Reviews by johanlefourbe

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, even though the directing team Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini always had some potential (I especially loved their directorial debut 'American Splendor'), this movie was quite a misfire and I’m not surprised that it received such poor reviews. Basically, it started as a really generic ghost story involving a rather boring couple. Like most movies in this genre, it was some typical slow burn approach with nothing much happening for a while, except for Amanda Seyfried’s character who was anorexic. However, this aspect of her character had actually so very little impact on the rest of the plot that you might wonder why it was even brought up in the first place. And, then, at some point, they started to add pretty much anything they could find and throw it into the mix. Let’s see, we had some really half-baked spiritualism, some ghost, some Ouija session without a Ouija board, a couple of murders, some vague marital issues, anorexia, weed smoking, identity theft, adultery, some weird creature coming from the sink, a con artist becoming a very unlikely serial killer, Saul Goodman’s sidekick and Indiana Jones’s first love interest. Sure, not everything was bad, Amanda Seyfried and James Norton actually delivered some solid performances even if they were both stuck with some rather tedious and poorly written characters. Still, most of this movie was just either poorly developed or simply not interesting at all and the ending was also a pathetic cop-out. Anyway, to conclude, I’m afraid the whole thing turned out to be a waste of time for me and for all the talented people involved and I think you should pretty much avoid it. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Dakota Fanning, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I didn’t know at all what it was about before watching this movie and it turned out to be a rather dreary costume drama about a loveless marriage. It’s only afterwards that I discovered that the damned thing had been written by Emma Thompson which might explain why she was displayed on all the promotional material even though she had a rather small part. Well, even though Thompson had managed to win an Academy Award for her screenplay for ‘Sense and Sensibility’, she hasn’t exactly been productive as a writer afterwards and, above all, she never wrote anything really worthwhile. Indeed, ‘Nanny McPhee’ was a rather shameless Mary Poppins copycat and, in this case, it seems that she got heavily inspired by ‘Madame Bovary’. In fact, it was actually based on a true story but, to be honest, I just didn’t care much about the damned thing. The basic idea was to show how awful it was for Effie Gray that she ended up in such a loveless marriage but, to be honest, her situation was hardly exceptional as most marriages were not based on love back then. In this case, they tried to argue that her situation was even worse because they never even had sex but this argument was never really convincing. I mean, what would you prefer? To be married with a guy you don’t love but at least leave you alone or to be married with a guy you don’t love and forces you to have sex with him? It didn’t help that both characters were rather poorly developed. Even if you wouldn’t really know from this movie, John Ruskin was actually apparently quite a brilliant man but, in this movie, he remained an enigma with some autistic features and some possible asexual pedophiliac tendencies. The main character was not much better and while everyone, except her husband and her in-laws, seemed to agree that she was ‘amazing’, she didn’t do anything really impressive except sulking through the whole duration. Anyway, to conclude, even if the story had some potential, I never cared much for the damned thing but I guess it might still be worth a look if you like the genre. 

Since I have always been a huge fan of Pixar, of course, I was really eager to check this movie. To be honest, I was rather surprised that this movie would be directly available for free on Disney+ (something that actually pissed off many Pixar employees) but I certainly jumped on the occasion to watch it only a few days after its release date. Well, as usual with Pixar, the damned thing was just so gorgeous to look at and, especially during this pandemic during which many of us spent hours even days cloistered in our homes, it was really neat to spend some time in such a cute Italian village from the 50’s/60’s. Then, at the centre of this tale, you had this beautiful friendship between these 2 boys who were basically lonely and it was just really neat and relatable to see them having so much harmless fun during some kind of summer holiday. Seriously, it was probably the most beautiful relationship delivered by Pixar since the love story in ‘Up’ involving Carl Fredricksen and his wife. So, it was really closed to be another home run for Pixar and, yet, something was still missing though. Eventually, in my opinion, the only thing that really prevented the damned thing from maybe being a masterpiece was the fact that these boys were some sea-monsters. It’s not that this aspect of the story really bothered me, it’s just that, in my opinion, it didn’t add anything really interesting to this really sweet bromance. Sure, it probably made the whole thing more appealing for the young kids but I’m more used to get this kind of gimmicks from Disney and not from Pixar. Anyway, to conclude, it was still a beautiful tale and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I remember quite well when this movie was released. Indeed, it was pretty much destroyed by the critics and some of them even called it one of the worst movies released in 2018. And, yet, this movie managed to reach a solid ‘6.9’ rating on IMDb so I have to admit that I was intrigued by the damned thing, especially since there was a really solid cast involved. Well, even though I believe the critics were rather harsh, I still have to admit that the damned thing was still rather weak though. Indeed, the beginning was just an awful mess with so much useless random stuff (hell… they even had Samuel L. Jackson as narrator for whatever reason).  Then, when it finally focused on Oscar Isaac's character and his therapy, it became much more interesting but, then, the guy shot himself and the whole thing started all over again with another character. I mean, it is always a daring choice to kill off one of your main characters really early but, in this case, it fell like a full reset which wasn't really rewarding. Eventually, the damned thing turned out to be a hyperlink feature and I have to admit that I used to have a weak spot for this genre but I didn't care much for this one though. Sure, some of the chapters were not bad, especially the first one, but none of them had enough time to be really compelling. And then, just like the beginning, the ending was just terribly weak. Indeed, a hyperlink feature has usually one moment during which all the threads get connected. Such scenes can be tricky to handle but, in this movie, it actually happened twice which was just way too much. On top of that, even if it might have seemed sweet on paper, it didn’t make much sense that these two characters would end up together and live happily ever after. Indeed, they were both heavily traumatised by this bus accident and, yet, this girl would supposedly fall in love with the same boy who actually distracted the bus driver that accidently killed her mother, resulting in her father eventually killing himself as well. Same thing for the guy, this accident completely messed up his childhood and, yet, he would choose to have a relationship with the only girl who could constantly remind him everyday of what happened back then. Seriously, it was probably the least satisfying conclusion I have seen for such a hyperlink feature. Anyway, to conclude, even if it wasn’t a total disaster, i didn't care much for the damned thing and I don’t think it is worth a look. 

P.S. : I guess this movie has such a ridiculous high rating on IMDb because the die-hard fans of ‘This is Us’ all tried to boost the score of this movie to show their support to Dan Fogelman.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by [Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see] and since it was starring a solid cast, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, it is rather baffling that the guy who made once upon a time 'All the President's Men' could deliver something so lame. Basically, it was a typical sleazy thriller from the 90's with some elements lifted from Alfred Hitchcock's work and, put it this way, the whole thing might sound nicer than it actually was. However, the damned thing was just terrible though. The first thing that bothered me was the fact that all the 4 characters involved were just so tedious and rather pathetic, especially the main character. As a result, I never saw the appeal of Eddy Otis at all. Indeed, the guy was just so smug and pretentious and it was pretty obvious from the start that he was some con artist so why would this couple be so fascinated by him was rather bewildering. Then, right from the start, most of it didn’t make much sense. You could start with the title which was rather misleading. I mean, why didn’t the main character tell his wife that he was fantasizing on his neighbor and that her husband was actually even offering to swap wives? And, yet, after fantasizing about this woman, after sleeping with her doubleganger (a plot point which was also completely useless since Otis still killed his wife after all), without mentioning the fact that his wife dumped him to get with the man who was married with the woman he allegedly killed, they simply got back together as if nothing happened which was either so lazy or completely far-fetched or probably a combination of both. At least, Rebecca Miller who really looked like Joely Richardson with this blond hairdo was quite gorgeous but it was probably the only high point in this flick. Anyway, to conclude, I could go on and on, the damned thing was just seriously weak and you should probably avoid it. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was the last movie from Neil Jordan that I haven’t seen yet, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, it wasn’t really good and, in  fact, it turned out to be a really generic and seriously tedious stalker thriller. Eventually, you might wonder what Neil Jordan saw in this derivative tale, especially since it was the first movie he made after 6 long years but maybe it was a pay-check gig. Eventually, the only saving grace in this tepid affair was the brilliant Isabelle Huppert, next to Catherine Deneuve the most legendary French actress at work nowadays, who managed to deliver a strong performance which was even more remarkable since her character was hardly interesting and, above all, so underwritten. Concerning Chloë Grace Moretz, I always had a weak spot for her and I can understand the appeal of working with a director like Neil Jordan and an actress like Isabelle Huppert but, to be honest, she seemed really out of her league. I mean, she wasn’t helped by the fact that the material was terribly weak but I’m afraid she doesn’t have the skills (yet?) to turn sh*t into gold like Huppert can for example. However, Maika Monroe managed to be even worse and it was only during the last scene that her character was not really insufferable. But, once again, the main issue was not with the cast, they did what they could with a really weak story. The first mistake they made was to not wait a little bit longer before Huppert jumped into full psychopath in order to have both characters really bond with each other. Instead, they revealed her true nature way too soon and, from this point on, the whole thing was just on auto-pilot. Something really stupid was also the fact that this deranged woman was a known stalker with the police before Frances disappeared so why her father or Erica didn’t reach out to the police once she was gone? Anyway, to conclude, I think I was actually rather generous with my rating here and, without Huppert, it could have turned out to be the worst directorial effort from Jordan so far. 

Since this movie was a big flop when it was released, I had somer rather low expectations but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even if the damned thing was not a total disaster, it was still seriously weak though. Eventually, the main issue was that they managed to deliver a story which was at the same time really derivative but also rather convoluted. The opening scene was a perfect example and displayed right from the start what was wrong with the whole thing. Indeed, it was a typical heist involving some big drug stash, nothing really new or exciting, but what was Vincent Downs's actual agenda? And who were these thugs that showed up afterwards trying to shoot him down? Eventually, the movie never really recovered from this weak opening and, in fact, I never really had the feeling that the whole thing ever really took off. Coming back on how unnecessarily convoluted this tale was, why were there 2 big bosses involved? I mean, Scoot McNairy and Dermot Mulroney were both not bad but one of them would have been probably enough. Concerning the main character, Jamie Foxx is a really charismatic actor but there is nothing he really could do to make his character really interesting, I’m afraid. Indeed, a major focus of this movie was to play with the idea that Vincent Downs might be a dirty cop but it never worked because the outcome was just so damned predictable. On the other hand, it was just obvious that David Harbour’s character was actually corrupt and, as a result, it made Bryant (played by the lovely Michelle Monaghan) look like a complete idiot for not figuring this out on her own. Anyway, to conclude, even if it could have been worse, pretty much nothing really worked with this movie and it is obviously not worth a look.