Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Val Kilmer, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I noticed that this movie had a solid reputation on IMDb and I would have to agree on this. Indeed, even if it was nothing really ground-breaking, it was still a grim realistic and convincing jail drama. The first thing that they did right was the introduction. Indeed, I don’t think it’s was unjust that Wade had to go to prison for what he did and his sentence actually seemed to be fair. I mean, the guy meant well and wanted to protect his family but he could have just as well let the guy go and call the cops. Basically, he was just an average guy who made a terrible decision and everything happening to him afterwards actually made sense. Indeed, somehow, he got entangled into the prison gangs system against his will which was obviously sad but also quite believable. Unfortunately, the whole thing got slightly derailed from the moment he got involved in some kind of Fight Club. Sure, I can imagine that some disillusioned and/or sadistic prison guards would let the inmate fight with each other but the way it was presented in this movie seemed to be too far-fetched. The fact that it led to a really unlikely happy-ending probably didn’t help. Still, most of it worked really well and I can’t remember the last time I saw Val Kilmer delivering such a solid performance in a movie which was actually watchable. On the other hand, even if he was never one of the worst actors I knew, I was never really impressed by Stephen Dorff but I have to admit that he was actually fine here and he probably delivered the best performance of his career. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was maybe not the best movie in this genre, it was still pretty good and I think 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 there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have to admit that I have a weak spot for the genre but there is no denying that the damned thing was extremely derivative. Indeed, I have seen during the last 10 years already so many SF flicks dealing with a bunch of astronauts looking for a new planet because we pretty much destroyed our own planet and, to be honest, this movie didn’t have new interesting things to offer about the genre. On top of that, there were also some plot holes, For example, before Colin Farrel’s character decided to join in, how all these kids/teenagers were going to handle themselves without any kind of supervision? Still, I thought it was an intriguing setup and, with a better script and a better director, it could have been actually a fascinating philosophical science-fiction feature. Unfortunately, the approach was pretty weak after all. Indeed, the whole plan to subdue these group of teenagers with some drugs was flawed from the start. I mean, you can’t have them being super smart and also willing to go through this really hazardous adventure with a rather bleak outcome for them and also ask them to be completely docile, even apathetic, at the same time. Eventually, I think it’s rather sad and frustrating that the conclusion was that, if you leave teenagers unsupervised, they will act like some wild animals and have some constant random sex with each other. Concerning Lily-Rose Depp, like her parents (Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis), she is really charismatic but it was the only thing she had to offer so she didn’t really impress me. Sure, you could say that none of the characters involved was really properly developed but, in her case, Sela was still extremely flat, even if she was actually supposed to be a main character. Anyway, to conclude, even though I have to admit that I was probably too generous with my rating here, I thought it was still a decent watch though but it is probably worth a look only if you really like the genre. 

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 ‘The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made’ list selected by the New York Times, among other things), I thought I might as well check it out. Well, the damned thing definitely had some potential. Indeed, it was much more intriguing than the quaint movies from the 40’s I have seen recently, I really liked the social angle and the first act and the third act worked fine. Unfortunately, they took a rather weird left turn during the mid-section though. Indeed, even though the movie seemed to be about the struggles of some coal miners in England, for some reason, they instead seemingly dropped them and focused on Davey Fenwick going to university and ending up in some weird and above all really underwhelming love triangle. Seriously, even though I have to admit that Jenny did look lovely, it was so obvious that she was a terrible match for Davey and the fact that he didn’t pick up on that before dropping out of college, getting married with her, basically giving up all his dreams in the process, well, it made the guy look so naïve. Sure, you could argue that it made the character flawed and therefore more interesting but, as far as I was concerned, I thought he was actually rather pathetic. But, above all, what the hell did it have to do with these coal miners? It’s too bad because the rest of the movie was actually pretty good as it was a really solid and convincing vintage depiction of social struggle in the UK. 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 wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, I thought it was still a decent rehab drama, even it was nothing really ground-breaking. Indeed, Aaron Taylor-Johnson was as usual quite charismatic and I think he did a pretty good job at the beginning of the movie showing how his character was going into a very destructive path. The directing was also solid, even though Sam Taylor-Johnson did drop her interesting artistic touches that she did add at the beginning rather quickly so the rest of the movie did feel rather conventional after all.  Eventually, beside the fact that it seemed way too easy for this guy with seemingly no funds to get into this rather fancy rehab program, the only thing that really bothered me was the fact that, while the beginning of this journey was dark and chaotic as it should be, the final act went on just too smoothly. Indeed, as pointed out several times during this movie, when an addict goes to rehab the first time, they almost never succeed to stay sober. On top of that, in this case, the main character was not only a major junkie but he also really loved to get high, even completely messed up, so it was a huge stretch to see him managing to kick the habit like that after his first attempt. Unsurprisingly, even though the book it was based on was supposed to be a true story, it turned out to be largely fictional after all (apparently, a huge controversy at the time) but, if you watch this movie, it was actually hardly surprising. Anyway, to conclude, I have to admit that I was maybe too generous with my rating here but I thought it was 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 it was starring Gael Garcia Bernal, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, I didn’t know much about Pablo Neruda so I figured this movie would be a nice way to get acquainted with the famous poet. Well, even though Pablo Larraín definitely took an unconventional approach to the biopic genre, to be honest, I have to admit that I really had a hard time to care about the end-result though. Basically, even though this movie seemed to be about the few years after WWII during which Neruda had to hide in Chile before going in exile in Europe , it wasn't at all the main focus of this movie after all, in fact, even Neruda himself was not the focus here. In this case, you might then expect that the main character would be Óscar Peluchonneau, a cop who was chasing Neruda at the time, especially since the voice-over by Gael García Bernal was pretty much constant through the whole thing, but it was still not the case either. So, after reading all this, you might rightfully wonder what this movie was all about then and that’s probably exactly the reason why I didn’t feel much connection with it. Basically, they went for some poetic approach and, while I appreciate their commitment to deliver something different, as far as I was concerned, I thought it was rather alienating. At the end of the day, if you don’t mind that all the characters basically speak in riddles through the whole thing, you will probably enjoy this movie more than I did. Anyway, to conclude, even though this movie didn’t really work for me, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are eager to see something slightly more artistic and original than your usual biopic.

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. Well, I’m a huge fan of Indiana Jones and, sure, it might be unfair to compare this movie with such a classic but to be honest, I was surprised by how lame the damned thing turned out to be. Seriously, even if it wasn’t a complete disaster, it wasn’t far from it though. I wonder if the story worked better in the book it was adapted from because, with this adaptation, right from the start, the damned thing was just a mess. Indeed, instead of giving us a proper introduction, you start in the middle of the story which was rather confusing but, even more problematic, they kept making some weird shortcuts all along. Anyway, somehow, the main character ended up in some weird hotel looking for the Midas box which was first supposed to turn everything into gold but it had nothing to do with gold after all, while his parents and little brother were all kidnapped. How did they come up with this story? The worst thing was that it was so tedious to behold. Concerning the cast (Michael Sheen, Sam Neill, Lena Headey), they all seemed to have some fun but, in spite of their efforts, their respective characters were all boring. At least, Mariah Mundi was an intriguing name for a male character but it was properly the only interesting thing in this movie, I’m afraid. It was rather funny that they did add a cliffhanger (which was also quite pathetic) during the end-credits, obviously hoping that they could come up with a sequel which was obviously never made since nobody cared about this movie. Anyway, to conclude, I think my rating was actually really generous here, the damned thing was really weak and you should probably avoid it. 

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. Well, first of all, I thought it was a really cool title but, fortunately, it wasn’t the only interesting thing this movie had to offer. Indeed, it is not very often that you get the opportunity to watch a movie dealing with schizophrenia and, only therefore, this movie did get some extra points from me. On top of that, to combine such a dark subject with the YA genre might sound misguided but I don’t think it was such a bad idea after all. Concerning Charlie Plummer and Taylor Russell, they were not bad and they had a pretty good chemistry together, however, even though Russell was quite charismatic, she was almost 10 years too old to play this character though. Eventually, the only thing that really didn’t work for me was the quirky tone which was rather annoying. Sure, I can imagine that they figured that it might make the material easier to digest for the younger audience and the mainstream audience in general but I don’t think it was the right approach to handle a teenager slowly loosing his grip with reality. And, yet, beside this tone issue, the rest of the movie worked actually quite well. Indeed, they really managed to display that, even though schizophrenia definitely had a huge impact on Adam’s life, he was still an average teenager who had some dreams, some skills and just wanted to hang out with the girl he loved like any other teenager. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was definitely not a masterpiece, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, I thought it was a cute story but, to be honest, not much more than that. Indeed, I think it’s rather unlikely that her relationship with John Brown was the most interesting thing that happened during Queen Victoria’s reign which lasted more than 60 years. The fact that they used the same gimmick again with ‘Victoria & Abdul’ also starring Judi Dench is rather bewildering to me. Still, I have to admit that Judi Dench and Billy Connolly made the best of this material and they both delivered some really solid performances here. Especially for Judi Dench, after making an impression with ’Goldeneye’ a few years before, it was with this movie that she really got her breakthrough and, at her 60’s, she was quite a late bloomer but she quickly became one of the best actresses available. Coming back on this relationship, it was interesting how a monarch could struggle with a depression if nobody dared to have an actual conversation with them. Indeed, that was what John Brown basically did, even though he really respected her, probably more than everybody else in her entourage, he still talked to her as if she was an actual human being, which was something she not only really appreciated but also actually needed to get back on track. To be honest, I do believe that, making Brown becoming increasingly paranoid about the Queen’s safety, was really pushing it and, in my opinion, it was added there just because there was basically not enough drama in this story. Anyway, to conclude, even if I didn’t blow me away, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.