Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I’m a huge fan of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s work, I was thrilled to hear that his next movie would be available on Netflix and it immediately became a top priority for me this year. Well, it’s only after the watching the damned thing that I discovered that it had received some rather weak reviews and, unfortunately, I would have to agree with the critics on this one. Indeed, it turned out to be a huge disappointment and easily the weakest movie Jeunet has delivered so far. Sure, there were a couple of decent ideas but most of it was actually really weak. Concerning the story, it might have had some potential but, eventually, it was just too generic and not really interesting after all. And I shouldn't forget to mention that it was supposed to be a comedy but most of the jokes were just terribly lame. At least, Jeunet has always been a visionary film maker, especially visually speaking, and the idea of having him playing around with so much CGI was actually really neat. However, the whole thing looked just not convincing and was rather ugly so, even in this area, it turned out to be rather disappointing. Finally, the casting was not bad, at least, I won’t blame the actors, but there were probably too many characters involved as none of them was properly developed. In fact, most of these characters were rather obnoxious but, even if it was done on purpose, none of them was either interesting or really entertaining. Eventually, the more I think about it, the less I actually enjoyed the damned thing and, yet, with such a concept, with such a director, it could and should have been really cool. Anyway, to conclude, it’s only march 2022 and I think I already watched the most disappointing movie to be released this year, basically, the damned thing was just really weak and you should probably avoid it, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s work.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was included in the ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ list, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, I’m not usually not a huge fan of such old Westerns but I have to admit that this one was not bad at all. Indeed, I really liked how they mixed a rather generic vendetta with the odyssey of a precious stolen rifle. Indeed, while James Stewart’s character kept hunting for his nemesis, which was rather generic, it seemed that his stolen rifle was somehow cursed as every new owner managed to keep it only for a short while and most of them violently died in the process. As a result, it made the whole thing completely unpredictable and more entertaining than if it only focused on James Stewart’s character obsessively chasing some seemingly random dude. Eventually, we learned towards the end that he was actually chasing his own brother but, to be honest, it didn’t have much impact as he simply shot him down like any other guy. It’s too bad that they didn’t manage to do more with Shelley Winters’s character as she was such a charismatic actress. Indeed, in my opinion, she was more interesting than many pretty faces who were much more famous than her at the time. In fact, even Winters was not exactly impressed by what they had done with her character who basically waited on the side line until she could finally end up with the main character. Anyway, to conclude, even if I don’t think that it was anything really ground-breaking, it was still a solid vintage Western and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

When I first heard that Steven Spielberg was coming up with a remake of this legendary classic musical, I can’t say I was really excited by this idea. However, even though it was a box-office flop, it turned out to be a huge critical success and, since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out after all. Well, even though the original ‘West Side Story’ is one of the very few musicals that I really enjoyed, to be honest, I really struggled to care about this remake though. Sure, there was no doubt that it was technically fine, the whole thing was visually very well done and Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler had a solid chemistry. However, it still felt rather pointless to come up with another really faithful adaptation of the famous stage musical. Indeed, the 1961 version was already quite faithful but above all it was already pretty much downright amazing. Of course, they tweaked some elements, the most obvious and welcome update was to have a completely Latino cast to play the Sharks and other Puerto Rican characters. However, even in this case, they could have gone further by casting some actual teenagers as, except for Rachel Zegler, all the actors were still much older than their respective characters. Anyway, even though the critics were super enthusiast, as far as I was concerned, this new version felt rather redundant and the fact that this movie (and the older version) are really long probably didn’t help. I can understand the appeal for Spielberg to finally direct a musical, one of the very few genres he never tackled yet in his career but imagine if, in 2060, some heralded director would decide to remake the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy just because he loved it so much back then when he was a kid? Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn’t really sold by the damned thing, it was still a very well made old-fashioned musical and it is worth a look, even if the whole thing felt rather pointless, at least, to me. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a nice cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. On top of that, it was also Peter Bogdanovich’s final directorial effort but it seems that Bogdanovich’s career did end up with a whimper, I’m afraid. Basically, I turned out to be some kind of mix of a 30’s screwball comedy with a Woody Allen’s feature filled up with neurotic characters. Sure, it might sound appealing but not only it felt outdated but, above all, it was just rather boring. Furthermore, I thought that there was something rather misguided about handling the fact that this Broadway director was basically cheating on his wife with some escorts in every US city he did visit as if it was a big joke. It’s not that it was shocking, it’s just that it wasn’t really funny at all. Another issue was that even though some of the characters were not bad, there were just way too many involved and, with a running time of barely 90 mins, there was obviously no time to develop any of them. For example, the whole thing started with the connection between this Broadway director and this prostitute and, yet, they barely spent any time together, even after they started to work on the same play. Instead of developing this relationship, they kept bringing other escorts who were apparently also ‘inspired’ by him as if it was supposed to be hilarious but it made him rather sleazy. On top of that, it made the whole thing seriously random but that’s something that could be said about all the interactions involving any of these characters. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was rather harmless, it was also really tedious 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 the story sounded intriguing and since it was on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have to admit that it turned out to be quite an entertaining documentary. Sure, maybe it wasn’t really educational but it was a fun watch and the way they mixed the whole thing with some thriller elements was actually quite effective. First of all, I have never used Tinder (I’ve been in a relationship for almost 20 years so no need, I guess) but this documentary certainly didn’t make this app attractive, at least, not to me. Eventually, with Tinder but also similar apps, the issue is that it seems that most men are seriously distracted by sex or the idea of having sex while women are seriously distracted by materialism. Indeed, how could you otherwise explain that these 3 women (and probably countless others) fell for exactly the same pictures and exactly the same speeches? Concerning Simon Leviev A.K.A. Shimon Hayut, well, you can say whatever you want about the guy but I thought he was actually quite a brilliant con artist, even if there were some flaws in his scheme. Indeed, if I understand it correctly, it implied that he would have to constantly spend the money he was defrauding without building up a safety net in case everything would go south which was bound to happen at some point. Still, even though I understand why Cecilie Fjellhøy and Ayleen Charlotte would give him some money, I thought it was much more difficult to understand why Pernilla Sjöholm did it. I mean, Cecilie and Ayleen were after all completely in love with the guy so I think it’s understandable that you would do such a thing for your partner. However, why you would give so much money to a ‘good’ friend that you have known for maybe a few months? At least, it was actually pretty cool to see these 3 women teaming up to bring him down, even if he would then spend only 5 months in an Israeli jail. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was nothing really ground-breaking, it was still a solid documentary and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I already saw this movie but since I just bought a brand new awesome TV, I thought I might as well check it out again. Well, I’m really glad I watched it again since I was much more able to enjoy it the 2nd time around. Eventually, I understand why it was such a massive box-office success when it was released and, after all, it is easily the best MCU instalment released during the Phase 4. Indeed, I liked the direct link with the previous movie (and even more the links with all the previous Spider-Man installments) and the fact that Peter Parker wanted to get back his anonymity wasn’t a bad idea at all. In fact, I think the main issue was actually Doctor Strange. Indeed, the guy is such a mighty wizard that he can do pretty much whatever he wants with some fancy spell done in a few minutes. As a result, even though the idea of Peter Parker facing some existential crisis was really interesting, it was undone by a seemingly simple magic trick which drastically lowered the stakes. Still, it was definitely really neat to see them bringing back all these characters from the previous Spider-Man movies. Furthermore, of course, I was pretty obvious that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield would show up but I thought they would come up just for only a quick scene but I didn’t expect them to get so involved which was really cool. Finally, this movie probably had the most disappointing end-credit scenes I have seen so far in the MCU. Indeed, the first one pretty much cancelled the entrance of Eddie Brock in the MCU which was announced only a couple of months ago in ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’. Sure, Venom might show up eventually but it will be in a different form and Brock, especially Tom Hardy, will be terribly missed. However, the 2nd scene was actually even more disappointing though. Indeed, it was pretty obvious that this movie would be linked to the next Doctor Strange sequel but, instead of giving us a nice little scene bridging the two movies, they gave us an actual trailer for ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ which was just so lame and lazy. Anyway, to conclude, even if I’m still not sure if it was really amazing, the damned thing was still seriously entertaining and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since it kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, the fact that I didn’t know much about the Rolling Stones and what happened during this infamous concert before watching this movie made it rather difficult for me to get a good grip on the damned thing. Indeed, it actually took me forever to figure out that the concert footage at the beginning had actually nothing to do with the Altamont Free Concert and was in fact taken during some previous concert in the Madison Square Garden. There was also some footage showing the Rolling Stones at work for some songs for their coming-up album ‘Sticky Fingers’ but, to be honest, it all felt rather random. However, there is no denying that the scenes involving the Altamont Concert were actually quite fascinating to behold or seriously disturbing might actually be more accurate. Indeed, back in 1969, Woodstock turned out to be arguably the best concert ever filmed, well, the very same year, the Altamont Free Concert might turn out to be the worst concert ever filmed. Should we blame the promoters who switched location just a day before the concert was planned? Should we blame the Hells Angels for poisoning the mood right from the start and creating a really antagonizing atmosphere not only with the audience but also with the bands performing? Should we blame the Stones for even considering a biker gang to provide the security for such a massive concert? Eventually, not only it was a milestone as this event was considered as the end of the Flower Power era but I think it also completely changed how concerts would be managed in the future. Indeed, can you imagine a free concert with 300 000 people with a stage only a meter high, no gates between the stage and the audience, no check at the entrance and a security composed of unprofessional goons probably all drunk? In fact, it is more surprising that something even more dramatic didn’t happen before at Woodstock or any other massive music festival. Anyway, nowadays, when you go to a concert, there is tons of security involved including a big distance between you and the performers which is not very intimate but, at least, it is much safer for everyone involved. Finally, the most stunning scene in this movie was probably when you get to see Mick Jagger actually watching the footage of a man pointing out a gun and then being savagely stabbed to death by one of the Hell Angels while Jagger himself was actually trying to perform on stage. Seriously, it was so surreal and it felt like watching a snuff movie with this Rock and Roll legend. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing turned out to be seriously dark and disturbing and if you are curious about the most messed-up concert that ever took place, you should definitely check this movie. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was the last movie produced by Laika, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I’m hardly surprised that it turned out to be a flop at the box-office. I mean, the animation was, as usual, quite amazing but I wouldn’t expect less from these guys, though I wish they didn’t use so much CGI mixed with their state-of-the-art stop-motion animation. The main issue was that it was easily their most generic story so far. The fact that there were so many animated movies dealing with yetis in a very short time period (see also ‘Smallfoot’ and ‘Abominable’) probably didn’t help. Still, even without this competition, this movie would still have struggled to find an audience, I’m afraid, and I'm not sure if it really deserved a better reception. Anyway, as far as I’m concerned, what really saved the whole thing was this Mr. Link character. Indeed, while all the other characters were just never really interesting and/or entertaining, this Sasquatch creature was actually quite hilarious. Through the whole duration, I kept wondering who was voicing him and it’s only afterwards that I discovered that it was actually Zach Galifianakis who was behind this voice. I wish I could say the same about the main character voiced by Hugh Jackman (who I did instantly recognize) but even though Jackman did a fine job, I just didn’t care much about his character. Concerning Adelina Fortnight, the 3^rd character involved in this adventure, it was actually even worse as she joined them completely randomly and provided very little added value after all. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it thought it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre but, to be honest, I hope that Laika will really come up with a better story the next time around.