Tag: JamieDornan

A Haunting In Venice

Published on by DanielaLeave a comment

Now retired in Venice, our detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) is invited to a seance on Halloween night by author and friend Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey). What starts off as innocent fun turns deadly when one of the guests is murdered.

I’ve heard some say that this is the best Agatha Christie adaption to date and while I see the appeal, I have to disagree. In some ways, I actually preferred Death On The Nile. The pacing this time around just seemed really off to me. It took ages to get to the nitty gritty of the story and as a result threw me off indefinitely.

Another gripe I had is that some characters didn’t feel entirely necessary. Jamie Dornan as Dr. Leslie Ferrier was extremely underused and kind of annoying whenever he was on screen and I didn’t see the point of Desdemona (Emma Laird) and Nicholas’s (Ali Khan) characters. I also would have appreciated more backstory on Maxime Gerard (Kyle Allen) and his relationship with Alicia Drake (Rowan Robinson).

That being said, Branagh once again brings it as our favorite detective. He’s got some great moments and the moustache is more on point than ever before. Though I was at first hesitant about Fey’s casting, I thought she did a fine job and was a great match for Branagh. And of course, who can forget about Michelle Yeoh as medium Joyce Reynolds who is just an all around powerhouse? A special shoutout also goes to Jude Hill as Leopold who was delightful and stole every single one of his scenes.

With enough jump scares that had me watching from behind my hands and the beautiful backdrop, A Haunting In Venice is a fun enough romp perfect to kick off spooky season. Even if the film didn’t quite do it for me this time around, I would happily sit through another Poirot caper in the future.

Rating: ♥️♥️♥️

Heart Of Stone

Published on by DanielaLeave a comment

In Netflix’s latest attempt at jump starting an action franchise, Heart of Stone follows Rachel (Gal Gadot), an intelligence operative, who is racing to stop a hacker from stealing her agency’s most valuable and powerful weapon. With global chase sequences, hijinks and some twists and turns, it’ll be her most trying mission yet.

There is so much that went wrong here that it would be impossible to list it all down. I’m starting to think that once I’ve seen one of these films, I’ve seen them all. They are generic and predictable and not in a good way. This time around we had a bunch of action movie tropes thrown into one. As a result it didn’t make much sense and proved to be very confusing. I still don’t really understand what the plot was!

I will say that a few of the fight sequences were entertaining at least. The first one comes to mind, right at the beginning of the film, and sets the tone going forward. I also thought the scene in Lisbon was exciting as it had a lot going on.

With Gadot leading the pack, it could have really gone either of two ways. I personally like her as an actress, but I do not think she was given great material here. Thanks to a wooden and cliched script, her delivery was often off. Jamie Dornan, who I usually love, was kind of annoying and while I’d initially been so looking forward to seeing Matthias Schweighhöfer in something new, I wasn’t sold. Even with the likes of Sophie Okonedo as ringleader Nomad and Alia Bhatt as the hacker herself in her first ever Hollywood role, it all just fell short.

I don’t know what Netflix has been doing lately, but it isn’t putting out good movies. Heart of Stone was such a disappointment, I don’t even know why I bothered. Sometimes it’s not enough to watch something just for the actors who star in it. I’ll have to remember that going forward.

Rating: ♥️.5

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

Published on by Daniela1 Comment

Don’t you just love it when a movie is so unexpected in all the right ways? That is exactly what happened with Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. I don’t actually think I even knew what it was about though that didn’t matter whatsoever because it had a much better impact that way. I was amused, confused and thoroughly entertained the whole way through.

When lifelong friends Barb (Annie Mumolo) and Star (Kristen Wiig) lose their jobs, they are left wondering what to do with their lives. After much deliberation, they decide to leave behind their small Mideastern town for the first time ever to go to Vista Del Mar for a vacation. Vista Del Mar seems like the perfect place for middle aged people like themselves but nothing can prepare Barb and Star for the adventure that awaits them.

Words cannot describe how hilarious this film was. All the jokes slapped and I was laughing out loud on multiple occasions. I was worried that the humor wouldn’t be my cup of tea, but fortunately I was proven wrong. It all worked.

The casting choices were A+. Kristen Wiig was a standout and was her perfect compliment Annie Mumolo. Their friendship was serious goals and they worked so well off each other. I loved Jamie Dornan in this too – not only is he wonderful to look at, he is actually quite diverse in the roles that he chooses (you’ll understand what I mean by this once you watch). Other well knowns rounded out the cast perfectly: Damon Wayans Jr., Wendi McLendon-Covey, Vanessa Bayer and Rose Abdoo.

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar was the greatest surprise I have had while watching a movie in a long time. I honestly went into it thinking it was going to be a drag and it turned out it was the complete opposite. If you need a pick me up, I recommend checking this one out!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥