Reviews by johanlefourbe

Following the ‘Justice League’ debacle (I still have to watch the Snyder’s cut but, to be honest, I’m not really holding my breath to watch a 4 hours bloated super-hero mash-up), Zack Snyder managed to deliver another directorial effort, this time with Netflix, and I thought I might as well check it out. Well, for this new flick, Snyder came back to his roots and made another zombie flick, 17 years after his directorial debut, ‘Dawn of the Dead’. Since ‘Dawn of the Dead’ remains one of his best movies, it was pretty neat that the guy was coming back to this genre. On top of that, I always had a weak spot for the heist genre and the fact that it was taking place in Las Vegas made the whole thing sound pretty awesome. Well, the first issue was with the title. Indeed, it seemed to be a rather cheap trick to link this movie to Snyder’s own remake and Romero’s legendary franchise when this movie actually had nothing to do with these movies. The next issue was the fact that, even though there were quite a lot of characters, it was rather disappointing that the most recognizable actor was Dave Bautista who’s basically a 3^rd rank Marvel actor at best. At least, Bautista was not bad at all and actually gave a solid performance. Concerning the rest of the cast, even though there were plenty of characters, none of them was developed whatsoever though. It’s too bad because some of them had some potential. For example, you had some girl called Chambers, she didn’t have any dialogues whatsoever and after one really neat badass action scene, she was unfortunately discarded and turned into some zombie food. Concerning the story itself, well, I guess it was entertaining enough but it also felt rather lazy and generic. To be honest, the more I think about it, the more I believe it would have worked better as a videogame instead of a feature film. Anyway, to conclude, I’m afraid this movie won’t improve Snyder’s reputation of being a hack but I guess it is worth a look if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but the title did sound pretty badass and since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I had a rather hard time to care about the damned thing after all. I have to admit that some of the action scenes involving the submarines were quite spectacular and I always had a weak spot for the genre but pretty much nothing else really worked in this movie, I’m afraid. Indeed, the beginning scenes were rather murky but when it became clear what the hell was going on, it turned out to be seriously far-fetched. Of course, you might argue that I shouldn’t take such action flicks too seriously but, in this case, they were dealing with an actual geopolitical situation and all the characters were dead serious through the whole thing so a more plausible plot would have better worked in my opinion. Eventually, this movie didn’t focus only on the submarines, as if the makers didn’t trust it to be enough, and they did add not only one but two extra story threads, one involving some standard war room talks with Gary Oldman, Common and Linda Cardellini and another involving some black-ops operation with some unknown and rather uncharismatic actors. Both these threads were terribly generic and tedious, especially the black-ops stuff and it felt as if the makers were not confident enough to be able to deliver a movie about some submarine mission so they added some (unnecessary and rather unwelcome) extra stuff. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have a weak spot for the submarine genre, this movie just didn't work and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from the damned thing but since it was available on Neftlix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, as expected, it turned out to be one of the weakest movies I have seen released this year (2021) but it’s too bad because the opening scene actually had some potential. Indeed, I really liked these 2 girls who bonded together and there was something really neat and genuine about their relationship. Unfortunately, it was pretty much the only thing that worked in this movie and, to make things worse, they broke this relationship almost right from the start which was, in my opinion, a huge mistake. It’s not that the concept was really bad (it was still hardly original though), it was more that the whole thing was just so flat and unfunny. Indeed, Melissa McCarthy basically played her typical foul-mouthed (slightly less) fat dim-witted woman, a role which did manage to launch her career at some point, but she has done this gimmick too many times by now and it did outstay its welcome a long time ago already. Concerning Octavia Spencer, she was basically given nothing to do except looking annoyed at McCarthy’s character’s antics so she was pretty much wasted here. Concerning the rest of the cast, Pom Klementieff had some fun playing a bloodthirsty villain but her character was terribly one-note. Same thing for Bobby Cannavale who was such a stereotypical and boring bad guy. Eventually, the only one who managed to do something slightly more interesting was Jason Bateman who played one of the weirdest super-heroes ever but, even in his case, this character was still barely developed whatsoever. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was pretty much a waste of time for all the people involved and you should probably avoid it. 

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I was actually positively surprised by this movie. Indeed, the damned thing turned out to be really intense and I have to admit that I was actually on the edge of my seat through most of the duration. Seriously, I think I will never forget the scene during which these parents have to throw their kids from the roof of some building because, otherwise, they would all get executed on the spot. Still, it’s too bad that the setup was pretty shaky. I mean, could you imagine yourself going to live in Cuba a day before Castro took over the country or in Chile a day before Pinochet overthrew Allende? Of course, I get that the whole point was to drop them in a strange country from which they didn’t know anything about but, in my opinion, it would have made more sense if this family would have been living there for quite some time. Concerning Pierce Brosnan, it is always neat to see him playing some darker version of James Bond and he did deliver a solid performance but I’m not sure if the movie actually needed him. On top of that, it was rather lame that the guy didn’t show up once but twice completely randomly to save their ass. In a similar fashion, it happened too many times that this average couple would be able to take down a whole bunch of armed rebels by themselves. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, the damned thing was actually really effective and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but it had been years since I saw something starring Lindsay Lohan so I thought I might as well check it out. Well, the damned thing didn’t turn out to be only awful, it actually turned out to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen, no less than that. Back in 2013, they also released ‘Movie 43’ which had a similar concept. Indeed, it was basicallly another anthology comedy with various R rated sketches but this one was even worse though. Sure, ‘Movie 43’ was also awful but, at least, with this movie, it was somehow morbidly fun to see a stellar cast making a fool of themselves by showing up in one of the most misguided movies ever made. This movie however had only a few B stars involved (Rob Schneider, Michelle Rodriguez, Adrien Brody, Lindsay Lohan) and therefore not a single redeeming feature. I mean, the damned thing was obviously not funny at all and it turned out to be also seriously offensive but I guess it was expected with such a title. Seriously, I don’t think if I have ever seen a movie showing so much racism for supposedly comic purposes. Of course, the makers would argue that they tried to make fun of racist people but, as displayed in this movie, it is actually really tricky and they obviously failed miserably. Eventually, the material was so misguided, so disturbing, that I felt nauseous through most of the duration. Coming back to Lindsay Lohan, she was obviously still struggling in her career but also in her life in general but, by showing up in such awful parodies, she pretty much torpedoed the little amount of credibility she still had, I’m afraid. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing is just awful, its only achievement is that it managed to be even worse than ‘Movie 43’ and you should pretty much avoid it. 

I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Alice Eve, I thought I might as well check it out. Basically, the whole thing was based on the concept that such isolated ATM booths are rather creepy, especially in the middle of the night but, to be honest, it seemed to be rather thin to build up a whole movie. On the other hand, I have to admit that I do have a weak spot for such minimalistic features with only one location and a few characters involved. However, beside the fact that the concept seemed rather limited, the trio of characters involved was rather uninteresting. At least, Brian Geraghty slowly won me over as he was one of the most uncharismatic leading men I have seen but it’s too bad they still tried to turn him into your average heroic guy. Concerning the bad guy, it seemed to be a smart move to keep his motivations rather murky but, on the other hand, it was also a cheap move from the makers and, on top of that, I don’t think there was actually a sensical way to explain what the hell he was doing. Indeed, it seemed to be pretty obvious that the guy didn’t do it for the money so what was his agenda then? The most likely explanation was that he was some kind of serial killer who planned his killings around such isolated spots. However, there was still some major loopholes linked to this theory. Indeed, how the hell did the guy know that there would be some potential victim(s) in the middle of the night at this very specific booth? Anyway, to conclude, the makers didn’t manage to do anything worthwhile with a concept which was rather half-baked from the start and I guess you can pretty much avoid this movie. 

Following ‘The Witch’ which had been critically successful, Robert Eggers came up with another directing follow-up which became even more popular so I was definitely eager to check it out. Concerning ‘The Witch’, I thought it was a decent watch but, to be honest, not much more than that. However, it was really neat to see how much progress Eggers made with this second directorial effort. And, yet, to be honest, it was still not completely sold though. Indeed, from the moment you see these two men showing up on this shore, you actually pretty know how it will all end. To make things worse, nothing much really happened afterwards, except seeing the two characters switching between being more or less friendly with each other and vastly antagonizing one another. Still, there is no denying that this movie was quite impressive to behold. First of all, there was the visual aspect. Indeed, the damned thing did look quite amazing and even though black-and-white movies are not so rare nowadays, here, it was a great approach and it perfectly fit the story and the tone chosen by Eggers. Then, the whole thing was seriously minimalistic, there were basically only two characters but the two actors involved both delivered some very strong performances, in fact some of the best performances of their respective careers. For Willem Dafoe, it is quite amazing that, after a career going over more than 4 decades and more than 100 movies, the guy still can come up with such powerful stuff and a couple of the speeches/soliloquies he made were just simply amazing and unforgettable (during one of these, he was actually getting buried alive, seriously, what an actor!). Concerning Pattinson, he had to face a Dafoe at the top of his game and he actually managed to be pretty much just as convincing as his colleague was. For the people still making fun of him because, 10 years ago, he did show up in the ‘Twilight’ franchise, well, if the guy keeps impressing like this, he might actually become one of the most interesting actors of his generation. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its limitations, it was still a rather spellbinding movie to behold and it is definitely worth a look and I can’t wait to see what Robert Eggers will do next. 

Since the ratings were rather low for this movie, I didn’t have some really high expectations but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. Well, to be honest, it has been a while since I have seen something so weak starring either Rachel Weisz or Michael Shannon. That the damned thing was directed by the same guy who delivered the impressive ‘Maria Full of Grace’ was even more surprising. At first, you might be wondering what the hell was going on with these really random scenes starring Weisz but the damned thing turned out to be some kind of half-baked version of ‘Catch Me If You Can’, except that they went for an approach which was much more pretentious and much less entertaining, I’m afraid. Seriously, the whole concept was never convincing. I mean, this woman had apparently 9 different jobs in 15 years which means that she spent less than 2 years performing any of these jobs but it was rather ridiculous. In ‘Catch Me If You Can’, Frank Abagnale Jr. was maybe a master con artist but he always ‘pretended’ to perform all these jobs. In this case, she managed to be an actual doctor and later on a biologist when this kind of jobs requires years of studies and experience. To make things worse, her agenda was just so opaque. Why did she look up her old boyfriend after all these years? Because she felt lonely? His reaction was also rather underwhelming. I mean, Shannon is a fine actor but his constant wooden look was the wrong fit for this character. On top of that, after it took him forever to finally confront her, he then somehow became fascinated with her whole ‘way of life’ which was rather bewildering. Anyway, to conclude, even though there were a couple of interesting ideas, most of it didn’t work at all and the damned thing is not really worth a look, I’m afraid.