Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even though I always admired Paolo Sorrentino’s work, I have to admit that I never became a huge fan. Well, in this case, even though everyone in my filmclub seemed to really enjoy this movie, to be honest, I had a hard time to really connect with it. I mean, as usual with Sorrentino, the whole thing looked great and it was always interesting to watch but, as far as I was concerned, I always felt a disconnect with the material. Again, as usual with this director, instead of giving us a straightforward plot, he gave some rather random scenes which made the whole thing quite unpredictable but also rather alienating. Indeed, even if anything could happen at any moment, why should we really care? However, what bothered me the most was the fact that it was supposed to be all very deep but, to be honest, I was never really convinced. You could say that, in many of his movies, Sorrentino displayed some fascination, or even obsession, regarding beauty and youth but it was always coming from a male protagonist. However, this time, it was supposed to be from a female protagonist but, even though Celeste Dalla Porta in her first acting job was quite mesmerizing, she felt more like a male fantasy than an actual woman (giving her the name of a siren from some Greek myth probably didn’t help). It’s interesting that the older version of the character showing up during the last 15 mins felt more real to me than the younger version during the previous 2 hrs, no matter how gorgeous she might be. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really work for me, like anything else from this director, it was still quite intriguing to behold and it is definitely worth a look. 

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, I always had a weak spot for romantic-comedies but, to be honest, I had a really hard time to care about this one though. At least, Paula Patton was quite gorgeous as usual and she made a cute couple with Laz Alonso but, unfortunately, pretty much nothing else did work in this movie though. Sure, the fact that it didn’t care much about the concept right from the start probably didn’t help. I mean, if you are so much in love with your partner like the couple in this movie, should you really care so much about what your in-laws might think of you? On the other hand, I have recently been watching ‘Love Island UK’ (I know, it’s bad…. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine, I guess) and I have noticed that many contestants were mentioning that it was very important for them that their new partner should get along with their family. Anyway, as a result, both mothers played by Angela Bassett and Loretta Devine were competing for being the worst mother-in-law (apparently, Devine did win after all) but it was all more cringe-inducing than actually entertaining. And that was the main issue, the fact that these respective characters were acting this way only because it was supposed to have some kind of entertaining value and not because it might be how these women might be really thinking and/or feeling. Concerning the rest of the cast, they were all involved in some sub-plots which were all so half-baked that they almost made the main plot look more worthwhile than it actually was. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have to admit that the damned thing was rather harmless, it was still pretty weak though and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

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. First of all, I have to admit that I had never heard of Vinny Pazienza before watching this movie and, to be honest, I was actually expecting something quite different. Sure, the fact that I never really check a movie before watching it probably didn’t help but, in my opinion, the marketing material, especially the poster, was actually rather misleading. Indeed, it referred to a moment at the beginning of the movie when Kevin Rooney was at the time not at all Vinny Pazienza’s trainer. There was also a pretty lady displayed so you might assume that she might be important in this story or in Pazienza’s life but, no, she would disappear after 10 mins (in fact, he would apparently change girlfriends every 5 mins which was probably the most half-baked aspect in this movie). Anyway, it all didn’t matter and, at the end of the day, it turned out to be quite an amazing story after all. Indeed, while I was expecting a goofy movie about some excentric boxer, it turned out to be one of the most incredible comeback tales ever. Concerning the cast, Miles Teller played his usual cocky super-confident character but the guy does it so well, he was once again quite charismatic and really entertaining to behold. However, the biggest surprise turned out to be Aaron Eckhart though. Indeed, for more than a decade, Eckhart has been mostly focusing on paycheck gigs, usually some really underwhelming action flicks or thrillers, but, with this movie, the guy was actually acting for once and was even actually pretty damned good at it. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was a rather generic sports feature, I thought it was a really strong story, maybe it did deserve a better movie but I still think it is worth a look though. 

To be honest, I didn’t expect much from this flick but, since it was starring Bruce Willis, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. Unfortunately, like pretty much 99% of what Willis has done during the last 10 years of his career, the damned thing turned out to be borderline unwatchable, I’m afraid. Where should I start? Even the title didn’t make much sense since there was no reprisal whatsoever. These movies were actually shot in 14 days and it shows and you might wonder how long it took them to write such a clunky script (2 days maybe?). And who came up with the great idea of casting Frank Grillo as a banker? I have to admit that Grillo was actually not bad playing a guy on the edge and traumatized by a bank robbery (at least, he did try which was more than what you could say about the rest of the cast) but he was still completely miscast for this role. The saddest thing is actually that Bruce Willis did retire back in 2022 because he was suffering from aphasia and you might wonder if he was already suffering from this disease back then. At least, he did have more screen time than in this usual direct-to-VOD garbage but it was just rather painful to see the veteran obviously struggling with his performance. The fact that his character could have been easily removed without having any impact on the plot probably didn’t help either. Concerning Olivia Culpo, it's only after I watched this movie that I discovered that she was actually crowned Miss Universe back in 2012 so she was definitely charming but I’m not surprised that her career as an actress never really took off after being involved in such drivel. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was a big waste of time, for myself and all the people involved, and you should probably avoid it. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award, I thought I might as well check it out. Since I’m French, of course, I heard about Lourdes, one of the most famous pilgrimage sites, and I have to admit that it was interesting to see how it all started. Well, I guess it is a nice film for the devout Catholics but I’m not sure if it’s really interesting for anyone else though. I’m not religious myself, I was even raised in an anti-religious environment but I always thought that religion was fascinating and I do think that there is a great wisdom in Jesus words. However, there is something that always bothered me with religion, especially Christianity, is the fact most people decided to believe in Jesus and his God, not because of his words and behavior, but because they witnessed some miracle(s) and it is basically what happened in Lourdes. Indeed, at the end of the day, it didn’t really matter who Bernadette Soubirous actually was, what she thought or her actions, the only that mattered was that she had some visions and, even more important, that some people got miraculously cured. Of course, some people, even Bernadette’s own parents, didn’t believe her but the movie spent most of its duration ridiculing any character who might have some doubts regarding Bernadette’s visions. However, to me, it does feel like believing in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny and I don’t think it has much to do with the core of religion which is Love, loving the people dear to you, but also the people you don’t know and even the people you don’t actually care for or even despise. At least, I can’t deny that Jennifer Jones did deliver a strong performance, even if she was almost 10 years too old to play this saint. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn’t the right audience for this movie, I have to admit that it was still an interesting watch and I think it is worth a look. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick, in fact, it was Nick, my step-son, who picked it up this week when we went to the movies together. To be honest, I have to admit that I never played Minecraft, I did see some streaming sessions from a famous Dutch YouTuber playing this game but I can’t say I was really familiar with it. Well, I had heard that this movie had become a surprise success at the box-office and, indeed, I was surprised to see that the movie theater was actually full. What I didn’t know was that 90% of the people in the movie theater were some fans of the video game and, basically, every 5 mins, when they would drop some obscure random reference to the game, the whole place would erupt with clapping and cheering which was, I have to admit it, pretty awesome. At the end, Nick told me he had never experienced anything like this and, indeed, it was quite something. But how was the movie actually? Well, pretty much like ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ which was another huge box-office hit and lot of fun for the fans, I’m afraid it was nothing really great after all. Sure, it did look fine but, story-wise, it was seriously lacking though. It was obvious that Jack Black had a total blast and the guy (almost) single-handedly made this movie quite entertaining. Unfortunately, I didn’t care much about the other characters though. Indeed, the 2 orphans were just too bland, I don’t even remember the name of the black lady played by Danielle Brooks and Garrett, who probably sounded great on paper, didn’t work so well after all. I mean, if you have already Jack Black playing Steve, a completely weird guy who apparently never grew up, did we  also need a has-been master gamer from the 80’s? Probably not. I won’t even mention the character played by Jennifer Coolidge popping up completely randomly with no impact whatsoever on the plot. Anyway, to conclude, even if it never really worked, I have to admit that it was still a lot of fun to watch this movie with a room full of fans so I think it is worth a look but, only in such a setting, otherwise, I’m afraid it might be actually rather tedious. 

It has been ages since I saw a movie directed by Akira Kurosawa and, since this movie was available on YouTube, I was really eager to check it out. In fact, even though I had never heard of this movie before, it was actually quite a milestone for Kurosawa as it was the first time he was working with Toshiro Mifune. Well, I have to admit that I was quite impressed by the damned thing when it started. Indeed, it turned out to be some kind of film noir but with no plot and, instead of a plot, they focused on the weird relationship between this doctor and some yakusa. Within 5 mins, I was suddenly reminded why Kurosawa was such a master. Somehow, both men were quite charismatic (it does help when you have such legendary actors like Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura involved) but also some losers at the same time, both had some really hot temper and yet you could feel that they both have a soft side. It was just great to have such complex characters and it’s amazing what Kurosawa managed to squeeze out from such seemingly flimsy material. As a result, both men couldn’t stand each other and, yet, they kept gravitating towards each other for some reason they both didn’t understand. As long as they focused on this 2 men, it was just fascinating to behold. Unfortunately, they also added a sub-plot about the doctor protecting an old flame of a former partner of the yakuza and this sub-plot was rather underwhelming. Sure, by getting this old partner out of prison, it displayed how precarious the life of this yakuza actually was (this movie had a pretty strong anti-yakuza message) but to add this woman was too much and actually unnecessary. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I really enjoyed the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Kurosawa’s work.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring Emma Roberts and since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. Obviously, I wasn’t the target audience at all but, to be honest, I really struggled to care about the damned thing though. Indeed, the two main characters were just rather annoying but it mostly had to do with the fact that Emma Roberts and JoJo Levesque gave such abysmal performances. Sure, I understand that both of them had very little acting experience back then but, I’m sorry, they were just cringe-inducing to behold. Fortunately, Sara Paxton turned out to be actually pretty much pitch-perfect though. Obviously, she did look pretty but it went beyond that as she gave the right amount of sass, innocence and bubbliness to her character. Sure, it wasn’t an Oscar-worthy performance but she was convincing and entertaining enough. Furthermore, even if her relationship with Jake McDorman’s character was rather generic and predictable, how it did end was actually pretty sweet. It was also quite funny to see these teenagers completely invested in their girl magazines, a culture which has vanished since the youth is nowadays pretty much addicted to their smartphones, like everyone else though. Concerning Emma Roberts, I do have a weak spot for her, I think she is really charismatic, but back then, she was just a terrible child actress. At least, JoJo was/is a singer, not an actual actress so it might explain her lack of skills. Eventually, it was just weird to see these 2 girls pretty much stalking first some guy and then their mermaid friend trying to seduce the very same guy they were stalking before. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was quite harmless, the end-result was still pretty lame and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

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. Wow… I can’t believe that it’s almost 5 years since I saw ‘The Nun’…. To be honest, I have to admit that I barely remembered this previous installment. Anyway, even so, there is something inherently creepy about churches and nuns. Furthermore, the fact that it was taking place in France and in the 50’s made the whole thing also more original than most of your average horror features so the concept actually had some potential (much more than the rather underwhelming ‘Annabelle’ spin-offs also from The Conjuring universe). Unfortunately, the damned thing turned out to be so disjointed though. For example, I mentioned that it was taking place in the 50’s but I had to look it up on Wikipedia because, while watching the movie, I had actually no idea when exactly it was taking place. Same thing with where it was, you guess it was somewhere in Europe but you never get a clear idea where the different characters were located, especially from each other. Concerning the plot, in the same fashion, it was rather poorly put together. Basically, you get two storylines each one barely working at all, one focusing on Maurice, a guy I completely forgot who was also involved in the previous installment, and another one focusing on Sister Irene who became some kind of nun-detective. Eventually, the goal was to fusion both storylines during the 3rd act and it was just so awkward to see Sister Irene having to face this demon right from the moment she was finally reunited with Maurice. Concerning the cast, I felt mostly bad for Storm Reid. Indeed, she did what she could but this character was just so thankless though as she was added just to make sure that Sister Irene had a sidekick. Anyway, to conclude, I think I was rather generous with my rating here but I guess it was still a decent watch though and it is worth a look but probably only if you really like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting much from the damned thing but, since I have a weak spot for Lieke van Lexmond, I thought I might as well check it out. Unfortunately, it turned out to be another lame Dutch romantic-comedies from Johan Nijenhuis and I really struggled to care about the damned thing. Basically, ever since ‘Love Actually’ ever came out, the Dutch film industry has kept releasing some cheap knock-offs like this year but it has been 20 years since the classic British rom-com was released, it would be nice if they would finally move on at some point. Above all, it is such a lazy way to write romantic-comedies. Indeed, as a result, you get a whole bunch of half-baked sub-plots instead of one solid plot. In this case, it was actually too bad because most of the characters were actually not so bad at all as there was something genuine about them and I wouldn’t have mind spending a whole movie focusing on one of these stories. Furthermore, I have to admit that the cast was surprisingly solid and the different struggles they faced linking to having a baby were all actually fairly interesting and/or entertaining. However, since we kept jumping from one character to the other, none of these stories was developed properly and, therefore, they were all underwhelming. Finally, just like in ‘Rokjesdag’, it was just ridiculous that Johan Nijenhuis tried to convince us that a gorgeous woman like Lieke van Lexmond would even struggle to find a guy to start a family. On top of that, the poster for this movie didn’t portray at all what the main character actually felt about getting pregnant. Anyway, to conclude, it was pretty weak and I don’t think it is worth a look, except maybe if you really like the genre.