Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Eva Mendes and since it was on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it’s almost 10 years that Mendes retired to take care of her kids she had with Ryan Gosling and it had been a while since I saw one of her movies. Unfortunately, this movie was pretty weak, I’m afraid. Basically, it turned out to be one of these typical quirky indie comedies but, right from the start, the damned thing just didn’t work at all. In fact, I think it might have had some potential if they had chosen a completely different approach. Indeed, there was actually something rather sad, melancholic and genuine about this teenager and this single mother trying to figure out how to make sense of their respective lives. Unfortunately, for some reasons, the makers decided to make it ‘cheerful’ which was such a misguided choice and, as a result, it was rather annoying to see how they tried to force a light whimsical tone on this tale. To make things worse, all the characters were fairly pathetic and even rather unlikeable. Seriously, it was rather unbelievable that an obviously bright girl like Ansiedad would believe that such a convoluted plan would work and, above all, would have a positive impact on her life. The worst character was probably Dr. Harford though. Maybe this character would have worked if someone very handsome like George Clooney or Brad Pitt would have played him but, eventually, it was rarely bewildering that Grace wouldn’t dump the guy sooner. Eventually, I won’t blame Eva Mendes or Cierra Ramirez though, they were both really charismatic and I think they did what they could with the material that was provided. Anyway, to conclude, I really didn’t care about the damned thing and I don’t think it’s really worth a look, except maybe if you really like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Diane Kruger, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though it apparently didn’t get much love when it was released, I thought it was not bad. First of all, Diane Kruger was basically born to play such characters and she gave here a really solid performance. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about Martin Freeman. Indeed, Freeman tried really hard to sell this supposedly seasoned spy but I never thought he was really convincing. Eventually, I think that someone like Michael Fassbender would have been more suitable or basically anyone who didn’t look like such a harmless Teddy Bear. On the other hand, I have to admit that he wasn’t really helped by the fact that his character didn’t make much sense. I mean, a British Jew working for the Mossad in Germany? Couldn’t they come up with something slightly less convoluted? Concerning the movie itself, I liked the realistic approach and I liked how they displayed that, in real life, you actually have all kinds of spies and not only the usual lethal killing machines. Unfortunately, even if the tone was fine and even if it all felt quite convincing, the story was slightly too murky. Indeed, for example, how was she actually recruited? In the same fashion, I don’t think I completely understood what was actually the purpose of most of her assignments/missions. Concerning the ending, during the 3^rd act, she went into full Jason Bourne mode which was rather predictable but it was fortunately not a deal-breaker. Anyway, to conclude, I might have been slightly too generous with my rating here but I have a weak spot for such gritty spy features and I think this one is worth a look, at least, if you like the genre. 

First of all, it’s really too bad I didn’t manage to watch first ‘Pather Panchali’ and ‘Aparajito’ before watching this movie. I did try to get my hands on these 2 movies but I didn’t succeed. Eventually, when I gave up and watched the damned thing, at the end, on the Belgian channel I actually recorded this movie, there was a commercial advertising that these movies were actually available on their streaming platform but, by then, they were already gone. Anyway, it is still a movie that you can watch as a stand-alone. Above all, it was really neat to finally discover Satyajit Ray’s work and I really enjoyed the mood, at least, at first. Indeed, it was so refreshing to see a main character who was poor, who even had nothing but who still seemed to be quite happy and even cheerful. Basically, we have been so conditioned to think that, if we can’t buy everything we desire, we will feel automatically miserable and I loved how this movie really challenged this way of thinking. When he got married, the movie became even better. Sure, their union was really unlikely and, yet, they made such a sweet couple. Indeed, even if they had nothing, they still felt a deep connection and I thought that Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore had a great chemistry (even if Tagore was only 14 years old at the time which was slightly creepy). Eventually, it’s too bad that they kind of lost me when Aparnad died and, to be honest, I didn’t care much for this dramatic turn of events. Basically, in my opinion, it really broke the mood of this movie. Indeed, after that, the main character was constantly roaming with a really grim and depressed demeanor which was hardly rewarding for the viewers, at least, as far as I was concerned. Of course, he was eventually reunited with his son but he was still only a shadow of himself and I thought it was rather frustrating, especially compared to the rest of the movie which was much more compelling. Anyway, to conclude, even it I wasn’t completely sold, it was a really interesting watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Satyajit Ray’s work.

A few months ago, I have noticed that there were a few Buster Keaton movies included in the ‘They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They?’ list so I decided to check them out since they were all available on YouTube but, apparently, for some reasons, I actually missed out on this one. Anyway, I thought it was pretty good, even probably one of my favorite movies starring Buster Keaton. Indeed, it was slightly less random than his usual work, even if the monkey still showed up pretty much from nowhere. However, I have to admit that this little monkey was actually pretty awesome though. On top of that, it was by far Keaton’s most romantic feature, at least, among the movies he has made that I have seen so far. As a result, of course, the jokes and stunts were still the main focus but, in my opinion, Keaton’s character was actually very well balanced. Indeed, I don’t think he was a complete loser. Sure, he was seriously clumsy, even pretty much a walking disaster but he was also so much more charismatic than all the other guys that tried to hook up with the character played by the charming Marceline Day. Eventually, I wasn’t so surprised that she would fall for him. And yet, even though there was absolutely nothing wrong with this movie and I mostly enjoyed it, to be honest, I have to admit that it never grabbed me though but it’s usually the case with Keaton’s movies. It’s so weird because I’m actually a huge fan of Chaplin’s silent comedies. Maybe it’s because I grew up with Chaplin’s work while I discovered Keaton’s work much later on as a grown-up. Anyway, to conclude, it was a solid vintage silent comedy 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 the trailers looked pretty cool, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though it was rather poorly received by the critics and even though it will probably be a flop at the box-office, I thought the damned thing turned out to be actually terribly fun. First of all, it was just so refreshing to see an action flick which had no link with some super-heroes or some other huge franchise. Of course, with David Leitch in the director’s chair, the action scenes, especially the fighting scenes, were pretty badass but I was above all sold by the wacky tone. Furthermore, even though there were many characters involved, I was rather impressed by the fact that almost all of them actually worked pretty well. The only exception was probably Joey King’s character. I don’t blame King herself, she wasn’t bad at all and I understand what they were trying to do with this young girl but this character just didn’t really work or, at least, I didn’t care much about her. By the way, it’s only afterwards that I noticed that Logan Lerman was actually involved in this movie. Eventually, their biggest asset was Brad Pitt though. Indeed, he managed to find a pitch-perfect tone and Pitt really found a tricky balance for this character. Basically, even if the guy tried to avoid violence as much as possible, he was never a complete loser though. Anyway, his interactions with the other characters were most of time just so much fun. All in all, to conclude, even if it was nothing really ground-breaking, it was still a really entertaining flick and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.