Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Lindsay Lohan and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, it was not really good, in fact, it was even pretty weak. First of all, I have to admit that I do have actually a weak spot for romantic-comedies. Unfortunately, like most movies in this genre, they went for some kind of moronic gimmick so I’m afraid the damned thing was pretty much doomed to fail from the start. Furthermore, sure, Ireland did look quite gorgeous in this movie but there was also something rather fake about this postcard look though. And, yet, I thought it was pretty cool to see Lohan making a come-back after almost 20 years. Furthermore, even though the story was rather lame and her character was barely interesting, I thought she was quite charismatic though. It’s too bad that the supporting characters were not entertaining whatsoever and I guess it was a strategy to make sure that none of them could upstage Lohan in any way. Sure, this come-back (which actually started a few years before with ‘Falling for Christmas’ but I didn’t see it yet) never came near the level of ‘Iron Man’ for Robert Downey Jr. or ‘The Wrestler’ for Mickey Rourke. However, at least, it was nice to see her finally in a good shape after all these years and I hope she will keep this up and maybe even tackle some more challenging work in the future (she probably won’t though). Anyway, to conclude, even if it was a decent effort from Lohan, the damned thing was still pretty weak though and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a huge fan of the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a nice cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. I found out afterwards it was actually a TV feature, it was apparently a big success when it was broadcasted and, well, I’m not surprised. Indeed, it has been a while since I have seen such a smart movie and it was most of the time quite fascinating to behold (it’s too bad I was rather exhausted when I watched the damned thing though). Indeed, it was quite refreshing  to see a spy feature actually dealing with ‘intelligence’ and not with the usual bombastic action scenes. Eventually, you can imagine that what happened in this movie could probably happen in real life. Another thing that I loved as well were the dialogues which were so articulate, once again, it was a breath of fresh air after the idiotic movies I have been watching lately. Concerning the cast (Bill Nighy, Rachel Weisz, Michael Gambon, Judy Davis, Ewen Bremner, Felicity Jones, Ralph Fiennes), there were some really nice actors involved but I was above all impressed by Bill Nighy who probably gave here the best performance of his career. One cool thing about his character was the fact that, even though he was a womanizer like James Bond, he wasn’t a playboy at all. Sure, I have to admit that it was rather a stretch that a gorgeous woman like Rachel Weisz would fall for him but I think the women orbiting around him were attracted by his intellect and because of the fact that, in spite of his line of work, he was actually never telling them some bullsh*t. Anyway, to conclude, I really enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see a realistic spy feature.

Since Nick, my step-son, is a huge fan of the such disaster flicks, we went to see this one in the movie theater when it was released. Nick also chose to see the damned thing in 4DX which turned out to be really a master move. Indeed, I already saw a couple of movies in this format and it was fine but, for this movie, it was actually pretty much perfect. By the way, for those who don’t know what 4DX is, well, it means that, during the action scenes, the seats are moving (a lot), there is some wind blowing in your face, even some water, and, with such a disaster flick, it was actually pretty damned awesome. Concerning the movie itself, it was basically an old fashioned blockbuster, the ones you used to get back in the 90’s, and it was definitely some harmless brainless entertainment. Concerning the characters, sure, they were all rather stereotypical but it really helped that they had some solid actors at their disposal, especially Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell who had some nice chemistry together. I also did appreciate the fact that, even though they all felt that it was really cool to see some awesome tornados, their priority was always the safety of the people living in these areas and who were afflicted by them which was a nice touch. There were also some devil real-estate guy buying for cheap the destroyed properties but, even though it might not be far from the truth, it was probably the only thing in this movie which felt rather half-baked. I mean, if you already have to face some tornados, who needs some extra bad guy? Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really ground-breaking, I have to admit that it was quite fun though and it is definitely 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 there were a few decent actors involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it’s not surprising that the RZA would be interested in making movies as well since movies have been an obvious influence on his music. However, even though he is no doubt one of the greatest hip-hop artists that ever lived, I'm afraid he won't become a great filmmaker as well. I mean, on paper, there was nothing wrong with this last directorial effort, in fact, it definitely had some potential. It also didn't bother me that, even though it did look at first like a basic Hood movie, it was in fact some kind of political statement. No, what really bothered me was the fact that the damned thing was just so weak. At least, the RZA didn't write it himself so I can't blame him for the lame dialogues or the generic storyline. And what the hell happened with the ending? I think it meant that the whole thing didn't really happen after all or maybe it did happen only in his comic-book but, seriously, it was so just so poorly put together, it was really hard to tell. However, I can definitely blame him for the poor directing though. I mean, there were some solid actors involved but even a seasoned thespian like Ethan Hawke did struggle to make it work (Hawke was still the best of the bunch though). Maybe there were too many characters involved? With his background, it was rather surprising that The RZA didn’t manage to deliver something more compelling but I guess he should stick to music in the future. Anyway, to conclude, even if there were some good ideas, the damned thing barely work after all and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring Julianne Hough and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I’m afraid it was pretty weak though. Indeed, basically, it turned out to be some kind of cheap knock-off of ‘127 Hours’ to which they added a lame psychopath. In fact, I have to admit that I do have a weak spot for such minimalistic features involving only 1 or 2 characters and, of course, I can imagine how such movies could be attractive for film makers since they must be so cheap to make. However, this movie definitely displayed what is so tricky about this genre. Basically, to make it work, you need a decent and plausible concept (which was the case here, except for the serial killer angle) but, above all, you need some strong actors who can manage to carry a whole full-length feature on their own. Unfortunately, I’m afraid Hough never had the acting chops to pull something like that. I mean, she was and still is quite gorgeous and I can imagine that she wanted to prove herself that she could pull it off but, to be honest, I never really cared much about what her character was going through because it was just not convincing enough. On the other hand, she wasn’t helped by the fact that the makers never really committed to the story by adding this generic and completely unnecessary psychopath. Who knows how it would have turned out to be without him? At least, it would have been more challenging and interesting to behold. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, I didn’t care much for the damned thing and you should probably avoid it. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, at first, the damned thing turned out to be rather abysmal. Indeed, it was basically another Dutch thriller which looked so cheap but, above all, it was just so poorly put together, I was rolling my eyes in disbelief every 2 mins. Another thing that annoyed me so much was that they constantly played some ominous music to cover the fact that they had no idea how to shoot a thriller. I’m not surprised that André van Duren spent the previous 10 years directing episodes for some Dutch TV-series. Concerning the acting, except for Bracha van Doesburgh who had some decent scenes, everybody was fairly pathetic though. And, yet, somehow, the damned thing still grabbed me though. I mean, it was still rather weak, no doubt about it, but I actually liked the concept and there were actually some pretty good ideas. For example, van Doesburgh always had a rather seemingly sweet demeanor and it was pretty cool to see her playing someone with such a double life. The relationship of her character with truth and trust was also interesting and there were many times when I was quite surprised by how she acted. Obviously, since it was just a cheap thriller, they never really went deep enough into the psychology of the characters involved and, instead, they kept throwing some curve balls and some preposterous twists. Anyway, to conclude, I think I was rather generous with my rating here but, in spite of some massive flaws, I have to admit that I was actually fairly entertained but you shouldn’t expect much before watching the damned thing though. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Tom Hanks and was directed by Marc Forster, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, it turned out to be actually rather disappointing after all. I have to admit that I haven’t seen the original Swedish version called ‘En man som heter Ove’, it does seem that to have a decent reputation and I hope it is better than this (yet another) seemingly useless US remake. Basically, it felt like a live-action version of ‘Up’ with Tom Hanks pretending to be a grumpy guy. That was already the first issue, the fact that Hanks seemed to be miscast. Sure, it is always interesting when an actor of this caliber is cast against type. However, I’m afraid they picked up the sweetest American actor that might ever lived and there was not one second during which he was really convincing when he was trying to be mean to all this people. Another issue was the fact that it was just too predictable. I mean, when the movie started, they gave us some warning regarding suicide and, indeed, Otto did try to kill himself a couple of times but there wasn’t a single moment during which you actually worry about what happen to him. It was partially due to the fact that you know that, at some point, the guy will finally get this act together and became BFFs with his neighbors and also to the fact that the tone was just too light-hearted. Anyway, to conclude, I have to admit that the damned thing was still rather harmless so I guess it might still be worth a look, above all if you like the genre, but there is no doubt that it could or should have been much better considered the people who were involved.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Ramin Bahrani and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. I have to admit that I had never heard of Richard Davis before watching this movie but his story certainly did sound intriguing. Seriously, I thought he would be some kind of weird guy obsessing about his bulletproof vests and constantly shooting himself just to show how brilliant he was but I was surprised by how successful he actually became and his business was really thriving at some point. Eventually, you could never be really sure if everything that happened to Davis was actually accurate or if the guy was always on level but I don’t think that Bahrani was really interesting in divulging the truth about him after all. Instead, they basically went through the main events in his life which is the most basic approach that you could think of for this genre. They also kept jumping from one topic to the following one without ever spending much time on one specific event which was, to be honest, not always really satisfying. Still, the end-result was fairly interesting and entertaining though. Eventually, the most amazing scene was not even involving Richard Davis  after all. Indeed, towards the end, they reunited a police officer who was saved by a second chance vest and the guy who shot him something like 30 years later after they shot each other and the way they hugged and forgave each other was just so heartbreaking and quite inspiring. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really groundbreaking, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in this topic. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I had a really hard time at the beginning. Indeed, I guess the concept did have some potential but the quirky tone and the jokes were just so derivative and borderline lame and, for a good while, I actually thought that I was going to hate the damned thing. However, fortunately, it did get better after a while, above all, from the moment the main character became a music critic. To be honest, it still did feel like a cheap British version of ‘Almost Famous’ (it reminds me that I should rewatch this classic at some point) but I have to admit that I did like how the character evolved. Above all, Beanie Feldstein was just really good and she was definitely the main (maybe even the only?) reason why I started to finally care about this movie. I think it was the first time she actually played the lead but she really nailed it. The fact that the character started to write some negative reviews to succeed was not a bad idea either. Sure, you could blame her for betraying who she actually was and what she actually felt but, at the end of the day, who really cares? It’s not like she was messing up some hart surgery, she was just writing some reviews which allowed her to get paid. However, the makers never really did commit to this and, eventually, Johanna still had to become again the nice girl that she used to be which was rather predictable and not really interesting. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since I have a weak spot for Alicia Vikander and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. To honest, I have to admit that I had never heard of Justin Chon before but it definitely displayed some skills here, as a lead actor and as a director. The first thing that touched me was the relationship between Antonio and his step-daughter because I have two step kids myself and I had exactly the same attitude and state of mind with them. Indeed, I didn’t only choose their mother, I also chose them for 100% (they never called me ‘Dad’ though but that’s all good). Anyway, this movie was above all about the fact that, even though Antonio spent all his life in the US, even though he was married with an American woman, he would still be deported to South Korea, even if he didn’t know anyone there or anything about this country in general. Of course, it did seem weird and/or shocking but, apparently, that’s something that happened to quite a lot of people in the US. So, the material was really interesting, I really liked the mood and the actors were fine as well. However, it’s not that the damned thing was too depressive (it was actually pretty dark though) but I’m afraid they pushed the drama a little too far. I mean, Antonio had no money, no steady job, he was a convict, he had been dumped as a baby, physically abused by his foster parents and beaten up during this movie. And I shouldn't forget to mention as well the completely random Vietnamese woman who was dying from cancer. I could take most of it but they basically lost me during the last scene at the airport when it seemed that he would go alone, then with his family and then alone again. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look.