Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even though I have always been a big fan of Cédric Klapisch, it has been a while since I saw one of his movies so I was really eager to check this flick. Unfortunately, the damned thing turned out to be really disappointing and I’m afraid it must be Klapisch’s weakest directorial effort so far. Indeed, the whole concept (a blue-collar woman is hired to work as a cleaning lady for the broker who actually brought down the company where she used to work before) was not really strong and its serendipity quality was actually rather annoying. There was also not a clear approach chosen by Klapisch. Indeed, it was never really dark and realistic like, for example, a really socially conscious tale by Ken Loach (I really wonder what the British director would have done with this material) or flimsy and whimsical like a romantic-comedy such as ‘Pretty Woman’. I guess the main idea was to show how these 2 characters coming from the pole opposite of the social ladder would have an impact on each other but it was mostly rather eventless and, to be honest, barely interesting. The massive U turn that they made during the final act (eventually, they sleep together, she discovers who he really was, she kidnaps his kid and gets arrested) was just hard to swallow and, ultimately, a messy conclusion for a weak movie with a really shaky concept. At least, I won’t blame Karin Viard and Gilles Lellouche as they both delivered some solid performances but there was not much they could do with such misguided and poorly developed material. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is worth a look though but there is no denying that it is Klapisch’s most half-baked movie so far. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Keira Knightley, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I was rather surprised by how underwhelming the damned thing actually turned out to be. It’s too bad because it was actually dealing with a fascinating page of history with tons of potential. However, instead of focusing on how life was during the post-war reconstruction of Germany, they gave us one of the most tedious and unconvincing love triangles I have ever seen. Seriously, at the time, so many people were basically starving in the streets, so many cities were reduced to ruins, so who cares about the love life of these 3 characters? To make things worse, they were all so poorly developed. I mean, Rachael Morgan who first complained endlessly about her German roommates, completely out of the blue, decided to have sex with Stephen Lubert. Seriously, Keira Knightley didn’t have much chemistry with Jason Clarke and their relationship didn’t really work either but how she switched partners rather randomly was even less convincing. So, it was rather ridiculous how this British woman would leave her husband to live with a German just after the end of WWII but they kept hammering that it was definitely the best and only option for everyone involved. However, just at the moment that you would think they would then live happily ever after, well, she switched again! Seriously, in the very last scene, she actually dumped her fresh new German lover to go back to her husband… After watching so much baseless romantic non-sense, they managed to end up with something ever more ludicrous. At least, Keira Knightley did look gorgeous in some really nice vintage gowns and the whole thing was very well done but, boy, this story just didn’t work at all. Anyway, to conclude, I think my rating might be actually too generous for this movie, I guess you might want to check it out if you really like the genre though but there is no doubt that it could have been so much better since it was dealing with such an interesting subject. 

Following the debacle around ‘America: The Motion Picture’, I thought I might as well check the other animated feature produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller also released on Netflix this year. To be honest, when I first heard about this flick, I have to admit that I wasn’t really interested but since it had received some really solid reviews, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, first of all, the animation was really neat and, as usual with Lord and Miller, the whole thing was really daft but, fortunately, it worked much better than the terribly disappointing ‘America: The Motion Picture’. Indeed, what I enjoyed the most were the Mitchells themselves. Basically, their masterstroke was to manage to give us some characters who were terribly ordinary but who they were still quite charismatic and, above all, really entertaining. It’s such a tricky balancing act, to deliver such average characters who were most of the time pretty stupid and borderline obnoxious and, yet, I actually cared for them because they were so relatable and actually quite endearing. Seriously, there were a couple of heartfelt scenes who actually reminded me of some of the best work from Pixar and that’s definitely meant as a completement. Concerning the whole invasion by the machines, well, it was not bad but it was also terribly pedestrian and it was pretty obvious that this whole generic story was there just to give the Mitchells something to do. Eventually, it’s too bad they couldn’t find something else more interesting to keep this group of great characters busy but, fortunately, it wasn’t a deal breaker though. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing ground-breaking, it was still another solid animated feature from Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I kept hearing some really good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. The funny thing is that, somehow, I first saw ‘Criminal’, the US remake, and, surprisingly, it took me 10 years to finally see this original version. Fortunately, this way, I didn’t remember much about the remake which didn’t spoil this movie for me. Anyway, since this movie has a really strong reputation, I had some rather high expectations. However, even though I had to admit that it was indeed pretty good, to be honest, it wasn’t much more than that though. I mean, I always loved movies dealing with con artists and I have to admit that this movie is probably one of the best in this genre. On top of that, Ricardo Darín and Gastón Pauls both delivered some solid performances, especially Darín. Eventually, what bothered me with this movie was that it wasn’t as clever as many might argue. I mean, as long they were focusing on some small cons, it felt really genuine and quite spellbinding to behold. The problem is that, right from the start, it was obvious that one of the characters was running some long con so the ending turned out to be hardly surprising after all. The other thing with this conclusion is that it meant that roughly 90% of what you saw was actually fake which was not only frustrating but also not really convincing. For example, right from the very first scene at the gas station, how could Juan know that everything Marcos would do would exactly fit his ‘master’ plan? Then, from the moment Marcos gets a phone call from his sister, everything became some kind of theatre play during which virtually everyone talking to him from this point on was basically some actor. Sure, it might seem amazing but while I have to admit that it was entertaining, it didn’t really impress me that much because it was just too convoluted.  Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn't turn out to be such a masterpiece after all, it was still a solid thriller 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 directed by Wayne Kramer and since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, Kramer is another director who started with a really strong debut (‘The Cooler’) but then, each of his following directorial effort has been weaker than the previous one. It was especially the case with this last project, some kind of ‘Pulp Fiction’ clone, which was basically destroyed by the critics. Well, to be honest, I actually did like the 1^st tale involving some hilarious junkies involved in one of the most misguided hold-ups I have ever seen. Indeed, the tone was perfect and it was one of the rare occasions that some really stupid characters actually turned out to be quite entertaining. I was also rather impressed by Paul Walker and it is rather tragic that the guy finally displayed some acting skills in the last movie he released before his death. The 2^nd tale with Matt Dillon at the centre also had some potential and it worked fine, as far as I was concerned, up until the point that he discovered all these women locked up in these cages. Indeed, so far, it was taking place in a realistic small US town but this development was just too much over-the-top and, to be honest, the whole thing never really recovered from this misguided choice. Then, you had this 3^rd and final tale involving some Elvis impersonator which was not only tedious but also borderline cringe-inducing to behold. The fact that this Elvis impersonator was played by Brendan Fraser, in my opinion, one of the most underwhelming actors ever, obviously didn’t help. Anyway, to conclude, in contrary to the really harsh reviews that this movie has received and even if I have to admit that it was indeed Wayne Kramer’s weakest movie so far, I still think it is actually worth a look, if only to see Paul Walker actually acting for once. 

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from the damned thing but since it was starring Sylvester Stallone, I thought I might as well check it out. Unfortunately, Stallone has never been one of the greatest actors in the world but, when he gets involved in such obvious paycheck gigs, well, he is pretty much unwatchable, I’m afraid. At least, even if the promotional material might make you think otherwise, he was involved only in a few scenes though. Anyway, Stallone was not even the biggest problem since pretty much nothing worked in this movie. Seriously, the intro was just so weak that I was actually glad when they finally started to shoot at each other. Concerning the cast, well you had two famous actors (Sylvester Stallone and Matthew Modine) who both delivered some of their worst performances and a cast made of unknown or rather obscure actors who were just as weak. Basically, it is the kind of movies in which every small or even slightly bigger female characters was played by some cute random but always talentless actress. Seriously, even the girl reading the news was not convincing whatsoever. Concerning the story, well, it managed to be rather generic but also far-fetched at the same time but it was definitely never entertaining whatsoever. Eventually, when you think about it, you might wonder who was actually the main character (simple, there was none) and the way they actually sided with Modine’s character at the end was just ludicrous. Anyway, to conclude, I wonder if it was the worst movie I have seen starring Stallone, but even if it wasn’t, it wasn’t far from it and you should definitely avoid the damned thing. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Mike Newell and since it was starring Lily James, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, with this title, I was expecting a rather cheesy vintage picture about some stuffy book club but I have to admit that the damned thing turned out to be not bad at all after all. Indeed, I actually didn’t know that the Guernsey Island had been occupied by the Nazis while the rest of the UK was free so it was really interesting to learn about this rather obscure page of history. I thought it was also quite brilliant that this group of people would start a book club as a social event providing a way to escape the daily horrors of the occupation and to simply meet some kindred spirits. Finally, the lovely Lily James delivered another solid performance and she had some nice chemistry with Michiel Huisman. Eventually, if they would have simply focused on these elements, the damned thing could have been actually really good but, unfortunately, they kept adding some stuff to give the whole thing some extra dramatic edge. Indeed, not only the love triangle involving Lily James, Michiel Huisman and Glen Powell was terribly generic, tedious and above all completely unnecessary, there was just too much drama going on with Elizabeth McKenna, the character played by Jessica Brown Findlay. I mean, it did make sense that a member of the book club would have been deported by the Germans at some point but everything else around this character was just too much. The day before, I actually saw ‘Umimachi Diary’ which I really loved but it was in fact criticized by some critics for its complete lack of dramatic edge. However, this movie was the completely opposite as it was a perfect example of a fine story which was compromised by too many superfluous dramatic turns. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was in fact much better than I expected and it is actually 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 Hirokazu Koreeda, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, once again, Koreeda really impressed me and, for some reason, I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed the damned thing (which was probably because I did watch way too much garbage lately). I have to admit that I did struggle a little bit to follow everyone’s story (for example, I still don’t know what actually happened to Suzu’s mother… I guess she died at some point but I’m afraid I missed that bit of information…). Furthermore, there were 4 sisters, their deceased father who was married with 3 different women, their grandmother, their grandmother’s sister, …. Basically, it was quite lot of people to deal with and, as a result, none of them was really developed but it wasn’t a deal breaker though. Indeed, I always admired Koreeda as one of the most humanist directors that ever lived and, with this movie, he just surpassed himself. In most movies, some of the characters would have some kind of personal agenda with the goal of breaking up this sisterhood and, as we have been conditioned by decades of generic storytelling, we actually expect that something horrible will happen to them at some point but, no, fortunately, it never happened. Instead, you get a set of vastly different but all intriguing young women who were dealt some pretty shitty cards but still made the best of it and, all together, they managed to find such a beautiful and inspiring harmony. Anyway, to conclude, I’m not sure if it is Koreeda's best movie but it was not far from it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I actually have no idea how I actually ended up watching this movie. Indeed, I watch tons of movies for some really lame reasons but, in this case, I seriously couldn’t remember why actually did record this movie about a year ago. I mean, it wasn’t a really critical success and it didn’t win any prestigious prize. Was it because of the title? My guess is because it was directed by Aleksandr Sokurov whose work I’m not familiar with but the guy seems to have a decent reputation. Anyway, this movie definitely had some potential but I still struggled to connect with the damned thing. You might think that it was a documentary but it was much more original than that. Indeed, in my opinion, it was some kind of collage combining so many things together. I mean, you had some voice-over and dialogues in 4 different languages (Russian, French, English, German) even by Sokurov himself, you had some reproduction footage of WWII, some archive footage, some more or less random footage of modern Paris and a lot of footage of Le Louvres and of the Art displayed at Le Louvres (probably the main attraction of this flick). There were some interesting ideas about Art, history and our relationship with Art through the last 4 centuries but, to be honest, the whole thing was still too random for my taste. Furthermore, the more I think about it, the more I wonder if it really mattered that Jacques Jaujard (the director of Le Louvres during WWII) and Franz Wolff-Metternich (the Nazi officer who was responsible for the conservation of the French art collections) did get along fairly well and managed to protect all these Artistic items while millions were dying in the meantime. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.