Reviews by johanlefourbe

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 if the damned thing was not bad, to be honest, I can’t say I was really impressed though. I mean, sure, the cast was nice (Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Haley Bennett, Bill Skarsgård, Mia Wasikowska, Sebastian Stan, Jason Clarke) and it was pretty neat to see them all playing against type but the story, or stories should I say, never really grabbed me. It is actually rather difficult to really pinpoint what they went wrong with this movie. Was it the rather dreary gloomy mood or the fact that it was rather long and slow? I guess, the main issue was the fact, since there were so many characters involved, none of them was actually really developed after all. Seriously, some of them had maybe 5 mins of screen time. To make things worse, these characters were all described as being either evil, ignorant or hopeless or any combination of these 3 ‘qualities’. As a result, it was rather difficult to care for any of them. In fact, I counted that no less than 12 characters died seriously violently (Charlotte Russell might be an exception though since she did die of cancer) and, as a matter of fact, Tom Holland  was the only speaking character who actually did survive. However, since you never get the opportunity to really invest yourself in any of them, these deaths didn’t have much impact after all. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is 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 it was directed by Ben Sombogaart, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I was actually amazed by how weak the damned thing turned out to be. First of all, it was just sad to see yet another Dutch movie starring right from the beginning with a naked woman touching herself… Even more problematic was the first half which was so poorly put together. Seriously, it was hard to believe that Sombogaart had been directing movies for 30 years since the end-result was just so weak. Indeed, it was completely tone deaf with some confusing music that it didn’t match the action at all and, on top of that, it was probably the least convincing kidnapping attempt I have ever seen. I mean, sure, you could say that Isabelle was overwhelmed at first but why didn’t she try to escape afterwards? I mean, there was probably something in her room that she could have used to knock down this dog. Anyway, the fact that she didn’t try anything was lame and the whole setup never really worked. Then, the second half was slightly better as they developed the relationship between these 2 women but it came very late and, to be honest, it was still nothing really great though. Indeed, Isabelle could have escaped a couple of times but, each time, she stuck around but why? Finally, I think that Halina Reijn was slightly miscast. I mean, no offense, she is quite attractive and her performance was not bad but I think that someone more glamourous like Carice van Houten, Chantel Janzen or Anna Drijver would have been better suited for this role. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was just so weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved and since it sounded like an interesting story, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though it turned out to be indeed an incredible story with a huge historical impact, it didn’t turn out to be an incredible movie, I’m afraid. Eventually, it seems that Stephen Hopkins, a director with a rather patchy track-record, was not really up to the task and you can only wonder what a great director could have done with such great material. The main issue was that there was just so much going on, so many characters involved and so many plot-lines that a TV-miniseries might have been a better format after all. Still, I wonder if it was really necessary to spend some time on Jesse Owens’s private life when there was already so many things going on which seemed to be so much more important. Anyway, the most interesting thing was the fact that Jesse Owens (and by extension, the US Olympic Team) defied the Nazis by showing that blacks were not inferior to their Aryan race while Owens and the whole black people in general was vastly discriminated in their home country. In the same way, Leni Riefenstahl managed to deliver an impressive movie thanks to Goebbels’s support but even though she saw her work as a piece of Art, it became also the most famous propaganda picture ever produced. These were a few fascinating elements that were displayed in this movie but these ideas were barely developed at all and the end-result was therefore never really fulfilling. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a really strong story and I think it is worth a look, even if it could have been so much better. 

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 Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I really had a hard time to care about this movie. Sure, the whole thing was rather harmless but it was also pretty damned boring. I mean, the story actually had some potential but I didn’t care much about the approach they chose though. Of course, since it is a Disney production, it was hardly surprising that it featured some talking animals and it might therefore be more appealing for very young children but, as a result, it was pretty much impossible for me to take the whole thing seriously. Which is a shame since the story was actually dealing with a real gorilla who spent his whole life in captivity as a circus act, became somehow a painter and got eventually free (actually, he was still transferred to another zoo but anyway…). However, I thought it was rather hard to connect with a realistic setting involving animals who kept talking to each other and constantly cracking jokes at each other which was completely unrealistic on top of being really annoying. At least, technically speaking, there is no doubt that the CGI was pretty impressive but it’s definitely the downside of the improvement of this technology, the fact that we keep getting such asinine movies involving some talking animals. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, it was still rather tedious but I guess it might still be worth a look if you have some young children to entertain. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it has won the Golden Kalf of the best Dutch movie of the year, I was quite eaget to check it out. Well, even if it didn’t turn out be anything really ground-breaking, it was still a decent WWII drama. Above all, it was actually quite interesting that they gave such a different view on resistance fighting. Indeed, instead of the usual bombings, other sabotages or intel operations, they focused here on the guys who basically financed the whole thing in the Netherlands and I have to admit that it was actually some rather fascinating stuff. Unfortunately, if the directing by Joram Lürsen was decent enough, it wasn’t really inspired either. As a result, he did manage to tell this story but I think it would have been just as exciting to read the whole story on Wikipedia. For example, at some point, Walraven van Hall told his kids about some pirates and, from time to time, the character was described as some adventurer and it could have been interesting to further develop this aspect of this character but the damned thing remained just terribly clean and sober. Following the same idea, I always had a weak spot for Barry Atsma, he is in my opinion one of the most charismatic Dutch actors at work nowadays, but by now, I have seen half of his movies and, to be honest, the guy pretty much always plays the same way for every movie and every character. In this case, his performance was not bad but he could have delivered something much wilder (see for example what Leonardo DiCaprio did in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’). As a result, I never felt that I was getting closer to what van Hall might have been really thinking or feeling back then. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a fascinating story 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 had been nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award, I thought I might as well check it out. On top of that, I had actually read the book a few years back so I was actually quite curious to see what they managed to do with this adaptation. Well, to be honest, if the book was just downright amazing, this movie turned out to be a decent watch but not much more than that. Basically, the most interesting thing about the book was to witness a girl growing up and going through puberty under such dramatic circumstances. Another striking element was that this experience was told from her own point of view so it focused mostly on her thoughts and feelings. Obviously, to translate this on silver screen was a big challenge and the makers side-stepped this by focusing more on the group of people hiding with Anne Frank instead of focusing on her. And the result was still quite compelling and convincing to behold but this unique approach was then lost. Another issue was then, even if they didn’t focus so much on Anne Frank, it still felt that the whole group of characters was handled as one entity instead of developing each one of them. Finally, if Millie Perkins did manage to look much younger than she actually was, I’m afraid she still looked to old for the part. On top of that, there was not much transition from the girl going in hiding at 13 years old and the girl living this place at 15 years old, not only physically but also psychologically. Basically, Anne was a young girl when she arrived and a young woman when she left but the makers didn’t manage to bring this aspect in this adaptation. Anyway, to conclude, even if this movie didn’t really impress me, it is still an amazing story and only therefore it is still worth a look.  

I didn’t care much for ‘The Babysitter’ but since this sequel was also available on Netflix, I thought I might as well give it a try. Well, maybe because I had such low expectations but, to be honest, I thought it was not bad after all and I actually enjoyed it more than its predecessor. Indeed, back then, I understood more or less what they tried to achieve with ‘The Babysitter’ but, as far as I was concerned, the end-result turned out to be rather lame. However, with this sequel, I thought that they finally nailed the tone though. Of course, some of the jokes were still pretty weak but some of them were also really spot-on and seriously funny. The best example would be when Cole went to Dr. Big Carl McManus advising him that getting laid would pretty much solve all his problems. I thought that Judah Lewis was also more fun and more convincing this time around. In fact, I have to admit that I thought the character had been recast and it was only afterwards that I realized it was still the same actor which shows how much ‘The Babysitter’ had left an everlasting impression on me…. Still, even if it better worked with this sequel, I still think that the concept was not really amazing or then it still needed to be more properly developed to become really interesting. For example, if the gang of killers with John, Max, Allison and Sonya was much more fun this time around, some of other characters like Phoebe and Bee didn’t work so well though. Furthermore, I understand that they wanted to bring some kind of closure during the 3^rd act but it turned out to be a self-serious and barely entertaining drag. Anyway, to conclude, even if my rating might be generous, it was actually a decent watch and I think it might be actually worth a look but only if you really like the genre. 

To be honest, since this movie had been a massive commercial and critical flop, I wasn’t expecting much but since I have a weak spot for Robert Downey Jr., I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it is rather sad that Downey chose such an uninspired and misguided project following his retirement from the MCU. I mean, after spending more than 10 years showing up in some massive super-hero CGI extravaganzas, it is disappointing to see the guy choosing yet another CGI extravaganza involving some talking animals this time. Furthermore, did this concept really needed yet another version? Sure, I have to admit that, technically speaking, the movie was not bad and all these talking animals were rather well done but, still, the damned thing was just so boring. First of all, it was a rather weird decision to start with a whole animated tale involving John Dolittle and his wife and then start the actual story. To make things worse, this new quest was just terribly generic and, even though Dolittle did interact with many characters (mostly from the animal kind), they were all reduced to a one-note joke. And that was basically what the movie was all about, to see some CGI animals constantly providing some non-stop jokes, verbally or visually, which was as lame as it sounds. Finally, Robert Downey Jr., usually a dependable actor, didn’t really impress me with a rather weak performance. Well, at least, I’m glad the running time was rather short. Anyway, to conclude, even though the damned thing was rather harmless, it was also just terribly weak and you should probably avoid it. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Ben Affleck, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, the damned thing was hardly original as it faithfully followed the rules of the genre. Indeed, you had a washed-up guy who begrudgingly accepted to become a high-school basketball coach and, of course, at first, they suck terribly but, slowly, they became better and eventually made it to the playoffs. So, it was all fairly generic and predictable and, yet, it still worked for me. Indeed, what made this movie still intriguing was its relentless dark undercurrent. And, of course, it took some major guts from Ben Affleck to tackle such a part. Indeed, Affleck is himself a recovering alcoholic and the last time he went in rehab was only a few years back. Seriously, I wonder how it felt for him to play a guy who was basically drinking the whole day. The interesting thing about this portrayal was, often, such addicts hide their drinking but not this guy. Everywhere he went, he was drinking and pretty much everybody knew about it. Basically, at this point, this guy hated life in general, hated himself even more and, in the process, you did get to see how completely joyless the whole process was. Basically, it is all about numbing your senses and feelings. Eventually, there was such a deep sadness in Affleck’s performance, he was completely convincing and probably delivered the best performance of his career. You wonder if they maybe could have found some time to develop the other characters, it was basically a one-man-show from Affleck but since he really nailed it, it wasn’t a big issue. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing ground-breaking, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.