Reviews by johanlefourbe

Like anyone else, I was quite impressed by what Margot Robbie did in ‘Suicide Squad’ so I was quite eager to see this new movie focusing on Harley Quinn. Well, even though it might sound surprising, I actually enjoyed ‘Suicide Squad’ slightly more than this movie. Sure, I might be giving David Ayer’s movie too much credit but, at least, the squad itself was really awesome and badass. I mean, it was nice that this time around most of the team behind this movie, not only the characters but also the people behind the camera, were some women and they made sure that these characters were not displayed as some lust objects (which is usually the case with female comic-books characters) but, to be honest, I wasn’t really impress by the end-result. For example, before watching this movie, I kept hearing that Mary Elizabeth Winstead was amazing but, seriously, her outfit was just so lame. The fact that her character came really late in this story didn’t help either. Even worse was Rosie Perez who was completely miscast. Indeed, they should have hired someone like Sigourney Weaver or Linda Hamilton or someone slightly younger like Angelina Jolie or Milla Jovovich. Basically, they should have chosen someone who could really kick some ass convincingly. However, a bigger issue was that the whole plot of having all the characters chasing some diamond was just so generic and tedious. I mean, it was a great idea to focus on Harley Quinn’s breakup with the Joker and showing how she struggled to get her life back together without him (it was still rather weird that the guy never showed up since there was a major event in Gotham’s underworld). Unfortunately, it seemed that the makers struggled to expand her story beyond this promising beginning. Still, there is no doubt that Harley Quinn remains such a neat character and, once again, Margot Robbie completely rocked this performance. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow me away, it was still a decent watch though and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but there was a nice cast involved and the title was pretty badass so I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I wasn’t really impressed by the end-result. Indeed, there were a couple of interesting ideas and a few nice jokes but most of it was a rather weak mishmash of various genres. Indeed, it took place in a posh British public school but there was also some pseudo ecological message about fracking which was probably the weakest idea they came up with but also some ugly monsters showing up during the 3^rd act. On top of that, there were a bunch of half-baked sub-plots such as Simon Pegg’s relationship with Margot Robbie’s character and the suicide of a student and it made the whole thing even more random than it already was. Since there were so much stuff going on, there was therefore barely enough time to develop the characters as well and, eventually, none of them was really interesting or entertaining. It seems that the makers wanted to go for a B feature vibe which wasn’t necessarily a bad idea but this choice became clear just way too late and the end-result was never convincing and, to be honest, often rather pathetic. Anyway, to conclude, even if the whole thing was rather harmless, it was still rather weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a nice cast involved and since it seemed to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I was surprised by how little I actually cared about the damned thing after all. I mean, sure, there was indeed a decent cast but the story was just terribly generic and predictable. Seriously, they basically mixed ‘Doc Hollywood’ with the tale of a man going back to his hometown 20 years later (somehow, I couldn’t find a good example of another movie with a similar plot which shows how actually bland this concept is). At least, ‘Doc Hollywood’ was a sweet flick which didn’t take itself so seriously. Eventually, the only real neat thing with this movie was to see Robert Downey Jr. finally playing something else than Tony Star for the MCU. Indeed, even if it really gave a huge push to his career, it also completely sidetracked him. Anyway, in spite of the rather tepid material, Downey was still pretty good though and, without him, the whole thing would have been a real chore to watch. I have to admit that Robert Duvall was actually not bad at all either, even if his nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role was probably exaggerated. However, the rest of the cast (Vera Farmiga, Billy Bob Thornton, Vincent D'Onofrio, Dax Shepard, Leighton Meester) was just completely wasted with some poorly developed characters and some half-baked sub-plots. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, the damned thing was still rather harmless and I guess it is still worth a look if only to see Robert Downey Jr. shining in something else than a super-hero robotic suit. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I’m glad I didn’t know anything about the damned thing before watching it because there were quite a lot of unexpected twists. Eventually, the most striking thing about this movie was actually not to witness how this man would manage to survive this ordeal, it was to see how these rioters were portrayed. Indeed, right from the start, you would assume that they were all some worthless troublemakers but, slowly, you discover that they were actually dealing with some rather desperate men who were pretty much at the end of their rope. And, yet, somehow, it didn’t completely convince me though. Indeed, even though I did like the story and how it was developed, after all, it was still rather hard to believe. Furthermore, even if the relationship between Malamadre and Juan Oliver was probably the most interesting thing in this movie, I’m not sure if it was really believable that Malamadre wouldn’t kill him as soon as some suspicions were raised against him. On the other hand, it could be possible that, right from the start, Malamadre actually figured out that the guy was not a prisoner but since he was so impressed by his bold move, he wondered how long he would last and decided to let him do his thing. Afterwards, even if he knew that the guy was fake, he still became somehow more reliable than all the lowlifes in his jail and Malamadre eventually even rooted for him. However, even if it might be an interesting theory, it was still far-fetched though. Anyway, to conclude, even it wasn’t flawless, it was still a strong thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but it had been suggested by another Listal member and, in fact, I took me many years to finally watch the damned thing. Well, to be honest, I think I would have been more able to appreciate it when it had been released 10 years ago. Indeed, in the meantime, I saw around 10 seasons of ‘The Walking Dead’ and dozens of other zombie flicks so I wasn’t exactly impressed by this one. I mean, I know it was a cheap flick but I never felt like I was watching an actual ‘horde’ of zombies. At least, it was neat to see a French zombie flick and it was interesting that it was taking place in the ‘banlieue’ (a French ghetto) but, eventually, the makers didn’t do much with this environment after all. Concerning the concept, it was not a bad idea to have these gangsters teaming up with these cops against these zombies but the introduction was still pretty awkward though. Furthermore, except for Eriq Ebouaney, I didn’t care much for any of the actors involved as none of them was really charismatic but they were not helped by the fact that their characters were not developed whatsoever. At least, it got more entertaining as soon as René got involved. Still, I have to admit that it was neat to see some French film makers trying to deliver a badass zombie flick and the end-result was at least visually quite satisfying. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow me away, I have to admit it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, at least, if you are really like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect 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, even though the concept was not bad, to be honest, it was nothing really mind-blowing either and it could have been better developed. Concerning the trio of main characters, they had some potential but I think it was a mistake to bring Jamie Foxx’s and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s characters together so late in the movie. As a result, there was not much time to develop their relationship and possible chemistry. Concerning Dominique Fishback, she was obviously the big revelation in this movie with tons of wit and charisma, however, I still had some trouble with her character. Indeed, even though Fishback is almost 30 years old, they made her play a high schooler and through the whole movie, I kept wondering what the hell this young girl was doing there. In fact, I can’t count how many times the two other characters told her to go home which made sense and which displayed how awkward the situation was with this girl. By making her a young adult instead of someone much younger, it would have worked much better in my opinion. Concerning the rest of the movie, well, I have nothing much to comment. Eventually, I think they spent too much time on showing so many ‘powers’ as possible which was probably supposed to be super awesome but I wish they spent instead more attention on developing the characters and the rest of the story. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have seen much worse on Netflix (I know, it is a low bar…) but I guess it might be worth a look if you have nothing else to watch. 

I didn't have some huge expectations concerning this movie but since I kept hearing some good things about it, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, following the huge flop of ‘The Mummy’, Universal cancelled their Dark Universe for the 2^nd time (They had already failed with ‘Dracula Untold’ a few years before), so, instead of a big blockbuster starring Johnny Depp, they gave us something much smaller produced by Blumhouse and starring Elisabeth Moss instead. Well, it paid off since this movie was fairly successful at the box-office and it even managed to receive some decent reviews. To be honest, I still think the concept was really flimsy but there is no doubt that Leigh Whannell made the most of it. Indeed, in spite of its title which was there only for some marketing purposes, he basically made the ultimate stalker movie and the fact that the guy had the possibility of becoming invisible was eventually almost an afterthought. Well, I have never been a huge fan of the stalker genre but what made this movie still work was above all another fearless performance by Elisabeth Moss. Indeed, from the very beginning, her character was just so completely strung out and only became worse as the movie moved along. In this genre, they usually show the main character has being terribly strong and resilient but, here, they put much more focus on the psychological turmoil experienced by this woman and, combined with a strong performance from Moss, it was much more compelling to behold. However, this movie still followed the rules of the genre and, during the 3^rd act, the main character completely changed and became some kind of super vigilante. Of course, it was not really surprising but not only it vastly contradicted the rest of the movie, it was above all hardly satisfying. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was not really ground-breaking after all, it was still a decent thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I did struggle to really connect with this movie. I mean, it did give an interesting and really bleak view on the life in China back in the 50’s and 60’s. In fact, while watching the damned thing, I was wondering how the director got away with making something like this in China. Well, he didn’t. Indeed, during the production, they apparently smuggled the movie out to Japan and then released the movie worldwide. Anyway, basically, it deals with some average people, living some average life and, apparently, they all went along fine in a rather peaceful community. However, following the drastic decisions of the Chinese Communist party, their lives were suddenly turned upside down and fear became suddenly a major factor in their everyday life. What stroke me was that you get to see them living for years under such a political system which was originally designed to be fair but, eventually, you didn’t see them experiencing any improvement on their living conditions at all. So, that was all quite interesting but the main issue I had was that, even though you spend more than 2 hours with the characters, you don’t get to know any of them after all. I guess it might be one of the virtues of this movie, the fact that you have to figure out on your own what these characters might be thinking or feeling. However, since I’m not Chinese and since I was born in the 80’s, it was rather difficult for me to relate with them. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow me away, it was still a very interesting movie though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.