Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I kept hearing some really good things about this flick (it even won the prestigious Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival), I was really eager to check it out. Well, I have been faithfully following Ken Loach for more than 20 years and, to be honest, I has been a while that the guy delivered something so impressive. Indeed, Loach managed to deliver one of his best movies which was rather unexpected as many including myself thought that his best movies were already behind him. Anyway, once again, he gave us another socially relevant  and really powerful tale and, in this case, it was even more heartbreaking as it all felt terribly familiar. Indeed, my wife has been terribly ill for already 8 years and, even though we live in the Netherlands and not in the UK, she had to face the same fight with the bureaucracy to have her invalid status acknowledged and approved. Like Daniel Blake, she had a similar interview with a so-called 'insurance specialist' who asked her if she could raise her arms and other ridiculous things like that and, just like Daniel Blake, their conclusion was that she was fit to work when at least 5 specialist doctors testified that she was in no condition to work. This battle lasted at least 4 years and what's so outrageous is that such organisations should be meant to help people but, in fact, there are in place to make sure the government's budget doesn't get red. As a result, you have some seriously sick people who spend hours, days, months dealing with this matter which eventually turns into a huge battle when they should be in fact focusing on their recovery. Well, in this movie, Ken Loach completely captured this social nightmare, the realism was just uncanny and it is not hard to believe that some women would choose to get into prostitution as ruthless gangsters and pimps might seem to be eventually more helpful than the so-called social welfare system. Anyway, to conclude, even though the damned thing was just so sad and rather depressing, it was still a really good drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Even though this movie didn't really get much love when it was released, since I always had a weak spot for Gus Van Sant's work, I was quite eager to check it out. After the huge critical failure of 'The Sea of Trees' (It is even considered by many as his worst movie so far), Van Sant here made a nice come-back and this flick was easily his best movie since 'Milk' released already 10 years ago. Still, even though it was indeed an entertaining biopic, it was nothing really amazing, to be honest. I mean, even though Van Sant went for a chaotic and random structure, the whole thing was actually fairly generic and predictable after all. Still, I had never heard of John Callahan before watching this movie, the guy was really interesting and I really appreciate the fact that they kept displaying his work through the whole duration. Eventually, I think I enjoyed mostly the cast involved. Indeed, once again, Joaquin Phoenix completely nailed it and displayed again that he is easily one of the best actors of his generation. On top of that, the rest of the cast (Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, Jack Black) was also strong even if their characters were unfortunately barely developed. I was above all impressed by Jonah Hill who I didn't recognize at all and it was only by the sound of his voice that I was able to spot him. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing ground-breaking, it was still a decent biopic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Gus Van Sant's work.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seems to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, I have to admit that I have never been a huge fan of Prince above all because his style was just too over-the-top for my taste but, while watching this flick, I suddenly became aware that I knew only a couple of his songs. Well, in this movie, he definitely displayed some major skills and the music was really good, especially the title song. Still, was it really a good movie? Not really, I'm afraid. I mean, in the same genre, it actually had more or less a plot which was more than you can say about 'Moonwalker' from Michael Jackson and, at least, it wasn't exactly dealing with a rising star who would finally reach some mainstream success but it was about a musician who actually didn't really care much about fame or success which was rather refreshing. However, even though it was slightly more original, the whole thing was still too random and generic to become really remarkable. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have to admit that it is actually probably one of the better movies in this genre and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Prince. 

To be honest, I wasn't expect much from this flick but since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as wel check it out. I have to admit that I have never been a huge fan of such spoofs and, even though this one is considered by many as a cult-classic, I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing. First of all, the tricky thing about this flick is that it was making fun of a genre which is actually dead serious, as these movies are dealing with the bleak reality of the black minority living in the ghettos in the USA so you wonder the whole time if it is actually really approoriate. To make things worse, the whole thing was constantly using some huge racial stereotypes and, if this movie would have been made by some white folks, it would have been a huge scandal. At least, I have to admit that some of the jokes were quite funny but, still, most of it was eventually more cringe-inducing than really entertaining. Anyway, to conclude, I didn't really like the damned thing but I guess it might be a worth a look, at least, if you really like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as wel check it out. Well, even though I didn't have such huge expectations, the damned thing  still turned out to be seriously disappointing, First of all, I always hate it when, in a horror movie, even though they are dealing with a mental patient, there is no psychology whatsoever but some boring paranormal nonsense. Fortunately, there was a twist at the end which slightly recovered the damage but it was still really poorly handled. For example, all the scenes involving Elizabeth Banks should have been much more ambiguous. Instead, they gave us the good old trick  'it actually never happened like it was displayed in the movie, it happened like that only in her head' which is such a lame and lazy gimmick. Another thing that slightly bothered me was why would they cast Emily Browning and Arielle Kebbel to play some sisters when they didn't look like each other at all. In fact, they could have cast Mandy Moore instead of Browning since she looked somewhat similar to Kebbel. Eventually, what pissed me off the most about this movie was that it pretty much ruined for me 'A Tale of Two Sisters' which sounded like a really solid Asian horror flick. Hopefully, I will forget about this lousy remake before I ever watch the original version. Anyway, to conclude, I think I was actually rather generous with my rating here, I really didn't like the damned thing and I don't think it is worth a look. 

Even though this movie didn't get much love when it was released, since I have always been interested in Tarsem Singh's work, I still wanted to check it out. Well, unfortunately, it turned out to be another really disappointing effort from the once so promising director. I have to admit it though, even though the concept was nothing original, it did have some potential but the biggest mistake they made was to take the most boring approach possible. Indeed, they could have developed the psychology of the main character by making him a selfish a-hole or they could have gone for a dark comedy and make this businessman with no fighting skills face some highly skills henchmen. Instead, they went for the usual generic conspiracy thriller which was just so tedious and the ending was just so damned predictable. Furthermore, after 'The Change-Up', it was another body switch movie in which Ryan Reynolds was not convincing at all. I mean, there was not one single moment that I believed that Reynolds was playing the same character as Ben Kingsley was, only with a new body. On top of that, until that point, Tarsem Singh had always made some really beautiful movies, visually speaking, but even in this area, this movie was nothing really impressive at all. Anyway, to conclude, this damned thing was a major disappointment and I don't think it is really worth a look at all. 

I already saw this movie but since I’m going to see the sequel tomorrow in the movie theater, I though I might as well watch again the previous installment first. Well, even though this movie turned to be pretty much destroyed by the critics, eventually, even if I have to admit the story was nothing really amazing, I actually enjoyed the damned thing thanks to a really solid performance from Tom Hardy and thanks to Venom himself. Indeed, once again, Hardy really nailed it and delivered one of the best performances I have seen in a super-hero flick in a very long time. Basically, in spite of the material, he managed to make the most of it and he gave us an average guy, in fact, even a loser according to Venom himself, and it was just so refreshing after years of being served over and over again the usual righteous main characters we always get in this genre. Concerning Venom, this character was also so much fun. Basically, they took pretty much the same concept used in the Hulk but they vastly improved it. I mean, imagine if the Hulk, instead of being silent, would be talking all the time and arguing with Bruce Branner. Well, that's basically what happened in this movie and the end-result was very often quite hilarious and seriously entertaining. Unfortunately, even though Eddie Brock and Venom were pretty awesome, the rest of the movie was pretty much a really generic, rather slow and boring origin tale which was too bad so I'm not sure if the whole thing will work as a franchise. Eventually, they definitely will have to take some risks with the next installment to make it really interesting. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, thanks mostly to Tom Hardy, I thought it was a fun flick 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 I have a weak spot for Reese Witherspoon, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that I had no clue what it was about before watching the damned thing so, for a while, I was wondering what the makers were getting at and that was probably the biggest issue with this movie. The best example would be with the main character. Indeed, on one hand, they were critical of the fact that anyone could become a celebrity for saying or doing the most stupid things but, on the other hand, they still wanted the viewers to think that the main character was such a really cool guy and this contrast never really worked. Eventually, even though he was supposed to be very cool,  he was also depicted as a loser who wasn't really interesting after all. The fact that he was just wandering around, going from one random scene to another didn't help either.  Furthermore, all these movies dealing with reality-TV before it became a huge TV phenomenon (see also 'EdTV' and 'The Truman Show') all made the same mistake. Indeed, according to these movies, if someone was on a such a TV show, they would become vastly famous. Well, eventually, it never happened and, in spite of the popularity of such TV-shows, the participants never became such influential celebrities after all. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, even if it was nothing really amazing, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I kept hearing some really good things about this movie, I was really eager to check it out. Well, eventually, I wasn't disappointed, that's for sure. Basically, it is the story of an ordinary man but it doesn't mean it was not interesting, in the contrary. However, in spite of the fact that he was ordinary or because he was in fact ordinary, he was also really complex and therefore quite fascinating to behold. It would be easy to judge him and the decisions he made but you have keep in mind his background and, at the end of the day, he tried his best like we all should do and the end-result was a mix of pain, pleasure, anger, bliss and frustration which is basically what life is all about. Of course, Denzel Washington should be praised as, even though he gave himself the lead role, he removed all the glamour around his status, he completely disappeared in this character and delivered easily one of his best performances. With Viola Davis, he had a terrific partner, she was also very strong and displayed once again that she is one of the most interesting actresses at work nowadays. To conclude, it was a simple and yet fascinating movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Denzel Washington's work. 

Since Nicolas Cage and John Cusack have both became some VOD specialists for already a couple of years, I wasn't really expecting much from this flick but since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I must admit that I was actually rather surprised by the damned thing. Indeed, eventually, it turned out to be a really good story. Still, in spite of this strong material, they didn't manage to turn it into a great movie, I'm afraid. First of all, it felt as if they tried to cover too much ground, especially during the first 20 minutes, and I had a hard time to follow what was exactly going on. I mean, in who's appartment was Cindy at the beginning? How did she manage to escape? Where was Bob Hansen ? Why did he leave her alone? Why didn't the cops arrest him at the time? It was a rather shaky beginning and it is pretty obvious that this story would have better worked as s TV-show or a miniserie like 'True Detective'. Concerning the acting, Nicolas Cage and John Cusack were not bad but there was also nothing really remarkable about their performances. On the other hand, I was actually rather impressed by Vanessa Hudgens. Indeed, each time she was left her on her own in the streets, the movie pretty much forgot the main plot about the serial killer and became an harrowing tale of a young prositute trying to survive. Seriously, they could have made the movie only focusing on her and it would have quite spellbinding. Anyway, to conclude, even though the whole thing was rather half-baked, it was still a really good story and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.