Reviews by johanlefourbe

Is it finally the end of the super-hero blockbusters era? Well, it definitely seems like it. After hearing so many bad things about this movie, I seriously lowered my expectations but I still ended up watching the damned thing in the movie theater. On top of that, I have been recovering from the flue this week so I was rather exhausted when I watched this movie and I have to admit that I really struggled not to fall asleep during the last 30 mins. Anyway, probably because I was expecting something so awful but I don’t think it  was so bad after all. Sure, it was nothing amazing and it did feel indeed rather half-baked but I thought the end-result was harmless and there were even a couple of decent ideas. I mean, it was directed by a woman with a cast of interesting actresses (Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O'Connor, Emma Roberts) and I liked how all these characters were connected together. Unfortunately, even though Tahar Rahim is a fine actor, his bad guy was just so underwhelming. Basically, he was some kind of villainous version of Spider-Man shooting some poison instead of webs. Anyway, the guy was pretty lame. Furthermore, it was pretty obvious that they struggled with the script (according to Dakota Johnson, the end-result had actually pretty much nothing to do anymore with the script she signed on to make). I mean, you get to see the main character driving around, she drops the girls into some random woods so she can go back to New York just to read some journal and goes back again to these woods and all this with the same stolen cab. Then, after this very clunky sequence, she then dumped then again so she could make some trip to Peru which was just weird. The ending was also hardly convincing. Indeed, it is not as if all these girls were orphans so it didn’t make sense that Cassandra Webb would become their foster somehow. Anyway, to conclude, I’m probably too generous with my rating here but I don’t think it was such a disaster after all, still, you should probably watch it with some very low expectations. 

Recently, I have been focusing on older movies and, after watching Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, W.C. Fields and Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, it was really time to finally watch something involving the Marx Brothers. Well, I have to admit that I was actually quite impressed by how much I enjoyed the damned thing and, within 10 mins, I understood why these guys had been so popular back then. To be honest, the intro with this talent agent was not bad but not really much more than that but pretty much everything else afterwards was just so hilarious. After watching so many vintage comedies recently, I thought I was getting slightly fed up with the genre but, seriously, I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much. Eventually, I would be hard-pressed to pick-up a favorite scene or joke because everything worked so well especially from the moment they got on this boat. What I enjoyed the most was the free-wheeling energy displayed by the brothers and it’s interesting because almost all the slapstick comedies at the time were really random which can become tiresome at some point but it didn’t bother me at all here. It was also neat that each brother had his own character/personality but, above all, I really loved Groucho Marx who was able to perfectly deliver such weird but also intricate dialogues. Another neat thing is that it was the first movie I saw starring the Marx Brothers but it is not even considered as one of their best so their top movies must be quite amazing and I hope I will have the opportunity to watch them at some point. Anyway, to conclude, the famous brothers really deserve their stellar reputation, I really loved the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, 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 Romain Duris, I thought I might as well check it out. As usual, when I started to watch this movie, I knew pretty much nothing about it and, at first, it seemed to be some kind of French version of a typical Ken Loach political pamphlet. However, seemingly out of the blue, the wife of the main character was gone and it became something completely different though. Indeed, from this point on, it became some kind of French blue-collar version of ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’. The big difference between the two movies, except the social background of the characters, was that, in this French movie, it was never clear what was going on with this woman after all. As a result, you might expect this movie to become a mystery thriller focusing on her disappearance and her possible return but it was definitely not something that interested the makers which might have been frustrating for some viewers. In fact, I’m going myself right now through a very ugly divorce so my first reaction was to conclude that their relationship was over and this family was broken for good but they went for a completely different approach which turned out to be quite intriguing. Indeed, instead, they focused on how traumatic this whole experience was for this man who eventually never managed to come into terms with what happened to him and his family. Basically, it is understandable and expected that his two young children would constantly yearn for her return but their father actually shared some similar feelings which was surprising but super interesting as well. Indeed, as a result, the guy was going through a rollercoaster of emotions and Romain Duris, probably one of the best French actors at work nowadays, was definitely up to the task. Eventually, you don’t get any answer about how it’s going to work out in the future but that didn’t bother me. Still, it was rather difficult (actually pretty much impossible for me) to root for this missing woman, to understand her predicament, since you spend so little time with her at the beginning. Another issue was that the whole Ken Loach political pamphlet thingy kept popping up every 5 mins which did give the characters a realistic social background but, to be honest, it didn’t mix very well with this domestic drama and, as a result, it felt as if this movie wanted to be 2 really different things at the same time. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick. In fact, while watching the damned thing, I was actually wondering how it did end up in my queue. Anyway, I always had a weak spot for Fabrice Luchini and he was a perfect choice to play this character. Concerning Anaïs Demoustier, I have to admit that I’m not really familiar with this actress but she is definitely quite charismatic and she delivered here a solid performance as well. However, following the #Metoo movement, I think that there was something rather creepy about this older influential man hiring a much younger woman to basically be his ‘muse’. Sure, nothing sexual or predatory happened between them so it was not at all that kind of relationship but you might still wonder why they had to hire a young attractive woman for this position. Or maybe that’s actually the sad thing about this analysis, the fact that we can’t picture such a couple in the workspace without imagining some ominous ulterior motives involved. Another interesting thing about this movie, at least, as far as I was concerned, was how impressive and even ‘royal’ the town hall looked like in Lyon and how it clashed with the left-wing beliefs of this mayor. But it went actually much further than this. Indeed, every breakfast, every lunch looked way too expensive. Hell, he even ordered a bottle of whisky in the middle of the night without blinking. Maybe that’s what Alice was getting at when she was talking to him about modesty. Eventually, even though the concept was intriguing, to be honest, I’m not sure what the makers were trying to achieve here after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really dazzle me, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth, at least, if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting much from this flick but, somehow, I still ended up watching it. Well, as expected, it turned out to be another lame romantic-comedy directed by Johan Nijenhuis and, as far as I was concerned, pretty much nothing worked here. At least, the fact I don’t know much about Cuba allowed me to not get endlessly bothered by the series of stereotypes displayed in this movie. Still, I wonder how offensive the damned thing was for Cuban people. At least, it was a nice touch that the local characters did speak Spanish which was better than what you usually get in some similar Hollywood romantic-comedies. Still, the damned thing was such a mess though. Basically, there were so many little plot threads, it was just relentless, and, to make things worse, most of them didn’t work whatsoever. I mean, there was even some kind of illegal Fight Club, for crying out loud. Furthermore, Maartje was getting in married Cuba but did it really make sense that not only her mother but also her brother would hook up with someone new in this country within a week maybe? At least, it was actually a nice touch that this transgender character was actually played by an actual transgender actress which I didn’t expect. Unfortunately, it was the main issue with this movie, the fact that some ideas did have some potential (not many of them though) but they were all handled in such a fluffy way, seriously, it was borderline annoying. The fact that most of the jokes were rather abysmal also didn’t help (seriously, they even gave us a toast with some liposuction fat?!?). Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was harmless, it was still really weak and I don’t think it is worth a look.

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. Even though it made sense that DreamWorks would come with a sequel since ‘The Croods’ had been a commercial success, it is rather bewildering that it took them 7 long years and, by then, you might wonder if anyone would actually care after all this time. On the other hand, it did turn out to be another box-office success so I guess their bet paid off. As far as I was concerned, to be honest, I have to admit that I didn’t remember ‘The Croods’ at all. As a matter of fact, I actually thought that Eep met Guy at the beginning of this sequel but they actually already met during the previous installment and it was basically some kind of recap this time around. Anyway, that’s pretty much the issue with this whole franchise. Indeed, the animation is neat, the concept actually has some potential but, at the end of the day, the end-result is just terribly forgettable. At least, the voice cast, especially Nicolas Cage and Emma Stone, were actually pretty good and I still think it is one of the very few animated features from DreamWorks which has actually an interesting concept. It’s just too bad they didn’t do anything interesting with it. By the way, the whole banana concept turned out to be slightly annoying and seriously drawn out. So, Phil was gathering some bananas for the Punch Monkeys so they could themselves give these bananas to some kind of King Kong-like-monster? But then, what was the point of the Punch Monkeys? Why not skip them altogether? Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have to admit that it is actually a decent animated feature and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre but, to be honest, I’m pretty sure I’ll forget the whole thing within a few days. 

It seemed to be a rather obscure picture so I wasn’t really sure what to expect from it but, since it was directed by King Vidor, I thought I might as well check it out. Recently, I have been watching some older movies from the 30’s and 40’s and, back then, the screwball comedies were really popular but, to be honest, I always struggle with this genre. Indeed, most of these movies are just too silly for my taste. Well, this movie was something else and, only therefore, I gave it some extra points. Sure, it was maybe not really ground-breaking and it was pretty obvious that it was adapted from a play but I did like this idea of focusing on the stoop of some average building in Manhattan for about 24 hrs. Indeed, they gave us this way such a convincing and compelling portrayal of the diverse people living in New York with all their different backgrounds, cultures, religions and even prejudices. It also displayed one of the most basic murders I have ever seen but it was actually quite refreshing. Indeed, Hollywood movies, especially thrillers, can be so far-fetched but, in fact, in many cases, women are killed by their jealous husband as it was depicted in this movie. Eventually, in my opinion, the only thing that prevented this movie to become even better was that the acting was most of the time borderline average. It’s too bad because most of the characters felt genuine and were interesting enough and the writing was actually quite solid. At least, it was pretty neat to see once again the lovely Sylvia Sidney, even if I have to admit that I wasn’t really sure if she was actually really better than the rest of the cast. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it turned out to be a really intriguing movie and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to watch something slightly different. 

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. Well, even though the material was actually really interesting, I’m afraid that the end-result turned out to be some kind of 3^rd rate copycat of ‘Traffic’. To be honest, I don’t think that Steven Soderbergh’s classic did grow old very well but there is no doubt that it was pretty much a masterpiece compared to this flick. Basically, it was dealing with the opioid scandal, a very topical subject, and I think that each of these 3 entangled tales could have actually worked on their own. However, it seems that combining them turned out to be a mistake since all of these 3 stories were terribly half-baked after all. Concerning the cast, except for Gary Oldman, there were all some B stars at best (Armie Hammer, Evangeline Lilly, Greg Kinnear, Michelle Rodriguez, Luke Evans, Lily-Rose Depp, Kid Cudi, Mia Kirshner) and, to make things worse, they were all weak here. Even Oldman, I know the guy has an impressive reputation and, indeed, he can be pretty awesome, but I also believe that he spent at least half of his career getting involved in such rather worthless productions. The fact that he delivered here a rather poor performance probably didn’t help either. Eventually, it will be mostly remembered as being one of the last movies starring Armie Hammer before he was hit by a sex scandal but, to be honest, I don’t think we will really miss him. Indeed, even though I could imagine a gritty actor playing a really unhinged undercover cop, Hammer was constantly underwhelming and unconvincing here. Anyway, to conclude, even though I actually think it did have some potential, the damned thing turned out to be rather lame and I don’t think it is really worth a look.