Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but it seemed to have a decent reputation and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though I did like this flick, to be honest, at least half of it didn’t make much sense though. I mean, the whole point was to show that, if you might go to jail, especially in the US, you would probably end up being either a victim or a predator. It was really interesting because, in many movies, you see the righteous main character becoming a lonewolf successfully avoiding the violent gangs but this movie definitely made a compelling argument that it is actually not possible. Indeed, in order to survive, you will probably have to get involved with some gangs which shows how terribly rotten the prison system actually is. However, I do think this movie pushed this concept too far though. Indeed, even though it was quite fascinating to see this mild-mannered guy joining a gang just to survive, it was actually fairly unbelievable that he would become such an important figure in this criminal underworld, especially since it was something that he apparently despised. It’s like the ending, by killing the Beast, even though this action would have obviously increased his reputation, I don’t think it would have been actually sufficient to become the actual new boss in this jail. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, it was still a solid flick with a good performance by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Even though this movie was rather poorly received like most of Netflix original films, I still wanted to check it out. Of course, the first issue with this movie was that Jon Favreau had released another version of this tale just a couple of years ago and the fact that this movie turned out to be a big critical and commercial success didn’t help either. Still, even without Disney’s recent retooling, I’m not sure that this version would have been much better received. First of all, even though the CGI was sometimes impressive, it was sometimes also rather weak. For example, Baloo, in fact Andy Serkis’s own character, was especially ugly. Furthermore, even though Rohan Chand was fine in ‘Bad Words’, I thought he was actually rather weak here. But, eventually, the biggest issue I had was this story. I mean, this tale is decent enough but, by now, I have seen so many versions and I think I’m pretty much done with it and even though this movie was supposed to be a darker version, at the end of the day, it was still about some talking animals so it didn’t become extremely dark or really original. Eventually, the only interesting thing was Mowgli’s struggle between the fact that he is a human and the fact that he grew with some wolves but, unfortunately, this interesting dilemma, never really explored before with this character, came just way too late and it could or should have been so much more developed. Anyway, to conclude, I think my rating was rather generous here, I guess it still worth a look but there is no doubt that it was a rather useless new version. 

Since I really enjoyed ‘The Last Picture Show’, I thought I might as well check this rather obscure sequel. Well, this movie was the perfect example that  releasing a sequel 20 years after a stellar movie is not always a guarantee for success. First of all, I have to admit that it has been years since I saw ‘The Last Picture Show’ but I’m pretty sure the tone of this sequel didn’t match at all the tone of its predecessor. Another thing that bothered me was that, even though it was pretty neat that many characters came back for this sequel, I actually struggled to keep track on who was who and it didn’t help that so many names sounded so similar (Jacy, Sonny, Dickie, Shorty, Julie, Nellie, Suzie, Benny,…). Still, there were some interesting scenes, especially those involving Duane and Jacy. Indeed, I did appreciate the fact that they didn’t get involved romantically and it was also interesting that Jacy got along fine with Duane’s wife. Unfortunately, those were the only things I found interesting and the rest of the movie was just a disjointed mess. Furthermore, while these characters were quite fascinating in ‘The Last Picture Show’, they were rather boring this time around and I really didn’t care much for them. Anyway, to conclude, I think I was rather generous with my rating here but I guess it is still worth a look, especially if you enjoyed The Last Picture Show’.

Since I kept hearing some really good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I didn’t think it was really so original and, on top of that, I’m not really a huge fan of these movies mixing a serious drama with some fantasy elements.  Still, even if it didn’t really blow me away, I have to admit that it was still a really solid flick nonetheless. Obviously, the CGI and special effects were fine but, eventually, what I enjoyed the most was in fact the really strong performance probvided by Lewis MacDougall. Indeed, the guy was really impressive and I could really feel the stress, the exhaustion and the despair that this young boy was going through. The conclusion of this tale was also really strong and you can only imagine the internal struggle this poor boy was going through and it actually made sense that he might try to find some kind of coping mechanism in such a fantastic world. To be honest, the final scene showing that his mother apparently also had some connection with the monster was actually rather useless but, fortunately, it wasn’t a deal breaker. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn't maybe not completely sold by the damned thing, it was still pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I really enjoyed the 2 previous installments in this franchise, I was quite eager to check this one as well. Well, to be honest, even though I did like this flick, I thought it was still a slight step back from the previous movie.  The main thing with this movie was that, even though some of the scenes were really strong, the sum of these scenes was however never really great. Furthermore, in my opinion, it didn’t provide anything really new this time around. For example, what was the point of this mute girl? What did she really add to this story? In my opinion, nothing much as she was just another attempt to show that the apes are so nice and in fact much more humane than the humans fighting them but it has been done before in this franchise and, by now, I really got the point. At least, I really liked this new character ‘Bad Ape’ who gave a new dimension to the whole ape concept concerning their origins and their possible evolution. And, of course, Caesar remains such a fascinating character and this franchise keeps displaying some of the best use of CGI I have ever seen.  Anyway, to conclude, even though it was maybe not a masterpiece, it was still a solid blockbuster and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.