Reviews by johanlefourbe

Watching a horror flick with my filmclub has been a priority for me for quite a while and, since this movie had received some solid reviews, I thought it would be a suitable candidate for this experiment. Well, even though pretty much everyone in my filmclub completely dismissed this movie, I actually really enjoyed it though. Indeed, I have watched all the movies directed by Robert Eggers (we even watched his last movie ‘The Northman’ also with the filmclub), I really love his style and, once again, he didn’t disappoint me here. Indeed, there was a nice dark gothic vibe and the damned thing was visually really neat. Concerning the actors involved, I thought that Bill Skarsgard was quite fascinating but I guess it might be a matter of taste because he was not exactly the most attractive vampire you’ll ever see, in the contrary. At least, nobody could argue that Lily-Rose Depp was not good here. Indeed, I think there was something quite powerful and even quite spellbinding about her performance. The link between sex and vampirism was also interesting and it is something I always sensed in this genre but it was maybe the first movie I saw in which they explored this. Unfortunately, pretty much like with ‘The Northman’, even though the damned thing was visually quite fascinating, I’m afraid the story was just too generic though. Basically, it was the classic Dracula tale and, even though it did like the approach they took, it was still the same story I saw maybe 100 times before and, therefore, it was all rather predictable. Eventually, like the other movies directed by Eggers, it was still missing something to really blow me away. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, this guy keeps delivering some of the most artistic horror flicks out there and the damned thing 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 available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Following the #Metoo movement arguing that we should believe unequivocally all the victims of sex abuse, well, this movie displayed the danger of such an approach. Above all, it displayed once again how messed up the US judicial system actually is and it is also displayed how most people are pretty much condemned even before a trial actually did start. So, even if it was nothing really ground-breaking, it was a strong story but the movie itself was fairly average though. Indeed, the approach was just too generic and it felt pretty much like watching the Lifetime channel. For Tom Shadyac, it was his first directorial effort in 10 years and, even though it was commendable from him to go for a drama like this one, his directing was just terribly uninspired and uninspiring, I'm afraid. On the other hand, his biggest successes were some broad comedies starring Jim Carrey ('Ace Ventura', 'Liar Liar', 'Bruce Almighty') so we probably should lower our expectations with him. Concerning Aldis Hodge, I remembered his face but I couldn't remember where I saw him before but I have to admit that he was actually pretty good here. Unfortunately, he pretty much had to carry the whole thing on his shoulders as none of the other characters were developed whatsoever. Another reason why I wanted to watch this movie was because Morgan Freeman was also involved but he only had a cameo which turned out to be more distracting than anything else. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have to admit that it was still a decent story and I think it is worth a look, at least, if you like the genre.

I didn’t grow up with this movie but, since it was available on Disney+ and since it seemed to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well finally watch it. To be honest, I have to admit that it was not bad after all. Sure, it is a rather generic sports feature with a grumpy guy forced to train a team and both sides initially couldn’t stand each other but they eventually bonded and of course they won sone games, even some important final in this case. In fact, it was one thing that slightly bothered me. Indeed, this team went the whole way from being some seemingly unredeemable losers to actually winning the title and, in my opinion, the difference between where this team stood at the beginning and where they stood at the end was too a much stretch. I think it would have worked better if they would have honorably lost along way. On top of that, a major point of the movie was to show that having a great time was much more important than actually winning, especially if you have to feel miserable during the process, but since they won after all, they actually pretty much ruined the main reason why this movie was actually made in the first place. Still, even though the end-result was pretty generic and predictable, some of the issues above all involving Gordon Bombay were not bad. Indeed, he began as a hockey prodigy as a kid but this passion was ruined by basically some bad coaching and to see him going back to the game and coach these kids, connecting again with the sport he once loved, might be cheesy but I thought it was actually touching and well handled. The relationship between him and the single mother of one of his players might seem unnecessary but it was not bad either. Anyway, to conclude, even if it is definitely not a masterpiece, I understand why it is a childhood favorites for many and it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I had this movie for so long in my queue that I actually didn't remember why I actually add it in the first place. Anyway, after all this time, it finally decided to watch the damned thing and, well, I have to admit that I wasn’t disappointed at all. In fact, at some point, I finally remembered why I thought I might want to check it out at some point and it was because it seemed to be an intriguing disaster flick. Well, it was really refreshing to see a movie in this genre which was, for once, not produced in the US and the end-result was surprisingly satisfying. Basically, you still had many characteristics belonged to this genre but there was still a slightly more realistic approach which I definitely did appreciate. The documentary-like intro explaining the very real danger of tsunamis in Norway was also a nice touch since I had never heard of that and it made you realise that everything happening afterwards was not some far-fetched tale which really did increase the stakes and your emotional engagement with the story in the general. Concerning the clichés linked to the genre, well, it did focus on a family with 2 kids and, very conveniently, the father was a scientist working on this precarious mountain. Of course, just before the disaster occurred, this family was moving away but the guy (not only a genius but also a hero who managed to save every single member of his family) knew something was wrong and, of course, up until the very last moment when it was too late, nobody took him seriously. The tricky thing with this genre was that, in this case, the whole disaster occurred in maybe 15-20 mins but they still had to deliver at least 90 mins of running time so they had to give us some dramatic stuff which was not necessarily linked to the disaster. I still think that the wave itself was very well handled and I really had a good feeling of how nightmarish such a scenario would look like in real. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was not a masterpiece whatsoever, 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 was directed by D.W. Griffith and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. By now, I have seen the most famous movies directed by this great master but, even though this one did seem to have a decent reputation, to be honest, it didn’t really impress me though. Indeed, it was visually not bad (the chase scene on the ice towards the end was pretty wild) but, as far as I was concerned, it was pretty much a typical vintage melodramatic soap that they used to make back then. Basically, they gave us a pure and innocent girl who gets deceived and defiled by some evil libertine guy, something they really loved back then apparently, this movie was even a big box-office success when it was released but I’m not a huge fan. The fact that they needed 150 mins to tell a rather simple story after all probably didn’t help either. The extensive running time probably had to do with the fact that there were quite a lot of characters involved but, to be honest, they were all rather unremarkable, I’m afraid. The only exception was Lillian Gish. Obviously, it wasn’t the first time I saw Gish in one of D.W. Griffith’s production and, once again, she didn’t disappoint, that’s for sure. Indeed, there were a couple of close-up shots which were just masterful. Another thing that stood out with this movie was some random comical scenes that showed up from time to time. I don’t think I ever saw Griffith indulging with such audacious comic touches in his epic dramas before but, to be honest, it didn’t really work, I’m afraid. For example, this character Professor Sterling felt like some really misguided mix of Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Anyway, to conclude, even if I did struggle to care about the damned thing, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in D.W. Griffith’s work.

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. First of all, who’s this guy B.J. Novak? I mean, his face was familiar but I can’t say I was familiar with his work though. Apparently, he became famous after showing up on ‘The Office’ but I never saw this sitcom. Anyway, concerning his directing debut, to be honest, the whole thing did sound so misguided at first and, yet, I have to admit that it did grow on me. Indeed, as expected, Novak started with some really stereotypical characters which made me dismiss the whole thing at first but, then, he took his time to actually develop them. The best example was maybe the character played by Ashton Kutcher. Indeed, after a rather abysmal career, Kutcher made here some kind of come-back (I’m not sure you can call it a real come-back since this movie was not exactly a huge commercial or critical success though) and he might have delivered here the best performance of his career. Indeed, there was something quite intriguing by his character. To be honest, I still think the end-result was still too pretentious but it was to be expected from such directorial debut. I also wonder what the people coming from Texas would think about this movie. I have never been there so I have no idea if it might truthful or not but since B.J. Novak is, like his character, actually from Massachusetts, I have some doubts. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, even though I expected it to be rather lame, I have to admit that there was somehow something quite intriguing about the damned thing and I think it is actually worth a look. 

Sure, like anyone else, I have noticed that this movie was a flop when it was released but, since it was available on HBO Max, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. Well, to be honest, it was rather hard to judge this movie after all. Indeed, sure, the whole thing did feel like a rather misguided egomaniac project from Kevin Costner and you might wonder if he will manage to deliver the 4 movies he planned to do (seriously, all together, the whole thing would be around 12 hrs of running time..). And, yet, I have to admit that it was visually not bad at all and there was definitely something epic about it. Concerning the characters, I was not so sure. I mean, there were many of them so there was definitely some variety, depicting some many different perspectives on how you could live back then on the Frontier. But was any of them really interesting though? Not really. The episodic structure certainly didn’t help any of them though. Indeed, I think the main issue was that the format was not suited at all for what Costner wanted to achieve. For some reason, he thought that to release 4 epic Westerns as feature length features was the way to go but it seemed to be pretty obvious that a mini-series format on any streaming service would have been such a better choice. Eventually, you might wonder if by scaling down and removing some of the characters and some of the sub-plots, the whole thing might have been so much improved but I guess that’s what you get when a movie star spends seemingly all his money to do whatever he wants. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was actually a decent watch, I didn’t notice that it was 3hrs long which is always a good sign and I think it is worth a look, at least, if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it had been very well received and since it was available on HBO Max, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, the damned thing was probably the most disappointing movie I have seen released in 2024 after all. I know, it might sound harsh but I kept hearing that it was the best movie directed by Clint Eastwood in ages but, while I would agree that it was the least disappointing movie he has delivered in a while, I was still not really impressed though. As far as I was concerned, it felt like a modern rip-off of ’12 Angry Men’ to which they added a really convoluted twist. Indeed, before I watched this movie, I knew this specific juror would have something to do with this crime but I didn’t know he would turn out to be actually guilty of this specific crime which was, in my opinion, rather ridiculous. Seriously, what are the odds that something like this could happen? Even more egregious and/or annoying was the fact that the main character apparently discovered this during the trial at the same time with the audience. Again, seriously, was this guy living under a rock or something? It was concerning a high-profile murder trial taking place where he lived but, during the year between the alleged murder and the trial, he didn’t hear or read anything about it at all? So, as you can see, I didn’t care much about the whole setup and this was only the first 15 mins. Concerning the rest of the movie, sure, it was well made and the cast was solid but, basically, you get to see the main character feeling guilty and all which was all rather predictable but, above all, it was never really fascinating. Finally, this movie was yet another proof of how broken the US judicial system has become (or as ever been). Basically, as displayed in this movie, people on a jury would give their sentence mostly depending on their moods and not so much based on the facts after all which was, of course, rather appalling but, unfortunately, hardly surprising. Anyway, to conclude, even if this movie turned out to be rather disappointing, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and 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 Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to combine the classic evil doll genre with our current fear about super-intelligent AI which is becoming less and less some science-fiction was also clever and I have to admit that it was fairly entertaining. The way Cady used this super fancy doll to cope with the loss of her parents was also intriguing but, eventually, the makers didn’t really dig too much in this direction. Concerning the cast, Allison Williams was pretty good and actually really convincing playing this character but the rest of the cast was rather unremarkable. Concerning the doll itself, Megan was really well made, that’s for sure, but I thought it was rather weird that none of the characters involved ever pointed out that she looked way too creepy to be sold as a toy, as advanced as she was, but I guess it was inherent to the genre. Anyway, in spite their decent efforts, I still think it turned out to be a rather generic evil doll horror flick after all. It was like these campy jokes, they were not bad at all, but they felt like a reminder that you are basically watching another silly horror flick about a doll going on rampage and you should therefore not take the damned thing seriously. There is actually nothing wrong with that but they always go for this approach in this genre so it would be nice if they gave us something different for once. To conclude, even if it was nothing really mind-blowing whatsoever, I have to admit that it was a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.