Reviews by johanlefourbe

After this movie had received to some really bad reviews, I didn’t expect much from the damned thing but, since it was on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I think there was in fact a couple of good ideas but most of it was just terribly average at best and some of it was some total garbage. Eventually, the most bewildering thing was why such a generic action flick required a whopping running time of 150 mins?!? Seriously, it was as if they forgot to actually edit the damned thing and put every single shot in the actual movie. As a result, they did end up with a whole bunch of scenes going on for way too long with no actual purpose whatsoever. At least, they could have given us plenty of interesting or fun characters, after all, there was apparently plenty of time for that but, no, there were only 3 characters who were not even developed at all. I almost forgot that there was in fact a 4^th character played by Sharlto Copley but his sub-plot was so half-baked and completely useless, I wonder why he was even there at all. Seriously, who was this guy and what did he have to do with the rest of the story? It’s too bad because the concept was not bad, at least, it was not much worse than the concept developed in ‘The Purge’  and this movie did manage to spawn several sequels. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, the damned thing was pretty bad and you should pretty much avoid it. 

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. There has been recently a resurgence of the romantic-comedy genre on Netflix but this movie was easily the best one I have this so far in this genre on the streaming platform. Indeed, even if the story was nothing really ground-breaking, the main characters were so well written, they were some really convincing and relatable fully-fledged human-beings. Furthermore, Ali Wong and Randall Park were both charismatic and had some great chemistry together. Eventually, the only thing that didn’t really work for me was that some of the supporting characters were rather weak. Seriously, Keanu Reeves and Jenny were just so annoying. Of course, it was done on purpose but I never thought that they were entertaining. Furthermore, Sasha Tran seemed to be such a strong and smart woman, it was rather hard to believe that she would start a relationship with such a massive douche-bag like Reeves (as portrayed in the movie, not in real life) or a long term relationship with Brandon who was not much better. Anyway, as long as the movie was focusing on Sasha and Markus, it was however pretty much pitch-perfect though. Indeed, the way they met, how they connected as kids, the awkwardness when they were teenagers, how they fell apart and how they got together… Everything was believable and entertaining to behold. Finally, during the last act, in the romantic-comedy genre, there is always some kind of conflict during which the main couple gets separated but it is usually pretty lame and bogus. Not here though, the reason why Sasha and Markus might not make it as a couple after all was quite realistic. Of course, it was pretty obvious that they would still end up together but their journey was still quite compelling. Anyway, to conclude, even it didn’t revolutionize the genre, I really enjoyed this romantic-comedy 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 there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, even if the damned thing had some potential, it turned out to be rather weak, I’m afraid. The first issue was that, even if the opening scene with these 2 boys becoming best friends after discovering they both love magic tricks was promising, within 5 minutes, it was pretty much ruined by the fact that, as adults, they couldn't stand each other anymore. From this point on, Burt Wonderstone became just so lame and annoying. To make things worse, during the 3rd act, they completely flipped around again this character as he suddenly became aware that he had been a major douchebag for so many years. Basically, his personality kept changing drastically any time it was needed to move on the plot. Concerning the rest of the characters, it was not much better, I’m afraid. For example, it was sad to see the lovely and talented Olivia Wilde playing such a thankless and eventually rather boring character. Concerning Steve Buscemi, Jim Carrey and James Gandolfini, their characters were slightly more interesting and/or fun but they were not developed enough. Eventually, the only one who managed to be entertaining was Alan Arkin. To be honest, Arkin did deliver his usual no-nonsense performance he gives in pretty much all his movies but, in the contrary of the rest of the cast, he did manage to find the right tone. Indeed, he was the only one who seemed to be an actual person and not some kind of annoying heightened caricature. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, I didn’t care much about the damned thing and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since I did like ‘The Conjuring’ franchise, I thought I might as well check this spin-off/prequel. Last week, I actually saw ‘Annabelle’, the first spin-off based on ‘The Conjuring’ and, to be honest, I had a really hard time to care about the damned thing. With this in mind, I seriously lowered my expectations with this flick, especially since it didn’t seem to have a stellar reputation. Well, eventually, I thought it was not so bad after all, at least, it was much better than ‘Annabelle’. In my opinion, what mostly worked with this flick was the fact it was from the beginning until the end really creepy. Indeed, this movie had a really nice mood and this nun was a solid bad guy. Furthermore, Father Burke and Sister Irene were both some charismatic characters but, to be honest, even if these 2 characters were interesting, they were actually barely developed at all. I thought it was also a little bit confusing that Sister Irene was played by Taissa Farmiga who is actually Vera Farmiga’s sister. Indeed,  Vera Farmiga had played Lorraine Warren in ‘The Conjuring’ franchise and, since both characters had some visions as a kid in combination with the timeline, it seemed possible that Taissa was playing a younger version of Vera’s character but, obviously, these two characters were eventually not related whatsoever. A bigger issue was that, even though the story was at first pretty straightforward, unfortunately, it became increasingly messy. Seriously, towards the end, they were more and more scenes which barely made any sense. Anyway, to conclude, it is possible that my rating was actually generous here movie but it was actually fairly entertaining and I think it might be worth a look, at least, if you really 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. First to all, I have to admit that I have never read ‘Infinite Jest’ and, to be honest, it felt rather weird to watch a movie about a writer without actually reading the book that started the whole thing (I had a similar experience with ‘Capote’ but I did read ‘In Cold Blood’ eventually). Well, this movie definitely made me feel even more guilty about the fact that I still haven’t read this American classic and, at least, it made me even more eager to read it at some point. Anyway, somehow, for some reason, I really got into this movie. I guess it did work because these guys never really talked about the book after all and focused more on Wallace himself and his new relationship with a journalist who happened to be a writer himself. Eventually, on one hand, you had David Lipsky who was obviously envious of Wallace’s huge success as a writer and, on the other hand, you had Wallace himself who was envious of pretty much everyone else as his success never helped him to become more adjusted to our world. Eventually, it was pretty neat to have such articulate characters talking to each other and I was above all impressed by Jason Segel. I mean, Jesse Eisenberg was not bad at all but he was basically playing another version of a character he had already done so many times before while Segel completely disappeared behind his character and, as a result, he delivered here the best performance of his career. Of course, I have no idea who David Foster Wallace was in real life but Segel made his character so complex, so fully fledged, so human, it was just quite spellbinding to behold. Anyway, to conclude, even thought the whole thing was nothing really ground-breaking, it was still an interesting watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in David Foster Wallace.

Since I did enjoy ‘The Conjuring’ franchise, I thought I might as well check this spin-off/prequel. Well, to be honest, I wasn’t really impressed by the damned thing. The first issue was that, if the Annabelle doll in ‘The Conjuring’ was a nice prop, however, that’s just what it was, a prop and not an actual character, and to build a whole movie (and by now, even a whole franchise) around her was rather misguided in my opinion. Indeed, the evil doll genre is actually seriously limited because there are basically only two ways to tackle this genre. Either, like in ‘Child’s Play’, you go for a living doll which can speak and kill people but the end-result is always pretty much laughable. The second option, which they chose for this movie, is to keep the doll completely inanimate which is definitely a wiser choice. Still, even if the doll remains creepy, there is nothing much thrilling about a doll sitting on a bookshelf through the whole duration of a movie so it still didn’t really work. Another issue was that, while Ed and Lorraine Warren were quite charismatic, John and Mia Form were maybe cute and charming but I’m afraid they were also really bland and boring. Concerning the rest of the movie, well, there were a couple of decent jump scares but the story was just really generic and predictable and the ending was, in my opinion, just way too random. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, I thought it was still a rather weak spin-off and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a really die-hard fan of 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 have to admit that I had no idea what it was about before watching the damned thing and, eventually, I really had a hard time to get into this story dealing with such a misguided romantic relationship. I mean, to have a young girl discovering her sexuality was fine, that she lost her virginity with a much older guy was still fairly acceptable but with her mother’s boyfriend?!? In fact, ‘misguided’ was not the right word, in my opinion, the whole thing was in fact downright sinister… Of course, Woody Allen might argue differently but, being myself a stepfather with a daughter 14 years younger than me, it was just hard to handle. Furthermore, I was never really able to figure out where the makers stood regarding this matter. I mean, obviously, they never condoned what was going on but the tone was still pretty quirky and whimsical in spite of some really dark material. As a result, the fairly light tone might give the feeling that what the main character went through might not be so bad after all. Still, I have to admit that I was quite impressed by Bel Powley. I had never seen her before but, even though she was obviously much older than her character, she still delivered a strong performance. Indeed, even if the material was rather cringe-inducing, she was always convincing and it was just refreshing to see a believable and relatable teenager. What was also impressive was that even though Powley delivered a realistic and plain looking teenager, she still made her character quite charismatic. Anyway, to conclude, even though the material seriously rubbed me the wrong way, I have to admit that it was not bad and you might want to check it out but only if you can handle such a misguided relationship.