Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Jake Gyllenhaal and since it was available on Netflix, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, it’s only later on that I discovered that it was actually a remake of a Danish film which I haven’t seen. As a result, there is a fair chance that the damned thing was another useless Hollywood remake of a perfectly fine foreign feature. Still, I have been working in various helpdesks for most of my adult life and it is always pretty neat to see a movie dealing with a 911 dispatch call center which must be by far the most difficult and stressful helpdesk you can work for. Furthermore, I always had a weak spot for such minimalist movie taking place in one location with only a handful characters (that this movie was shot during the Corona pandemic was pretty obvious). Finally, i turned out to be another impressive one-man-show from Jake Gyllenhaal who really had to carry the whole thing on his shoulders. So, I was definitely a decent watch but, to be honest, not much more than that though. Indeed, even though I figured out fairly early on that there was something fishy about Emily, the whole plot around her 911 call was not bad at all. No, what bothered more was that, even though Gyllenhaal gave another strong and intense performance, his character didn’t really make much sense. I mean, for starters, I don’t think they would give such a stressful job to someone who was clearly psychologically seriously distressed. The argument provided was that he was a demoted police officer who got this detail as some kind of ‘punishment’ but it was not really convincing as this job requires someone really dedicated and completely focused. Then, I thought it was very unlikely that if this guy would completely loose his cool while on duty and that no supervisor would intervene and tell him at first to chill and then to go home if it would escalate like it did during this movie. Seriously, it was rather weird and even downright ridiculous that the main character would go apeshit like that and that nobody would do anything about it. Anyway, to conclude, even if it wasn’t really flawless, it was still fairly entertaining though and I think it is worth a look, at least, if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since the material was interesting and since it was available on Neflix, I thought I might as well check it out. I was also intrigued by the fact that, even though I did receive some solid reviews, it didn’t get much love after all (it has right now a rather pathetic 5.0 rating on IMDb). Well, after watching the damned thing, I think that most of the viewers were expecting a straightforward biopic but ended up with something rather surreal. Well, that’s actually for this reason that this movie actually got some extra points from me. Indeed, at least, they tried to be creative with the genre and I think it did fit Nikola Tesla, arguably one of the weirdest and mysterious investors that ever existed. On the other hand, I have to admit that the karaoke session was probably too much though. However, if I dug the surrealist approach, I wonder why they focused on his relationships with 2 different women, Anne Morgan (daughter of JP Morgan, one of the richest men on the planet) and Sarah Bernhardt, Indeed, it seemed to be a rather bewildering choice since Tesla was a notorious bachelor who never got married and would rather spend all his time and energy making up the most amazing and/or craziest machines ever invented. At least, his relationship with Thomas Edison was much more interesting, thanks to Kyle MacLachlan who gave here a really solid performance. Concerning Ethan Hawke, even though I always had a weak spot for this actor and even though he seemed to be a fine choice to play this character, to be honest, I wish he went for something slightly less catatonic though. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was definitely not flawless, I still think it was a decent watch and I think it is worth a look. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since ‘Escape Plan’ was not bad at all, I thought I might as well check out this sequel. Well, not so long ago, I already saw ‘Backtrace’ starring Sylvester Stallone, it was pretty awful and, to be honest, this movie turned out to be only slightly better. Sure, I didn‘t expect the damned thing to be a masterpiece but the previous instalment was not bad and the concept had some potential. Indeed, movies dealing with prison breaks can be seriously entertaining, at least, when they are well made but it was definitely not the case here. Seriously, the opening scene was just so poorly shot and edited, it was some kind of mix of shaky cam with way too many quick cuts and the end-result was pretty much unwatchable. Then, a major appeal with ‘Escape Plan’ was obviously to see Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger finally working together (‘The Expendables’ doesn’t count because it was more a group effort and Schwarzenegger never played a major character in this franchise). Unfortunately, Schwarzenegger didn‘t show up this time around (probably a smart move from the Austrian Oak though) and, if you would believe the promotional material, he was apparently replaced by Dave Bautista which wasn‘t necessarily some bad news. However, it turned out that Bautista had a rather small part after all and showed up only for a couple of scenes. The bewildering thing was that it was actually the case for almost all the actors involved (Bautista, 50 Cent, Jaime King and even Stallone himself) as all of them showed up sporadically and usually for some rather meaningless scenes. Concerning the story itself, I have to admit that I have a weak spot for prison break movies but it was probably the most idiotic movie I have seen in this genre. Seriously, the whole thing looked so fake and pretty much nothing really made sense (How did they end up there? Why on Earth did they have to fight each other? What was supposed to be so great about this ‘sanctuary’?). At least, Xiaoming Huang was a badass martial-artist but it was pretty much the only positive thing about this cheap-ass sequel. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was seriously lame and you should probably avoid it. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a solid cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even if it was nothing really original, I actually like the damned thing. Basically, it turned out to be one of these good old serial killer thrillers that they used to make back in the 90’s and not only it had been a while since I saw a movie in this genre but it turned out to be actually pretty solid. It was rather surprising that it was coming from John Lee Hancock who had been a rather uninspired director so far but, here, the mood was pretty much pitch-perfect. On top of that, there was a great cast with 3 Academy Awards winners (Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto) and they were all at the top of their game. However, I wish that Malek’s character would have remained more consistent, like the 2 other main characters. Indeed, he started as cocky and confident but ended up as a total wreck but I guess it was one of the goals of this movie, to show that cops are no super-heroes, that they are human like anyone else and the psychological toll of their work can be huge and sometimes even irreversible. Another thing I did appreciate with this movie was that, at the end, the case remained unresolved which was pretty bold. Eventually, the whole murder case remained an enigma which was pretty neat as well. To be honest, I think it was pretty obvious that Sparma was not the killer (but maybe he was the peeping Tom looking from the other side of the street?). Indeed, the way he walked was completely different than the way the killer walked while chasing the blonde girl during the opening scene. Anyway, to conclude, even if was nothing ground-breaking, it turned out to be a solid thriller and I think it is worth 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 was quite eager to check it out. Well, I really enjoyed the concept but, to be honest, I wish they did cast a slightly more attractive actor than Seth Rogen. Seriously, it was already rather ridiculous 14 years ago when he hooked up with Katherine Heigl in ‘Knocked Up’ but, with Charlize Theron, he managed somehow to get some major and completetly bewildering upgrade. I mean, I actually liked his character, completely identified myself with him, and I understand that he was supposed to be some kind of hipster leftist nerd but, honestly, there is no way on earth that this man would end up with this woman. And, yet, I actually liked the damned thing though and it mostly had to do with Charlize Theron. Seriously, I have been following this actress for about 25 years and it is incredible that she is still so gorgeous. But it went beyond that as she was quite pitch-perfect playing this talented and committed but also terribly lonely woman. On top of that, the whole thing reminded me of the time when I was 14 years old and I had a major crush with a friend of my older sister and, to some extent, of my relationship with my wife who was (and still is) a gorgeous MILF when I met her. Basically, I just love the idea that a rather average looking guy might end up with such an incredibly beautiful woman and the way their relationship evolved was actually fairly convincing. Anyway, to conclude, even if Seth Rogen was rather miscast in my opinion, I still had a weak spot for the damned thing and I think it is worth a look, at least, if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Shia LaBeouf, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, pretty much like everything else LaBeouf has done recently, the damned thing was pretty meta. At least, you have to admit that it took some guts to write such a bleak account of his youth and, on top of that, to play his father who must have had a huge impact on him. On the other hand, even if LaBeouf is an interesting actor, he is also pretty controversial and this movie will certainly not debunk his terribly narcissistic reputation. Still, the damned thing gave a really bleak and deglamorizing look on the life of children stars. In fact, it’s not really uncommon that, when a child is getting a steady gig in the entertainment business, his parents actually stop working to ‘support’ him (for example, when Ryan Gosling was just a kid and worked on ‘The Mickey Mouse Club’, he lived with his family in a nearby trailer park and he was the family's only source of income). However, what happened to Otis (and to some extent, probably, to Shia LaBeouf himself) was pretty much the stuff of nightmare though. It’s too bad that, even though Lucas Hedges was fine here, he didn’t look anything like Noah Jupe or Shia LaBeouf. It’s strange since Jupe, who also delivered a strong performance, was pretty much a perfect choice to play a younger version of Shia LaBeouf. On the other hand, to have a younger version of Shia LaBeouf, an older version of Shia LaBeouf and Shia LaBeouf himself was maybe too much though. Another issue I had was with FKA Twigs. I mean, it’s not that she was really bad, it was more the fact that her character was rather useless. Furthermore, it was rather cringe-inducing to see in her in such a personal movie for LaBeouf and to know that they would start afterwards a relationship during which he would be terribly abusive with her (which is not hard to believe after you see this movie). Anyway, to conclude, it turned out to be another dark and intriguing movie from LaBeouf and I think it is definitely worth a look. 

I wasn’t really expecting much from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, even though the concept might sound lame, they actually made the most of it. In fact, it’s rather incredible that the real Stangle brothers were paid a seven figure amount for the rights to make a movie about their story after they (really) put such an ad on Craigslist. That was pretty much the only thing that wasn’t made up in this movie but it didn’t matter. Indeed, the idea that Mike and Dave were supposed to find some nice girls to make up for all the mess they have done and eventually end up with some completely wild chicks was actually pretty cool. The cast was also rather spot-on. Indeed, even if I had some doubts about Anna Kendrick at first, she was really game and she was actually quite convincing after all. Concerning the supporting cast, well, none of the other characters were really interesting or entertaining (cousin Terry was especially pretty pathetic) but it wasn’t a big deal. However, it’s too bad that they basically split the two couples as soon as they arrive in Hawai but a bigger issue was that the plot was just so damned generic. Indeed, as expected, they ruin the wedding, the damned thing gets cancelled but these misfits still manage to have the future couple change their mind once again so it all ends well for everyone after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing amazing, it still turned out to be a decent raunchy comedy after all 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 available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I’m not surprised that it turned out to be a flop at the box-office. In fact, there is a fair chance that the two movies directed by McG, which were massively trashed when they were released, might be actually better than this borefest. It’s rather funny that some critics took the defence of this movie by claiming that it did work because they took this (rather outdated) concept with a supposedly feminist approach. However, this thin layer of feminism was certainly not enough to cover the fact that the whole thing was just so generic and, above all, so tedious. You might wonder what a solid action director could have done with this material as Elizabeth Banks, with her sophomore directing effort, obviously had no clue how to make the action scenes exciting or least a little bit more entertaining. Even more problematic was that the ‘funny’ scenes were not much better either. Concerning the trio of girls involved, I understand and appreciate that they tried to not present them as some sex objects, however, none of them was convincing whatsoever. Sure, Kristen Stewart was the only one who managed to give her character an interesting personality but she was physically not convincing and I never felt I was watching a highly trained spy. Naomi Scott was really lovely but she was stuck playing a completely ridiculous character who, somehow, tagged along because that’s obviously what these professionals always do, take a completely random girl and involve her in a dangerous spy special ops. Concerning Ella Balinska, she was supposed to be the tough one of the bunch but, again, she was never really convincing. Anyway, to conclude, the whole thing was not much better than a group of girls playing ‘pretend', it was seriously weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

I can’t say I was really dying to see the infamous Snyder cut but I have to admit that I was curious about the end-result. To be honest, I didn’t remember much about the Whedon cut but, after reading the review I wrote at the time, I apparently didn’t hate the damned thing though. Basically, it was a rather misguided version of a movie which was never going to be amazing anyway. Well, in spite of what all the DC fanatics who were very vocal about getting this new version might argue, all in all, it was still not a really strong story though. It didn’t help that the storyline was just so similar to the one displayed in ‘Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame’. Indeed, on one hand, Thanos was gathering the Infinity stones and, on the other hand, Steppenwolf/Darkseid were gathering the Mother Boxes. On one hand, you had also Thanos who wanted to destroy a good chunk of the human population and, on the other hand, you had Steppenwolf/Darkseid who wanted pretty much the same thing. However, I have to admit that this movie was supposed to come out before the Marvel juggernaut though. The funny thing was that the Whedon cut was the shortest DCEU movie and this new version turned out to be the longest super-hero movie ever made so far, no less than that. Seriously, 4 freaking hours?!? On the other hand, there is no doubt that, this time around, the characters were much more fleshed out, especially Victor Stone/Cyborg. Furthermore, the tone was darker and much more consistent with the previous movies in this franchise and, this way, it also gave the whole thing a much more epic feeling, something that was probably missing with the theatrical version. Anyway, to conclude, even if I don’t think I really needed this new version, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.