Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Patrice Leconte and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Not so long ago, I did rewatch ‘Les bronzés’ and ‘Les bronzés font du ski’ and, after these two movies, Leconte kept working with Michel Blanc through a good portion of the 80’s. In fact, this movie did feel like some kind of spin-off because Blanc’s character seemed to be so similar to the one he played in ‘Les bronzés’. To be honest, I was afraid that it would get on my nerves to see this guy constantly whining and chasing every single woman that crossed his path. Sure, I understand that this character was supposed to be pathetic but I hardly thought it was really entertaining. However, the movie started to work as soon as Anémone got involved. Sure, she was also rather pathetic but her character was more balanced and, as result, Bernard became also more balanced and they made together a genuine and interesting couple. The fact that they didn’t end up together at the end and still cared deeply for each other was also a very nice surprise. However, even if it turned out to be better than I expected, it was still not really flawless though. Indeed, even if it was rather short, not even 90 mins, it was still too random, very often just too get some cheap laughs. The title was a perfect example. Indeed, it might seem clever if you speak French but, eventually, it really had nothing to do with the movie itself. Furthermore, for some reason, Bernard, who was 29 years old (which was actually Michel Blanc’s age at the time) but did look much older, got involved with a high-school girl who was maximum 18 years old which was obviously just creepy. On top of that, they didn’t even resolve this story line at the end so you might wonder why it was even included in the first place. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of it flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, at least, if you like the genre. 

I know that DreamWorks never reached the level of Pixar but it has been a real shore to watch their recent output because pretty much all their new movies have been just so underwhelming. As a result, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but, since this sequel was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. To be honest, I have to admit that I didn’t remember ‘Trolls’ at all, except that I knew that it didn’t impress me at all, so I have actually no idea if this sequel was actually an improvement or not. Well, I have to admit that there were a couple of surrealist moments which were interesting but we are here talking about 2 or 3 scenes only, everything else was just rather tedious to watch. One thing that really annoyed me though was the fact that, even though the message of this movie was supposedly that all the Trolls from all different music genres should respect each other and be nice to each other, at the end of the day, the bad guys were some hard-rockers which is such a stupid cliché… Seriously, it felt like I was back in the 90’s when heavy metal, hard-rock, and other similar music genres were somehow linked to Satanism. To make things worse, the argument that you shouldn’t expect much from a movie based on a toy, or in this case, a freaking doll, doesn’t work anymore since ‘Barbie’ displayed that you could definitely deliver something at least a little bit entertaining with such material. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was rather harmless, I still think it was pretty weak and, even if you have some young kids to entertain, there are so many much better animated features out there to watch with them. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. The trouble during the production of this movie was quite notorious and it would make more waves than the movie itself. Indeed, it was shot around 2015-2016, then it was put on the shelves and, when it was finally time to release the damned thing in 2018, Kevin Spacey was suddenly accused of several sexual misconduct allegations. In contrary to ‘All the Money in the World’, they didn’t try to reshoot or alter any scenes involving Spacey and it was because of 2 reasons. First of all, they simply didn’t have the means to do it anything about it. Secondly, this movie was simply not worth the effort, I’m afraid. It’s too bad because I really have a weak spot for this kind of tales and, even though I had never heard of this true story before, it was really interesting and there was definitely some potential. Unfortunately, the end-result felt like a cheap version of ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ and not much better than that. To make things worse, even though the cast involved was pretty neat (Ansel Elgort, Taron Egerton, Kevin Spacey, Emma Roberts, Jeremy Irvine, Suki Waterhouse, Judd Nelson, Rosanna Arquette, Cary Elwes), except for Kevin Spacey, they were all pretty weak after all. Indeed, even though Spacey might have been and maybe still is a terrible guy in private, he was always a fine actor though and I thought he was pretty good here. On the other hand, Ansel Elgort was unconvincing and even rather pathetic and I’m afraid that Taron Egerton was not really much better. I won’t even talk about all the other actors involved who were barely used and therefore completely wasted here. Anyway, to conclude, my rating was probably too generous here but I still think it is actually worth a look because it is such a good story but you should probably watch it only if you really like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting much from this 3^rd instalment but, since it was directed by Steven Soderbergh, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. Well, to my surprise, I thought it was not so bad after all. Sure, the fact that I was expecting something rather weak probably did help a lot. Still, I think it worked better than the terribly disappointing ‘Magic Mike XXL’ (I’m really amazed by the fact that Indiewire actually called this sequel one of the best movies released in the 2010’s). Indeed, it was pretty cool that Mike Lane was going abroad this time around and the idea of him creating a high-end stripper show was even better. Salma Hayek was also a good choice to play Maxandra Mendoza and I really liked the chemistry that she had with Channing Tatum. Unfortunately, everything else going on in the private life of Maxandra was just so generic and tedious though. In a similar fashion, the struggle to run this show was also terribly underwhelming. Furthermore, even though they made a big fuss about it through the whole duration, the show at the end was nice but, to be honest, not really much more than that though. It’s too bad because the dancers involved were actually quite incredible. Still, some of the dances, especially the first one involving Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek, were really neat.  By the way, the idea of Mike Lane falling in love during the last instalment was not bad but this love story did feel rather half-baked, especially since it was obvious that it was not the point at all of his movie. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I have to admit that it was actually a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, at least, if you like the genre. 

Even though I was rather clueless about Buster Keaton's movies for many years, I have been focusing on his work since a few years and, by now, I have already seen a dozen of his movies. The tricky thing is that I might have seen too many of them because, even though this one seems to have a really solid reputation, it didn’t really blow me away (I actually enjoyed much more ‘The Garage’ which was also starring Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle). Still, it was quite a milestone in his career since it was his first movie without Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle who pretty much launched his career. Concerning the movie itself, I have to admit that it was less random than his other shorts. Indeed, they gave us basically a freshly married couple during their first week after their wedding and I have to admit that the end-result was actually quite entertaining. The main attraction was some big house the newlyweds built himself within just a few days which was obviously a really misguided idea. On the other hand, this building was a perfect opportunity for some wild slapstick. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was pretty good 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 seemed to have a decent reputation and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. The first interesting thing with this movie is that it is labeled as a documentary but, to be honest, I think it must be the least educational documentary I have ever seen. The funny thing was that there were actually so many title cards through the whole duration but they were never used to convey some actual information either on Lenin himself, on the Soviet Union or on how it was to live in this country back in the 30’s. Indeed, instead, these title cards were constantly used to hammer the fact that Lenin was apparently totally awesome and I can imagine that this approach could be frustrating, even nauseating for some viewers (which was definitely the feeling I had when I watched ‘Triumph des Willens’). At the end of the day, it is and remains a Soviet propaganda feature, the rather pathetic bombastic rhetoric goes with the territory, and, as far as I’m concerned, even though I wouldn’t go as far as saying that it was inspiring, I still think it that there was something quite lyrical and artistic about the damned thing. Sure, the Soviet Union was a big failure at the time but, beside the fact that, at the time, the Soviets embraced a completely different lifestyle, they also really subverted the movie language. Sure, it might all seem rather disturbing but I think it was actually quite intriguing and this movie was a good example, even if it was probably not the most memorable movie in this genre. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really mind-blowing, it was still an interesting watch and I think it is worth a look but probably only if you are interested in the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. It’s only when the movie started that I discovered that it was actually directed by John Ford. Well, to be honest, I wasn’t really impressed by the end-result, in fact, I was almost falling asleep during the last 15 mins but it was probably due to the fact that I was more tired than I expected. Anyway, basically, it was a rather weird mix of comedy and thriller but, above all, it was based on a very generic gimmick which was never really entertaining. Concerning Jean Arthur, she was just as lovely as usual and she did what she could with this material playing some kind of wise-*ss lady but I think she was rather wasted here playing a character who was barely developed. Eventually, the main (and only?) cool thing in this movie was to see the great Edward G. Robinson playing a dual role which he both really nailed. Indeed, so far, I had seen the actor playing only 2 kinds of characters, the tough guy/gangster or the mild-mannered man, 2 extremes and, well, Robinson got the opportunity to play both types in the same movie and, very often, at the same time. To make the whole thing even more intricate, you even had some scenes during which Edward G. Robinson was playing 'Killer' Mannion pretending to be Arthur Ferguson Jones. Sure, it might look clumsy almost 90 years later from a technical point of view but, from an acting point of view, I think it was a real nice showcase of Robinson’s talent. It’s too bad that the movie didn’t have much else to offer. Anyway, to conclude, even it didn’t really impress me, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

In fact, I was planning to watch something completely different, I was supposed to watch ‘Magic Mike's Last Dance’ but I kept having some technical issues with this movie so I switched to something completely different at the last moment. Well, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise after all. Indeed, there is a fair chance that Magic Mike’s last outing would have been pretty weak and I actually really enjoyed this replacement. Sure, like many other Netflix documentaries, the damned thing did sound terribly gimmicky and, yet, the end-result was pretty neat after all. First of all, it’s so strange to think that up until last year, the whole world was still under the grip of the dreadful Corona virus. It seems so far away now and, with this movie, I was so weird to get back into this vibe during which we were all locked up in our homes for months. Another thing that probably made me enjoy this movie even more was probably the fact that I met my wonderful girlfriend through a similar dating app. However, the big difference between our couple and the couple displayed in this movie was that both of them, for different reasons, were not looking for a serious relationship at all. And, yet, through fate, they had to spend 3 months together in a foreign country completely cut off from the rest of the world and, eventually, they did fall in love with each other which was just so sweet and romantic. I mean, they barely knew each other when they went to Costa Rica and the whole thing could have been a total nightmare. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was nothing ground-breaking, it turned out to be a cute love story and I think it is actually worth a look, at least, if you like the genre. 

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I thought I might finally check it out. Seriously, it is rather surprising that it took me so long to finally watch it. To be honest, the fact that it did sound like a really generic story was probably the main reason why I didn’t rush to see the damned thing. Anyway, after all these years, I have to admit that it certainly deserved its stellar reputation after all. Indeed, it’s actually hard to describe it, it’s basically about an average guy who meets an average girl and how they fall in love with each other, not much more. And, yet, the damned thing was one of these magical movies that you come across only once a while. To be honest, I don’t really understand why this movie is classified as a ‘musical drama’. I mean, sure, there is some music involved, even some great music, but the way this romance was handled was completely different than everything you will ever see in a musical. Anyway, it was maybe one of the most basic love stories I have ever seen but what was brilliant in this movie is that they actually displayed why this specific man and this specific woman were completely made for each other. Indeed, they both loved music, they both loved making music and, when they were making music together, they became some kind of unstoppable force which was just so awe-inspiring to behold. But, even beside the moments they were involved with music, they were something so genuine about their relationship. Sure, the guy made a mistake at first but it was understandable but, after that, none of them really dared to express their feelings for each other and, eventually, they didn’t end up together which might be frustrating for some viewers but I thought it was such a ballsy and strong way to end this movie. Anyway, to conclude, I really enjoyed the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.