Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even though I didn’t have some huge expectations, since this movie was directed by Niki Caro and since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, in the sub-genre of the inspirational sports tale based on a true story, to be honest, it was hardly original but it was still fairly entertaining. Indeed, even if Kevin Costner is not the box-office draw he used to be, the guy is still quite charismatic and he was a fine choice to play this coach. However, even though they spent enough time to show that he had absolutely no experience in coaching a cross-country team, they didn’t really display how he became such a great coach after all. And, yet, the main issue was in fact that they spent too much time on Kevin Costner’s character and not enough on the actual runners. Seriously, I don’t think I would be able to name all the 7 runners even though I saw the movie just yesterday. I mean, 3 of them were pretty much reduced to the ‘Diaz brothers’, except for Danny whose only characteristic was that he was a little bit chubby (in fact, even though the real Danny Diaz did really help winning the title back in ’87, he wasn’t overweight at all which shows how poorly developed these characters were). Concerning the rest of the McFarland community, well, it wasn’t much better I’m afraid. Indeed, the movie started with a string of negative Latino stereotypes and ended with another string of Latino stereotypes which were at least positive this time. And, yet, in spite of its flaws, it was still a touching story. Indeed, the life in McFarland seemed rather rough and the future pretty much hopeless for these kids but, thanks to this sport and this coach, it did open so many doors for them and it gave this community something to be really proud of. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was fairly generic, I have to admit that it was still a decent inspirational sports tale and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I kept hearing some pretty good about this movie, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though I definitely could see why this movie has such a stellar reputation, to be honest, I still struggled to really connect with the damned thing. The point is that this movie is actually very simple and very complex at the same time. Indeed, it is simple in the sense that Ozu didn’t use any gimmicks or visual tricks to shot his movie as it was composed of static shots with minimal cuts. In a similar fashion, it was dealing with some average people with no secret agenda or deep secrets and nothing really extraordinary happened to any one of them through the whole duration. And, yet, it was such a complex movie in the sense that Ozu never tells you what the characters are actually thinking or feeling, he doesn’t tell you what he himself is actually thinking or feeling about what is showing to you and he is certainly not telling the viewers what they should be thinking or feeling. It is definitely a nice approach but it is also quite disorienting following years of watching rather dumb US movies in which every piece of information is pretty much spoon-fed to the viewers. Still, what the hell did Ozu mean with his movie?!? The more I think about it, the more I believe that this movie was actually dealing with the meaning of life, no less than that. It might explain why it is still completely relevant even 70 years later for someone like me who was born in Europe and had no direct connection with Japanese culture. Indeed, basically, for the most part of our lives, we will struggle some way or another to connect with other people, even with the people the closest to us. As a result, we are all pretty much very lonely and it is fitting that Noriko, the nicest person in this movie, is actually the loneliest. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow me away, it was still a strong movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, even though ‘Maleficent’ was not bad, I don’t think it really required a sequel but, obviously, since this movie had been fairly successful at the box-office, a follow-up was unavoidable, I’m afraid. Still, there was a major obstacle to overcome. Basically, in the previous movie, they spent the whole duration to convince us that Maleficent was not so bad after all so how should you then approach this character in a sequel? By making her bad again? Well, even though this movie was called ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’, there wasn’t so much evil about her. In fact, even though Maleficent was supposed to be the main character, the movie never really focused on her and I think during a third of the running time, she wasn't involved at all. And, yet, I don’t think it was a total failure though. First of all, nowadays, we don’t get very often the opportunity to see Angelina Jolie acting in a movie and she was still pretty much pitch perfect in this role. Furthermore, the diner scene was actually promising and did remind me of ‘Shrek 2’. Seriously, it could have been so much more fun if they would have taken a completely different direction, showing how Maleficent struggled to act as a ‘regular’ person. Unfortunately, it did last only for a few minutes and, soon, the lovely Michelle Pfeiffer (the actual Evil witch in this movie, as if one Evil witch was not enough already…) launched her conspiracy which was just terribly generic and predictable. There was also a rather half-baked sub-plot dealing with other fairies like Maleficent which was added just to make sure she had something to do but it did backfire because, by adding even more characters in the mix, there was even less focus on her. Anyway, even if it was rather a misguided sequel, it was still watchable though and I guess it might be worth a look if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick and the only reason I actually ended up watching the damned thing was because it was available on Netflix and because another listal member advised me to check it out. I wonder if this movie had been an inspiration for the TV-show 'Airwolf' which came out one year before this movie released. I do have to admit that I did watch 'Airwolf' when I was a kid but, while the concept was maybe fun when I was 12 years old, it just looks so lame now. Indeed, even though I have a weak spot for Roy Scheider, I really struggled to care about the damned thing. Of course, I do understand that the whole point was to have some cool action scenes with some fancy helicopter but, I'm sorry, the story was just so ludicrous and barely made sense. Seriously, there was not 1 but even 2 scenes of the pilots playing Peeping toms which displayed the level of this movie. I mean, to focus on a helicopter pilot working with the LAPD was not such a bad idea but how do you engage such a character in the action as this job was by nature rather passive? Well, in this case, they turned him into some kind of detective which was just ridiculous. Even more problematic was the fact that the 'evil' plan of the bad guys was never really clear to me. Apparently, there was some kind of conspiracy with some rather obscure political agenda but it was just so poorly developed. And, of course, you had Malcolm McDowell playing his usual bad guy (when the guy actually had an intense phobia of flying...) and it was so sad that, barely 10 years after 'A Clockwork Orange', his career was already going pretty much nowhere. Anyway, to conclude, even though this movie was apparently fairly successful when it was released, it was actually terribly lame and I don't think it is really worth a look. 

I have to admit that I’m not really a huge fan of Beyoncé and I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, pretty much like ‘Homecoming’ that she released last year on Netflix, even though this movie also received some stellar reviews, to be honest, I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the end-result. I mean, it was visually really neat and Beyoncé who wore so many costumes was especially quite gorgeous but, like some other similar movies like ‘The Wall’ or ‘Moonwalker’, it did feel slightly pretentious. At least, Beyoncé didn’t make the mistake of adding some plot which is usually misguided in this genre but it did make the whole thing pretty random. Furthermore, I understand that this movie was supposed to be a visual companion to her album ‘The Lion King: The Gift’ which was itself linked to the remake of ‘The Lion King’ but, except for a few quotes coming from the film which would come up really randomly, the link with this movie was just too thin. Finally, pretty much like with ‘Homecoming’, even if I did respect the work done and the strong artistic vision, to be honest, there was not a single song that really blew me away. Concerning the message provided, with the current ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, it couldn’t have been more topical though. Of course, some might be offended (with such a title, she was already asking for some trouble) but, for the black folk who has been undermined, humiliated, oppressed and discriminated for centuries, they could definitely use such a powerful statement. Anyway, to conclude, I wonder why the critics praised this movie so much (right now, I has only a 5.5 rating from the IMDb viewers) but, even if I wasn’t really impressed, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Beyoncé. 

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Halle Berry, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though she did win an Academy Award always 20 years ago, I’m afraid that this time is long gone and, nowadays, she usually shows up for this kind of B features. Seriously, in this case, the first 15 mins were just really tedious and pretty much cringe-inducing to behold. Sure, I understand that they needed to introduce the main character somehow but, to be honest, if it was to provide something so generic, they could have just as well skipped it as far as I’m concerned. However, I have to admit that I was actually quite surprised when this mother saw the actual kidnappers and started to follow them. Indeed, from this point on, I was actually wondering what would happen next and, above all, the whole thing became a wild chase, one of the best I have seen in a long time, and it was actually pretty damned entertaining to behold. Unfortunately, it seems that the makers got stuck and never managed to properly develop the rest of the movie. I mean, the chase was quite thrilling but it probably took too much of the running time and everything happening before and after was just pretty weak. During the 3^rd act, while she was finally done chasing those kidnappers, it became the typical vigilante garbage, a genre I usually despise and the reason why so many Americans still think that they should have easy access to guns, and nothing happening there was either surprising, interesting or entertaining to behold. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of a few redeeming features, the damned thing was still pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look.