Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation (it was even included in the ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ list at some point but it was removed fairly quickly afterwards). Well, I have to admit that I had no idea what this movie was about before watching the damned thing but it turned out to be so fascinating after all. Indeed, they went actually way beyond simply telling the tale of this astonishing discovery, they actually went all the way back to the foundation of the city itself. Well, while this approach might seem odd, in my opinion, it actually made sense and I think there was no other way to properly explain how all these ancient films could be found this way. The fact that the story of Dawson City was just so intriguing also helped and to see this story with no reconstruction but with some vintage pics and some ancient movies almost just as old the actual events that took place at the time was actually quite mesmerizing. It’s too bad that, on a few occasions, they did deviate too much from the main topic as they focused instead on some really random events which had, in my opinion, nothing to do with Dawson City and/or the discovery of these nitrate movies (WWI, the White Sox scandal, the deportation of Alexander Berkman,…). The other thing which was a little bit disappointing to me was the fact that, among the 100’s of movies they found out, it didn’t seem that they did find a real lost masterpiece but above all some really obscure movies. Anyway, to conclude, I thought it was a really mesmerizing documentary and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are a movie buff like me. 

I wasn’t super eager to check this sequel but, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. I have to admit that I don’t remember much ‘The Hitman's Bodyguard’ but the concept definitely had some potential. Anyway, eventually, this sequel was actually not bad, even possibly an improvement on its predecessor. To be honest, there is a fair possibility that I enjoyed it more above all because I had some rather low expectations. Still, I do think that this sequel was even more daft than its predecessor already was, above all thanks to Salma Hayek. Indeed, we got a small glimpse of her character in ‘The Hitman's Bodyguard’ which was really promising so it seemed to be a no-brainer to bring her back in a greater capacity and it really paid off. Sure, the humor was probably leaning too much on the fact that she was swearing the whole time like a female version of Samuel L. Jackson but she basically played the most messed-up character of this really misguided trio and she was actually quite fun here. Concerning the other two, Samuel L. Jackson was fine and was basically born to play such characters and Ryan Reynolds’s character was even more a loser than the first time around which was actually fairly entertaining. Of course, some people might be bothered by the really ugly cheap looking CGI but what bothered me even more was the running time. Indeed, there is really no good reason why such a silly action-comedy should last almost 2 hours (The version released in the US was actually much shorter which was maybe an improvement after all). Anyway, to conclude, it’s possible that my rating was too generous here but I thought it was a decent watch and I guess it might be worth a look but probably only if you really like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Sam Worthington, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, unfortunately, to be honest, the damned thing turned out to be really weak, probably even one of the weakest movies I have seen so far starring Worthington. Basically, it was one of these typical cheap Euro-thrillers and one of the most blatant knock-offs  of ‘The Bourne Identity’ I have seen so far. Sure, I have to admit that the action scenes were not bad but there was just too much non-sense involved in this story. Indeed, right from the moment that the two main characters showed up at this nightclub, the whole thing already didn’t make much sense. Indeed, why would they send a whole army to kill this girl? Why did it seem that Lucas was working on his own and not with the other killers? On top of that, if he was also sent to kill this girl, at what point did he actually change his mind? The other thing which was rather ludicrous was the fact that this super skilled assassin was a major drug addict. Seriously, there is no way someone could be shooting whatever stuff he was using during the job and then performing at such a high level within a few mins. Finally, being such a highly qualified assassin requires to be incredibly fit physically and hyper focused while such junkies are basically the complete opposite. At least, I won’t blame Worthington, I think he did what he could with this material. Concerning [Link removed - login to see], she didn’t really impress me though and she seems to be some kind of cheap version of Mila Kunis. Anyway, to conclude, I think my rating was actually rather generous here, the damned thing was really lame and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Catherine Deneuve, I thought I might as well check it out. My first thought when I was starting to watch this movie was about the family reunion I have every year not in France but in the Netherlands (I’m half-French, half-Dutch). However, in spite of its (French) title, this movie was not really about the reunion itself but more about the return of Claire and the impacts her return had on her whole family. Basically, even though it was above all obvious with Claire, I think this family was rather dysfunctional. Well, I have seen plenty of US movies dealing with dysfunctional families but most of them usually go for some cheap laughs while French movies like this one feels so much more authentic. On top of that, even though there were quite a lot of characters involved, almost all of them were properly fleshed out. It was also quite interesting to witness the dynamic around Claire. Indeed,  after she throws her first tantrum after being back for only 10 mins, you would probably dismiss her as being some really crazy chick. However, fairly soon, I came to the conclusion that not everything she said was some complete non-sense but, after all these years, nobody was listening to her or was taking her seriously because of her erratic behavior which was quite tragic and actually rather unfair. Coming back on the other characters, even though Rosita had some potential, I’m afraid that Isabel Aimé González-Sola was rather miscast though. Indeed, there is no way such a loser like Romain would manage to get such a gorgeous girl. By the way, I wondered what was the added value of showing some side-boob while she got out of bed. Even more problematic was the fact that, even though Catherine Deneuve was obviously the main draw here, she was actually given too little to do after all. Finally, even though most of it worked fairly well, the ending was a mistake and actually derailed the whole thing. Indeed, it was too far-fetched that Claire had actually spent the 4 previous months with Romain and that nobody else in the family knew about it. 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, I wasn’t really eager to see this movie but since my wife is a huge fan of this franchise, we ended up watching it together. Well, even though I usually don't care about such Dutch romantic-comedies, like my wife do, I have to admit that the ‘Soof’ movies are actually some of the best movies in this genre. I was wondering how they would keep the whole thing running for a 3^rd movie and they went for the cancer gimmick which might seem lazy and derivative but I thought it was fairly effective. One thing that bothered me was how they portrayed the parents of Sundeep as some kind of evil Pakistani-Muslim couple. Sure, I understand that they needed to create some conflict somehow but this approach was rather cringe-inducing and actually fairly offensive. Eventually, they also really pushed it far with the daughter as not only she came back early from a world trip but she came back with an Indian fiancée, an upcoming marriage and she was pregnant. Anyway, it was always the issue with this franchise, while Soof has always been an interesting and entertaining main character, thanks above all to an always strong Lies Visschedijk, there was always just too many supporting characters involved. As a result, instead of developing the plot or the few characters that should be involved, it gave an excuse for the makers to never really go deep and, instead, they just jump from one character to another on a rather superficial level. For example, in a couple of scenes, it was pretty neat how much Anneke Blok managed to do as Soof’s mother and you can only imagine what she could have done with slightly more screen time. Anyway, to conclude, even if I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as my wife did, I have to admit that it was decent watch though and it is worth a look, at least, 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 and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, even if it seems that it was rather poorly received, it turned out to be not bad at all after all. Indeed, above all, I thought it was really funny, especially the beginning scenes and, on top of that, I thought that Jonah Hill and Lauren London made a really cute couple. It was also interesting how they displayed that Los Angeles seems to be nowadays a complex city with so many different colors and flavors and, yet, even in this 21^st century, the diverse communities represented there barely have any contact with each other. Unfortunately, after the main conflict was established, the whole thing got stuck, I’m afraid. Indeed, from this point on, Ezra’s mother kept being inappropriate and Amira’s father kept acting like a d*ck which was maybe entertaining at first but it was repeated on a loop instead of going deeper into the subject matter. On top of that, everything was solved at the end which was also too predictable and derivative. Still, it was pretty neat to finally see Eddy Murphy showing up in a comedy which was not completely worthless for once and it was also interesting that he seriously downplayed his usual hysteria but, to be honest, his character was slightly flat after all, especially compared to the other characters. On the other hand, it was even worse for David Duchovny who was basically given nothing to do here. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really ground-breaking, it was a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since it was starring Nicolas Cage, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, from all the cheap action flicks Cage has been making during the last 20 years, even if it might not be the worst, it was still pretty weak though. The main issue is that the whole idea of an old gangster getting out of jail and seeking revenge against his former partners was just so derivative and, on top of that, they didn’t do anything really interesting with this tired concept. To make things worse, the directing was pretty weak and the whole thing was not much better than a very average TV movie. The writing was also pretty lazy. For example, at some point, Frank Carver visited an old acquaintance to get some intel on 2 guys he was tracking and, at the time, the conclusion was that ‘Q’ didn’t know where they were but would look into it. However, in the following scenes, the main character managed to find both them as if he knew all along where to find them. And, yet, the damned thing was not a complete disaster though. Above all, it was actually fun to see how much Nicolas Cage managed to squeeze out of such a rather abysmal material. Sure, he didn’t manage to turn sh*t into gold but the process was actually interesting to behold. I also have to admit that I didn’t see the ‘Fight Club’ gimmick coming and it was fairly well executed. On the other hand, I think they should have skipped the whole insomnia thing since it was rather poorly developed and had actually very little added value after all. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was rather lame and you should probably avoid it, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Nicolas Cage. 

Since it was Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond, of course, I was quite eager to check this movie at some point. For some reason, I didn’t see it in the movie theater when it was released whereas I did see all of the other 4 Bond movies starring Craig when they came out. Anyway, even if I don’t think it was a huge improvement on ‘Spectre’, it was still a decent watch though and the one thing that I enjoyed the most was probably Anas de Armas. Indeed, she was pretty much pitch-perfect playing Paloma and it was just so refreshing to see a female spy who didn’t fall right away for Bond’s charms as she chose to focus instead on her mission. However, the character was involved for such a short time that you might wonder if it was really necessary to include her at all in the first place, especially if the running time was already quite extensive. Indeed, the main issue with this movie was that it was just way too long and, in my opinion, it is ridiculous that an action flick like this one should last almost 3 hours. Eventually, that’s something that could be said about all the Bond movies starring Daniel Craig, expect for ‘Quantum of Solace’, as they were all among the longest Bond installments ever produced. By the way, I saw this movie with my wife and she was so surprised that James Bond got killed at the end. She was then convinced that the franchise was over and I tried to explain to her that they will just reboot the whole thing with a new actor but she seemed to have a hard time to grasp the concept. Anyway, eventually, there is no denying that Daniel Craig turned out to be extremely successful during his tenure and he will always be remembered as one of the best James Bond. To conclude, even if it didn’t really impress me, it was still a decent farewell for Daniel Craig after a whopping 15 year playing the famous British spy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Apparently, this movie was a huge flop when it was released but the title did sound intriguing and, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but I thought it was not bad after all. Eventually, I think the main issue was that they tried to tackle too many things and, as a result, this movie was pretty much a scattered mess. For example, most of the movies was actually a solid but still pretty basic depiction of modern high-school girls facing the usual obstacles but, then suddenly, in the 3^rd act, the whole thing turned into ‘The Purge’ with all this random people wearing some masks and playing vigilante. I also wonder if it was a good idea to have a group of 4 friends. I mean, they were all charismatic and intriguing but, except maybe for Lily, they were all barely developed. For example, it took me forever to figure out that Em and Sarah were actually sisters but, seriously, these 2 characters were given pretty much nothing to do (I have noticed that the charming Suki Waterhouse did spend pretty much most of her career playing such thankless characters which is a pity). It was also interesting that they inserted a transgender character played by Hari Nef but it was the same issue, there was just not enough time or space to properly develop such a complex character and you can imagine that they could have made the whole movie only about her. Still, some of their ideas were not bad though and I did appreciate how Sam Levinson managed to deliver an interesting dark edgy and energetic mood. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I guess it might be worth a look, at least, if you like the genre.