Reviews by johanlefourbe

I have to admit that I have never been a huge fan of the Beach Boys but I always liked watching documentaries about famous bands like this one because it’s pretty neat to discover a band this way and, since this one was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I was actually surprised that I knew so much about them after all. It was probably due to the fact that I saw ‘Love & Mercy’ not so long ago and this movie starring Paul Dano turned out to be pretty accurate after all which was pretty cool. Coming back on the documentary, well, it was some pretty basic stuff but I thought it was no bad though. In fact, it was above all interesting to see what happened with the band when Brian Wilson went into his downward spiral (something which wasn’t developed at all in ‘Love & Mercy’ since it was about Brian Wilson and not about the rest of the band). Still, there is no denying that their output would never be the same without Brian Wilson who was and still is considered as a musical genius. It was also pretty neat to see how their music had such an impact and even influenced the Beatles who were, arguably, the most famous band ever (it’s funny that I actually never cared for these two bands though). I wonder why they didn’t mention that Dennis Wilson really struggled with substance abuse at the beginning of the 80’s and drowned, probably drunk out of mind, at not even 40 years old. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing groundbreaking whatsoever, I thought it was a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in this legendary band. 

A few weeks ago, I was having dinner with some aunts and an uncle of mine and they kept talking about this movie and how hilarious it was so I became intrigued. Eventually, I checked it out and the IMDb ratings were actually pretty good so, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well watch it. Well, I wish I did share the same enthusiasm about this movie but, to be honest, it didn’t really impress me though. At least, I will have to admit that Leny Breederveld and Martin van Waardenberg were really good and they both gave some really solid performances. Unfortunately, even though these 2 actors were fine, I didn’t care much about their characters though. On one hand, there was Jaap who was grumpy not because he did fit his personality or because he was shaped by life this way but, obviously, because it was supposed to be entertaining and, from time to time, he would suddenly become someone else entirely different when it was needed for the plot. For Maartje, it was actually even worse though. Indeed, she was basically limited to be a poor old woman having some random Alzheimer episodes instead of being given an actual real personality. However, what really bothered me the most was the story they were stuck with. Basically, they went for the road-trip genre which is the laziest gimmick ever. Indeed, without making any efforts whatsoever, some whimsical and (supposedly) entertaining events will then automatically occur during their journey which is, in my opinion, some rather poor storytelling. Finally, the last thing that bothered me was how, at the end, they tried to suddenly show that this couple used to be super fun and entertaining when they had spent the whole rest of the movie showing how average tedious and sometime plain mean they were. I thought it was so cheap and not convincing whatsoever. I mean, there is no way that such a loving couple would be after all these years so bitter, so completely uninterested and uncaring for each other only because they got old. And even if it might be possible, it actually made this people even less interesting than they already was then. Anyway, to conclude, this review might seem harsh but I have to admit that the damned thing was actually rather harmless and it is actually worth a look but probably only if you really like this kind of Dutch dry sense of humor. 

To be honest, 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. I have noticed afterwards that this movie did get some rather weak reviews and, now, I understand why. Last year, I also saw ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ on Netflix (I’m so glad I didn’t pay to watch these movies…) and I have to admit that it was actually a decent sequel/reboot but this new installment was just seriously underwhelming though. Basically, in the previous movie, they had introduced a new group of characters so, it seemed to be a no-brainer that they should focus on some cool new exciting ghost adventure. However, they unfortunately came up with something so derivative and above all so boring. Since they mixed the new characters with the legacy characters this time, there were therefore many characters involved, maybe too many. On top oft that, beside the boring main plot, there were also as result a whole bunch of subplots but they were all pretty lame as well. The only exception was the sub-plot involving Phoebe Spengler becoming friends (maybe even falling in love?) with a ghost and it actually had some potential.  Can you imagine if they had dropped the whole thing about the evil entity who wanted to take over our world (seriously, how many times did they already do something really similar in this franchise…) and focused instead on some doomed lesbian love story involving one of the Ghostbusters and some cute ghost? Of course, they would never do that and, at this point, you wonder if they shouldn’t drop this franchise by now. Anyway, to conclude, I think I was actually rather generous with my rating, I guess it might still be worth a look though but only if you are really a fan. 

As usual with this franchise, this movie took a severe beating from the critics but I still ended up checking it out. Well, to be honest, I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing but I have to admit that,  because of some personal stuff, I wasn’t in the mood at all to watch this movie which probably didn’t help. Still, the story was just so lame though. Indeed, once again, they came up with a super powerful being who was going to alienate mankind which is the most derivative angle I can imagine. Another issue was that, even though they did add some solid actors in the mix (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans), they all played such tedious and underwhelming characters. The least boring one was the conspiracy theorist played by Rhys Ifans but, even if this character might have had some potential, they really did nothing interesting with him. Fortunately, the relationship between Eddie Brock and Venom was still quite entertaining (and probably the only reason why people kept showing up for each installment). On top of that, they didn’t make the same mistake they did in the previous installment during which they tried to split this duo. The best scene was probably when Venom became some kind of demented horse, that was actually pretty much gold. The other good thing with this movie was it lasted less than 2 hrs which is always appreciated when you are watching such a brainless action flick. Still, it’s too bad that, after 3 movies, they never managed to come up with a more or less satisfying plot involving this hilarious odd couple. Anyway, to conclude, even if I didn’t really care much for this movie, I still think it is worth a look but probably only if you are a fan of this franchise though. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was written by Charlie Kaufman and since it had received some solid reviews, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I thought the damned thing was rather disappointing after all. I mean, the concept really had some potential, I wouldn’t expect less from Kaufman, and it was really neat to see a family feature which actually had some ambition and which wasn’t completely condescending towards children. Indeed, the whole idea of a kid completely crippled by anxiety (something terribly relatable for most of us) becoming friend with Dark himself was really cool. The fact that Dark himself was full of complexes as well, even if it was fairly predictable, was a nice angle. However, even though these foundations were really solid, the whole thing just drifted in quick sand fairly quickly after these two solid characters met. Indeed, they gave us a whole system/mythology involving other entities of the night but it made the whole thing even more convoluted when it should have been a simple children tale and, above all, these extra characters were all barely entertaining. Even more problematic was the fact that, suddenly, you find out that Orion has actually become a grown-up who’s telling this story to his own daughter who happened to be also scared of the dark. Seriously, this new approach really came out of nowhere after maybe 30 mins of running time and it made the whole thing even more convoluted than it already was. Sure, I can imagine that it was supposed to be endearing but it actually severely undermined the impact of this story. Basically, if it’s only a bedtime story, who cares what might happen after all? Eventually, since anything could happen at any moment, basically, nothing really mattered after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really work for me, I guess it is still worth a look but there is no doubt that it could have been so much better though. 

This year (2024) has been so far rather disappointing regarding the movies. As usual, I try to watch 50 movies, I have reached 35 but nothing really blew me away so far and this movie was a pretty good example. Indeed, since it was apparently well received and since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out but, to be honest, even though it turned out to be a decent watch, it wasn’t really much more than that. It was basically a similar story to ‘Nyad’ which was released last year and, even if it was slightly better, I can’t say it was really impressive though. The fact that they took some liberties with what actually happened probably didn’t help. For example, women have been a part of the Olympic swim program since 1912 and American women have been going to the Olympics for swimming since 1920 where they won several gold medals. Even Trudy Ederle brought back a gold medal when she came back from the 1924 Paris Olympics when, in the movie, her campaign was described as a complete failure. She also didn’t swim right away for her 2nd attempt and there was actually a year between both attempts. Sure, I’m not saying that such true tales are not allowed to deviate from what actually happened. However, in this case, the whole idea was to show how discriminated women were at the time but, after all these alterations, I’m not sure how true it really was. Still, there is no denying that it was a really inspiring tale, Trudy Ederle was an impressive women, apparently a much better swimmer than most men at the time and Daisy Ridley delivered here a really solid performance, probably her best so far. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really groundbreaking, I have to admit that it was not bad at all and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since this movie seemed to have a solid reputation (it is included in the ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ list, among other things), I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I thought it was rather hard to judge this movie after all. Indeed, on one hand, it was a huge box-office success at the time, it was also the first time that a war epic of this size was made (we shouldn’t forget it was made already 100 years ago) and it was really influential for all the war movies that came afterwards. However, on the other hand, I have to admit that I actually struggled to really care about this movie though. Indeed, first of all, there was the fact that, with a running time of 150 mins, it was pretty damned long. Then, another thing that bothered me even more was the fact that it took them forever to finally get involved in this worldwide conflict. Eventually, I’m not sure if I really cared about these 3 soldiers bonding about the most random things that you could imagine. The war scenes came therefore fairly late but these were the reason why this movie became pretty famous. However, to be honest, even these scenes left me rather unfazed. That’s the tricky thing when you watch a movie so old, it’s sometimes difficult to forget all the movies you have seen in the same genre that came afterwards which were technically obviously superior to this one. However, none of these other war movies would have been possible if this movie wasn’t made in the first place. Anyway, to conclude, even if he didn’t really blow me away, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch though and it is definitely 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 Jim Caviezel and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even if I’m not religious myself, I always thought that religion is actually a fascinating subject. In this case, it was especially interesting since I have seen plenty of movies dealing with Jesus Christ but it was the first one I saw focusing on one of the apostles. So, the material definitely had some potential but, to be honest, I didn't care much about this movie after all though. First of all, focusing on the last days of a famous figure is usually not a great gimmick. Indeed, even though it might sound interesting, the final days are usually not the most interesting or productive period and it was definitely the case here, I'm afraid. I mean, I’m sure that Paul must have had some wisdom to share and I wonder what was his thoughts but, eventually, you just him see rotting in his jail and not really much more than that. Concerning Luke, it was a similar issue but even if he was definitely more active, I wish he was given something more interesting to do  or, even better, something more interesting to say. At least, Jim Caviezel and James Faulkner were both not bad and they both gave some decent performances. I wish I could say the same about Olivier Martinez though. Seriously, what an awful performance… The most bewildering thing about this dude is that he has been working in the US for more than 20 years so how come he still have such a thick French accent? Anyway, to conclude, even though the material definitely had some potential, the damned thing was still rather weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except if you are really into religious movies. 

This last few years, I have been finally catching up with Buster Keaton’s work and this movie was apparently his 13th directorial effort that I have seen. To be honest, I think it will probably be the last one for a while. In fact, instead of one film, you actually get 3 movies but the gimmick was not bad though. The main issue was that they kept repeating the same jokes and setups in 3 different time periods. Still, the prehistoric period was pure gold though and it was probably the oldest movie I have seen dealing with this time period. Only for this, it is actually worth checking the damned thing. Sure, it wasn’t accurate at all but it was obviously not the point here and the end-result felt like a live-action version of the Flintstones but 100 times more satisfying than the dreadful version they delivered in the 90’s (the sequel was actually even worse). There was even some awesome stop-motion animation to show a living dinosaur. To be honest, I think they could have made the whole movie only about this segment. Still, the Roman period was not bad though (the way these black slaves stopped their work to play some craps was however really discriminating and pretty awful to behold). Concerning the modern period, even though it did make sense to add it to the mix, it did feel rather useless since it was basically your basic Buster Keaton’s romantic slapstick comedy. Another mistake they made was to constantly switch between the 3 different time periods and I think they should have completely played each segment the one after the other. Anyway, to conclude, even thought it was probably one of Buster Keaton’s best efforts, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure 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 it seems to be rather forgotten nowadays, it is actually a pretty solid ‘cancer’ drama. Indeed, it tends to be slightly cheesy but, fortunately, they took a realistic approach which I did appreciate. However, the main asset was Michael Keaton as he gave here one of his best performances. To be honest, I think there was something missing with his character but there is no denying that Keaton made the most of this material. I wish I could say the same about Nicole Kidman though. Sure, back then, I'll have to admit that she was quite gorgeous but, to be honest, when watching this movie, it was hard to believe that she would eventually become one of the best actresses of her generation. It’s not that she was really bad but her character was going through her first pregnancy and her husband was slowly dying at the same time which seemed like such a massively tragic ordeal and, to be honest, she seemed rather unfazed by all that. Basically, I thought she wasn’t really convincing and I never believed this woman was going through such shattering events. However, the biggest issue was that, as pointed out by the great Roget Ebert, even though this movie was a good starting point, it wasn’t enough, I’m afraid. Basically, the guy was dying which was obviously really tragic but what was really the impact on him after all? The only conclusion they could give us was that he was basically a nice but still pretty average guy but not much more than that. 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.