Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since it was probably the most ambitious movie released in 2021, of course, I was really eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, maybe I wasn’t in the right mood but I actually really struggled to get into the damned thing after all. It’s not that I don’t have any affinity with the material though. Indeed, I did read the book (which I really loved) and I watched David Lynch’s version (which I didn’t hate) but it was at least 20 years ago which was actually pretty cool since I didn’t remember everything in details. I don’t know, I have always been rooting for [Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see] but it seems that his SF flicks are getting not only bigger but also more pretentious each time around and I hope he will finally go for some other genre when he is done with ’Dune’. I mean, the whole thing was visually really neat, I wouldn’t expect less from this director, it is still a fascinating world and there were tons of charismatic and interesting characters and, yet, the damned thing never really grabbed me. Eventually, you might wonder if such a straightforward adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic book was the best approach and, maybe, Alejandro Jodorowsky with his completely bonkers project was actually right. Of course, you might argue that I shouldn’t muse over a movie which was never made but it seems that turning this story into another SF blockbuster extravaganza only amplified the weaknesses of this story. For example, Paul Atreides is basically a wimpy emo kid who’s terribly passive and never takes any decision by himself. Another issue was that most of the plot was about the fact that the Harkonnens were summoned to leave Arrakis so they could come back to get rid of the Atreides but wasn’t it actually a really convoluted plan from the emperor to handle his enemies? Anyway, to conclude, maybe it will be more enjoyable when we will be able to see the whole thing when Part 2 will be released so, for the time being, I will give it the benefit of the doubt but, so far, I can’t say I was really impressed though. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a pretty cool cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though it turned out to be a decent watch, to be honest, it wasn’t really much more than that. I mean, they certainly displayed how unfair, inadequate and completely incompetent the US judicial has been and probably has always been but, by now, I have seen plenty more movies about the subject. Indeed, even if the intentions of the makers were more than commendable, I’m afraid they didn’t break any new ground. Their approach was also really biased. Basically, all the black folks were kind, soft-spoken with no bad bones whatsoever (even the prison inmates which was rather doubtful), while pretty much all the white characters were prejudiced, ignorant and even vile. To add a token friendly white woman played by Brie Larson, a character completely underwritten who could have been easily removed, certainly didn’t help. While watching this movie, I was actually wondering what the white community was thinking and feeling about this whole situation. Did they really believe that it was fine to pin down a murder on any random black man just to even the score? Did it really give them some kind of closure? Of course, the impact on this man, his family, even his whole community, was just more than dramatic and this massive issue definitely deserves our attention but the approach chosen for this movie turned out to be rather safe after all. Still, it remains infuriating to see all these convicts getting no defence whatsoever which shouldn’t be the case, even if they are guilty. Finally, how could you still think that the death penalty is a suitable option after watching this flick? Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing ground-breaking, it was still a solid drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn’t expecting much from the damned thing but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, the whole concept of a bunch of thieves hiding in some empty warehouse after some botched robbery was hardly original but I still think it could have been worse though. Indeed, I was surprised by how entertaining it was to hear these guys reminiscing about some old heist or just their lives in general. In fact, I wish they gave us more flashbacks showing how they met. Indeed, if you decide to copy ‘Reservoir Dogs’, you might as well go all the way. Or they could have gone into a different reaction and give us some flashbacks scenes showing how their heist went down. Each one of these directions could have been pretty cool but, instead, they decided to focus on how these characters tried to survive against some seemingly invincible dog involved in some dog fighting. Unfortunately, I never really cared about this dog and his story was rather awkwardly mixed up with the tale of these three robbers. In fact, Walker should have also told some anecdote or tale involving some dog, it would have been at least consistent but, even with that, I don’t think I would have cared much more about this angle. The ending was also seriously annoying. Indeed, you get to see Stacy on a beach looking for his old girlfriend with a brand-new pup. Of course, you could argue that Stacy was actually fantasizing this scene when he was dying but I would have simply get rid of the beach scene. Seriously, it would have been actually pretty awesome to end-up with every single character, even the damned dog, actually dead but, unfortunately, it was a rather drastic step the makers didn’t dare to take. Anyway, to conclude, I think my rating might be too generous here but I thought it was still a decent watch after all. 

Not so long ago, I watched again ‘Under Siege’ and I have to admit that it was not as bad as I remembered so I thought I might as well check out this sequel. Well, I guess I should have skipped it after all… The first mistake they made was to follow too much the concept of the previous movie. Indeed, how big are the odds that Casey Ryback, a former Navy SEAL, would stumble once again on some terrorist attack completely by accident? Then, there was the issue that the action was taking place on a train. I mean, sure, it did make sense considering the fact that the previous movie was taking place on a boat but a train is simply not a convenient spot to shoot an action flick. Basically, you have the wagons, the locomotive and going on top of the train but that’s pretty much everything you have. As a result, they spent an awful amount of time dealing with some unconvincing and above all really boring techno babble just to fill up the running time because, without it, the movie would last only 20 mins. Finally, the ending scene involving these 2 trains crashing with each other was definitely one of the worst climax I have seen in a very long time. Seriously, nothing worked in this scene, it looked so fake and I don’t understand why they thought it would be a great idea to end up with something so completely over-the-top. At least, Eric Bogosian and Everett McGill were some decent bad guys and it was neat to see a very young Katherine Heigl even if her character really had nothing to do except standing around and wait until her uncle would finally save her. Furthermore, this movie did give us one of the most badass film quotes ever written which is obviously ’Assumption is the mother of all f*ck-ups’. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was pretty weak and I think you should pretty much avoid it, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Steven Seagal.

Since I kept hearing some really good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. Well, I wasn’t disappointed, that’s for sure. Eventually, the most bewildering thing was that it took a whopping 30 years until Anthony Hopkins was finally provided with a part which was actually worthy of his tremendous talent. Indeed, the guy was just amazing and gave here one of the most pitch-perfect performances even delivered on the silver screen. Beside Hopkins at the top of his game, it was also a rather fascinating movie about dementia. Indeed, one of the usual stereotypes about people suffering of Alzheimer's disease is that they don’t remember anymore who their loved ones actually are. In this case, they went much deeper than this cliché and displayed that, the more confused Alzheimer’s patients get, the more they lose their grip on time and space. This process is probably also speed up by moving to a retirement home but to keep such a high maintenance patient at home might not be a better option, I’m afraid. Eventually, that’s probably what happened at some point, the main character was brought to a retirement home, maybe weeks before, maybe months before, but instead of making some new mental landmarks, like we all do, his scrambled brain never managed to handle this big change in his life. This whole process was so well displayed and it was just so heart-breaking to see this man who might have been brilliant at some point desperately shouting ‘I’m an intelligent man’, without mentioning the ending scene during which he cries for his mother. Of course, you could argue that the other characters were not developed whatsoever but it made sense since the main character was constantly confused so, like him, the audience is never really sure who is actually with him in the room. Anyway, to conclude, it turned out to be a rather stunning drama with an amazing performance by Hopkins and the damned thing is absolutely worth a look. 

Since I kept hearing some great things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. Well, the damned thing turned out to be really impressive, even quite unforgettable I might add. Indeed, it is a great companion piece to ‘Shoah’, even if both movies tackled this subject in two completely different ways. At least, this movie was much shorter than ‘Shoah’ so you might assume that it is much easier to swallow but you would be actually mistaken. In fact, you might be grateful that it is rather short because they gave us some of the most horrifying images I came across. The interesting thing is that the damned thing started with some rather bucolic shots of the countryside with some fairly whimsical tune. They even made some sarcastic jokes about the architecture of the guards towers which was just so unexpected and it actually really floored me. The narration was also quite amazing. Indeed, it was so poetic in spite the fact that the material was dealing with the closest thing to hell you can imagine. It was apparently written by some guy called Jean Cayrol who was, unsurprisingly, a survivor from one of these death camps. Seriously, how incredibly difficult it must have been for him to write this stuff only 10 years after this nightmare took place? In general, it is quite incredible that they came up with such a movie so soon after the actual events. Eventually, I think that, back then, people already had the need to remember, to look back to what happen, even if it was so horrible because, if we don’t, we might forget it or not believe something so horrendous might have ever taken place. Anyway, to conclude, it really deserves its reputation, it is an incredible masterpiece and it is pretty much a must-see in my book. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Angelina Jolie and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Apparently, there has been some reports that this movie had been bombed with fake negative reviews because some black kids were playing some version of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland which is just sad and even rather f*cked-up. In fact, I did appreciate the fact that they gave us a mixed-race family as if it was the most common thing back in those days but I’m afraid if it was probably the only interesting thing about this flick though. Indeed, even if the damned thing was really harmless, it was just way too whimsical for my taste and, to be honest, I was rather bored through the whole duration. And what about this ending? I mean, until that point, they managed to reach an albeit boring but still solid balance between what was going on in the fantasy games of these children and what was actually really going on in this family but, suddenly, it went completely overboard during the final act. I mean, Peter, a young boy not even 10 years old, basically ran away from home, became some kind of Robin Hood and his parents and his sister didn’t freak out whatsoever? Seriously, I get that they tried to give the whole thing some fairy-tale vibe but this ending was still really hard to swallow. Concerning Angelina Jolie, even if she was maybe never the best actress in the world, she was still seriously charismatic and it’s rather sad to see her wasting her time (and ours) with such thankless parts. Anyway, to conclude, I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing but I guess it might still be worth a look, only if you really like the genre though. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Elizabeth Olsen and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. While watching this movie, I was thinking about my wife who, on a regular basis, breaks my balls because I don’t use social media at all. Well, this movie certainly didn’t make it more attractive to me, that’s for sure. At least, there is no denying that the damned thing was really topical but, even if it really had some potential, I’m afraid it never really worked though. The first issue was that the main character was such a pathetic loser and the fact that she was obsessing about a bunch of people which were just as vapid as she was obviously didn’t help. However, a bigger issue was that the characters involved were just not developed enough. I mean, I won’t blame [Link removed - login to see], she actually delivered a solid performance playing a rather unlikable woman, but except for her Instagram obsession, there was nothing else really defining her. Even the death of her mother was actually use only as a device so she would have plenty of money when she moved to California. With Elizabeth Olsen’s character, there was a similar situation as she was displayed only as an Instagram influencer which was simply not enough. It’s interesting that, instead of developing these 2 young women, half way through, they suddenly added yet Nicky, another character, who turned out to be even more obnoxious than all of them put together which might seem actually impossible. And, yet, he turned out to be more complex than he first seemed to be but the guy was eventually merely a plot device after all. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think the subject was actually quite interesting so it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was included in the ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ list, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, from the few movies I have seen directed by D.W. Griffith, it might be the best one so far. Indeed, I was quite impressed by this lavish production, especially for a movie made more than 100 years ago. However, I have to admit that I was at first slightly worried when they kept hammering the fact that the government following the French Revolution was ‘Bolshevik’. Fortunately, the damned thing still turned out to be fairly accurate, at least, according to what I learned back then in school growing up in France. Seriously, I was actually quite impressed by how the Aristocrats were described as decadent, seriously rotten and even quite repulsive. The contrast with the filthy living conditions of the commoners was so huge, it also felt quite accurate and the end-result was such a polarized society which was ready to explode at any moment. All this was actually seriously well done and quite fascinating but, to be honest, I’m not so sure if I really cared about the gloomy tale of these 2 orphan sisters. It was also rather intriguing that these 2 sisters who were not actual sisters were played by 2 women who were actually sisters in real life (Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish). Anyway, it was basically another typical dark and gloomy drama, a genre really loved by Griffith. Still, even if it was all quite theatrical and melodramatic, it was so well put together and it was seriously entertainaing, even after 150 mins. To conclude, it was another solid silent epic drama by D.W. Griffith and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.