Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, 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, it was already their 3^rd attempt to do something with the GI Joe IP and, well, I’m afraid it might have been their weakest attempt so far. Even though I did watch the GI Joe cartoon when I was a kid, I have to admit that I forgot who Snake Eyes was and I thought he was actually the white Ninja but the the white Ninja was obviously Storm Shadow. Anyway, Snake Eyes has always been one of the coolest GI Joe characters but they definitely messed up his background here. The fact that he wasn’t played by a Caucasian actor was not a big deal. However, the main reason why this character was so cool in the first place was because he was so mysterious with his mask always on and because he was mute. Sure, it was a challenge to build up an action flick around a main character wearing a mask who doesn’t talk but these guys didn’t even try. To make things worse, he wasn't the only character they ruined here. Indeed, Úrsula Corberó (who did look really cool in ‘La casa de papel’) and Samara Weaving both delivered some really lame and pathetic versions of Baroness and Scarlet. Concerning the action scenes, I was convinced that I did see a really spectacular action scene in the trailer but it never happened. Afterwards, I did check 2 trailers but it wasn’t there either so I guess I got confused with some other movie. Anyway, with such cool characters like Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, you could have hoped for some neat action scenes but, even in this department, this movie was rather disappointing, I’m afraid. Anyway, to conclude, even if it wasn’t a complete waste of time, it wasn’t far from it and I don’t think it is worth a look.

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 Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. I have to admit that I had actually never heard of the Lyle the Crocodile series before watching this movie but I’m pretty sure that this modern adaptation was hardly faithful, at least, from a visual point of view. Anyway, to be honest, the damned thing turned out to be seriously lame. Basically, there is currently some kind of new trend of adapting a classic quaint children book and giving it a modern twist (see also ‘Peter Rabbit’) but the end-result was here once again terribly misguided, I’m afraid. At least, I have to admit that the crocodile did sing very well and I’m not surprised that Shawn Mendes was the one behind this beautiful voice. Sure, I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Mendes or that I’m aware of his career but, damned, the guy can sing, that’s for sure. Concerning Javier Bardem, it was pretty neat to see him in a such children feature and he was definitely the reason why I wanted to check this movie in the first place. Well, as usual, Bardem went all in and he was basically the only character who was slightly interesting and entertaining but, for some reason, he was actually gone for half of the duration. Unfortunately, even though Constance Wu and Scoot McNairy are some fine and talented actors, they played their characters so straight and were therefore completely forgettable but above all not entertaining whatsoever. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have to admit it was rather harmless, the damned thing was still rather lame and boring and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation (it is included in the ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ list, among other things), I was quite eager to check it out. Well, it turned out to be an extremely minimalistic feature, it’s basically about a young child who wants to buy a goldfish and loses her money and, well, it was pretty much it. It was apparently done on purpose as Jafar Panahi wanted to display that you didn’t necessarily need millions of dollars to shoot a movie. Anyway, I always had a weak spot for such minimalistic features and this one was definitely pretty neat. Indeed, the end-result felt like a mix of Italian neorealism (I’m pretty sure that ‘Ladri di biciclette’ was a huge influence on this movie) with a nail-biting thriller and this mix worked really well. To be honest, it did feel strange, even quite terrifying, to see such a young kid wandering around in the streets on her own, that’s something you simply don’t do in Western countries nowadays (Maybe did we use to do it as well back then 40-50 years ago though?). However, there was one thing that bothered with this movie and it was the fact that this little girl was just so damned annoying. Sure, I know her portrayal was actually accurate, my ex-girlfriend had a young daughter around the same age and she displayed a very similar behavior. Still, it didn’t change the fact that her behavior was borderline cringe-inducing, especially when she was endlessly nagging her mother to give her some money to buy some goldfish, which was even more annoying when you think that they already had some perfectly fine goldfishes at home. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn’t completely sold, it was still a solid watch though 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 was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out, especially since it had quite an impact. Indeed, it is considered as the first ‘talking’ movie so it was pretty huge when it was released at the time. Well, I was rather surprised by how little dialogue was actually involved in the damned thing after all and they still used intertitles for most of the duration. Basically, the sound was mostly used for the songs performed by Al Jolson. The songs were actually all pretty good by the way. And, yet, during these songs, Jolson did improvise some dialogues and it was basically the first time ever that you had some audible dialogue. Well, I thought that even when you watch this movie almost 100 years later, the effect was still really neat. Concerning the movie itself, well, to be honest, the story is not really strong and you might wonder why it has been remade twice already (the Neil Diamond version has especially a really lame reputation). There was also the issue that Al Jolson was in his 40’s and at least 20 years too old to play this character, even if he was a great performer (it's quite incredible that they made exactly the same mistake with the Neil Diamond remake). There was also the fact that he kept performing with some blackface and, even though it was apparently a common practice at the time, it is still really unsettling to watch it nowadays. The weird thing, at least to me, was that Jolson didn’t sound like a black guy at all when he was singing so I didn’t really see the point of this make-up. Anyway, to conclude, even if the whole thing didn’t really work out, it is still actually worth a look though, if only for its historical value. 

Since this movie has a really strong reputation, I was quite eager to check it out. By now, I have seen almost all the movies directed by Jacques Tati (I’m only missing ‘Trafic’) but, to be honest, even though I can say I’m quite familiar with his work, I’m afraid I never became a huge fan. Basically, with Tati, I actually understand more or less what he tried to achieve and I truly think the guy was an artist, it’s just that his art never really appealed to me. Well, this movie was not an exception but it doesn’t mean that I think that it was not enjoyable though. The most intriguing thing was probably the juxtaposition of a vintage version of the French way of life (I mean, it does feel ‘vintage’ now but, when it was released, it might have been actually quite contemporary) with a ultra-modern house. Of course, you might think that Tati hated this cold ugly house but I actually think he was actually fascinated by the future and what it would be like for the rest of us. Concerning the rest of the movie, I have to admit that I do like Tati’s vibe, the way that there is no real conflicts in his movies, no real bad guys, just some average people going on with their everyday life. So, there is something really harmonious in this movie and his work in general which is quite refreshing. Still, even though monsieur Hulot is a cute whimsical character, after all these years, I still don’t think he is fascinating or really entertaining though. The fact that the other characters were even less interesting probably didn’t help either. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow me way, it is still a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.