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Reviews
A Haunting in Venice (2023)
Paced just right for a slow mystery
This movie is intentionally a slow burn, odd to say considering it comes in at under 2 hours, but it is.
The camera lingers on environmental shots, odd angles/focal lengths, and takes it's time to showcase pieces of the house much of the movie takes place in. It works well to set the mood for the entire movie.
The cast is good, as usual Kenneth Branagh is just too over the top, but the surprise standout is the doctors son - he did very well for a child actor.
This was also a very good movie to see in the theater specifically, the audio mixing made great use of 7.1 channel sound.
I wouldn't call this a horror movie per se, but it is trying to be a creepy and unsettling mystery movie, and succeeds well.
I'd recommend this to everyone who doesn't specifically hate mystery films.
Elvis (2022)
Elvis the performer, not Elvis the person
This movie is wonderful, the performances are iconic, and for once the directors style adds to the film - but don't go in expecting a biography of Elvis. This movie is very clear, it's about Elvis the showman and that alone, it completely skips over his film career in favor of a singular focus. It adds a certain tight focus to the movie that I think works well, but if you expected a full picture you'd have to look elsewhere. It leaves out quite a bit of details in favor of looking at
what Elvis wanted to do as a showman and his conflict and companionship between him and his manager and what that meant for his career and life.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
It's fine, but doesn't justify it's existence
LoTR is the most well known fantasy work ever, and has, for the most part, been the high watermark for both literature and it's adaptation. Bakshis was a technical marvel in a time no budget could make a truly good adaptation, Jackson's was wonderful, and the hobbit films were good despite much studio meddling.
This was not an adaptation, instead an ambitious project to write a new story in middle-earth with some new and some old characters. To me, that requires a high standard to set itself among the rest of tolkiens story. Did it achieve that?
The 3 episodes I have seen, apart from the occasional editing whoopsie are visually gorgeous and take the time to show off the world of the setting. The landscapes are dynamic and sometimes otherworldly but still very realistic in their construction. This is by far the best part of the show, nothing else lives up to its looks.
The acting is fine, any problems I have with the acting comes with the writing and the story itself. So then, the story. The show gives itself an extra hurdle to cross, not only is it trying to tell a new Tolkien story but it's also frequently and (sometimes brazenly) breaking cannon. Some are nitpicks (dwarven women with beards would be a nightmare to film, but add a line that they shave in this age please) but some are a slap in the face to those knowledgeable about the universe. The story starts roughly in SA 1500 ish, but there are hobbits - no wait they aren't hobbits to get around canon they called them harfoots. One problem though, that's literally a type of hobbit in the Third age, those who lived nearest to Rohan. It's infuriating and disrespectful. Regardless, are the stories told worth changes on lore? So far, the stories of the elves dwarves and humans do not seem to be - they are acceptable, but the writing is nothing amazing and the actors aren't elevating it either. As of episode 3, the not-hobbits story still has the jury out but could bring my rating down to a 1 if a character is in fact Gandalf.
Overall, if you don't know much about lotr and love beautified sets and stories, this should be enjoyable. If you care more about story or loved the Silmarillion, avoid this.