Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I really loved ‘The Act of Killing’, I was of course really eager to watch Joshua Oppenheimer's directing follow-up, especially since it was some kind of sequel to ‘The Act of Killing’. Well, even though even it turned out be a more straightforward documentary than his previous directing effort, I was still really impressed and pretty much floored by the damned thing. In my opinion, this movie is such a deep dive into the human soul and it was just fascinating to behold. I mean, this genocide in Indonesia was just the stuff of nightmare and it pretty much gives us a glimpse of what might have happened if the Nazis wouldn’t have been defeated and would still be in power nowadays. Obviously, this tragedy has been a huge trauma for the Indonesian people and it was just so fascinating to see how the people interviewed were dealing with this. Of course, if it would have been a US fictional feature, there would have been some tears and people apologizing for their deeds but the end-result was here so much more complex. I mean, you could see on their face that, very deep down, they somehow were aware that something terrible actually took place but it was buried so deep under a huge amount of denial, propaganda, decades of brainwashing, gossip, fear,… You could even see the ripple effect it had on the children of the perpetrators but even the victims were struggling to deal with these events (for example, it is rather unlikely that Adi’s mother suddenly found out 40 years later that her own brother was a guard in one of these jails). Eventually, it is quite amazing that, from such a horror, the makers managed to deliver something so humanistic. Anyway, to conclude, it turned out to be another fascinating documentary from Oppenheimer and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in this subject. 

I didn’t have some really high expectations concerning this movie but since it was starring Chris Hemsworth and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, even if I’m not a huge fan of such patriotic action flicks, I have to admit this one was not bad. Indeed, it seemed to be fairly accurate or, at least, it all seemed believable. It’s actually interesting because, from what I can remember (bear in mind, it was almost 20 years ago…), Afghanistan had been at the time massively bombed by the US for weeks, even months, but, according to this movie, they actually did start this conflict with some really chirurgical bombings. Another thing I did like was the dynamic in this group of soldiers, even if none of these characters were developed after all, but I guess it goes with the territory. The only really disappointing thing was probably that, even though the whole thing was dealing with a war in Afghanistan, there was in fact only one talking Afghani character and even this guy was reduced to some mysterious and wise warlord. It’s such a pity that the Americans always think that they are the most important thing when they take part in a conflict abroad. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing amazing, I have to admit that it was a decent watch 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 spot for Kirsten Dunst, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though it might seem at first to be really original, in fact, I thought it was some kind of mix of ‘Gattaca’, ‘Brazil, ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ and even ‘Romeo and Juliet’. On top of that, even if the concept did have some potential, especially for some amazing drawing done by Escher, for a video-clip or for a short movie, I’m not sure if it was appropriate for a full length feature like this one. I mean, each time the action was slowing down (which happened rather often), I would ask myself the same questions: ‘Is it actually physically possible?’ and ‘what the hell am I actually looking at right now?’. However, the biggest issue was probably with the story though. The problem was not really that this impossible love story was terribly generic, the problem was above all that it was rather poorly developed. For example, they shouldn’t have used the amnesia gimmick if it would then simply come and go whenever it was needed for the plot. Furthermore, I think it would have been better if they took a darker approach, if, for example, their romance would have been physically impossible. Instead, they went for some cheesy happy ending which solved pretty much everything, not only for this couple but also for everyone else living in this world. Anyway, to conclude, I know, it might sound as if I really didn’t like the damned thing at all, but at least, it was really creative and it did result in some amazing scenes visually speaking so, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is worth a look. 

To be honest, I didn’t have some high expectations with this terrible bland title and it did look like another lame romantic tale starring Liam Hemsworth but, somehow, I still ended up watching this flick. Well, I have to admit that the damned thing was not so bad at all after all. Indeed, the story wasn’t the usual non-sense that you can get in your average romantic feature, especially romantic-comedies, and it was fairly interesting and entertaining. Furthermore, even if Liam Hemsworth didn’t deliver a strong performance, at least, I liked his character and he had some nice chemistry with Teresa Palmer. Still, the makers did make a few mistakes though. First of all, why did they cast Austin Stowell with Liam Hemsworth?!? Seriously, they both looked too similar and when I first saw Stowell, I thought it was Hemsworth. It does explain why, for some reason, Hemsworth was the only soldier who didn’t wear a helmet during the battle scene at the beginning because, otherwise, it would be impossible to tell them apart. A bigger issue was the ending though. Of course, nothing really shocking actually happened or maybe that was exactly the problem, that it was completely predictable. Indeed, as expected, Peter delivered a seriously dick move and Candace discovered the truth about Mickey and dumped him but still loved him after all,…. All these events were completely plot-driven and therefore rather underwhelming and I wish they managed to find another way to wrap this up. However, even more underwhelming was how, at the eleventh hour, Dalton Joiner finally decided to desert after all. Seriously, it was just an idiotic twist that went completely against what these two guys were standing for. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still better than expected and I think it is worth a look, at least, if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect but since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that I did struggle a bit to get a good grip on this story (the fact I started a little bit late and was tired didn’t really help, I guess). It’s quite interesting because it turned out to be eventually a rather simple story after all. I mean, basically, Jeremy Renner played an incredibly skiled hunter who basically solved a crime by simply tracking some marks on the snow. The FBI agent played by Elizabeth Olsen was not bad either as she only had to figure out who was the boyfriend’s victim and where he lived to figure it all out. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I believe that the simplicity of the story was actually an asset as it made the whole thing much more realistic and believable than such similar movies with many far-fetched plot twists. Furthermore, I think it was pretty obvious that the plot was probably not Taylor Sheridan’s greatest concern. Basically, he focused mostly on the mood and also on creating a believable world and characters and that was where the movie really worked. Indeed, the mood turned a rather basic story into something quite intriguing and you really got a sense of this community which was tight thanks to a common set of beliefs but also by a shared amount of pain, sorrow and poverty. On top of that, Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen both gave some solid performances, even if Olsen had a rather thankless role after all but she made the must of it. Anyway, to conclude, even if I don’t think it was anything really ground-breaking, it was still a really solid 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 was Neil Jordan’s directing debut, I was really eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, it wasn’t really an easy watch. First of all, it was pretty much impossible to pinpoint a specific genre as Jordan mixed so many styles together such as thriller, vigilante, neo-noir and even surrealism. Furthermore, it was pretty obvious that it was his debut as, in spite of a solid and intriguing introduction, the whole thing became rapidly random. For example, they took their time to explain how the main character would end up with a rifle but, out of nowhere, he was suddenly using a gun as well and, this time, the makers didn't bother explaining how this sax player would end up with a gun. Towards the end, it became therefore increasingly messy. I mean, how did the guy end up in this farm and what was his deal with this woman?!? They even threw in the mix a miracle child healer just for good measure. So, the damned thing was pretty much all over the place but there was already Jordan’s gritty visual style and the mood with a solid soundtrack (something actually rather rare for a movie from the 80’s) was pretty neat. And it was also nice to see Stephen Rea, Neil Jordan’s long time collaborator, showing  up in his directing debut and the guy gave here another really solid performance. Anyway, to conclude, even if my rating might be slightly generous here, it was a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Neil Jordan’s work.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Emily Blunt, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I didn’t really care about the damned thing after all. Seriously, it is such a pity that Emily Blunt, a really lovely and talented actress, has spent a huge chunk of her career playing in such underwhelming quirky indie comedies. I have to admit that the concept actually had some potential and I did like the idea of a guy dropping off everything to start a new life with a new identity. Unfortunately, pretty much everything else in this movie barely worked at all though. For example, the way Arthur/Wallace met Mike/Charlotte was completely far-fetched and, even though Colin Firth and Emily Blunt both delivered some solid performances, I didn’t believe for once second that these 2 characters would end up together. To make things worse, when they started to break-in in some random houses, the whole thing became supposedly even quirkier but certainly even more annoying. It’s too bad because the cast was not bad at all and it was, for example, quite impressive to see how much a young Lucas Hedges managed to do with a completely half-baked sub-plot and character. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, the whole thing was still pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Emily Blunt. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot Jason Reitman‘s work, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even if it was probably Reitman's most interesting project in years, I’m afraid it still turned out to be rather disappointing. First of all, even though it was pretty obvious that Reitman tried to emulate Robert Altman’s directing style with his introduction, I thought it was rather confusing. In fact, at the end, I still didn’t really get who was who exactly. I mean, I can understand that Reitman wanted to go for a realistic approach but it did eventually overcomplicate a story which was rather simple after all. A bigger issue was probably the fact that it was never clear what did they want to achieve with this movie. Indeed, it was never clear if we should feel sorry for Gary Hart, or blame him or blame the medias or the fact that the US presidential campaign has since then become such a huge media circus. Sure, Hart seemed to be quite a brilliant politician but he seemed also to be completely oblivious about the fact that the US president is a major public figure and the fact that the guy kept denying some reasonable expectations regarding his future position made it rather difficult to root for him. It was a similar situation regarding how they handled the media and it was never clear how we should feel about the fact that they covered this story. It’s too bad because I always loved movies about politics but, eventually, I’m not so sure if it was such a great story. The best conclusion I could come up with this tale was that even the most promising politicians actually could turn out to be some oversexed pigs. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch with a very solid performance by Hugh Jackman and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I didn’t really have some huge expectations regarding this movie but since I have a weak spot for Mark Wahlberg’s and Peter Berg’s work, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it wasn’t really good, I’m afraid. At least, it was slightly better than ‘Spenser Confidential’, the last collaboration of Wahlberg with Peter Berg, but only slightly though. I mean, most of the action scenes were not bad, especially the fighting scenes involving the always awesome Iko Uwais, the badass actor from ‘The Raid’, but that was pretty much the only thing working with this flick. The first thing that really annoyed me was the fact that they tried to make Wahlberg play an incredibly smart man which was rather pathetic. There was also some rather misguided attempt at being humoristic by making some jokes about the fact that the guy was probably bipolar. At least, Wahlberg was lucky enough that Lauren Cohan was also barely convincing. In fact, while it was really ridiculous to try once again to turn Wahlberg into the smartest man in the room, it could have been interesting to have her playing a lethal soldier but, unfortunately, there was not one second I believed in this character. To make things worse, the damned thing was rather pretentious with some fancy editing and some useless debriefing scenes with Wahlberg’s character. I know, I probably make it sound as if the damned thing was awful but, in fact, the concept had some potential, it’s just that the makers made quite a few stupid mistakes. Anyway, to conclude, I was probably too generous with my rating here but it is always neat to see Iko Uwais kicking some major ass but, if you don’t really like the genre, you should probably avoid this flick.