Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by D.W. Griffith and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. By now, I have seen the most famous movies directed by this great master but, even though this one did seem to have a decent reputation, to be honest, it didn’t really impress me though. Indeed, it was visually not bad (the chase scene on the ice towards the end was pretty wild) but, as far as I was concerned, it was pretty much a typical vintage melodramatic soap that they used to make back then. Basically, they gave us a pure and innocent girl who gets deceived and defiled by some evil libertine guy, something they really loved back then apparently, this movie was even a big box-office success when it was released but I’m not a huge fan. The fact that they needed 150 mins to tell a rather simple story after all probably didn’t help either. The extensive running time probably had to do with the fact that there were quite a lot of characters involved but, to be honest, they were all rather unremarkable, I’m afraid. The only exception was Lillian Gish. Obviously, it wasn’t the first time I saw Gish in one of D.W. Griffith’s production and, once again, she didn’t disappoint, that’s for sure. Indeed, there were a couple of close-up shots which were just masterful. Another thing that stood out with this movie was some random comical scenes that showed up from time to time. I don’t think I ever saw Griffith indulging with such audacious comic touches in his epic dramas before but, to be honest, it didn’t really work, I’m afraid. For example, this character Professor Sterling felt like some really misguided mix of Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Anyway, to conclude, even if I did struggle to care about the damned thing, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in D.W. Griffith’s work.

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. First of all, who’s this guy B.J. Novak? I mean, his face was familiar but I can’t say I was familiar with his work though. Apparently, he became famous after showing up on ‘The Office’ but I never saw this sitcom. Anyway, concerning his directing debut, to be honest, the whole thing did sound so misguided at first and, yet, I have to admit that it did grow on me. Indeed, as expected, Novak started with some really stereotypical characters which made me dismiss the whole thing at first but, then, he took his time to actually develop them. The best example was maybe the character played by Ashton Kutcher. Indeed, after a rather abysmal career, Kutcher made here some kind of come-back (I’m not sure you can call it a real come-back since this movie was not exactly a huge commercial or critical success though) and he might have delivered here the best performance of his career. Indeed, there was something quite intriguing by his character. To be honest, I still think the end-result was still too pretentious but it was to be expected from such directorial debut. I also wonder what the people coming from Texas would think about this movie. I have never been there so I have no idea if it might truthful or not but since B.J. Novak is, like his character, actually from Massachusetts, I have some doubts. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, even though I expected it to be rather lame, I have to admit that there was somehow something quite intriguing about the damned thing and I think it is actually worth a look. 

Sure, like anyone else, I have noticed that this movie was a flop when it was released but, since it was available on HBO Max, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. Well, to be honest, it was rather hard to judge this movie after all. Indeed, sure, the whole thing did feel like a rather misguided egomaniac project from Kevin Costner and you might wonder if he will manage to deliver the 4 movies he planned to do (seriously, all together, the whole thing would be around 12 hrs of running time..). And, yet, I have to admit that it was visually not bad at all and there was definitely something epic about it. Concerning the characters, I was not so sure. I mean, there were many of them so there was definitely some variety, depicting some many different perspectives on how you could live back then on the Frontier. But was any of them really interesting though? Not really. The episodic structure certainly didn’t help any of them though. Indeed, I think the main issue was that the format was not suited at all for what Costner wanted to achieve. For some reason, he thought that to release 4 epic Westerns as feature length features was the way to go but it seemed to be pretty obvious that a mini-series format on any streaming service would have been such a better choice. Eventually, you might wonder if by scaling down and removing some of the characters and some of the sub-plots, the whole thing might have been so much improved but I guess that’s what you get when a movie star spends seemingly all his money to do whatever he wants. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was actually a decent watch, I didn’t notice that it was 3hrs long which is always a good sign and I think it is worth a look, at least, if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it had been very well received and since it was available on HBO Max, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, the damned thing was probably the most disappointing movie I have seen released in 2024 after all. I know, it might sound harsh but I kept hearing that it was the best movie directed by Clint Eastwood in ages but, while I would agree that it was the least disappointing movie he has delivered in a while, I was still not really impressed though. As far as I was concerned, it felt like a modern rip-off of ’12 Angry Men’ to which they added a really convoluted twist. Indeed, before I watched this movie, I knew this specific juror would have something to do with this crime but I didn’t know he would turn out to be actually guilty of this specific crime which was, in my opinion, rather ridiculous. Seriously, what are the odds that something like this could happen? Even more egregious and/or annoying was the fact that the main character apparently discovered this during the trial at the same time with the audience. Again, seriously, was this guy living under a rock or something? It was concerning a high-profile murder trial taking place where he lived but, during the year between the alleged murder and the trial, he didn’t hear or read anything about it at all? So, as you can see, I didn’t care much about the whole setup and this was only the first 15 mins. Concerning the rest of the movie, sure, it was well made and the cast was solid but, basically, you get to see the main character feeling guilty and all which was all rather predictable but, above all, it was never really fascinating. Finally, this movie was yet another proof of how broken the US judicial system has become (or as ever been). Basically, as displayed in this movie, people on a jury would give their sentence mostly depending on their moods and not so much based on the facts after all which was, of course, rather appalling but, unfortunately, hardly surprising. Anyway, to conclude, even if this movie turned out to be rather disappointing, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and it is 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 seemed to have a decent reputation and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to combine the classic evil doll genre with our current fear about super-intelligent AI which is becoming less and less some science-fiction was also clever and I have to admit that it was fairly entertaining. The way Cady used this super fancy doll to cope with the loss of her parents was also intriguing but, eventually, the makers didn’t really dig too much in this direction. Concerning the cast, Allison Williams was pretty good and actually really convincing playing this character but the rest of the cast was rather unremarkable. Concerning the doll itself, Megan was really well made, that’s for sure, but I thought it was rather weird that none of the characters involved ever pointed out that she looked way too creepy to be sold as a toy, as advanced as she was, but I guess it was inherent to the genre. Anyway, in spite their decent efforts, I still think it turned out to be a rather generic evil doll horror flick after all. It was like these campy jokes, they were not bad at all, but they felt like a reminder that you are basically watching another silly horror flick about a doll going on rampage and you should definitely not take the damned thing seriously. There is actually nothing wrong with that but they always go for this approach in this genre so it would be nice if they gave us something for once. To conclude, even if it was nothing really mind-blowing whatsoever, I have to admit that it was a decent watch and it is 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 Jennifer Lawrence and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, the concept did sound rather lame and, on top of that, the opening scene was just terrible. Seriously, I was wondering what the hell happened to Lawrence. Was she too tanned or did they put too much make-up on her or something? Anyway, she looked, let’s say, rather weird. Fortunately, the movie did get better afterwards though. There was apparently some controversy because her character was so much older than the character played by Andrew Barth Feldman but it didn’t bother me at all. Indeed, ever since they started to make movies, there has been some older dudes hooking up with some much younger chicks so why not the other way around? On top of that, they didn’t even really end up together at all after all so I don’t understand what was the fuss about. For some reason, the whole set-up actually reminded me of my first girlfriend. Indeed, at the time, like Percy, I was actually extremely shy, never got closed whatsoever to any girl whatsoever and, somehow, I ended up with a much older girl who was actually quite gorgeous. She was actually a friend of my older sister and she was easily the prettiest one in the gang of friends she had at the time and, sometimes, I wonder if they might have asked her to hook up with me because I was so pitiful back then, pretty much like in this movie. Anyway, what did work was the fact that the two main characters were actually fairly well developed after all, at least, much more than what you usually get in this genre. Eventually, it was rather disappointing that they didn’t have an actual romantic relationship but that’s usually the case with such R rated comedies, they always end up being rather harmless after all. Anyway, 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. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this sequel but, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. I actually saw the previous installment in the movie theater and, I even though I remembered that it was not bad, it was pretty much the only thing I did remember though. Eventually, after more than a decade, you might wonder if it was really worth it to bother at all as, in most cases, the end-result turns out to be rather disappointing, especially with DreamWorks animated features. Well, I have to admit that this sequel turned out to be actually quite satisfying after all. First of all, they went for some original animation style which looked great (I wonder where I saw it before and it was with 'The Wild Robot' which was actually released a few years later). Above all, the concept of the main characters having recklessly used all his previous lives and fearing it might soon be the end for him was really neat. Indeed, Puss in Boots has always been an arrogant dude with a big mouth and, even though it might be entertaining, his shtick does get old, especially for a full-length feature like this one. So, to take the character into a complete different direction was a nice approach. Concerning the other characters, there were a bunch of them and none was really developed whatsoever but, at least, they were all fairly entertaining. The other thing which was handled pretty well was the tone which was pretty wacky, instead of constantly throwing some pop culture jokes like they did in the Shrek franchise. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was far from being a masterpiece and even though I will forget it in just a few days, I have to admit that it was actually quite enjoyable and it is 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 directed by D.W. Griffith and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have been focusing on watching older movies on YouTube and, sometimes, the quality is not great and this one was borderline unwatchable. The fact that the movie itself was also rather weak certainly didn’t help either. Eventually, except for its historical value, I don’t think the damned thing had much to offer, I’m afraid. For me, the most intriguing thing was how Griffith went from such epics like ‘The Birth of a Nation’ or ‘Intolerance’ to such a low key romantic drama in less than a decade. Basically, it involved 2 men and 2 women who were all linked somehow but how they all ended up with each other was so convoluted and rather clumsy. I mean, what was the point of the John character since the guy was gone for most of the duration? It seemed that he was there only to make sure that Marie Carrington didn’t end up completely alone at the end. Anyway, the end-result was a typical drama about a young rich man trying to be righteous and a poor girl who was (or wasn’t? it seems that the movie never really could make up its mind about this…) playing too much with promiscuity. To make things worse, for some reason, Griffith also did add some black characters in the mix but their portrayal was just so racist and appalling. Sure, the guy was a film master but, almost a decade after the controversy following the release of ‘The Birth of a Nation’, it seems that he didn’t learn much. On the other hand, behind their cheesy pathetic love stories, that’s basically what people really believed at the time, as shocking as it might be. Anyway, to conclude, even though I didn’t care much for the damned thing, I guess it is still worth a look but only for its historical aspect. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Cecil B. DeMille and since it was available in on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. The funny thing is that, even though Cecil B. DeMille is probably one of the most famous directors that ever lived, it was only the 3rd movie I saw directed by this guy. To make it even weirder, the first movie I ever saw from him was actually the remake he made 30 years later of this very same movie. Anyway, there is no doubt that the production was value was really impressive for a movie made 100 years ago and I was expecting to watch a pretty cool vintage biblical epic. Well, while I was watching the damned thing, I was surprised that the whole thing started already after the 9th plague and I was even more surprised that, within less than 45 mins, Moses already had his hands on the famous tablet with the ten commandments. Indeed, it turned out that the whole epic thing was actually only some kind of very fancy elaborate and slightly overblown intro to a typical romantic drama from the 20’s. The difference of scale between these two parts (the biblical part and the modern part) was so huge, it was actually rather jarring. It seemed as if they ran out of money early on and decided to focus instead on a rather cheap love triangle very loosely linked with the ten commandments. No wonder DeMille would be eager to give it another shot 30 years later. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, if only to see the real cool first part.