Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I kept hearing some really great things about this movie, I was really eager to check it out and when I heard we would watch it with my film club, I was just thrilled. Indeed, it would be the first horror movie chosen for our film club so my expectations were really high. Unfortunately, even though it turned out to be a decent watch, I can't say I was really blown away by the damned thing though. I mean, to be honest, after watching this movie, I was actually wondering why the critics loved it so much. Seriously, the structure was just really classic and predictable and, from the moment the mystery was revealed, as usual in this genre, the whole thing went just way over the top and, to be honest, I had a rather hard time to really care about what happened afterwards. Still, even though it didn't turn out to be such a masterpiece, it was still fairly entertaining. Indeed, Daniel Kaluuya gave a really a solid performance and even though his character went through some completely unbelievable nonsense, he kept it really grounded and I was always rooting for the guy. His buddy Rodney was also pure gold and, in fact, I wish they brought him as well in this demented journey. Anyway, to conclude, even though I think it is actually overrated and even though I think my rating might be actually generous here, it is definitely worth a look though.

For some rather obscure reason, it has been a movie that I wanted to watch for so many years. I mean, before watching the damned thing, I didn't even know that it was actually dealing with Henry Miller, one of my favorite writers. Well, eventually, even though the material was quite awesome and this movie had some potential to be amazing, it turned to be only a decent watch, I'm afraid. The first thing that bothered me was, while most of the cast was pretty much spot on (Maria de Medeiros, Uma Thurman, Richard E. Grant), I thought that Fred Ward was a really disappointing choice to play Henry Miller. Indeed, I have nothing really against Ward, he was apparently a last minute replacement after Alec Baldwin left this project just before they started to shoot, but the guy was never really convincing and I never believed that I was watching one of the greatest American writers. Concerning the rest of the movie, well, it seems that Philip Kaufman really struggled to present these larger-than-life characters and their inner struggle. As a result, the whole thing felt really random and while it was interesting, it was never really fascinating to behold. To conclude, even though it turned out to be rather disappointing, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested by this subject.

Of course, I already saw this movie, in fact, I even saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released but I never saw it again afterwards so I was really eager to check it out again. The most interesting thing about this 2nd sequel is that it stands out so much from its predecessors. Indeed, while the previous movies were some horror comedies, this movie was some kind of daft time-travel adventure, actually pretty similar to 'Back to the Future Part III', and in fact, I believe that this movie can be quite enjoyable for kids around 12 years old while the rest of the Evil Dead franchise could be hardly considered as some family viewing material. I think it was a really nice move from Sam Raimi to go with something completely different because most sequels keep endlessly repeating the same formula every time again with some usually rather disappointing results (as a matter of fact, there are some debates that 'Evil Dead II' could be in fact a remake and not an actual sequel to 'The Evil Dead'). Still, even though Ash was fun with a solid Bruce Campbell, at the end of the day, it remains a really silly movie. Furthermore, even if I must have loved the climatic fight scene against the army of darkness when I first watched it as a kid many many years ago, this time around, I thought it took much of the running time and it became rather boring and repetitive at some point. At least, Embeth Davidtz was easily the best love interest in this franchise, by far. To conclude, even though this movie might not be a classic, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I didn't expect much from this movie but since I had a weak spot for Olivia Munn, I thought I might as well check it out. Well,  it was pretty neat that for once she was playing one of the leads and she did look really gorgeous but I'm afraid it was still not enough to make this movie worth my time. Indeed, it turned out to be a really lame raunchy comedy. Basically, it was one of these comedies with a really weak concept so it was pretty much hopeless right from the very beginning. I mean, there were a couple of decent jokes here and there but most of it was just pathetic and not funny at all. Seriously, it was actually the 2nd time around this year that I saw a guy in a sperm bank knocking down a shelve full of sperm samples on himself and it was still more cringe-inducing than hilarious  this time around. At least, the damned thing was slightly better than 'Beerfest', also directed by Jay Chandrasekhar, which was really abysmal but it doesn't mean much. Anyway, to conclude, it would be great to see Olivia Munn in a really good R rated comedy one day but, in the mean time, you should rather skip this one.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Hugh Jackman, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it was really similar to 'Cool Runnings', that's for sure, in fact, the Jamaican bobsled team was involved in the same Olympic games as Eddie Edwards was. However, the big difference between these 2 movie was that, when I watched 'Cool Runnings', I was just a kid, and to watch such a tale as a grown-up, it didn't really work so well, I'm afraid. Indeed, the formula was just so obvious and the whole thing was just too generic and predictable. Furthemore, the quirkiness and mannerisms displayed by Edwards was actually more annoying than really entertaining but the performance by Taron Egerton was actually apparently quite accurate. And, yet, I have to admit that the damned thing actually slowly won me over. Indeed, even though you could easily figure out which jump he would pull off or not, I have to admit that his 2 jumps at the Olympic games were quite exciting. Finally, in this age, when top athletes have become some kind of super stars and are paid some ridiculous amounts of money, Eddie Edwards was actually really inspirational and displayed what sport really should be about which is doing your very best regardless of the results and have a bloody good time. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since there was a really nice cast involved, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though it turned out to be a decent watch, there were still too many elements that bothered me. First of all, they made the same mistake made by many other movies dealing with this subject by focusing too much on the characters and not enough on the actual cooking and the actual food. I mean, the food did look awesome but you just get some very short glimpses and those glimpses were not enough. Then, the second mistake they made was that, while Adam Jones's come-back was interesting, they kept referring his troubled past during which he started with nothing, became the best and lost it all in the most chaotic way possible and it sounded much more fascinating than his come-back. Finally, it is a well known fact that Bradley Cooper is fluent in French but, to be honest, I thought his French was actually average at best and, even though I'm French myself, I'm not sure if I would have been able to understand what he said without the subtitles. And, of course, why on Earth would they cast Alicia Vikander to play a French character is beyond me. Fortunately,  even though they messed up some stuff, the whole was still fairly entertaining. Indeed, one thing they got right was to show the manic energy coming from such kitchens. Indeed, you could feel the obsession that can be so creative but also really destructive and it is one of the very few movies that managed to convince me that cooking really can be an Art. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was not bad and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I remember very well when this movie was released. Back then, I was about 13-14 years, it was a big critical success and it even won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival. And yet, even though I have always been eager to check this movie, it eventually took me more than 20 years to finally watch the damned thing. Well, to be honest, I have to admit that it turned out to be a tough watch though. Indeed, even though I have myself always been interested in Asian movies, it still struggled to connect with this tale which lasted almost 3 hours. Furthermore, it didn't help that the beginning was rather confusing and messy. Still, when it was finished, I had to admit to that the whole thing was still a fascinating epic tale. I did remind me of 'Stage Beauty' which was made 10 years later but even though they both shared some elements, this movie was definitely from another level. Indeed, the scope was so much bigger, with so many layers, it was just fascinating to behold. It was also pretty neat to see a younger Gong Li at the height of her career (seriously, after all these years, she pretty much still look exactly the same). To conclude, I think it is an acquired taste but it is still definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I really loved 'The Spectacular Now', I was really eager to watch James Ponsoldt's previous directing effort. It's only later on that I discovered that both movies were dealing with alcoholism but while 'The Spectacular Now' was probably one of the most original movies I have seen dealing with this subject, this movie was much more straightforward, probably too much, so it didn't have such an impact on me. It doesn't mean that it wasn't any good, in the contrary. Indeed, Mary Elizabeth Winstead easily gave here her best performance so far and, with Aaron Paul, they made a messed-up but still sweet couple somehow. I also liked the way they displayed that when you are drunk or high on something, the most trivial and stupid things become suddenly fun and entertaining for absolutely no reason and, when you get sober, you discover that life is actually pretty boring and depressing. It displayed also how it becomes difficult to tolerate the behavior of the people who are still drinking, not really because you envy them, but more because you finally see how obnoxious and moronic their behavior can be when they are drunk. Still, to be honest, did she really need to tell the truth to her boss? I don't think so, especially since the outcome was just so predictable. In fact, the whole pregnancy gimmick didn't really work in my opinion. I mean, she could have easily told the kids instead 'No, I'm not pregnant. I just don't feel so good today, that's all'. I guess the point was to show that alcoholics always get entangled in some messed-up situations but it didn't really work. Anyway, to conclude, in spite or flaws, it was still a solid drama and it is definitely worth a look.

Following the massive failure of 'Crimewave', apparently, Sam Raimi thought that the only thing that could revive his career was to go back to his classic directing debut. Obviously, I already saw this movie but since it was such a long time ago, maybe 20 years ago, I was really eager to check it out again. Eventually, I was surprised how much I enjoyed it and I think it is one of the rare sequels to be better than its predecessor. Indeed, they took pretty much the same elements, the horror and the comedy, but they really pushed the formula to the next level this time around. Above all, their masterstroke was to focus on Ash. Indeed, in the first movie, Ash was just some random and boring guy who just somehow survived at the end but it is with this sequel that he finally became this iconic character and easily one of the best protagonists ever displayed in a horror franchise. Seriously, the first 20-30 minutes were just so damned entertaining thanks to a pitch-perfect performance by Bruce Campbell and the look on his face thoughout his ordeal was just priceless. Unfortunately, as soon as some of other rather random characters showed up, it became much more generic and, from that point, the story went on auto-pilot which was too bad. I mean, it was still quite entertaining but it was much stronger when Ash was all alone. Anyway, to conclude, Sam Raimi delivered here a really strong sequel and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.