Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring James McAvoy and since it was available on Disney+, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though it seems that it did receive some rather abysmal reviews when it was released, I actually really liked the concept. Igor didn’t even actually exist in Mary Shelley’s book, he came up later on in one of the many film adaptations but, even so, focusing on their relationship gave a very nice spin to this ancient old tale. Indeed, somehow, it became a really neat bromance with some massive gay undertones which was really cool. On top of that, in my opinion, James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe were some perfect choices to play these 2 guys. Unfortunately, it’s too bad that I didn’t care much for the other characters and I wish they focused only on this odd couple. Sure, Andrew Scott was not bad playing a pious detective chasing them even if the religious angle was actually not needed. There was also some rich dude sponsoring them but he had also no added value whatsoever and became some kind of unnecessary bad guy. However, the worst of the bunch was the character played by Jessica Brown Findlay. Indeed, in this version, Frankenstein didn’t have a hot girlfriend but Igor did which was obviously such a misguided idea. Sure, I get that she was added to the mix to show that Igor was actually a very nice guy but I didn’t need her to understand that. Eventually, this story didn’t need any of these characters, the relationship between them was already so fascinating, I’m pretty sure that, if they would have focused only on them, the damned thing could have been pretty amazing. Indeed, the really cool thing was that it humanized so much Victor Frankenstein who suddenly became more than this mad scientist involved in some ghastly experiments. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was actually a decent watch and I think it is worth a look. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, when I first saw ‘Coming to America’, I didn’t like it at all but I had the opportunity to re-watch it before this sequel and I have to admit that it was better than I remembered. I still don’t think it was one of Murphy’s best movies but I finally could understand why it was so popular though. However, did it really require a sequel more than 30 years later? At least, it was promising that it was directed by Craig Brewer who also gave us 'Dolemite Is My Name', easily the best thing Murphy did during the last 30 years. Well, unfortunately, I’m afraid I didn’t care much about this sequel though. I think the main mistake they made was to have most of the action taking place in Zamunda. Indeed, while I was re-watching ‘Coming to America’, pretty much everything taking place in New York was fairly entertaining but everything taking place in Zamunda was actually ACrather cringe-inducing, even borderline offensive when you watched this movie decades later. Well, with this sequel, they flipped the concept by bringing Akeem’s son from Queens to Zamunda but, even though the concept made sense, it meant that most of the action had to take place there which was a huge mistake. Sure, they tried to tone down the offensiveness of the material. For example, the rose-bearers didn’t have to constantly through petals following the prince and they also tried to show that Akeem’s daughters were strong (which didn’t really work since two of them had nothing to do through the whole duration) but, as far as I was concerned, it was still more offensive than really entertaining. At some point, Ryan Coogler did a pitch which was rejected by Eddy Murphy and I really wonder what he would have done with this material. Anyway, to make it work, they should have hired either a African writer or someone with some deep knowledge about the African continent instead of churning out some barely entertaining stereotypes which already felt outdated when the previous movie was released more than 30 years ago. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was rather harmless, it was still rather weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring Jennifer Hoffman, I thought I might as well check it out. On top of that, it is one of these rare movies that I watched only because I really loved the poster. Seriously, it is one of the sexiest posters I have seen. Unfortunately, if you were expecting some entertaining erotic thriller, well, you’ll be rather disappointed. It’s too bad because Antoinette Beumer had a pretty good track-record but I’m afraid it was probably her weakest movie so far. I mean, I have to admit it, visually speaking, it was better than your average Dutch production. However, even though the concept seemed simple enough, it was just so poorly developed. It also didn’t help that Loes Haverkort and Mark van Eeuwen made such an uncharismatic couple together with no chemistry whatsoever. In fact, even with Pierre Boulanger (who was not bad, even if his character was also barely developed at all), Haverkort had also barely any chemistry. I mean, sure, she was/is really pretty but I think she was rather weak and she never managed to project to the audience what her character was going through internally. In fact, I believe that Jennifer Hoffman, who played the sister, would have been a better choice to play the main character. Concerning Peter Paul Muller, I always had a weak spot for this actor but I’m afraid his character was the most half-baked of the bunch. I mean, right from the start, they tried to create this ominous atmosphere around this guy but it never worked and it was even rather pathetic. I mean, he was a contractor, and apparently even a good one, and they were looking for people to work on their new house so all his (rather non-sensical and still unclear) schemes seemed really unnecessary. I mean, he could have simply gone to their house, introduced himself, and he would have gotten the job on the spot. There was absolutely no need to do some weird shenanigans in some supermarket. And his next master plan was to have his step-son having sex with his employer to blackmail her to finance some of his building projects? It was seriously convoluted and, since her husband seemed to be listening to every word he said, completely unnecessary. Anyway, to conclude, even if it might have had some potential, the end-result was eventually rather weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring Rachel Weisz and since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though it was well made and Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin were both some really solid choices to play their respective characters, to be honest, I really struggled to care about the damned thing though. First of all, from the moment you hear that his cousin Ambrose had fell in love with his other cousin Rachel, everything happening afterwards was just too predictable. Even more problematic was their approach to focus only on Philip Ashley’s thoughts and feelings. The fact that the guy was such an annoying moron probably didn’t help. I mean, I do understand that he was supposed to be immature with barely no contact with women (if they would have developed slightly more his time with Ambrose as a child, it could have helped instead of giving us a 5 mins voice-over) but, as far as I was concerned, he was more annoying than actually interesting and/or entertaining and I never felt sorry for him. In fact, one of my last relationships was also with a very manipulative woman, some scam artist who was after my money but, in contrary to Philip, I was always aware of the fact that she might not be the real deal after all and, when I found out that she was really fake, even though I have to admit that it was quite a blow, I certainly handled it better than this moron. Seriously, how many red flags do you actually need? To see him persisting in this relationship, even though it was obviously not going to work out at all, was getting so much on my nerves. Another thing that didn’t work was that when Rachel passed away, pretty much because of him, they made her suddenly look ambiguous. Indeed, she was maybe not such a manipulative bitch after all which was an interesting concept but it would have been more efficient if they would have made her more ambiguous from the very start and not during the last 5 mins. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, 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 was starring Frances McDormand and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned out to be some rather obscure feature based on some apparently popular children books written by Ludwig Bemelmans. Anyway, I really struggled to care about the damned thing. I mean, I never really cared about the genre, even when I was a kid, and this one was basically a rather weak mix of ‘Mary Poppins’ with ‘The Aristocats’ or ‘One Hundred and One Dalmatians’. At least, it did display that Frances McDormand can play pretty much anything but, to be honest, her character was barely developed at all. I mean, who was Miss Clavel actually? Where did she come from? What was her feelings and her thoughts? Did she always want to be a nun? Through the whole duration, you might wonder about this woman but, unfortunately, you will learn pretty much nothing about her. Same thing for the twelve girls living at this boarding school, except for Madeline, none of them was developed whatsoever and I would be hard-pressed to give the name of any of them, even though I saw this movie only yesterday. Concerning the rest of the movie, there was barely a plot and, instead, it was succession of episodic adventures involving Madeline, Miss Clavel and the other students but none of these events was really interesting and/or entertaining. Unsurprisingly, a major thing was the owner of the school trying to sell this house which was probably the most generic approach you could think with this material and, obviously, at the end, they didn’t sell the school which was also just so predictable. Anyway, to conclude, even though I have to admit that it was rather harmless, it was also terribly tedious and I don’t think it is really worth a look, even if you need to entertain some young kids. 

To be honest, I didn’t care much about ‘Book Club’ but, since this sequel was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. Well, I have to admit that I was at first actually pleasantly surprised. Indeed, the intro taking place during the COVID pandemic was a little bit random but it was fine but, above all, I just loved the fun banter between this group of life-long friends. Indeed, it was so entertaining, it seemed for a while that it might turn out to be a massive improvement on its seriously underwhelming predecessor. At least, up until they went to Italy. Indeed, even though it wasn’t a bad idea to send these characters abroad, everything happening there was just not interesting or entertaining enough. Basically, it became some kind of very long commercial for Italy which was as boring as it might sound. Indeed, there was no drama or tension whatsoever as these women went from one quirky event to another. I was also seriously annoyed by the ending. Indeed, the whole point of this trip was Vivian’s bachelorette party, the conclusion of this trip was her finally getting married with Arthur, something which seemed impossible for such an independence glorious woman for decades but then she didn’t go through with it after all?!? I completely disagree with the approach chosen by this movie which was basically that getting married was supposed to be some kind of surrendering for her. In my opinion, it was the opposite, it was an incredibly romantic gesture from her and the start of a new adventure. Of course, they then swapped their couple with Diane and Mitchell which was predictable but having this couple getting married was so much less symbolic and therefore so much less interesting. Anyway, to conclude, even though the beginning was actually promising, it turned out to be rather weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except if you really like the genre.  

To be honest, I have to admit that I have never been a fan of this franchise (even if I actually saw the very first installment in the movie theater when it was released). On top of that, since this (supposedly) last movie did receive some poor reviews, I didn’t have some huge expectations. Still, nowadays, there is such a buzz with this franchise, each time with the promise of some massive insane stunts so I thought I might as well check it out anyway. Well, unfortunately, I would have to agree with the critics on this one as it turned out to be indeed one of their most underwhelming instalments. Of course, the fact that I didn’t remember ‘Dead Reckoning Part One’ at all probably didn’t help but I don’t think it really mattered though. The main issue was the fact that, with these 2 movies, there was a whopping 5 hrs of running time which was obviously way too much for such a rather brainless blockbuster. I mean, it was not bad that Ethan Hunt had to prevent this time a real apocalypse (if they want to continue with this franchise, you might wonder how they will be able to top that) but if they had kept the action stuff, removed all the needless chats, it could have easily been done in  one single movie within 2hrs resulting in something probably more entertaining. Especially with this last installment, if you were expecting some non-stop action scenes, you will be seriously disappointed. Indeed, there were basically 2 big action scenes, 1 involving a defunct submarine at the bottom of the ocean and 1 involving 2 vintage biplanes which was, I have to admit it, pretty badass. However, the rest of the movie, and we are talking about easily 2hrs of running time, was about the various characters endlessly discussing what the hell was going on which was, most of the time, rather nonsensical but, above all, pretty boring. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch though and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, it seemed to be a rather obscure war movie involving some B-list actors so I kept postponing it for a while. However, since I had it seemingly for years on my queue, I thought I should finally watch the damned thing. Well, I was actually surprised by how solid it actually turned out to be after all. It actually reminded me of ‘Warfare’ which I saw maybe a month ago (in fact, Taylor John Smith was in both movies). Indeed, both movies went for a really visceral realistic gritty approach which I really did appreciate. I was also surprised that Orlando Bloom, the most famous actor of the bunch, was killed off within the first 15 mins but, even if it was a bold choice, it displayed how completely random war can be.  The big difference was, with this movie, I understood more what was the actual mission of these soldiers. However, just like in ‘Warfare’, even though the soldiers were seemingly competent and really brave (most of them or even all of them did receive some medals, they even became the most decorated unit of this war), it all felt so pointless though. Indeed, right from the start, it was pointed out that this outpost was completely undefendable, in fact, it was pretty much a suicide mission. Eventually, I think they should show this movie to young men (and women) who want to become soldiers. I mean, it’s one thing to want to fight for a good cause (which was already highly disputable when you talk about the wars in Afghanistan and Irak) but do you really want to be sent on a mission with no purpose whatsoever and for which there is a fair chance that you might die? The other ironic thing when you watch this movie was that, after a whopping 20 years, the US army finally left Afghanistan and, within weeks, the Taliban took over the country as if nothing had changed during these 2 decades making the whole thing even more pointless than it already was. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was maybe not a masterpiece, I thought it was actually pretty good and it 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 there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, sure, it was nothing original but I thought it turned out to be a solid addiction drama though. I still think the title was a mistake though. Indeed, in my opinion, it basically spoiled the fact that Molly wouldn’t make it after all. I was also not really convinced by the last scene showing that, even though she didn’t make it, which was actually a grim but solid conclusion, they reversed it again by showing that, after a few months, she still managed to get clean after all. Of course, you could argue that it was based on a true story but, since they already changed the names of the main characters, you could can be sure that a lot was dramatized and didn’t happen at all. Some other details did bother me as well like the fact that it was rather weird that she would talk to some students when she was clean for only a few days. Sure, after a few months or even a few years, why not? But to do something like this so soon when she was barely hanging there seemed really precocious and, to be honest, rather ridiculous. Anyway, I still think it was intriguing enough though thanks to some really solid performances from Glenn Close and Mila Kunis. From such a fine actress like Close, I wasn’t surprised and I really enjoyed the depth she brought for her character who was so compelling to behold. For Kunis, I thought she was quite convincing as well and she probably gave here the best performance of her career so far (on the other hand, the fact that, beside ‘Black Swan’, none of her other movies was really memorable meant that it wasn’t such a remarkable achievement after all). Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was a decent watch and I think 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 was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. The funny thing was that, even though I have seen ‘My Own Private Idaho’, I saw it only once, it was probably about 30 years ago and I don’t remember it at all. In fact, I wish I would see it again at some point. Anyway, it was pretty weird to see this other version composed of discarded footage while I actually wish to watch again the real thing instead for so long. It was still an intriguing movie though, even if these deleted scenes were deleted probably for a good reason. While watching this experimental feature who mostly focused on River Phoenix’s performance (some viewers even complained that Keanu Reeves almost ‘disappeared’ with this new cut but I didn’t really agree with this criticism), I kept thinking that, only a few years later, the guy would die of an overdose. In my opinion, he actually seemed to be high while making this flick and, if he wasn’t, than he was giving one hell of a performance. Either way he was quite spellbinding to behold. By the way, I was so surprised that the 2 guys went to Italy, I thought it was something they added with this new edit but it was actually already in the original version which shows how much I forgot about it and how much I should really re-watch it. Concerning the rest of the movie, well, if you thought that the original was hard to follow, it was probably even worse here though. Anyway, to conclude, I’m not sure if I can recommend this movie but I guess it is worth a look, at least if you are interested in the late River Phoenix.