Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Wes Anderson and since it was available on Netflix, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, if you are a fan of Wes Anderson’s work, it will be quite a year to remember as the indie master will release no less than 5 movies (1 full-length feature and 4 shorts). To be honest, I have to admit that I have never been a fan of Roald Dahl’s books film adaptations. However, I really did love ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ which is, as far as I’m concerned, Anderson’s best movie so far and, well, the famous writer and the indie film director seemed to be once again a match made in heaven. Indeed, as usual with this director, the whole thing was a visual treat but, above all, it was such a fun tale and, combined with Anderson’s quirky directing style, it was just a marvel to behold. The fact it was a short feature was also perfect because I do believe that this way of telling a story for at least 90 mins could have been rather exhausting and/or annoying after a while. The only thing missing, at least, if you would compare it to his most recent directorial efforts, is that he didn’t get a huge cast to play each character by some famous actor but, instead, he chose to have only a handful of actors playing several characters but I thought it was rather distracting. Fortunately, it wasn't a big deal though and, now, I can’t wait to see the other 3 shorts that Anderson has cooked up for Netflix. Anyway, to conclude, I really enjoyed the damned thing and I think it’s definitely worth a look, especially a fan of Wes Anderson or a fan of Roald Dahl. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick, in fact, I was planning to watch ‘Pépé le Moko’ on Netflix but it was apparently removed maybe a week before, so I decided to watch instead this movie also released in 1937. Well, I must admit that I was actually really positively surprised by the first act. Indeed, the intro was not bad but, above all, as soon as Wally Cook got to Warsaw, this movie became actually quite hilarious. It’s too bad that it didn’t last for long though. Indeed, from the moment Carole Lombart got introduced, it became so much less interesting. I know, Lombart was apparently a major screw-ball comedy legend and, in fact, I’m not blaming her. Before she came around, I just loved the interaction between Cook and the inhabitants of this fictional little city though but it was obviously not what this movie was about and I’m afraid I just didn’t care much about this flimsy concept. Basically, the idea was that everybody was supposed to think that this woman was terminally ill but I thought it was rather odd and/or annoying that nobody would notice or mention that she actually looked fine. Sure, you could argue that screwball comedies always had some far-fetched even borderline idiotic storylines, that it is inherent to the genre, but, as far as I was concerned, it was just too paper thin in this case. The fact that Wally Cook and Hazel Flagg both started to act hysterically from the moment they met each other, again something which was supposed to be hilarious, was also hardly entertaining. It’s too bad because the first 15 mins were actually really fun. Anyway, to conclude, even though I’m not really a fan of the genre, I have to admit that it was still a decent vintage screwball comedy and it is worth a look. 

Even though this movie was a huge flop when it was released, at least with the audience, since it was directed by [Link removed - login to see] and since it was available on Disney+, I still wanted to check it out. Well, to be honest, I thought it was a rather difficult to judge the damned thing after all. Sure, it was another completely useless live-action remake from Disney, there was also the issue that I have seen already so many versions of this story and the fact they did nothing really interesting with it this time around certainly didn’t help. Basically, the first act was so faithful to the classic animated Disney feature and, while it was pretty to look at, it felt rather pointless. In the second act, they finally tried to give their own spin on this timeless tale by focusing on Peter Pan and Captain Hook’s relationship in the past which wasn’t necessarily a bad idea but it was also never really dazzling, I’m afraid. Finally, another thing that really bothered me was the fact that, even though Alexander Molony did look fine, he was by far the most underwhelming Peter Pan I have ever seen. So, indeed, the damned thing was pretty weak and even seriously tedious to be behold and, yet, I still don’t think it deserved so much hatred though. Indeed, visually, it was fine, Jude Law was pretty good as Captain Hook and it was probably the best depiction of Tiger Lily I have seen so far. A funny fact, while watching this movie, I was thinking that the girl playing Wendy really looked like a younger version of Milla Jovovich and it’s only after the movie was over that I discovered that she was actually Milla Jovovich’s own daughter. Anyway, to conclude, even if I didn’t care much about this movie, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you are interested in David Lowery’s work.

Since I have always been a huge fan of Pixar, I was quite eager to check this movie, even if it eventually didn’t make much waves when it was released. Well, it is rather sad that the previous Pixar productions (‘Soul’, ‘Luca’, ‘Turning Red’) were all released directly to Disney+ when this movie was actually first released in the movie theaters when, in fact, it turned out to be one of the least interesting original movies they have delivered in many years. I mean, it’s not that it was awful but, eventually, it was not really entertaining, I’m afraid. As already pointed out by many, the animation was amazing though, I especially loved how the characters were designed but, at this point, I wouldn’t expect less from Pixar. I also enjoyed the theme song. Unfortunately, the whole concept of telling a story around the elements was hardly interesting but, even more problematic, the seemingly impossible love story between Ember and Wade was just so generic and predictable. At least, I did appreciate the fact that they were really sensitive with the casting to make sure that the different elemental groups didn’t become some caricatures of the usual ethnical groups. However, even though they tried really hard to show that Ember was going through some major internal conflicts, they never really nailed it this time though. It didn’t help that they delivered such fascinating complex characters in the past with ‘Up’, ‘Inside Out’ or ‘Turning Red’ just to name a few. Finally, why did Ember and Wade fall in love for each other? That’s where the movie should have delivered something deep and profound. Unfortunately, the end-result was maybe cute but it was not much better than your average romantic-comedy. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of it flaws, even a minor effort from Pixar is still worth a look though, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring Mark Wahlberg and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, Wahlberg has never been shy about his religious background (it even made him regretting to star in ‘Boogie Night’, arguably the best movie of his whole career) so I guess it was just a matter of time before he would show up in such a faith-based feature. Well, there is no doubt that the story of Stuart Long was incredible and quite inspiring, even if you are an atheist like me. It’s too bad that the movie itself turned out to be so disjointed, especially during the first hour. Indeed, there was so much going on during his life and it seems that they tried to cram too much information. Basically, his brother died when he was a kid, his father left him and his mom and he became a boxer and that was just the first 15 mins. Well, all these events seemed to be super important in his life but none of them was properly developed.  Of course, in spite of all the mind-blowing twists in his life, the main event was obviously his decision to become a Catholic priest and, well, I have to admit that I felt bad for his girlfriend. I mean, he went through this whole journey, to become a better man, to become closer to her and her faith to eventually dump her after all? That was rather hard to swallow. And yet, after all what he went through, the guy became so wise but he always kept his rather unformal way of speaking and this mix was just a great way to reach out and spread his message of love and forgiveness to the church goers, that’s for sure. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is actually worth a look, at least if you like the genre.

To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting much from this flick but, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, it didn’t strike me before but Adam Sandler basically gave here his own cheap spin on the ‘Knives Out’ concept but, on the other hand, you might argue that both franchises started in 2019 so it was probably not on purpose. Anyway, even if it was far from being one of the worst movies I have seen starring Sandler, it was still pretty weak though. At least, it wasn’t worse than the first installment, I’ll give you that. In fact, I have to admit that, this time around, Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston were now actually a convincing couple which wasn’t really the case the first time around. Unfortunately, it was probably the only thing that really worked in this movie. Indeed, the characters were just boring and poorly developed and the story was hardly entertaining. In fact, I have to admit that it wasn’t such a bad idea to have them becoming private detectives, it actually made sense following the events of the previous movie, and to have them being very bad at this job seemed to be a no-brainer. However, once again, the writing was just so lazy and the makers did really nothing interesting and/or funny with this concept. I mean, somehow, they still managed to crack the case way too easily and their incompetence was never properly exploited. Seriously, it is the kind of movie you are actually glad that they last only 90 mins because it is over before it really starts to get on your nerves. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was harmless, it was still a waste of time and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except if you are really a die-hard fan of Adam Sandler. 

Since this movie was the last classic directed by [Link removed - login to see] that I haven’t seen yet so far, i was quite eager to check it out. Well, the story turned out to pretty simple after all. Indeed, Russia was invaded by the Germans, Aleksandr Nevsky managed to gather Russian fighters from all over the country and they kicked the Germans’s asses, not much more than that and, to be honest, I have to admit that I actually had a hard time to get into the damned thing after all. I don’t know, I was also dealing with some personal stuff at the time so I was probably too distracted. The tricky thing with such movies is that you might dismiss then because they might seem outdated. Sure, the battle scenes in a modern blockbuster like ’Braveheart‘ might be more impressive and/or convincing but you have to keep in mind that this movie was made decades before and it was probably a huge influence in this area. Furthermore, back then, even if Eisenstein was finally taking his distance from the Soviet propaganda, this movie was still backed and approved by the Soviet government so everything about Nevsky which might have been slightly negative or controversial was completely toned down. As a result, the main character, Aleksandr Nevsky himself, turned out to be rather flat after all, especially if you watch first ‘Ivan Groznyy‘ with Ivan IV who was so much darker, complex and, well, pretty messed-up. Still, to have the Russian master focusing for the first time on such a huge historical epic was pretty neat and the damned thing was visually quite impressive for the time period. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow away, it is still a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Sergei Eisenstein’s work. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a pretty cool cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though I always had a weak spot for Matthias Schoenaerts and [Link removed - login to see] and even though it was really cool to have these 2 actors working together, I’ll have to admit that the damned thing turned out to be rather half-baked after all. I mean, the mood was fine and the beginning was promising. Indeed, even if it was nothing original, I did like the dynamic between these two cousins. However, unfortunately, it didn’t last for long, I’m afraid. Indeed, suddenly, Joel Kinnaman’s started to act really differently and, after the first 10 mins, he became your typical incompetent egomaniacal gangster. It’s not that Kinnaman was bad, in both registers, the Swedish actor was actually fine but, unfortunately, it made his character so much less interesting to follow. Furthermore, as a result, I was then wondering what on Earth Matthias Schoenaerts’s character was then doing with him. Indeed, was he actually his right hand? I’m not so sure but, since his cousin didn’t listen at all to his advice, since he didn’t seem to enjoy this business, why did he stick around? The other thing that didn’t work at all were the flashbacks. Seriously, not only there were rather clunky but what was the added value of these scenes, especially for a movie lasting barely 80 mins? It’s too bad because Ryan Phillippe was actually pretty good and probably gave his best performance in years for this movie. Concerning [Link removed - login to see], she did look lovely but her character was even less developed than the rest and she was basically given nothing interesting to do. Anyway, to conclude, I think I was maybe to generous with my rating here but I still think it is worth a look though, if only for the fine actors involved.