well: This is a lighthearted Agatha Christie-adjacent mystery, riding on effortless star charisma and picturesque English countryside settings. The whodunnit elements are carefully crafted, with enough peripheral but essential characters and motivations to sustain the guessing game. The sub-plots encompass a cold case involving a woman stabbed and thrown from a window, Ron's son (a former boxing contender reduced to shadowy jobs), a falling-out between business partners, a Polish handyman, and another elderly resident (and former law enforcement official) now in a coma.

What Does Not Work As Well: Lighthearted also borders on lightweight and frivolous, and the few attempts to introduce a bit of jeopardy (Elizabeth has a couple of threatening encounters) don't convince. Fun and entertaining, but never more than that.

Key Quote:

Joyce (excited): Now we've got a real case to solve, isn't that wonderful!...obviously, RIP and all that.

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Movie Review: Blink Twice (2024)

Genre: Psychological Horror  

Director: Zoë Kravitz  
Starring: Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Alia Shawkat, Geena Davis, Kyle MacLachlan, Christian Slater  
Running Time: 102 minutes  

Synopsis: Catering waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) and her friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) work a function featuring celebrity technology tycoon Slater King (Channing Tatum). He was embroiled in controversy and took a break from public life, buying an island and getting help from a therapist (Kyle MacLachlan). Frida and Jess are star-struck by Slater and his entourage, and he invites them to a fun getaway. On the island they meet fellow guest and reality TV show star Sarah (Adria Arjona), but what starts as a dream luxurious vacation soon takes a dark turn.

What Works Well: This rich-white-men-are-bad journey to hell is not short on themes. The ripe buffet of topics includes probing a culture obsessed with empty apologies; the mechanisms of sophisticated sexual abuse; the gap between forgiving and forgetting; confronting childhood trauma; celebrity obsession leading none-too-bright women to dangerous adventures in search of drinks-and-drugs good times; and the power of sisterhood. 

What Does Not Work As Well: Poorly paced, frequently bathed in darkness, overly ambitious, and lacking in likeable characters, the plot meanders for too long before finding a purpose. With competing mind-altering substances getting in each other's way, the evil intentions are revealed in defanged minimal impact snippets, courage deserting the project when needed most. The final act defaults to B-movie bloody revenge beats, and given the subject matter, the clumsy attempts at humour are misplaced.

Key Quote:

Slater: Are you having a good time?

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.