Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation (it is included in the ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ list, among other things), I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though I did like the damned thing, to be honest, it didn’t completely win me over though. Above all, in my opinion, the whole thing was rather messy. The best example would be the very first scene. Indeed, it felt as if they skipped something as none of the characters were properly introduced. I mean, who was Lulu? Where did she come from? How did she end up in this apartment? Who were all these guys trying to get her attention? After that, a lot of things did happen to her (she even ended up in the arms of Jack the Ripper) but, at the same time, you learn so very little about Lulu after all. Indeed, what was she thinking or feeling during all this? And, yet, the damned thing was still quite spellbinding to behold, above all, because Louise Brooks had such a magnetic screen presence. After watching this movie, it is rather surprising that she didn’t have a great career afterwards (she did become super famous after this movie was released but it didn’t last). Anyway, from the first moment she showed up on the screen, I was just hooked and she was definitely one of the most mesmerizing women I ever saw. There was also something about her acting. At the time, it was apparently misunderstood because she was going for such a naturalistic acting, she was basically ahead of the game for several decades and the audience back then had no idea how to deal with it. Anyway, to conclude, even if the movie itself didn’t really work, it was still pretty good though and it is definitely worth a look if only to discover Louise Brooks.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but, since I have a weak spot for Dakota Johnson and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I thought it was rather hard to judge the damned thing after all. The funny thing is that I actually saw the day before ‘Wild Rose’ starring [Link removed - login to see] and one of the things that I did appreciate with this movie was that they didn’t sugarcoat the whole thing by having the main character meet some powerful producer who launched her career and made her super famous in the process. Well, in this case, they went for the complete opposite and the damned thing was basically some kind of fairy tale which didn't have much to do with the reality. The other thing that bothered me was that, once again, it displayed how awful it seems to be working as a personal assistant. Seriously, they always make it seems as if it is one of the worst jobs on Earth and it would be refreshing to see some PA having a fulfilling job that they actually enjoy. And, yet, I have to admit that that the damned thing was not a total disaster though. Indeed, even though I didn’t believe for a second that Dakota Johnson was such a talented producer, she was still quite charming and charismatic. Furthermore, I had never heard of Tracee Ellis Ross before (it turns out that she is actually Diana Ross’s daughter which did add an extra meta layer) and she was not bad either, even though none of her songs really impressed me. Anyway, to conclude, even though the story was rather convoluted and barely worked, it was still rather harmless and I guess it is worth a look but probably only if you really like the genre. 

Since I have a weak spot for [Link removed - login to see] and since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this movie, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, the movie itself didn’t turn out to be great after all though. At least, they didn’t make the mistake of turning the whole thing into some kind of Hollywood fairy tale during which the main character met some powerful producer who launched her career and made her mighty famous. Unfortunately, the story still didn’t really work though. The first issue was the lack of information regarding how Rose-Lynn really was before she went to prison. Sure, she had been ‘wild’ but how wild exactly? I mean, she had been to prison for a year but her kids reacted as if they had no contact with her for much longer than that. However, an even bigger issue was that the character was roaming around aimlessly for just way too long. Eventually, she needed the whole movie to figure out that, if she really wanted to succeed in this business, even if she was really talented, the only way was to really work at her craft and she might get there at some point. Anyway, even if the approach they took was rather frustrating, the damned thing still worked out though because Jessie Buckley gave here such a star-making performance. Indeed, even though the story itself had some issues, she was just so convincing, delivering such a fully developed and complex character. The fact that she is a strong singer of course really helped as well. Basically, she was just quite spellbinding to behold which is even more impressive when you think that it was only her 2^nd acting credit. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, thanks to an amazing Jessie Buckley, the damned thing was still definitely 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, I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, it was surprising how similar it was to ‘The Killer’, the last directorial effort by David Fincher. However, if Fincher’s movie turned out to be slightly disappointing, this movie displayed what would have been the end-result if it would have been directed by a 3^rd rate director and starring a 3^rd rate actor to play the main character. On the other hand, they were not helped by the fact that the story didn’t make much sense. Basically, both movies followed a similar plot. Indeed, there was a 1^st assignment which went smoothly, a 2^nd assignment which was botched and then his employer hatched up a plan to get rid off this killer. Sure, it might sound like a spoiler but it was pretty obvious what was the real purpose of this 3^rd assignment and the fact that the main character, who was supposed to be a ‘virtuoso’, didn’t figure this out by himself before was rather pathetic. To make things worse, this 3^rd assignment was just ludicrous. Indeed, how was he supposed to kill his target if he didn’t have an actual name or a picture and only some obscure code and a specific location? As a result, he started to wipe out everybody who showed up at this diner instead of walking away which again didn’t make sense. The fact that he only did spare the waitress was not a big issue (he didn’t seem keen to kill random innocent people) but there was no good reason whatsoever why he should have spent so much time with her while being on a job. Concerning the cast, I have to admit that I’m not familiar with Anson Mount’s work but the guy certainly didn’t impress me with his wooden acting and he felt like a cheap Arnold Schwarzenegger’s clone without the body-builder frame. Concerning Abbie Cornish, I noticed that she was much more chubby than usual but she was still really lovely and it worked actually fairly well to play this ‘waitress’ character. Anyway, to conclude, even though I do have a weak spot for the genre, the damned thing was rather weak and you should probably avoid it. 

I wasn’t expecting much from the damned thing but, since it was starring Liam Neeson, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. Well, unfortunately, it turned out to be yet another completely forgettable B action flick which Neeson has kept doing ever since ‘Taken’ turned out to be a surprise  success. To be honest, you would wish that, at 70 years old, he would finally be getting too old for this kind of movies. However, some other actors like Sylvester Stallone displayed that you can keep showing up in such movies pretty much forever. Anyway, coming back to the movie itself, it’s not that it was really bad after all, it was mostly terribly generic and derivative. Still, the story didn’t make much sense though. Indeed, if you would believe the movie which was actually never clear about that point, the cartel was chasing this woman and her son because one of their relatives had stolen money from the cartel and gave it to them. First of all, running with some stolen drug money was hardly a good plan but, above all, after this relative and this woman were killed fairly early on, why on Earth would this cartel keep chasing this little boy through the US? I mean, they did have indeed a bag of money but it didn’t seem that much though and, above all, it hardly seemed worth the trouble. Concerning Neeson, he was not bad but this material is just beneath him and I hope he will finally find something more interesting to do with his time in the foreseeable future. Concerning Katheryn Winnick, I have to admit that I’m not familiar with her work but it is the 2^nd movie I have seen with her recently and, even though she is quite gorgeous, I was amazed by how weak she was once again. I really hope she is better in ‘Vikings’ if I ever manage to watch this hit TV-show. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was rather harmless, it was still pretty weak and you should probably avoid it. 

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but, since I have a weak spot for [Link removed - login to see], I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I didn’t expect the damned thing to be so weak after all. Eventually, it seems that the makers watched too many movies directed by Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie but I’m afraid the end-result was more pathetic than actually entertaining. The very first scene was a perfect example as you get to see these 2 thugs talking about one of their romantic relationships just before starting a heist which seemed directly lifted from ‘Pulp Fiction’. At least, Olivia Cooke was really charming and charismatic but she was pretty much the only thing that did work in this movie. Indeed, she managed to do a lot with a character who turned out to be barely interesting after all. Still, even though I can see how it would be an interesting challenge for her to play an Irish character, you might wonder why they hired an English actress to play this part. On the other hand, they also ended up with Alec Baldwin playing an Irish drug-dealing homicidal priest which was probably one of the weirdest casting choices I have seen in a very long time. Coming back on the movie itself, the plot was terribly generic and barely entertaining and, even though they obviously tried to emulate Tarantino and/or Ritchie, the dialogues were terribly flat and hardly fun. To be honest, it felt as if the damned thing didn’t have any pulse whatsoever. It was the same thing with the characters, Pixie was not bad thanks to Cooke but all the other characters involved were just poorly developed but, above all, so boring to behold. Anyway, to conclude, even if it wasn’t a complete disaster, it was still really tedious and you should probably avoid it. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by D.W. Griffith, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have to admit that it’s only afterwards that it discovered that it was actually one of Griffith’s last movies but, even though it was a decent watch, I’m afraid it was a rather minor effort for this master after all. I mean, the topic was super interesting and it was a pretty neat idea to make a biopic about Abraham Lincoln’s whole life, going from his birth to his untimely death by the hand of John Wilkes Booth. However, for some reason, they took less than 90 mins which seemed way too short to cover such a complex and eventful life. It is even more bewildering when you think that Griffith did deliver before some silent epics which lasted more than 3 hrs. Anyway, the whole thing felt really episodic, dashing through some bullet points covering more or less the highlights of Lincoln’s life. As a result, it was also narratively rather clunky. For example, at some point, you see him mourning Ann Rutledge who was apparently the love of his life but then, during the very next scene, he was at some ball trying to woo Mary Todd. At least, even though he played an extremely romanticized version of the famous American president, Walter Huston was actually pretty good here. There were also a couple of battle scenes which were actually quite impressive, especially if you think about the fact that this movie was made more than 90 years ago. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was not bad though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in D.W. Griffith’s work. 

To be honest, I didn’t have some huge expectations for 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, with a murder right from the start and such a title, I pretty much knew right from the start what it was going to be. Indeed, it was basically one of these dreadful vigilante features. Obviously, the fact that I never cared about the genre probably didn’t help but, even if it was technically rather well made, the damned thing just never really worked, at least, not for me. First of all, Kiefer Sutherland’s character was such a cartoon figure. Indeed, he did have a rather fancy, seemingly expensive, lawyer who managed to get him out of jail for some technicality but he also looked like some white trash guy who was going in and out of jail so it seems unlikely that a guy like him would manage to have such a competent defense. What also bothered me was the total lack of psychology in the characters involved. I mean, the most interesting character was probably the one played by Ed Harris who pointed out to his wife that she was actually lying to him (there was also the fact that she was gone for hours almost on a daily basis during her basic ‘vigilante’ training). As usual, Harris was pretty good even though he was given a really thankless role but, above all, they absolutely did nothing with what he and this family in general was going through. The basic idea is that it was supposed to be impressive, even maybe inspiring, that this average woman decided to cook up a plan to kill the man who raped and killed her daughter, nothing else really seemed to matter and how much you might enjoy this movie will depend on how much you share this point of view (I obviously don’t). Anyway, to conclude, as far as I was concerned, the damned thing was a waste of time and you should probably avoid it.