Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

I have to be honest… I haven’t actually played any of the Assassin’s Creed games, although I do know a few small details; enough to know about the setting of the movie.

While I do feel Michael Fassbender is a good actor, I felt there was something missing in this movie. It was good to see the flashbacks to Aguilar’s history and to be as in the dark as Cal was. I found it interesting to see his past, but even by the end, I was left a bit lost as to the motives of his parents.

I would have liked a bit more detail about the Animus. I spent a lot of the movie assuming it only had one purpose, only for that assumption to be completely derailed by the end. While that scene could perhaps be explained away by Cal hallucinating, that wasn’t the impression I had.

I would have liked a bit more detail about the background of the secondary characters. While it was obvious what Sofia and Rikkin’s end goal was, the others like Cal seemed to be trying to stop, or at least be against, the hunt for the apple.

Towards the end of the movie and at certain points throughout, there was a lot of engaging action. It was also good to see something of the morals and ethics of the Assassin’s Guild, though I would have liked to know a bit more detail about the members. The film definitely showed the end days of the guild.

I didn’t think there was enough of a build to the events of the end. It seemed there was a real lack of foreshadowing throughout and not enough about what drove Cal.

I did think there was a lot put into this movie from the visual effects and the fighting scenes. But this movie wasn’t as engaging as it could have been and I felt a lot of the character development fell by the wayside.

While I did feel this movie was lacking, it did trigger an interest in actually playing the games some time in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

This wasn’t a movie I actually planned to see, but I found myself drawn to it due to the actors and I was in the frame of mind where I was okay with watching something I knew would be emotionally upsetting.

I felt this movie was really moving to watch and I was able to empathise with Howard really easily. It helped to see the contrast of how he was at the start of the film compared to how he was later.

I didn’t really like his colleagues, even though I felt some sympathy for Simon. While all of them did have more depth than the start of the movie initially suggested, I did think their actions throughout were definitely not okay.

While the main focus of the movie was on Howard and who he had lost, I thought it was good to see more of the secondary characters and how Brigitte, Raffi and Amy ultimately seemed to help Whit, Claire and Simon… even though I didn’t really feel like they helped Howard.

There was a lot about this movie that really tugged on the heartstrings, particularly when it came to Howard’s daughter. While she didn’t actually appear much during the movie, the after-effects of her presence were definitely felt.

It was a little difficult to figure out why parts of the movie seemed almost supernatural. While a mix of genres can be engaging and add a new dimension to a movie, I would have liked to know for certain either way.

I didn’t think much of Whit, even outside of what he and the others were doing to Howard. While the ending showed a better relationship with his daughter, I did think the fact he had an affair made him the ‘bad guy’, no matter what his reasons were – not that those were really explained.

On the whole, this movie was a moving one to watch and there were a couple of surprises, especially towards the end. In many ways, it was effective to see Howard and his colleagues separately, as I feel the movie wouldn’t have had so much of an impact without both sides.

This isn’t a movie I would choose to watch again, but it was moving and emotionally effective the first time through. If you’re on the fence about seeing this, I would suggest giving it a try.

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I saw this movie advertised originally, it was one I particularly wanted to see. I have to say, however, it wasn’t quite the film I was expecting; even though I did think it was entertaining to watch.

It was easy to empathise with Jim and his feelings of intense loneliness. While Arthur was around and their interactions were interesting to see, considering one was human and the other was an android. I felt the actor did a really good job of portraying Jim’s dilemma over whether or not to wake Aurora; and even though his actions were ethically wrong, I could understand what drove him.

I did feel there was a lot less action than I was expecting. While it was good to learn about why Aurora and Jim wanted to travel to the planet, I felt the middle of the movie dragged quite a bit.

It was good to see Jim make use of his engineering skills, but considering how long he’d been awake for, I felt he should have realised something was wrong much earlier than he did.

I did feel there were some good moments of foreshadowing in this movie and I especially liked the gravity rides in space. It was good to see something of how the ship worked, so that – as a viewer – I could tell something was going wrong, even though the characters seemed completely oblivious.

I did find the movie engaging enough to keep my attention towards the end and I did learn enough about the characters to care about what was happening to them. While I think it would have been good to see more of what was going wrong, I did think it was good to see a real relationship form between the two main characters.

I don’t think this is a movie I’d watch again, although I did enjoy it the first time through. But if you like science fiction movies that are more character-driven than action-driven, I would suggest giving this a chance.

(This review may contain spoilers).

This was the first movie my three-year-old nephew saw at the cinema. I’ve always liked family films, along with the myriad of other genres I enjoy, and this one wasn’t any different… though I could see some of the stereotypes previous viewers had picked up on in the movie.

While this movie was fairly light-hearted, I did like that there were some serious aspects to it as well. While Maui came across as a light-hearted, uncomplicated person at first, there were parts of his past that made it clear why he did the things he did… even though he did make a few mistakes. And I felt he treated Moana like she was expendable for a lot of the movie.

There were some really nice songs during this movie and it was good to see Moana’s relationships with her parents and grandmother. I liked how her grandmother gave her advice without telling her what to do… allowing her to make her own decisions.

It was good to see how Moana was drawn to the ocean, even as a young child, and to get answers as to why that was. While it was good to see she knew her own mind and what she wanted to do, and was clearly a strong female character, she also made mistakes and didn’t get everything right the first time… which I felt made her a more relatable character. And I also liked seeing how the ocean had its own personality. And the rooster was incredibly amusing. I would have liked to see the pig take on a bigger role, though, even though it was good to see something of a departure from the usual animal friends in Disney.

This movie was entertaining and my niece and nephew both enjoyed it; my niece to the point of wanting to listen to the soundtrack repeatedly. While I probably wouldn’t buy this on DVD when it comes out, I wouldn’t mind watching it again in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

At the time of writing this review, I have now seen this movie twice. The first time was at the midnight showing and the second time was two days ago with my niece.

Considering I’ve been a long-time fan of Star Wars, I was immediately interested in seeing this movie and the trailer just sparked that desire even further.

Personally, I actually really liked this movie. While there wasn’t a lot about the Jedi, I liked that the movie seemed to reach much further than just a small part of the galaxy. And it was really good to see the link-ins with A New Hope.

I liked the elements of humour in this movie, especially when it came to K-2SO. I enjoyed seeing his interactions with Cassian and it was nice to see the personality in him, since C-3PO and R2-D2 had their own personalities in the original trilogy.

I did like Jyn’s personality, but I would have liked to see more of how it developed over the movie. I didn’t really feel like her goals aligned with that of the Rebel Alliance’s; there didn’t seem to be a real ‘I’m on their side’ moment. But I did like her interactions with the other characters and I did care about what happened to her. And it was nice to see little snippets of her relationship with her father.

I especially liked Chirrut and his interactions with Baze. I would have liked a bit more detail of their history together, but I felt like that with a lot of the characters. I did like the sense that the Rebel Alliance wasn’t just about the ‘good guys’ versus the ‘bad guys’; it was nice to see them making the tough choices and doing things that weren’t necessarily seen as good at the time.

This was a movie I enjoyed watching and my niece did as well. It was a good link-in to the Star Wars franchise and this is a movie I would watch again in the future and probably buy on DVD.