Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since this movie had been a huge box office failure, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from it but I have watched pretty much all the animated features from Disney and, since this one was now available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out after all. Well, after watching the damned thing, I’m not surprised nobody really cared for it when it was released. I will go more into details later but, basically, it was the most half-baked project that they had released in quite some time. However, the big difference with something like ‘Chicken Little’ for example is that the damned thing actually had some potential. Indeed, to deliver an old-fashioned adventure feature called ‘Strange World’ about discovering, well, some strange world could have been actually really neat. However, the road to this big discover was just way too cumbersome and, above all, barely entertaining whatsoever. Let’s see, they did start with some classic exploring expedition but, then, at some point, the leader and his son got into some argument and the son went back home to investigate some plant they found during their journey. This plant actually turned out to be some kind of energy source which drastically changed their world but, then, it got sick and the son had to go back to some expedition to fix this miracle plant. Well, all this boring stuff took pretty much half of the duration and, at this point, there was still no sight of this wonderous ‘strange world’. As you can imagine, they was also some family drama going over 3 generations (the explorer, his son and his grandson) but it didn’t fit at all within such an adventure tale. Finally, to make the whole thing even more random and scattered, the grandson turned out to be openly gay, which was quite a milestone for Disney, but it was just dropped there without any focus on it whatsoever and I’m still not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that all the characters acted as if being gay was the most normal thing in the world. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was really half-baked, it was actually visually pretty neat and I don’t think it is actually their worst animated feature but, with such a concept, it could and probably should have been much better.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick, this movie was actually one of my lowest priorities for 2024 but, since it was available on Netflix, I still wanted to check it out. Well, it has been a while since I have been so positively surprised by a movie, especially since the production was pretty messy. Indeed, its release was delayed several times which is usually not a good sign. One of the main reasons was because their lead actor, John Boyega, left the project while they were filming so they had to start from scratch again with another actor and they had to re-shoot all his scenes. The amazing thing, especially for Jeremy Saulnier, was that his replacement, Aaron Pierre, was just so good here. Indeed, the guy gave here a pitch-perfect performance and I can’t wait to see him again in something else. I was actually amazed when I discovered afterwards that I already saw him in ‘Old’ and these 2 characters couldn’t have been more different which shows that the guy has a great potential. Concerning the plot, for a good while, it was just so captivating to behold. Basically, it’s as if they took ‘First Blood’ but really toned down the over-the-top action scenes and focused instead on making John Rambo one of the most level-headed men that walked the Earth which was such a cool and fascinating approach. Unfortunately, they managed to keep it awesome only up until the cousin of the main character tragically died. I mean, the movie still worked afterwards and it was still quite entertaining but it all became routine as the main character became somehow some kind of lethal unstoppable machine (yeah, pretty much like Rambo once again). Anyway, to conclude, I actually really enjoyed the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Jeremy Saulnier’s work.

I did hear about this movie, it did seem to be really intriguing and, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, as expected, it turned out to be an incredible and fascinating story. At first, it was obviously quite heartwarming to see these 3 boys getting together after almost 20 years and it was even more awesome to see them getting along so well pretty much instantly. However, there was also a dark side to this fairytale story as one of them, Eddy, did kill himself 15 years later. In fact, it didn’t stop here and the whole thing did get so much weirder though. Seriously, at some point, it felt more like watching some kind of cheap horror movie, except that it all really did happen. Indeed, these boys were apparently not separated by accident, it was apparently done on purpose by some psychiatrist which does sound really insane. The craziest thing for me was to hear the only 2 people who were working for this psychiatrist actually still praising this ‘experiment’ after all these years which was completely mind-blowing to me. Sure, I understand the value of scientific experiments but the impact on the concerned children and their adoptive families was massive and they should have been left alone. To make things worse, this study would never be published at all because these guys actually became aware that it wouldn’t be so popular after all. Even more frustrating for all the people/victims involved, it seemed that the whole thing turned out to be inconclusive so all the damage done might have been all for nothing. Anyway, to conclude, it was probably one of the weirdest documentaries I have seen and I think 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 and, in fact, the main reason why I checked it out was because Javier Bardem was involved (he was apparently voicing one of the robots). Well, at least, it turned out to be more ambitious than all these underwhelming B action flicks that Antonio Banderas has been making lately. Indeed, the robots were not bad and I was rather amazed to find out that they were all some animatronic creations which was pretty cool. The mood in general was also not bad either, even if it is quite amazing that, after 40 years, they are still copying ‘Blade Runner’. I love so much this movie though, I guess it might explain why I waste so much of my time with such rather weak shameless copies. Still , they didn’t do anything really original with the material after all though. Indeed, they did try to make it all sound deep and philosophical but, to be honest, it did feel rather pretentious after all. The fact that the acting from pretty much the whole cast involved (Antonio Banderas, Dylan McDermott, Melanie Griffith, Robert Forster) was pretty weak as well probably didn’t help either. It was especially a bad idea to have Melanie Griffith playing some fancy high-tech wizard. I mean, I can believe that Griffith might have been really lovely at some point but I tend to think that her acting is usually rather abysmal and this movie was a pretty good example, I’m afraid. Anyway, to conclude, I have to admit that my rating was probably too generous for this movie but I do have a weak spot for the genre and I think it is worth a look but probably only if you really like this kind of movies. 

To be honest, it did seem to be a rather obscure movie from the 20’s but, since it was directed by Ernst Lubitsch and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. It’s rather funny and interesting how, back then, almost 100 years ago, they could make a movie like this one with just a handful of characters and barely a plot at all. Indeed, the damned thing was really about pretty much nothing as it focused on 2 couples living across each other and who basically swapped partners. Eventually, it was all really daft and actually way too feather-light for my taste and, yet, I have to admit that the damned thing turned out to be quite entertaining after all. Indeed, the 4 actors involved (Monte Blue, Patsy Ruth Miller, George Beranger, Lilyan Tashman) were all pretty good but I was above all impressed by their body language. Back then, like all other movies, it was silent, but, in this case, I was really neat how they managed with only their face and their body to say so much and, above all, to be so hilarious. My favorite one was probably Monte Blue playing Dr Giraud as he had the best bits. Concerning the directing, Ernst Lubitsch was one of the early masters, especially in in this genre, and the fact that the damned thing worked so well was probably thanks to his directing but, to be honest, it didn’t see anything really fancy in this area. Indeed, it seemed all fairly basic to me but I’m probably not expert enough in this area to make an educated analysis. Anyway, to conclude, even if it wasn’t really a masterpiece, it was still a solid minimalistic comedy and I think 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 available on HBO Max, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, the production on this movie was pretty epic and, even though the overhype was huge (some critics even called it one of the super-hero flicks ever made), it turned out to be a big flop and there is a fair chance that Ezra Miller’s career is now really over after all the shenanigans in his private life. Anyway, how was the damned thing after all? Well, the opening was definitely not promising. Indeed, it was such a tedious mess, no matter how many cameos they might throw at us (Gal Gadot was such a mighty Wonder Woman though and she will be terribly missed in the future). Fortunately, the plot was not bad at all. Indeed, it is a classic tale about the Flash going into the past to save his mother and it had a nice emotional core. Furthermore, , no matter how f*cked-up Ezra Miller might be in real life, he really managed to deliver 2 distinct versions of the same character at different age and I also really liked the sweet connection between the two Barry’s. Even if it was completely ruined by the trailer, it was also really cool to see Michael Keaton playing again this iconic character and it was even more awesome that he completely nailed it at more than 70 years old. Concerning Sasha Calle, I did like her take on Supergirl but she was just there for 20 mins only and I’m afraid she wasn’t given enough to do. Anyway, to conclude, it seems rather shameful how DC completely copycat in specific ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ and in general Marvel’s current take on the multiverse but, even if this movie was sometimes a hot mess, I have to admit that it was actually fairly entertaining and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since the trailer was not bad, I thought that I could watch it with Nick, my step-son. I have noticed that this movie was a huge critical flop when it was released but, to be honest, it turned out to be rather hard to judge this movie for me after all. First of all, there was the fact that, after Eli Roth delivered a hard R-rated movie as it was supposed to be from the start, the studio spent more than a year completely retooling the damned thing to get a PG-13 rating which basically ruined the damned thing. The other issue was that, last weekend, I was just moving in into my new apartment and, even though I saw this movie in the afternoon, I was actually exhausted and started to really doze off during the 2nd half. Anyway, even though I have to admit that most of the story was indeed seriously derivative, it was just so cool to see Cate Blanchett, at 55 years old, playing some badass space gunslinger and, of course, she completely nailed it. Claptrap, the robot voiced by Jack Black, was also quite entertaining. Unfortunately, all the other characters involved were rather half-baked and barely entertaining. Especially for Kevin Hart, after the even more underwhelming ‘Lift’, it was the 2nd movie I have seen this year during which he tried to tackle something really different than his usual comedies and completely failed (at least, ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ did work though). Anyway, to conclude, my rating was probably too generous here but I don’t think I will watch the damned thing again at some point just to make sure, my love for Cate Blanchett is so strong, I think you should watch anything with her, even if it might actually be one of the worst movies of the year. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring Jessica Alba and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, it wasn’t the worst movie I have seen recently released by Netflix (I have to admit that I have watched a lot of garbage lately) but the main thing that bothered me was that the fact the whole thing felt so empty. Indeed, for a good while, in fact, for almost the whole duration, I was wondering what the damned thing was supposed to be about. Eventually, it wasn’t a great story at all and the plot turned out to be really paper thin. Concerning Alba, it turned tout that she had to basically carry the whole thing on her shoulders. In fact, none of the other characters was developed whatsoever but there is a fair chance that it was done on purpose just to make sure that nobody could upstage her in any way. The most amazing thing about this actress is that, 20 years later, she still looks so gorgeous but, even though her character was pretty badass and had some potential, I’m afraid she wasn’t really convincing though. Is there anyway that this movie could have worked at all? I do believe that a bad director can mess up a great story and a great director can turn a lame story into a great movie. In this case, they could have gone for a really raw and/or violent approach or the main character could have been more complex but this director really did nothing at all with this material which was already not interesting in the first place. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of Jessica Alba’s seemingly endless charisma, the damned thing was pretty weak and I’m afraid it’s not really worth a look.