A House of Dynamite – Movie Review

TL;DR – As divisive as it is fascinating, anchored on understandable tension, and character performances that rocked me at times.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Sun rising behind the Washington Monument.

A House of Dynamite Review Introduction

We are getting to the pointy end of the year, and that means it is time to start catching up with a bunch of the films that I missed this year. This is made more apparent because I just spent a month away in Japan, and there are a bunch of films that I missed while I was away. The first cab off that rack is a political thriller that explores the calamity of nuclear weapons, which means that this is already 100% my jam.

So, to set the scene, it is just a typical day for people around the world, including those in the missile defence systems in Fort Greely, Alaska and those in the Situation Room in Washington DC. But tensions have slowly been growing around the world, and when you have a fuel around, all it takes is one match for it all to explode, which is when a ballistic launch is detected over the Pacific Ocean, heading right to the USA. A nuclear event that everyone has feared is now a reality.   

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A Haunting in Venice – Movie Review

TL;DR – The stronger of the three so far that explores faith, mystery, and, of course, murder.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

skellington

A Haunting in Venice Review

I love a good murder mystery film, and when you want a good murder mystery, you can’t go past the Queen of Murder Mysteries, Agatha Christie. She has a way with words that have made it through the ages, and the latest interpretation of her work on the big screen has been helmed by Kenneth Branagh with their Murder on the Orient Express in 2017 and Death on the Nile in 2022. Today, we get the third instalment in the series, and what, spoiler alert, is my favourite of the three.

So to set the scene, it is now 1947, and it has been ten years and one world war since we last saw Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) on the Nile. After a lifetime of investigations, Poirot has taken to seclusion and retirement in a house in Venice with only his bodyguard Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio) and the daily pastries boat making their way past his door. It is a life of quiet solitude that is punctured when an old friend/acquaintance/annoyance, Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), arrives at his door with a conundrum. There is a medium, Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), going around claiming that she can talk with the dead, and no matter what Oliver can do, she can’t work out Joyce’s tricks. Joyce is doing a séance for local celebrity Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly) to speak with her recently lost daughter Alicia (Rowan Robinson) as it is Hallowe’en. All Poirot has to do is work out her tricks, and surely there won’t be any other deaths …

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The Map of Tiny Perfect Things – Movie Review

TL;DR – A film full of charm and heart that explores time in an authentic way   

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this film.

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things. Image Credit: Amazon Studios.

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things Review

There seems to be a renaissance in the Time Loop genre in recent times, one of those perfect intersections of art and reality. You don’t have to sell someone on the concept of the same day over and over again because that is life at the moment. While it might be the case that there are not that many stories that you can tell within this genre, today we look at a film that shows that there is still more to see in this world.

So to set the scene, were open in the morning as Mark (Kyle Allen) wakes up and begins his day. But unlike reality, every movement is perfectly timed as if he knows everything that is about to happen. Of course, this means that he does know what is about to happen because Mark is stuck in a time loop. Mark is spending his days copying Groundhog Day trying court Phoebe (Anna Mikami) when one loop something changes as Margaret (Kathryn Newton) appears, and he discovers that he is not alone.  

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