Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I really had no idea what to expect from this flick but since it had won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, I was really eager to check it out. Well, with a running time of more than 3 hours, it was definitely a challenging watch and the fact that basically nothing much happened through the whole thing didn’t help either. At least, Nuri Bilge Ceylan did deliver a beautiful movie to look at but since the characters didn’t go really anywhere, it did become rather monotonous fairly quickly. So, what did the guy try to achieve with this rather overlong flick? In my opinion, it was some kind of character study dealing with emptiness and boredom. Indeed, at first, the main character seemed to be a soft-spoken educated and sophisticated man. However, it became obvious pretty quickly that the guy was terribly self-absorbed and had no connection with his community but not much more with his sister and his wife. I mean, most of the dialogues involved some seemingly intellectual conversations but, at the end of the day, it was only some platitudes and I’m not surprised that the director had been inspired by Russian literature. Of course, you could blame the main character but, in my opinion, his sister and his wife were not really much better. Indeed, they were both complaining about how boring and empty their life had become, mostly blaming the main character for it, but it was rather dubious that their lives had been so difficult and, above all, they were not willing to do anything to really improve their situation. Concerning the main character, he spent most of his time trying to convince everyone around him of how important he was when, in fact, the only thing he did was basically aimlessly wandering around. Still, 3 hours was quite a long time to spend with some characters who were neither really likeable and/or interesting after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if it is not an easy movie, it was still a decent watch though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I’m not really sure if we really needed yet another movie about this tormented artist but since I always had a weak spot for Julian Schnabel’s work, I was really eager to check it out. Well, after Jean-Michel Basquiat, Reinaldo Arenas and Jean-Dominique Bauby, Schnabel, himself a famous painter, focused once again on another artist, the big difference was that, this time, it was easily one of the most famous artists that ever lived. And, that was probably the biggest obstacle that this movie had to face. Indeed, what can you say about the guy that hasn’t been said so many times before? In my opinion, by focusing mostly on his mental state which was a pretty neat approach, Schnabel did partially succeed but not completely though. Basically, according to the makers, Van Gogh was constantly overwhelmed by the beauty in our world but this process was so intense that he became some kind of Icarus who got too close and basically completely burned his soul. As a result, it was also really difficult for him to connect with other people, in fact, there were probably just a handful of people with whom he really managed to develop a lasting and meaningful relationship. So, eventually, even though the guy was probably one of the greatest geniuses that ever lived, he led a terribly tormented and lonely life but, even though I liked the impressionist approach chosen by Julian Schnabel, it was nothing really groundbreaking. At least, I really liked the fact that they did show the painting process which is something actually really rare in this kind of biopics and this process was quite fascinating to behold. Anyway, to conclude, even though I don’t think it turned out to be the ultimate biopic about this great painter, it was still pretty good though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I wonder if the original version starring Terry O'Quinn was any good but this remake was pretty weak, I’m afraid. Basically, it was supposed to be a rather creepy movie about some rather creepy guy but, to be honest, I wasn’t impressed by the end-result, in fact, far from it. The first issue was that Dylan Walsh was never charismatic enough when he was acting like a ‘good’ guy and he was never threatening enough when he was going full psycho. Another problem was that nothing much really happened through the damned thing. As a result, to fill up the running time, they apparently made the rather weird decision to add so many scenes possible involving Amber Heard around the pool in her bikini. I mean, Amber Heard was and still is extremely lovely to look at but, even if the stepfather was really weid and creepy, he wasn’t a sex predator at all (in fact, his motivations were never really properly developed) so it was definitely a rather dubious decision. Anyway, to conclude, I think I was actually rather generous with my rating here, the damned thing was pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of the Muppets but since their last movie was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, I really liked the fact that they went for a completely different approach than what they did in the previous instalment and, Constantine, Kermit’s evil dubbelganger, was a pretty cool character. Furthermore, the whole thing was really well made, even if they could have avoided a few scenes obviously done with some CGI. The songs were not bad either, especially the first one making fun of the fact that they were making another sequel. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I still had a hard time to really care about this flick though. Indeed, in my opinion, this movie was just too long (apparently, it is the longest Muppet film released to date) and, to be honest, I really struggled to focus on the damned thing until the very end. The main issue was probably that those heists were rather lame and, above all, seriously repetitive. Indeed, basically, you get to see the Muppets going to Berlin, Madrid, Dublin and, finally, London giving some show while the bad guys were pulling some heists but the gimmick got old very fast. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though 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 I have a weak spot for Jessica Chastain and since it was available on Netflix, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, I always had a weak spot for movies dealing with poker and it turned out to be a really strong story on this subject. Indeed, it was such a different approach to the game where they didn’t actually look for the best players but, in this case the poker game actually became some kind of social event during which players with very deep pockets would have the opportunity to play against some major celebrities. However, if Aaron Sorkin is a fine writer (he even won the Academy Award for the Best Adapted Screenplay for ‘The Social Network’) I thought it was pretty obvious that it was his directing debut. Indeed, the back-and-forth in time was rather useless and annoying. Another issue was that they pretty much failed to show Molly Bloom’s life outside the high-stakes poker games. Basically, it seemed that she didn’t have any social life whatsoever but, even if it might have been true, it didn’t make her life look really attractive. As a result, they also felt compelled to vastly expand her relationship with her lawyer just because it was the only way to have her having some kind of relationship outside her employees and the poker players. However, most of the scenes involving Idris Elba were rather awkward and obviously completely made up. Concerning Kevin Costner, his character worked better and the guy gave a solid performance but the way he was suddenly brought back at the end to give some rather phony speech was pretty weak. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still quite a fascinating story and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

When I heard that they were coming up with a new sequel, I can’t say I was really excited but since it had been well received (it even recently won the Academy Award for the Best Animated Feature Film) and since I have always been a fan of Pixar, I still had to watch it at some point. Well, to be honest, it gave me pretty much the same feeling I had while watching ‘Toy Story 3’. Indeed, the animation was once again quite amazing but I wouldn’t expect less from Pixar and it was definitely an entertaining new tale. However, pretty much like its predecessor, it still felt like a rather useless sequel which didn’t add much to the flawless 1^st two instalments. First of all, the story was hardly original. Indeed, once again, some toy got lost and, once again, Woody had to face some identity crisis which was pretty much what happened during every single ‘Toy Story’ movie. Furthermore, one of the main themes in the whole franchise was that the main purpose for any toy was to make a child completely happy but, in my opinion, this idea was pretty much contradicted in this new sequel. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn’t really blown away, it was still a decent effort from Pixar and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Obviously, it seemed to be another terribly misguided remake showing how much Hollywood has become creatively bankrupt. I mean, the original ‘Point Break’ managed somehow to reach a cult status but I always wondered if it wasn’t giving this movie too much credit. Anyway, this story definitely didn’t need or deserve some kind of make-over. And, yet, I have to admit that this new version turned out to be actually watchable somehow. Maybe it had to with the fact that I had such low expectactions but I thought it wasn’t so bad after all. Indeed, above all, most of the action scenes actually looked pretty badass including obviously some surfing but also some wingsuits, snowboarding and some free solo rock climbing. However, it felt as if the whole movie had been taylor-made for all the youngsters who spend hours watching some extreme sports clips on YouTube and, to be honest, the movie didn’t have much else to offer. Above all, the plot was even more idiotic that the original version. I mean, the reason why an extreme sport athlete like Utah would join the FBI was not really convincing. Another issue was why on Earth the FBI would investigate crimes happening around the world? Finally, they turned Bodhi into some kind of ecoterrorist which was even more pathetic than the philosopher/robber played by Patrick Swayze. Anyway, to conclude, even though some scenes were pretty spectacular, it was still a rather pointless remake and it is obviously not really worth a look.