Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since I just bought a brand new TV, I thought I might as well check it out again. I remember well the first time around I saw it though. Indeed, back then, since I kept hearing some really good things about this movie, of course, I was really eager to watch the damned thing. And, indeed, it turned out to be easily the best movie with Thor as a lead character (and still is, even after ‘Love and Thunder’ was released) but, to be honest, it wasn't such a difficult goal to achieve, especially after 'Thor: The Dark World' which might be so far the weakest movie coming from the MCU. But was it really a great movie? I'm not so sure. I mean, it was really neat that Thor and the Hulk had to be some gladiators on some weird alien planet but the whole plot involving Thor's sister taking over Asgard was just so generic and redundant. Seriously, wasn't it what Loki was already trying to do in the 2 previous movies? At least, the always dependable Cate Blanchett delivered another solid performance. On top of that, it was really awesome that Marvel gave Taika Waititi so much freedom as he went really wild on the dialogues and on the tone which was just so wacky. The other thing they really nailed was to allow Bruce Banner to be the Hulk for much longer than usual because it is always rather frustrating to have to wait for the big green guy to finally show up. I have to admit it though, after rewatching it, it is actually still pretty good though. Anyway, to conclude, it won't be my favorite movie from the MCU but the damned thing was still seriously fun and entertaining and it is definitely worth a look.

To be honest, I was pretty sure what to expect from this movie and the only reason I watched it was because I have a weak spot for Sylvia Hoeks. Well, even though the concept was actually pretty cool and definitely had some potential, the whole thing still turned out to be rather lame, I'm afraid. I mean, the basic idea with this kind of comedies is to have the characters swearing and being gross all the time and, while it can be fun for 5 minutes, it becomes rather cringe-inducing fairly quickly. It didn't help that they stole so many ideas from other movies. For example, the awful jokes about mentally impaired people has been used so many times by the Farrelly brothers and the scene in the DVD shop when the main character reads a list of porn movies in front of an old lady and her grand-daughter while talking to someone else on the phone was shamelessly lifted from 'Clerks', one of my favorite movies. Eventually, the only thing that really worked for me was the lovely Sylvia Hoeks. Indeed, even though she had a rather thankless part, she was just pitch-perfect and mesmerising to behold. Anyway, to conclude, even though I have seen worse, I still didn't care much for the damned thing and I don't think it is really worth a look.

Since I kept hearing some really good things about this movie, I was really eager to check it out. Well, I wasn't disappointed, that's for sure. Indeed, I really loved the damned thing and it was pretty much one of the best love stories I have ever seen. First of all, the whole thing looked gorgeous and I wonder if Todd Haynes had been inspired by Edward Hopper's paintings since this movie reminded me of his work. Anyway, even though I admired the (few) movies I had seen so far directed by Haynes, it was the first time that he impressed me so much. Above all, I enjoyed even more the 2 main characters who were completely developed and so fascinating to behold. And, of course, it was just amazing to see Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mars, easily some of the best actresses around, working together and they both delivered some of their best performances I have seen so far. Eventually, the only thing that slightly didn't work for me was the family drama in Carol's life. I mean, sure, I understand that it was a struggle to be gay at the time but it was something that I already knew and, above all, it was something that had already been covered by so many other movies, even by Todd Haynes himself in 'Far From Heaven'. Anyway, to conclude, I thought it was a fascinating love story and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since this movie has a rather lame reputation, I wasn't expecting much but since there was a pretty cool cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, it was indeed pretty lame. Basically, it was one of these thrillers trying to convince the viewers that everything displayed could be possible with a lot of useless fancy visual gimmicks but it was utterly unconvincing and boring. Furthermore, like his brother Chris in 'Blackhat', Liam Hemsworth was such a poor choice to play a nerd. He wasn't helped by the fact that his character was just rather poorly written. Indeed, it could have been interesting if they wrote the main character as a greedy ambitious douchebag ready to do anything to reach success but, by choosing to show him so innocent, this character became terribly bland and spineless. To make things worse, the ending was just so ridiculous. I mean, the guy had pretty much nothing, yet,  somehow, he managed to start up his own company with a fancy  office in Brooklyn but there is no way any bank would support his project if he had no money or any other assets. Anyway, to conclude, pretty much nothing worked in this movie, it was another missed opportunity for Liam Hemsworth to launch his career as a leading man and the damned thing is really not worth  a look.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Sandra Bullock, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, unfortunately, it turned out to be rather lame, I'm afraid. I mean, right from the weak beginning scene introducing Sandra Bullock's character, I was already pretty much done with the damned thing. Sure, I have to admit it, there were a few good jokes here and there but most of it was actually pretty much cringe-inducing to behold. The fact that I have been watching lately 'The Wire', easily the most realistic cop TV-show ever produced, probably didn't help. I mean, I understand that it was supposed to be a comedy and that Melissa McCarthy's character was supposed to be funny, but it was utterly unbelievable that they would tolerate a cop displaying such an awful behavior towards her colleagues, her superiors and other law inforcement departments. In spite what the makers tried to make the viewers believe, it didn't seem efficient at all but, above all, it was just not funny. Anyway, to conclude, it turned out to be another lame comedy, I really didn't care for the damned thing at all and I don't think it is worth a look.

To be honest, I really had no idea what to expect from this movie. In fact, I wasn't something that I was really eager to see and the only reason I ended up watching the damned thing was because it was included in one of the DVD boxes I bought at some point. Anyway, first of all, it was really neat that such a fine character actress like Illeana Douglas was playing the lead for once but it's too bad the only shot she ever got was to play in a movie that nobody really cared about when it was released and it is nowadays obviously completely forgotten. As far I was concerned, to be honest, even though Douglas did deliver a decent performance, I still really struggled to care about this movie. I mean, it's not that it was really bad, it's just that it was mostly boring or, at least, not interesting enough. To make things worse, like many other indie productions, in order to cover up the general weakness of this project, they added many quirky characters involved in the life of this singer-songwriter but none of them was really interesting or entertaining. Anyway, to conclude, even though I have seen worse, it didn't really work for me and I don't think it is really worth a look.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though it wasn't bad at all, to be honest, I didn't care much for the damned thing. I mean, I did like the idea of a movie dealing with landscaping, especially since it was about the building of one of the most famous gardens in the world but, unfortunately, the movie didn't have much to do with landscaping at all. Indeed, they didn't take the opportunity to show how a landscaper would work at the time and, instead, they decided to focus on the 2 main characters falling in love with each other which was rather generic and boring. The directing was decent enough though and the cast gave some solid performances, especially Matthias Schoenaerts who gave a completely different character than the ones I have him seen play so far. Concerning Kate Winslet, well, even though she is still one of the best actresses in the world, when was the last time she had a real critical hit? 10 years ago, maybe? Ok, I really loved 'Steve Jobs' but it was an exception and she was only playing a minor character. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, even though it didn't really blow  me away, it was still a decent watch and it is 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 Orlando Bloom and Forest Whitaker, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, it turned out to be actually better than I expected, except for a rather disappointing 3rd act. Indeed, you don't see so many movies taking place in South Africa and this country with its notorious violent background and history was the perfect place for a modern thriller like this one. Of course, you might argue that they could have picked up some South African actors to play the leads but Bloom and Whitaker were convincing enough, at least, considering my lack of knowledge of this country. Furthermore, there were probably too many characters and half-baked subplots but most of it was entertaining and interesting enough. Indeed, there was a pretty neat balance between realism and some good old fashioned thriller gimmicks. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, the 3rd act turned out to be pretty weak and almost ruined everything else. Indeed, from the moment they pretty much managed to solve this case, the whole thing completely switched to auto-pilot and the end-result was the usual preposterous scenes that you get in any other generic thriller. Anyway, even though it didn't completely work, I thought it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since it did win the Golden Calf for the best Dutch movie of the year, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that I had actually no idea what the damned thing was about and it was pretty tough to watch again another movie about human trafficking just a day after watching 'The Whistleblower' which was also dealing with the same subject. This movie was eventually a cruel reminder that many girls behind these red windows in the Netherlands are actually victims of human trafficking. I mean, sure, prostitution is still not legal in the Netherlands but, since it is tolerated, shouldn't there be some strict controls about who is sitting behind these windows? Or maybe it is easier said than done and these girls are just too afraid to talk to the police. Anyway, I still feel ashamed that, when I was younger, I went a couple of times to the Red Light District in Amsterdam with some buddies just to have some fun watching these girls. Sure, at the time, I was naive enough to think that most of them were willingly doing this job but it was still a shitty thing to do. Anyway, coming back to our main feature,  even though it was better than your average Dutch production, it still didn't really convince me though. I mean, I used to love the hyperlink thing when it was something new, creative and interesting but, by now, it has become a seriously overused gimmick and this movie was a good example, I'm afraid. The tricky thing with a hyperlink feature is that you have to make sure each single tale is properly developed but, in this case, most of them felt rather half-baked. It could have worked if they focused only on Jenya and Yaya but the other stories didn't work very well, especially the one involving a Swedish conductor which had really nothing to do with the rest of the movie and this tale was just so poorly linked with the rest of the movie. Anyway, to conclude,  in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I guess it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.