Crooked Tale

When we saw the previews, we had hoped that Crooked House (2017) would be at least horror adjacent. We got a good old Agatha Christie movie, with just a smidge of horror - and a great cast.

It starts when Stefani Martini visits private detective Max Irons in post-war England. Her grandfather, a super-rich business tycoon Aristide Leonides, is dead, and she fears murder. Irons is reluctant - it seems he has history with Martini, when he was a diplomat in Cairo. But he goes along and heads out to the mansion of the title.

There he meets Leonides' various offspring, wife and ex-wives, and related hangers-on. First and foremost is Glenn Close, his sister-in-law, who is a no-nonsense gardener type lady. There's also Julian Sands writes plays for his wife. Gillian Anderson. But Leonides would never give them the money they need to produce them. They also have several children, including one who likes to spy and gossip.

Another son is Christian McKay, who has been managing the company, and doing a poor job of it, leading to low self-esteem - he's also held in low esteem by his wife.

There's also sexy showgirl Christina Hendricks, who be having an affair the children's tutor. She was also the one who administered the poison that killed her husband, although it looked like an accident.

And then people start getting killed, a new will shows up, and someone tries to kill the gossipy little girl, maybe because she knows too much.

This is all done in the most lovely luxe style. The titular house is beautiful, with the private quarters of the different sub-factions done in different, fancy styles. McKay's wife, for instance, has their quarters done in mid-Century Modern.

All in all, pretty much your standard Agatha Christie movie: High production values, some big names in the cast, and a few twists in the ending. We did not get much in the way of old-dark-housiness, but that's ok, this was fine.