Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick, especially after I watched the trailer which made the whole thing looked really lame. However, Nick, my step-son, was really eager to check it out so  I still saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released. Well, eventually, I have to admit that it was not so bad at all after all. I mean, sure, it was still nothing groundbreaking but, for a shark movie, it turned out to be actually fairly entertaining. Indeed, I was slightly worried about the jokes but even though those were barely funny, they didn’t turn out to be too annoying. Same thing with the romantic link between Jason Statham and Bingbing Li, it was pretty pathetic and they had no chemistry whatsoever but it wasn’t really a big deal either. But, obviously, this movie was mostly about a big fat shark and this beast was quite impressive. Concerning the complaints of Jason Statham that the movie didn’t turn out to be as gore as he had expected, it really didn’t bother me either. Indeed, the action scenes were pretty badass and I don’t think that tons of blood or seeing some shredded limbs in closed-up would have be such an improvement. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, it turned out to be a decent watch after all and I think it might be worth a look, at least, if you like the genre. 

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, even though this movie was a critical and commercial flop when it was released, to be honest, I don’t think it was so bad after all. Indeed, the whole thing looked amazing, the action scenes were badass and they managed to nail the mood of the original Japanese animated feature. However, even if the story was decent enough, unfortunately, they did make some mistakes though. Of course, there was the whole controversy about casting Scarlett Johansson in the lead role and I think she was indeed miscast but not because she is not Asian. I mean, since Johansson is one of the only bankable actresses in the world, it completey made sense that the producers chose her so the whole white-washing controversy was rather ridiculous and even Mamoru Oshii, the director of 'Kokaku Kidotai', gave his blessing. What bother me with her was the fact she was just too small to play the Major (1,60 meters), she wasn’t physically threatening enough and I never had the feeling that she was actually a lethal killing machine. Furthermore, even though she is usually a decent actress, I thought she gave a rather weak performance which was rather surprising since she complained nailed it a couple of years ago with a similar character in ‘Under the Skin’. On the other hand, she wasn’t helped by the fact that they pretty much ruined her character. Indeed, one of the major trademarks of ‘Ghost in Shell’ is the fact that the Major is a cold, mysterious and ambiguous character. The fact that she might be struggling with her identity was always only implied and never really stated but, in this US version, it became a major focus which completely changed this character and, in the process, she became just too weak and emotional. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think that it could have been so much worse and I believe it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I already saw this movie but since ‘It: Chapter Two’ was now available on Netflix, I was quite eager to watch again this first instalment. In fact, I was actually supposed to see this movie when it was released but, at the last minute, Nick, my step-on, bailed out and, instead, we went to see at the time ‘The Hitman's Bodyguard’ which turned out to be really forgettable. Coming back to our main feature, well, the first time around, even though I did like it, somehow, it didn’t really completely blow me away though. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I saw the acclaimed TV mini-series less than a year before. However, I have to admit that, with this version, they improved pretty much everything that was disappointing with the TV mini-series. Indeed, the directing was pretty good, the special effets were top-notch and the kids all gave some solid performances, especially Sophia Lillis. Concerning Bill Skarsgård, he gave a completely different performance than Tim Curry but he did a really fine job as well. So, it was all fine and, yet, the whole thing never really grabbed me. Maybe it was because I already knew where everything was leading to, maybe it was because it was too faithful to the book (which I haven’t actually read). Indeed, when Cary Fukunaga was still involved, he had removed many famous scenes from the book which were added back by Andy Muschietti afterwards and maybe Fukunaga's approach would have been more interesting. Still, it remains by far one of the best stories delivered by Stephen King and I’m glad I gave it a 2^nd chance since I actually enjoyed it more this time around. Anyway, to conclude, it is definitely a really solid horror flick and it is really worth a look, especially if you like the genre.