Reviews by johanlefourbe

It’s another movie that, for some rather obscure reasons, I really wanted to watch for quite some time. I guess I wanted to check it out mostly because I have a weak spot for AnnaSophia Robb and because it seemed to have a rather decent reputation. Anyway, to be honest, I was  eventually rather disappointed by the damned thing after all. First of all, everything before the shark attack was just so cheesy. Indeed, it made Hawaii look like some kind of Barbieland where everybody looked like some catalog model and nobody had an ounce of personality. The rather heavy-handed religious message didn’t help either. Then, there was the actual shark attack which happened in a split second so it felt rather anti-climatic. On the other hand, it might have been the most realistic scene since Bethany Hamilton herself has reported that everyone involved was actually calm during the incident. Afterwards, the whole thing finally did take off and became slightly better but only slightly, I’m afraid. I mean, it was actually a really strong story with a lot of potential but it was rather poorly developed and it doesn’t surprise me that a whopping 10 persons were involved in the writing process. At least, the lovely AnnaSophia Robb gave a solid performance and Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt were not bad either but the rest of the cast was rather weak though. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it is still a strong story and I think it is worth a look but there is no doubt that it could have been so much better.

I’m not a huge fan of Taylor Swift but one of my colleagues told me this documentary was pretty good so, since it was available on Netflix, I though I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I really struggled to care about the damned thing. I have seen some similar documentaries on Netflix (‘Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé’ and ‘Gaga: Five Foot Two’) all about some artists I didn’t care much either but I’m afraid this movie was the least interesting of the bunch. I mean, sure, Taylor Swift is really cute and I have to admit that she seems to be really talented. However, even if the makers tried really hard to convince me, I still didn’t believe that she was such an interesting person after all. First of all, it had to do with her rather tedious clean-cut image and the fact that, for many years, she tried to make sure that she pleased pretty much everyone which, as a result, made her even more boring. A bigger issue was that they hammered the fact that she had to struggle so hard in her life but I just didn’t buy it. Seriously, her career was already launched when she was only 16 years, from then on, every single CD she had released had become a commercial success and it didn’t seem that she had to face some major tragedies (the closest thing was that her mother did get cancer but they spent only a few minutes on this matter). At least, the scenes during which you saw her writing her songs were pretty  good but that was pretty much the only interesting thing about this flick. Anyway, to conclude, even if I didn’t care much about this movie, I still think it might be worth a look but only if you are interested in this singer.

Since this movie is a major classic, of course, I was really eager to check it out. Well, first of all, to be honest, it was after all a rather silly story (the fact that I had seen before so many remakes and rip-offs of course didn’t help). Another thing that slightly bothered me was that the damned thing turned out to be such a scream party. Seriously, from the moment Kong finally showed up, it was pretty much a non-stop screaming contest, especially from Fay Wray who basically spent half of the movie screaming her lungs out. Still, there is no denying that this movie was such a huge milestone in movie making history and the general silliness was compensated by some massive ambition. In fact, it might be one of the most ambitious movies I have ever seen. Especially visually speaking, I was expecting to see an old and clumsy movie but, eventually, I was just impressed by how awesome the whole thing actually looked, even 90 years after its release. Furthermore, as I mentioned before, this movie was also a huge milestone as it was obviously a precursor for all the monsters movies that came afterwards but it was also a huge inspiration for all the bombastic blockbusters that came decades later such as ‘Jurassic Park’ or even the ‘Tranformers’ franchise. Anyway, to conclude, it is quite fascinating that, even if this movie was basically a B monster flick with a rather silly plot, eventually, it still did end up being one of the most influential movies ever made and it is pretty much a must-see for any decent movie buff.

I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I really struggled to care about this movie. Basically, I have to admit that the main reason I actually watched the damned thing was because I have a weak spot for the lovely Gemma Arterton but, eventually, she was the least interesting actors in an otherwise solid cast. Indeed, the rest of the cast (Terence Stamp, Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Eccleston) was fine, especially Redgrave who gave here a fine performance and she was cruelly missed later on. Unfortunately, everything else involving the choir was just so tedious and generic. Sure, I get that it was supposed to be heartwarming and all but I thought it was much more interesting to focus only on this interesting old couple. Indeed, there was something really genuine about them and, behind all the pain and sorrow, you could feel that they really cared for each other. However, for no good reason whatsoever, Arthur somehow did resent the choir when it was obvious that it was giving great joy to his wife during the final days of her life. Basically, his behaviour was just too much plot driven and the way they pushed the viewers to first resent him and finally root for him was barely entertaining. Anyway, to conclude, thanks to the cast involved, it was still a decent watch but I think it is worth a look only if you really like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Neftlix, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though Scott Cooper had so far a really nice track-record and even though this project definitely had some potential, to be honest, I can’t say I was really impressed though. I mean, to be fair, it wasn’t bad at all. Indeed, the whole thing looked really genuine and Cooper managed to deliver a nice dark mood (the first scene was especially really brutal). Basically, it seems that Cooper wanted with this movie to show that the war between the Indians and the White people was highly traumatizing for this country following some massive massacres done by both sides (however, back then, only the Indian people and culture did end up being completely wiped out in the process though). Anyway, even if this concept had potential, the whole thing was just too long and too slow. However, what bothered me the most was how the main characters evolved. Indeed, Rosamund Pike’s character went through the most awful experience and, as a result, she couldn’t stand Indians which was understandable. However, it did last for only 5 minutes and, afterwards, she seemed to get along fine with them rather too easily. An even bigger issue was the evolution displayed by Christian Bale’s character. Indeed, the guy was pretty much a butcher who hated the Indians with a vengeance and who despised his last mission to bring this Indian chief to his ancestral grounds. Of course, it was pretty obvious that he would get a change of heart but this process was never properly displayed. Seriously, it was rather weird to see this guy suddenly calling the Indian chief ‘my friend’ towards the end and it was even harder to swallow to see how they tried to turn this butcher into some kind of hero fighting for the Indian cause. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn’t completely sold, it was still a well made Western and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, when I heard that they were coming up with a new reboot/remake/sequel for this franchise, I can’t say I was really excited but since it had been rather well received (it was even the most successful Halloween movie ever released at the box-office), I thought I might as well check it out. Well, first of all, even if this movie was labelled as a direct sequel to the first ‘Halloween’ movie, I thought that most of it was still pretty much a remake though. I mean, sure, the intro with these 2 journalists was definitely something new and it was probably the most interesting part of this movie but, from the moment Jason managed to escape, it pretty much became a remake in my opinion. Still, it was fairly entertaining and it was especially nice that they used the iconic tune written by John Carpenter himself. Of course, it was also pretty neat to see Laurie Strode fighting against her nemesis 40 years later and, somehow, she reminded me of Sarah Connor in ‘Terminator 2’. Indeed, both characters had some traumatizing experiences when they were younger and both characters spent several decades training just in case their worst nightmare would showed up again. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really groundbreaking, it was still a decent watch 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 I have a weak spot for Keira Knightley, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, even though I have obviously heard about Colette, especially since I’m French, I have to admit that I have never read one of her books. Still, there is no doubt that she was a fascinating woman and easily one of the most influtential French women that ever lived. So, the whole thing definitely had some potential and it was a decent biopic but, to be honest, it wasn’t really much more than that. I mean, the whole thing was quite beautiful to look at and they really did their best to recreate a convincing version of Paris at the beginning of the 20^th. Furthermore, Keira Knightley was a very good choice to play the lead and it has been a while since she had delivered such a solid performance. However, the approach was just too generic, I’m afraid. Indeed, this journey of an incredibly creative woman being exploited by her husband has been done before and her relationship with Willy could have been better developed. I mean, why did she actually fall in love with him in the first place? Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you interested in this writer.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, basically, it turned out to be some kind of mix of ‘Office Space’ with ‘Project X’ and, even though it might sounding terribly misguided, it could have worked if they had focused only the Christmas party itself. Indeed, everything else involving the closing down of the company was rather underwhelming and to think that throwing a huge party would be a great idea to save this company was just a terrible idea. At least, I have to admit that some of the jokes were quite funny but some of them were rather cringe-inducing (the worse one was probably when Jennifer Anniston told a very small girl to go f*ck herself). Concerning the cast, I always had a weak spot for Jason Bateman who is always fun but the guy always ends up playing the same character in all his movies. Concerning Olivia Munn, she was gorgeous as usual but she was hardly convincing as a nerdy tech expert and her great ‘invention’ at the end turned out to be pretty pathetic. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, I can’t say I was really impressed by the damned thing and I don’t think it is really worth a look.