Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, when I heard that they were yet coming back with another movie about Sherlock Holmes, I can’t say I was really excited or even slightly interested. However, since it had been fairly well received and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check this one out. Well, I have to admit that the damned thing was actually not bad at all after all. Above all, their winning card was definitely Millie Bobby Brown. Indeed, even though they did overuse the gimmick of having the young actress breaking the 4^th wall, she was just so charismatic and she pretty much single-handedly managed to turn this rather generic material in something actually quite entertaining. Concerning the story itself, well, I guess it was decent enough but not much more than that, I’m afraid. Three disappearances were definitely too much and even though Millie Bobby Brown had a nice chemistry with Louis Partridge, the whole political angle didn’t really work for me. I mean, a Sherlock Holmes tales will always be something rather fluffy but there was nothing fluffy about the fight for Women rights so combining the two was not exactly a great idea. Concerning Sherlock Holmes himself, Henry Cavill was actually not bad at all and I would go as far as saying that he had delivered here one of his most convincing performance so far but this movie was above all a one-man-show by Millie Bobby Brown. Indeed, first of all, it is always so refreshing when a 16-year-old character is actually played by a 16-year-old actress instead of someone in their 30’s. Above all, Brown seems to be the genuine article as she was really compelling to behold while delivering a completely different performance than the one she gave in ‘Stranger Things’. Anyway, to conclude, even if the whole thing was nothing really ground-breaking, it turned out to be a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since it had been fairly well received, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I had my doubts about the damned thing. Indeed, I really loved the Sonic video games when I was a kid, probably even more than the Super Mario video games, but it wasn’t a game that you played because of its amazing ‘story’ so any movie adaptation will always seem rather misguided to me. However, in this case, I have to admit that the makers did manage to make the most of it though. Indeed, Sonic was rather faithful to the character in the videogame, his sense of isolation was not bad and Jim Carrey was also a nice choice to play Dr. Robotnik. However, why did the action have to take place on Earth? I guess the only reason was that it was just cheaper than having the action taking place in some wild fantasy worlds like it was in the actual videogame but this choice was still rather disappointing. Anyway, in spite of this setting, the story was not bad though, even if it was still fairly generic. Concerning James Marsden, I guess it was a slight improvement for him to be involved in a movie with Sonic the Hedgehog instead of the Easter Bunny but, even if I won’t blame him, his character was still rather boring. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t care much about the damned thing, I have to admit that it was not bad and I guess it might be worth a look, at least, if you want to entertain some young children.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Ewan McGregor, I was still eager to check it out. Well, I wonder if the book written by John le Carré was any better because this story terribly lacked some pulse and, to be honest, I didn’t feel much excitement through the whole thing. Basically, even though the damned thing did have some potential, to be honest, it wasn’t really good, I’m afraid. The main issue, in my opinion, was that the premise was just pretty shaky and it actually never really worked. I mean, did it really make sense that this average couple would tag along around the world with the MI6? On the other hand, you could argue that Alfred Hitchcock had been quite successful directing some thrillers involving some average guy played by James Stewart or Cary Grant getting involved in some obscure conspiracy. However, in this case, they tried to go for a fairly realistic approach but it really clashed with the fact that the premise was rather far-fetched. Another issue was that the relationships between the different characters was barely developed. For example, the movie started with Perry and Gail having some trouble in their couple but what was their problem exactly? And, even more problematic, this conflict completely disappeared fairly quickly without an actual resolution. Anyway, in general, we never get to learn any of them as individual or as a couple. In a similar way, the connection between Perry and Dima was rather poorly developed as well. Towards the end, Dima makes a joke about the fact that he chose Perry because there was actually no one else in this restaurant but it actually displayed the completely lack of depth in their relationship. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I guess it might still be worth a look but only if you really like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Jessica Chastain, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, the damned thing turned out to be seriously weak. Seriously, it wasn’t much better than all the forgettable countless action flicks released direct-to-DVD or on VOD nowadays. The only difference was that there was a nice cast involved (Jessica Chastain, John Malkovich, Colin Farrell) but everything else was from the same calibre, I’m afraid. To be honest, the whole thing felt like another bucket list move from Chastain. However, even if I think that this actress is becoming more and more arrogant with each movie she makes, I have to admit that she actually delivered another solid performance here. Could she really take all these guys during some one-to-one fight as depicted in this movie? I’m not sure but she was still convincing enough. Furthermore, I did appreciate the fact that she played her character as being slightly psychologically messed-up. Still, even if Chastain was not bad, the whole thing was however just so generic and, to be honest, seriously tedious. Basically, the story was divided in 2 parts. One was about Ava going back to her home-place following another botched operation. Not exactly a bad idea but it was still really poorly put together. The other part was even worse though as it was dealing with Ava’s organisation trying to get rid of her. Seriously, it is basically the most basic story that you could tell about a deadly assassin. At least, I did like the few scenes were Joan Chen showed up, even if it was another misguided idea to add the gambling issues of some supporting character into the mix, but those were some very rare highlights in an otherwise really boring affair. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, the damned thing was still seriously weak and I think you can skip it, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Jessica Chastain.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Marion Cotillard and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, it wasn’t really good, I’m afraid. I mean, the beginning was at least promising as Canet tried to deliver a meta-comedy where he was playing a version of himself with Cotillard, his actual girlfriend. However, the whole mid-life crisis thingy made the main character terribly unlikeable and even rather pathetic. Furthermore, it was actually rather difficult to root for a guy whose fantasy was to sleep with a young actress when his girlfriend happened to be Marion Freaking Cotillard. However, at some point, the whole thing became much bleaker as Canet, with his increasingly chaotic behaviour, did start to jeopardize not only the movie he was working on but also his whole career. Seriously, it felt like watching some kind of comic version of ‘Opening Night’ and, to be honest, it became even harder to care about the poor guy. As pointed out by Johnny Hallyday himself, there was actually nothing wrong about Canet’s life so it was hardly entertaining to see the guy constantly whining and complaining all the time. However, during the 3^rd act, it seems that Canet thought his movie might be too straightforward and the whole thing suddenly took a left turn and became completely weird in the process. I guess he thought it would be neat that the trajectory of his movie would become pretty much impossible to follow but the end-result was in fact more bewildering than really interesting or entertaining. Anyway, to conclude, I think I was actually rather generous with my rating here, I guess it might still be worth a look though but I would advise to lower your expectations before watching the damned thing.

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, even if the damned thing was not bad, to be honest, I can’t say I was really impressed though. I mean, sure, the cast was nice (Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Haley Bennett, Bill Skarsgård, Mia Wasikowska, Sebastian Stan, Jason Clarke) and it was pretty neat to see them all playing against type but the story, or stories should I say, never really grabbed me. It is actually rather difficult to really pinpoint what they went wrong with this movie. Was it the rather dreary gloomy mood or the fact that it was rather long and slow? I guess, the main issue was the fact, since there were so many characters involved, none of them was actually really developed after all. Seriously, some of them had maybe 5 mins of screen time. To make things worse, these characters were all described as being either evil, ignorant or hopeless or any combination of these 3 ‘qualities’. As a result, it was rather difficult to care for any of them. In fact, I counted that no less than 12 characters died seriously violently (Charlotte Russell might be an exception though since she did die of cancer) and, as a matter of fact, Tom Holland  was the only speaking character who actually did survive. However, since you never get the opportunity to really invest yourself in any of them, these deaths didn’t have much impact after all. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, 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 directed by Ben Sombogaart, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I was actually amazed by how weak the damned thing turned out to be. First of all, it was just sad to see yet another Dutch movie starring right from the beginning with a naked woman touching herself… Even more problematic was the first half which was so poorly put together. Seriously, it was hard to believe that Sombogaart had been directing movies for 30 years since the end-result was just so weak. Indeed, it was completely tone deaf with some confusing music that it didn’t match the action at all and, on top of that, it was probably the least convincing kidnapping attempt I have ever seen. I mean, sure, you could say that Isabelle was overwhelmed at first but why didn’t she try to escape afterwards? I mean, there was probably something in her room that she could have used to knock down this dog. Anyway, the fact that she didn’t try anything was lame and the whole setup never really worked. Then, the second half was slightly better as they developed the relationship between these 2 women but it came very late and, to be honest, it was still nothing really great though. Indeed, Isabelle could have escaped a couple of times but, each time, she stuck around but why? Finally, I think that Halina Reijn was slightly miscast. I mean, no offense, she is quite attractive and her performance was not bad but I think that someone more glamourous like Carice van Houten, Chantel Janzen or Anna Drijver would have been better suited for this role. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was just so 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 there was a decent cast involved and since it sounded like an interesting story, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though it turned out to be indeed an incredible story with a huge historical impact, it didn’t turn out to be an incredible movie, I’m afraid. Eventually, it seems that Stephen Hopkins, a director with a rather patchy track-record, was not really up to the task and you can only wonder what a great director could have done with such great material. The main issue was that there was just so much going on, so many characters involved and so many plot-lines that a TV-miniseries might have been a better format after all. Still, I wonder if it was really necessary to spend some time on Jesse Owens’s private life when there was already so many things going on which seemed to be so much more important. Anyway, the most interesting thing was the fact that Jesse Owens (and by extension, the US Olympic Team) defied the Nazis by showing that blacks were not inferior to their Aryan race while Owens and the whole black people in general was vastly discriminated in their home country. In the same way, Leni Riefenstahl managed to deliver an impressive movie thanks to Goebbels’s support but even though she saw her work as a piece of Art, it became also the most famous propaganda picture ever produced. These were a few fascinating elements that were displayed in this movie but these ideas were barely developed at all and the end-result was therefore never really fulfilling. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a really strong story and I think it is worth a look, even if it could have been so much better. 

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 Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I really had a hard time to care about this movie. Sure, the whole thing was rather harmless but it was also pretty damned boring. I mean, the story actually had some potential but I didn’t care much about the approach they chose though. Of course, since it is a Disney production, it was hardly surprising that it featured some talking animals and it might therefore be more appealing for very young children but, as a result, it was pretty much impossible for me to take the whole thing seriously. Which is a shame since the story was actually dealing with a real gorilla who spent his whole life in captivity as a circus act, became somehow a painter and got eventually free (actually, he was still transferred to another zoo but anyway…). However, I thought it was rather hard to connect with a realistic setting involving animals who kept talking to each other and constantly cracking jokes at each other which was completely unrealistic on top of being really annoying. At least, technically speaking, there is no doubt that the CGI was pretty impressive but it’s definitely the downside of the improvement of this technology, the fact that we keep getting such asinine movies involving some talking animals. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, it was still rather tedious but I guess it might still be worth a look if you have some young children to entertain.