Haunting in Venice, A (2023) review

Retired detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) is just trying to enjoy his sweets in Venice when he's invited by novelist (and long-time friend) Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) to attend a Halloween-themed party at the supposedly haunted palazzo of former opera singer Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly) - whose daughter died in a mysterious fashion - and then pay attention to a seance conducted by psychic Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh) with the purpose of "debunking" it ... and shortly after that Joyce ends up impaled on a statue.  As with the other recent Agatha Christie adaptations, it goes through the suspects (each and every one of them seems guilty of something) before Poirot miraculously solves the whole thing - since all of it is quite preposterous (and the acting's a bit affected), what you're left with are Branagh's questionable stylistic choices and this tired debate between Poirot's atheism and everyone else's "spirituality."  At the very least it does try to be engaging (with some influence from horror movies) and he couldn't have picked a more photographable city to film it in.  The most unrealistic part?  That anyone would ever dream of moving to St. Louis....