Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since my wife has a weak spot for the genre, I thought I might as well re-watch it with her. Well, I have to admit that I enjoyed it more the 2^nd time around but, when I think about it, it was probably because I saw in the meantime ‘Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes’ (also directed by Joe Berlinger). Indeed, even if the material was quite fascinating, unfortunately, I still didn’t really care about the approach they chose. You can assume that the idea was to tell this story from Liz Kendall’s point of view which wasn’t a bad idea but it didn’t really work, I’m afraid. Indeed, during the 2nd half, pretty much right after the first trial, Kendall took her distance from Bundy and she was barely involved during the rest of the movie, except for getting drunk on her coach and following the news on her TV. Eventually, you wish that they went deeper into Ted Bundy instead and the fact that you learn so little about him after all made the whole thing rather frustrating, especially if you don’t know know much about Bundy and wanted to learn more about him. Eventually, they focused on his escapes and some of his trials and, fairly often, some of the arguments made by the accusation were actually rather dodgy. As a result, you start to wonder if he might have been innocent somehow but, to be honest, I’m not sure if it was what the makers really wanted to achieve here. I think that the idea was to make Ted Bundy look more ambiguous but it was like trying to convince us that Hannibal Lecter was actually a vegetarian. Still, it doesn’t mean that it was a bad movie, far from it. Indeed, it was still a spellbinding story and Zac Efron and Lily Collins were very well cast. Above all, I was really impressed by Efron who easily gave here his best performance so far. 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. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Alicia Vikander, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, it wasn’t really good after all and I’m not surprised that they released the damned thing 3 years after the shooting was done (Eventually, it would even be the last movie released by the now infamous Weinstein Company). I mean, it’s not that it was awful, in fact, the whole thing looked fine but it was pretty much the only thing that really did work with this movie, I’m afraid. It’s too bad because it was neat that this historical drama was taking place in the Netherlands (I'm half-Dutch myself). Furthermore, even if this whole tulip rage taking place at the time was really interesting, unfortunately, it was squeezed between 2 terribly generic and tedious romances. To make things worse, even if the cast was decent, none of the characters involved were really interesting or entertaining and the story was just plain boring. Finally, the worst part was probably the ending though. I mean, after going through all this mess, Sophia changed her mind once again and went back to her convent which made her character even less likeable than she already was. Even worse, after finding out the truth, Cornelis decided to give up his house to Maria and left the Netherlands for India which was just completely ludicrous. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing turned out to be pretty weak so the Weinstein Company definitely ended with a massive whimper but that’s probably what they deserved after all. 

I already saw this movie but, for some reason, I was quite eager to check it out again. The first time around, since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I was quite eager to see it. Well, it’s a pity it turned out to be a flop at the box-office as it was, in my opinion, much more interesting and enjoyable than ‘La La Land’ (seriously, it is possibly one of the most overrated movies released during the last 5 years). To be honest, I wonder why they didn’t release this movie a year later as it came out just a year before the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing but, maybe, it would haven’t made a difference. Anyway, I thought it was a fascinating look on the race to the moon and I loved the scientific approach they took. It was also really neat to discover that Neil Armstrong was neither some cowboy or even a soldier but a very accomplished engineer. In fact, all these astronauts and even pretty much everyone involved in this project turned out to be pretty damned smart. And, yet, as pointed out by Janet Armstrong, fairly often, you wonder if these guys really knew what the hell they were doing. Indeed, at least 3 times during the whole duration, Armstrong came close to loose his life and, yet, each time, he kept on going without much hesitation. To be honest, at first, I had some doubts on how they played out the Apollo 11 mission though. I mean, it was, just as the rest of the movie, very well done but, after all what happened before, it felt actually slightly anti-climactic but, after re-watching this movie, it didn’t bother me so much after all. Anyway, to conclude, it was another fascinating movie from Damien Chazelle and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Of course, since this movie was poorly received like most Adam Sandler’s features, it didn’t expect much from it but since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though it didn’t turn out to be one of Sandler’s worst movies, it still turned out to be one of his laziest. The best example would be how, out of the blue, the main character decided to go on a trip in Europe with his wife. I mean, sure, they didn’t seem to be poor but they definitely didn’t have the financial means to take such a sudden trip. Then, even if Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston have been friends apparently for years, they didn’t really have much chemistry as a couple. Furthermore, it didn’t help that if Sandler was rather believable as a loser police officer (not exactly a huge challenge for him though), Anniston was not convincing at all as a blue-collar hairdresser. Concerning the plot itself, well, like most movies involving Sandler, I don’t think it was such a bad concept but, unfortunately, it was again so poorly developed. Basically, it felt like some kind of weak mix of a Cluedo game and an Agatha Christie mystery novel. Indeed, to parody a genre which is already rather silly to start with like the mystery novel is rather tricky and the makers here just failed miserably. Seriously, all the characters were just rather tedious and most of the jokes were lame. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, the damned thing was still a waste of time and I don’t think it is worth a look whatsoever. 

To be honest, it seemed to be a rather obscure movie but since my film-club saw it before I joined in, I was really eager to check it out. Well, first of all, it was definitely a perfect flick for our film-club and I had a big smile through the whole duration thinking about them. Then, the thing I enjoyed the most was to see this inspiring group of friends who had known each other for decades and, of course, the cast involved was pretty neat as well (Jane Fonda, Geraldine Chaplin, Guy Bedos, Pierre Richard, Claude Rich, Daniel Brühl). Still, there were a couple of things that didn’t really work though. Indeed, even though this concept of a group of friends deciding to live together to support each other was really interesting, unfortunately, the makers still felt it wasn’t enough and felt compelled to add some rather unnecessary sub-plots. I mean, as a result, even though Daniel Brühl was fine (I was really impressed by how well he spoke French), I didn’t care much for his character and, above all, his whole thesis project was just so tedious and really superfluous. There was also a rather half-baked sub-plot involving some infidelities in the group but I didn’t really see the added value except to show that one of the guys was definitely a real stud. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still really liked this movie 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 starring Steve Martin and Diane Keaton, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen ‘Father of the Bride’ so I don’t remember it very well but I don’t think it was a big deal since the concept was pretty basic. Anyway, to be honest, I didn’t care much for this sequel. I mean, it seemed to be a no-brainer that it would be about George Banks’s daughter having a baby this time but I thought this idea was rather poorly handled after all. Indeed, even though I think it should have been about how the main character handles the pregnancy, the childbirth of his daughter and the arrival of his first grandchild, the guy ended up eventually in some rather underwhelming middle-life crisis. To make things worse, they completely changed course half way through as, suddenly, his wife also got pregnant. I mean, the original concept was nothing really amazing but it was decent enough but, unfortunately, the end-result was just so scattered (for example, even the wedding planner played by Martin Short in the previous instalment suddenly became also an interior designer) . Anyway, to conclude, even though I didn’t like it much, it was still a rather harmless feelgood feature and if you like the genre, you will probably enjoy it more than I did. 

Since I have always been fascinated by politics, this movie sounded really interesting to me. Well, the first thing that impressed me with this movie was how little politics these guys were involved in and how much time they spent instead running their little schemes. Eventually, in spite of a few far-fetched scenes (for example, would you open the door in the middle of the night to a perfect stranger only because he claims he is supposedly working with your father?), it was much more realistic than your average American thriller which made the whole thing much more spellbinding to behold. Concerning the main character, I never saw this actor before but he did deliver a really solid performance. I also liked the way this character was displayed as someone smart, charismatic who always gets what he wants and who has apparently no conscience whatsoever. Still, there was some major flaws in this plan though. I mean, it is pretty obvious that the guy was in full survival mode through most of the duration but his whole victim act, as pointed out in the final scene, became slowly slightly annoying and even rather pathetic. Finally, I thought it was actually rather depressing to find out that everybody at the top was apparently as corrupt as he was. Anyway, even if it was maybe not a masterpiece, it was still terribly entertaining and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.