Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was the latest movie directed by Alex van Warmerdam, I was quite eager to check it out. I know that the members of my film club are huge fans of his work but, even though I have seen all his movies, to be honest, I usually struggle to get into them and this new directorial effort was not an exception, I’m afraid. In fact, the first half was pretty straightforward, much more than his usual stuff. However, obviously, it didn’t last forever and from the moment one of the characters (who suddenly became the lead which wasn’t the case at all before) planted a nail into the foot of one of his colleagues, the whole thing went completely sideways. The end-result was some kind of mix of absurdist Dutch humor (van Warmerdam is the all-time master of the genre) with some Lynchian mindf*ck and a dash of ‘Being John Malkovich’. Sure, it might sound intriguing but, to be honest, I really had a hard time to care about all this. I mean, I really admire van Warmerdam’s unique directing style, the guy simply doesn’t care about the basic film narrative conventions which is really cool. Unfortunately, I don’t find his approach really interesting or entertaining though. I was also not really sure about the heavy anti-religious message. I mean, you could develop a whole movie about the subject but van Warmerdam spent maybe 10 mins on this so you might wonder why he bothered at all. Still, the ending came out pretty much out of nowhere and I have to admit that it was actually pretty awesome. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really work for me, I still give it some extra points for being so original 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 it was directed by Felix van Groeningen and since it was available on Netflix, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, I always had a weak spot for van Groeningen’s work and I think it was probably his most ambitious work so far. Indeed, it was one thing to direct his first English speaking feature with ‘Beautiful Boy’ but it seemed to be even trickier to do a movie in Italian with a bunch of Italian actors. What was even more impressive was how he completely nailed it. Indeed, it turned out to be such an epic and yet intimate friendship going over more than 3 decades. I really loved the opening scenes and it reminded me of the days I was growing up in a small village in France. Indeed, I did exactly the same things these boys were doing, even building a dam on some stream and I had to think about the buddies I used to have at the time. However, this cute childhood friendship was not the only purpose of this movie. Indeed, it was above all about how these 2 kids grew up apart and then became BFF’s once again when they were adults and, also in this case, the damned thing was quite spellbinding to behold. The cool thing was that van Groeningen never judged his characters, he never gave some clear answers about what might be tormenting them, he just showed them as they are and it was a quite beautiful to behold. Eventually, the only thing that prevented this movie from being really great was the fact that, even though their relationship was quite mesmerizing, neither Pietro or Bruno as characters or individuals were really fascinating after all. Sure, they were interesting but they never really dazzled me though. Anyway, to conclude, even if I still prefer ‘The Broken Circle Breakdown’, this was another really strong directorial effort from Felix van Groeningen and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really dying to see this flick in the movie theater (I saw the previous instalment on Netflix which was fine) but Nick, my step-son, was really eager to check it out. In fact, it was the first movie he saw from this franchise and I didn’t expect that there would be so much connection with the previous movie but it didn’t bother him though. Well, like its predecessor, I thought it was not bad at all after all. This time around, the biggest asset turned out to be surprisingly Martin Lawrence. Indeed, since they are both almost 60 years old and considering their rather reckless lifestyle, it was hardly surprising that one of them would get a heart attack at some point. However, even though it might sound really tragic, they played it for comical effect but it actually worked because Lawrence really went for it. Concerning Will Smith, even though he was the bigger star, he actually played second fiddle this time around, playing the straight guy during Lawrence ‘s one-man-show but it wasn’t an issue and he had once again a pretty good chemistry with Lawrence. Concerning the action scenes, they were decent enough, I guess, but not really remarkable though. For some reason, this movie also did remind me of ‘The Fast and The Furious’ franchise. Indeed, even though Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett did start together almost 30 years ago, by now, they have a whole group of characters supporting their efforts, they trust no one else and they consider them as ‘family’. I mean, come on, it really does sound like some Vin Diesel’s stuff but it wasn’t an issue though. Anyway, to conclude, I’m not sure if we really needed this sequel but I have to admit that it was a decent action-comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I actually never watched ‘Sesame Street’ when I was a kid and I can’t say I was a huge fan of The Muppets either but, since this movie was directed by Ron Howard and since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have to admit that I was quite impressed after all. I mean, the movie itself was a rather basic documentary, there was really nothing fancy about it but I was just really impressed by Henson’s legacy. I mean, sure, I had heard about the guy but, as mentioned before, I never really cared much about his work (it’s not that I didn’t try, I have actually watched all the Muppets movies). Well, thanks for this movie, I really got to understand why he was actually a genius and probably one of the most influential artists that ever worked on television, no less than that. Sure, like everyone else, he was chasing the money but not as an end but as a mean to an end. Unfortunately, 30 years after his death, we have reached an all-time low in this area as every studio and every streaming service only talks about delivering as much 'content' as possible instead of trying to deliver something that might be actually good. Concerning Henson’s private life, they didn’t really go too deep in this area but it seemed  pretty obvious that he severely neglected his wife and kids. Unfortunately, I think it’s unreasonable to expect from such a genius to have also a peachy family life and I don’t think you can have both things, having such an amazing seemingly all-consuming professional life and also have an harmonious personal life as well. Of course, he died really young which was really tragic but, considering his crazy work ethic, you might wonder if he would have been able to last much longer anyway (seriously, at the end of his life, he looked more like someone in his 70’s than someone in his early 50’s). Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really ground-breaking, I thought it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Jim Henson’s work. 

I can’t say I was really dying to see another installment for this franchise but, on the other hand, I have to admit that I was still curious about it though. Well, to be honest, the end-result turned out to be even more underwhelming than the already poorly received previous sequels (I’m really surprised that Indiewire gave it such a high rating but it was an exception though). Seriously, the damned thing was just so sluggish and mostly rather boring to watch. At least, after a rather lame intro, the whole gaming angle was actually pretty cool though. On top of that, Keanu Reeves gave her his best performance for this franchise and I really loved the idea that Neo became some kind of depressed middle-aged guy. Unfortunately, pretty much from the moment Thomas Anderson AKA Neo took the red pill again, everything happening afterwards turned out to be so dull after all. I mean, the focus on the relationship between Neo and Trinity was not bad and I have to admit that the meta aspect of this sequel was also fairly entertaining but everything else was just either pretentious, convoluted or simply plain boring and usually a combination of these 3 things at the same time. Furthermore, to be honest, I have to admit I never really cared about the story with this franchise,  even with the legendary first installment, but, at least, they always came up with some impressive badass action scenes. Well, even in this area, this movie was actually a disappointment and I would be rather hard-pressed to recall one single action scene and I saw the damned thing only yesterday. Anyway, to conclude, I think my rating might be too generous here but I guess it is still worth a look though but probably only if you really like the genre. 

Since this movie was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award, I was quite eager to check it out. On top of that, it did sound like a very interesting story. Well, it’s too bad this movie will be mostly remembered because Will Smith did slap Chris Rock during the Academy Award ceremony because this movie was actually not bad at all. Indeed, to call it one of the best movies of the year was a little bit too much as far as I was concerned but I have to admit that it was still a nice crowd-pleaser though. I always had a weak spot for tennis and I was well aware of most of the Williams tennis career and I heard about their father but I didn’t know exactly how it all went down at the time. For example, I didn’t know that they actually came from Compton. Anyway, I’m not surprised that Will Smith did win the Academy Award for Best Actor since he played here probably his most complex character. To be honest, since it was an authorized biography approved by the Williams sisters themselves, they didn’t get really deep into this strange man after all and you keep wondering if he did all this to please his oversized ego or because he genuinely really cared for these girls. Instead, they mostly focused on how inspiring it all was but I have to admit that they actually really succeeded in this area though. Indeed, it was just amazing to see how, from one of the most rough neighborhoods in the US, with his seemingly shabby trainings, the guy managed to train these 2 amazing women who both became the n.1 in this sport (and possibly one of them, the actual GOAT of this damned sport). Anyway, to conclude, even if it wasn’t really a masterpiece, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.