Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I really loved ‘Hamilton’ on Disney+, I was quite eager to check Lin-Manuel Miranda’s directorial debut. Well, while it was probably a passion project for Miranda, to be honest, I didn’t really have a connection with the material. The tricky thing is that, even though I’m well aware that ‘Rent’ was one of the most successful musicals ever produced, the only contact I had with this work was the film adaptation by Chris Columbus which didn’t really impress me. Furthermore, I’m not sure if mixing an actual stage performance with ‘Tick, Tick... Boom!’ with a rather straightforward biopic about Jonathan Larson was such a great idea. The other issue I had was that it was pretty obvious that ‘Superbia’ was just a way too ambitious project for an unestablished author. Indeed, I thought it is rather bewildering that during the whopping 7 years Larson had worked on it, nobody ever pointed this out, told him to put aside this huge project and work instead on something which might actually get produced. It was also a mistake to spend so much time on Larson supposedly struggling to write a new song. Indeed, it was a rather weak, predictable and, above all, completely unnecessary narrative gimmick. It also completely contradicted that the fact that Larson was displayed as being apparently some kind of genius who could write a song about anything within a few minutes. At least, I have to admit that the songs in this movie (all written by Jonathan Larson) were really catchy and I can imagine that the guy must have been a big inspiration for Miranda. Furthermore, even if I didn’t know Larson, Andrew Garfield still nailed another really strong performance here. Concerning the rest of the cast, I thought that Alexandra Shipp was really charismatic but, to be honest, the movie was really focused only on Larson so she didn’t have much to do. At least, this movie did display one of the most realistic and probably one of the best break-up scenes I have seen. It was also the first time I saw Vanessa Hudgens in a musical since the ‘High School Musical’ franchise and she actually impressed me, even if her character was not developed whatsoever. Seriously, she was basically born for this genre. Anyway, to conclude, even if it never really blew away, it was still 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 there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Unfortunately, even though the concept did have some potential, the end-result still turned out to be terribly weak, I’m afraid. The first issue was that, even though the damned thing was really short (not even 80 mins), there were just way too many characters involved with each their own rather underwhelming little story. Seriously, what was the point of Jorge Garcia’s janitor character? It was also rather bewildering that, even though Anna Kendrick was prominently displayed on all the promotional material and was presented as a lead character, she barely had anything to do through the whole duration. Anyway, the whole thing was just terribly random. Concerning the tone and the approach, even there, it didn’t really work either. Indeed, at first, the idea that everyone has to get a job at some point, no matter what, was actually intriguing but it was completely unclear what the makers eventually wanted to say about this subject. In fact, it could have been really cool if they had gone for a grittier realistic approach. For example, the (surprising topless) scene involving Cameron Richardson was not only entertaining but actually pretty effective and displayed the correct tone that they should have gone for. Unfortunately, instead, they went for some cheap jokes and a bunch of half-baked sub-plots. The ending was also extremely lame. Indeed, after going back-and-forth between being realistic or not through the whole duration, they basically threw everything out of the window and went for some completely far-fetched fairy tale ending. Indeed, after all, the main character shouldn’t worry about getting a steady job as, according to this movie, the easiest and smartest thing to do was apparently to start up his own company. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing had some potential, it didn’t care much for it 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 directed by Steven Soderbergh and since there was a pretty cool cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, after going through one of the shortest retirements ever (around 3 years), Soderbergh is back at it, releasing at least one movie each year, even 2 in 2019. Well, even though I actually enjoyed this crime thriller which was so much grittier than the ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ franchise, like most of Soderbergh’s work, even if it was really stylish, the end-result still felt rather empty. By the way, Soderbergh apparently did experiment with some anamorphic lenses and, as a result, the image was very often distorted on the edges which was rather distracting. Concerning the story, since it was a néo-noir, it was at times rather convoluted but it is inherent to the genre. Indeed, one of the pleasures of this movie was to figure who was who and what the hell was going on. I wonder if it would be interesting to see it again at some point, to see if I could better figure it out, but I’m afraid I would discover plenty of plot-holes since I’m not sure that everything did make sense. Still, I did like the cynical approach as not only the police forces turned out to be crooked but the biggest gangsters of the whole bunch turned out to be the leaders of the huge business corporations. However, it was pretty weird that the whole thing became suddenly some kind of ecological pamphlet towards the end. 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. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Catherine Zeta-Jones, I thought I might as well check it out. Apparently, it was based on a popular old British TV-show which I have never seen but, unfortunately, this remake turned out to be terribly tedious, I’m afraid. First of all, to make a comedy around WWII is not impossible but it is really difficult and, in this case, it was a rather cringe-inducing attempt. Indeed, through the whole duration, I couldn’t help thinking about all the horrors taking place in the rest of Europa while this group of pathetic and either idiotic or senile old guys were basically 'playing' soldiers. Eventually, the only one in this group who was slightly less annoying than the rest was the character played by the always charismatic Bill Nighy. However, even if Nighy did what he could with this rather abysmal material, his character was still ruined by the fact that the guy didn’t think for one second that it was rather weird that such a woman way out of his league would try to seduce him. At least, Catherine Zeta-Jones was as usual quite gorgeous and she was a perfect choice to play such spy/femme fatale. Still, even her character was ruined by getting involved in such an inane conspiracy. Indeed, to try to convince the viewers that the key to win WWII was supposedly to infiltrate this very small community and this Home Guard platoon was just completely ridiculous. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have to admit that the damned thing was rather harmless, I just really didn’t like at all and I don’t think it is worth a look. 

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this sequel but since Johnny Depp was involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, 7 long years after the 1^st instalment was released, who was actually asking for this movie? I mean, it’s not that ‘Gnomeo & Juliet’ was one of the worst animated features I have seen but it was also hardly remarkable and, back then, it definitely didn’t turn out to be a huge box-office success. Anyway, I have to admit that once again the animation was not bad at all and, at least, it was not much worse than its predecessor but, to be honest, it was pretty much the only positive things I could think of regarding this movie. Indeed, it was already pretty random to make a version of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ starring some garden gnomes and adding Sherlock Holmes to the mix certainly made the whole thing even more scattered. At least, the detective angle was refreshing but, unfortunately, they came up with a story which managed to be seriously derivative but also too convoluted at the same time. Eventually, I felt mostly sad about Johnny Depp, who was actually the main reason why I wanted to check this flick. Indeed, if the best gig you can get is to do some voice-over work for the sequel of a 2^nd rate animated franchise, then you should know that your career is in trouble. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was rather harmless, it was still seriously tedious and I don’t think it is worth a look. Indeed, even for your kids, there are countless more fun CGI animated features out there for them. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Stephen Frears and starring Meryl Streep, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, the whole thing really had some potential. Indeed, as displayed with ‘Ed Wood’, if you can make a fascinating movie about the worst director of all time, why not make a movie about the worst singer ever? Unfortunately, I’m afraid I didn’t care much about the approach they have chosen. Indeed, while Ed Wood seemed to be a seriously incompetent film maker, however, he never believed he was a great director while, in this case, Florence Foster Jenkins was displayed as a delusional idiot. As a result, it was rather difficult to root for her. To make things worse, everyone in her inner circle, especially her husband, constantly enabled her delusional behaviour and even more problematic was that their intentions were never cleared. Indeed, did they do it for the money or did they do it because they really cared for her? Well, by watching this movie, you’ll never know as the makers never seemed to make up their mind on this matter. In fact, I think they should have focused more on the fact  that, even though Florence Foster Jenkins was a terrible singer, she was actually really popular at the time. Indeed, in order to have a great time at a concert, either as a performer or as the audience, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the people on stage need to actually have any musical skills. The will to perform and to have a great time might be actually sufficient and it was apparently the case for this unique woman. Unfortunately, in this movie, they instead went for the easy laughs and spent way too much time on showing how ridiculous she was. Still, there is no denying that Meryl Streep delivered another solid performance. indeed, not only it must have been extremely difficult to mimic Jenkins’s awful singing skills but she also completely disappeared in her character. There was also something sweet about the couple she made with Hugh Grant. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing never really worked for me, it was still a decent watch and I guess it might be worth a look if you like the genre. 

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have to admit that Rebecca Hall really impressed me with her directorial debut. Indeed, she gave such a heartfelt and fascinating look on the complexity and the hardship it might entail to be black or Mixed-race in the US back in the 20’s (but you could say that it still does apply for today I’m afraid). Of course, at first, you would be inclined to blame Clare for the choices she made but it is actually fairly easily to judge her if you (like myself) are white and have enjoyed all the privileges of the white middle-class through your whole life. Furthermore, even though Irene made a more moral choice, she hardly seemed to be happier than her friend. And that’s the heart-breaking conclusion made by this movie, the fact that every black and woman are stuck in some jail, no matter the choices they might make on how to live their lives. Indeed, what choices do they have? Since they are black, they always will be at best marginalized, bullied, discriminated and, in the worst-case scenarios, they might even get killed by some angry mob or some average cop just because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. By pretending to be white, even it might seem to be morally wrong, there would be some clear advantages to be part of the ruling class. However, as displayed in this movie, by making this choice, they would just end up in another kind of cage. Another option might be to actually leave the country, an option argued a couple of times by Brian, Irene’s husband. The only thing I was missing was that I never really understood why Irene and Brian were so obsessed by Clare though but it wasn't a deal-breaker. Anyway, to conclude, it turned out to be a rather simple but intense drama and it is definitely worth a look. 

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. The last 20 years, I have tried to follow Atom Egoyan's work but everything he made recently turned out to be rather underwhelming ('The Captive' being an all-time low for the Canadian director). Well, after all these years, it was really neat to finally see his magnum-opus and the reason why the guy was one of the most heralded directors back in the 90's. To be honest, it wasn't an easy movie to decipher though. Indeed, you had first some random chronology which is usually a useless gimmick but it did work very well here. Then, the motivations of Steven Mitchell were also rather obscure. Indeed, it seemed rather unlikely that he did it for the money but, then, why did he try to convince this community to get a trial? Maybe because it was his job and he was good at it? Anyway, eventually, it was not a movie about greed, it was a movie about grief and the different ways you can deal with this emotion. Indeed, the people of this small community needed some closure, even deserved it but it was denied to them and you can't blame them for trying to find it by going through this judicial process. Unfortunately, they will probably never reach any kind of closure, their lives, for most of them, will be shattered for good and no lawsuit, no money settlement, would really alleviate their sorrow. It was all intertwined with the story of his lawyer who was also grieving in his own way, even if his daughter was not actually dead. Indeed, after death, drug addiction must be the most dreadful nightmare for any parent. However, even though most movies will sell you the idea that drug addicts can recover, it is not always the case. For Steven Mitchell, even if he still loved his daughter after all what happened, she basically completely disappeared and the only thing left was her addiction which must have been really heartbreaking for the poor guy. That they managed to show all this in just a few phone calls was just really impressive and Ian Holm delivered here one of the best performances of his career. Anyway, to conclude, I'm glad I finally watched the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.