Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, when I heard about this movie, I can’t say I was really excited. A vampire movie called ‘Sinners’? It did sound like a rather boring B feature to me. However, since it did receive some really solid reviews, I have to admit that I started to become really intrigued by the damned thing. Well, Ryan Coogler certainly pulled it off one more time and I would go even further by saying that it might be his best directorial effort so far. Indeed, within a few mins, I had the feeling that I was transported in this time and place. He also managed to give this community such a strong identity showing their strength and weakness and, in spite of the oppression and the rather hopelessness of their situation, these characters were still laughing, making love, playing music, dancing, while surviving in a dangerous world where the dice were loaded against them from the start. It was seriously equally fascinating and heartbreaking at the same time. Of course, to have Michael B. Jordan playing a set of twins made the whole thing even more awesome than it already was. Eventually, I wouldn’t mind watching a whole series of movies focusing on these twins as they apparently went through so many things during their lives. So, it was really closed to become a masterpiece but, unfortunately, I didn’t care much about the vampire stuff, I’m afraid. I’m not saying that it was a bad idea, it just that it didn’t jive with me. Take for example ’12 Years a Slave’, another classic depicting the hardships faced by the black folks in the USA, would it have been an improvement if they would have added some vampires, werewolves or zombies to the mix? I really doubt it. Obviously, Coogler was inspired by ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’, except that, this time around, there was no twist and we all knew before the movie started that these vampires would show up at some point. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t completely work for me, I still really enjoyed most of it and it is definitely worth a look. 

I don’t know if you have noticed but I tend to be pretty random with what I watch. Indeed, I watch pretty much anything and, to be honest, with more than 50% of the movies I watch, I’m actually wasting my time. In this case, while I was watching this one, I kept wondering how the hell did it end up in my queue.  Anyway, the damned thing was pretty weak, that’s for sure. I mean, I have nothing against Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, they can be pretty funny and it was a brilliant idea to have them play some sisters. I also loved the idea of these women in their 40’s throwing some really wild party. Unfortunately, pretty much nothing else worked though. First of all, there was the fact that both women had to play some boring stereotypes. Then, their personal dramas were also rather tedious. Finally, they had to find a way to have them having this party but the way to get there was just so convoluted and, again, above all, barely entertaining whatsoever. It might also explain why this movie was almost 2hrs long which was just way too long for this material. Another issue was that, even though they had a decent supporting cast (Maya Rudolph, James Brolin, Dianne Wiest, John Cena, John Leguizamo, Greta Lee), all their characters were barely developed whatsoever. It was especially weird to see Greta Lee who completely blew me away in ‘Past Lives’, my favorite movie released in 2023, playing here a rather offensive even borderline debasing Asian character. I still think that the material actually had some potential, I just wish it would have been properly developed which was definitely not the case here. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was rather harmless, it was still pretty weak though and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

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 Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, I was pretty sure I wasn’t the right audience for this movie. Indeed, with my ex-wife, we used to have a lot of dogs, up to 7 at the same time(!) and, when she left me, she took the dogs with her but I certainly didn’t miss them. On top of that, I always found such movies dealing with the relationship between a dog and his master so boring even such ‘classics’ in this genre such as ‘Hachi: A Dog's Tale’ or ‘Marley & Me’. The whole gimmick of hearing the dog’s thoughts is also so lame, so, I had some rather low expectations and, yet, to be honest, I have to admit that I was actually really surprised by the damned thing. Seriously, towards the end, I was actually quite emotional which was the last thing I was expecting to happen while watching a movie about a freaking dog. Eventually, I do believe it’s the best movie I have ever saw dealing with such a relationship. Of course that the dog really loved car racing was rather ridiculous but they didn’t push it too much into this direction so it actually worked. Above all, it was about the unconditional love this animal and this man had and, I have to admit it, for the first time, I actually understood what this connection meant. To be honest, I wish they didn’t add this conflict with his in-laws, they were possibly the worst in-laws I have ever seen by the way, but I guess the makers felt that they had to add some extra drama in this story (the fact that his wife already died of cancer was apparently not enough…) . The fact that the guy was just way too old to breakthrough in Formula 1 was also rather ridiculous but his whole racing career was obviously not the point at all here. Seriously, for the first time in 2 years following our separation, I was actually thinking about the damned dogs she took with her and how it would be to see them again. Anyway, to conclude, I have to admit that I actually enjoyed the damned thing 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 seemed to have a decent reputation and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I wasn’t disappointed, that’s for sure. Since Ozu had such a strong reputation, I started to discover his work but it was only with this movie that I finally understood why the guy is considered a master. Indeed, it was such a fascinating portrait of a daughter and her father and, even though the setup was fairly simple, the end-result was however quite fascinating. I was first amazed by Setsuko Hara’s performance. She was so charismatic but there were also so many layers to her character, she was just quite spellbinding to behold. The movie was mostly focusing on her so, it took a little more time to notice, but I became also fascinated by Chishû Ryû who was playing the father. I don’t think I have seen such a strong bond and connection between family relatives brought forward not by blood or by growing together but by some very subtle and pitch-perfect acting. The material was also super interesting. Recently, I have seen some other Japanese vintage features like this one and I have noticed that, very often, the characters in these movies were stifled by the rigid Japanese rules and traditions. Here, you might expect something similar but I think it went much beyond that though. Indeed, the reason why Shukichi Somiya did push his daughter to get married was not only because it was the proper thing to do but, above all, it was an act of love because he wanted her to be happy. Sure, he was well aware of the fact that by getting married, there was no guarantee for happiness but, by staying and taking care of him, it was however sure that she would end up alone and possibly ostracized by her community. It was also quite fascinating how this whole situation was still relevant today more than 70 years later. Indeed, in Western countries, especially in the Netherlands where I live, kids tend to get really comfortable and take seemingly forever to leave their parents but, even though there is nothing really wrong with that, as depicted in this movie, when you get children, the goal is never to have them live forever with you, even if this process might be heartbreaking. Anyway, to conclude, I really loved the damned thing 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 it was starring Jim Caviezel, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, unfortunately, it turned out to be a rather lame B feature after all. Indeed, the intro was just rather pathetic and they never managed to recover the damage after that. The directing was also rather weak with some dark ugly filters. In this area, what bothered me the most was all those frenzied close-ups during the action scenes. It’s too bad because some of the action scenes were actually pretty intense but this way of filming these scenes was rather frustrating. And yet, even though the story was really far-fetched, there is something appealing about such minimalistic stories involving only a handful of characters and, at some point, I was actually wondering how this family man would manage to save himself and his relatives. The cast was also pretty solid for such a B feature (Jim Caviezel, James Frain, Harold Perrineau, Elisabeth Röhm, Diora Baird). It was especially nice to see Harold Perrineau who usually play chilled cool dudes playing for once some paranoid violent thug. Concerning Jim Caviezel, the guy was still quite charismatic but, at the time, he was only involved in such cheap projects and deep poetic movies like ‘The Thin Red Line’ which gave him his breakthrough were only a faint distant memory at the that point. I have to admit that I’m not really familiar with Elisabeth Röhm, I have heard of her but I haven’t seen many movies with her, but there was something quite genuine about her, more than Diora Baird who really struggled to portray a convincing criminal. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing might have had some potential, it was still rather weak though and you should probably avoid it. 

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from it but, somehow, I still ended up watching the damned thing. Basically, a few years after ‘The Fast and the Furious’ was released, they thought they could recycle the same concept and replace the cars with motors. It might sound really stupid but, since  ‘The Fast and the Furious’ unexpectedly became one of the biggest franchises ever, it’s understandable that they might take this gamble. Unfortunately, it doesn’t change the fact that it was so lame though. At least, there was a solid cast of B actors involved (Martin Henderson, Ice Cube, Adam Scott, Monet Mazur, Faizon Love, Justina Machado, Jaime Pressly, Christina Milian, Dane Cook) which was probably the reason why I checked it out but they all delivered some rather pathetic performances. Especially Ice Cube, the guy was never really subtle but he did deliver here his most hammy performance ever. You also never get a sense of space. I mean, I think it was half way through when one of the characters mentioned that they were in California, before that, I had no idea were the action was taking place. Indeed, they went from one location to another without any explanation whatsoever. The story was also really poorly put together. If I understand correctly, the main character came back from exile in Thailand and, then, randomly met his friends in the middle of nowhere? After that, they went to some motor convention or race or whatever, it was also completely unclear where they were. It was also so weird to see such motors obviously made for asphalt tracks being use for chases in the freaking deserts. Apparently, Joseph Kahn, a famous music video director, actually wanted to make fun of motorcycle racing with this directorial debut but the studio apparently didn’t give him creative control resulting in something really pathetic. Anyway, to conclude, this movie was really abysmal and you should probably avoid it. 

Even though I always admired Paolo Sorrentino’s work, I have to admit that I never became a huge fan. Well, in this case, even though everyone in my filmclub seemed to really enjoy this movie, to be honest, I had a hard time to really connect with it. I mean, as usual with Sorrentino, the whole thing looked great and it was always interesting to watch but, as far as I was concerned, I always felt a disconnect with the material. Again, as usual with this director, instead of giving us a straightforward plot, he gave some rather random scenes which made the whole thing quite unpredictable but also rather alienating. Indeed, even if anything could happen at any moment, why should we really care? However, what bothered me the most was the fact that it was supposed to be all very deep but, to be honest, I was never really convinced. You could say that, in many of his movies, Sorrentino displayed some fascination, or even obsession, regarding beauty and youth but it was always coming from a male protagonist. However, this time, it was supposed to be from a female protagonist but, even though Celeste Dalla Porta in her first acting job was quite mesmerizing, she felt more like a male fantasy than an actual woman (giving her the name of a siren from some Greek myth probably didn’t help). It’s interesting that the older version of the character showing up during the last 15 mins felt more real to me than the younger version during the previous 2 hrs, no matter how gorgeous she might be. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really work for me, like anything else from this director, it was still quite intriguing to behold and it is definitely worth a look. 

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, I always had a weak spot for romantic-comedies but, to be honest, I had a really hard time to care about this one though. At least, Paula Patton was quite gorgeous as usual and she made a cute couple with Laz Alonso but, unfortunately, pretty much nothing else did work in this movie though. Sure, the fact that it didn’t care much about the concept right from the start probably didn’t help. I mean, if you are so much in love with your partner like the couple in this movie, should you really care so much about what your in-laws might think of you? On the other hand, I have recently been watching ‘Love Island UK’ (I know, it’s bad…. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine, I guess) and I have noticed that many contestants were mentioning that it was very important for them that their new partner should get along with their family. Anyway, as a result, both mothers played by Angela Bassett and Loretta Devine were competing for being the worst mother-in-law (apparently, Devine did win after all) but it was all more cringe-inducing than actually entertaining. And that was the main issue, the fact that these respective characters were acting this way only because it was supposed to have some kind of entertaining value and not because it might be how these women might be really thinking and/or feeling. Concerning the rest of the cast, they were all involved in some sub-plots which were all so half-baked that they almost made the main plot look more worthwhile than it actually was. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have to admit that the damned thing was rather harmless, it was still pretty weak though and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

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. First of all, I have to admit that I had never heard of Vinny Pazienza before watching this movie and, to be honest, I was actually expecting something quite different. Sure, the fact that I never really check a movie before watching it probably didn’t help but, in my opinion, the marketing material, especially the poster, was actually rather misleading. Indeed, it referred to a moment at the beginning of the movie when Kevin Rooney was at the time not at all Vinny Pazienza’s trainer. There was also a pretty lady displayed so you might assume that she might be important in this story or in Pazienza’s life but, no, she would disappear after 10 mins (in fact, he would apparently change girlfriends every 5 mins which was probably the most half-baked aspect in this movie). Anyway, it all didn’t matter and, at the end of the day, it turned out to be quite an amazing story after all. Indeed, while I was expecting a goofy movie about some excentric boxer, it turned out to be one of the most incredible comeback tales ever. Concerning the cast, Miles Teller played his usual cocky super-confident character but the guy does it so well, he was once again quite charismatic and really entertaining to behold. However, the biggest surprise turned out to be Aaron Eckhart though. Indeed, for more than a decade, Eckhart has been mostly focusing on paycheck gigs, usually some really underwhelming action flicks or thrillers, but, with this movie, the guy was actually acting for once and was even actually pretty damned good at it. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was a rather generic sports feature, I thought it was a really strong story, maybe it did deserve a better movie but I still think it is worth a look though. 

To be honest, I didn’t expect much from this flick but, since it was starring Bruce Willis, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. Unfortunately, like pretty much 99% of what Willis has done during the last 10 years of his career, the damned thing turned out to be borderline unwatchable, I’m afraid. Where should I start? Even the title didn’t make much sense since there was no reprisal whatsoever. These movies were actually shot in 14 days and it shows and you might wonder how long it took them to write such a clunky script (2 days maybe?). And who came up with the great idea of casting Frank Grillo as a banker? I have to admit that Grillo was actually not bad playing a guy on the edge and traumatized by a bank robbery (at least, he did try which was more than what you could say about the rest of the cast) but he was still completely miscast for this role. The saddest thing is actually that Bruce Willis did retire back in 2022 because he was suffering from aphasia and you might wonder if he was already suffering from this disease back then. At least, he did have more screen time than in this usual direct-to-VOD garbage but it was just rather painful to see the veteran obviously struggling with his performance. The fact that his character could have been easily removed without having any impact on the plot probably didn’t help either. Concerning Olivia Culpo, it's only after I watched this movie that I discovered that she was actually crowned Miss Universe back in 2012 so she was definitely charming but I’m not surprised that her career as an actress never really took off after being involved in such drivel. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was a big waste of time, for myself and all the people involved, and you should probably avoid it.