Agatha Christie – JenEric Designs

A Haunting in Venice – JenEric Movie Review

February 3, 2024 by Éric Desmarais

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2023 film A Haunting in Venice.

Story

I haven’t read Hallowe’en Party and can’t speak to how faithful this is to the original plot.

That being said, this is the most fast paced of the three Branagh Poirot movies and definitely the darkest. The story is a fascinating mystery with a lot of ghostly dressing. The pace is slowed and story hurt by the humdrum attempts at integrating horror clichés into it.

Score: 0.5

Characters

There is a massive disparity in quality in acting. Branagh and Yeoh are absolutely fabulous and the kid is amazing. The rest of the cast is passable.

The characters are believable and act accordingly.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

There’s a near poetry to the banter and dialogue of the characters. Yeoh’s confrontation with Branagh is spectacular.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The movie was filmed on location and it adds a level of authenticity. The sets are great. Despite the jump scares and a few odd angles, the cinematography is a wonderful mix of the mystery and horror styles.

Score: 1

Fun

I’m both proud and a little disappointed that I guessed the killer, method, and blackmailer way before I should have. It was, however, a fun movie to experience.

It being on the scarier side means I watched it on my own.

Score: 1

Overall

An excellent movie with a fun Halloween twist. The acting is a little uneven and the mystery watered down, but a worthy successor to the other two films and a fun watch. Branagh and Yeoh are fabulous as usual.

Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5

See How They Run 2022 – JenEric Movie Review

November 11, 2023 by Éric Desmarais

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2022 film See How They Run.

Story

The story tries really hard to be clever and referential while still respecting the genre. It’s not a spoof or an homage, but some sort of clever combination. The great thing is that it works on all levels. Everything is laid out in the intro narration and I was still pleasantly surprised.

Score: 1

Characters

The main detective characters are clichés brought to life. They’d be almost boring if it wasn’t for the quality and charm of the actors. Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to the whole cast, which is populated by a checklist of quirky film noir characters.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

The dialogue is a combination of period and modern and was a little jarring at times. It was however very clever and well thought out.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The director and cinematographer must have been big fans of Hitchcock and Anderson. It mostly worked as a mashup, but lacked originality and felt a little forced.

The music was strong but unmemorable.

Score: 0.5

Fun

This movie was a mystery lover’s good time. All the adults loved it, but the kids found it slow and talky. I will re-watch this one.

Score: 1

Overall

An excellent homage/comedy to the mystery genre, Christie in particular, and a fun movie. Its odd directorial choices are held together by the impressive acting from the leads.

Final Score: 3.5 Stars out of 5

2017 Book Ranking

January 16, 2018 by Éric Desmarais

Hello My Imaginary Friends,

This year I read 31 books. One of them was mine.

If you like paranormal fantasy or medical dramas, check out Parasomnia by Eric Desmarais

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

What was your favourite book for 2017?

Éric

And Then There Were None – Book Review

July 3, 2012 by Éric Desmarais

Agatha Christie is a legend in mystery writing. This is her best selling book and arguably her best. It’s changed names several times, in order to be politically correct. I thought that the changes would affect the story in some way but I can assure you it makes no difference.

Below is my review. For more information on how and why I review books read my post here.

Characters

In two chapters, Christie manages to introduce all ten characters. They are very distinct and each has unique quirks or traits. Each character is well defined and I rarely became confused between them. That’s impressive. I have a terrible memory and usually have trouble remembering characters.

One thing that she did that helped immensely was separating each character into a tiny sub-chapter and starting the chapter with their name. It gave me the choice of going back, and double checking who she was talking about.

The characters were not very likeable, but considering the plot of the story that was fully understandable.

For characters, I give it 4 out of 5

Writing Style

Clear and clean, is the best way to describe the style she used. Even seventy years later this book reads flawlessly. A few words have changed meanings and a few colloquialisms that are unfamiliar but nothing that ever distracts from the story.

She manages to keep it clear and still add a little poetry. Every word is important, there is nothing wasteful or useless.

I give it a 4 out of 5.

Story

The plot is simple, the execution is genius. It is a mystery and a thriller. Not a murder mystery, remember that a Murder Mystery has less than 60% mortality rate. This book has 110% mortality.

I can’t get into more detail without spoilers but know that the story twists you, makes you re-think everything and still kicks you in the gut with the conclusion.

It is nearly perfect in every way. I need to re-read it before I can fully grasp the intricacies of the plot. I give the story a 5 out of 5

Fun

The book holds joy in trying to decide who is next and how they will die. Trying to figure out the murderer is a large part of the fun in this book. I imagine next time, it’ll be seeing all the hints and details that lead to the murderer.

I give it a 5 out of 5 for fun

Overall

If you like mystery, thrillers, reading, or a great story READ this book. It’s a masterpiece. I believe it is one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Final score is 90%