Reviews by johanlefourbe

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.

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.