Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Denzel Washington, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, it turned out to be one of the most intriguing characters played by Washington and the guy delivered one of his best performances here. Unfortunately, it seems that Dan Gilroy eventually didn’t really know what to do with this complex character. It had to do with some insignificant details like the fact that the guy didn’t have a computer system to manage his law cases or even used emails to communicate but was still able to manage an iPod with 8000 songs. In fact, Roman J. Israel must be the first man on Earth able to order a Uber without even owning a smartphone. But it went further than this as the makers never knew if they should portray the guy as some naïve clueless loser or as some kind of genius visionary. As a result, the interactions of the other characters with this man never really made sense. For example, why was Maya so impressed by him? Colin Farrell’s character was even worse though. Indeed, while Farrell did the best he could with this material, within a few weeks, he hired Roman J. Israel to make a quick buck, then threatened to fire him and then, out of nowhere, turned him into the next great hope of his law firm? Concerning the story itself, once again, it wasn’t really convincing either, I’m afraid. Basically, at some point, Roman J. Israel made a massive U turn completely out of character but, then, they cancelled his new behaviour within 20 mins which made the whole U turn rather pointless. Anyway, to conclude, even if the movie itself wasn’t really strong, Denzel Washington was always quite spellbinding to behold and, only for his performance, it is still worth a look to watch the damned thing. 

To be honest, I have never been a huge fan of this franchise but, somehow, I still ended up watching this spin-off. Well, I have to admit that I was actually positively surprised by the damned thing. Indeed, after ‘Fast Five’, it turned out to be the only instalment which I found fairly enjoyable in this otherwise vastly overrated franchise. Above all, the endless bickering between Hobbs and Shaw was just really entertaining and, at last, they gave us a Fast and Furious instalment with some decent dialogues which has always been, in my opinion, the biggest problem with this franchise. However, there was still enough stuff that bothered me though. First of all, no disrespect to Idris Elba, he is a fine actor, but this bad guy was just lame. Sure, I understand that they needed to find an opponent who was strong enough to beat the sh*t out of these two guys but this concept of enhanced human was rather pathetic. Another issue, which is rather common with this kind of blockbusters, was that the damned thing was just too long. Seriously, the last act in Samoa was just unnecessary and rather boring. Above all, there is absolutely no reason why an action like this one should last more than 2 hours. Anyway, to conclude, even if I didn’t expect much from the damned thing, it actually turned out to be a rather decent action flick and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since this movie had been a critical and commercial flop, I wasn’t expecting much but since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, this movie will probably be remembered as the most misguided movie released in 2019. Indeed, ever since ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’ had been released, the fans had been demanding to get a third instalment directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Ron Perlman but, instead of finally granting their wish, for some reasons, they decided after all to reboot the damned thing which remains such a bewildering decision. To be honest, I have to admit that I have never been a huge fan of the previous instalments directed by del Toro but, eventually, a Hellboy flick without del Toro turned to be so much worse than I expected. Seriously, not only the story was often ridiculous (Hellboy turned out to be a descendant of King Arthur which was just pathetic…) but, above all, it was just so damned boring. Basically, it was so bad that during the second half, I almost fell asleep.  At least, David Harbour looked pretty badass and I think he was a decent replacement for Ron Perlman but, to be honest, it was probably the only thing that did work in this movie. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing turned out to be another useless reboot and I don’t think it is worth a look. 

Since I kept hearing some really good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, I was slightly worried to watch a movie which had a whopping running time of 6 hours. Well, eventually, I was surprised by how easy it was to watch the whole thing and, if you are interested in watching this flick, I would advise to watch both parts back to back or, at least, during one day. I have to admit that the beginning was rather awkward but, fairly quickly, the damned thing became a massive epic during which you follow 2 brothers through 3 decades. Obviously, Marco Tullio Giordana had plenty of time to deliver some completely fully formed characters and I also believe that this movie is one of the greatest humanist pictures I have ever seen. Indeed, among many incredible scenes, there was this one when some students start to beat up a policeman and then Matteo himself starts to beat up one of the students as well showing that, in real life, nothing is completely black or white. And, even more impressive, is to see how much love Matteo and Nicola always have for each other, even when they both chose some completely different paths in their respective lives. Of course, you also get to learn more about Italy but they made sure it didn’t become some kind of commercial as you get to see Italy in its full glory but also its darker sides. Anyway, to conclude, even if watching this movie might seem like doing some kind of movie marathon, to follow these characters was just such a fascinating journey  and the damned thing is definitely worth a look. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have seen all the previous movies directed by Danny Boyle, I was quite eager to check this one out as well. Indeed, even if the concept didn’t sound really amazing, I still thought it was pretty neat that, once again, Danny Boyle was trying something completely different. Unfortunately, I was surprised by how little I actually did care about the damned thing after all and I don’t really get why it had been relatively well received when it was released. First of all, I find rather doubtful, if the Beatles would come up with their songs nowadays, that they would be so successful but it  probably had to do with the fact that I’m not a huge fan of their work. However, the biggest issue was the fact that the whole thing was just so damned generic and predictable. At least, I did appreciate that they toned down Lily James’s natural beauty to make her look like your average next-door-girl but, in my opinion, she didn’t have much chemistry with Himesh Patel. On top of that, Patel was a rather underwhelming lead after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, I still think it was, so far, Danny Boyle’s most disappointing directing effort but I guess it is still worth a look if you really like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Romain Duris, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing. I mean, it was basically like watching ‘Rocky’ except that they switched boxing with speed typing which was pretty much as lame as it sounds. Of course, pretty much like with ‘Down with Love’, the whole point was to recreate the sweet and innocence vibe coming from such light comedies made at the end of the 50's and the beginning of the 60’s but, in my opinion, the genre feels nowadays seriously outdated. At least, I can’t deny that the lovely Déborah François with her charismatic classic look was a perfect choice to play this character. Concerning Romain Duris, I always thought he was one of the most interesting French actors, it was pretty neat to see him doing something so different and he obviously had a lot of fun with this part. Eventually, Duris and François had a really nice chemistry together but it was still not enough to make me forget the general silliness coming from this flick. Anyway, to conclude, even if it wasn’t really for me, I guess it might still be worth a look but only if you really like the genre.  

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but the ratings were pretty good and 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, it turned out to be a really solid political thriller with a fairly realistic approach, even if it was sometimes slightly difficult to follow its rapid-fire dialogues. Still, even if the whole thing felt for the most part quite grounded, some of it was still rather far-fetched. For example, even in some fantasy world, the strongest lobbyist in the world would still not be able to bring down the all-powerful gun lobby. Furthermore, even if it was pretty neat to see Jessica Chastain playing such a badass woman, it was rather hard to swallow that this character could predict pretty much any possible random twist. Concerning Chastain, to be honest, I had some mixed feelings about her. I mean, I can understand that she was attracted by such a strong character and she really nailed this performance but, to be honest, it would be nice to see her playing someone slightly more vulnerable for a change. At least, they didn’t ruin her character by adding some generic romance, some basic family drama or the standard best friend giving some moral support. Anyway, to conclude, even it wasn’t a complete home-run, it was still a really entertaining thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

After watching ‘Paris, je t’aime’ and ‘New York, I love you’, I was quite eager to check this new instalment, especially since it was available on Netflix. Well, even if this movie was apparently rather poorly received, I thought it was actually a decent watch. Indeed, I did like the fact that they slightly mixed all the storylines together and that there was no clear separation between each little story. Still, I can’t say the damned thing was a smashing success though. The first thing that bothered me was the fact that, even though this movie was supposed to be about Berlin, almost all the characters spoke only English. In fact, almost all the characters were either some expats or some tourists and it was a little bit weird to see a movie focusing on Berlin without including more people actually born in Germany. Concerning the shorts themselves, to be honest, I had a hard time to care about the fantastic elements and, sometimes, they did struggle to make them look more than just some cheesy postcards. Still, I did like the vibe of the whole thing and, on a side note, it is pretty impressive that even though Mickey Rourke looks awful after some misguided plastic surgery, the guy is still terribly charismatic. However, what the relationship between a father and his lost daughter might have to do with Berlin is rather questionable but I guess you could say that about all these short. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have a weak spot for this series of anthologies and this one is also worth a look, especially if you like the genre.