Get Outta da House Cinema 2023 - A Haunting in Venice

A Haunting in Venice is the sequel to Death on the Nile (2022) along with in the same universe as Murder on the Orient Express (2017). This is the third film in which Kenneth Branagh portrays the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.

Based on the 1969 novel Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie, starring alongside Branagh, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, Kelly Reilly, Riccardo Scamarcio, and Michelle Yeoh all star in this whodunnit.

Released on Thursday, this was a bit of cinema fun. Set in a beautiful big space in Venice. Kelly Reilly shines outside her role as Beth Dutton on Yellowstone (RIP). While Tina Fey is actually a fun addition to this film series.

The setting is excellent, the cast a very fun ensemble. So if you are looking for some murder without the horror and blood and guts, A Haunting in Venice may be your perfect movie/date night. The movie has totally bounced back now that Barbie has slayed the cinemas. So let's keep em' going!

Kenneth Branagh's Hercule Poirot's third run, gets a solid 3 Stars.

Seeya with more film reviews and one last feature album soon! Bye-Bye! Hello SPRING!

Winter Watchlist Warmers - Heartstopper - Season Two

Heartstopper has returned on Netflix. Yes I am a little late to the party, however I binged the majority of the second season extremely quickly. The series based on Alice Oseman's webcomic and graphic novel of the same name, also has a third season in development. This was announced along with the second one.

The series primarily tells the story of Charlie Spring (Joe Locke), a gay schoolboy who falls in love with classmate Nick Nelson (Kit Connor), whom he sits next to in his new form. It also explores the lives of their friends Tao Xu (William Gao), Elle Argent (Yasmin Finney), Isaac Henderson (Tobie Donovan), Tara Jones (Corinna Brown) and Darcy Olsson (Kizzy Edgell).

SPOILERS below the trailer, WARNING!

In Perfect, the second season' finale, Nick comes out publicly on Instagram. 

Elle tells Tao she is going to Lambert, then accepts his proposal to be his girlfriend. At a school prom, everyone is present but Darcy, who later shows up and opens up to Tara about her situation at home. 

Nick and Charlie's friend group leave the prom to celebrate at Nick's house. When Nick and Charlie remain, Nick requests to know about his past bullying experience; Charlie opens up about it and how it caused him to self-harm. 

Nick tells Charlie to always open up to him if anything happens. Charlie reluctantly accepts, before going home. On the way home Charlie drafts an Insta message to Nick, but then the credits roll on in.

Fused with indie pop tunes and animations across the screen, this is a refreshingly sweet gay series. No crazy wild sex like Queer as Folk both reboot and former Showtime original. Just young love.

It is a super sweet show, however for me the standout this season was Fisayo Akinade as Nathan Ajayi and Nima Taleghani as Youssef Farouk. The teacher on teacher romance was super sweet.

This season could be the warmest Winter Watchlist Warmers of 2023. It's like a warm hug through all eight episodes. A third season is set to land in 2024. Being an English series no strikes could stop this bad boy landing.

Netflix is my last go to for new shows of late. However Heartstopper drew me right back to the warm embrace of Netflix.

Winter Watchlist Warmers - One Night - Miniseries

One Night is the latest Paramount+ local title. With an all star cast including Doctor Who's Jodie Whittaker, Nicole da Silva, Yael Stone, George Mason, Erroll Shand, Noni Hazlehurst, Tina Bursill, Damien Strouthos and Jillian Nguyen.

The series follows Tess, Simone and Hat, three friends whose lives have been changed by the traumatic events of one night in their home town twenty years previously. 

After that night, only Hat remained in the town, but they all reunite when Simone comes back to look after her father with dementia, and Tess brings her wife and kids from the UK to spend a year in Sydney.

Without telling the other two, Simone has written a novel, One Night, about what happened to them. As it becomes a bestseller, the women relive the painful memories and discover old secrets.

Filming started this year, in Sydney. Particularly around the Illawarra region of New South Wales, while also having a city scene at Parramatta Square. I could tell the new library/council building a mile off with that red roof.

So was One Night any good against all the current Aussie dramas streaming/airing. Right now we have RFDS, Home and Away on Network Seven. The Newsreader and Mother & Son on the ABC. Five Bedrooms on free to air after also streaming on Paramount+.

That is up against recent Amazon titles Deadloch and The Lost Flowers of  Alice Hart. Netflix is about to launch the second season of Surviving Summer, while Stan have a bevy of upcoming titles. The Tourist season two moves abroad, Bump will return for another season (after being bumped from the US TV schedule), C*A*U*G*H*T is coming as is the second season of Wolf Like Me.

So there is plenty of competition right now.

However One Night, is a well acted, beautifully shot, masterclass in a six part series. Big names, the beautiful South Coast makes One Night an enjoyable, easy watch. I think I had it all done and dusted amongst all my weekly week-to-week shows in only a week.

Paramount+ need a special mention for all the good work they are doing telling local stories, even bringing Sydney into the NCIS mix. That also lands soon.

So if you are not already a subscriber, do a free trial on Paramount+., I don't think you'll be disapointed.

Album of the Week - Offical Music Videos

Get Outta da House Cinema 2023 - The Nun II

The Nun II is awful. Full stop. The end. This was a very LOW point in the now lengthy The Conjuring Universe franchise.

This is the long awaited sequel to the 2018 film, The Nun.

The ninth instalment in The Conjuring Universe, stars Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet and Bonnie Aarons, Storm Reid and Anna Popplewell.

2023 has had some solid horror films, this sadly wasn't one of them. Check below the trailer for the star rating. Spoiler alert its low AF.

No purpose, no point, too dark, cheap jump scares, lost vision, this was just all wrong! Boring, wrong, over long, could have been a short film. A very short film. 1 Star. Worst horror movie of 2023.

Winter Watchlist Warmers - Minx - Season Two

Minx joins a list of series Starz has picked up from other networks streamers. First was Step Up (from film to TV version) from YouTube followed by Minx (which has just concluded) and soon, Three Women based on the 2019 book of the same name by Lisa Taddeo.

This was set to premiere on Showtime. However earlier in the year, Deadline reported that Showtime had decided not to air the completed series. Starz picked up the series a week later. Maybe they knew the writers strike was incoming, thus having a decent amount of content on their books.

Back to Minx, a comedy television series created and written by Ellen Rapoport and starring Ophelia Lovibond & Jake Johnson. 

From HBO Max to Starz, or Stan in Australia, the eight episode second season commenced late July. 

Woman of the Hour was the big finale of season two. However was it the finale, finale? Already cancelled once by HBO Max having the second series already filmed and ready to roll. Will Starz keep Minx on the books?

With the writers strike now continuing into September around the time the network series all return for the new TV season. It looks like this strike is set to continue for some time now. With Christmas just around the corner, I may have a lot more time to catch up on previous series.

So Minx, do we need to see more penis in a now defunct media medium? Magazines have died so will this series go by like the content it portrays?

I enjoyed season two, however there was a little less nudity (with full bush of course for the era) but a whole lot of sass. Its girl power all the way in season two. Woman of the Hour is an excellent title for the finale episode of the run.

Ophelia Lovibond as Joyce Prigger is excellent, whilst new addition of Elizabeth Perkins as Constance is a great add to the mix.

For me though Jessica Lowe as Bambi continues to be the MVP of this series.

So we may have a wait to find out if Minx will return for season three. We are still wanting on Starz to continue or cancel, Run the World, Heels (concluding next Friday) along with recently returning Power - Force. OK Tommy has only been back two weeks, so that can hold off for a bit.

Minx, streams now on Stan. Both seasons.

Album of (NEXT) Week - OLIVIA RODRIGO {Guts}