Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

Although it didn’t really stick well in my mind, I did actually quite enjoy the first film and I was quite eager to see this one… even though, while watching, I felt that a lot of the conflicts from the first movie were recycled.

While I did watch the cartoon series of TMNT as a child, I only really remember bits and pieces of it and the original movies. I do like the look of the turtles and it was cool to see that each of their different personalities came through well.

I enjoyed seeing Casey Jones, even though I wasn’t sure whether I should be taking his character seriously or not. The use of the hockey stick/mask was pretty cool… and I did have a bit of a fangirl moment of, ‘I’ve met him!’ about the actor, Stephen Amell.

In this movie, I didn’t find Shredder quite as creepy, as he spent most of the movie unmasked. I would have liked to see a bit more about how the ooze worked… and while I’m sure that wasn’t its official name, it was kind of funny to hear the characters all refer to it the same way.

Despite the arrangement the turtles had with Vernon, I really didn’t like him through most of the movie and I especially felt sorry for Mike, as he came across as the youngest and the one who most wanted to fit in. Out of all of the turtles, I felt that he (and Raph, to a certain extent) was the one who didn’t feel like he fit in.

There was a lot of humour in this movie and I also liked that there was a lot of tension. I would have perhaps wanted to see more of the turtles’ relationship with Splinter, but it was good to see him appear, however briefly.

I did kind of see some of the things happening towards the end, especially given what the bad guys are usually like. And there was little to no depth to the villains… even though Rocksteady and Bebop did provide some elements of comic relief.

I’m not sure I’d buy this movie on DVD, even though I did enjoy watching it. If there’s another movie in the series, though, I probably will see it.

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I saw this movie advertised, I was immediately interested in watching it. While I don’t really understand much about stocks and stock prices, I did find this movie to be really entertaining to watch.

It was good to see there was a stark contrast between the feel of the show at the beginning of the movie and how the show had developed by the end of the movie.

Even though Kyle made some appallingly bad choices, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him and it was good to see how he and Lee connected through the course of the movie.

I did find myself rolling my eyes a bit at how Patty seemed much more concerned about the ratings and less so about the safety of the people working in the studio, at least at first.

I found myself on the edge of my seat for most of the movie and it was good there was so much tension in the movie.

It was good to learn more about both Lee and Kyle, along with the action going on. It was also interesting to see the reactions of other people watching what was happening in cafes and bars around the town.

I didn’t like Diane’s character very much at first to begin with, but as the movie went on, she did grow on me quite a bit and I thought it was good to see how she was working to find out what was really happening as well.

While there wasn’t a lot of background on some of the more minor characters, I did find that the main ones were developed enough to make me care about what was going to happen to them. I didn’t think much of Arlene, even though she did give Lee and Kyle something to bond over.

The ending of the movie wasn’t a surprise, but I was still on the edge of my seat watching and this movie is probably one I’d want to watch again in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

In the first Tim Burton movie, Alice didn’t really stick strongly in my mind as a character, but it was nice to see a return to Wonderland and the other characters from the first movie… even though this film bore very little resemblance to what I remembered of the book.

I particularly liked being able to see more of the pasts of the different characters. There were some quite obvious problems in Wonderland, but I found it really easy to empathise with Alice and her trying to be independent at a time when women weren’t able to take on the same jobs as men… even though I didn’t realise, at first, that the opening scene wasn’t a fantasy.

I really didn’t like Hamish. His attitude really set me on edge and I thought Alice showed a great deal of resentment dealing with him.

There were a couple of instances of vertigo that I felt were quite effective and I was on the edge of my seat a bit during some of the movie.

I really liked the Dormouse, who was probably my favourite. But I really did like the scene when the Mad Hatter and the others at the tea party were making all of the puns about Time.

I did find Time to be a really intriguing character and it was interesting to see what his home was like. I found him a lot more sympathetic than I was expecting… and Alice a lot more headstrong, even though there wouldn’t have been much of a movie if she hadn’t been.

I didn’t really feel there was a lot in the way of fantastical nonsense, but the serious parts of the movie did work particularly well… and there were times I really felt sorry for the Mad Hatter. And I did feel some sympathy for the Queen of Hearts, even though I really didn’t want to.

I don’t think I’d watch this movie again in the near future, but I did enjoy seeing it today. And it was cool to see Richard Armitage have a couple of cameos.