Wednesday 23 February 2022

The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Unchartered and Death on the Nile

 

I knew nothing about American evangelism, so for me, this was a completely new story. The Eyes of Tammy Faye is a compelling drama, especially the tension between the Baptists (Jerry Falwell) and the Pentecostals (The Bakkers) and Pat Robertson. Jessica Chastain is predictably excellent as Tammy Faye Bakker and deserves her Oscar nomination. The rest of the cast are so so, Andrew Garfield as her husband is never convincing. 

Unchartered is modern day update of  Indiana Jones. If only he had access to a mobile phone and GPS apps. I watched it on the huge IMAX screen which increased in size at the beginning and the end for those scenes including the CGI heavy conclusion. I preferred the discovering to the fight scenes, of which there were thankfully few. The dialogue and acting are clunky, but those are not what the film is about. It's fun. 

Beautiful cinematography of course, Death on the Nile comes with a mainly all star cast. Except I did not know Emma Mackey in one of the lead roles. Not sure why Gal Gadot appears on the poster instead. Kenneth Branagh reprises his role as Poirot but I still prefer David Suchet. We still watch repeats of his TV adaptations which I think are more successful. I was amazed to see Annette Benning and she out acted them all. For all the gloss and star quality of this feature film, the script is not as good. Especially for those new scenes. But it does look so good.

I forgot to mention the opening sequence from the first world war. Set in the trenches and fabulously filmed in black and white, a younger Poirot is the hero and the villain. Superb.

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