Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I enjoyed ‘The Conjuring’, I was quite eager to check this sequel. Well, to be honest, I have to admit that I was actually quite impressed by this flick. Indeed, horror sequels are notoriously bad but  this one was actually really good, in fact, I think I liked it even more than its predecessor. First of all, even if the whole thing was nothing really groundbreaking, it was actually quite spooky with some rather basic but very effective scary moments. Furthermore, the fact that the victims were some young children made the whole thing ever more thrightening. Finally, James Wan managed here to mix one of the most notorious ‘real’ case of paranormal activities with some good old fiction and I was amazed by how effective this mix was. One of the best assets of ‘The Conjuring’ was also the vintage look and feel and it was obviously back with this sequel  and even though Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga didn’t look anything like the Warrens, they were again so charismatic and they had again such a nice chemistry together. To be honest, I don’t think that the intro with the famous Amityville house was a good idea as it felt superfluous and the Enfield Haunting did provide plenty of material already. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was maybe not a masterpiece, I really enjoyed the damned thing, it was easily the best horror flick I have seen in a very long time and it is definitely worth a look.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Paolo Sorrentino, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though this movie had some potential, I still had a hard time to get into the damned thing. Above all, I really struggled with Sorrentino’s usual randomness. I mean, once again, he didn’t really use a plot which shouldn’t be a problem. However, even if Michael Caine’s and Harvey Keitel’s characters were not bad (it was especially neat to see Keitel finally playing the lead in a decent movie for once), most of the other characters were mostly reduced to a one-note joke (All right, I have to admit that the Maradona-like character was pretty neat though). Above all, if the whole thing would have been slightly more straightforward focusing on Caine and Keitel and how they struggled with old age, it could have worked but, unfortunately, it kept going from one random scene to another. At least, as usual with Sorrentino, the whole thing looked really gorgeous and only therefore it is worth checking this flick. Of course, this movie will probably be remembered for a couple of stunning scenes involving the gorgeous Madalina Ghenea but there were many other scenes which were visually really neat. Anyway, to conclude, even if it turned out to be Sorrentino’s least interesting movie so far, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in this director. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was the last movie directed by Adrian Lyne that I hadn’t seen so far, I was actually quite eager to check it out, in spite of its rather notorious reputation. The tricky thing with this movie, and the previous version or the book, is that it deals with such a cringe-inducing story and, after all these years, it still remains one of the most disturbing tales. Eventually, it is the kind of movies that make you feel really dirty while you are watching it and also afterwards because it is pretty much a reminder that men are essentially wired to have sex with anything that moves. Concerning the story itself, even though I saw Kubrick’s version, it was years ago and I have to admit that I didn’t remain it much in details. Anyway, concerning the cast, Jeremy Irons was a perfect choice to play Humbert Humbert and he delivered another solid performance. I was also positively surprised by Melanie Griffith who can be really weak but she was well cast for this movie. However, the most important part was eventually played by Dominique Swain and, to be honest, I wonder how, after auditioning about 2500 girls, they ended up with her. I mean, she wasn’t helped by the fact that she had to play this character as a total brat (it’s probably how she was described in the book). It is not that she was really bad, it’s just that she didn’t look the part at all, in my opinion. Indeed, in my mind, a ‘Lolita’ should be a disturbing and dangerous mix of a child with a femme fatale look and, somehow, such a girl might be able to push such a disturbed man into seeking eternal damnation for her. Well, Swain didn’t display all these 'qualities' which made the whole thing even more cringe-inducing to behold. Anyway, to conclude, I will probably never re-watch this movie again but, if you have the stomach to handle such disturbing material, I guess it might still be worth a look. 

Even though I saw ‘Ip Man 2’ only a few months ago, I have to admit that I actually forgot most about it which is not really a good sign but I thought I might as well check this 2^nd sequel, especially since it was available on Netflix. Well, to be honest, I actually struggled to get into his movie. I mean, it’s not that it was much weaker than the previous instalments, it's just that, after 3 movies, the whole thing had started to become rather repetitive and, to be honest, even though Ip Man remains a fascinating man, I’m not sure he required 3 movies (there is even another one coming up in 2019), especially since they were all so similar. The most frustrating thing about this franchise is that Ip Man is mostly known because he had been Bruce Lee’s trainer, something really milked by this franchise and yet, after 3 movies, we still didn’t get a glimpse on how it actually went down between them. In this case, it was especially frustrating. Indeed, during the very first scene, you get to see to Bruce Lee as a grown-up showing up at Ip Man’s school to ask to become his pupil which was really promising. However, it was apparently only some kind of introduction and the rest of the movie had once again nothing to do with Bruce Lee which was just disappointing. Instead, it was dealing with Ip Man involved with some random events taking place in his neighbordhood. Seriously, it was just really generic and this plot was apparently not enough so the 3^rd act was suddenly dealing with yet another fight with a wannabe kung-fu master which had not much to do with the rest of the movie. Anyway, to conclude, even though this movie is rather popular, I think the writing was rather poor but, still, I have to admit that it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I kept hearing some interesting things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though I was fully aware of Jackie Robinson’s story, it remains such an amazing tale and it is not surprising that the guy is considered as one of the most influential African-Americans that ever lived. However, if the story itself was really strong, I don’t think it became such an amazing movie though and I wonder what Spike Lee who had tried to make a movie about Robinson for a very long time would have done with this material. I mean, Brian Helgeland delivered a solid directing effort, probably even his best movie so far, but, after all, it was pretty much a straightforward historical sports biopic. For example, you get to see pretty much the whole team of the Brooklyn Dodgers being against Robinson but, slowly, almost one by one, they started to root for the guy. Of course, you might argue that it was actually historically accurate. To be honest, I don’t really care though and it was definitely some rather generic and predictable narrative trope. Concerning Harrison Ford, even though I always had a weak spot for this actor and even though it was pretty neat to see him playing something else than his usual characters, I’m afraid he didn’t really nail it. Branch Rickey had apparently a huge impact on baseball, in fact, even on US history, but Ford kept playing him way over-the-top which made it difficult to take his character really seriously. On the other hand, Chadwick Boseman gave a really strong performance providing this actor with a deserved breakthrough.  Of course, you might argue that they could have developed more Robinson as a character but Boseman was always convincing playing an athlete constantly under pressure who not only had to excel at his sport but who also had to pretty much change the course of American history. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was maybe nothing really groundbreaking, it remains such a fascinating and inspiring story and it is definitely worth a look. 

I already saw this movie but since I just bought an awesome brand new TV, I thought I might as well check it out again. Well, pretty much like with ‘Infinity War’, I have to admit that the damned thing turned out to be much more enjoyable the 2^nd time around. I remember the first time I saw it though. Of course, like anyone else who had been following the MCU for more than a decade by then, I was really eager to see this massive conclusion but I was expecting something more mind blowing at the time. Eventually, the only thing that still bothered me now was how they handled Captain Marvel. Indeed, I’m still amazed by how little impact she eventually had. Seriously, I thought she would be a major player to stop Thanos but she showed up only for a couple of scenes after all and, in spite of Brie Larson’s effort, it must be Marvel’s most underused and underwhelming character so far. Fortunately, a part from that, the rest of the movie was just so damned entertaining though. Hell, even the time-travel gimmick which seemed lazy and rather lame the first time around didn’t bother me at all anymore. In fact, it almost seemed to make more or less sense now (it still did create some major plot-holes though). Anyway, it was pretty awesome to see these iconic characters going back to such iconic moments in the MCU, seriously, it felt as if they were doing some kind of medley of their greatest hits. On top of that, pretty much like 'Infinity War', it was obviously a massive blockbuster. Indeed, the action scenes were, as expected, really badass and the final battle was the biggest one I have seen since 'The Return of the King'. Finally, there was maybe a dozen of really emotional punches and it was an incredibly rewarding movie on this level, giving a proper send-off to the most important Avenger among other things. Eventually did Thanos  and the Infinity Stones really require more than 5 hours of running time? I doubt it but these 2 movies were still pretty awesome after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was definitely not flawless, it was still one of the biggest blockbusters ever made and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the  genre.