Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

I felt this movie also lacked a bit in living up to its potential. I did think it was intriguing to see Peter interacting with his patients. I did feel quite a bit of sympathy for Erica in particular… and there was at least one scarily effective scene with her involved.

I would have liked to see more of Peter interacting with Carol and other characters outside of his patients and colleague. There was a lot that felt very surreal even outside of the strange patients.

It was difficult to see Elizabeth interacting with Peter, especially as the movie went on and towards the end. I did find it confusing to get the constant flashbacks to the past. While I could understand the desire to keep some parts a mystery, even by the end of the movie, I was left with a lot of unanswered questions.

There were quite a few creepy moments and it was good to see there were a lot of personal links to the part of Peter’s past. He did, however, seem to have connections with some characters that only sparked for a short while. I felt what happened with Barry would have been more effective if I’d had the chance to get to know him better.

I did think that some of the characters made some quite bad choices, especially Barbara, considering she was supposed to be a police officer. I did like learning about her history, but I think her character could have been utilised better.

This wasn’t a film I would likely choose to watch again. While there was a lot of potential in the storyline and a few jump scares, I didn’t feel able to form a deeper emotional connection to the characters and by the end of the movie, I was confused about exactly what had happened. The scenes with Peter and his daughter were emotional, but didn’t really feel realistic.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I actually thought there was a lot of potential in this movie. When I read the blurb, I thought the idea was intriguing… and the very first scene was engaging and I was immediately interested in knowing what had happened with Mary.

While it was good to see the sort of personality Mary had had before a piece of her soul was gone, I lost a lot of interest after the start of the movie.

Even though there were parts of this movie that were disturbing (especially towards the end), it actually felt really juvenile. The ghost/spirit that kept appearing looked more cartoonish… and I felt that the acting was really over the top at times and lacked emotion at others. The only character I found realistic and consistent in the family relationship was Victor.

I think this movie could have done with being expanded upon. I actually wasn’t sure if Gina was supposed to actually be Mary’s mother, as at one point, she talks about her as ‘that girl’ in a scene that’s supposed to be quite an emotional one.

While it was interesting to see the contrast between Mary before and after, it was harder to relate emotionally to her and I felt a lot of the connections between characters weren’t formed fully or shown in the right way.

I felt that this movie could have benefitted from a few less characters and although there were a few engaging scenes, the acting seemed to lack a lot of emotion and even Mary’s relationship with her sister didn’t seem very loving. There were a couple of potential jump scares… but those were ones I saw coming a mile off.

There was a lot of potential in this movie, but I felt it fell short of what it could have been. This isn’t a movie I would watch again, I’m afraid.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I felt the way this movie started was really powerful and intense. The relationship Louise had with her daughter was a powerful running theme through this movie and although it wasn’t clear what kind of relationship she had with her daughter’s father at first, things began to make sense as the movie went on.

I thought it was interesting to see how the different countries reacted to the appearance of the aliens. The fact that some of them had different ways of communicating with the aliens was particularly intriguing and I thought it made a lot of sense that they were all reluctant to work together.

I did think that a lot of time was glossed over. Even though I enjoyed seeing little snippets of Louise and Ian’s relationship, by the end of the movie, I felt it wasn’t as believable as it could have been. And while it was interesting to see snippets from Ian’s perspective, I felt that a lot of the main focus was on Louise. The movie was more character-driven, but it seemed to only be driven by one character.

There were parts of this movie I felt were very surreal. It was interesting to see the effects the aliens were having in Louise’s dreams, but there was one scene in particular that felt more surreal than it actually should have, considering it was a scene in reality where Louise was talking to the aliens.

I did think there was a lot of good acting and the actions of most of the characters made sense. This film did require attention being paid, though, as there was quite a bit of foreshadowing and links to earlier scenes in the movie.

I did find this movie entertaining and engaging to watch. While I wouldn’t buy it straight away as soon as it comes out on DVD, I wouldn’t mind watching it again in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I haven’t read the book this movie is based on, but when I saw this film advertised, I knew I wanted to see this, as I’ve always liked cats… and although it was clear this movie would be intense and emotional to watch, it also had a few lighthearted moments and some really nice scenes between the characters.

I thought Bob was adorable and it was good to see how James bonded with his cat. There were a few scenes that made me smile, such as when James insisted that Bob could understand what he was saying.

I had a lot of sympathy for James, as it seemed like he hit rock bottom in this movie. It was pretty awful to see how bad things were for him, but I did like that he had people prepared to help him and give him a chance. While I didn’t think I especially liked Val for some of the film, by the end, she had grown on me quite a bit.

I did feel quite a bit of sympathy for Baz, although it was clear that he wasn’t prepared to even make the effort. It was good to see James interacting with the other people around him. I liked Belle, but I felt she wasn’t as supportive as she might have been, even though I could understand why she felt like she did.

It was interesting to see how James was affected by everything, but I liked how it seemed it was inevitable for him to accept Bob into his life.

I liked that there were some elements of humour in this movie and it was interesting how the characters kept remarking that Bob had come to the place he was needed. I thought it was sweet to see how Bob worked with James when he busked and there was some humour when it came to the comments on the YouTube videos.

There were some really intense scenes and I wouldn’t recommend this film as one for younger children, as it does contain instances of drug use. But there were some really sweet moments in this film and it was definitely one I would watch again in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I originally saw this movie advertised, I wasn’t initially planning to see it. The more I saw it advertised, though, the more intrigued I was by the storyline and interested to see how the movie would handle someone who was autistic.

I thought Ben Affleck did a really good job in the role. While he played a character who was emotionally disconnected from other people, I found it really easy to empathise with Christian; and it was good to see the contrast between him as a child and how he dealt with his reality as an adult.

Although I could, in some ways, understand why his father parented the way he had, I developed a strong dislike for the father by the end of the movie.

It was good to get something of an insight into the way Christian’s mind worked, though I would have liked to see more of his relationship with his brother. It was good to see him interacting with the woman on the phone and I did like seeing him and Dana learning about each other. However, I found it really hard to believe the almost-kiss. I felt the emotion wasn’t really there and that it was just included because every movie now has to contain some kind of romance.

I did like the fact there were two storylines running alongside each other and it was good to see how the two plots converged and to learn about the different characters’ connections to each other.

There was a lot of good action in this movie, in particular towards the end. I did like how I had the opportunity to learn about Christian’s past as the movie went on. I did figure out one of the twists, but I found the explanation as to what was going on a bit difficult to understand.

I did find Brax to be an intriguing character, but I wasn’t sure I really liked him, even though I would have liked to see a bit more about him.

I did find this movie a really engaging one to watch and it was one I wouldn’t mind seeing again in the future.

(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.