Reviews by johanlefourbe

I’m actually planning to watch a whole bunch of movies from this franchise. Well, with this sequel, at least, they dropped the useless 3D gimmick used in the previous movie and I did like the intro. Indeed, it was pretty cool how it was directly linked to the previous installment, which is quite rewarding if you watch all the movies during a short period of time like I’m doing right now, and it was nice to see how Jason escaped from the hospital. However, the rest of the movie had pretty much nothing to do with this intro (which is something they have done before in this franchise) and this installment eventually turned out to be the most messy and messed up of the bunch so far. As usual, you had a group of horny youngsters going to some cabin near Crystal Lake getting butchered (all of them died this time). But you had also a single mom with her 2 kids and their dog (by the way, I have no idea what happened to her after all). And some lone dude apparently chasing Jason. And finally a set of sexy twins also joining the party at some point. Seriously, while watching this movie, I was checking the time and I really wondered how they would manage to squeeze all this in only 90 mins. Well, they obviously didn’t and the end-result was just a half-baked mess. At least, I have to admit that it was a bold move to add a little kid in such a slasher flick, I don’t think I had seen this before. On top of that, this little kid was actually played by Corey Feldman, probably one of the most famous child stars of the 80’s. I was wondering how they would shoot such a gore feast around this little boy, that sounded like an interesting challenge. However, I was actually rather shocked that they eventually handled him like any other character after all. Indeed, the little guy did get to see plenty of nude girls, people murdered in front of his eyes, hell, he even killed Jason himself. It didn’t stop here, in the usual twist ending, they made it seem as if he became a serial killer himself. To be honest, I have seen some pretty messed up movies but it all felt rather inappropriate and, above all, quite unnecessary. Anyway, to conclude, this 4th installment didn’t really impress me but I guess it is worth a look for the fans of the genre. 

PS: I shouldn't forget to mention that calling a horror installment 'The Final Chapter' was such a moronic decision.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Peter Bogdanovich, I thought I might as well check it out. I actually didn’t know it was Bogdanovich’s next movie following ‘The Last Picture Show’, probably one of the most defining movies of the 70’s. Well, even though his next directorial effort was apparently a critical and commercial success when it was released, to be honest, I’m afraid I really didn’t care much about the damned thing after all. Indeed, even though I always thought that the musicals was my least favorite movie genre, after watching this movie, I think I might like screwball comedies even less though (with musicals, at least, you might get some nice tunes). What’s even worse are such modern versions trying to emulate the classic screwball comedies from the 30’s. Concerning the plot, it was about 4 identical bags which were all mixed up but the concept was rather thin. Of course, it was done on purpose , I get that, but all this chaos was actually rather tedious, at least, to me. Furthermore, as far as I was concerned, all the characters were either idiotic or obnoxious, usually a combination of both and I never thought that they were really funny or entertaining. I also never understood what was the deal with Judy Maxwell. Indeed, why on Earth was she chasing Howard Bannister like that? I don’t know, I find such stalking behavior hardly amusing and even rather cringe but I was above all bothered by the fact that I never understood what the hell she was doing or what she was trying to achieve. At least, I have to admit it, back in those days, Barbra Streisand with such deep blue eyes was extremely cute (in fact, you could say that she had some kind of contest with Ryan O'Neal in this area but she definitely won though). She was such a natural beauty back then and the living proof that a young woman doesn’t necessarily need some plastic surgery to reach maybe a beautiful but rather generic look after all. Anyway, to conclude, even though it seems to be popular, I didn’t really like it but I guess it is still worth a look, especially if you really like the genre. 

To be honest, this movie wasn’t really a high priority for me but I have to admit that any movie directed by Steven Spielberg is always worth a look. Eventually, I think what I enjoyed the most about this movie was its marketing. Indeed, for such a very long time, we knew pretty much nothing about this flick, even the last trailer made me think it would be some kind of riff on ‘Body Snatchers’ which was obviously not the case, I mean, not really, anyway, whatever… Eventually, will it go down as one of Spielberg’s best efforts? Probably not but it didn’t mean that it was bad though. Basically, it was some really old-fashioned Spielberg flick which was at the same time rather quaint and yet still refreshing somehow. Indeed, he could have easily made something similar back in the 80’s so it was not really something new or groundbreaking but, in this age when blockbusters tend to look all the same, it was pretty cool to see that Spielberg would rather do his own thing. Concerning the story itself, to be honest, I was not so sure. The final act, which was similar to ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ in a good way, worked really well and it was easily the best part of the movie. The rest of the movie was entertaining enough but, at the end of the day, it was just a big long chase leading to this last act so you might wonder if it wasn’t a bit pointless. On top of that, I’m not sure if it all really made sense after all. Eventually, the only scene that really stood out was this super cool action scene with a train and I really wonder how they did pull this off. Concerning the cast, Emily Blunt was definitely the MVP here, even if her character was actually rather half-baked (In fact, it was probably one of the main issues with this movie, the fact that the characters all turned out to be barely interesting). Above all, her scenes with Wyatt Russell playing her boyfriend were pure gold and I think I could have spent a whole movie only following this couple. Anyway, to conclude, I wonder if my rating was maybe too generous here but Spielberg is such a solid director, he definitely didn’t lose his touch and I think his last effort is actually worth a look, even if it might be rather forgettable after all. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring Pierce Brosnan, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I thought it was rather difficult to judge this movie after all. The first thing that annoyed me was that, in my opinion, they chose the wrong vintage point to tell this story. Indeed, I think the story actually had some potential. However, even though the main character was a Nigerian man, his story was obviously not told from his own point of view, but from the point of view of the White audience which was seriously annoying. Of course, you might argue that it was adapted from a book and that it was probably how this book was written but this perspective really annoyed me. On top of that, they also went for some light tone, basically, constantly making fun of the main character which was obviously so misguided and, to be honest, I thought it was borderline offensive. And, yet, as the situation of Mister Johnson who apparently never had a first name kept deteriorating in spite this misguided cheerful tone, it became obvious that it might be a rather complex drama after all. I wish the story started earlier, that we saw how Mister Johnson became entangled between these 2 cultures and why he decided to fully embrace the British culture in such a drastic way. It could have been so interesting to dive into the messed up psyche of such a complex and confused character. Eventually, even though the White colonialists were supposedly bringing civilization to the African continent, as displayed in this movie, albeit in a really awkward way, it was actually much more complex than that after all. So, I have to admit that this movie was actually dealing with something quite fascinating, it’s just too bad that their approach was so misguided though. Concerning Pierce Brosnan, he was still fairly unknown at the time (he would get his breakthrough as James Bond 5 years later) and he was not bad but, like the rest of the movie, his character was rather poorly developed after all. Anyway, to conclude, even though this movie really rubbed me in the wrong way, I have to admit that it was actually intriguing after all. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring Charlize Theron, I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, it turned out to be a rather obscure 90’s comedy and, well, from the start, the concept did seem really stupid. At the time, Michael Richards was almost done with ‘Seinfeld’, the biggest TV-show back then, and he delivered here a slightly less unhinged version of Cosmo Kramer and, even though the makers probably thought it was clever, it was in fact also a terrible idea. So, from the start, the damned thing did seem to be pretty hopeless and, indeed, most of it didn’t work at all. And, yet, at some point, I have to admit that it did start to win me over after all. Indeed, there was a moment when the characters played by Michael Richards, Jeff Daniels, Rip Torn and the guy playing the judge started to act really wild and the end-result was really chaotic but, I have to admit it, it became suddenly actually quite entertaining. Unfortunately, the journey to get there was just too convoluted and above all really boring and this fun and wild energy didn’t last long after all. Concerning Charlize Theron, she was only 22 years old back then and she was so cute. Back then, she was just starting in the business and she was not really bad but she struggled to do anything interesting with a barely developed character. I also think that her romance with Jeff Daniels’s character was not convincing whatsoever. Among many things, the fact that Daniels was 20 years older than her was also rather cringe in my opinion. To make things worse, Michael Richards was also almost 20 years older than Jessica Steen who played his love interest as if older men are so irresistible which was pretty lame. Anyway, to conclude, no wonder that everybody forgot about this movie and you should probably avoid it. 

I’m actually planning to watch a whole bunch of movies from this franchise and this 3rd installment was the first one I haven’t ever watched before. What I didn’t know before watching this movie was that it was made when there was some kind of revival of 3D movies which lasted a few years in the 80’s. As a result, they kept throwing some really lame random scenes with no narrative value just to make use of the 3D effect but I obviously saw this movie in 2D and even if I saw it in 3D in the movie theater when it was released, I doubt that I would have been impressed (on the other hand, I’m probably jaded regarding this topic after suffering 10 years of 3D movies following the success of ‘Avatar’). Apparently, the 3D effect was the only focus when making this movie, explaining why the performances were all rather forgettable and even weak. In fact, it seems that all the reviews at the time actually did praise the 3D in this movie while criticizing pretty much everything else. Concerning the rest of the movie, well, they certainly didn’t make much efforts. Indeed, once again, we followed a group of teenagers going on a trip to a cabin near Crystal Lake and once again Jason killed most of them in some rather gruesome ways. At least, this movie finally introduced the famous hockey mask which would become a trademark for this character and this franchise (it’s so funny that it actually took them 3 movies to figure this out). Concerning the cast, it’s probably one of the best things in this franchise, the fact that, each time, you get a brand new group of characters. Otherwise, you know pretty much from the start that the main character will eventually survive like Laurie Strode in ‘Halloween’ or Sidney Prescott in ‘Scream’. Still, the cast was pretty weak, which is always the case with this franchise, except maybe Dana Kimmell who was not bad as the final girl. There was almost no nudity at all this time but there was still some pot smoking and one sex scene. Anyway, I really wish they would finally do something else with this concept. By the way, it was quite hilarious that, this time, the jump scare at the end was involving Jason’s mother drowning the last survivor, obviously mirroring the first movie, but it didn’t make sense at all. Anyway, to conclude, my rating for this movie was probably too generous, I guess it is worth a look but probably 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 directed by David Mackenzie and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though this story did have some potential, I’m afraid the damned thing still turned out to be rather half-baked after all. The first issue was that Stella and Edgar fell completely in love after seeing each other for maybe 5 mins. Seriously, their love affair started already after 10 mins of running time and it was rather unconvincing how they seemed to have sex on a daily basis in broad daylight with probably plenty of people around. For Edgar, since he was some unhinged sex starved mental patient, it wasn’t so surprising that he would go for it. However, for Stella, they never managed to show or explain convincingly why some average upper-class wife would get involved in such a doomed love affair with obviously very little prospects. Another issue was that, except for having some really hot sex, I thought that Stella and Edgar were both actually rather bland after all. Indeed, I didn’t care much about this couple and it was also linked to the fact that, even though Natasha Richardson and Marton Csokas were both physically appealing, they both rather failed to show the inner struggle that obviously both their characters were experiencing. What was also bewildering was Ian McKellen’s character in all this. Maybe he was infatuated with Edgar, maybe he was infatuated with Stella, maybe with both. I mean, it was rather ridiculous how he managed to get back Edgar to the same asylum, to get Stella institutionalized again in the very same asylum where she met Edgar and were he was once again, and that he managed to convince her to marry him on top of all that. It was definitely a lot to swallow, that’s for sure. The tragic ending was interesting though and displayed that there was probably a decent story hidden there somewhere. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was nice to see to Natasha Richardson who was too young when she passed away but there is no doubt that the damned thing didn’t really work though.

I actually saw ‘Kill Bill: Vol. 1’ and ‘Kill Bill: Vol. 2’ in the movie theater when they were released so, more than 20 years later, it was actually pretty cool to see this movie as Quentin Tarantino had originally intended it to be from the very beginning. The funny thing was that, to be honest, I was actually never a huge fan of ‘Kill Bill’. I have to admit that the first part was pretty entertaining but I still didn’t think that it was anything really mind-blowing in my opinion. However, I was above all disappointed by the second part which was such a pretentious bore fest. Well, even though the idea of watching 4 hours of this was slightly daunting at first, I was surprised by how quickly the time passed by after all which is always a good sign. Indeed, as a whole, this 2nd part didn’t bother me that much anymore. Furthermore, I I have to admit that it must be Tarantino’s most stylish film. Indeed, visually speaking, the damned thing was really neat, the action scenes were a total blast and the soundtrack, as usual with Tarantino, was just so cool. And yet, to be honest, I still don’t think that the story and the characters were so fascinating though, especially for a movie lasting more than 4 hrs. Concerning the differences with the original two separated movies, there was only some rather minor tinkering done which was also slightly disappointing. The (amazing) anime sequence did seem to be longer but I didn’t notice anything new about the part 2 (I have to admit that it has been in a while since I have seen these movies though). I had also heard that there was a brand-new ‘lost’ chapter added and, for some reason, I was expecting it to come in the middle but it came completely at the end after the end-credits. Eventually, the whole idea of the Bride facing Yuri (Gogo’s sister) coming to avenge the death of her sister was not bad. However, for some reason, it was done in the style/world of ‘Fortnite’ which was, at best, weird and random and, at worst, really inappropriate. Anyway, to conclude, I’m not sure if I should recommend this movie but, if you are a fan of Quentin Tarantino’s work, you should definitely check it out though.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it seemed to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, to be honest, I have to confess that, even though I did hear about James Baldwin before, very little though, I had no knowledge of his work whatsoever. Anyway, what I eventually saw in this movie really hit me like a truck after all. Indeed, Baldwin is probably one of the most articulate human beings I have ever seen and his words of wisdom were just so profound, I was really quite blown away. I’m not sure if the link with his unfinished book ‘Remember This House’ did really work though. I mean, to hear his recollection of his relationships with Medgar Evers (another guy I had never heard of before watching this movie), Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr was really interesting but, unfortunately, this aspect didn’t feel fully developed which is understandable since he didn’t get really far with this book before he passed away. What really worked so well was the addition of modern footage of riots and police repression showing how little has changed after all. I wonder what Baldwin would make of it, our current massive polarization with the influence of social media on the masses, and if we did make any progress according to him. Eventually, the point of views have become quite extreme, with people still dividing everyone in specific boxes and other people completely rejecting such labels and all of them hardly managing to cohabit together. I have to admit that I did feel quite some shame watching it and I’m not even American. I felt shame not exactly because I’m White but above all because of the appalling way we, as humans, treat each other. I was also intrigued by the fact that Baldwin was a civil rights activist but he was also gay, something which was never tackled in this movie. Of course, you might argue that it wasn’t the topic of this documentary but I wonder what this great man had to say about this subject and what he thought about the way gay people were treated back then. Anyway, to conclude, I thought the damned thing was fascinating and quite emotional, much more than what I could have expected and it is definitely worth a look.