Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

Having seen the trailer for this movie, I thought it looked really entertaining and amusing to watch. Having seen it yesterday, I found it met those expectations.

I liked the family elements in this movie, even if I did think that a lot of the characters were over the top. I especially thought it was amusing to see Kevin constantly going at James.

A lot of the aspects with the car, while very confusing in regards to many of the buttons, did add a lot of humour to the movie… especially in regard to the SatNav. It was also pretty cool to see how there were some running themes throughout this movie, such as the truck.

There were a lot of moments in this movie where I found myself laughing out loud. While there weren’t as many ‘sweet’ moments in this, it was funny to see Rusty and Debbie trying to sneak off for some ‘alone’ time and constantly having those plans foiled.

There were some quite downright disturbing scenes, especially the one which took place in the supposed ‘hot springs’. I’m reasonably certain more people than just me made sounds of disgust. The cows were also particularly disturbing.

I recognised quite a few of the actors in this movie and while I thought they did really good jobs, Chris Hemsworth (despite being an actor I really like) played a character who was… downright disturbing. It was interesting to see more of Rusty’s family, in his sister and his parents… though his parents didn’t exactly come across as normal.

I did find this movie entertaining. There were some exaggerated scenes and some very amusing ones… but also some scenes that just made me cringe. The ending was satisfactory and while I doubt I’ll watch this again, it was definitely worth watching the first time.

(This review may contain spoilers).

This was a movie I found really entertaining to watch, despite the strong levels of adult content and some quite graphic scenes.

It was interesting to see the stark differences in personality between Amy and Kim. I did like the fact that they came across as real sisters… with arguments, but also support between them. And it was also good to see the different ways they viewed their dad.

There was a lot of adult humour in this movie. What was good was the fact there were also quite a few serious moments here as well.

It was easy to like Amy, despite her not being the kind of person I’d find easy to relate to in reality. Although a lot of her issues were ones she needed to deal with herself, I could understand the rut she ultimately found herself in.

I really didn’t like Amy’s boss, Dianne, at all. I thought she was really unprofessional and manipulative. I’m guessing she wasn’t supposed to be liked, though, so I’m sure that works out.

I did think that a lot of the supporting characters weren’t expanded upon in the way they could have been. Amy and Aaron both had a lot of depth to them, but apart from Kim, a lot of the other characters seemed like caricatures.

I did like the romance. I particularly liked the opportunity to hear Amy’s internal monologue… especially when there’s the montage of her and Aaron together.

I did think it took a while for the conflict in the relationship to show up, even though there were a couple of false starts. While I could see Aaron’s point about certain things, there was one aspect in particular I felt he was being unreasonable on. At the same time, it was good to see all of the things Amy had kept bottled up coming out.

This movie was entertaining and very amusing to watch in places. There were a number of cringe-worthy scenes, but I felt the movie did stay true to the characters up till the end. There was a lot of adult content… but if you like that, this movie is worth giving a try.

(This review may contain spoilers).

Khan is probably the only villain I’m familiar with from the original Star Trek movies, so seeing him made use of in this movie was a good nod to the original franchise. Although Benedict Cumberbatch doesn’t fit with the original version of Khan, he portrays him particularly well… at least in my opinion.

One of the strongest parts of this movie, in my opinion, was the tension between Kirk and Spock. In this movie, they seem to butt heads a whole lot more than in the first movie. And both of them are characters whose motivations I can understand and relate to.

It was nice to see more of Spock’s relationship with Uhura, even though I preferred the friendship between him and Kirk. There was a lot of action in this movie… and a lot of scenes that were really tense to watch, drawing me into the movie despite having seen it before.

There were some elements of humour in this movie, but I felt that those were used at the right moment and didn’t seem forced or stilted. I especially liked seeing some of Scotty’s motivations in this movie… and how he refused to compromise on what he felt was right.

I liked the fact that Kirk demonstrated he was able to do the right thing… despite his anger and grief over Khan’s actions. I thought this movie was more of a character growth for him than the previous. In fact, I felt both him and Spock grew and matured over the course of this movie.

There were a lot of really cool special effects in this movie and it was also good to see a little more of aliens and androids in this movie.

I liked that the bad guys did have elements of depth to them, even Khan. I also thought it was good to see more of Pike and future!Spock in this movie, too, though I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the crew members actually knew about the parallel timelines.

The ending to this was good and I noticed a couple of scenes that paid homage to Wrath of Khan. I’m looking forward to the next Star Trek movie.

(This review may contain spoilers).

Despite my mum being a big fan of Star Trek, I never really got into the original movies. It wasn’t until this one came out that I found myself drawn into this franchise.

This movie was particularly compelling from the start. Even though the first scene was only a short one, it was enough to set up the rest of the events. The first scene was really emotional and I felt the actors did a good job of showing the relationship between Kirk’s parents. It didn’t hurt that I recognised both of those actors and have enjoyed their work in other media.

I liked the opportunity to see both Kirk and Spock as children. I felt those scenes did a good job of setting up their characters for later on. I also thought it was interesting how the rivalry between Kirk and Spock later on contrasted so sharply with the friendship their original incarnations had.

There were some really emotional scenes in this, as well as a lot of action. I liked the chance to see Spock interacting with his parents and I would have liked to see Kirk interacting with his mother.

Although there was a bit of romance in this movie, I didn’t feel it overwhelmed the plot. I would have liked to see more in the way of the alien races… apart from Spock, there didn’t seem to be that many on the Enterprise. Considering the Federation is made up of so many planets, I thought there should have been more in the way of alien races.

There was a good amount of action and quite a lot of tension in this movie. I liked most of the supporting characters, in particular Chekov and Sulu. I would have liked to see more of both of them.

This movie did a good job of drawing me into the world. Although it’s part of the Star Trek franchise, I thought the differences were explained well. I cared about the characters and the danger they were in and I thought the actors portrayed their characters really well.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I was fairly certain this movie would be an entertaining one to watch… and I wasn’t disappointed when I saw it at the cinema.

This film was a particularly amusing one. I think a lot of people would come up with all sorts of things they could do with ultimate power… but those that Neil does without any conscious thought are quite amusing.

The trailer does show some of the amusing things that occur in the film… but there are plenty that take viewers by surprise.

Neil is a character who’s quite sympathetic. He’s very likable and the actor who plays him, Simon Pegg, does a really good job of portraying the character. It’s amusing to see how the other characters react to him and it’s also nice to see that the other characters do have lives outside of their interactions with Neil.

I liked Catherine and I could really empathise with her and how she was going through things with both her work and Grant. I also liked Ray… and I found myself cringing at what Neil inadvertently set in motion with his attempt to ‘help’ his friend.

There was a lot about this movie that made me laugh outright and a few things that did come as a surprise. I also really liked Dennis the dog… even though it was kind of bittersweet to hear Robin Williams’ voice again. I thought it was amusing how so many misunderstandings came about from things that were really quite innocent… and Dennis’ devotion to Neil was incredibly sweet to see.

There were other actors I recognised in this movie and it was good to see the ordinary, everyday lives of the characters as well. The ‘supreme beings’ were fairly amusing… especially with some of the misunderstandings they had.

If you like science fiction comedy, I would recommend this as one to watch. While there are some elements of toilet or sex humour, a lot of the humour is deeper than that. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and I imagine I would like to watch it again in the future.