Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

Even though I haven’t read any of the books, I did see the previous movie in this franchise.

I felt Jack Reacher came across as much more socially awkward in this movie, especially when it came to his interactions with Sam… but also when he was speaking with Major Turner. While it was good to see she was a strong character, I felt she was pushed very much to the background, even though most of the main plot involved her. While I do like Tom Cruise as an actor, I didn’t think much of his character.

I did think there was a lot of good setup, but at the same time, I found the storyline a bit difficult to follow at times. I found some of the connections between the characters a bit hard to follow.

There were some really good action sequences in this movie and I liked seeing Jack Reacher in his phone calls to Major Turner. It was good to see the two of them interacting before they met in person.

I thought it was good to see Reacher trying to be a father, even though he clearly had no idea how to actually be one. It was nice to see him bonding with Sam and especially good to see the way their relationship had evolved by the end of the movie.

I did feel that the corruption levels seemed to be quite high and it was difficult to see exactly who the bad guys were. At the beginning of the movie, when Reacher was accused of murder, I did think the evidence was really flimsy, even though Reacher’s responses were amusing to hear. At the same time, I found it strange that he refused to respond, as there seemed to be no logic to that.

I did recognise quite a few actors and for the most part, I found the characters they played to be engaging and realistic. The exception was the main bad guy. By the time it got to the end of the movie, it seemed more like he was pursuing a personal vendetta that didn’t make a lot of sense.

While there were some disturbing scenes, such as when one of the characters was tortured, it didn’t really hit very hard, as I didn’t care that much about a lot of the secondary characters.

This film was entertaining to watch and there were some engaging scenes with main characters I did care about. But I wouldn’t gain anything from watching this movie again, so I wouldn’t buy it on DVD.

(This review may contain spoilers).

It’s likely to come as no surprise to anyone who reads my reviews that, the moment I saw Doctor Strange advertised, I immediately wanted to see it… and took my nine-year-old niece, who probably knows more about Marvel than I do, to see it.

I’ve seen Benedict Cumberbatch in quite a lot of things by now and I felt like he portrayed Doctor Strange really well. Of course, he’d already had experience playing an arrogant character in BBC’s Sherlock.

It was good to see how, even though Strange lost the use of his hands, he didn’t lose any of his arrogance… even though that arrogance showed in different ways.

I found the Ancient One to be a really intriguing character, though by the end of the movie, I was left a little in the dark about what her exact motivations were.

I did find Mordo to be quite intriguing. I recognised the actor, but I didn’t really think a later scene fit with his character. I would have liked some more background and depth to him, to explain the path he took later.

I was a bit disappointed that, for a Marvel movie, there was very little humour. I did like the fact it was a bit more serious, though, and I especially enjoyed Strange’s interactions with Wong.

I thought it was good to see something of the power the characters could use and to get an idea of how it worked. I thought it was interesting to learn about the different artefacts imbued with abilities… and it was good to see something of the origins of Doctor Strange’s cape.

The mirror world was an intriguing aspect of the movie, though I did get a little confused about how it worked. It was amusing, and did a lot to break up the tension, to see Stan Lee’s cameo.

If you see this movie, make sure you stay till the end, as there are two extra scenes.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I like horror movies, but when I first saw the trailer for this, it seemed to start off as a comedy… a very different feeling to what I was left with by the end of said trailer.

I felt the setting was really engaging and although there were some moments where I felt the language used was less old-fashioned than it should have been, I did think that the relationships between Alice and her daughters, in particular, were shown really well.

There were a few jumpy moments in this movie, but as I was trying to audio describe, those moments… which were cheap anyway… lost a lot of their effectiveness.

I did feel a lot for Doris, but I would have liked to see more of her interactions with her sister. It was hard to see Doris as a character in her own right at times, as she seemed to spend most of the movie trying to emulate her mother. While that wouldn’t be a bad thing with a child character, it didn’t seem like she had much of a personality even at the beginning of the movie.

It was interesting to see the sisters at their school and how the priest interacted with both of them. I found Father Tom to be an interesting character, but I didn’t really believe in his and Alice’s attraction to each other.

I felt the horror in this movie was more effective when it wasn’t seen. The moment Doris saw something in the mirror, I felt it looked like a cartoon rendering of a demon. After that, it was so much harder to take the movie seriously… even though some of the things that came out of Doris’ mouth were really creepy.

There was a lot of potential in this movie, especially when it came to the foreshadowing. But I felt that the attempts to scare/disgust the audience took over the story and the potential didn’t really go anywhere. Plus, the ending completely contradicted earlier scenes.

I like horror movies, but this one was a bit of a disappointment and isn’t one I would watch again.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I remember, from an early age, that my sister used to enjoy collecting trolls. They were a big part of our growing up… so I was immediately interested in watching this movie with both my sister and my niece.

Even though this movie was universal, I actually did feel it had some darker scenes that wouldn’t be suitable for very young children. I did like the interactions between Poppy and Branch… and it was good to see the complete contrast between the two of them.

I did have a lot of sympathy for King Gristle. Even though I felt that he wasn’t very strong for most of the movie, it was sweet to see him and Bridget interacting… and I especially liked the friendship that formed between Bridget and Poppy. Plus, it was sweet to see Bridget’s love for Gristle.

I did think that the trolls were too innocent. By the end of the movie, I didn’t feel that they’d really learned a lot… even though the ending was good and I thought it was interesting to see the different types of trolls there were. And I did really like the scrapbooks Poppy kept making, even if she did very clearly lack the ability to take anything seriously.

I thought there were some really good songs in this movie that fit really well. My favourite was probably ‘Get Back Up Again’, which was a really nice, visual song.

There were some very reognisable voice actors in this and although I really didn’t like the Chef, I did think she added a good dimension to the movie.

I did think the movie was engaging and there were some deeper themes to it. It was definitely good for children to watch… and as an adult, I enjoyed the visual aspects and the humour, along with the animation and the creativity in the movie.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I haven’t read the books in this franchise, or even watched the previous movies, but I still found this movie easy to follow.

It was really easy to empathise with Robert’s confusion over what was going on and I liked that the movie jumped straight into the action. Even though there was some confusion, that came more from what the main character was experiencing… and there was a lot of tension right from the beginning.

I did like Sienna as a character, even though I would have liked to see a bit more of her background. I did feel that certain things that were revealed towards the end of the movie didn’t really fit with what had been shown before. While there was a small amount of foreshadowing, the ending did still feel like it was more for shock value.

I thought it was interesting to see the big part Bertram played in this movie, despite having died at the beginning. It was good to see how everything came together… and even though I really wouldn’t have agreed with his actions, I could understand his motivations in a really scary way.

The visions based on Dante’s Inferno were quite scary to see, though I wasn’t very clear on why Robert was seeing them.

I did think there seemed to be a lot involved in this movie, but by the end, it seemed almost like the path was just there for the sake of it. There were some good connections… but there were other things I felt weren’t really followed through on. Even though there were some things that were a surprise, I didn’t feel the plot was as intricate as I was expecting.

I did find this movie entertaining to watch and although I probably wouldn’t watch it again, I would be interested in reading the books and watching the other movies in this franchise in the future.