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Reviews
Murder Mystery (2019)
The Agatha Christie's tropes are all there, and then
I heard it would be a pastiche of Agatha Christie, heard there would be nice locations and thought: love it already! Also, Sandler and Aniston mean nothing to me one way or the other. So I was ready to have immense fun with this movie despite what grumps would say. I will reveal nothing that isn't on the trailer
The murder mystery tropes are all there:
- the finite number of suspects due to isolation (in this case, a boat),
- a vacation trip where a murder simply happens,
- the dagger, the butler, the scream in the middle of the night (and who does not love it?)
- a (murder?) in the library
- all the Agatha Christie's favorite characters: the incredibly sensual actress in red in a wide brim hat (Evil Under the Sun?); the wounded war veteran with a mysterious past, and his aide of dubious nationality; the effeminate dandy; the good-looking sports champion, among others
- in terms of plot: Sandler and Aniston as Tommy and Tuppence, a love triangle (Death on the Nile?), the will and inheritance, the gathering of people and pointing of suspects one by one...
STILL, even with all those references that I loved to identify, and even despite the beautiful locations such as Cartagena and Lake Como... even then I felt embarrassed for all those involved. Such a risibly unfunny comedy with Aniston and Sandler playing comedy schticks that never, ever, and I'm an easy laugh, elicited even a chuckle from little me, and did I say I was ready to love the movie? Oh well.
From the Ashes (2017)
Startling, refreshing, sad, necessary.
In its heyday, coal did not bring prosperity to communities - in fact, when coal was at its height, the largest producing states in the US were at the Bottom 5 in economic development, according to a senator interviewed in this filme. Is this the past that coal-lovers want to go back to?
This doc is spot on in that it provides incontrovertible evidence of the vast array of destruction that coal causes to workers and communities. It focuses not on carbon emissions - a subject which is dear to some, including me, but is too intangible to most people. It focuses instead on the lives of people affected by it, from those who do not trust the water they drink, to those who have died because of suspended coal particulates in cities. It shows how deeply unethical coal plants have been to their workers, many of whom lost their health because of coal. It shows their grip on local authorities. It shows those company's utter disregard and hostility for regulations that could harm their profits at any dismal percentage.
The pace is excellent and I could not move my eyes off the screen. It is a gripping narrative. It may not convince someone who is keen on believing that coal is the only path to progress. But it will be useful to those on the fence: they're in for a shock. To those, like me, who are enthusiastic fans of renewable energy, it will provide a much wider view of coal and the damage it causes.