Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Ramin Bahrani and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. I have to admit that I had never heard of Richard Davis before watching this movie but his story certainly did sound intriguing. Seriously, I thought he would be some kind of weird guy obsessing about his bulletproof vests and constantly shooting himself just to show how brilliant he was but I was surprised by how successful he actually became and his business was really thriving at some point. Eventually, you could never be really sure if everything that happened to Davis was actually accurate or if the guy was always on level but I don’t think that Bahrani was really interesting in divulging the truth about him after all. Instead, they basically went through the main events in his life which is the most basic approach that you could think of for this genre. They also kept jumping from one topic to the following one without ever spending much time on one specific event which was, to be honest, not always really satisfying. Still, the end-result was fairly interesting and entertaining though. Eventually, the most amazing scene was not even involving Richard Davis  after all. Indeed, towards the end, they reunited a police officer who was saved by a second chance vest and the guy who shot him something like 30 years later after they shot each other and the way they hugged and forgave each other was just so heartbreaking and quite inspiring. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really groundbreaking, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in this topic. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I had a really hard time at the beginning. Indeed, I guess the concept did have some potential but the quirky tone and the jokes were just so derivative and borderline lame and, for a good while, I actually thought that I was going to hate the damned thing. However, fortunately, it did get better after a while, above all, from the moment the main character became a music critic. To be honest, it still did feel like a cheap British version of ‘Almost Famous’ (it reminds me that I should rewatch this classic at some point) but I have to admit that I did like how the character evolved. Above all, Beanie Feldstein was just really good and she was definitely the main (maybe even the only?) reason why I started to finally care about this movie. I think it was the first time she actually played the lead but she really nailed it. The fact that the character started to write some negative reviews to succeed was not a bad idea either. Sure, you could blame her for betraying who she actually was and what she actually felt but, at the end of the day, who really cares? It’s not like she was messing up some hart surgery, she was just writing some reviews which allowed her to get paid. However, the makers never really did commit to this and, eventually, Johanna still had to become again the nice girl that she used to be which was rather predictable and not really interesting. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since I have a weak spot for Alicia Vikander and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. To honest, I have to admit that I had never heard of Justin Chon before but it definitely displayed some skills here, as a lead actor and as a director. The first thing that touched me was the relationship between Antonio and his step-daughter because I have two step kids myself and I had exactly the same attitude and state of mind with them. Indeed, I didn’t only choose their mother, I also chose them for 100% (they never called me ‘Dad’ though but that’s all good). Anyway, this movie was above all about the fact that, even though Antonio spent all his life in the US, even though he was married with an American woman, he would still be deported to South Korea, even if he didn’t know anyone there or anything about this country in general. Of course, it did seem weird and/or shocking but, apparently, that’s something that happened to quite a lot of people in the US. So, the material was really interesting, I really liked the mood and the actors were fine as well. However, it’s not that the damned thing was too depressive (it was actually pretty dark though) but I’m afraid they pushed the drama a little too far. I mean, Antonio had no money, no steady job, he was a convict, he had been dumped as a baby, physically abused by his foster parents and beaten up during this movie. And I shouldn't forget to mention as well the completely random Vietnamese woman who was dying from cancer. I could take most of it but they basically lost me during the last scene at the airport when it seemed that he would go alone, then with his family and then alone again. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look.  

To be honest, I wasn’t really dying to see another instalment from this franchise but my youngest daughter was quite eager to check it out in the movie theater and we don’t go that much to the movies together nowadays. Unfortunately, as expected, I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing though. Seriously, I pretty much phased out during the last 30 mins and barely followed what was going on anymore but I’m pretty sure I didn’t miss much. At least, I have to admit that the Minions jokes were still pretty good (it actually reminds that I still haven’t watched ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ but I guess I’ll check it out at some point, even if it will probably be nothing great whatsoever). Indeed, even though some people might find them annoying, I think they are still pretty funny. However, I’m afraid that pretty much nothing else really worked in this movie and, in my opinion, the main issue was that the damned thing was just too random. Indeed, by now, so many characters are involved in this franchise (Gru, his wife, his brother, his mother, his adopted children, his new-born baby, his minions…) and, instead of having some kind of plot, they just switch every 5 mins to a different character with each their own (usually really underwhelming) sub-plot. It’s too bad because the idea of Gru going to his high-school was not really original but it had some potential. However, as mentioned before, this story was basically lost into a multitude of lame sub-plots. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have to admit that it was rather harmless, the damned thing was rather boring and I wish that they would just leave this franchise alone but as long as they keep making money, such sequels will keep on coming though. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was leaving Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out after all. I have to admit it, even though Kelly Reichardt seems to have a decent reputation, it was only the 2^nd movie that she has directed that I have seen so far. However, after watching this movie, I started to see that she indeed had a lot of potential. To be honest, the damned thing was still not really great though. Indeed, I’m not a huge fan of this approach of combining 3 little stories instead of focusing on only 1 because, most of the time, you actually end up with some rather half-baked little tales instead of a fully fleshed one. Well, it was definitely the case here but, still, there is no doubt that Reichardt made most of this material. Indeed, I just loved the soft slow vibe and there was something really genuine about all these characters. My favorite part was the final one as the weird complex dynamic between the character played beautifully by Lily Gladstone and Kristen Stewart was quite fascinating. The first part worked as well not because the story it was dealing with was so amazing (it was maybe sad but nothing really mesmerizing) but because of Laura Dern managed to do so much with it. The middle part was, as far as I was concerned, the least rewarding. Indeed, it seems that there was too much going on and, yet, at the same time, it boiled down to be only about an entitled ice queen bitch trying to swindle some vintage stones from some poor old dude. Michelle Williams was actually fine and delivered another solid performance here but the fact that her character reminded me so much of my ex-wife probably didn’t help. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really work, it was still pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Kelly Reichardt’s work. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since I always had a weak spot for Yes and since this movie was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that, in the progressive rock genre, I always preferred Pink Floyd which was and still is one of my favorite bands. Still, Yes is definitely a pretty good band though and it was pretty cool to see them perform. Concerning the movie itself, the sound was not great though and they really did nothing interesting visually speaking. At least, the band members were shot properly so you could clearly see what they were doing. My uncle who is a real fan told me that Steve Howe was actually a really great guitarist and I could clearly see that thanks to this movie. It was rather funny to see him changing guitar for basically every song but the guy definitely knew what he was doing, that’s for sure. Rick Wakeman at the keyboard was also really good, even if he did look rather ridiculous with his cape. Another cool thing was the fact that this concert was shot around the time they released the ‘Close to the Edge’ LP so they were basically at the peak of their popularity at the time. I don’t have this album in my collection (as I told you before, I’m more a Pink Floyd fan) but I remembered listening to my father’s LP which was basically how I discovered this band pretty much 30 years ago. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was not one of the greatest film concerts I have seen, it was still a decent watch though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like Yes. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. I always have been a huge fan of ‘Woodstock’, the festival itself but also the documentary. Well, a movie about a similar music festival taking place in Rotterdam only a year after Woodstock took place did sound really awesome. Unfortunately, to be honest, I thought the damned thing turned out to be slightly disappointing after all. I mean, there were some really cool groups involved such as Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane or Santana and it was interesting to discover a whole bunch of bands that I had never heard before. However, except for Santana who gave here a really good performance, none of the other acts really blew me away, even the more famous ones. Even more problematic was the fact that the whole thing was rather poorly put together. I didn’t mind much that each band was displayed playing only one song, they could have give them more time though, but I was more bothered by the fact that they didn’t follow the original line up. As a result, the movie started with Santana and ended with Santana as well which was just weird. Another thing that really annoyed me even more was how they filmed the damned thing. Seriously, there were so many annoying close-ups of the performers and, to make things worse, these shots were close that you couldn’t even see the whole face of the performers. Regarding the rest of the documentary, there were a few interviews with some of the artists but the content of these conversations was usually rather pathetic. There were also some scenes focusing on the festival attendees but these scenes were all quite forgettable. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and it is worth a look, especially if you like this music era. 

The main reason why I ended up watching this flick was because I’m staying with my uncle and aunt for a while right now and my uncle wanted to watch a Western. To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it seemed to have a decent reputation and since it was available on Netflix, I thought we might as well check it out. Well, even though it might seem to be a gimmick to have all or most of the characters played by some black actors, it turned out to be apparently quite accurate since 25% of all cowboys were actually black (I have to admit that I didn’t know this fact before watching this movie). Another thing that I enjoyed was the really nice soundtrack. Indeed, I’m a huge reggae fan and the way they mixed a Western with this music genre was actually pretty awesome. Finally, they had a nice cast involved (Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba, Zazie Beetz, LaKeith Stanfield, Regina King, Danielle Deadwyler, Delroy Lindo, Damon Wayans Jr.) and they all delivered some solid performances. Concerning the story, it was pretty generic but it was entertaining enough and, even though the ending was not really surprising, it worked actually fairly well. Eventually, the only thing that did bother me was the fact that the damned thing was sometimes just too slow. Indeed, it lasted almost 150 mins and, for such a basic story, there was really no need to stretch it like this for so long (the fact that I was so tired when I watched this movie probably didn’t help either). Anyway, to conclude, even if it was not a masterpiece, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see an original Western. 

To be honest, I wasn’t actually planning to see this movie on Disney+ but my youngest daughter was quite eager to watch it in the movie theater. Apparently, it turned out to be a huge success at the box-office and I have to admit that it turned out to be one of the better Pixar sequels. Indeed, the idea of focusing on Riley when she became a teenager was pretty much a no-brainer and a genius move and, during this process, Riley became one of the best Pixar characters. I have to admit that I don’t remember much how she was in the previous movie, I think the focus was mostly on what was going in her head at the time, but here, she became a fully-fledged character and there was something so genuine and relatable about her. Furthermore, the new emotions completely made sense, especially Anxiety which was just so pitch-perfect. Seriously, I had some serious déjà-vu regarding my own teenage years during which anxiety definitely played a major role. I also had a weak spot for Ennui, probably because I’m French, but this character didn’t have much to do, I’m afraid. Embarrassment was pretty neat as well. It's only afterwards that I discovered that Envy was actually voiced by the great Ayo Edebiri but, to be honest, from these 4 new emotions, Envy was the least interesting though. So, it was definitely a decent sequel but, to be honest, it was still missing something to be truly amazing though. The main issue I had was that the plot followed too closely what already happened in the first movie. Indeed, somehow, Joy got kicked out of the HQ and, somehow, she had to find her way back through Riley’s mind. I mean, this concept was perfectly fine the first time around but to give us exactly the same thing for this sequel was just downright lazy. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t become another Pixar masterpiece, it was still pretty good though 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 it was starring Russell Crowe (he even directed the damned thing) and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I didn’t expect it to be so lame after all. I understand Crowe has now entered a phase in his career during which he just wants to do whatever he wants and doesn’t give a sh*t anymore about what everybody else might be thinking, good for him, but, seriously, what was the point in making this movie? It couldn’t be the money since he probably didn’t get much to do it and basically no one saw it when it was released but it couldn’t have been the abysmal story or concept either (was there an actual concept involved here actually?). Anyway, I always had a weak spot for movies dealing with poker and, with such a title, you might have expected to see plenty of playing action but you will be really disappointing since they only played for a short while after all. I guess the basic idea was to show that the main character was going through life as if it was some kind of poker game but I can’t say the end-result was deep whatsoever. Concerning the characters, none of them was interesting but the fact that they were not developed at all probably didn’t help either. Sure, Elsa Pataky is still really lovely but what was the point of her character who showed up for 10 mins to deal some cards and then completely disappeared afterwards? Eventually, even though ‘The Water Diviner’ was not a bad directorial debut, this sophomore effort was just abysmal and it seems that Crowe should just stick to acting. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was actually a waste of time and you should probably avoid it.