Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, when I heard that they were coming up with a sequel for ‘The Shining’, it did sound like a really misguided idea. On the other hand, Mike Flanagan is at the moment one of the most interesting horror film directors so maybe he could make it work. Unfortunately, even though it did receive Stephen King‘s blessing and had received some decent reviews, it still turned out to be a flop at the box-office. Anyway, since the damned thing was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even if it never came near the level of Kubrick’s masterpiece (even if it is not even near to be one of my favourite movies from this great master, it is still one of the best horror movies ever made), this sequel was still not bad at all. Indeed, the links with Kubrick’s movie were actually well done but still allowed the movie to stand on its own. However, if ‘The Shining’ was really focused (at least, the way the story was told in Kubrick’s movie), I thought this new tale was just too scattered. I mean, I did appreciate how they handled the main character, Dan Torrance, Ewan McGregor definitely delivered a solid performance and this storyline worked rather well. However, there were also two other storylines, one involving another young girl with some very powerful shining and a group of rather obscure bad guys, and, in my opinion, they really struggled to combine these 3 stories together. Above all, everything involving the True Knot was very often way too opaque and even borderline ridiculous. Indeed, this group was actually really poorly defined and it didn’t help that more than half of them didn’t do or say anything at all through the whole duration. On the other hand, I have to admit that Rebecca Ferguson was actually seriously charismatic and maybe it would have better worked if she would have been on her own. In this case, you would have had 3 stories thread each involving only one main character creating a better balance. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look but there is no denying it was still a rather useless sequel. 

To be honest, 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, eventually, after ‘Tenet’, it turned out to be another rather far-fetched conspiracy thriller with [Link removed - login to see] at the center and, at this point, he might be careful to avoid typecasting. Anyway, all in all, the damned thing was not really good. I mean, it was visually rather well done and, even though Washington’s character was hardly interesting, this actor is quite charismatic. Basically, the whole thing did remind me of ’Frantic’ and many classy thrillers directed by Alfred Hitchcock but, even if the concept was not bad, it never really worked though. The main issue was that 90% of the running time was about the main character running around and trying to save his skin and while it might seem appealing on paper, it would have been probably more interesting if they took the time to allow us to learn more about him. I mean, there were some moments when the guy felt (understandably) a huge amount of guilt and even did contemplate suicide and John David Washington was quite convincing during these moments but, each time, he had to start up to run again pretty much endlessly until they reached some half-baked conclusion during which everything was wrapped up way too nicely (Seriously, how on Earth was it supposed to make any sense that the kidnappers would bring this kid at a rally where his uncle was giving a speech?!?). Concerning the other characters, it was actually even worse though as none of them was developed whatsoever. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I think it was still a watchable though but it was also terribly forgettable, I'm afraid.

Since this movie had a pretty good rating on IMDb and since there was a solid cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I’m rather surprised that this movie has mostly received some poor reviews (only 53 Metascore) since I really enjoyed the damned thing. First of all, I have to admit that I had never heard of Mohamedou Ould Slahi before but it probably allowed me to enjoy more this movie. Indeed, this lack of knowledge did allow me to appreciate the approach they chose by not showing right away if Mohamedou might be guilty or not as it remained rather ambiguous, at least, during the 1^st half. Eventually, just like the defence and the prosecution, we slowly discover that Mohamedou might not only be innocent but that the US army actually never heard had any proof against him at all even though they kept him captive for years and even tortured to him to achieve some baseless and ridiculous confessions. Of course, you might argue like many critics that it was actually nothing new but I don’t agree. Indeed, they are actually still 40 prisoners in Guantamo Bay right now and this movie displayed in a powerful way how the US, in spite of their incredible resources, waged a senseless war on terror by terrorizing 1000’s of innocent people themselves. The fact that Kabul and Afghanistan in general has just fallen back under the Taliban regime after 20 years of US occupation made this movie even more topical. At least, even if the reviews were rather harsh, everybody seemed to agree that Tahar Rahim delivered another strong performance here and the guy was indeed pretty much pitch-perfect. On the other hand, I have to admit that the other characters played by the rest of the cast (Jodie Foster, Shailene Woodley, Benedict Cumberbatch and Zachary Levi) could have been more developed. Woodley was especially wasted playing a really thankless part who had basically no impact at all on the whole story. Anyway, to conclude, in the contrary to most of the critics, I really enjoyed the damned thing and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick and since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that I had actually never heard of the Harlem Cultural Festival that took place in 1969 but I’m not the only one. Indeed, while Woodstock became the most famous festival that ever took place, this festival was actually largely forgotten, at least, by the mainstream audience. What was even more surprising was that they actually did film everything but it took a staggering 50 years before someone finally released the damned thing. Apparently, back then, nobody cared about spreading this magnificent piece of Black power, love and creativity which was basically censored in spite of its actually very positive message. Concerning the festival itself, I have to admit that I didn’t know about half of the performers but it didn’t matter and they were all really good. The fact that appearing on this stage meant so much for them really transpired in their performances which were very often quite electrifying. Eventually, the only thing that prevented this movie from becoming really epic was the fact that they reduced 40 hours of footage to only 2 hours. I mean, the documentary about Woodstock was lasting 3 hours for a reason and I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have had the same impact if it would have been shorter. In this case, with an extra hour or even more, they could have fleshed out even more some of the performances or some portraits of the artists and people involved. Still, it wasn’t a deal-breaker and the damned thing was really awesome to behold. Anyway, to conclude, I really enjoyed this flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or this kind of music. 

I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Olivia Munn, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I wasn’t really impressed by the 1^st instalment but the fact it still managed to spawn a sequel does display Kevin Hart’s current star power, either you like it or not. The main issue was that these two characters kept endlessly bickering exactly like they did in the previous movie. In my opinion, it could have been so much more interesting and above all so much more entertaining if they instead took the whole thing into another direction, for example, by making this duo actually working together. The fact that the plot itself was terribly generic and predictable didn’t help either. Concerning Olivia Munn, well, as usual, she looked really lovely but, to be honest, she wasn’t convincing at all. It started with some small details like, at some point, she was wearing a black outfit which seemed to be suitable for her police work but she was also wearing some heels which did really look good on her but it didn’t seem to be the most practical shoes to wear on the field. A bigger issue was that her performance was just really flat and I never believed that she was some kind of seasoned hardened police officer. Concerning our main duo, well, sure, Kevin Hart can be fun but it’s a pity that Ice Cube got stuck playing such a constantly grumpy guy and I wish his character was not so terribly one-note. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was rather harmless, it was still rather weak and I don’t think it is 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 one of the last movies starring Keira Knightley that I haven’t seen, I thought I might as well check it out. I have to admit that I had never heard of Katharine Gun before so it was definitely an interesting story and, at least, it was miles better than the really disappointing ’The Aftermath’ which I also watched recently. In fact, I mentioned Knightley but there was actually a rather big cast involved (Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Matthew Goode, Rhys Ifans, Ralph Fiennes, Jeremy Northam) and I liked this approach. Indeed, even though the whole thing started with an albeit reckless but still courageous young woman, eventually, this movie clearly displayed that, at the time, in contrary to the US, in the UK, a vast majority of the population was actually against this war and many people were more than eager to help and support Katharine Gun. Basically, following the lead of Bush and his administration, Blair (who was at some point one of the most popular British prime ministers) and his government went pretty much all the way to make sure that the second Irak war was going to happen. Indeed, after the complete Trump nightmare, we tend to forget that W. Bush was pretty much god damned awful as well, dragging the US but also many other countries, not in one but in two wars. While the war in Afghanistan was a total mess (after a whopping 20 years, all the foreign troops are gone and, apparently, within only a few months, the Talibans will take over the country again), the war in Irak was based on some terrible lies and this movie was a great reminder. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really ground-breaking, it was still a solid thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I kept hearing some really good things about this movie, I was really eager to check it out. Well, first of all, it was a really badass title. Furthermore, I have to admit that I didn’t know much about Fred Hampton and it was really neat to learn more about this inspiring guy. Indeed, that he had accomplished so much and that he had reached such wisdom at such a young age was just really impressive and it would have been interesting to find some actors who were actually around the same age of their characters (Indeed, Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield were both at least 10 years older than their characters). Still, there is no denying that Kaluuya and Stanfield both delivered such strong performances, they were both quite pitch-perfect and seriously spellbinding to behold. So, the whole thing was strong and delivered an important message in the process and, yet, it was still missing something to completely win me over though. First of all, even though it was dealing with a really interesting story, the whole thing was still rather predictable. Indeed, from the moment you see Bill O'Neal meeting FBI agent Roy Mitchell for the first time, everything else happening afterwards was hardly surprising. I wonder also if it wouldn’t have worked better if it would have been more nuanced. Indeed, even with the most controversial black character, Bill O'Neal, they displayed a lot of compassion (basically, the guy was pressured by the FBI to work for them) whereas most of the white characters didn’t get the same curtesy. I mean, Martin Sheen was praised for his performance playing some kind of monstruous version of J. Edgar Hoover but, to be honest, it was borderline caricatural. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was maybe not a masterpiece, it was still a fascinating tale with 2 awesome performances and the damned thing is definitely worth a look. 

Since I kept hearing some pretty bad things about this flick, obviously, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. Well, after working with Roland Emmerich on many blockbusters, apparently, Dean Devlin thought he could also direct his own disaster flick. Eventually, it was at least quite an achievement that Devlin managed to deliver something worse than anything delivered by Emmerich so far (alright, ‘Godzilla’ might be even worse but still…). It’s too bad because the idea of making a disaster flick around climate change was intriguing and the damned thing actually had some potential. Unfortunately, I turned out to be one of these blockbusters which try to look very smart but end up being incredibly dumb. I mean, their first stupid move was to choose Gerard Butler to play some genius scientist. Seriously, there was not a single thing that he said that actually sounded convincing. On the other hand, Jim Sturgess was not much better and delivered another really weak performance (on top of that, the fact that this ’super’ scientist’s brother would work for the staff of the US president was just some really lazy writing). Concerning the rest of the cast (Abbie Cornish, Alexandra Maria Lara, Andy Garcia, Ed Harris, Robert Sheehan, Mare Winningham, Zazie Beetz), only Zazie Beetz managed to be interesting/entertaining in a just a few scenes, all the rest was just wasted playing some really poorly written characters. Coming back to the ’master’ plan of the bad guy, if you destroy the whole Earth, how was it going to bring back the USA back on top?!? Anyway, to conclude, I guess I was actually rather generous with my rating here, the damned thing was really weak and you should probably avoid it.