Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick. In fact, my sister actually gave me this DVD as a gift. Anyway, it turned out to be a feature film from the makers of ‘Strip-tease’, an awesome TV-show we used to watch back in the 90’s. The basic concept was to shoot some documentaries but without any comments and interviews resulting in some vintage TV-reality before it became some of the worst trash-TV ever produced. Anyway, this movie definitely kept the vibe of the TV-show. I have to admit that it was surprised that it was taking place in Belgium but it actually made sense since ‘Strip-tease’ was actually a Belgian TV-show and not a French one. The interesting thing, at least for me, was that even if they didn’t judge Anne Gruwez (pun intended), I don’t think they were extremely positive about her either. It was also another interesting detail. Indeed, at some point, one of her co-workers, I think a policeman, mentioned that the FBI might not be really more efficient than them. Well, another similarity with the US justice system where 80 or 90% of the convicts are black was that it seems that most of the convicts in Belgium are of North African origin which was maybe not really shocking but certainly sad to see. Another thing that bothered me was the fact that this judge was rather arrogant and patronizing with pretty much all her male convicts but, towards the end, when she was handling the case of a delusional woman who had killed her young boy with her bare hands, she was actually rather patient  and gentle. Of course, you had some wild or even surrealist scenes which was always a trademark of this TV-show, the best example being when they went to exhume a dead body from a graveyard. Eventually, the end-result was a unique look on the Belgian judicial system but the lack of context and background did lessen its impact, I’m afraid. Anyway, to conclude, it was definitely a decent watch and it is 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 Ivan Reitman and since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I think you need to be either American and/or have a decent knowledge of American sports to get into this movie. Fortunately, I used to be a huge fan of the NBA back in the 90’s so I already knew what the draft was but, even so, I have to admit that I still struggled with the material. For example, it took me a good while to get that Kevin Costner’s character was not the coach of the Cleveland Browns but actually their General Manager. Anyway, it was definitely a bold move to focus only on this single day, the day college players are drafted to their NFL teams, and while it might be a huge event for the fans, I’m not sure that anyone else would really care. Anyway, to be honest, narratively speaking, the whole thing didn't really work. I mean, for example, it was pretty obvious from the very start that he would drop Bo Callahan and go for Vontae Mack. Above all, the makers tried to convince the viewers that it was a genius move but I wasn’t convinced. Indeed, even before making the deal with Seattle Seahawks, he was already pretty sure to get Vontae Mack with his seventh overall pick so the whole thing felt like a rather convoluted detour to eventually get a similar result. A bigger nuisance was that they put too much focus on Sonny Weaver Jr.’s private life. Indeed, his semi-secret girlfriend who happens to be a co-worker just turned out to be pregnant, his father who used to be a lauded coach for his team had recently passed away and his mother was eager to scatter his ashes on the football field… Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have to admit that it was actually still fairly entertaining and it might be worth a look but only if you really like the genre. 

I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Margot Robbie, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, I really struggled to care about the damned thing. Basically, the whole thing seemed to another unnecessary new version of a classic character and you might wonder why every decade we get a new version of  Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood, King Arthur and The Three Musketeers. I mean, I did like the fact that they didn’t go for an origin story but this approach was unfortunately undone by the fact that they still provided some flashback scenes explaining the background of Tarzan. It was too bad because we all know what happened to this iconic character and it felt like a missed opportunity to develop something new or not so familiar about the guy. Another issue was with the tone. Indeed, the tricky thing is that the whole concept of Tarzan is actually rather preposterous and, in this case, they went for some straightforward approach which was rather misguided. Basically, the whole thing was just way too serious. For crying out loud, there were even some kind of political, ecological and historical agendas when the whole thing was after all about the adventures of a half-naked guy hopping from vine to vine. Concerning Alexander Skarsgård, it is obvious that the guy spent months to get a shredded body but, eventually, the Swedish actor still gave a rather safe performance and he was never really intense enough. Margot Robbie was slightly better but the only purpose of her character was to be saved so she didn’t have much to chew on, I'm afraid. Anyway, to conclude, I think my rating was actually rather generous here, the whole thing was rather misguided but I guess it was also rather harmless but don’t expect too much before watching the damned thing. 

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Ralph Fiennes, I was quite eager to check his directorial debut. Well, eventually, it turned out to be one of these modern adaptations of a Shakespeare play. However, even though it was taking place more or less nowadays, they still kept the original vintage dialogues, a gimmick which might have some merit but, to be honest, I never really cared for it. On top of that, even though the timeline was definitely contemporary, they kept all the Roman names for the characters and the cities involved, which made the whole thing even more confused and confusing. So, as you have probably guessed by now, I had a hard time to get into this flick. And, yet, I have to credit Ralph Fiennes as I was actually able to follow most of the dialogues without any trouble. Furthermore, it is understandable that the thespian would be attracted by such a project as he delivered such a powerful performance, probably one of his best. I can imagine that it was one of these cases when an actor is really willing to play a specific part but will be able to do it only if it takes care of the whole project himself. Concerning the rest of the cast, Vanesssa Redgrave was also pretty strong in this and it was interesting to see Jessica Chastain before she got her breakthrough, even if her role was not really developed. Gerard Butler was not bad either but, to be honest, it was rather difficult to take him seriously after seeing him in so many half-baked action flicks. Coming back to the story itself, I did like the combination of a realistic visual approach with the old-fashioned and sometimes rather over-the-top Shakespearean dialogues which resulted in something quite surreal. It’s too bad that the mid-section, during which Caius Martius tried to get some promotion, went for too long. Anyway, to conclude, even I believe it is an acquired taste, I still think it is worth a look. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak for Steve McQueen and since I’m from Le Mans, I was quite eager to check it out. First of all, I was wondering how they would develop a plot around the legendary race and, to my surprise, they didn’t even try. Indeed, the first dialogues showed up after more than 30 mins and there were eventually only a handful of them after all. The only thing resembling a plot was concerning Steve McQueen’s character who was coming back to Le Mans after experiencing a deadly accident the year before. The end-result was therefore a rather hybrid movie, almost a documentary but not really since it was filled with actors playing some fictional characters, but not really a fiction either because of the lack of plot. This movie was obviously a passion project for McQueen and it was apparently his idea to make it as realistic as possible which meant using very little dialogue in the film and focusing more on the cars. Anyway, eventually, it is a rather intriguing movie but still not really satisfying, to be honest. I mean, it reminds me of what a friend used to say about Formula 1. Basically, the guy used to say that the only exciting things about this sport were the start and when there was a crash and, indeed, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, even if it might be a great challenge for a race driver, remains pretty tedious to behold for the audience. Still, the opening scenes, when you get to see Steve McQueen driving in my hometown, 20 years before I was even living there, were pretty awesome. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing didn’t really work, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are into racing sports. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Natalie Portman, I thought I might as well check her directing debut. Well, even if it was quite ambitious and quite courageous to deliver a movie spoken only in Hebrew, to be honest, the damned thing was not really good, I’m afraid. Indeed, I can imagine that Portman had a personal link with this story but it never grabbed me at all. I mean, the historical background, the start of the Israelian state, was interesting but it didn’t have much impact on the story itself after all. In fact, there was not even a real plot at all and, instead, we followed the life of a family living in Israel back then which wasn't necessarily a bad idea. However, unfortunately, none of these characters was really interesting. And I think that was the biggest mistake made by Portman, to start a directing career with a movie without an actual plot. Indeed, it meant that she was supposed to focus instead on the emotional and psychological turmoil experienced by the characters involved but I’m afraid this challenge was just too big for a first-time director like her. On top of that, it didn’t help that all the characters constantly spoke in riddles which made the whole thing look even more pretentious than it already was. Finally, the story was supposed to be told from the point of view of Amos, the writer of the book this movie was based on, but it was never clear at any moment what the boy might be thinking or feeling. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was quite a misfire, I give it a very few extra points only for its ambition but I hope the next time around Natalie Portman won’t make it so hard for herself and will go for something easier to handle for her and easier to swallow for the viewers. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I used to be a huge fan of Abel Ferrara, I thought I might as well check it out. I say ‘used to’ because I believe that the guy was one of the most fascinating directors in the 90’s but, afterwards, his movies became rather obscure and, to be honest, I didn't see most of them. Anyway, at last, he finally came up with a very interesting project obviously based on the scandal around Dominique Strauss-Kahn who might have assaulted a maid in his hotel room in New York. To be honest, the beginning scenes were rather sordid and you hope that, in real life, it wasn’t so bad but, apparently, Strauss-Kahn was indeed quite a sex-addict. And of course, 3 years after this movie was released, there has been the Harvey Weinstein scandal which displayed that powerful and rich men might become some insane sex craved monsters who, in the process, might completely ignore the consequences for their victims but also for themselves. So, the material was maybe dark and morbid but it did have some potential and it seemed to be a perfect fit for Ferrara who has always been a rather bleak director. And, yet, it seems that the guy did struggle to make it really work though. Indeed, there were some good chunks during which nothing much really happened. Another issue was that the second half was mostly about the relationship between Devereaux and his wife which wasn’t a bad idea. However, for some unknown reasons, both characters kept switching between speaking French and English, sometimes even within the same sentence. It didn’t make much sense since both characters were French and since Jacqueline Bisset speaks French fluently. Anyway, the end-result was just jarring. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was not bad at all and it was pretty neat to see Ferrara delivering a solid directing effort after all these years.