Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

I went to see this film Monday, with my niece and a couple of other people.

I thought the whole idea was an interesting concept. Despite there being the different emotions living inside humans’ heads, there was a whole other complicated world involved there, too. It was cool to have the opportunity to view the workings of a girl’s mind… her different islands and how each of those made up different aspects of her personality.

Although I felt a lot of what happened with Sadness was a bit too heavy for many children, I did feel very sorry for her. Although children do deal with being sad, some parts of what Sadness comes out with aren’t exactly family friendly. At the same time, she was probably the character who evolved the most over the course of the movie.

One thing that was a bit confusing was why Riley had emotions of different genders in her head, while her parents had all of one or the other – female for her mum; male for her dad. It’s probably reading too much into this, but that was one of the things I kept wondering.

It was good to see Fear, Disgust and Anger having to deal with the problems that arrived after everything that happened. Anger was fairly amusing, though Disgust did come across more as a teenaged girl… the whole broccoli thing was an amusing scene to watch, too. (I don’t know any place that would put broccoli on pizza…)

Although there were humorous elements in this movie, it did deal with a lot of serious issues that children do have to go through. In some ways, it was interesting to see Riley having to deal with moving house, her friends moving on without her, etc.

My niece did enjoy this movie, despite it being somewhat adult in parts. It was an entertaining movie, but possibly one a parent might like to view first… just in case.

(This review may contain spoilers).

Since my niece and I both enjoy the Avengers (and this film was really cheap in the place where I work), I got this for me to watch with her.

It was an interesting concept to see the children of the Avengers. The very beginning, where the children are being told the story of the heroes, sounded more like a fairytale… which was probably the point.

It was interesting to see the similarities between the children and their parents. One could hardly fail to realise whose kid was whose. What did confuse me at first was that Hawkeye’s kid was called Hawkeye… but there was an explanation provided for that, which was good.

I liked the opportunity to see Tony and Bruce as older. I know bits and pieces of them from the comics, but it was a bit strange to see how mature Tony was, in comparison to his movie counterpart.

I think my favourite character in this was probably Pym. He was really amusing and it was fun to see the way he was with the others. Although he seemed a bit ditzy at times, I thought he was quite sweet.

It was interesting to see Torunn dealing with being the daughter of Thor and that her father was gone and hadn’t been killed. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for her, even though she was quite a strong character.

Despite this movie being aimed more at children, I felt there were some sad moments in this. The movie was fairly simple and straightforwrd. There were recognisable characters from the comics, even if they were technically older. Not a lot of background was given, but there was enough to know what was going on.

Both me and my niece found ourselves laughing at various points in this and when I asked my niece what she thought of it by the end, she gave a thumbs up.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I originally watched this movie at the cinema. I found it really entertaining… so I bought it on DVD and watched it on Friday with my friend.

It was easy to empathise with Kale’s character. He was fairly likable and I had a lot of sympathy for him, due to him losing his father. It wasn’t an excuse for his actions… but it was at least a reason.

Ronald was a really amusing character. It was nice to see some more light-hearted moments brought to the movie, since there were many darker and more intense scenes.

It was interesting to see Kale having to deal with being stuck in the house. I would have liked to see more of his relationship with his mother and how his house arrest affected that. While I did think she overreacted at one point (she’d have to fork over more money to pay for a new television lead), I could understand her frustration.

I appreciated that the movie took the time to establish the characters and the relationships between them. There were good elements of tension from the beginning and I felt those showed clearly through the course of the movie.

It was interesting to see Ashley through Kale’s eyes. Although there was a lot of moments where he was a Peeping Tom, it’s understandable why he became antsy. And I felt the film did a good job of showing the sort of thing that goes on in people’s lives; that others might not see, unless they were looking closely.

There weren’t a lot of gory scenes in this movie. I felt that enough was left to the viewers’ imagination. And it was good that, although use was made of video cameras, it wasn’t a ‘found footage’ kind of movie.

I did like the police officer in this movie, even though I did think there was a conflict of interest. I recognised some of the actors in this movie and felt they did a good job in the roles they played.

I would probably watch this movie again in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

This was the third original Superman movie I remember watching, even though it was actually the fourth one. I think I was freaked out by it for a long time… possibly because Superman is in actual physical danger again.

I find it really interesting that, despite being the Man of Steel and technically invincible, each of the movies has a different kind of danger… not just for the people of Earth, but also for Superman himself.

There was a nice bit of foreshadowing in this movie. It wasn’t very good to see that the Daily Planet had been bought off… though I couldn’t help feeling some sympathy for Lacy, especially since it was obvious she was romantically interested in Clark.

I found it a bit amusing to see Superman spending time with Lois while, at the same time, trying to also spend time with Lacy as Clark. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for him, having to switch places between them. For anyone else, I’m sure they would have been exhausted.

It was cool to see Lex in this movie. I can’t help but think he makes a good adversary for Superman… even though he’s a bad guy, he comes across as a genius. I was less than thrilled with his nephew. Lenny wasn’t exactly very bright.

It would have been good to see Nuclear Man evolve past his origins, since his single-minded purpose in destroying Superman meant that he wasn’t an interesting villain. It was good to see that he knew how best to manipulate Superman… like by attacking the people.

The CGI isn’t really good in this movie, but the atmosphere of it is still really good. I love the music… it definitely puts me in mind of Superman.

I personally think that Superman II was the best of this movies… but this one was still entertaining to watch, even if it does seem to disregard the events of Superman III. And it dealt with the issue of nuclear weapons… something I think is an important issue.

It’s a bit disappointing to have reached the last of Christopher Reeve’s Superman. I do have Superman Returns to watch next, though.

(This review may contain spoilers).

The trailer of this movie was instantly engaging. The concept was a really intriguing one… especially considering the long history humans have in wanting to prolong life.

I did find Damian to be quite a sympathetic character. Despite starting out as a typical character, an older man with more money than he knows what to do with and not long to live, the strained relationship he has with his daughter and his attempts to find humour in his situation give the character more depth.

After Damian is put into his new body, the film does a good job of showing his idyllic lifestyle. It’s understandable that someone who was dying not that long ago would take advantage of a new lease of life.

It’s clear very early on that the situation isn’t as perfect as it seems. The moment Damian wakes up in his new body, he starts having hallucinations. He’s given pills to take, but doesn’t ask more about them… which would probably be wise.

I felt Ryan Reynolds did a really good job portraying Damian in his new body. There were moments he also portrayed Mark and even though I imagine it must be very hard to play two different people who look the same, I felt he did a really great job as both of the characters.

I thought Anna was really sweet and it was nice to see evidence of how close she was to her father. It was also good to see Damian growing close to Anna… almost as if he had a second chance to be a father.

It was good to see Damian’s age and experience come through and that he was able to outsmart some of the others. At the same time, he didn’t have perfect skills and there was a really good balance.

The atmosphere of this movie carried a lot of tension and I found myself rooting for the ‘good guys’ almost from the start. It was also nice to see that there wasn’t any forced romance. The one scene that could have turned into that was handled really well.

I did find the ending to be quite bittersweet… but I felt that was the best route for it to take. I also felt there were some really good elements of foreshadowing.

On the whole, this film might not have been realistic… but it was entertaining to watch. I can also see myself buying this on DVD to watch again.