Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since there was a solid cast involved I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned out to be about an amnesiac main character and it directly remembered me of ‘Memento’, my all-time favorite movie, so I was quite intrigued by the damned thing. Eventually, at least, as far as I’m concerned, there is always something rather fascinating about the concept of a character getting a complete memory reset on a regular basis. Sure, in this case, it is rather weird that the reset happened exactly after she woke up in the morning. Indeed, what would about happen if she took a nap during the day or if she didn’t sleep at all through a whole night? In the case of ‘Memento’, they managed to hide such contrivances by using a diabolically clever structure but, in this case, even if there were a couple of twits, their whole approach was really straightforward after all, probably too much. Still, I have to admit that that I was still fairly entertained and I above all enjoyed the Hitchcockian vibe. Especially with Nicole Kidman, they couldn’t find nowadays a better blonde femme fatale in the same tradition of Kim Novak, Tippi Hedren or Grace Kelly. Of course, when you found out what was going on, even if it was maybe quite spectacular, it was obviously also rather ridiculous. Above all, what was Ben/Mike hoping to achieve on the long term? Sure, you could argue that the guy was a crazy psycho but his whole scheme didn’t make much sense to me. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was basically a cheap thriller, it turned out to be a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring Katie Holmes and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I do think that it was a decent attempt but, to be honest, it didn’t help that the material did feel really generic though. Indeed, by now, I have seen plenty (at least, several) movies dealing with some kind of drifter (for some reasons, it is usually a woman) who ends up in the middle of nowhere but, somehow, they get a small job (usually in a diner or as a clerk in some shop) and they actually find happiness somehow this way. Still, Katie Holmes herself did give a solid performance but she was actually upstaged by Stefania LaVie Owen who was, in my opinion, the true star in this film. Indeed, I thought that the young actress was really charismatic and yet still genuine. On top of that, what was going on with her character was usually more interesting than what was going with her mother which was often too derivative and predictable. I was also slightly bothered by the ending though. I mean, sure, I was glad that Rita and her daughter would manage to finally settle down and would manage to drastically improve their situation in the process. However, it did feel like that the best (and only?) option for a woman like her to fix her life was to find a nice guy with a steady job and preferably a good salary but, when you think about it, the whole idea was actually rather backward and sexist. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was not bad though and I think it is worth a look, at least, if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since I have a weak for Noomi Rapace, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. Well, it took me only 5 mins to figure out that it was actually a remake of a obscure French movie called ‘L'empreinte de l'ange’ which I saw more than 10 years ago. The tricky thing is that it is actually a really cringe story and the challenge for the makers was to make sure that it didn’t turn out to be a really cringe movie as well but I’m afraid that they didn’t really succeed with this remake. Seriously, the only way they could have made it even more cringe  was by having the main character be a man instead of a woman. Concerning Noomi Rapace, she was not bad but it is always tricky to play a rather unlikeable character like this one. I mean, sure, she was crippled by grief following the loss of her child but her actions were also ruining the lives of so many people around her and, as a result, I had a really hard time to root for her. The one thing that really ruined the whole thing for me was the ending though. I already had the same issue with the French original version but I have to admit that I actually completely forgot that it also ended the same way. Basically, even though the whole thing seemed to be about a deranged sad woman, both movies ended up with in a completely ridiculous U turn which completely changed how the main character was depicted. Basically,  from a delusional psychiatric patient, she became some kind of super mother with magical powers which was, as far as I was concerned, not really satisfying and even borderline revolting. Anyway, to conclude, I’m afraid it turned out to be another rather underwhelming drama starring the Swedish actress and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned out to be some kind of Swedish version of ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ and, since I really loved the classic starring Al Pacino, I was definitely intrigued. Eventually, it was an interesting story not because many thought it was a completely absurd robbery (maybe it was but it’s not the feeling that I got while watching this movie) but because it was actually the origin of the psychological concept known as the Stockholm Syndrome which was pretty cool. Unfortunately, it was rather disappointing how very little they did with this and, in fact, I actually wonder if the makers really knew what to do with this intriguing material. Anyway, the directing was never inspired and/or inspiring and the end-result felt terribly flat. Indeed, who were actually these characters? What were they thinking or feeling during these events? It was especially frustrating with Gunnar Sorensson. Indeed, who was this guy? What was exactly his relationship with Lars Nystrom? At least, even though Ethan Hawke and Noomi Rapace were given the bare minimum to work with, they actually gave some solid performances. It was still rather bewildering that they didn’t develop more the relationship between these two characters. Eventually, it’s the kind of movies you wish they didn’t spend only 90 mins to tell us only the facts like a Wikipedia page and, instead, that they did add 30 mins to actually properly flesh out the characters involved. Anyway, to conclude, even if the movie itself was not really great, it is actually a pretty cool story and only therefore, I think it is worth a look but there is no doubt that, with such material, it could have been so much better. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it seemed to have a decent reputation and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even if it wasn’t the most famous Soviet features I have seen so far, I thought it was not bad at all after all. Indeed, even though there was no real lead character which is inherent to the genre, at least, the characters were slightly more developed than what you usually get with these movies. Above all, the big difference was that there was this time actually more or less a plot and this slightly more straightforward approach made it easier to connect with this movie. The funny thing was that this plot was supposed to be about the awakening of this woman but I didn’t really see it that way. Indeed, the idea was that she was first against ‘the troublemakers’ but then realized at some point that her son and his buddies were right but I don’t think that it is actually what happened after all. In my opinion, it seemed that she cared more about what would happen to her son than actually about the Bolshevik ideology, even at the end of the movie. Another interesting thing was the fact that, even though life did seem rather cruel and unjust in Russia back then explaining how a Soviet revolution of this scale could ever take place, it seemed actually rather reasonable to put in jail a guy who was hiding a whole stash of weapons in his house (I actually expected them to execute him on the spot). Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow me away, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it did get some solid reviews, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I was actually rather disappointed. I don’t know, maybe I took the whole thing too literally but, as far as I was concerned, there were too many things that just didn’t work for me. The one thing that did work was the cast though. Indeed, Naomi Ackie was a great choice to play the lead and I really loved the fact that, even though she was charismatic, she was still relatable and felt like a real woman. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure about the rest though. First of all, the way they ended up on this island was hardly convincing. Then, I would have expected them to have some amazing lavish parties but, to be honest, I was not really impressed. I mean, they drank a lot of champagne and this island did look nice but it didn’t look much better than your average all-inclusive resort that you can find in Greece or in Jamaica. Concerning what happened on this island, well, it was all rather predictable. Basically, for a very long time, there was nothing much really going on except the constant ominous soundtrack. Of course, at some point, you finally found out what was the deal with this island and its guests but, as far as I was concerned, it didn’t make much sense.  Basically, they were using some drugs to make them forget but it was nothing new. Indeed, GHB has been used for decades by rapists. However, they kept using it during a very long time period which meant that the victims kept forgetting ONLY what was required by plot which was rather problematic. Another issue was the fact that, the following day, the victims didn’t seem to feel any physical pain which didn’t make sense either. Instead, she noticed that she had some dirt under her nails, for crying out loud… Anyway, to conclude, maybe I misread the whole thing and I have to admit that it is actually worth a look. 

To be honest, I’m not sure if I really needed to watch a remake of this story but, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. Well, eventually, I have to admit that there was nothing really wrong about this movie and I still think it is a fascinating story but, as I expected, I still had a hard time to judge the damned thing though. I mean, since the original version starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman was perfectly fine to start with, what was the point of this remake? I guess that something that could be said about most remakes but I think it was especially true for this one. The fact it was also based on Dalton Trumbo’s script was also a mistake. At least, they took a slightly different approach so both films were not identical. For example, the introduction in Paris was certainly new and it was a good idea to show Henri Charrière and his life before he ended up in jail. It’s too bad that these scenes in Paris did look terribly fake though. Concerning the cast, Charlie Hunnam was a good choice to play the main character, even though he did look way too much like Steve McQueen at the time. The fact that he also played the character exactly the same way was either a missed opportunity or another proof that this remake was rather pointless. Concerning Rami Malek, I think he managed more to take some distance from Hoffman’s performance but, eventually, I have to admit that both men were fine though. Anyway, to conclude, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch though but, even if it might be worth a look, you should still watch instead the 1973 version. 

Last  month, I was quite disappointed because my film club wen to see this movie but I was on holiday at the time so I couldn’t join them. Fortunately, only a month later, it was already available on Disney+. Well, as usual with Yorgos Lanthimos, it turned out to be quite challenging, especially because this time, you didn’t have one Lanthimos  feature to analyze but 3 at once. First of all, I really enjoyed the directing, especially the first part which was sometimes quite stunning visually. Then, the acting was really solid as well, I was above all impressed by Jesse Plemons who managed to create 3 completely different individuals, each with his own personality and specific body language. Concerning the 3 tales in this anthology, the first one seemed to be about our relationship with free will. Indeed, on one hand, free will is our greatest treasure and it is what differentiate us from the other animals. However, on the other hand, there is a part of us which would prefer to relinquish this free will because, well, it would make things easier and life in general might be less confusing this way. The 2nd part was however much more difficult to figure out though. Was it about the fact that even though we might argue otherwise, we will never 100% know the ones we  love and, therefore, they might always form some kind of threats making all relationships toxic and doomed to fail, somehow? Again, I’m not sure at all. However, the final part turned out to be even more weird and outlandish and, at this point, it felt as if Lanthimos tried to challenge David Lynch, the all-time mindf*cuk master. Seriously, right from the start, everything seemed fairly batsh*t crazy during this 3rd segment. Maybe it was some kind of cosmic joke, especially with this pitch-perfect ending? Basically, sure, we might get a 2nd messiah at some point in the future but there is a fair chance that we will probably screw this up again like we did the first time around. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was definitely not Lanthimos best directorial effort so far, it was still a decent watch though and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of musicals in general but, since this one was starring a young Christian Bale and since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, you can trust Disney to be the only able to turn a rather dark but interesting true tale into a rather sappy musical like this one. In fact, it was actually first conceived as a drama but I guess these guys couldn’t help it. Eventually, there were only a few songs involved though and none of them was memorable. To make things worse, Christian Bale’s singing skills were not really impressive, I’m afraid. Finally, it is still so weird and/or funny to see the biggest entertainment company coming up with some kind of social pamphlet. And yet, in spite all this, I have to admit that the damned thing actually slowly grew on me. Indeed, even though the musical genre was a misguided choice, it was still actually a pretty good story dealing with the struggle and fight of all these young boys delivering newspapers in New York. I enjoyed as well how the relationship between Jack and David blossomed, it was pretty sweet but also actually well developed. Finally, Bale was only 18 years old but I thought he was actually already pretty good here. Sure, he looked probably too clean for a kid spending all his days in the streets of New York (not only him, all these kids actually did) but I think that he gave his character several layers which was pretty neat. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was a big flop when it was released and even though I do have to agree that maybe half of it didn’t really work, I still think the damned thing is actually worth a look. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, after launching one of the biggest animated franchises ever with ‘Ice Age’, Chris Wedge has constantly been struggling ever since and this first live-action feature was probably his biggest flop so far. I mean, right from the start, the concept was pretty weird and you might wonder if a movie literally combining monsters with trucks was such a great idea (We already saw how well it worked for ‘Cowboys & Aliens’). The fact that the target audience (kids between 8 and 12 years old) was extremely limited probably didn’t help either but, except maybe for them, there was just not much to enjoy in this weird movie. At least, the CGI to create this monster was actually pretty good, I wouldn’t expect less from Wedge, but it was probably the only thing that worked here. Concerning the cast, there were a few decent actors involved (Barry Pepper, Rob Lowe, Danny Glover, Amy Ryan, Holt McCallany, Frank Whale, Samara Weaving) but they were all given really nothing interesting to do at all. At least, it was nice to see again the lovely Jane Levy who did what she could with a very thankless role (it was rather sad that, even though her character had a huge crush on the main character, she didn’t even get to kiss him which shows what was the target audience). Concerning Lucas Till, I have nothing against him but it was rather strange to see a guy in his mid-20’s playing someone around 18 years old who behaved as if he was 12 years old.  Anyway, to conclude, it has been a while since I had seen such a misguided project, I’m not surprised that it turned out to be a failure and you should probably avoid it.