Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

Interestingly enough, out of the two horror films I watched in a row, it was this one I thought I’d like the least. But as it turned out, I very much preferred this movie.

I thought it was really good how the movie started out with a family already living in the difficult times of being hunted, as that made the movie a bit more unique in comparison to other disaster movies.

The atmosphere of the movie made it difficult to watch and I thought it was very effective to see the characters have to hold back on making any sound, no matter how difficult that might have been.

I did think the tension and suspense in this movie would have been better if the creatures had stayed ‘hidden’ for longer. The initial appearance was of a being that followed sound almost too fast for the human eye to see. But as soon as they were slowed down, they didn’t seem nearly as scary.

The relationships between the parents and children were probably one of the strongest parts in the movie, especially considering that so much of that lacked them being able to communicate verbally.

One of the main things I liked about this movie was the fact that the characters were real people I could care about. And, yes, they made mistakes; and one of those was quite a big error in judgement, in that Evelyn was pregnant when it seemed like that would be a really dangerous move to make when noise could be deadly. But those mistakes just made them feel human.

This movie did leave me on the edge of my seat throughout and it was really good to see a family struggling to survive. While I probably wouldn’t rush to buy this movie on DVD, it’s one I wouldn’t mind watching again in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I haven’t read the book this movie is based on, but I still really enjoyed watching it and I thought that many of the visual effects were stunning; though I did wonder how big a budget the movie had to include all sorts of pop culture items.

I liked the whole idea of people effectively living in virtual reality and relying so heavily on their technology, as I think that’s the way the world truly could end up going. And it was good to see the hunt for the egg – though apart from Wade and H, I couldn’t really see much of the players interacting with each other.

I did like Art3mis, even though she did come across as a fairly stereotypical tough girl. And the whole Wade developing feelings for her kind of fit with his character, but I still found myself rolling my eyes at some of the very corny dialogue he spouted.

I was kind of disappointed when The Shining was brought into play, as I felt that the major changes really didn’t fit in with what had been shown of Halliday’s character.

I would have liked a bit more detail about the world outisde the Oasis, especially when it came to the loyalty chambers, as it wasn’t clear what they were and how they could be legal when they were first brought up.

There were some really good elements of foreshadowing in this movie and, even though it didn’t really feel like danger when they were in the Oasis, there was enough happening outside that it did feel like the characters’ actions had real consequences.

This was a movie I very much enjoyed watching and it’s one I would watch again in the future. And will probably buy on DVD when it comes out.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I saw trailers for this movie so many times, I actually got really hyped up and excited about it in preparation to watch it. And I did really enjoy the movie. It was a really interesting concept and it was also good to see that each of the dogs had their own personality.

I did question why there were translators throughout the movie, as it took place primarily in Japan and showed very little of the outside world, apart from the American exchange student – but there didn’t seem to be anyone else apart from her would have needed translating, especially in the meeting at the beginning, which had a very secret feel.

I did like seeing the colonies formed by the dogs on Trash Island, but this was definitely not a child-friendly movie, as there was a lot of dark subject matter shown.

One of my favourite parts of this movie was the friendship that formed between Chief and Atari, although I did feel that Chief changed his tone rather quickly – and although he warned that he bit, there was nothing to indicate he’d carry out that threat, whether unconsciously or not.

I also felt that this movie wasn’t long enough to need to be separated into parts or chapters. And though it was good to see the legend of the boy samurai at the start of the movie, I was expecting it to be more utilised through the course of the movie.

I did like the idea of Oracle, the dog who could understand the television, but I was left somewhat confused by the way the languages worked, as by the end of the movie, it seemed like Atari could actually understand the dogs.

I enjoyed the small elements of humour in this movie and I did find it really engaging to watch. While I wouldn’t rush out to buy it on DVD, it’s a movie I wouldn’t mind watching again in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I did watch the prequel to this movie, but I didn’t really remember much about it, other than there being giant robots that that served as flight suits.

I felt that the strongest part of this movie was the characters, especially the interactions between Jake and Amara and Jake and Nate. I did, however, think that the obligatory love triangle was boring. Jules really wasn’t developed enough for me to care about her on her own, let alone who was going to get into her pants.

I did really like Amara…but, to be honest, I liked most of the recruits. It was good to see some of the problems with linking when they were inside the robots, but I felt that Amara’s hangups disappeared too quickly.

It wasn’t very clear exactly why the humans believed with such certainty that the aliens would return. They were right, of course, but I could imagine them being seen as just paranoid up until that point.

It was nice to see the action scenes, but I felt there were too many ‘redshirts’ – most of the people who died were nameless characters I’d formed no emotional connection to, with a couple of exceptions.

I would have found this movie to be more engaging if more time had been spent developing the characters and their relationships – NOT romance – with each other. A lack of emotional connection to all but the main characters meant I was just watching a lot of random people get hurt towards the end. And I’d forgotten who some of those involved in the major battle at the end were.

The fight scenes were engaging and I really did enjoy watching the ‘giant robots’ battling it out. I just wish the movie had handled things a bit better in regards to the secondary characters.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I have some quite mixed feelings about this movie, I have to say. I did feel that one of the things this movie did really well, though, was the fact that the main character, Sawyer, got herself committed to the psychiatric hospital because she didn’t actually read what she was signing.

I thought the use of the camera angles was really powerful, as they allowed the movie to be really harrowing to watch.

I would have liked it better if this movie had spent a bit more time setting up Sawyer as an unreliable main character. Eventually, it just seemed to become a fairly stereotypical movie about a young woman trying to survive. I felt several tricks were missed in her interactions with the other patients.

I also felt there were intriguing secondary storylines that were just allowed to fall by the wayside. Many of the supporting characters weren’t really developed enough to allow me to care about them. In fact, all they felt like were supporters in Sawyer’s story.

This movie did build slowly and I did like that aspect, along with not knowing if what Sawyer was experiencing was real or all in her head.

There were some intense scenes, but also many that were gross and disturbing. For most of the movie, I found suspending my disbelief about much of the storyline hard to do. After all, it really didn’t seem to me like what the hospital was doing would last in the long term. There were a lot of holes that became apparent the closer I looked.

All in all, I felt this movie was one that didn’t really live up to its potential. There was quite a bit that was illogical and didn’t make sense even within the confines of that world.

To be honest, I don’t plan to watch this movie again any time soon. Or to buy it on DVD.

(This review may contain spoilers).

Having read Beatrix Potter books as a child, I was immediately interested in watching this movie; though I didn’t plan to watch it so soon.

I liked the fact that the movie, although starting off with the basic storyline of Peter Rabbit and Mr. McGregor, showed an entirely new storyline. I felt that Peter’s mischief came through really well and it was good to see him interacting with his sisters and cousin, along with the rest of the animals. And I also really liked how Bea related to the rabbits.

I was a bit confused by the whole talking thing, as I’d assumed at first that all it was was the animals talking to each other and the ‘language’ being ‘translated’ so that the viewers could understand. However, by the end of the movie, that had been turned on its head; at least that was what it seemed like.

I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Thomas, even though I had some very mixed feelings about him for a lot of the movie. It was fun to see that he and Peter were basically rivals, though.

I also really liked Cotton-Tail. Yes, she was insanely reckless – but it was still a lot of fun to watch her and her sisters, especially when Peter expected them to act as lookouts.

For all the fun and humour in this movie, I did like the fact there were some serious aspects as well. And the use of Bea’s paintings of the the rabbits was good, too, even if they were in stark contrast to the more abstract paintings she was doing.

This movie was an awful lot of fun to watch, but I wouldn’t recommend taking very young children to see it, as a lot of what went on would go right over their heads.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I haven’t read the book this movie is based on, but when I saw this advertised, I was immediately interested in watching it.

It was nice to see Meg’s interactions with her parents before her father disappeared and I really liked her relationship with her little brother, Charles Wallace. I thought he was extremely sweet and I liked the fact he was so protective of her, despite being so much younger.

I didn’t much like Veronica and her friends, who were more like clones. I felt really bad for Meg, having to go through that bullying; even though I thought the principal at least was trying to do right by her. I couldn’t really say the same for the other teachers, though. After all, they acted really unprofessionally, whether or not Charles Wallace heard them talking about his father’s disappearance.

I liked Mrs. Who, even though I couldn’t really understand how she was only able to borrow the words other people said and how doing so was related to her strength. Part of that was because many of the things she said weren’t quotes I recognised; and then it seemed strange later on when she’d specifically state where the quotes came from.

I like Reese Witherspoon as an actress, but I really didn’t like Mrs. Whatsit at all. At first, she came across as whimsical and innocent…later, she just seemed mean.

I really liked Meg’s friendship with Calvin and it was good to see something of his home life, even though it was hard to watch. It was also good to see something of the spread of the evil and how it affected people on Earth and on other planets.

I really liked seeing a bit more of the universe and how the travelling worked. I did find a few bits amusing and I was kept engaged really well throughout.

This is a movie I would definitely like to watch again in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I haven’t read the book this movie is based on, but when I originally saw the trailer about a year or so ago, I was really intrigued by it. Even if it did seem like an action-spy movie, it came across as different enough that my interest was piqued.

It was good to see the different paths Dominika and Nate took, though Dominika had more of her past and motivations explored than Nate did.

While the scenes with Dominika being trained as a sparrow were really disturbing, they were also very intense to watch. I did think that Dominika came across as a very tough woman during the course of the film; even when she was being hurt, it was fairly obvious she wouldn’t break.

It was good to get glimpses of how the bigger picture worked with both the Russian and American intelligence agencies, though I did find it a bit harder by the end to figure out all of the politics involved.

There was a lot of violence in this movie and it was very gory in parts; though I have to say, it could have been a lot worse than it actually was. The movie didn’t shy away from the violence, but didn’t go over-the-top with it. I can’t really say the same for the sexual connotations, though.

Dominika’s uncle was a really disturbing character and I couldn’t help but cringe every time he appeared. I did kind of wonder what her mother was doing while Dominika was gone for so long, though, as it seemed like Dominika never made any attempts to check up on her.

Apart from Nate and Dominika, there weren’t very many likable characters in this movie…but I did really like them and I enjoyed seeing them interacting with each other.

This movie was engaging and I did like watching it. I would probably watch this movie again at some point in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

This isn’t the first Lara Croft movie I’ve seen, but so far, I think it might be my favourite.

This version of Lara Croft was very easy to empathise with and care about. It was really good to see the brief snippets of her past, as it allowed me to see the relationship she had with her father and something of what her life had been like growing up.

There wasn’t a lot of depth to the main villain of the movie, even though it was clear some attempt had been made to humanise him. The best types of villains are those who have good reasons behind their actions…or at least good reasons as far as they’re concerned. But many of his actions throughout just showed him as a completely evil person who enjoyed tormenting those forced to work under his command.

I found myself drawn really easily into this movie, even though it was kind of difficult to suspend my disbelief when it came to some of the things Lara could do. Some of those were foreshadowed and made sense; others really didn’t.

I did find the legend of Himiko to be really intriguing and it was particularly good to see the puzzles that had to be solved throughout.

I did think that, even though she was clearly capable of defending herself, Lara didn’t necessarily make the best decisions; and until she left to follow in the direction her father had taken, there were elements of telling rather than showing.

I couldn’t really say how true this movie stayed to the source material, but I did enjoy this movie and I did care about what happened to the characters. I probably wouldn’t rush to buy this movie on DVD, but I wouldn’t mind watching it again in the future.