Ink of Blood

Obviously, I was very excited about this movie, given I love superhero movies and Marvel in particular. And Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 was such an emotional rollercoaster, I was really looking forward to something similar with this third movie.

I did really enjoy this movie. I didn’t think it was quite as good as the second one. I did think it stretched my suspension of disbelief a little far, even considering the sort of fantastical themes so prevalent in superhero movies. For instance, Nebula just able to pop broken limbs into place as if she was fixing a dent. Those scenes were very hard to take seriously.

I also have to be honest and say I really wasn’t keen on Gamora in this movie. And don’t get me wrong; it’s not because I ship her and Peter together. I would have much preferred romance not to be shoehorned into the movie…but I liked the version of Gamora who didn’t hesitate to hug her sister and who gave up the location of the soul stone just to save Nebula from further suffering. Past Gamora had more morals than the one in this movie and it’s a real shame that development wasn’t in the version of Gamora in this movie.

I really liked learning more about Rocket and a huge amount of this movie really tugged at my heartstrings. The first time I saw this, one of the scenes made me tear up and a second one made me bawl outright…and then the second time I watched the movie, I full on cried at both scenes (because I knew what was coming!)

I would have liked to see more character development of both Mantis and Drax. Their personalities are different to the rest of the Guardians, but I felt that those differences were only played for comedy, instead of letting them grow in their own right. I was especially disappointed not to see more of Mantis and Quill’s relationship, after learning Mantis is Quill’s sister.

I did like seeing Kraglin and it was really good to see his character go through something of an arc. Honestly, it was refreshing to see someone trying and failing to do something right. I also found Adam Warlock to be an interesting character…although his accent did make it hard to take him seriously.

All in all, I did enjoy this movie. It was a lot of fun and worth watching, even if only to learn more about Rocket’s history…although it didn’t show anything of Rocket’s first meeting with Groot, which would have been nice to see. I can’t say this movie is perfect, but in my humble opinion, it’s a worthy addition to the MCU and definitely worth watching if you’re a fan.

I did actually watch (and really enjoy) Searching, when it originally came out at the cinema. I don’t remember a whole lot about it, but I remember it was really cleverly done with how the story was told entirely through the use of social media. When I saw this movie advertised, I was immediately intrigued…but didn’t know if it would be done as well as the first movie.

This film did a really good job of drawing me in right from the beginning. The scene of June and her father playing together was incredibly sweet…and then there was a huge amount of tension when her father’s nose started bleeding and it became very clear that June’s father had passed away.

I didn’t really like June’s mother at the beginning of the movie, to be honest. Despite the fact that June was 18, her mother seemed to be treating her like a child. I could completely understand June’s frustration at having what amounted to a babysitter sent to check on her.

Much like its predecessor Searching, Missing was entirely told through the use of social media/video cameras/etc. I felt that was one of the strongest parts of this movie. It helped to keep the tension ramped up quite a bit, since as the viewer, the only information I had came from what June herself could see.

Speaking of June, she was probably the best character in this movie. She was resourceful and intelligent, but I felt the movie definitely did a good job of keeping her actions within the scope of what she could realistically do. I did question what she eventually ended up doing for food, though, since the money her mother obviously would have run out eventually.

There was a lot of good tension throughout this movie and I definitely liked some of the secondary characters, especially Veena and Javi. I also thought it was good to see some hints of conflict come through as June’s desperation to find her mother grew.

All in all, I really did enjoy this movie. It didn’t really feel like a direct sequel to Searching, although I did appreciate the easter egg to the first movie in the scene showing the ending of Searching.

I’ve seen other movies use a similar way of telling the story by making use of modern day technology, but I think Missing (and Searching) does it particularly well. June’s search for her mother drew me in as a viewer and I really cared about her character and what she was going through. There were some areas that moved a bit slowly, but on the whole, it was enjoyable to watch…and I’d probably see it again, in case there were any elements of foreshadowing, or clues, that I missed the first time through.

So, I will be honest…I really like Power Rangers. I know it’s a bit cheesy, but I grew up watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers with my sister. We’d always argue over who got to be the pink ranger. And although I haven’t watched every episode and every series of Power Rangers, I do enjoy dipping in and out…especially when I get the opportunity to watch it with my nephew Freddie.

I liked the fact that the movie started out with the action straight away. It wasn’t immediately clear how Rita Repulsa had returned (since the last time she’d appeared, she was turned good by Zordon’s wave of energy), but a flashback cleared up a lot of that confusion…and Billy’s intentions to try and bring Zordon back made a lot of sense to me. After all, Zordon was pretty much a father figure; not just to the original group of Power Rangers, but many others as well.

It wasn’t exactly clear why or how the original Power Rangers still had their morphing ability, as my understanding was that most of them had given up their power, since other rangers had taken their place. Plus, I’d thought that the original dinosaur morphing abilities had been taken from them early on. Then again, as I said, I’ve been dipping in and out of the series, so maybe I missed them regaining those morphing abilities? And come to think of it, Jason appeared in Forever Red and used his original morpher.

I really liked the fact that this movie came across as very much a tribute to Trini. I remember it was pretty shocking to me to find out that the actress had passed away; and while Trini was killed by Rita at the very start of the movie, her presence was very much felt throughout.

I liked the addition of Minh, Trini’s daughter, and I really liked her relationship with Zack. He was honestly a great guardian to her, especially when she was trying to use the morpher for purely selfish purposes. And the conflict between Minh and Billy was honestly truly great to see.

I really loved being able to see Kat and Rocky; not just because they were also early generation rangers, but because it was really good to see them living their own lives, with their own responsibilities…but still rangers (as the title says) and ready to fight alongside their former teammates. Honestly, I would have liked to see more of their lives outside being power rangers for Billy and Zack, since it seemed like they weren’t really doing anything else.

All in all, I did enjoy this movie. There were some nice nods to the original series and it was good to see some of the original actors return, even though it was a little sad that there wasn’t a full reunion. I think that if you were a fan of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Power Rangers in general, you’d probably enjoy this movie.

I think I’ve only watched one or two movies in the Evil Dead franchise, though it was quite a long time ago now, so I only really remember a few bits and pieces…more the iconic scenes…from the movies I have watched.

The opening scene of the movie is pretty typical, starting with a creepy, obviously possessed woman who attacks her cousin and boyfriend. One of the creepiest parts of the opening scene is when the possessed woman (the deadite) starts quoting from the book that her cousin is reading.

I didn’t think there was anything really that special or different about this movie. It was better than a lot of horror movies I’ve seen, as it took a bit more time to actually develop the main characters after the initial opening scene. I did feel like the relationship between the siblings, Bridget, Danny and Kassie, was the strongest part of the movie. I thought it was really good when Bridget and Danny automatically protected their younger sister when the earthquake occurred…and despite the fact that they were both still children (or teenagers), they were actually able to make some fairly good survival choices. And while Danny did go against one of the number one rules in horror movies (don’t go down into the creepy basement), I can’t really fault him for what happened.

Having said that, I do think that some of the decisions taken by Beth weren’t all that intelligent. For instance, she closes herself off in one of the other rooms to listen to recordings, using headphones…even while knowing her possessed, dangerous sister is still out in the hallway and has already killed multiple people. Personally, I wouldn’t have left the children alone in another room.

There were some good elements of foreshadowing in this movie, which worked really well. And the movie definitely didn’t shy away from any gore. There were some really gross, disgusting scenes in the film, but also some clear nods to the original Evil Dead movie. For instance, there’s a scene towards the end with a bloodied Beth holding onto a chainsaw.

I was on the edge of my seat a couple of times through the movie, although that was more because I was waiting for the inevitable carnage than because I was expecting the characters to have a chance at survival.

If you enjoy horror movies with plenty of gore and lots of death, you’ll probably enjoy this one…especially as a new addition to the Evil Dead franchise. Having said that, although there are nods to the original movies, I don’t think you need to be familiar with the franchise to understand what’s going on here.

So. This movie was a lot of fun to watch. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from this movie – I just had some spare time after work and figured I’d watch it.

I liked the fact that this movie didn’t take itself too seriously. Renfield worked really well as a narrator. The fact he had to eat bugs to trigger his abilities was extremely disgusting, but was a really interesting way of having the abilities of the main character triggered.

It was good that the character of Dracula didn’t really appear that much in the movie, as I felt that it allowed the focus to be more on the character of Renfield and the struggles he was facing. Plus, it was much harder to take Nicholas Cage as a seriously dangerous villain even when he was attacking people. Yes, this movie didn’t take itself seriously and was clearly meant to be dark comedy, but many of the other characters had depth to them despite the genre. Not so much the character of Dracula. However, I did really like the fact this movie made use of the general mythos of vampires: sunlight being deadly, unable to enter somewhere unless invited in, etc. (Which made little sense that Renfield then put a welcome mat in front of his apartment door, since surely he would have known it would issue an open invitation to Dracula?)

I really liked Rebecca as a character in this movie and I felt she was one of the strongest parts of this movie. I enjoyed her interactions with Renfield, especially with his awkward attempts to form a relationship with her…but I also really liked that it was saving her that triggered the change in Renfield and him trying to be a better person, a hero, and no longer Dracula’s thrall.

There were quite a few good comedy moments in this movie, some of which I found myself laughing out loud at. Along with the humour, of course, there was also a lot of gore and disgusting moments…it is a dark comedy, after all. Also, a lot of the secondary characters are really only there to be cannon fodder. The main characters are easy to care about and have a lot of depth to them, but for instance, the rest of the police officers don’t come across as individual characters at all, but more as a hive mind. However, I did feel bad for Carol, who kept getting interrupted every time she was trying to get support from the rest of the group.

All in all, this was a good movie to watch. It was entertaining and funny to watch. I don’t think I’d rush out to purchase the movie on DVD, but I wouldn’t mind watching it again in the future.

So, I have to be honest…I was pretty disappointed in this movie. I’ve seen various different versions of the Three Musketeers (The Man in the Iron Mask, cartoon dog versions, BBC’s The Three Musketeers….), so I was pretty excited to watch this one and…it juat wasn’t as good as I thought it could be.

D’Artagnan was definitely the most well-rounded character of this movie, but his first interactions with Athos, Porthos and Aramis showed a more arrogant, reckless side to him that really didn’t come to fruition during the rest of the movie. Why did he goad each of them into wanting to duel? What was his end goal? To win them over so that he could get them to vouch for him to join the musketeers in the end? Honestly, it seemed like this was just thrown into the movie for no reason other than to get D’Artagnan in front of the musketeers.

Unfortunately, this pretty much fit the theme of the movie. There was a lot of potential here, but it all fell rather flat. There was too much telling by the other characters and not enough showing. What were Athos’ demons? Why was he so willing to accept death and thought it was possible he’d actually killed a woman? And where was Aramis’ conflicts that Porthos references? If those had been shown, it would have made for a much more interesting movie.

I did think that the strongest part of this movie was the political intrigue and the relationship between the King and the Queen, as most of the true conflicts of the conflicts in the movie came from the Queen’s obvious feelings towards another man and her having to navigate the suspicions of her husband. It would have been good to see more detail about that, instead of the forced romance between D’Artagnan and Constance. Honestly, the film would have been much better without the romance shoehorned in and more development in the characterisation of the musketeers.

The sword fights in the movie were visually appealing and Eva Green’s version of Milady was a really intriguing one. While I didn’t particularly enjoy this version of the story, I’d be interested in watching the second movie in order to see more of Milady and learn about her history in this version. But I don’t have any interest in rewatching this movie…and I would hope that the sequel actually spends more time showing instead of telling.