Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Paula Patton and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, first of all, I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie which obviously didn’t deserve at all to start with the words ‘based on true events’. Sure, millions of women in the US and in the rest of the world are victims of this awful business but it was basically the only true thing about this movie. Indeed, everything was completely made up and it obviously never happened that some journalist discovered a trafficking ring completely by accident, actually became an actual victim of this traffickers and managed to have the whole thing shut down, all this within only a couple of hours. Seriously, it would be like claiming that ‘Seven’ is actually based on true events because serial killers do exist. Anyway, even if the ‘based on true events’ claim was completely bogus and ridiculous, it wasn’t even the biggest problem with this movie. Indeed, the damned thing was just so slow, it took forever to finally get the plot started and everything happening before was just seriously tedious. Furthermore, even if Paula Patton was charming as usual, in spite of all her efforts, I never cared about her character and her group of friends was even worse. I mean, who cares that Darren is a hotshot sport agent doing some cocaine and is a major douchebag with his girlfriend and his best friend? What was the link with the main topic and, above all, what was the added value? Anyway, to conclude, even though it was dealing with an important topic, it is rather bewildering how weak the damned thing was and I think you can pretty much avoid it. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Matthias Schoenaerts, I was quite eager to check it out. I was actually wondering how Schoenaerts, a Belgian actor, did end up playing a character who could have been played by countless US actors. Eventually,  the main reason was probably that this movie was directed by a French woman who, liked me, must have been familiar with Schoenaerts’s career. Anyway, beside the casting, I did appreciate the parallels between this inmate and this horse who were basically both locked in a cage with nothing left than their rage against the rest of the world. Indeed, there was definitely something beautiful about these two wild beings somehow bonding with each other. However, I think they really pushed it by making the main character becoming seriously mellow after working with this horse. Maybe they should have slightly toned down the positive impact of this experiment but, still, there is no doubt that it is a much more positive way to handle prisoners and I’m sure it must be really therapeutic for them. On top of that, once again, Matthias Schoenaerts delivered here another intense performance. In my opinion, he is actually one of the very few actors who manages to be really charismatic but at the same time still feels completely authentic. To be honest, the other sub-plots, especially the one involving some Ketamine traffic in the prison, were all rather half-baked but as long they focused on this man and his horse, it worked just fine. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was probably not a masterpiece, it was still a solid watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Matthias Schoenaerts’s work. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Pierce Brosnan, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even if it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was still a decent watch. The weird thing is that it was, in fact, not one movie but two movies combined together somehow. The first one was basically a ‘Taken’ knock-off starring Jackie Chan in the role that suddenly transformed Liam Neeson into action star overnight but Chan was actually really convincing. Indeed, I always loved Jackie Chan doing some crazy stunts but, even though they might be popular, I always dreaded all his jokes and it was actually neat to see the Hong Kong legend finally involved in some darker material. I was rather impressed how well he adjusted himself to the R rated stuff even if, for most of the duration, his character was actually stuck staying ‘Names?’ to pretty much everyone that crossed his path. The 2nd movie-within-the movie was basically a political thriller involving Pierce Brosnan who was also quite convincing as well playing a seasoned tough politician. I wish they did give more background information explaining how a former IRA terrorist somehow ended up being filthy rich during the 30 years after he quit fighting. Anyway, even though both stories worked fairly well as stand-alone, unfortunately, mixing them was turned out to be rather awkward. Basically, each side of the story constantly cannibalized the other one. For example, if they would focus on Pierce Brosnan’s character and his political intrigues for a while, Jackie Chan’s character would then completely disappear for too long. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

After all these years, I still have to watch ‘Waking Life’. On the other hand, I really loved ‘A Scanner Darkly’, so I was definitely eager to check this new animated feature from Richard Linklater, especially since it would be available on Netflix. Well, the damned thing turned out to be such a sweet nostalgic vintage slice of life and I thoroughly enjoyed it. To be honest, you might wonder if the animation genre was really required to tell this tale since it could have been just as well shot as a standard live-action feature but I think this choice made sense. Indeed, even if we think we have some clear memories from our childhood, it is actually always a heightened recollection of what actually happened and, with animation, there was no better way to convey this surreal feeling. Furthermore, I loved how Linklater looked back into such deep details into his childhood and it is really impressive how he managed to tell this story through the eyes of a young kid. I also really appreciate how he didn’t sugar-coat anything. Indeed, I think it’s pretty obvious that he loved his childhood but he was definitely not shy to show that not everything was perfect, even far from it, but it actually made the whole thing even more interesting to behold. Eventually, the only thing that didn’t really work for me was Stan pretending that he went on a secret mission on the moon a couple of months before Apollo 11. Sure, I do understand that the kid had a wild fantasy and was therefore fantasizing about taking part in this legendary mission but, as far as I was concerned, it didn’t really have any added value, especially since the main character was not apparently such a huge fan of the race to space or of NASA in general. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was maybe not a masterpiece, I really enjoyed the damned thing and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Richard Linklater’s work or if you like the genre. 

Since I had seen so far all the movies directed by Guillermo Del Toro, of course, I had to see his last directorial effort at some point, especially since it had once again received some solid reviews. Everybody noticed that, for the 1^st time of his career, Del Toro finally handled a fairly realistic tale without some fantastic elements but there was an obvious connection between his usual work and this carnival world filled with freaks and misfits. Anyway, there is no denying that the damned thing looked amazing and Del Toro, with his first neo-noir, delivered a pitch-perfect mood. Bradley Cooper also delivered a strong performance as well, even if his character turned out to be not much more than a cheap hustler after all. Concerning the story, it definitely had some potential but, to be honest, I think it could have been even better developed though. First of all, even if it was always entertaining, it was also really long and it felt as if Del Toro tried to combine two movies into one. Eventually, I wonder if the first act during which Stanton Carlisle learned the ropes at the carnival maybe should have been shortened. To make things worse, in spite of the rather extensive running time, most of the other characters (Molly, Dr. Lilith Ritter, Zeena, Pete, Clem, Ezra Grindle) were all barely developed which was a shame since they were all quite fascinating. The biggest victim was probably Rooney Mara who was stuck playing another thankless part. I mean, what did Molly see in Stanton? And, the other way around, what did he see in her? Coming back on Stanton Carlisle, we spend so much time with the guy and, as a result, I was expecting him to come up with something exceptional at some point. However, after all, the guy went from being a hobo to be a cheap hustler, then a slightly less cheap hustler and he finally ended up as a pathetic drunk so you might wonder if the guy was really worth spending so much time with after all. On the other hand, I have to admit that the final scene was pretty much perfect. Anyway, to conclude, even if it wasn’t really a homerun, it was still a solid watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Del Toro’s work.