Murder on the Orient Express

[Noel]

Went to see this movie yesterday.  Despite being warned beforehand by some relatives it wasn't great, we both quite enjoyed it.  Forgettable perhaps but great entertainment and stunning cinematography. Stellar cast and in particular Michelle Pfeiffer was superb.  The fact the movie was filmed on a choo-choo train was an added bonus.

[jhb171achill]

I wonder what the train was? Looked American. The Penn Central logo was on one internal lamp.

The steam engine didn't look real. The station looked American........anyone?

[Broithe]

31 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

I wonder what the train was? Looked American. The Penn Central logo was on one internal lamp.

The steam engine didn't look real. The station looked American........anyone?

Some details - http://www.atlasofwonders.com/2017/10/murder-orient-express-filming-locations.html

[leslie10646]

Thanks, Broithe for that link. I knew that Belfast's favourite acting son had built the train in a studio, but didn't realise that it was within eight miles of where I'm typing this - Longcross is a former MOD establishment now used by various indistries, including, and this was new to me, a film studio.

Shame on me, when my other half asked me what the loco was, I thought it entirely CGI stuff, but it turns out that they DID use a real train for some shots - a French  Chemin de fer de l'Est 4-8-2 - really serious engines - and there is, indeed, one preserved in Switzerland.

Now I'll have to see the film a THIRD time to work out which scenes were computer-generated and which"the real thing"!

Personally, I'd give the film eight out of ten - some very good acting, Branagh, of course, Johnny Depp was superb as the baddie who meets a grisly end, nice cameo roles by two favourites of mine - Willem Dafoe and Derek Jacobi. 

If you haven't seen it, take your other half - although she may not like to see the girls' heart-throb Depp being butchered!

[Broithe]

Initially, I wondered if jhb was involved in the CGI stuff, as there was such attention to colours, but then I realised that everything was the right way up...

[jhb171achill]

10 hours ago, Broithe said:

Initially, I wondered if jhb was involved in the CGI stuff, as there was such attention to colours, but then I realised that everything was the right way up...

Not if you stand on your head to read it, Broithe!  :-)

(What's CGI?)

[Weshty]

Branagh decided to film with the last four 65mm cameras in the world.  That's a sobering thought.  Digital really has taken over.

 

Computer Generated Imagery-  done badly, it looks worse than a cartoon.  Done well and it's jaw dropping.

https://screenrant.com/worst-cgi-fails-big-budget-movies/

 

 

Edited December 2, 2017 by Weshty

[steventrain]

Marklin 3Rails/trix 2Rails production as limited series. Price  RRP 599 EUR.

But all sellout to orders. Sold out at factory. Some on ebay but nearly 1000 EUR.

 

[Noel]

Film and Brass are both yesteryear technologies.   I was one of the slowest to migrate from film to DSLR, but now my smartphone takes most of my pics and frankly they are usually as good as my daft lump iron DSLR except when I need a telephoto or ultra wide lens.

Anyway, enjoyed the visual feast that was the movie even if it was vanilla Agatha Christie.

[Broithe]

1 hour ago, jhb171achill said:

(What's CGI?)

It would have been a Tipperary South registration, about 1985/6.

[jhb171achill]

2 hours ago, Weshty said:

Branagh decided to film with the last four 65mm cameras in the world.  That's a sobering thought.  Digital really has taken over.

65mm cameras? That's very small - they'd fit on a layout!

[Weshty]

51 minutes ago, Broithe said:

It would have been a Tipperary South registration, about 1985/6.

Dadoom'tish!

[jhb171achill]

Incidentally, there was a fundamental error in the plot.

As Poirot put together the final scenes and drew the conclusion that they were all involved, a re-enactment of what he suggested had happened was shown. When the body was first discovered, Poirot had used his cane to break open a locked door. So it was locked from the inside. But at the end, the lady who left the compartment after stabbing him, just closed the door behind her - she obviously couldn't lock it from the inside - from outside!

The corridors were WAY too wide for any train.

No European carriages ever had the massive balconies shown on the end coach. This is / was an American thing.

American influence was clear in the CGI imagery as far as railway infrastructure went.

But - the shade of blue on the carriages was spot on!