Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since this prequel was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though this new installment doesn’t seem to have a great reputation, to be honest, I don’t think it was bad at all actually. Basically, one thing that always bothered me with this franchise was that the concept didn’t really make much sense to me. Indeed, why would the violence stop if you would allow people to do whatever they want for 12 hours? However, the context around the purge was much more developed than in the previous movies (especially with the very first movie which was so frustrating in that regard) so this movie was the one that made the most sense to me which resulted in a more rewarding viewing experience. Basically, they finally displayed that, outside the purge, there is still actually some criminality, even if the purge supposedly helped drastically dropped the criminality (after watching this movie, it is really doubtful though). Then, they also displayed that the whole concept is actually bogus since white militias were dropped to wipe out some whole black neighborhoods. Finally, I always had some doubts about the psychological ‘merits’ of the purge and, with this movie, it became obvious that it was above all a political tool after all. So, I actually liked the approach they took for this prequel but, unfortunately, pretty much nothing else did work in this movie though. Sure, it is always nice to see Marisa Tomei but there is not much she could do with such a half-baked character. The rest of the cast was even worse though as they all gave such weak performances but, on the other hand, they were not helped by the fact that all their characters were really poorly developed and not interesting whatsoever. The action scenes were also all rather underwhelming. Anyway, to conclude, I might be too generous with my rating here but I think it is worth a look but probably only if you really like the genre.  

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Fritz Lang and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though it was less obscure than the other movies I have seen from the 20’s and even though it seemed to have a decent reputation, to be honest, I had a rather hard time to get into the damned thing though. It’s the oldest movie I saw from Fritz Lang (I have to admit that I completely forgot that I also watched ‘Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler’ about 2 years ago which was released only 1 year later) but, even though there were some interesting ideas, the whole thing was just too disjointed for me. At some point, he completely deviated from the main story to tell 3 different tales taking place in different locations which was obviously an excuse Lang used to indulge himself. The Arabic and Italian tales were not bad at all, the production design was pretty cool, however, with the Chinese tale, it was really cringe-inducing to see the same (Caucasian) actors playing some Asian characters as well (It then reminded me of ‘Cloud Atlas’ which used the same trick of using the same actors to play characters with various ethnicities and it did receive some huge criticism back then). On the other hand, I have to admit that this Asian segment was the wildest one with some magical stuff involved. However, the issue with these 3 separate segments was that they had no impact whatsoever on the main tale after all so it all felt rather pointless to me. At least, visually speaking, it was pretty good for a movie made in the 20’s, I also really liked the way they depicted Death and I’m pretty sure it did inspire many movies that came afterwards. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really work for me, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Fritz Lang’s work. 

Since I heard some pretty good things about this flick and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Of course, I had heard of the West Memphis Three (I have even watched ‘Devil’s Knot’ which was probably one of Atom Egoyan’s weakest directorial efforts) but I haven’t watched the ‘Paradise Lost’ trilogy (on the other hand, I’m not sure if I would need to watch 7 hrs on this topic) but, with this documentary, they covered pretty much the whole case so if you would watch only one movie, it would be the best option. Anyway, it was such a heartbreaking story, not only 3 young boys were brutally murdered but also 3 other young boys had to spend 20 years in jail for a crime they obviously didn’t commit. While watching this movie, I was thinking about some fictional crime shows I have been watching like ‘True Detective’ when you get to see some incredibly smart detectives but I think that, in reality, many (most?) police officers involved in such cases are actually vastly incompetent. I mean, even though it was a wild story in the media in the 80’s and 90’s, the whole satanic angle has been debunked by the FBI, it was actually never a thing. Anyway, it was quite ridiculous how they went for this and the locals completely eat it up. Then, there was the fact that they had no evidence whatsoever, that at least one of them had 5 people testifying he was not  even near this area and, finally, that they coerced a confession from the weakest minded of them after interrogating him for hours. The only thing that didn’t really work for me was the focus on Terry Hobbs’s possible guiltiness which was, in my opinion, rather inappropriate. I’m not saying that Hobbs couldn’t have possibly did it but the evidence against him was too thin in my opinion. Above all, the bulk of what they had against him was some testimonies of people talking about him and what happened almost 20 years after the fact. Basically, just like with the West Memphis Three, these testimonies were just not reliable at all (seriously, don’t ask my ex-wife what I might have done 20 years ago… She might tell you the most terrible stories) and I’m really surprised that they went down this road. In fact, even though it was barely mentioned in this movie, a similar thing already happened to John Mark Byers who also became a suspect at some point during the 2000’s. Anyway, to conclude, this movie was another proof that the judicial system in the US is pretty much a joke, especially if you are poor and this movie is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in this subject. 

I have been following Pedro Almodovar’s career for maybe 30 years so, of course, I was quite interested in his first full-length feature (before that, he also did a few shorts in English, to practice, but I haven’t seen these). To be honest, I needed a few mins to adjust myself to the fact that the characters wouldn’t be speaking Spanish as everything else from the production design and the music felt so like some Almodovar stuff. Well, I did think it was a decent watch but, to be honest, it wasn’t one of his best movies though. Obviously, the cool thing was to see him working with some of the best English-speaking actresses in the world, Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, and as long as the movie was focusing on them, it was pretty much rock-solid. Indeed, you don’t really get to know about their past together (I actually thought at first that they were at some point a lesbian couple which wasn’t the case at all after all), but they had some instant chemistry together which was really nice to see. Unfortunately, when he did try to wander somewhere else, especially with anything with a more direct link with the US culture, he didn’t fair so well, I’m afraid. I mean, if you’re going to mention the Vietnam war, a massive traumatic experience for the American people, and do nothing interesting with it, except using it as the reason why a couple didn’t work out, then you should maybe restrain yourself. There was also a rather weak scene involving a burning house which felt like a complete failed attempt to show the American mid-West. I think it was also a mistake to bring back Tilda Swinton to play the daughter because it felt like an unnecessary gimmick, especially since it was only for 5 mins. Anyway, to conclude, even an average Almodovar is still pretty damned good and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in the work of the Spanish master.

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, to be honest, even though I always had a hard time to care about the sequels in this franchise (seriously, all of them), I thought this one was actually not bad at all after all. Indeed, the intro was really solid (by the way, Samara Weaving never looked more stunning in this yellow dress), it was pretty cool that they finally moved the action from Woodsboro to New York. Above all, even more than with the previous installment, I have such a weak spot for Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, they were both so charismatic and they just rocked when they were together. Before the movie was released, there was some controversy because Neve Campbell refused to come back because she wasn’t paid enough but, to be honest, she wasn’t missed and it was nice that they could focus more on the new characters without her. Concerning Hayden Panettiere, it was nice to see her again after all these years (at the time, she was actually practically retired) but, to be honest, her performance was rather weak but she wasn’t helped by the fact that her character was rather half-baked. She wasn’t the only one though as, except for Sam and Tara, all of the other characters were rather underwhelming. Coming back on the movie itself, the general concept was not bad at all but, to be honest, the ending was rather weak though. Basically, each time around, except maybe for the first movie, they took the most random characters and decided that they will be the next killers for the most convoluted reasons you can think of. The fact that the movie was slightly too long probably didn’t help either. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing ground-breaking, I still think it was an improvement on its predecessor, even probably the best sequel in this franchise, and 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 and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest,  during the last 20 years, it has become quite a chore to watch Nicolas Cage’s movies because you’re never sure if you will get yet another lame and completely forgettable action flick or another cult-classic if you are really lucky. Well, sure, this movie was nothing really groundbreaking but I thought it was not bad, at least, I have seen much worse with Cage involved. Basically, it was a minimalistic movie with only 2 characters, a genre I definitely have a weak spot for, with a dash of ‘Collateral’ which is not the worst inspiration but it did make the whole thing slightly derivative. Above all, Nicolas Cage gave here one of his typical unhinged performances and the guy was just a real riot and so entertaining to behold. Concerning Joel Kinnaman, I do have a weak for this actor but, in contrary to Cage, he was stuck playing the ‘straight’ guy so the challenge was actually bigger for him but, at the end, his character was completely forgettable, I'm afraid. Concerning the story itself, to be honest, I’m not sure if it really held up though. I mean, did these guy know each other after all or not? The character played by Cage did tell his tale at some point but I guess I wasn’t really paying attention at the time (until this point, it wasn't exactly really a deep movie which required much of my energy or mind). Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really amazing, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Nicolas Cage’s work. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Cecil B. DeMille and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it is only afterwards that I discovered that this movie was considered as possibly the worst one DeMille had delivered in his career and I have to agree that it wasn’t really good. Basically, the whole thing was just too disjointed. Seriously, who was actually the main character in this tale and you might wonder if this movie really required some full-blown fantasy showing some decadent bacchanal in the Roman era but my guess is that it was maybe DeMille’s favorite part. And, yet, some ideas were not bad though. Indeed, it was interesting how reckless, selfish and even rather unlikeable Lydia Thorne was and it was actually quite satisfying to see her ending up in jail, in spite of all the wealth she had. Back then, many movies were focusing on the rich and fortunate and it was refreshing to see a movie showing how actually vapid this lifestyle was. Unfortunately, it didn’t last for long though and the way she found redemption after spending a few years in jail was rather preposterous. Indeed, if you thought that the fantasy scenes in Rome were unrealistic, these scenes taking place in prison were even worse as if this woman went to some nice friendly summer camp and came back as a complete new person. Unfortunately, we all know that, in most cases, going to jail would be actually a dreadful, if not even seriously traumatic experience. Another issue was the really convoluted love story between Lydia Thorne and Daniel O'Bannon. I mean, wasn’t it a major conflict of interest that this District Attorney would be prosecuting her case when they were actually acquainted? Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is worth a look but probably only if you are really interested in Cecil B. DeMille’s work.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it did receive some solid reviews, I thought I might as well check it out. After watching the trailer, I was slightly concerned as it seemed to be about a creepy and abusive relationship but, fortunately, this trailer turned out to be misleading after all. Indeed, what they failed to display in the trailer and actually displayed right away at the beginning of this movie was the fact that Romy did desire some kind of SM sexual relationship way before she started this affair which completely changed the way I perceived her character and the one played by Harris Dickinson. Concerning the rest of the movie, well, to be honest, no matter the efforts of the brilliant people involved, it turned out to be a rather generic love affair between an older married woman and some hot young guy after all. However, the damned thing still worked though mostly thanks to some pitch-perfect performances by Nicole Kidman but also by Harris Dickinson. Indeed, what made their relationship so special was not really the kinky stuff but how they had such a deep connection right from the moment they met each other for the very first time. Indeed, within seconds, it seemed that they completely understood each other which was rather overwhelming for Romy who couldn’t even understand herself so to experience something like this with another human being was actually quite life shattering. Another interesting thing with this movie was that it displayed the reason why I dislike most people in general. Indeed, we basically all try to look and sound the same which is, for me, just so terribly underwhelming. In fact, like Romy, we all have something unique which might be dark/weird/whatever but we should lean much more in what makes us unique. Unfortunately, everybody tries to be the same and not only it makes us just terribly homogeneous and boring but also terribly frustrated like Romy was for all these years. Reading all this, it might seem that this movie was really fascinating but, even though Kidman and Dickinson were indeed quite mesmerizing to behold, the rest of the movie was actually rather pedestrian. On top of that, the weird happy ending which allowed Romy to keep her marriage intact was hardly satisfying and/or convincing. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look.