A Haunting in Venice & Spy Kids Armageddon – Movie Reviews

In A Haunting in Venice, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot investigates a murder while attending a Halloween Seance at a Haunted Palazzo in Venice, Italy. The third Poirot case! Visiting the oldest arthouse cinema in Germany, I watched the new murder mystery in a cozy theatre with just a few other guests.

Based on the novel “Hallowe’en Party,” it is once again set in a closed setting, just like the previous films (Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile). The story is overall investing and mysterious, but the reveal scenes at the end do happen a little abruptly and felt a little rushed in my opinion. Nevertheless, A Haunting in Venice is better than the second film. I won’t say more about the story to avoid spoilers.

For me, some scenes were actually a little scary. The jump-scares were effective, and the atmosphere of nightly Venice works well with the story. With three movies, this is officially a series, and I like how every part has different vibes, but all still feel coherent. Seeing Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) in these vastly different settings is interesting and fun to watch.

Branagh does a great job directing and performing in these movies. I like him as Hercule Poirot! Some other performances I also enjoyed in this film were Michelle Yeoh and Jude Hill. I wonder what the next case will be, maybe ‘The Big Four’ or ‘The ABC Murders.’ In total, there are thirty three novels by Agatha Christie available to adapt. All in all, I would recommend A Haunting in Venice to fans of the previous cases and more scary murder mysteries.

‘A Haunting in Venice’ Rating – 3.25/5

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I was dreading Spy Kids Armageddon. I hated the last one, and nothing about this one interested me. It just seemed like they were dragging it out for the sake of it. I will say, I didn’t like this movie, however, it’s not as bad as Spy Kids 4. When you’re getting into a Robert Rodriguez kids movie, you gotta know what you’re getting into, and it’s absolutely all here. The effects were not as awful as they’ve been in the past, but they haven’t improved much from We Can Be Heroes or even from Spy Kids 4.

Performance-wise, no one really stood out. Zachary Levi and Gina Rodriguez were kind of bad. The kids were fine, probably on par with every other child actor in these movies. Billy Magnussen actually worked pretty well here. He has a tendency to really ham it up and do a little too much, but he kind of found the right amount of cheese for this character.

The stunts are fine, but no set piece really wowed or even excited me like the first few did (granted I was a child, but I think some of them hold up!). Overall, Spy Kids Armageddon just wasn’t for me. The message made no sense; it recreated themes that the third one did, where it was like “video games are bad unless you’re a kid!” or something like that. It follows the same beats as all of the other ones: “We have to tell our kids we’re spies!” “I can’t, I have trust issues!” “Our parents were spies? But they’re lame!” “Oh no, our parents are in trouble! We have to save them!” It’s the same thing repackaged.

The movie was just repetitive, boring, and did nothing for me. Maybe kids would like it, but it feels like it aims for younger and younger kids with every sequel, to which I wonder what’s the point of the sequel at that point? Why not age with your audience, not the other way around? I can’t imagine kids discovering this movie. Another miss for Rodriguez this year for me.

‘Spy Kids Armageddon’ Rating – 2/5

Follow Billy (the Author) on IG – @teen.reviews.movies

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