ArmieHammer – Credits Rolling

Darcy (Jennifer Lopez) and Tom (Josh Duhamel) are all set to get married in a lavish wedding in The Philippines. The walk down the aisle won’t be an easy feat, however, with their ever clashing families and Darcy’s ex Sean (Lenny Kravitz) showing up unexpectedly. As the cold feet start to slowly seep in, the unbelievable happens just hours before they’re set to say I do – the entire wedding party is taken hostage by a group of pirates and it is up to Darcy and Tom to save them before its too late.

I’d been looking forward to checking out Shotgun Wedding. Lopez, hot off her success from last year’s Marry Me is back in another action adventure romantic comedy romp, though I should mention that I preferred the former. Still, this one wasn’t awful. Her chemistry with Duhamel worked surprisingly well (I can’t help but wonder how it would have been seeing Armie Hammer in that role instead) and they certainly got themselves into some crazy predicaments. Just when things would calm down, they would ramp right back up again.

The supporting cast had some standouts too. We had Cheech Marin as Darcy’s dad Robert and D’Arcy Carden as his girlfriend Harriet, both who made for some fun moments. But it was obviously the always charming Jennifer Coolidge who stole every scene she was in. She’s been having such a brilliant year and she one hundred percent deserves it.

With the beautiful and exotic beach location backdrop, Shotgun Wedding was the perfect escapism movie. It wasn’t amazing by any means, but there were some laughs here and there and a couple twists along the way that did actually pack a punch. Easy viewing at its finest.

Rating: ♥️♥️.5

When the wealthy Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot) meets Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer), there’s no denying the sparks between them. Ending his engagement with Jackie Bellefort (Emma Mackey) so he and Linnet can tie the knot, they think they will go on to live happily ever after. Together with their friends, Linnet and Simon embark on their honeymoon where Jackie seems to be following them every step of the way. Feeling unsafe, they enlist the help of detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) to keep an eye out on things. But when the event turns deadly, everyone is a suspect.

After being delayed multiple times due to the pandemic (and the allegations made to a certain actor), Death on the Nile finally debuted in cinema this weekend. Boasting a stacked cast with the likes of Tom Bateman, Letitia Wright, Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Rose Leslie and Sophie Okonedo, this was a must see on the big screen.

While I haven’t read the Agatha Christie novel and therefore cannot compare between the two, I have to say that I enjoyed the movie. The Egyptian backdrop was absolutely stunning and gave me major wanderlust. The storyline was intricate and kept me guessing throughout. The only downfall was the great amount of characters, some of which didn’t get nearly enough screen time or backstory as I would have liked. Additionally, I felt like the mystery took too long to get going and the runtime could have been cut down a bit.

Overall, Death on the Nile was well worth the wait. For two hours I was able to forget the outside world and become enveloped in what was unfolding around me. I can only hope that there is another Poirot story to come in the near future.

Rating: ♥♥♥.5