Ink of Blood

(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.

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I originally saw this movie advertised, I was very interested in watching it, as someone who’s been a Christian for a long time. I was immediately intrigued by a movie portraying Jesus’ life that focused primarily on one of his apostles who was a woman.

Having said that, I found this movie difficult to engage with at first. I feel part of that was due to the lack of ethnic realism.

I also found it hard with so many characters shown all at once without much depth. For instance, I had no idea how many siblings Mary had. And out of all the other apostles following Jesus, only Peter and Judas Iscariot had any real development. While I can undetstand a movie not having the time to spend developing every person portrayed, this was a group of people spending weeks travelling together. I was disappointed that more time wasn’t spent showing the friendships and, yes, conflicts between this group of people.

I did really like the focus put on women in this movie, but I felt there were other scenes in the Bible portraying women that I would have liked to see expanded upon. For instance, Jesus’ closeness with Lazarus’ sister; and the Samaritan woman at the well he asked for a drink of water from.

While it was good to see the male apostles questioning and doubting, I almost felt that Mary came across as quite one-dimensional. She seemed kind of on a pedestal; someone who had no questions or doubts that would have shown her as a real person with faith increasing as she grew and learned.

I wasn’t quite as absorbed in this movie as I could have been, but I felt that the reasoning behind the focus on Mary was good and, ultimately, I’m glad I decided to give it a chance, even though I don’t think I’ll be watching it again any time soon.

(This review may contain spoilers).

It took me a little while to get to see this movie, but having seen it today, I’m glad I managed to before it went out of cinemas.

While I wouldn’t have said this movie was terrible unique, it was really entertaining to watch. I enjoyed seeing Miguel interacting with his family and I thought the way his family history was told at the beginning worked really well.

There wasn’t a lot of interaction between Miguel’s family and the rest of the people in the town, so it was difficult to see how their refusal to allow music into their lives was viewed by everyone around them.

It was good to see that Miguel had such a strong passion for music and I found it really easy to empathise with him and his desire to follow his dream. I would say that his parents didn’t really seem to have much depth to them, or even to really interact with him; certainly not as much as his grandmother and great-grandmother.

I would have liked a bit more detail about the spirit guides and how they worked, as it seemed that only certain souls had them…and it was also amusing how those guides seemed to fit in with the personalities of their souls.

There was quite a bit of humour in this movie and I really liked the underlying themes of family. The land of the dead really stood out in comparison to the land of the living, but I couldn’t help feeling sorry for the souls who were completely forgotten about. It seemed that ‘final death’ would be inevitable for any soul.

This movie engaged me really well and I was completely absorbed in watching it. While I wouldn’t rush to buy it on DVD, it’s a film I wouldn’t mind watching again in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I saw this movie originally advertised at the cinema, it was one that immediately intrigued me, even though it wasn’t a genre that I would normally go out of my way to watch. So when it turned out the secret showing at my local cinema was for this movie, I was very happy.

Simon was a character I immediately found it really easy to identify with. It was really nice to see glimpses of his relationships with his parents and sister. I kind of wished his background with his friends ad been expanded upon a bit more, but I definitely liked what I saw of their friendship. And even though the letters between Simon and Blue were an important part of the movie, it was good to see other parts of Simon’s life were just as important.

While there was some attempt to make Martin a more sympathetic character, even by the end of the movie, I really didn’t like him.

I had some mixed feelings about the principal, as his attitude of wanting to be friends with everyone actually came across as quite fake.

There was a lot more humour in this movie than I was expecting and it was nice to see the way the feelings grew between Simon and Blue, even though neither of them knew who the other was. It was also good to see the way Simon imagined the email writer each time he thought he’d figured out Blue’s identity.

There were a lot of really sweet moments in this movie and I found it really easy to empathise with and care about what happened to Simon. By the end of the film, my romantic side had been fully reawakened; and I was very happy with everything that happened in the finale.

(This review may contain spoilers).

It took me a while to sit down and write out this review as, even though I try not to go into movies with any preconceptions, I walked out of this one feeling very disappointed.

I thought there was lot of telling rather than showing, particularly when it came to Elisa not being able to talk. There weren’t any issues with people understanding her and the only time someone didn’t, it was when she would have been put in a bad situation if she had been understood.

The relationship that formed between Elisa and Amphibian Man was probably the most powerful part of this movie, even if it was hard to see the latter as really humanoid. There were some really sweet moments in this movie and I thought it was good to see the effects of segregation, even if the problems faced by someone with a disability weren’t really shown.

I did like seeing the friendship between Elisa and Zelda, as well as Zelda’s interactions and relationship with Giles.

To be honest, it was the first scene of this movie that was thoroughly engaging and actually quite beautiful to watch. The rest of the movie didn’t really have that same dreamlike quality to it that I’d engaged with right at the start.
I really didn’t like Strickland; which was sort of the point, I guess. But as a villain, he had zero depth to him. Plus, his wife looked like a completely stereotypical housewife from that time and it was very hard to take that seriously.

I did like seeing the characters work together and although there were some very disturbing, gory scenes, the movie was very entertaining to watch. I did find it engaging, despite there being issues I would have liked to see improved upon. I wouldn’t choose to watch this movie again any time soon, though.