“Killers of the Flower Moon” is an exotic title for a book. However, these killers were on American soil and the subject of a 2017 book (non-fiction) by David Grann. It was a hit book and now progressing into the “hit film” stage as it opens around the country. Director Martin Scorsese (known especially for “Goodfellas”), now into his eighties, and with Eric Roth, adapted the book into a screenplay that runs four hours. No break here as in epics of the past such as “Ben-Hur." You sit all the way through. What is the subject that intrigues everyone so? The systematic killing of Oklahoma’s Osage Indians to gain control of the oil found on their properties. In other words, greed is the name of the game, and it is brutal, indeed. The main characters are Robert De Niro and Leonardo Di Caprio, who have worked with Martin Scorsese before. De Niro is William King Hale, who owns much land in Oklahoma and wants more in whatever way he can. Leonard Di Caprio as Hale’s nephew, who isn’t the brightest bulb in the box and does what he is told like a robot. Then there is Mollie, an Osage Indian woman and is played eloquently by Lily Gladstone, who becomes Leo’s wife and the word “love” is in question. Around these characters flows black gold and those eager for more of it, no matter what.

against mankind. This topic is becoming commonplace now and the film, “The Creator” is another film with that topic. Oh, special effects are fine and you can coast along on that for an hour or so, but beyond, the storyline is rather confusing, and at the end is a thud. John David Washington (“Tenet”) has the lead role of Joshua, a government agent. In Biblical times, Joshua was a leader who fought with unusual tactics, and this future is unusual

Several years ago, I saw a Hercule Poirot mystery on PBS television. Poirot was played by the excellent David Suchet who has portrayed Poirot the longest. He has the acting down pat and the moustache, also. This production was entitled “Halloween” and about a young woman, in England, who said she had witnessed a murder years before as a child. The scene was an apple-bobbing party and the next day, the young woman was found dead. Fast Forward and today we have “A Haunting in Venice” with the same theme, except the location. Kenneth Branagh, who directed the last two “Hercule Poirot” films (“Murder on the Orient Express” and “Death On The Nile”) also directs “A Haunting in Venice,” plus playing Hercule Poirot, Unfortunately, Branagh’s moustache in this movie takes over every scene and sometimes enters the room before he does. As with Agatha Christie mysteries, there is evil afoot and Hercule Poirot, master detective, is on the prowl. Christie also wrote about an inquisitive elderly lady, Miss Marple, who managed to solve crimes literally from her back yard. Margaret Rutherford played Miss Marple then.

The Expendables are mercenaries who have their own plane and go to far off places helping those in need. Each member has a specialty from technical to fire arms to body defense to explosives to whatever is needed at the time. There is a leader and here it is Sylvester Stallone (“Tulsa King”) who plays Barney Ross. If this group of films will continue, this is Stallone’s last film as “Barney,”