The Hollywood planner

‘Death on the Nile’ to ‘Avatar 2’, there is a lot to look forward to at the movies

As 2021 failed to end with the disappearance of Covid-19, instead letting loose a potentially devastating new strain of the virus, we can take solace in the fact that there will always be the movies. While there are indie films aplenty, in these trying times Hollywood appears to the panacea, as evidenced by the humongous box office performance of Spider-Man: No Way Home both in India and globally.

The January release I’m most looking forward to is The 355. International agents on a quest to recover a top-secret weapon with a cast headlined by Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Penelope Cruz and Diane Kruger — what’s not to love? It’s releasing on the same day as SS Rajamouli’s RRR, so it may well be a double bill at the multiplex for me.

February brings Kenneth Branagh’s long-delayed Agatha Christie adaptation Death on the Nile, with Branagh himself as Poirot, held back thus far because of the scandal surrounding co-star Armie Hammer. While I watch it, I will ponder the existential questions, can I separate the actor from his alleged deeds, and should the work of hundreds of associates suffer because of one man?