Reviews by johanlefourbe

I had no idea what to expect from this flick but I was in the mood in watching something completely different and since this movie was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Apparently, it was based on a videogame which was itself based on some novel but to be honest, I had never heard of either the videogame or the book it was supposedly based on but the damned thing seemed to be visually pretty neat. And, indeed, in this area, I was actually quite impressed. That’s clearly the advantage of making movies in our modern age as the current CGI technology, when used properly, allows the film makers to create such gorgeous and fascinating worlds. Of course, some might argue that there was a huge CGI overdose but it worked for me. Indeed, somehow, it did remind me of ‘Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi’ which was definitely a huge complement for this movie but, just like in Miyazaki’s masterpiece, they managed to deliver here a convincing and intricate fantasy world. Concerning the story itself, I have to admit that I did have some to doubts but, all in all, it was entertaining enough. Still, it was probably too messy for my taste, it took me a while to get a good grip on this tale and, to be honest, I’m not sure if I really understood what the hell exactly happened at the end. The fact that there were too many characters involved also probably didn’t help either. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really ground-breaking, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since this movie had been really poorly received, I wasn’t expecting much but since I have a weak spot for Natalie Portman, I was still eager to check it out. Actually, the fact that I was expecting to watch a really awful movie pretty much messed up my viewing since I was constantly expecting something really bad or stupid to happen at every corner. Well, to be honest, I don’t really get why this movie got such harsh reviews and poor ratings. Indeed, I thought it was such a fascinating story with another strong performance by Portman. Still, I’ll have to admit that it was far from being flawless though. First of all, the fact that they decided to deviate from the actual events led to some rather dubious artistical choices. For example, Lisa Nowak (the woman this story was based on) had actually 3 children but, instead, they gave her a niece who had her own really convoluted and completely half-baked backstory. Furthermore, since the niece never really did exist, there was really no reason why she should have been involved in Cola/Nowak’s wild chase. Eventually, the biggest failure was the fact that they never really convincingly displayed the link between her extra-marital affaire with another astronaut and her general mental meltdown following her return to Earth. Indeed, it was really interesting to see this brilliant and strong woman slowly losing her grip with reality after going through such a life changing event and it made sense that, the more she was obsessing about going back into outer space, the more erratic her behavior became and the less likely it was that she would ever go back there. However, how this all led to have sex with another astronaut and eventually even stalking the guy was never convincingly argued in this movie. Basically, the best explanation they could come up with was that, well, she became basically ‘crazy’ and did a lot of random weird stuff in the process but this explanation was rather lazy and obviously hardly satisfying. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still don’t get why this movie has such a lame reputation and I think it is actually worth a look. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it had won the Gouden Kalf for the Best Dutch movie of the year, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, it was the first movie I saw dealing with an acid attack victim so, only therefore, it got some few extra points from me. I also believe that I did attend the NFTA (Dutch Film Academy) around the same time as Sacha Polak did but, back then, I didn’t work with her. Anyway, she delivered here a gritty drama with a strong performance by newcomer Vicky Knight. Indeed, her performance was so convincing and genuine that you might wonder if she really went through such a terrible experience and, in fact, she did. Indeed, when she was a kid, she survived a fire so most of her scars were actually real. I also did appreciate the fact that they didn’t develop too much her life before her attack but you can imagine that it wasn’t already so amazing. Unfortunately, they struggled to properly develop her relationship with the other characters. For example, they spent a good chunk of the running time with a really generic and half-baked love triangle involving the main character, her best friend and her best friend’s boyfriend. To fix this, I would have actually dropped the best friend and focus on this boy who was still falling in love with her in spite of what happened to her. It would have been really unexpected and interesting to behold but, instead, you never get to understand what it is going on with this guy. There was also another half-baked relationship with a colleague which could have been easily removed. Then, the rest of the movie focused on the fact that she wasn’t fit to be a mother but this argument was hardly concinving. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent drama though and it is definitely worth a look. 

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. To be honest, even though I had heard about the college admissions scandal, I didn’t really know in details what exactly happened back then so I was quite curious to learn more about this story. Well, the process of re-enacting what happened might seem rather cheesy but the fact that all or most of the dialogues were based on some actual wire tapes from the FBI made this approach actually really effective. However, if the testimonies of (real?) students were understandable as it was the only way to include them in this tale, it didn't work so well, I’m afraid. Furthermore, I wish we did learn more about Rick Singer (how awesome it would have been if the guy himself had given an interview for this documentary?) but nobody really knew him after all so the way they handled him was better than speculating too much. On the other hand, even though Singer was obviously the mastermind behind this scam, plenty of people involved such as the parents, coaches and other people working at the top of the colleges hierarchy were also guilty so I’m not sure if it was really fair to put so much focus on him. Of course, the guy was basically a con artist but, eventually, he simply found a loophole and used it but he never really forced the parents to use this strategy. It was also so interesting that while the whole thing should have displayed how f*cked up their system has become, it actually made the Ivy league colleges become even more in demand somehow. They also argued that it was incredible that white rich people would take this length to fraud this system but I believe most people, black or white or yellow, if they have the financial means, would do pretty much anything as long as they believe that they won’t get caught. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was maybe nothing really ground-breaking, it was still a really solid documentary and it is definitely worth a look, especially 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 spot for Woody Harrelson, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, at least, you have to admit that it was an ambitious project. Not only Harrelson was directing for the first time but he also wrote the damned thing but it went just way beyond that. Indeed, it was shot with only one take and it was even broadcasted live while it was filmed in a few theatres. On top of that, it was also fairly meta as Harrelson was playing himself with another actress playing his wife. By the way, it was a nice touch that they hired an Asian actress to play this character (Laura Louie, Harrelson's actual wife, is indeed Asian) but Eleanor Matsuura was maybe 20 years too young to play this part. Anyway, as a result, this movie did feel sometimes more like some performance Art than an actual movie. So, for its experimental aspect, I’m willing to give this flick a few extra points but, to be honest, it wasn’t really good, I’m afraid. Concerning the one take gimmick, sure, it is something actually terribly difficult to pull but, in this genre, it was probably the least impressive movie I have seen so far. I mean, it was visually fairly ugly with some major shaky cam along the way but, above all, I didn’t really see the added value of shooting the whole thing in one take. Concerning the story itself, well, it was seriously random which was rather expected but the only scenes that really worked for me where the ones involving Owen Wilson. Indeed, Wilson had a nice energy and, to be honest, he was actually much more entertaining than Harrelson. Anyway, to conclude, I actually didn’t care much for the damned thing but I still think it is worth a look if only for its experimental aspects. 

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, the (only) interesting thing with this movie was that, for a very long time, Mel Gibson was ruling the A list and, at some point, Emile Hirsch and Kate Bosworth got close to get there but the fact that they nowadays get involved in such generic and borderline worthless action flicks shows the current bad shape of their respective careers. In fact, with such a title and since it was taking place during a hurricane, I thought it would be a disaster movie but, in fact, it turned out to be some kind of very cheap version of ‘Die Hard’ taking place in Puerto Rico. By the way, you might wonder why the action was taking place in Puerto Rico since all the main characters were actually American. It’s like the hurricane, it had actually so little impact on the generic plot, it could have been actually easily removed. To make the whole thing even more random and half-baked, you had also some stolen Art by the Nazis and also some mysterious beast. Concerning this ‘beast’, it was rather disappointing that it didn’t have more impact on this tale but when it finally showed up for a split second, it actually seemed to only be a rather large dog after all. Concerning the actors involved, I’m afraid Emile Hirsch was not really convincing but Mel Gibson was not much better and gave here a rather weak performance. Eventually, Kate Bosworth was probably the only one who was not bad but she wasn’t helped by this poor material. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was really weak and you should probably avoid it. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I turned out to be actually slightly disappointing. I mean, I have to admit it, the concept was interesting. Indeed, it was the first time I saw a movie focusing on the psychological damage following the harsh living conditions on the Frontier. Unfortunately, the first issue was that we never get to know these 3 women. Sure, they gave us a few flashback scenes explaining how and why they snapped at some point but we never got to see them before. To make things worse, they became more apathic and lifeless as the story moved forward so it was rather difficult to relate with them and care for what might happen to them. Still, they did something so bold in this movie, something I had never seen before and I have watched more than 6000 movies by now. Indeed, before the 3rd act, they actually killed the main character and not with an accident, some random illness or a brutal murder but by suicide. Following what happened to this poor woman, it was actually an understandable outcome but it was so shocking mostly because we are so used that the main character somehow ALWAYS prevail, no matter the dramas and obstacles they have to face. In this case, the main character basically just gave up before the story was actually finished and it went against the most basic narrative rules. So, for this bold move, this movie did get a few extra points from me but, to be honest, the rest was pretty much a rather generic Western road trip and while it was well made with a solid cast, it never really dazzled me. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, 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 there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. I actually saw another movie about Ned Kelly starring Heath Ledger but it was ages ago and, to be honest, I don’t remember much about it. Anyway, in this case, I think it was a nice approach to show Kelly as a kid and the harsh conditions he had to grow up in. This part actually worked because, even though the mood and visuals were fairly surreal, everything happening actually made sense and it displayed fairly well how this kid could become an outlaw. Unfortunately, from the moment Ned Kelly was displayed as a young adult, it didn’t really work so well, I’m afraid. I don’t blame George MacKay who gave here another strong and even intense performance (after his already impressive work in ‘1917’, I will definitely follow this guy from now on) but, to be honest, there was definitely something wrong/missing with his character. I don’t care about the fact that, apparently for the first time, they gave a version of the famous outlaw without his iconic beard. What bothered more was the fact that the guy always remained a blur. Indeed, it seems as if the makers didn’t manage to figure out in which direction they should go so they tried to keep him mysterious. Unfortunately, it didn’t make him more interesting, in fact, it actually made him a random mess and, above all, it actually deprived him of an actual personality. Still, I really liked the surreal approach and it’s too bad the punk vibe showed up only during the last act because it made the whole thing even more intriguing. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.