Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it had a very strong reputation, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, eventually, I wasn’t disappointed, that’s for sure. Indeed, it turned out to be such a complex and fascinating look on this famous trial. Sure, what the Nazi’s did was one of the worst tragedies in the whole humankind history but what were they/we actually supposed to do with the Germans after the war was over? On one hand, you can’t hold them all responsible for what happened but, on the other hand, it is really frustrating to keep hearing everything single one of them saying that they had really no idea about what was going on in the concentration camps. That’s why the very last scene with Spencer Tracy and Burt Lancaster was pure gold and pitch-perfect. Indeed, if you get to see on a daily basis people getting arrested for various reasons and never coming back or even people getting killed for really dubious reasons, even if you don’t know all the details, you actually know enough. Concerning Spencer Tracy, even though he is sometimes mentioned as one of the greatest movie actors of all time, it was actually the first time that the guy really impressed me and I finally understood why he was so highly regarded. Eventually, the only minor critic I might have was about the fact that, earlier on, they made a switch with the German characters and made them speak in English. I think it would have been better to keep the German languages and add some subtitles. On the other hand, they would have lost most of the stellar cast involved (Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Judy Garland) and I have to admit they were all really good here. Anyway, to conclude, it was quite spellbinding 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 I heard some pretty good things about it, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it definitely turned out to be an intriguing movie, that’s for sure. Indeed, I really liked the melancholic and meditative tone. Furthermore, even if there was nothing really high-tech, this depiction of the future was pretty neat. Finally, Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith both delivered some solid performances, even if, in my opinion, Turner-Smith was actually underused here. It’s a shame because she is such a charismatic actress but, on the other hand, it’s difficult to really judge her after watching only 4 of her movies. Anyway, coming back to the movie itself, even though they went for an intriguing approach, the end-result felt rather empty after all. I mean, their android got defect and then they spent the whole duration trying to figure out what to do with him. Sure, I understand that, because Yang was so kind and empathetic, they all felt a deep connection with him, especially Mika, but I wish they took a decision at some point, either fix him or get rid off him. It was also frustrating that, even though it was obviously supposed to be the main focus, you never really get to see how this couple was handling this loss after all. It was especially frustrating with Turner-Smith’s character. Indeed, we get to see her talking only once with Yang and her relationship with Colin Farrell’s character was also barely developed. Fortunately, the mood was really neat but, to be honest, I don’t think this movie had much else to offer though. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow me away, it was still pretty good 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 seemed to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. Since I’m a huge fan of ‘Freaks’, it was really neat to see another movie directed by Tod Browning. This movie had even more in common with Browning’s classic since it was mostly taking place within a circus and focusing on a (supposedly) armless man. There was also something quite fascinating regarding this movie and it could have been a real masterpiece but I’m afraid it was slightly ruined by a really annoying soundtrack. That’s the issue with such vintage movies which are now in the public domain, people can do whatever they want and then put them online. Anyway, it was quite a strange movie with a rather half-baked story but with some fascinating characters. The best one was obviously the character played by Lon Chaney. I’m well aware of Chaney’s legendary status but I have to admit that I’m not familiar with his work but, after watching him for 5 mins in this movie, I understood right away why he was, and still is, so highly regarded. I mean, it was such a complex character and, obviously, some scenes didn’t make much sense physically speaking and, yet, Chaney always nailed it. The other strong character was the one played by a very young Joan Crawford. I’m not sure if Crawford herself was great but there was something really intriguing about this woman who was completely frightened by the idea of being touched by a man. It’s too bad that this phobia seemed to be solved too easily so they could wrap everything up at the end. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of a really misguided and confusing soundtrack, the damned thing was actually quite spellbinding 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 did win the Golden Calf for the Best Dutch movie of the year, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, as often is the case with this award, I was rather amazed that it was chosen as the best movie of the year. I mean, sure, it does have some historical value since it was the very first feature length stop motion film ever made in the Netherlands. On top of that, even though it didn’t reach the heights of such masters like Aardman or LAIKA, I have to admit that the stop motion was really neat. However, even though the characters were not bad, the story was however terribly childish. Sure, you could argue that it was harmless and that it was aimed for young children anyway (probably one of the worst arguments ever) but it was still narratively terribly clunky. I mean, one of their running jokes was to have this little pig defecating all over the place and usually in some very large amount. The narrative arc they chose was also rather bewildering. Basically, it was about a young girl who never saw her grand-father and who suddenly got acquainted with him and they got along fine, you could see that she was really thriving with this new relationship. Somehow, the old guy was the only grown-up who seemed to understand her and he got her this sweet little pig for which they took care together which strengthened ever more their bond. So, it was all sweet so far and, yet, during the final act, it turned out that the guy didn’t care at all about this pig, didn’t care at all about his grand-daughter either, and only cared about winning some obscure sausage contest for which he needed to kill this pig. I mean, WTF, seriously?!! It just didn’t make sense and the only way it could have worked was if they would have completely flipped the tone by going with something much darker and edgier from the start. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t turn out to be really amazing, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch though and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Is it finally the end of the super-hero blockbusters era? Well, it definitely seems like it. After hearing so many bad things about this movie, I seriously lowered my expectations but I still ended up watching the damned thing in the movie theater. On top of that, I have been recovering from the flue this week so I was rather exhausted when I watched this movie and I have to admit that I really struggled not to fall asleep during the last 30 mins. Anyway, probably because I was expecting something so awful but I don’t think it  was so bad after all. Sure, it was nothing amazing and it did feel indeed rather half-baked but I thought the end-result was harmless and there were even a couple of decent ideas. I mean, it was directed by a woman with a cast of interesting actresses (Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O'Connor, Emma Roberts) and I liked how all these characters were connected together. Unfortunately, even though Tahar Rahim is a fine actor, his bad guy was just so underwhelming. Basically, he was some kind of villainous version of Spider-Man shooting some poison instead of webs. Anyway, the guy was pretty lame. Furthermore, it was pretty obvious that they struggled with the script (according to Dakota Johnson, the end-result had actually pretty much nothing to do anymore with the script she signed on to make). I mean, you get to see the main character driving around, she drops the girls into some random woods so she can go back to New York just to read some journal and goes back again to these woods and all this with the same stolen cab. Then, after this very clunky sequence, she then dumped then again so she could make some trip to Peru which was just weird. The ending was also hardly convincing. Indeed, it is not as if all these girls were orphans so it didn’t make sense that Cassandra Webb would become their foster somehow. Anyway, to conclude, I’m probably too generous with my rating here but I don’t think it was such a disaster after all, still, you should probably watch it with some very low expectations. 

Recently, I have been focusing on older movies and, after watching Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, W.C. Fields and Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, it was really time to finally watch something involving the Marx Brothers. Well, I have to admit that I was actually quite impressed by how much I enjoyed the damned thing and, within 10 mins, I understood why these guys had been so popular back then. To be honest, the intro with this talent agent was not bad but not really much more than that but pretty much everything else afterwards was just so hilarious. After watching so many vintage comedies recently, I thought I was getting slightly fed up with the genre but, seriously, I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much. Eventually, I would be hard-pressed to pick-up a favorite scene or joke because everything worked so well especially from the moment they got on this boat. What I enjoyed the most was the free-wheeling energy displayed by the brothers and it’s interesting because almost all the slapstick comedies at the time were really random which can become tiresome at some point but it didn’t bother me at all here. It was also neat that each brother had his own character/personality but, above all, I really loved Groucho Marx who was able to perfectly deliver such weird but also intricate dialogues. Another neat thing is that it was the first movie I saw starring the Marx Brothers but it is not even considered as one of their best so their top movies must be quite amazing and I hope I will have the opportunity to watch them at some point. Anyway, to conclude, the famous brothers really deserve their stellar reputation, I really loved the damned thing 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 starring Romain Duris, I thought I might as well check it out. As usual, when I started to watch this movie, I knew pretty much nothing about it and, at first, it seemed to be some kind of French version of a typical Ken Loach political pamphlet. However, seemingly out of the blue, the wife of the main character was gone and it became something completely different though. Indeed, from this point on, it became some kind of French blue-collar version of ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’. The big difference between the two movies, except the social background of the characters, was that, in this French movie, it was never clear what was going on with this woman after all. As a result, you might expect this movie to become a mystery thriller focusing on her disappearance and her possible return but it was definitely not something that interested the makers which might have been frustrating for some viewers. In fact, I’m going myself right now through a very ugly divorce so my first reaction was to conclude that their relationship was over and this family was broken for good but they went for a completely different approach which turned out to be quite intriguing. Indeed, instead, they focused on how traumatic this whole experience was for this man who eventually never managed to come into terms with what happened to him and his family. Basically, it is understandable and expected that his two young children would constantly yearn for her return but their father actually shared some similar feelings which was surprising but super interesting as well. Indeed, as a result, the guy was going through a rollercoaster of emotions and Romain Duris, probably one of the best French actors at work nowadays, was definitely up to the task. Eventually, you don’t get any answer about how it’s going to work out in the future but that didn’t bother me. Still, it was rather difficult (actually pretty much impossible for me) to root for this missing woman, to understand her predicament, since you spend so little time with her at the beginning. Another issue was that the whole Ken Loach political pamphlet thingy kept popping up every 5 mins which did give the characters a realistic social background but, to be honest, it didn’t mix very well with this domestic drama and, as a result, it felt as if this movie wanted to be 2 really different things at the same time. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was a decent watch though 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. In fact, while watching the damned thing, I was actually wondering how it did end up in my queue. Anyway, I always had a weak spot for Fabrice Luchini and he was a perfect choice to play this character. Concerning Anaïs Demoustier, I have to admit that I’m not really familiar with this actress but she is definitely quite charismatic and she delivered here a solid performance as well. However, following the #Metoo movement, I think that there was something rather creepy about this older influential man hiring a much younger woman to basically be his ‘muse’. Sure, nothing sexual or predatory happened between them so it was not at all that kind of relationship but you might still wonder why they had to hire a young attractive woman for this position. Or maybe that’s actually the sad thing about this analysis, the fact that we can’t picture such a couple in the workspace without imagining some ominous ulterior motives involved. Another interesting thing about this movie, at least, as far as I was concerned, was how impressive and even ‘royal’ the town hall looked like in Lyon and how it clashed with the left-wing beliefs of this mayor. But it went actually much further than this. Indeed, every breakfast, every lunch looked way too expensive. Hell, he even ordered a bottle of whisky in the middle of the night without blinking. Maybe that’s what Alice was getting at when she was talking to him about modesty. Eventually, even though the concept was intriguing, to be honest, I’m not sure what the makers were trying to achieve here after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really dazzle me, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth, at least, if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting much from this flick but, somehow, I still ended up watching it. Well, as expected, it turned out to be another lame romantic-comedy directed by Johan Nijenhuis and, as far as I was concerned, pretty much nothing worked here. At least, the fact I don’t know much about Cuba allowed me to not get endlessly bothered by the series of stereotypes displayed in this movie. Still, I wonder how offensive the damned thing was for Cuban people. At least, it was a nice touch that the local characters did speak Spanish which was better than what you usually get in some similar Hollywood romantic-comedies. Still, the damned thing was such a mess though. Basically, there were some many little plot threads, it was just relentless, and, to make things worse, most of them didn’t work whatsoever. I mean, there was even some kind of illegal Fight Club, for crying out loud. Furthermore, Maartje was getting in married in Cuba but did it really make sense that not only her mother but also her brother would hook up with someone new in this country within a week maybe? At least, it was actually a nice touch that this transgender character was actually played by an actual transgender actress which I didn’t expect. Unfortunately, it was the main issue with this movie, the fact that some ideas did have some potential (not many of them though) but they were all handled in such a fluffy way, seriously, it was borderline annoying. The fact that most of the jokes were rather abysmal also didn’t help (seriously, they even gave us a toast with some liposuction fat?!?) . Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was harmless, it was still really weak and I don’t think it is worth a look.