Reviews by johanlefourbe

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. I have to admit that I had actually never heard of the Lyle the Crocodile series before watching this movie but I’m pretty sure that this modern adaptation was hardly faithful, at least, from a visual point of view. Anyway, to be honest, the damned thing turned out to be seriously lame. Basically, there is currently some kind of new trend of adapting a classic quaint children book and giving it a modern twist (see also ‘Peter Rabbit’) but the end-result was here once again terribly misguided, I’m afraid. At least, I have to admit that the crocodile did sing very well and I’m not surprised that Shawn Mendes was the one behind this beautiful voice. Sure, I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Mendes or that I’m aware of his career but, damned, the guy can sing, that’s for sure. Concerning Javier Bardem, it was pretty neat to see him in a such children feature and he was definitely the reason why I wanted to check this movie in the first place. Well, as usual, Bardem went all in and he was basically the only character who was slightly interesting and entertaining but, for some reason, he was actually gone for half of the duration. Unfortunately, even though Constance Wu and Scoot McNairy are some fine and talented actors, they played their characters so straight and were therefore completely forgettable but above all not entertaining whatsoever. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have to admit it was rather harmless, the damned thing was still rather lame and boring 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 seemed to have a decent reputation (it is included in the ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ list, among other things), I was quite eager to check it out. Well, it turned out to be an extremely minimalistic feature, it’s basically about a young child who wants to buy a goldfish and loses her money and, well, it was pretty much it. It was apparently done on purpose as Jafar Panahi wanted to display that you didn’t necessarily need millions of dollars to shoot a movie. Anyway, I always had a weak spot for such minimalistic features and this one was definitely pretty neat. Indeed, the end-result felt like a mix of Italian neorealism (I’m pretty sure that ‘Ladri di biciclette’ was a huge influence on this movie) with a nail-biting thriller and this mix worked really well. To be honest, it did feel strange, even quite terrifying, to see such a young kid wandering around in the street on her own, that’s something you simply don’t do in Western countries nowadays (Maybe did we use to do it as well back then 40-50 years ago though?). However, there was one thing that bothered with this movie and it was the fact that this little girl was just so damned annoying. Sure, I know her portrayal was actually accurate, my ex-girlfriend had a young daughter around the same age and she displayed a very similar behavior. Still, it didn’t change the fact that her behavior was borderline cringe-inducing, especially when she was endlessly nagging her mother to give her some money to buy some goldfish, which was even more annoying when you think that they already had some perfectly fine goldfishes at home. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn’t completely sold, it was still a solid 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 available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out, especially since it had quite an impact. Indeed, it is considered as the first ‘talking’ movie so it was pretty huge when it was released at the time. Well, I was rather surprised by how little dialogue was actually involved in the damned thing after all and they still used intertitles for most of the duration. Basically, the sound was mostly used for the songs performed by Al Jolson. The songs were actually all pretty good by the way. And, yet, during these songs, Jolson did improvise some dialogues and it was basically the first time ever that you had some audible dialogue. Well, I thought that even when you watch this movie almost 100 years later, the effect was still really neat. Concerning the movie itself, well, to be honest, the story is not really strong and you might wonder why it has been remade twice already (the Neil Diamond version has especially a really lame reputation). There was also the issue that Al Jolson was in his 40’s and at least 20 years too old to play this character, even if he was a great performer (it's quite incredible that they made exactly the same mistake with the Neil Diamond remake). There was also the fact that he kept performing with some blackface and, even though it was apparently a common practice at the time, it is still really unsettling to watch it nowadays. The weird thing, at least to me, was that Jolson didn’t sound like a black guy at all when he was singing so I didn’t really see the point of this make-up. Anyway, to conclude, even if the whole thing didn’t really work out, it is still actually worth a look though, if only for its historical value. 

Since this movie has a really strong reputation, I was quite eager to check it out. By now, I have seen almost all the movies directed by Jacques Tati (I’m only missing ‘Trafic’) but, to be honest, even though I can say I’m quite familiar with his work, I’m afraid I never became a huge fan. Basically, with Tati, I actually understand more or less what he tried to achieve and I truly think the guy was an artist, it’s just that his art never really appealed to me. Well, this movie was not an exception but it doesn’t mean that I think that it was not enjoyable though. The most intriguing thing was probably the juxtaposition of a vintage version of the French way of life (I mean, it does feel ‘vintage’ now but, when it was released, it might have been actually quite contemporary) with a ultra-modern house. Of course, you might think that Tati hated this cold ugly house but I actually think he was actually fascinated by the future and what it would be like for the rest of us. Concerning the rest of the movie, I have to admit that I do like Tati’s vibe, the way that there is no real conflicts in his movies, no real bad guys, just some average people going on with their everyday life. So, there is something really harmonious in this movie and his work in general which is quite refreshing. Still, even though monsieur Hulot is a cute whimsical character, after all these years, I still don’t think he is fascinating or really entertaining though. The fact that the other characters were even less interesting probably didn’t help either. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow me way, it is still a classic and 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 but, since it was directed by Joachim Trier, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned out to be a really enigmatic thriller and the fact that most of what was going on was a mystery through most of the duration made the whole thing equally fascinating and frustrating to behold. Eventually, did it all really make sense? Probably not but it was obviously not the point of this movie. Still, the fact that the main character forgot from her past exactly what was needed for the plot to work was narratively rather weak. Furthermore, I wasn’t so sure either about the anti-religious undertones. Maybe it’s because I’m getting more and more tolerant towards religious people as I grow older but I wonder how the movie would have been if this aspect would have been removed. Concerning Eili Harboe, she delivered here a really solid performance and she gave a perfect vibe for this character though. To be honest, I did wish that they did tone down the paranormal shenanigans so that they could focus more on her burgeoning relationship with Anja but, again, it was obviously not the point of this movie. Eventually, pretty much out of nowhere, this movie turned out to be somehow some kind of hyper realistic super-hero origin story which was definitely interesting. As a result, it basically displayed what could be the end-result with the super-hero genre if you would remove the spandex costumes, the carboard villains and this obsession of saving the world from some random impending doom which was definitely an intriguing approach. Anyway, to conclude, even if it not everything really worked, it was still another intriguing directorial effort from Joachim Trier it is definitely worth a look.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Erick Zonca and starring Tilda Swinton, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned out to be one of the weirdest and wildest kidnappings I have ever seen, that’s for sure. To be honest, nothing everything did work in this movie but the damned thing was so unpredictable, at some point, I kept wondering what the hell would happen next which was definitely the strongest aspect of this movie. Of course, you also get around 150 mins of a non-stop one-woman-show from Tilda Swinton which was obviously pretty awesome as well. Concerning Erick Zonca, I wish I would rewatch ‘La vie rêvée des anges’ which had been a huge critical success when it was released in France. Anyway, almost 10 years later, he made his come-back with this movie which was something so completely different, so ambitious, in fact, I’m afraid it might have been too ambitious though. First of all, even though the Mexico scenes felt convincing enough, it was however never the case with the scenes taking place in the US. Seriously, I think it took me about 30 mins before I understood that the action was taking place in the USA and not in some other English speaking country. Furthermore, the appeal of this movie was the fact that the story was totally bonkers but, to be honest, some chunks barely made sense whatsoever. The biggest issue I had was that, while Elena was definitely an intriguing character, she was obviously mentally deranged but the fact that most of what she said turned out be true was rather ludicrous. The fact that Julia, even if she was a massive alcoholic, would believe anything she said was narratively really shaky as well. 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 want to see something really different. 

Usually, when I watch a movie, I try to know as little as possible about it but, in this case, I actually knew beforehand what it would be about and it was actually the main reason why I wanted to check it out. Well, even if it was to be expected, the damned thing still turned out to be seriously dark and I guess what made this movie hard to swallow was the fact that its protagonist was also its antagonist played wonderfully by Trine Dyrholm. I mean, at first, she seemed to be some rather basic middle-aged woman slightly arrogant and self-righteous but it was nothing really shocking and it was to be expected from someone like her. At some point, it seemed that she was going through some middle-life crisis which was again fairly believable. However, her behavior became more and more erratic but I think the movie failed to really explained where it actually all came from. I mean, was she really so bored with her fancy house, her impressive job, her successful loving husband, her cute kids? Or was it something else than boredom? Eventually, it did feel that her actions were actually more plot-driven than anything else. Anyway, when her unsettling gamble seemed to finally explode into her face, the whole thing became even uglier than it already was. Indeed, instead of taking her responsibilities for her revolting behavior, she basically threw her step-son under the bus and the way she basically bullied her (coward) husband was really something. Indeed, it really felt so calculated, so calibrated, it was really powerful and one of the strongest scenes I have seen lately. Eventually, the impact on the poor boy was just so heartbreaking and you could see that his step-mom was not completely unmoved by his tragic demise but she still kept covering up her misdeeds anyway which was obviously rather nauseating to behold. Anyway, to conclude, even if it wasn’t flawless, it was still a strong drama though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Unfortunately, it turned out that the whole thing was actually based on a rather lame concept which was never really entertaining. The fact that the jokes were all pretty lame of course didn’t help either. Eventually, the only thing that worked was the relationship between Shirley MacLaine’s and Jessica Lange’s characters. Indeed, they had some really nice chemistry together, I really believed that these two women could have been best friends for decades and the movie almost worked as long as it was focusing only on them. Unfortunately, pretty much everything else was either boring or uninteresting or far-fetched or a combination of all three. The ending was also really pathetic as they made Eva (played by Shirley MacLaine) getting in a relationship with the insurance guy who was chasing her. I mean, seriously? It was even more ridiculous than the fact that her daughter would tag along with him to chase her mother all the way to the Canary Islands. I have to admit that I always had a weak spot for Demi Moore but I’m afraid she delivered here another half-baked performance and, to be honest, I can’t remember the last time she actually impressed me in anything. And what was the deal with Billy Connolly’s character? Was he really dement or was it just part of his scheme? They didn’t even take the time to clear that out at the end. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have to admit that the damned thing was rather harmless, the end-result was still rather pathetic and I would advise to avoid it, except maybe if you really like the genre.