Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t 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, I always had a weak spot for minimalistic movies dealing only with a few characters and there was something quite topical about these few survivors following some major worldwide disaster, considering our own current crisis with the coronavirus. Unfortunately, I think it was a mistake to bring Chris Pine’s character into the mix and I’m not surprised that there were only two protagonists in the novel it was adapted from (Obviously, Ann and John). Seriously, it was as if they reduced the end of the world to a rather tedious and predictable love triangle which was rather disappointing. On top of that, I thought the idea rather sad that, if the whole humanity would be completely wiped out, one of the last 2 guys would have to die because getting the last girl would be just so much more important than keeping alive what was left of human kind. Concerning the cast, Chris Pine was not bad but, as mentioned before, his character was rather useless and, to make things worse, they constantly changed his behavior depending on the needs of the plot. Concerning Margot Robbie, she was not bad either and her character was more interesting than Pine’s was but the whole pure, innocent, naïve girl routine did outstay its welcome at some point. They should have developed more this girl because it would have been interesting to see her shifting somehow and I’m sure that Robbie could have pulled it off. Eventually, Chiwetel Ejiofor ended up with the only fully-fledged and by far the most complex character and was therefore much more interesting to behold. It’s too bad that most of his actions were triggered by such a lame gimmick as a love triangle and it’s too bad the makers apparently didn’t trust enough the material that they felt the need to add such a bogus and generic conflict. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I can’t remember why I wanted to check this movie in the first place. I guess it seemed to have a decent reputation so I thought I might as well check it out. Anyway, it turned out to be a gritty thriller with an interesting historical background. Basically, what you get to see is the main character going from one spot to another, trying to make it through the night, and not much else to be honest.  Concerning Jack O'Connell, he was not bad and it was a nice touch to see him with his little brother who was there obviously to explain why this guy would choose to join the army but, eventually, his character was actually barely developed. However, they did put a lot of focus on the historical background which felt so genuine and convincing that it eventually did manage to compensate the generic aspect of the plot. Basically, back then, Belfast was pretty much a war zone. The weird thing for an outsider, like the main character or the viewers, was that all these houses look the same so, at some point, without noticing it, the main character had crossed some invisible border and was actually on the other side. Not only everything looked the same but even the people felt really similar which might explain why they would be constantly hammering about the ‘bloody Catholics’ and the ‘f*cking Protestants’ apparently mostly to convince themselves that they are nothing alike. This movie also argued, in my opinion, that the British government actually never really cared about this conflict and would rather have both sides, equally fanatic, killing each other. It would explain why they would send a rather small number of soldiers with no field experience in such a volatile and dangerous environment instead of sending their best soldiers to handle this situation. However, I don’t think it was really a great idea to focus on the Military Reaction Force and, as a result, turn them into the ‘bad guys’ when, in fact, it was another tragic conflict involving fanatic religious beliefs (or maybe it is just an excuse?) with no specific side to really blame. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was maybe nothing really ground-breaking, it was still a really solid thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I think the title of this movie was quite a spoiler so I actually pretty much knew what to expect from this flick but since I kept hearing some pretty good things about it, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, after watching the damned thing, I still don’t think it was terribly original but, still, most of it worked fine. First of all, I didn’t realize Kumail Nanjiani had done so much work before this movie but the guy was really funny here. On top of that, he had some great chemistry with Zoe Kazan and it’s too bad she had to disappear through half of the movie but I guess that was the whole point here. Furthermore, even if it followed the blueprint of the most basic romantic comedies, the whole thing still felt mostly genuine. In my case, my father was immigrant, I’m an immigrant myself, my wife has been heavily chronically ill for the last 10 years so there were many elements that were quite relatable to me. There was one thing that bothered me though and it was the huge emotional switch made by Holly Hunter’s character. At first, I thought she was seriously ignorant to judge him like that even though she had basically no knowledge of his culture or of him as a human-being. Then, suddenly during his stand-up act, she completely switched gears and became his biggest defender which was also rather annoying. Eventually, the more I think about it, the more I believe that her reaction was actually understandable in the sense that, as a parent who might lose her child, she had to vent her frustration/anger/sorrow on someone and why not go for the guy who had broken her daughter’s heart? Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really ground-breaking, it was still a really solid romantic comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I was 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, even though Christmas movies can sometimes be a total drag to watch, this one had a decent concept. Indeed, I really liked the idea of this group of friends going out every year around Christmas to have some fun together. Still, even if the idea had some potential, it could have been better developed though and the end-result felt above all rather random. For example, it was very promising when Seth Rogen’s character got all these drugs provided by his wife but, unfortunately, he turned out to be the only guy getting completely f*cked up. As a result, this character spent most of the movie completely high, which was actually pretty funny, while his buddies remained pretty much sober through the whole thing. I’m not saying that they should have been completely sh*t faced through the whole duration but I thought it wasn’t really convincing that they wouldn’t get high together. Otherwise, all the three guys had some personal issues to deal with, which was rather expected, but none of these sub-plots were really entertaining though. Still, concerning the jokes, even if it was never really hilarious, it was usually more hit than miss and the damned thing was usually quite funny. Anyway, to conclude, even though I’m usually not a huge fan of movies dealing with Christmas, this one was decent enough and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since it has won the Golden Kalf of the best Dutch movie of the year, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, it has been a while since I have seen such an obscure movie. Obviously, no one else saw the damned thing on Listal but even on IMDb only 90 people have seen it so far. Well, I have to admit that it was pretty much impossible for me to really judge this movie. Indeed, since Dutch is not my mother tongue (it is actually only my 3rd language), movies in Dutch can be challenging but I usually handle them fine, even without subtitles. However, in this case, they went for some dialect called ‘Nederduits’ which is basically some kind of combination of German and Dutch, and it was without subtitles. Well, it was pretty much impossible to understand what the hell the characters were talking about. Concerning the story itself, I still managed to follow more or less what was going on, especially the relationship between the various characters were fairly easily to understand. There were also some surrealist moments that did remind me of Alex van Warmerdam’s work. However, towards the end, they completely switched gears and the whole thing became some kind of nightmarish mayhem during which 5 characters were brutally killed involving a truck, a forklift, a chainsaw, some dogs and a very young girl with a rifle (yes, I'm not kidding you, just check the damned thing...). Anyway, to conclude, to be honest, even if with some subtitles, I’m not sure I would have really cared more for this movie but I guess it is still worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Vanessa Hudgens, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though this movie apparently didn’t get much love when it was released, I have to admit that I was actually quite impressed by Hudgens who easily delivered her best performance so far. Rosario Dawson was also strong in this flick, in fact, she was even quite terrifying in the few scenes that she showed up. Concerning the rest of the movie, even if it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was decent enough up until the end though. Indeed, in my opinion, the last act completely derailed the whole thing. For some dubious reasons, they brought back the father which was just a huge mistake. I mean, so far, the whole thing was pretty bleak, gritty and realistic but, suddenly, it was turned into some kind of fairy tale. On top of that, I thought it was actually rather infuriating to see this guy dropping this poor girl with her punk look when she was desperately in need for help and then coming back when she was looking like some Disney princess and when everything looked much more on the bright side for her. Finally, to make this turn of event even more pointless than it already was, they actually doubled back as she decided eventually to stay at the shelter after all. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is worth a look though thanks to a very strong performance by Vanessa Hudgens.

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, first of all, concerning the tone, they went for something slightly whimsical and realistic at the same time which can be tricky but it did work in this case. Indeed, it never became really cheesy but, the more I think about it, they still did slightly sugar-coat the whole thing though. The best example would be when Julian gave his excuses after getting his ass kicked by the school principal. I mean, the idea that all kids are actually kind deep inside was really cute and appealing but I’m afraid it doesn’t really work like that in the real world though. Still, even if the story didn’t turn out to be anything really ground-breaking, I did like the approach they chose though. Indeed, instead of only focusing on Auggie and maybe his parents, they decided to show the ripple effect of Auggie’s life on the other people around him which was quite refreshing. The only exception was Miranda though. Not that she was not interesting but since she was Auggie’s sister best friend so her link with the main character was too thin or too remote from him. I mean, it could have worked but then they should have spent more than only 10 mins on this storyline. Eventually, the two characters who also could have been developed were the parents played by Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson and, to be honest, I didn’t think that they had much chemistry together. Anyway, to conclude, it might sound as if I didn’t like the damned thing but it was actually not bad at all and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.