Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since ‘It: Chapter Two’ was now available on Netflix, I was quite eager to watch again this first instalment. In fact, I was actually supposed to see this movie when it was released but, at the last minute, Nick, my step-on, bailed out and, instead, we went to see at the time ‘The Hitman's Bodyguard’ which turned out to be really forgettable. Coming back to our main feature, well, the first time around, even though I did like it, somehow, it didn’t really completely blow me away though. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I saw the acclaimed TV mini-series less than a year before. However, I have to admit that, with this version, they improved pretty much everything that was disappointing with the TV mini-series. Indeed, the directing was pretty good, the special effets were top-notch and the kids all gave some solid performances, especially Sophia Lillis. Concerning Bill Skarsgård, he gave a completely different performance than Tim Curry but he did a really fine job as well. So, it was all fine and, yet, the whole thing never really grabbed me. Maybe it was because I already knew where everything was leading to, maybe it was because it was too faithful to the book (which I haven’t actually read). Indeed, when Cary Fukunaga was still involved, he had removed many famous scenes from the book which were added back by Andy Muschietti afterwards and maybe Fukunaga's approach would have been more interesting. Still, it remains by far one of the best stories delivered by Stephen King and I’m glad I gave it a 2^nd chance since I actually enjoyed it more this time around. Anyway, to conclude, it is definitely a really solid horror flick and it is really worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since there was an interesting cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, it has been a while since I have seen such a misleading title. Indeed, with such a title and such a poster, I was expecting a thriller, some kind of ‘Fatal Attraction’ wannabee, but it turned out to be actually something completely different. Indeed, it was in fact a drama with a really interesting main character with a very strong performance by Debra Winger but, even though Winger did a fine job here, the rest of the movie was unfortunately rather weak. The main issue was the fact, expect for Gabriel Byrne’s character who was not bad, all the other characters were just actually rather lame and they were also poorly developed. I mean, the best example would be the introduction which seemed at first intriguing. Indeed, it is not very often that you get to see a movie starting with a car in high-speed ramming into a porch but, in fact, this whole scene was just a mess.  What was the point of showing Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character if she won’t show up afterwards? Same thing with Laurie Metcalf’s character, she basically showed up in only 2 scenes which both had barely anything to do with the main story. Above, it was a really awkward way to introduce the main characters. Then, even though they should have simply focused on Debra Winger, they kept adding some rather underwhelming interactions between her and some boring characters and it never worked. The ending was especially ludicrous and simply there to add some kind of dramatic climax. Anyway, basically, the whole thing never worked but it’s a pity because Debra Winger was actually really good here. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was available on Netflix and since the ratings were rather decent, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it is rather sad that such a movie is considered to be one of the ‘best’ original movies delivered by Netflix so far this year. It’s not that it was really weak like ‘Mute’, ‘Anon’ or ‘The Cloverfield Paradox’, it was actually a fairly decent romantic-comedy, the point is that it was still nothing really amazing whatsoever. Indeed, first of all, the whole concept was pretty weak but it’s apparently something inherent to the genre nowadays and I can’t remember the last time I saw a romantic-comedy without a seriously far-fetched idea. Then, it was rather disappointing that they gave such a negative view on being a personal assistant. By now, it has become such a boring cliché and it would be more interesting to show why so many people are doing this kind of job which seems more humiliating than really fulfilling. And, yet, the whole thing was still fairly entertaining mostly thanks to Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell. Indeed, they both gave some solid performances, they were both really charming and they had some great chemistry together. Seriously, if they would have dumped the whole set-up thing and just focused on these 2 characters falling in love, it could have been actually really good. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was a still decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre but it would be nice if Netflix could deliver something really amazing this year.