It’s probably not too much of a surprise by this point that I went to see the new Exorcist movie at the cinema. I would have done so anyway, but I kept being hit over the head with advertising for it when I was watching YouTube videos. Funnily enough, after actually watching the movie at the cinema, I’ve not seen anymore trailers for it.
Unfortunately, this movie wasn’t anywhere like as good as it could have been. It did rip off a lot from the original, such as the scene with the fighting dogs…although that scene lacked the subtlety that I assume the first one was going for.
One thing I did like in this movie was the relationship between Angela and her father, Victor. Their interactions at the beginning made me smile…and I could empathise with Angela over being raised without a parent. Victor and Sorenne’s relationship at the beginning was shown to be really sweet, so Sorenne then dying was difficult to watch.
I would have liked to see a bit more of Katherine’s relationship with her family, along with her friendship with Angela before the girls decided to try and contact the ghost of Angela’s mother. Unfortunately, once that event occurred, I did feel that the movie went downhill.
I did watch the original The Exorcist before seeing this one…and there was a stark contrast between how this movie handled the horror and how the original handled it. While the first one moved gradually, this movie pretty much went all out right from the start…and I think that this movie did suffer from that. A lot of the horror scenes were predictable, ‘cheap’ horror scares (light turning on and girl suddenly appears in the bathroom), or shown in the trailer. And while it was nice to see a return of Chris from the original movie, this movie did seem to completely contradict her established character from the first movie.
I didn’t think this movie was a very good one. There were two girls possessed, but only one of them had been shown enough to form any kind of emotional attachment to her. Katherine wasn’t nearly as developed as Angela was. I had no idea why a girl brought up in a Christian family had decided to try and contact the ghost of her friend’s mother.
I will say that I liked the bringing together of people with differing beliefs and faiths. I kind of wish that had been explored a bit more, with the idea of all of them needing to play a part in the exorcism. Sadly, that wasn’t enough to raise this movie past ‘mediocre’ horror, at least in my eyes. I won’t be watching this movie again.
Another old movie I went to see at the cinema, thanks to Cineworld running a ‘month of horror’ in the buildup to Halloween.
Similar to The Exorcist, I hadn’t seen this movie before, but I knew about it – mostly thanks to the easily recognisable figure of Pinhead. What was kind of a surprise, at least to me, was that he and the rest of his gang (the Cenobites) didn’t appear until at least halfway through the movie.
The movie starts out fairly typically for a horror movie, with a man (Frank) purchasing a puzzle box that turns out to be a gateway to hell. After he solves the puzzle, he gets ripped apart and that’s the end of him…right?
Well, actually, not. Frank’s brother and sister-in-law (Larry and Julia) move into the same house where Frank solved the puzzle box. And in a scene that blows the whole idea of foreshadowing out of the window and makes a huge deal about what’s about to happen, Larry impales his hand on a nail…and his dripping blood somehow brings his brother back to some semblance of life. I say some semblance, because he’s basically only muscle and bone until Julia (who he had an affair with and somehow still finds him attractive) starts seducing men and bringing them back to the house…all so Frank can consume them and start growing the rest of his body back.
I have to say, throughout this movie, I felt a strong disconnect to most of the characters. Julia wasn’t a likable person to start with…and just got even worse as the movie went on. Frank was unlikable for obvious reasons. And Larry and his daughter, Kirsty, just weren’t interesting enough for me to care about. Kirsty just seemed like a damsel in distress most of the time, even when she was confronting the Cenobites and trying to ‘bargain’ with them. I did find the constant appearance of the homeless man who aeemed to be following her a suitably creepy aspect of the movie…particularly when he was in the pet shop and eating insects. That was actually a really good creepy scene without being over the top.
All told, this movie was good to watch. I found the Cenobites intriguing and would have liked a bit more detail about them. But I didn’t really think much of the main characters in the movie…and by the end, I thought Kirsty was making a lot of really stupid choices. Then again, it is an older horror movie, and many of the cliches of horror movies now come from the older horror movies.
Anyway, this movie was somewhat entertaining to watch, but I don’t think I’d gain anything from watching it a second time. I can’t really say I feel much interest in watching other movies in this franchise, either.
I’d actually not seen this movie before, even though I was aware of most of the plot, due to a lot of it being repeated and parodied in other movies/TV series.
I will say that I’ve noticed a pattern with ‘remastered’ old movies in that a lot of the sound is turned up to ridiculously high volumes. The scene right at the beginning of the movie, with the fighting dogs, was so loud, it was almost painful. Fortunately, it was only the scene right at the beginning that was actually physically painful.
I will say that this movie was very dated. I don’t mean in regards to special effects, though I imagine that what is tame and nearly boring now was really cutting edge at the time of the film’s initial release. No, it was very much dated with the attitudes towards women (locking them up in psychiatric hospitals) and medication (putting a child on medication and not using therapy as the first resort. In fact outright saying, ‘Let’s see how this medication does before we consider therapy’). This movie was definitely a product of its time and wouldn’t fly by today’s standards and progress.
Watching the movie for the first time, I can see why it became such an iconic horror. Unfortunately, I think a lot of that came from visual and audible shock value (a child using incredibly vulgar language and major desecration of churches/crucifixes), rather than powerful storytelling. I felt the movie did a lot of telling, rather than showing. For instance, the dream Karras has about his mother makes it clear that she died…and having Chris randomly told about the priest’s mother dying just spoiled the effects of that dream, which worked really well as a haunting visual.
One thing I did like about this movie was that, at least at first, it wasn’t clear whether Regan was actually possessed, or was suffering from some kind of mental illness. Of course, that ambiguity didn’t last for long…though my understanding is that the book kept it more of a mystery.
On the whole, I think I’m glad I did see the movie, as it is an iconic horror movie that I had missed out on watching for a long time. And considering that this movie was made long before special effects were really advanced, I think the movie did a good job with things like the demon’s face and voice. I found it really interesting to read about how the demon’s voice actually came about! However, I think that the movie focused more on shocking its audience and not on great storytelling…and I can’t really forgive movies using telling, rather than showing, in such an awful way. I don’t have any intentions of watching this movie again.
So, I have had a strong interest in Mortal Kombat ever since I saw the first movie come out and decided I really liked Sub-Zero and Scorpion. And I played the full game of Mortal Kombat 11 and part of X, so I was particularly keen on seeing the new storyline and how everything turned out. I was far more interested in the storyline, even though fighting is a huge part of the game, so I just put the mode on very easy. I’m really not very good with any of the combo moves, although I did manage to do a couple by accident. For instance, when playing as Scorpion, I did accidentally make him use the iconic Get over here! move.
Speaking of Scorpion, I have really mixed feelings about Scorpion actually being Kuai Liang. While it was an interesting idea and ultimately, I was able to accept Scorpion’s new identity, I was disappointed that Hanzo wasn’t in the game. In Mortal Kombat 11, one of my favourite parts was the friendship between Scorpion and the second Sub-Zero. However, there is a piece of gear in the game that Kuai Liang can get that’s called something like, ‘Hanzo’s Mentor’, so I’m hoping that the next game will introduce a younger version of him.
While the game was still called Mortal Kombat, I was very surprised that only a small amount of the game was about the fighting tournament itself. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I did like the rest of the storyline outside of the tournament…but I was curious as to why Liu Kang had left the tournament in place at all, given that he and Sindel were allies and even seemed to be friendly.
One of the interesting things I found was that Raiden was a mortal and had no memories of his previous life as a god. It was a bit confusing, to be honest, as it didn’t really match how Mortal Kombat 11 had ended. But I did enjoy the friendship that was shown between Kung Lao and Raiden…along with how calm in nature Raiden was (though that didn’t fit his original nature at all), compared to Kung Lao.
I have to say that I also liked how the characters of Mileena, Baraka and Reptile were handled in this game. It was a really refreshing change to see them with more depth than just evil/working for Shang Tsung! I actually really enjoyed seeing Mileena in action throughout this game, especially considering the struggles she was facing in having to hide her affliction from her people. I especially loved that she and Kitana were so close…and I really liked her relationship with Tanya, though it would have been nice to see more close scenes between two women.
I will say that I would have liked to see the character designs more similar to how they looked in the previous games. While some of those could be explained away by the characters being younger (Scorpion, Kung Lao, etc.), those like Kitana…who is thousands of years old…could have shared more of a physical similarity with the version of her from the previous game.
I do have to say that playing the game on the Switch did result in more than a few problems. For instance, there were very slow loading screens…especially in the final chapter, which occurred after every single fight. And I was really disappointed that it took so long for Invasions to start working. While I can play Invasions through now, I spent several hours playing in Johnny Cage’s mansion to try and gain enough levels to unlock some of the Kameo fighters. It did sour my enjoyment of Invasions for a little while, although I have now played enough to unlock all but one of the extra Kameo characters. (And if I’m honest, most of those don’t seem to work that well. Kano is definitely the best out of the Kameo fighters, but I’ve found a lot of the others don’t do any damage at all).
I have to be honest and say…I absolutely hate the test your might aspects of this game. While I’ve managed to get to a point of succeeding in them (mostly), having to smash four buttons repeatedly is really annoying. And I failed so many times throughout the story mode that I came really close to giving up…especially when the first test your might had me having to do so multiple times, one after the other. I don’t know about any other players, but I didn’t enjoy it.
I haven’t unlocked all of the character endings yet, but I really liked the fact that the ones I have unlocked so far all expand on the original ending of the game, rather than giving completely different endings to the game, like Mortal Kombat 11. I unlocked Mileena’s ending first (because I really liked her character in this game), but that ending was quickly follwed by Scorpion’s and Sub-Zero’s…and then Kitana’s.
On the whole, despite the glitches and the annoying test your might parts, I really did enjoy playing this game through. The storyline was interesting and engaging…and there was a good variety of different battles to play as the storyline unfolded. I’m hoping that there will be more to unlock in the game, such as other characters and potential extra storylines…especially as I did pay out for the premium edition!
If you enjoy the Mortal Kombat games, I’d say you would probably enjoy this one…although you might not want to play it on the Switch if you have an alternative games console.
I don’t normally watch the Saw movies, due to having a strong dislike of mutiliation. While gory deaths are fine, what Saw does is…not like that. However, I watched Jigsaw, which I felt was cleverly done, so I decided to give this movie a try.
I don’t know a whole lot about the lore of the Saw movies, but I know this is a direct sequel to the first movie and a prequel to the others, due to the fact that John Kramer is still alive…even if that’s barely.
Compared to most horror movie villains, Kramer seems to have more a moral code…or at least rules he abides by. From what I know of the Saw franchise, he targets people who aren’t ‘good’, such as corrupt police officers, or murderers who escaped justice. And this movie was no exception, with Kramer targeting a group of fake ‘doctors’ who pretended to cure his cancer, but instead took his money and fled. And he wasn’t the first one they’d done this to. So, theoretically, Kramer was taking revenge on people who had targeted victims at their most vulnerable, the very worst kind of con artists.
With perhaps one exception, I didn’t really care about the people caught in Jigsaw’s traps. Sure, they kept on apologising…promising to return his money…desperately promising that there really was a cure. But there was no genuine remorse there; nothing to show that any of them, except perhaps one, deserved a chance to live.
The traps utilised in this movie were very much more gruesome than clever…and I didn’t really feel like the group was actually given true chances to survive. Kramer defended his own actions, saying that the injuries could be treated and that a damaged brain had even been proven to form new connections to keep on going. However, it was far more likely that trap would kill someone; if not by the person failing the trap, then by causing too much damage to their own brain by cutting out random pieces. And radiation poisoning is still going to cause death, but a slow and painful one…so in this movie, I felt strongly that Kramer had gone against his own moral code in that even if his victims survived the immediate, they’d still end up dying before their natural time.
I found it interesting to see that Amanda had some empathy for Gabriela. While I could agree to a certain extent with Kramer’s comments about everyone making their own choices, I also agree that they had no idea what had happened in Gabriela’s past to cause her to be addicted to drugs…or even if she was forced into that addiction. Out of all of the group Kramer kidnaps, Gabriela was the only one I felt actually deserved to live.
On the whole, this movie was an interesting addition to the Saw franchise, but I felt it was more about the shock and gore factor than about exploring more of the world and motivations of the main characters. I definitely feel like the rules and moral code were bent, if not outright broken, at times. If you’re a fan of the Saw franchise, you’d probably enjoy this movie. For me, I only watched Jigsaw and Spiral and this one – and so far, Jigsaw’s been the only one that engaged me enough to consider watching a second time.
I can’t really say this movie was hugely different to others I’ve seen with the same plot of humans and AI (or robots) at war with each other. I will say that I haven’t seen many similar movies that show all of the robots as obviously having feelings and emotions, not just the one/s who the main plot focuses on.
The movie did start out in a fairly stereotypical way, showing advertising and clips about how good AI was before things went so horribly wrong. I was a bit confused by how old-fashioned the adverisments came across as, though. In a more advanced (at least technology wise) society, I would have expected to see advertising that was more futuristic, even if the wholesome family moments were kept.
The strongest part of this movie was definitely the relationship that formed between Joshua and Alphie. That was hinted at in the trailer, but the movie definitely did a good job with that. By the end, that relationship was definitely pulling on my heartstrings, and I did actually cry at two separate moments. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the relationship between Joshua and Maya to be quite as believable. In the flashbacks, it was difficult to tell what Joshua really felt about her and what was only part of his mission. I don’t think that was helped by the fact that the flashbacks felt very disjointed and weren’t very linear.
I did feel like this movie drew a lot of parallels to how society acts now towards other people. I liked the fact that I was able to see both sides of the conflict, since that meant I could not only understand both better, but also that it was obvious neither side was truly evil…even though I didn’t like how the humans were behaving towards the robots. I was strongly biased against the humans, considering they were invading another country who was on peaceful, friendly and even familial terms with AI. As one of the villagers said, “They have more heart than you!” Or words to that effect, since I don’t remember the exact quote.
I mentioned above that this movie actually made me cry. There were also some great elements of humour, particularly when it came to the translator using using far more polite language than the reality was, given the person was screaming at the invading army.
On the whole, I’m glad I watched this movie. It pulled at my heartstrings and made me think seriously about what it means to be human. Plus, given the way society is now responding to AI, the events of this movie might yet occur in the future.
This wasn’t a convention I planned initially to go to. I really wanted to meet Christian Kane and Amber Benson, because I liked both of them in Buffy and Angel respectively…and Amber Benson in Supernatural, too. Even though Lenore only appeared in two episodes, her character left a huge impact on me, as she was the turning point in Sam and Dean realising that not everything supernatural was necessarily evil. So I did ask if someone could pick me up an autograph from Christian Kane and Amber Benson…and a few people did offer…but then I got a back payment from the NHS that allowed me to pay for a ticket, plus a photo with David Boreanaz, who was announced literally two days before my money came in and I was able to get my ticket. Fortunately, despite my worries, the event didn’t sell out before I could buy my ticket, so I was able to get my ticket…and photos with five of the actors in total, so I was really excited about this event.
This event was a pretty big one, with about 1400 attendees (200 gold, 1200 regular). I managed to get to the event, but I got there later than I should have done due to traffic. Then my normal route to the airlink was closed off, meaning that I had to go a different way and into a tiny lift which…yeah, not ideal considering just how many people were moving through the airport. But I got to the hotel where the convention was, I managed to get registered and picked up all of the things I needed…then I had to go into Birmingham town centre for the hotel I was staying at. It was only a six minute walk from the train station, but Google Maps decided it wasn’t going to work. Unfortunately, that caused my first meltdown. Google Maps worked eventually, but it wasn’t a great start to the weekend.
Anyway, I got myself settled into the hotel and then returned to Birmingham Airport for the opening ceremony. And that was really great fun. Misha Collins and David Boreanaz weren’t arriving until the Saturday, but six out of eight of the guests being there was awesome! It really felt like they all wanted to be there…and I was left with a good feeling as I got myself fed and then went back to my hotel. (Five Guys is ridiculously expensive, by the way).
Anyway, I got back to the convention on Saturday morning for 9am…only to find that there were three different photo studios. And my photos with Jodelle and Amber were at different sides of the hotel and both taking place at the same time, which…sent me into a panic attack. Fortunately, the stewards were great and really helpful and I managed to get both of my photos…despite the fact that Jodelle was fifteen minutes late and Amber had already started. I got to both of them!
My next three photos went off without a hitch; they were half an hour apart and thanks to being on access (I could do without the diabetes, but unfortunately, it seems like I’ll be living with that…and let’s not forget finally being diagnosed with autism), I was able to sit down and wait in the photo studio, rather than going backwards and forwards more than three times.
I’d signed up to help steward and wound up helping at the fan meets. Unfortunately, due to reasons, I had a second meltdown while trying to get half of my autographs and return to help steward as quickly as possible. Due to the stress of the weekend, I don’t think it’s in me to help steward events anymore. It’s a shame, but if I’m going to have meltdowns, I need to stop doing that.
Anyway, the staff members were great. I was given the space I needed to calm down and was able to get all but one of the autographs I’d wanted to, as well as return to the fan meets to finish my stewarding shift very quickly. And I don’t think any of the guests realised I’d been crying…or if they did, they didn’t comment on it, thank goodness.
Christian Kane and Amber Benson were the main two I was most excited to meet, so I was really happy that neither of them had cancelled. The Lindsey photo was the last one left for Christian Kane to sign…and I’d been torn about whether to get Supernatural or Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Amber, but I wanted a Lenore photo, so…that’s what it was.
And, of course, it wouldn’t be Starfury without the included autographs, which I got on the Saturday as well.
I unfortunately can’t decipher what Tahmoh wrote in his autographs, although I think the booklet is his character name from Supernatural. Still, the meetings were all great…and I got an extra heart from Amber in my booklet, since the first one she drew didn’t look exactly like a heart.
Anyway, after everything had finished and I had dinner, there was the cosplay competition. I had a lot of trouble seeing the costumes without standing up and blocking other people’s view, but I moved to the side of the hall so I could see…and there were a lot of very cool costumes! Some of my favourites were Vampire Slayer Barbie, the Smile Time crew, the Gentleman…really, though, everyone’s costume was fantastic and I loved seeing all of the work that went into them! And having David B as the announcer was pretty cool, since he made a lot of funny comments.
Anyway, Sunday was a much better day for me, as I didn’t have to be there quite so early. It was much nicer to have a leiusurely breakfast and a bit of a lie-in, then to head over to the airport for the second (and final) day of the convention.
I got to see two of the panels, which were Christian Kane and Amber Benson, then Misha Collins, David Haydn-Jones and Adam Fergus. Despite the strikes making it difficult to ask any questions about struck work, people came up with a few really good questions…and it was also awesome to get to hear Christian play and sing!
The above two pictures were taken by Gina and full credit goes to her for them.
Apart from Christian playing the guitar and singing (thank you, Amber, for bringing it up!), my favourite part of their talk was when they were asked about spirit animals…and Christian shared all of the evidence as to why a wolf was his, which was pretty cool.
The other talk I was able to be part of involved Misha Collins, David Haydn-Jones and Adam Fergus.
The above two photos were taken by @purplenurplespn and full credit for these go to her.
This talk made me laugh a lot…and there were some really cool questions asked, such as, ‘What’s your Mandela Effect moment?’ None of the actors actually knew what that meant, but there was a demonstration of the effect that came from a well-known quote that’s been misremembered.
I got half of my autographs on the Saturday, but the other half were on the Sunday…all of those who were the extra/bonus guests. I was really disappointed not to get a 10×8 of Jodelle signed on the Saturday, due to my meltdown causing me to forget to pick one up. The staff members did very kindly allow me to go in during the end of the autograph session on Sunday, so I was able to get my 10×8. And I was wearing my cat top, which my sister and my two oldest niblings got me for my birthday last year, which Jodelle told me she liked, so that was a lovely experience.
While I’m not attending Cross Roads 8 next year (I really shouldn’t be going to so many conventions, and in fact this one is likely my last one for this year), I am hoping to go to Lux 3 and Ultimates next year…hopefully taking my oldest nibling to the latter.
I cannot recommend Starfury enough. If you don’t go to any other conventions, go to one of theirs. The event doesn’t oversell and it’s not just a signing event. Plus, you get all talks included as well as the parties. Check it out!
So this movie wasn’t one I intended to watch. I didn’t even know it was being shown at the cinema until a friend told me it looked good and sent me the link to the Cineworld page, so….
While there was a lot about this movie that was very similar to other horror movies, I did think this movie handled the horror aspects really well. It was more focused on the experiences of one character and how everything affected her, which allowed me, as a viewer, to connect to Samidha on a more emotional level. I have to be honest, I really didn’t like her at all at first. I felt bad for Tamira, even just seeing her through Sam’s eyes, and then worse for her when Sam broke the jar, despite Tamira basically begging her for help.
I can’t really say how accurate the movie is in terms of the Hindu religion, but I did feel that the horror itself came across really well. This movie did a fairly good job with the less is more approach, especially as the demon could only be fully seen when the lights were out. I thought that was shown to particularly good effect when the demon was hunting in the school. The motion sensor lights switching on, showing that something was approaching without being able to see it, was a particularly effective creepy aspect to the movie.
One thing that I felt worked really well was Sam’s relationship with her parents. She was clearly being pulled in two different directions, with her mother wanting her to be more traditional and Sam wanting to live her own life and not be held back by taking part in traditions. It was a really interesting contrast in the character.
There was gore and violence in this movie and also some bad choices made by the main character. However, it was nice to see that Sam’s mother believed and actually acted to help her, despite the conflicts that existed between them throughout the movie.
I also thought there were some really good moments of foreshadowing through this movie. I was a bit confused by the scenes showing Tamira in a small dark place, at least at first. I’d initially believed she was killed. Then I thought she was stuck in a jar like the demon had been. Once I realised that wasn’t the case, it was odd that Sam didn’t figure out where Tamira was until the end of the movie. Then again, she was dealing with a lot of trauma and fear, so perhaps it was understandable.
I did enjoy this movie, even though I’m not sure I’d get anything from watching it a second time. I would recommend watching it if you’re on the fence about it. There were some nice moments of Hindu culture and traditions that I would have liked to see a bit more of. I also think it would be interesting to see a sequel to this movie, but perhaps not one that’s horror-themed, as I think there are other genres that could be explored with these same characters.
Ink of Blood 