Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Jean Renoir and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it’s only afterwards that I discovered that it was only Renoir’s 2^nd directorial effort. Back then, he was still making some silent movies and it was something quite ambitious for someone who just started to direct. Still, to be honest, I have to admit that I really struggled to care about the damned thing though and the main issue I had was that the damned thing was just so long. Seriously, there is no way that this story required almost 3 hrs of running time and I wonder if the book written by Emile Zola worked better. At least, there is no denying that Nana was indeed quite a character. Indeed, even though she was quite vulgar, not really gorgeous and had no real talent, yet, I could see why all these men would be attracted to her. Eventually, it was an interesting balancing act from Catherine Hessling who must have had a lot of fun with this character. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if I really cared about this character and the fact that the other characters were even less interesting probably didn’t help. That’s another thing that bothered me, the fact that the whole thing felt rather misogynistic. Indeed, if you would believe this movie, all this men were actually innocent as they were all under the spell of this evil devious woman. I wonder how this movie would have been received if it was released nowadays following the #Metoo movement. Anyway, to conclude, even if I think it was a minor effort from the French master, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Jean Renoir’s work. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by the Dardenne Brothers, I was really eager to check it out. Well, it was probably one of the strongest stories they came up with in a very long time. Unfortunately, even though the brothers usually have a steady hand, in this case, it felt rather disjointed, I’m afraid, and, right from the disorienting first scene, you might wonder if their approach was really the best way to handle this material. Indeed, even though the main character was quite fascinating, the lack of background around him was rather frustrating. The fact that the only Muslim adult he ever spoke to was this radical imam was also rather bewildering. Eventually, you might wonder why this young teenager would believe every single word this man would tell him and would doubt what everybody else would say. Of course, that’s how religious fundamentalism works but you never get a glimpse on how this poor guy actually got sucked into this. It was also intriguing how much effort the Belgian authorities seemed to take for such a troubled young man (apparently, they give a specific case worker for each of them which actually sounds too good to be true) but this aspect was also barely developed after all. Eventually, as far as I was concerned, the most surprising and interesting aspect of this movie was the blossoming relationship between Ahmed and Louise. Unfortunately, it came really late so it didn’t get much attention but I think it could or should have been the main focus in this movie. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have to admit that it was a minor effort from the Belgian masters, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in the Dardenne Brothers’s work. 

I have to admit that this movie was definitely not a priority, at least not for me, especially since I have Disney+, but it was my youngest daughter's birthday and she was eager to see it in the movie theater. First of all, I’m not sure how I felt about the whole thing regarding its visual aspect. I mean, it was not bad, especially such sea scenes in 3D in the movie theater are always pretty neat. However, it did involve a lot of CGI which made the whole thing look terribly fake. Furthermore, it didn't help that James Cameron with ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ definitely raised the expectations in this area to such a high level and this movie certainly didn't come near, I'm afraid. At least, there is no denying that Halle Bailey was just perfect to play the lead. Indeed, she was really charismatic and her singing was top-notch. Furthermore, since the story was taking place in the Caribbean like in the classic animated feature, it actually made sense that, at least, one of them would be black in this cute couple. Concerning the rest of the cast, Melissa McCarthy was a great choice to play Ursula and Javier Bardem was cool as well but he wasn’t really given enough to do. Concerning Jonah Hauer-King, I guess he was not bad but, to be honest, he didn’t really impress me after all and, eventually, the guy felt like a rather cheap version of Ryan Gosling. Concerning the rest of the movie, well, to be honest, I have never been a huge fan of the animated feature, in fact, it took me many years to appreciate it. Anyway, in spite of its popularity, I don’t think it is one of their strongest story and the fact that they added 50 mins of running time seriously didn’t help. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I think it was still a decent watch though but it is probably only worth a look if you really like the genre. 

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, first of all, I have to admit that I had never heard of Louis Wain before and it is usually pretty neat to discover a new artist this way. However, in this case, to be honest, even if his cats were cute, I’m not sure if Wain really deserved such a biopic though. At least, there is no denying that the whole thing was visually pretty neat. On top of that, Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy had a solid chemistry together. I think it was also clever how they displayed within only a few scenes why they were meant to be together. It’s too bad that Foy’s character disappeared fairly quickly but, unfortunately, Wain was only married for a few years with his wife until she passed away. Eventually, instead of focusing on this lovely romantic relationship, they decided to focus instead on his erratic behavior which made sense as it was probably just as remarkable as his famous work on cats was. Still, eventually, what the hell was going on with Mr. Wain after all? That was probably the main issue with this movie. Indeed, they gave us pretty much anything going from borderline personality, ADHD, autism, schizophrenia,… but, instead of going deeper into the man, they kept showing how quirky he was which was supposed to be, I guess, entertaining but, as far as I was concerned, this approach didn’t really make me care about the man and what he went through. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really ground-breaking, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Louis Wain’s work. 

To be honest, I really had no idea what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Kevin Reynolds, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I think that the concept of focusing on a Roman officer during the few days after the crucifixion was actually really interesting. Indeed, this character was basically a rational man who tried to analyze this peculiar situation objectively and, as a result, it turned the whole thing into some kind of vintage thriller investigation which was actually pretty neat. Unfortunately, the whole thing fell apart from the moment the main character finally met Jesus. Indeed, from this point on, it became the usual Christian propaganda which was maybe not really surprising but this approach was still rather disappointing. I mean, I’m not a religious person but I think that religion is a really intriguing subject and the message of love preached by Jesus was certainly inspiring. However, according to the Christian dogma, everyone should believe Jesus’s message not because of its content but because of all kind of supposedly ‘miraculous’ events that occurred during his life and even after his tragic death which makes Christianity such a failed concept, at least as far as I’m concerned. Concerning this movie, this approach really derailed the whole narrative, I’m afraid. Indeed, instead of keeping the main character as a neutral objective bystander, he became basically another ‘groupie’ which was just so tedious. I’m not saying that they should have denied everything told in the Bible but, at least, they could have kept it more ambiguous, instead of turning the whole thing into some kind of religious paranormal show. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it still turned out to be a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in this subject. 

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from the damned thing but since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even if it wasn’t really awful, the damned thing was not really good either, that’s for sure. I mean, sure, I have to admit that it looked nice enough, especially this Yeti creature, but by now, the technology involved in CGI animation has become so advanced, I wouldn’t expect less, especially from DreamWorks. Eventually, I’m not sure what bothered me the most, the fact that the whole thing was some kind of shameless commercial for some famous Chinese touristic spots or the fact that the writing was just so lazy. I mean, to make a movie about the Yeti, sure, why not? But why on Earth did this creature also needed some magical powers? As a result, it meant that each time they had to face any kind of obstacles, he would then use his powers which was just too easy and this misguided approach drastically lowered the stakes. Another thing that bothered me was the fact their journey was supposed to go over 1000’s of kilometers, it was supposed to be a thrilling adventure but it seemed that it took them only a couple of days which was also rather disappointing. Only a year before this movie came out, they also released ‘Smallfoot’ also focusing on this mythical creature and, while it was also pretty weak, this movie managed somehow to be even more underwhelming though. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have to admit that the damned thing was rather harmless, it was still lame and boring so I don’t think it is worth a look, even if you have some young children to entertain, there are so many more interesting animated features out there to show them.