Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it has won the Golden Kalf of the best Dutch movie of the year, I was quite eaget to check it out. Well, even if it didn’t turn out be anything really ground-breaking, it was still a decent WWII drama. Above all, it was actually quite interesting that they gave such a different view on resistance fighting. Indeed, instead of the usual bombings, other sabotages or intel operations, they focused here on the guys who basically financed the whole thing in the Netherlands and I have to admit that it was actually some rather fascinating stuff. Unfortunately, if the directing by Joram Lürsen was decent enough, it wasn’t really inspired either. As a result, he did manage to tell this story but I think it would have been just as exciting to read the whole story on Wikipedia. For example, at some point, Walraven van Hall told his kids about some pirates and, from time to time, the character was described as some adventurer and it could have been interesting to further develop this aspect of this character but the damned thing remained just terribly clean and sober. Following the same idea, I always had a weak spot for Barry Atsma, he is in my opinion one of the most charismatic Dutch actors at work nowadays, but by now, I have seen half of his movies and, to be honest, the guy pretty much always plays the same way for every movie and every character. In this case, his performance was not bad but he could have delivered something much wilder (see for example what Leonardo DiCaprio did in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’). As a result, I never felt that I was getting closer to what van Hall might have been really thinking or feeling back then. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a fascinating story and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it had been nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award, I thought I might as well check it out. On top of that, I had actually read the book a few years back so I was actually quite curious to see what they managed to do with this adaptation. Well, to be honest, if the book was just downright amazing, this movie turned out to be a decent watch but not much more than that. Basically, the most interesting thing about the book was to witness a girl growing up and going through puberty under such dramatic circumstances. Another striking element was that this experience was told from her own point of view so it focused mostly on her thoughts and feelings. Obviously, to translate this on silver screen was a big challenge and the makers side-stepped this by focusing more on the group of people hiding with Anne Frank instead of focusing on her. And the result was still quite compelling and convincing to behold but this unique approach was then lost. Another issue was then, even if they didn’t focus so much on Anne Frank, it still felt that the whole group of characters was handled as one entity instead of developing each one of them. Finally, if Millie Perkins did manage to look much younger than she actually was, I’m afraid she still looked to old for the part. On top of that, there was not much transition from the girl going in hiding at 13 years old and the girl living this place at 15 years old, not only physically but also psychologically. Basically, Anne was a young girl when she arrived and a young woman when she left but the makers didn’t manage to bring this aspect in this adaptation. Anyway, to conclude, even if this movie didn’t really impress me, it is still an amazing story and only therefore it is still worth a look.  

I didn’t care much for ‘The Babysitter’ but since this sequel was also available on Netflix, I thought I might as well give it a try. Well, maybe because I had such low expectations but, to be honest, I thought it was not bad after all and I actually enjoyed it more than its predecessor. Indeed, back then, I understood more or less what they tried to achieve with ‘The Babysitter’ but, as far as I was concerned, the end-result turned out to be rather lame. However, with this sequel, I thought that they finally nailed the tone though. Of course, some of the jokes were still pretty weak but some of them were also really spot-on and seriously funny. The best example would be when Cole went to Dr. Big Carl McManus advising him that getting laid would pretty much solve all his problems. I thought that Judah Lewis was also more fun and more convincing this time around. In fact, I have to admit that I thought the character had been recast and it was only afterwards that I realized it was still the same actor which shows how much ‘The Babysitter’ had left an everlasting impression on me…. Still, even if it better worked with this sequel, I still think that the concept was not really amazing or then it still needed to be more properly developed to become really interesting. For example, if the gang of killers with John, Max, Allison and Sonya was much more fun this time around, some of other characters like Phoebe and Bee didn’t work so well though. Furthermore, I understand that they wanted to bring some kind of closure during the 3^rd act but it turned out to be a self-serious and barely entertaining drag. Anyway, to conclude, even if my rating might be generous, it was actually a decent watch and I think it might be actually worth a look but only if you really like the genre. 

To be honest, since this movie had been a massive commercial and critical flop, I wasn’t expecting much but since I have a weak spot for Robert Downey Jr., I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it is rather sad that Downey chose such an uninspired and misguided project following his retirement from the MCU. I mean, after spending more than 10 years showing up in some massive super-hero CGI extravaganzas, it is disappointing to see the guy choosing yet another CGI extravaganza involving some talking animals this time. Furthermore, did this concept really needed yet another version? Sure, I have to admit that, technically speaking, the movie was not bad and all these talking animals were rather well done but, still, the damned thing was just so boring. First of all, it was a rather weird decision to start with a whole animated tale involving John Dolittle and his wife and then start the actual story. To make things worse, this new quest was just terribly generic and, even though Dolittle did interact with many characters (mostly from the animal kind), they were all reduced to a one-note joke. And that was basically what the movie was all about, to see some CGI animals constantly providing some non-stop jokes, verbally or visually, which was as lame as it sounds. Finally, Robert Downey Jr., usually a dependable actor, didn’t really impress me with a rather weak performance. Well, at least, I’m glad the running time was rather short. Anyway, to conclude, even though the damned thing was rather harmless, it was also just terribly weak and you should probably avoid it. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Ben Affleck, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, the damned thing was hardly original as it faithfully followed the rules of the genre. Indeed, you had a washed-up guy who begrudgingly accepted to become a high-school basketball coach and, of course, at first, they suck terribly but, slowly, they became better and eventually made it to the playoffs. So, it was all fairly generic and predictable and, yet, it still worked for me. Indeed, what made this movie still intriguing was its relentless dark undercurrent. And, of course, it took some major guts from Ben Affleck to tackle such a part. Indeed, Affleck is himself a recovering alcoholic and the last time he went in rehab was only a few years back. Seriously, I wonder how it felt for him to play a guy who was basically drinking the whole day. The interesting thing about this portrayal was, often, such addicts hide their drinking but not this guy. Everywhere he went, he was drinking and pretty much everybody knew about it. Basically, at this point, this guy hated life in general, hated himself even more and, in the process, you did get to see how completely joyless the whole process was. Basically, it is all about numbing your senses and feelings. Eventually, there was such a deep sadness in Affleck’s performance, he was completely convincing and probably delivered the best performance of his career. You wonder if they maybe could have found some time to develop the other characters, it was basically a one-man-show from Affleck but since he really nailed it, it wasn’t a big issue. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing ground-breaking, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Gugu Mbatha-Raw and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, it wasn’t really a strong story but, fortunately, Gina Prince-Bythewood managed to make the most of this rather generic material. Above all, I was again so impressed by Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Indeed, not only she never looked more gorgeous but she was also so charismatic and I think she gave here one of her best performances so far. Nate Parker was not bad either and he had nice a chemistry with Mbatha-Raw but his character could have been more developed though. However, Minnie Driver’s character was just a walking stereotype and she was rather annoying each time she was involved. They did try to make her character more complex towards the end but it came way too late, I’m afraid. Eventually, it could have been interesting to tell the story more from her point of view instead of turning her into the usual evil-mother-ready-to-do-anything-to-become-rich. I know, it might seem that it didn’t really like this movie but, while I still think the story was rather weak, the directing was actually quite solid and, above all, Gugu Mbatha-Raw was just quite fascinating to behold. It’s too bad that, after being praised for this lead part and also for ‘Belle’ (which I still need to see), she spent the next years playing in some minor parts in some rather forgettable movies. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I didn’t have some really huge expectations regarding this movie but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even if I have to admit that the concept turned to have some potential after all, it could have been better developed though. I mean, right from the start, they gave us Dakota Johnson’s character putting aside her boyfriend because she supposedly wanted to discover herself but, in fact, it was a really d*ck move. Of course, her whole plan backfired but it felt more like she got what she deserved and this misguided beginning resulted in that I never really cared about what she was going through. It’s too bad as they could have easily chosen a different approach that didn’t ruin the main character right out of the gate. Still, I won’t blame Dakota Johnson who was once again so charismatic and the rest of the cast was also quite solid. However, it was Rebel Wilson who really stole the show and, even though she keeps playing the same character over and over again in most of her movies, she was still really funny here. To be honest, they could have developed her character but, except having her following a similar trajectory to the one followed by Tom, which would have pretty tedious, I’m not sure what they could have done with her. In fact, even though most of the supporting characters were not bad at all, there were probably too many of them and, as a result, they were all involved in some half-baked subplots. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it might be worth a look but only if you really like the genre.      

Since I kept hearing some really good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. In fact, the first time I heard about it was more than 30 years ago. Indeed, back then, one of my best friends and his two older brothers who were really into this kind of sports were really hyped by this movie. Well, I’m surprised it took me so long to finally watch the damned thing but, at least, it was really worth it. Eventually, what made this movie worked so well was the fact that it was a movie about surfing, made by surfers, for the surfers. Well, the first striking thing was the fact it was shot without any recorded sound. Indeed, instead, they had some rather annoying soundtrack and some non-stop comments from Bruce Brown, the director of this movie. Even though this narration might seem silly sometimes, or even discriminating when they get to Africa, when the guy talks about the technicality of surfing, especially for someone like me who has never been on a surfer board, it was actually quite fascinating. I have to admit that I was expecting them to go to many more exotic locations like South America or Asia but, after all, they spent most of their time only in Africa and Australia. I was also rather bewildered by the fact that, in Hawaï, there were some pretty great waves and the weather was constantly fine through the whole year so what’s the point of going anywhere else? On the other hand, you could argue that the point was in fact to discover some unknown surfing spots, some places where nobody had surfed before, and to discover the world in the process which was something rather uncommon back in the 60’s. Indeed, another impressive thing about this movie was how old it actually is. While watching these guys doing some amazing tricks on their surf, you might think it was shot 20 or 30 years ago but, in fact, it was made a whopping 60 years ago. Anyway, to conclude, even it wasn’t really flawless, it was still a really interesting watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in this subject. 

I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Charlie Kaufman and since it was available on Netflix, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, as usual with Kaufman, it turned out to be an extremely challenging movie. Basically, it is the kind of movies where nothing seems to be what it might seem to be. For example, something as simple as the name of the main character was changed various times on purpose. On top of that, the whole thing started pretty much as a rather bleak and gloomy affair and there was at first not much chemistry with this couple. However, the fact that they were both extremely articulate and much smarter than me slowly made them quite appealing to me. And who was this girl Jessie Buckley?!? I had never seen her before, she pretty much came out of nowhere, but she really impressed me and I will definitely check her other movies whenever I have the opportunity. Eventually, sometimes, this movie did feel like watching a very long episode of ‘The Twilight Zone’ and to be honest, I don’t think I understood half of the damned thing. Especially during the 3rd act, when they started to dance in this school, they pretty much lost me. Eventually, what was Kaufman trying to achieve with this tale? However, even if I never fully grasped the damned thing, the fact that it made me think and wonder was well worth a few extra points from me. Anyway, to conclude, even though it turned out to be a really complex movie, I wouldn’t expect less from Charlie Kaufman, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.