Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest,  I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was available on HBO Max, I thought I might as well finally check it out. Well, when it was released after 4 long years, it turned out to be the first real flop in this franchise and, after watching this movie, I don’t think it really deserved a better fate though. Indeed, the damned thing was pretty much a rambling mess. Of course, they had the pandemic and the whole mess with Johnny Depp who had to be replaced but, even without these issues, I don’t think it would have worked either. First of all, sure, it has been a while since I saw the previous instalments but I had no idea about who half of the characters were. Why was Tina, one of the most recognizable characters, not involved? Why bringing back Jacob Kowalski in the mix? Sure, Dan Fogler has always been one of the (very few) highlights in this struggling franchise but it doesn’t make sense to bring his character each time again. Concerning the story, once again, I really struggled to see how it exactly connected by the previous movies but, basically, it was some kind of really muddled mix of some half-baked unconvincing little mind games and some spy feature taking place in the 30’s. Of course, this mix does sound odd and it obviously never worked. The only thing that this movie had going was that they finally fully leaned in the fact that Albus Dumbledore is gay and it was a nice touch that he was, at some point, actually in love with Gellert Grindelwald. Can you imagine a movie focusing on this love story, instead of these useless endless fights between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ wizards? On the other hand, the fact that J.K. Rowling has been such an outspoken anti-transgender advocate does leave such a bitter taste that her ‘appreciation’ or, even worse, ‘acceptance’ of gay people does almost feel like an insult. Anyway, to conclude, it’s possible that my rating might be too harsh but, I’m sorry, the damned thing was just weak and I think you can avoid it, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of this franchise. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though I always had a weak spot for romantic-comedies, this one turned out to be really lame though. I actually did like the song during the opening credits but I’m afraid it was probably the only thing that did work in this movie. Seriously, how can you mess up so bad a movie starring such actors (Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, William H. Macy, Richard Gere)? First of all, the whole concept was just so lame so it was rather doomed to fail from the start. I mean, they gave us two couples who were cheating on each other spouses without any one of them being aware of this which was obviously supposed to be hilarious but it was just too convoluted and, above all, not entertaining whatsoever. The other thing that bothered me was the big fuss they made about being married. Seriously, getting married might be a nice gesture/symbol/tradition but it’s no warranty that a marriage would either improve or destroy a relationship as it was sometimes argued during this movie. Basically, the bottom line is that you have to constantly work on your relationship and the fact that you are married or not should be actually of no consequence in your efforts. In this case, it seemed to be important for Michelle to be married so, if Allen really loved her, he should get married with her with no hesitation because the impact for him would be actually minimum. To make things worse, the two couples (Diane Keaton + Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon + William H. Macy) didn’t have any chemistry whatsoever and the dialogues were just downright pathetic. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have to admit that the damned thing was rather harmless, it was still a big waste of time for everybody involved including myself so you should probably avoid it. 

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 but I’m afraid this one was pretty much the worst of the bunch. Seriously, even the sound would break down every 10 mins. Concerning the movie itself, it’s interesting that it was released exactly the same year as ‘Faust’ by F.W. Murnau as both movies shared very similar plots. Unfortunately for Griffith, sure, he was a legendary director but, compared to Murnau’s masterpiece, his own take on selling your soul to the Devil was, to be honest, not really impressive. From a visual point of view, there were a couple of scenes which were pretty neat, especially the opening scene, but most of it was pretty straightforward though. Concerning the story, it seemed rather weird to me that Geoffrey would never at least talk to Mavis to tell her what was going on. However, it made also the whole thing quite intriguing, in the sense that Prince Lucio de Rimanez was quite hypnotizing, by the way, Adolphe Menjou gave here quite a subtle but actually strong performance and it seems the main character couldn’t resist doing whatever he was asking for. Eventually, the happy ending with the couple beating the Devil and living happily ever after was hardly convincing and, once again, the approach chosen in ‘Faust’ was so much more compelling. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was a really obscure feature, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in D.W. Griffith’s work but you try to find a better version than the one I saw. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by King Vidor and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, the beginning was quite promising. Indeed, I had never seen John Gilbert before (he was apparently a big star at the time but faded away when talkies came out) but the guy was just so charismatic and pretty much pitch-perfect for this role. Same thing with Eleanor Boardman (who would eventually get married with King Vidor), not only she was quite lovely but her character was quite charismatic as well. I also loved the dialogues, seriously, it might have been the best intertitles I have seen so far. So, the damned thing definitely had some potential. However, it’s too bad that the plot itself turned out to be such a predictable drag though. I mean, I did like the fact that this wager was basically a win-win for the Comte de Chatellerault. Indeed, even if he would loose this wager, his biggest competitor would be then out of the game. Unfortunately, pretty much everything that happened afterwards was really routine though. I wish they instead spent more time developing why they actually fell in love with each other. I mean, at least for Bardelys, it did make sense since it was probably the first time he met a woman with actually some brain instead of the usual bimbos he seduced at the French court. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Roxalanne de Lavedan, a seemingly strong smart woman, fell too easily in love with him. I mean, sure, their trip on a rowboat was quite dreamy but it seemed to be another standard trick that Bardelys would pull with any other woman. At least, the swashbuckling scene towards the end was actually pretty neat and even quite impressive for a movie almost 100 years old. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, even though I have seen almost all the instalments, I have actually never been a huge fan of this franchise. However, since this movie was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out anyway and I have to admit that I was first slightly intrigued. Indeed, Chris Rock was apparently a fan of the franchise and he was the one who actually pitched the idea to Lionsgate. He also managed to even get Samuel L. Jackson on board so, at least, there was for once some star power involved this time around. Well, even though it was nice to see Chris Rock for the first time in a horror feature, unfortunately, I didn’t care much for the damned thing after all though. Indeed, basically, this time, the killer did focus on getting rid off cops but everything else was basically the exact same thing that they gave us already during the 8 previous installments. Seriously, except for this interesting cast, there was really nothing really original or interesting about the damned thing after all. By the way, the killer was actually pretty easy to spot, even the reasons why he was going on this killing spree was hardly surprising. However, it was just so annoying that they tried to make us believe that a guy can be a cop, which is a really intense full-time job, and also a serial killer at the same time who had not only the time to kidnap people but had also the time to build such complex and/or convoluted traps. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of Chris Rock’s efforts, I was actually bored by the damned thing and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of this franchise. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but it was definitely pretty exciting to see for the first time an Indian movie with my film club. Well, even though I did like it, I think it was still missing something to really blow me away though. The main thing was probably the fact that the story turned out to be a rather classic crime thriller after all. However, the fact that it was taking place in India really made it stood out from the rest though. Furthermore, Sandhya Suri, the director, only made documentaries so she went for a really realistic and sober approach which was pretty neat. Basically, you get involved in a fairly generic story but the surroundings, the language, the culture, were so completely different than what you usually get to see in such movies so it was still some compelling viewing. Concerning the characters, the lead was played by Shahana Goswami who was quite charismatic. She was also quite convincing playing basically an average woman with some common sense and a good heart getting caught up in the local police and political schemes. However, you don’t get to know her much after all and, as far as I was concerned, this character was slightly too cold and distant. Eventually, I was more intrigued by her boss, some kind of female version of Columbo. Indeed, with a few words and a simple hand gesture, it was if she was telling a whole story and you can only wonder everything that happened during her career. The fact that, within maybe 10 mins, she went from being a beacon of female strength and ingenuity and obviously a role model to the main character to being another corrupt mastermind playing some disheartening games was also impressive and quite a sight to see. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn’t completely sold, it was an intriguing movie and it is definitely worth a look. 

Since this movie had been a huge box office failure, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from it but I have watched pretty much all the animated features from Disney and, since this one was now available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out after all. Well, after watching the damned thing, I’m not surprised nobody really cared for it when it was released. I will go more into details later but, basically, it was the most half-baked project that they had released in quite some time. However, the big difference with something like ‘Chicken Little’ for example is that the damned thing actually had some potential. Indeed, to deliver an old-fashioned adventure feature called ‘Strange World’ about discovering, well, some strange world could have been actually really neat. However, the road to this big discover was just way too cumbersome and, above all, barely entertaining whatsoever. Let’s see, they did start with some classic exploring expedition but, then, at some point, the leader and his son got into some argument and the son went back home to investigate some plant they found during their journey. This plant actually turned out to be some kind of energy source which drastically changed their world but, then, it got sick and the son had to go back to some expedition to fix this miracle plant. Well, all this boring stuff took pretty much half of the duration and, at this point, there was still no sight of this wonderous ‘strange world’. As you can imagine, they was also some family drama going over 3 generations (the explorer, his son and his grandson) but it didn’t fit at all within such an adventure tale. Finally, to make the whole thing even more random and scattered, the grandson turned out to be openly gay, which was quite a milestone for Disney, but it was just dropped there without any focus on it whatsoever and I’m still not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that all the characters acted as if being gay was the most normal thing in the world. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was really half-baked, it was actually visually pretty neat and I don’t think it is actually their worst animated feature but, with such a concept, it could and probably should have been much better.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick, this movie was actually one of my lowest priorities for 2024 but, since it was available on Netflix, I still wanted to check it out. Well, it has been a while since I have been so positively surprised by a movie, especially since the production was pretty messy. Indeed, its release was delayed several times which is usually not a good sign. One of the main reasons was because their lead actor, John Boyega, left the project while they were filming so they had to start from scratch again with another actor and they had to re-shoot all his scenes. The amazing thing, especially for Jeremy Saulnier, was that his replacement, Aaron Pierre, was just so good here. Indeed, the guy gave here a pitch-perfect performance and I can’t wait to see him again in something else. I was actually amazed when I discovered afterwards that I already saw him in ‘Old’ and these 2 characters couldn’t have been more different which shows that the guy has a great potential. Concerning the plot, for a good while, it was just so captivating to behold. Basically, it’s as if they took ‘First Blood’ but really toned down the over-the-top action scenes and focused instead on making John Rambo one of the most level-headed men that walked the Earth which was such a cool and fascinating approach. Unfortunately, they managed to keep it awesome only up until the cousin of the main character tragically died. I mean, the movie still worked afterwards and it was still quite entertaining but it all became routine as the main character became somehow some kind of lethal unstoppable machine (yeah, pretty much like Rambo once again). Anyway, to conclude, I actually really enjoyed the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Jeremy Saulnier’s work.

I did hear about this movie, it did seem to be really intriguing and, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, as expected, it turned out to be an incredible and fascinating story. At first, it was obviously quite heartwarming to see these 3 boys getting together after almost 20 years and it was even more awesome to see them getting along so well pretty much instantly. However, there was also a dark side to this fairytale story as one of them, Eddy, did kill himself 15 years later. In fact, it didn’t stop here and the whole thing did get so much weirder though. Seriously, at some point, it felt more like watching some kind of cheap horror movie, except that it all really did happen. Indeed, these boys were apparently not separated by accident, it was apparently done on purpose by some psychiatrist which does sound really insane. The craziest thing for me was to hear the only 2 people who were working for this psychiatrist actually still praising this ‘experiment’ after all these years which was completely mind-blowing to me. Sure, I understand the value of scientific experiments but the impact on the concerned children and their adoptive families was massive and they should have been left alone. To make things worse, this study would never be published at all because these guys actually became aware that it wouldn’t be so popular after all. Even more frustrating for all the people/victims involved, it seemed that the whole thing turned out to be inconclusive so all the damage done might have been all for nothing. Anyway, to conclude, it was probably one of the weirdest documentaries I have seen and I think 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 and, in fact, the main reason why I checked it out was because Javier Bardem was involved (he was apparently voicing one of the robots). Well, at least, it turned out to be more ambitious than all these underwhelming B action flicks that Antonio Banderas has been making lately. Indeed, the robots were not bad and I was rather amazed to find out that they were all some animatronic creations which was pretty cool. The mood in general was also not bad either, even if it is quite amazing that, after 40 years, they are still copying ‘Blade Runner’. I love so much this movie though, I guess it might explain why I waste so much of my time with such rather weak shameless copies. Still , they didn’t do anything really original with the material after all though. Indeed, they did try to make it all sound deep and philosophical but, to be honest, it did feel rather pretentious after all. The fact that the acting from pretty much the whole cast involved (Antonio Banderas, Dylan McDermott, Melanie Griffith, Robert Forster) was pretty weak as well probably didn’t help either. It was especially a bad idea to have Melanie Griffith playing some fancy high-tech wizard. I mean, I can believe that Griffith might have been really lovely at some point but I tend to think that her acting is usually rather abysmal and this movie was a pretty good example, I’m afraid. Anyway, to conclude, I have to admit that my rating was probably too generous for this movie but I do have a weak spot for the genre and I think it is worth a look but probably only if you really like this kind of movies.