Reviews by johanlefourbe

For several reasons, I was really eager to check this Star Trek flick. First of all, it was the first feature completely focusing on the Next Generation crew. Second, since we were now finally in the 90's, I was expecting some beter special effects. Finally, it is considered as many as the best Star Trek movie ever made. Well, eventually, even though I did enjoy this movie, to be honest, I wasn't really blown away. Still, I have to admit it, visually, it was definitely the best Star Trek movie so far, I especially enjoyed the introduction and the look of the Borgs. Furthermore, Patrick Stewart is really a fine actor, he gave a solid performance and the rest of the crew was pretty good too (even though Data was getting on my nerves on a regular basis). Unfortunately, the story was rather confusing. I mean, it was a good story but I was sometimes barely able to follow what was going on. Basically, the Borgs attacked the earth, Picard destroyed their Cube but the Borgs managed to send a Sphere to the Earth. Then, they got back in time to prevent the humans from getting the first contact with alien forms and Picard and Co followed them back in time to stop them. So, I did get this basic plotline but there were so many sub-plots and I was  often pretty much lost. Apparently, this movie was a follow-up to some episode of the Next Generation TV-show and since I haven't seen this show... Anyway, even though it didn’t completely work for me, it was still a decent Star Trek installment and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I have it on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. Since I really enjoyed the first instalment about this notorious criminal, I was really eager to check the second part. To be honest, it was actually rather difficult to write a separate review since it was actually one movie in 2 parts. Anyway, once again, the directing was solid, the story was quite fascinating and Vincent Cassel really rocked this performance. I must admit that I did miss some continuity between the two movies though. Indeed, at the end of the first part, Mesrine was in Canada and had just escaped from jail but, at the beginning of the second part, he was back in France robbing some banks. What happened in between? How did he get back in France? Eventually, there was so much material that, actually, a TV-show with several seasons might have been more appropriate. It would then provide more time to develop the other characters around him and, above all, the makers could also make sure that there was a better transition between the different scenes. But those were some minor issues and it was still a gripping gritty realistic crime drama which gave a spellbinding look on the most infamous French criminal that ever lived. Above all, the escape scenes were just awesome and really fascinating to behold. To conclude, I really enjoyed the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Not so o long ago, I actually watched [REC] but, to be honest, even though I did I enjoy it, I still thought it was nothing really mind-blowing. With this in mind, I had some rather low expectations concerning this American remake since must of them are usually just a plain waste of time. Eventually, I thought it was not bad at all and it turned out to be one of the best horror remakes I have actually seen. Indeed, it was really faithful to the original and even though I knew exactly what would happen, I was still on the edge of my seat during the whole thing. However, the fact that it was so faithful was actually also its curse. Indeed, it was basically a replicate of the Spanish version and they didn't add anything new to the whole thing. So, even though it was a decent and entertaining remake, it was still rather useless. The funny thing it was that even though this movie was a remake, most of the viewers didn't know or didn't care and it was eventually financially more successful than the Spanish original which was much better... That's how it goes in the movie business, unfortunately. Anyway, to conclude, it was still a well made remake and I think it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out again. I think I saw it when I was a kid but, while watching the damned thing, I couldn't remember it at all. Well, to be honest, it is obviously one of the weakest Disney productions. Still, it is far from being a bad movie. Indeed, the animation, though not mind-blowing, was pretty decent and the fox and the dog were really cute when they were young. It was also something very sweet to see this dog and this fox becoming best friends when, in fact, they should be enemies. Eventually, it might be Disney’s feature with the smallest scope ever but it could have been an asset if they would have developed the material properly. Unfortunately, they didn't do much with this interesting minimalistic scope and instead, like many other Disney animated features, they focused way too much on some various talking animals. Of course, it was expected from them but the end-resulting was therefore rather generic and tedious but, when you think about it, the material was actually pretty dark and it had more potential. Basically, it has always been a weakness with Disney, the fact that their movies always play it safe when they could be much more challenging and interesting. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it is a decent animated feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Hollywood is really getting kind of hopeless nowadays. I mean, even if you did like them or not, all the previous Spider-Man flicks were some huge blockbusters and it was rather weird to reboot the franchise only 5 years later when it was in fact doing just fine. And, indeed, it was pretty obvious that rebooting was not really a good choice. Basically, origin stories always tend to be rather weak, except maybe for 'Batman Begins' but, even in this case, the sequel turned out to be way better. Here, it was actually even worse because we already had an origin story for this character and even though they did add some new elements, both plotlines were just way too similar. Sure, they did make the main character younger, they gave him some gadgets, they changed his girlfriend's name but, all in all, it was just about the same thing. Still, as a stand-alone feature, I have to admit that it was still pretty entertaining. There were some spectacular scenes, Spider-Man remains a badass superhero and Andrew Garfield really rocked this performance. Whereas the rest of the cast was decent but vastly underused, Garfield gave a very nuanced performance and he was completely convincing, probably even better than Tobey Maguirre. To conclude, it is obvious they shouldn't have made yet another origin story, above all so similar to the previous one, but it was still a well made and enjoyable blockbuster and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.