Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even if this movie was a big commercial and critical flop, I still wanted to check it out though. It’s a shame because a Predator flick written and directed by Shane Black sounded so cool at first. However, it was indeed pretty weak, in fact, it turned out to be only slightly better than the terrible ‘Alien vs Predator’ movies. I mean, there were a couple of decent ideas but there were a whole bunch of bad ones as well. For example, I really have a weak spot for Olivia Munn and she tried really hard but to have a scientist trying to fight off such a skilled killing machine was lame. I mean, at some point, you get to see her running around with some toy gun after the predator which was just rather pathetic. Even worse, they decided to add some kid to the mix which was rather misguided. Indeed, as a result, you get to see some violent R rated action scenes with a young boy in the middle of the action. To make things worse, the kid was some autistic genius which has become such a lame and lazy gimmick. Finally, I don’t understand why they keep trying to turn the Predator into a good guy. Indeed, it’s such a tedious approach and it doesn’t make the character more entertaining at all. In this case, there was also just way too much explanation about the motivations of the Predators when this character has always been more interesting when he remained mysterious. Eventually, the only original idea I did like was the fact that the team of soldiers facing the Predator was composed of mental patients but even this idea was poorly developed. Seriously, it was maybe fun for 5 minutes but it got old very fast. Indeed, it could have been really neat to see this team of crazy guys having no sense of what is going on, taking some incredible risks and actually succeeding but, instead, they turned out to be some cowards which was definitely not what this kind of movies needs. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, the whole thing felt like another missed opportunity to finally do something interesting with this franchise and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

I wasn’t really sure what to  expect from this flick but since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, following the already amazing ‘Minding the Gap’, it turned out to be another really solid feature dealing with skaters also released in 2018. Seriously, it definitely turned out to be a nice surprise, especially coming from Jonah Hill. I mean, I always thought the guy was a decent actor but, apparently, he could also become a really interesting director. Of course, it was pretty neat that I was about the same age of the main character while I was growing up in the 90’s but the whole thing went just way beyond some nostalgic trip. Indeed, the joy experienced by the main character after finally joining a motley crew of kindred spirits looking amazingly cool to him, even if it might be fuelling his destructive personality, was highly recognizable. Hell, even the way he met his first girl was pretty much EXACTLY how I met my first girl (indeed, when I was 14 years old, my big sister was throwing a party and I hooked up with one of her friends who was 18 years at the time). On top of that, the characters were very well written and so well played by a bunch of mostly first-timers. The only exception would be Lucas Edges who I saw already twice during the previous weeks (in ‘Lady Bird’ and in ‘Three Billboards…’ but also in ‘Manchester by the Sea’) and the guy is quickly turning into one of the most interesting actors of his generation. It’s too bad that the tension in his family was not more developed though. I mean, the mother made a huge scandal because her son was hanging out with some skaters but there was never a mention of the fact that her older son was beating the shit out of him on a regular basis. Anyway, a bigger issue was probably the fact that, at the end of day, the whole thing was fairly generic and predictable but I still think it was an impressive directing debut and the damned thing is definitely worth a look. 

To be honest, I’m not really a huge fan of Beyoncé but since I kept hearing some good things about this movie and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned to be a decent watch, even if a running time of almost 150 mins was a little bit too much for me. Still, I have to admit that the dancers were all pretty awesome and I also loved the full marching band. However, like I said before, I have never paid too much attention to Beyoncé’s career but, except for a few catchy tunes, to be honest, I didn’t care much for her songs. A small detail that bothered me was also the fact that they mixed both her Coachella shows which was at first rather confusing. I mean, seriously, within one single song, they might be switching 20 times between her yellow and pink outfits which was sometimes rather jarring. Furthermore, even if I did respect the ambition displayed and the hard work done from all the people involved, in my opinion, at the end of the day, she was still singing some pop tunes in some (very) sexy outfits. Of course, you might argue that her recent work is more socially and politically conscious but the focus on the way she looked rather clashed with this new approach. In the same way, during the rehearsal footage, they displayed how she basically starved herself after giving birth to her twins just to make sure she could show up at this concert as if it was such a great achievement but I had some doubts. Indeed, it might have been more powerful to show to the world that to be a mother and have the actual body of a mother instead of looking like a top model could be something she could be pride of and, in the process, giving a better example for all the girls and women looking up to her. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was probably not the best concert I have ever seen, it was still really interesting, the work done by Beyoncé and the 100s of people involved was quite impressive and it is definitely worth a look. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Ian McKellen, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, by now, I think I have seen my share of Sherlock Holmes movies and the whole gimmick of making the character older was only mildly interesting in my opinion. At least, McKellen delivered another fine performance and I have to admit that it was interesting to see one of the smartest characters ever created struggling with senility. On the other hand, the lovely and seriously talented Laura Linney was stuck playing such a boring and thankless part. On top of that, it didn’t make much sense that she would be so bothered by the fact that her son would get along so well with such a great mind. I mean, she was acting as if Holmes was some kind of major threat but the guy seemed really harmless. Coming to the story itself, I have to admit that to see Holmes trying to remember his last case and the huge impact it had on him was actually pretty neat. However, I didn’t really get the point of the whole Japanese sub-plot. Seriously, not only it could have been easily removed but it was rather hard to believe that such a bright mind would go all the way to Japan to find some kind of magic plant. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch, even if I think that the whole thing was slightly pointless. 

I already saw this movie but, for some reason, I thought I might as well check it out again. Following ‘Young Adult’ which was loved by some but ignored by the rest of the world, Jason Reitman, Diablo Cody and Charlize Theron still decided to make another movie together. Well, to be honest, pretty much like with ‘Young Adult’, I struggled to connect with this flick. I mean, Theron gave here another really strong performance, no doubt about that, but there were just too many things that rubbed me the wrong way. First of all, it was another movie trying to prove that raising 2 or 3 kids has become apparently an impossible task nowadays which is something I find so annoying. Indeed, 80 years ago, many people used to have between 6 and 10 children and that must have been pretty tough but I keep hearing nowadays, especially in movies, people whining as soon as they have one kid which just gets on my nerves. Then, another thing that bothered me was, while Marlo was obviously exhausted and struggling to cope, her husband was playing video-games and focusing solely on his career. Of course, I’m afraid it was fairly realistic but it was just so infuriating for me because I was actually raised by my father while my mother was working and I was seriously committed and involved when my 3^rd child was born. Seriously, what prevented him from helping out in the evening, at night and in the week-ends? Finally, there were some recurring discussions about what was going with Jonah but I thought it was pretty obvious that the kid was apparently autistic and it should have been fairly easy to spot for the school staff and even more for the 3 doctors that they had apparently consulted regarding this matter. I know, I might sound like I didn’t like this movie at all but it was still a decent watch though. Indeed, the whole thing felt really genuine, it was one of the very few movies I have seen dealing with post-natal depression and Theron was just really impressive and, only for her performance, it is worth watching this flick. Anyway, to conclude, even if I think it turned out to be another disappointing director effort coming from Jason Reitman, it was not bad at all and I think it is still worth a look. 

To be honest, I have never been a huge fan of Harry Potter but I was still eager to check this last installment in this Wizarding World franchise. Well, this movie is usually considered as the lowest point in this franchise, critically and commercially, and I’m afraid I would have to agree with this assessment. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, J.K. Rowling took the wrong approach with this franchise right from the start. Indeed, Newt Scamander was a pretty cool character, completely different than Harry Potter, and, in my opinion, each movie could or should have been about Scamander going into some exotic locations looking for some mythical creatures. Unfortunately, the guy eventually has to stop some evil wizard which was rather disappointing as it was pretty much exactly what Potter had to do. I mean, in contrary to many viewers, I didn’t have any problem with Johnny Depp playing Gellert Grindelwald, I think he did a fine job, but this character is just way too similar to Voldemort (seriously, don’t they have exactly the same goal?). To make things worse, there was this time around a whole bunch of half-baked sub-plots involving various romances and some more or less obscure genealogy and the end-result was just pretty messy. It’s too bad because I do have a weak spot for Newt Scamander and it was also pretty neat to see a younger Albus Dumbledore, even if he showed up only for a few scenes after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if the whole thing was rather weak, I have to admit that it was quite spectacular and I guess it is worth a look if you like the genre. 

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, eventually, it turned out to be a decent watch but, to be honest, I have seen better in this genre. First of all, I had the misfortune to see the international version so most parts were therefore shot in English but I would have rather watched instead the Norwegian version. A bigger issue was that, even though the six men involved in this expedition seemed to be all rather exceptional, the makers barely develop them at all, even the main character Thor Heyerdahl. For example, Knut Haugland was reduced to a guy who threw up most of the journey, enjoyed the company of some parrot and spent most of his time while trying to make the radio work. For Bengt Danielsson, it was even worse as his only contribution was apparently that he knew how to use the camera. Then, even if there was something quite spellbinding about their journey, the makers never really managed to show the psychological impact it must have had on them. Instead, they went for the usual gimmick of having one crew member freaking out but, apparently, this portrayal of Herman Watzinger was denied by his family and, indeed, the makers did admit that they made this up to add some conflicts to the story. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, it was still a fascinating story and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Like everyone else, at least in the Western world, I grew up with McDonald’s so I was quite eager to see how this company started out. Well, to be honest, even though it was a decent watch, it didn’t to turn out to be anything really mind-blowing after all. I mean, right from the start, you already knew how it was going to end so the journey to get this conclusion had to be really interesting and/or surprising but it turned out to be generic and rather predictable. On top of that, they really struggled to provide some interesting supporting characters. Indeed, aside from Ray Kroc and the McDonald brothers, all the other characters were rather poorly developed and, as a result, they were all rather tedious. The worst one was probably Ray Kroc’s first wife. Indeed, it was such a thankless part for Laura Dern who did pretty much nothing else than whining all the time, even after his new project finally turned out to be a massive success. On the other hand, his 2^nd wife played by Linda Cardellini was hardly more fascinating. Still, there is no doubt that Michael Keaton was a perfect choice to play the main character and he delivered here a really solid performance. The tricky thing was that, even though Kroc was pretty much the only one who believed in his project, we all knew that he was going to succeed at some point and how he got there was neither really impressive or shocking either. I mean, of course, you could argue that the guy had been terribly ruthless with the McDonald brothers but, on the other hand, he gave them several times the opportunity to get involved in the expansion of their franchise. They also seemed rather naïve and you might wonder what they were expecting by going into the franchise business. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still not bad and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.