Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

Having seen the previous two movies in this franchise, I was quite eager to be able to see this one. The trailer looked really intriguing and I especially liked the fact that Leo from the second movie would be making an appearance.

It was good to see the effects the Purge had on everyday citizens, such as when Joe had the price of his insurance driven up the day before the Purge. It was also interesting, if disturbing, to see the idea of the murder tourists; though I suspect that a lot of those who could afford to would have left the country altogether.

I thought it was good to see that this movie showed more of the politics involved in the Purge. I really didn’t like the Minister… but then again, it was hard to understand or connect emotionally with any of the founding fathers.

I liked the fact that this movie didn’t focus so much on the horror of the Purge, even though there were some very disturbing and gruesome scenes. I particularly hated seeing the people who were chained to the bonnets of cars. While I could see why people weren’t attempting to step in and help, it would have been good to see more in the way of varied reactions.

I liked Laney’s character especially, but I would have liked to learn a bit more of her past. It was interesting to see that she had a reputation… but I had zero sympathy for the two shoplifters who knew of her. At the same time, it was intriguing to see that, although the Purge was supposed to stop criminal activity during the rest of the year, there were still people like those schoolgirls who expected to (and probably did) get away with those kinds of crimes.

I especially liked Marcos’ relationship with his boss and I thought Marcos seemed like a really strong person. He was certainly easy to empathise with. I also liked Dante… and even though I didn’t really agree with the Senator’s beliefs, I could understand the way she felt and the logic in it.

While I preferred the second movie out of the franchise, this one did hold my attention throughout and I would watch it again. I’d also be interested in seeing more movies dealing with the aftermath of the events of this one.

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I saw this movie advertised originally, I was immediately interested in the concept, even though I couldn’t have said it was a completely original one.

I really liked that this movie focused as much on the family, or the conflicts between them, as the comedic aspects, though there was a lot of comedy in the film.

It was good to see Tom’s relationship with his son at the beginning of the movie and also how David interacted with his mother, step mother and Rebecca. I would have liked to see some interactions between him and his other sister, though, even though I really didn’t like her.

It would have been good to get a bit of background to Purrkins’ shop and Purrkins himself, even if I could definitely relate to someone who loved cats and was trying to give them good homes, along with teaching potential owners life lessons.

For a lot of the movie, I did feel that Rebecca’s reactions didn’t really seem very realistic, despite liking seeing her interactions with her mother. As the movie went on, I did feel she was shown to have a lot more depth.

I liked the opportunity to see other plots going on, especially since those allowed me to see the characters in other environments, such as when David was working in the offices and having to deal with the politics involved in the board after what happened to his father.

I really liked seeing Tom having to deal with being in cat form and not knowing how to control his jumping and things like that. I thought Mr. Fuzzypants was especially cute… but I would have liked to know what happened to the cat while Tom was stuck in his body – though I wondered if seeing multiple identical cats had something to do with that.

All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. There were a lot of good family moments along with the comedy… plus… I met one of the actors.

This film was definitely one I would watch again in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

Although I’m technically an adult, I do still enjoy watching films aimed at younger audiences; and this movie was no exception.

I thought it was interesting to see how the events of the movie fit together. It was good to see how the characters all connected to each other and I liked the relationships between the Walker children and with their mother. I did find the storyline with Jim to be an intriguing one, but I really didn’t like him very much for most of the movie.

I had a lot of sympathy for Roger in particular, though Tatty was a precocious child who reminded me of my niece at times.

I did feel there was a real lack of foreshadowing, such as the implications that Tatty always made up stories and her siblings didn’t believe her. The other thing was the past history involving their father. The times foreshadowing was utilised were fewer than I felt they could have been.

There were a lot more darker scenes than I was expecting, but at the same time, I felt there was a lot of tension in this, which was good. The two Russians were creepy, but rather than coming across as cardboard cutout villains, I felt they had more depth than it first seemed.

I also liked the fact that there were conflicts in the relationships between the children… well, not so much the ‘Amazons’, but definitely the ‘Swallows’. I did, however, question the wisdom in their mother allowing them to go to the island, especially given that the two older children didn’t really come across as all that responsible.

I would have liked a bit of history involving Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, as it wasn’t very clear how Mrs. Walker and her children knew them. I also liked the opportunity to see something of the town… such as the carnival and the stereotypical nosy shopkeeper.

I felt the film was entertaining and although it did seem to lack the spark that would have made me want to watch it again, it was an enjoyable movie to watch. I wouldn’t recommend it for younger or more sensitive children, but it would be good for older children.

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I saw this film advertised originally, I was immediately interested. I don’t mind being in the dark… but I have a slight fear of going into dark rooms. And the idea of there being a ghost who was powerless in the dark was a good idea.

I did, however, feel that the effects were somewhat lost when Diana became more visible. It was hard to take her seriously when she just looked like a shadow with glowing eyes.

It was good to see the differences in the relationships between Rebecca and Sophie and Martin and Sophie. It was sweet and kind of sad to see how much Martin worried over his mother… but at the same time, it was sad to see Rebecca felt the need to run away from her mother, even though it was understandable.

I did feel the woman from social services didn’t really add much to the plot… and she did seem to completely contradict what she was trying to do. I wasn’t really sure what she expected Rebecca to do.

I did like Rebecca’s and Paul’s relationship. There were some really sweet moments between them and the first scene between them was a good way of diffusing the tension.

I did kind of feel sorry for Diana, although the slight attempts made to humanise her didn’t really go far. And I was completely confused about why she appeared the way she did.

It was good to get a brief glimpse of Rebecca’s history living with her mother, but I did feel that some of the rules weren’t really made clear.

There were some scary moments in this film, but most of those were jump scares and those lost a lot of effectiveness.

I think the movie could have been better with some more mystery and less obvious visuals. It wasn’t a film I would choose to watch again.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I haven’t really seen that many movies involving sharks, even though I do like horror movies. But I liked the look of this movie… and even though it seemed to be a more focused movie, I did find it entertaining to watch.

I enjoyed seeing and learning about Nancy’s history. It was really good to see her interactions with her sister and to see the conflicts in her relationship with her father. And I also liked seeing her and Carlos trying to communicate with each other. There were some really amusing things about how they talked.

I liked the fact that there were some good elements of foreshadowing and it was nice to see Nancy form a kind of attachment to the seagull.

The shark was really scary… more so, I think, because sharks are predatory animals that don’t really need to be exaggerated.

It was good to see that, although she was injured and suffering from gangrene and exhaustion, Nancy was still quite a strong character… though I did feel that the decision she made to begin with was quite a bad one; and maybe something a seasoned surfer shouldn’t have made, considering she was fairly careful until that point.

I really liked being able to see the dolphins and the island itself (apart from the shark) was really beautiful. It was disturbing to see the whale’s dead body… though more because whales are majestic creatures than anything else.

There was a lot of good tension in this movie and although there wasn’t a lot of cast, I liked the fact it was more focused… though it was a bit unbelievable that the surfers didn’t even consider what Nancy was trying to say to them.

While I liked the ending, I did find that a bit unbelievable as well. Still, it was entertaining to watch and I did care about Nancy’s safety… though I don’t think I would gain anything from watching it again.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I haven’t read the book this film is based on, but I thought it was a cool plot idea and the trailer definitely piqued my interest.

I liked being able to see Vee’s relationship with her mother and I felt her character had a lot of depth. It was interesting to note that there was a lot of myself I saw in her… at least at the beginning.

I could see how the idea of Nerve was appealing, as it seemed to appeal to both the exhibitionist side of people and the more anonymous side, particularly towards the end of the movie.

I found it easy to engage with the plot of this movie. I cringed along with Vee when she had to kiss a stranger for five  seconds. At the same time, it was also good to see Ian had more depth to him than it first seemed. Considering the first thing I saw the actor in was Scrubs, it was good to see how versatile he was as an actor.

I did like the friendship between Sydney and Vee, though it didn’t really feel real until towards the end. It was also good to see quite a few of the secondary characters had a lot of depth to them.

I thought it was really good to see some of the comments made by the watchers on the videos and to see the different reactions people had to what the players were doing.

There was a lot of tension in his movie and it did keep me on the edge of my seat a lot. And I thought it was good to see how fast things moved, along with the uses of foreshadowing. It was, however, quite difficult to believe the whole movie took place in such a short space of time.

I do intend to buy this on DVD when it comes out and this is definitely a movie I’d like to see again.