weekly, Netflix Abandoned the list of top 10 movies and TV shows and in the week ending August 31, the New Crime Cloak Thursday Murder Club is the second movie on the platform. The film is a celebrity of British talent, starring Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie, is a quartet detective living in a retired family called Coopers Chase. Their pastime is to study cold murders, and when one of their (gorgeous, castle-like) living facilities is murdered, they begin to dig out their own killings.
The film, based on the novel by Richard Osman, is a classic cozy murder mystery – the British genre really stands out. Just watch long-term shows like the Murder of the Zhongci, Poirot and Inspector Morse – examples of dozens of detective performances in recent decades. Thursday’s murder club is good as an independent guy, but what shocked me was the references hidden in the movie – some obviously intentional, some perhaps by chance – all of which are fun when I look at me.
Here is your warning: If you haven’t watched the movie yet, spoilers are right ahead.
Let’s start with Helen Mirren’s character Elizabeth. Although this is already her name in the novel, Mirren throws a hat in the movie, in which he prompts Queen Elizabeth II for her hat, or her hat, in her disguise, wraps a scarf around her head, and then murders Tony Curran (Geoff Bell) (Geoff Bell), an owner of the retirement home. Her husband on screen, Jonathan Pryce, even said, “What the hell are you wearing? You look like a queen!” It feels a bit impossible on the nose, and don’t pay tribute to Mirren’s famous portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in 2006’s “The Queen”.
The fact that Pryce plays Queen Elizabeth’s husband Phillip on Netflix’s Crown is also an added meta reference in this scene. Mirren’s character is somewhat secretive about her career past, eventually revealing that she works for the British intelligence agency MI6. She also works there in the role of Red, do you know who else works for MI6? James Bond. Do you know who plays James Bond in four movies? Mirren murdered club co-star Pierce Brosnan on Thursday. Are these facts technically Easter eggs? This is controversial, but if I had a huge bulletin board, I would pin it all to illustrate how many connections there are in this movie. (This is not the first time Mirren plays a detective; one of her most famous roles is Jane Tennison, the chief inspector of detectives, in the main suspect.)
Another clever relationship found in the movie is Jason Ritchie, the son of Brosnan character Ron Ritchie.
Actors Tom Ellis and David Tennant were at the Murder Club Thursday.
It turns out that both men are suspected of murder in every angle in the film and have complex personal and professional relationships with each other, but actors Tennant and Ellis are also linked in a demonic way. Tennant plays the demon Crowley in Prime Video’s Good Memens series, while Ellis’s breakthrough character is Lucifer Morningstar in the TV series Lucifer. Both shows were developed by Neil Gaiman, whose characters are devils who arrive on Earth to cause serious damage but eventually change their minds.
Another detail hidden in sight: Ben Kingsley’s character Ibrahim John Cawleya major psychiatrist in Shutter Island. (The two doctors also seem to be wearing exactly the same clothes, bow tie, etc.)
Another interesting connection: Ruth Sheen plays the resident of Coopers Chase and Tony Curran’s aunt Aunt Maud, starring in the 2018 limited series Woman in White, based on the Victorian mystery novel of the same name, which is the name TCM, who is investigating while investigating the film. I’ll feel overwhelmed, and Celia Imrie’s character Joyce Bakes looks like the show for the Great Britain baking show. (This is not Easter eggs, which is a reminder that the new season of the baking show will premiere this Friday.)
Actors Ruth Sheen and Geoff Bell at Thursday’s Murder Club.
Thursday Murder Club is not a comedy, but a relaxing mystery, and it’s fun to play with the genre. From clever actors to overlapping investigations and hidden connections, there are many layers to this movie – if you know where to watch it. And, with five books in the series, it’s very likely that this successful film will get a sequel with more hidden gems.
