Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

I went through a phase, some years back, where I was watching all kinds of horror films. I do have a wide variety of tastes, but when I saw this DVD available where I work, I was immediately intrigued and purchased it.

Unfortunately, I felt that the blurb of this film made it sound much better than it actually was. The idea was a really intriguing one – and I’ve kind of been looking for horror films that have ghosts in, rather than the demons prevalent in, well, most horror movies.

I did, however, feel like I was missing a lot of the story. I didn’t learn anything about Jordan’s past before she went to live with her Aunt and Uncle, even in explanation format. Although I was given some chance to get to know her as a character, there were some things that made me struggle with my suspension of disbelief.

I wouldn’t say that this film was scary. It was quite disturbing in parts, especially at the end. But even with the ghosts’ appearance, there weren’t really any jumpy scenes. There did seem to be a distinct difference between the two different ghosts, though.

I wasn’t really too grabbed by Larry or his father as characters, I have to say. The whole doctor-patient confidentiality seemed to be non-existent, which was one of the things I found hard to believe.

I did think it was good there wasn’t an excess amount of adult themes in this – such as alcohol and sex. It was pretty tame compared to a lot of films involving teenagers.

I do think this film fell into a trap many horror movies fall into – there was no proper ending. I was also quite disappointed in what was shown at the end, even if there was a certain kind of poetic justice in it.

I doubt I’ll be watching this movie again, I have to say… although it wasn’t too horrible to watch first time. I just don’t think watching it again will be all that enjoyable.

(This review may contain spoilers).

Again, I do want to watch all of the Fast and Furious movies… but one person commented that this movie was where the whole family dynamic started; and since I like family-themed things, I picked up this DVD from the supermarket.

It was good to see the familiar actors from the first movie. The characters all seemed to have changed a lot and it was good to see the direction their lives had taken.

At first, I didn’t like Brian’s character all that much… but he did grow more on me as the movie went on. I especially liked Brian and Dom interacting together. There was a kind of rivalry between them that seemed to evolve into mutual respect as the film went on.

The effects in this movie were pretty cool, especially when it came to the car races. I liked seeing Brian and Mia together, even if I felt Brian could have been a bit better towards Mia. And I would have liked to see a bit more of Dom and Mia interacting together.

There were a couple of other actors I recognised in this movie as well and it was good to see them heading to different countries. I was pulled into this film. I felt there were some really intense scenes and I could empathise really easily with the characters. I felt the actors played well off each other.

I don’t really know much about cars and car racing, but that didn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the film. I particularly liked the ending of this, too, though I felt that it ended on something of a cliffhanger.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’ve always liked Disney films. I enjoy the happy ever endings and I felt that this film was a really good live-action version of the original Cinderella.

Although this did keep to the Disney cartoon version, I thought it was good that there were some interactions between Ella and the prince even before the ball. Although it seemed strange that Ella didn’t figure out his identity after it was oh-so-helpfully provided, I did like the way they had the opportunity to meet and that it wasn’t quite love at first sight.

I liked that the animals were in the film, too. The mice made me smile and when Ella’s fairy godmother appeared, I found parts of it quite amusing… if very sweet at times. It was amusing to see the goose tuned into the coachman and the lizards turned into footmen.

I thought it was interesting that the actual magic part was only a small aspect of the whole film. I thought it was good that more focus was put on the interactions of the characters. I also found it interesting that the stepsisters were ugly on the inside… but not on the outside.

There were some really nice scenes in this film and I really loved the music, particularly towards the end. I felt really sorry for Ella for a lot of the movie and I thought it was good how her kind nature still showed through, despite how she was treated. Perhaps that’s not very realistic… but I still thought it was good.

I recognised a couple of the actors in this movie and I really liked most of them as the characters they portrayed. There were some really nice costumes and special effects in this and there were some really emotional scenes that wrenched at my heart. I enjoyed the ending of this movie and I think it’s one I definitely wouldn’t mind watching again in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

Considering the last film I saw based on the story of Noah, I was a bit hesitant about watching this one. I probably wouldn’t have watched it if my friend hadn’t wanted to and insisted I watched it with her.

I have to say, I was surprised by how much I liked watching this film. Although I felt there were some instances of too-modern language (‘lunatic escaping’, for instance), there was a really good, ancient historical feel to this film.

I liked seeing Noah’s relationship with his wife and sons. I was a bit disappointed not to see too much of the sons’ wives, although it was nice to see that each of his sons had their own personality.

I did feel some sympathy towards Noah’s family. The Bible story of Noah doesn’t really go into much detail about how Noah’s family reacted to the Ark and I felt this movie did a good job of portraying his family’s reactions. It was nice to see that, eventually, they all came together.

I found myself drawn into this movie really easily. I felt the actors did a really good job of portraying the characters they played. The setting came across really well, too, in my opinion. I found myself quite absorbed into this movie and I was able to understand and empathise with the characters.

There were a few actors I recognised in this movie, but it took me a little while to place one of them and two others, I’m still not sure where I saw them before.

I did think the film moved a little slow at the beginning, but as the storyline progressed, it seemed to all speed up a bit. I felt the movie ended at a good point… but I had originally thought it was going to be turned into a television series and was disappointed that it wasn’t.

(This review may contain spoilers).

Before I watched this one, the only film I’d seen from this franchise was Fast and Furious 5… which I don’t really remember much of, apart from drinking too much Diet Coke in the cinema. Since I intend to see 6 and 7 at the cinema in a double bill, though, and I got this for £3, I figured I’d buy it so that I had some familiarity with the storyline.

I’ve noticed that, with older films (not really old ones, but compared to movies made after 2000), there’s more time spent on the romances… and I definitely felt that was the case with this movie. There was good chemistry between the characters who were in relationships.

I found it easy to empathise with the characters in this film and I particularly enjoyed the friendship that formed between Dom and Brian. There were some really intense scenes in the movie that drew me in and made it easy to care about the characters.

I did like the car racing aspects in this. I found it interesting that Brian tried to barter for respect if he won… but that the respect came from his actions outside of the racing.

There were a few scenes that were quite horrible in this film. Nothing over-the-top gory, but definitely at least one I found myself unable too watch. The acting drew me in and I found it easy to see the emotions the characters were feeling, particularly when it reached the end of the movie.

There were quite a few actors in this who I recognised. Meeting Paul Walker’s character for the first time… it’s awful to think about what happened to him, but I feel that he (and the other actors in this) played off each other really well.

As mentioned above, I’m going to be watching other movies from this franchise soon. I put it off for a while, but I definitely feel it’s worth watching if you enjoy action films with a good storyline and characters and lots of cars.