Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Orlando Bloom and Forest Whitaker, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, it turned out to be actually better than I expected, except for a rather disappointing 3rd act. Indeed, you don't see so many movies taking place in South Africa and this country with its notorious violent background and history was the perfect place for a modern thriller like this one. Of course, you might argue that they could have picked up some South African actors to play the leads but Bloom and Whitaker were convincing enough, at least, considering my lack of knowledge of this country. Furthermore, there were probably too many characters and half-baked subplots but most of it was entertaining and interesting enough. Indeed, there was a pretty neat balance between realism and some good old fashioned thriller gimmicks. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, the 3rd act turned out to be pretty weak and almost ruined everything else. Indeed, from the moment they pretty much managed to solve this case, the whole thing completely switched to auto-pilot and the end-result was the usual preposterous scenes that you get in any other generic thriller. Anyway, even though it didn't completely work, I thought it was still 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 movie but since it did win the Golden Calf for the best Dutch movie of the year, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that I had actually no idea what the damned thing was about and it was pretty tough to watch again another movie about human trafficking just a day after watching 'The Whistleblower' which was also dealing with the same subject. This movie was eventually a cruel reminder that many girls behind these red windows in the Netherlands are actually victims of human trafficking. I mean, sure, prostitution is still not legal in the Netherlands but, since it is tolerated, shouldn't there be some strict controls about who is sitting behind these windows? Or maybe it is easier said than done and these girls are just too afraid to talk to the police. Anyway, I still feel ashamed that, when I was younger, I went a couple of times to the Red Light District in Amsterdam with some buddies just to have some fun watching these girls. Sure, at the time, I was naive enough to think that most of them were willingly doing this job but it was still a shitty thing to do. Anyway, coming back to our main feature,  even though it was better than your average Dutch production, it still didn't really convince me though. I mean, I used to love the hyperlink thing when it was something new, creative and interesting but, by now, it has become a seriously overused gimmick and this movie was a good example, I'm afraid. The tricky thing with a hyperlink feature is that you have to make sure each single tale is properly developed but, in this case, most of them felt rather half-baked. It could have worked if they focused only on Jenya and Yaya but the other stories didn't work very well, especially the one involving a Swedish conductor which had really nothing to do with the rest of the movie and this tale was just so poorly linked with the rest of the movie. Anyway, to conclude,  in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I guess it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Rachel Weisz, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, I can't remember the last time I saw this actress playing the lead, she's just too good to play only supporting parts and, in this movie, she delivered another strong performance. Concerning the movie itself, to be honest, it took me a while to get into the damned thing. First of all, the title, while accurate,  was seriously misguided as it was such a massive spoiler. Then, I wonder if it was really how Kathryn Bolkovac ended up in Bosnia because it wasn't really convincing and, if it was made up, I wish they came up with something better than that. I mean, to get closer to her daughter, she decides to take a 6 months contract on the other side of the world. I'm sorry, it didn't get the logic here. Anyway, fortunately, the rest of the movie, especially the story, was quite fascinating and also terribly shocking. I wonder if this scandal has ever been covered in the news but, anyway, even if the whole thing was not the best directing job I have ever seen, they told a very important story here. The scariest part is that such awful abuses are probably happening right now in Afghanistan and Iraq and, only therefore, this movie is definitely worth a look because, at least, you should be aware of this issue.

Since this movie had a really impressive reputation, I was really eager to watch the damned thing. Eventually, even though it didn't turn out to be one of the best movies I have seen, it was still really strong. What I loved the most was how it started as a really realistic look on how a TV network works and it was easily one of the best, or maybe the very best depiction of this world I have seen so far, but it became so much more. Indeed, they went so much further than that and, slowly, it became something rather insane. The chilling and at the same time fascinating thing was that all the crazy stuff while it was becoming more and more preposterous by the minute still felt possible somehow and it is considered by many as a prophetic movie. Eventually, the only thing that didn't really work for was the love story involving Diana and Max. I mean, I don't blame Faye Runaway and William Holden, they were both pretty much pitch-perfect, but it was rather unbelievable that these two characters would extend their romantic relationship beyond their first one-night stand. Basically, they got involved only so the writer could give Max a nice juicy speech towards the end. Still, the material was just so dense and fascinating, it gave an amazing reflection on how most people of my generation have grown up in front of their TV sets and how we have been shaped by this medium. Anyway, it is a classic and it is definitely worth a look.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Emmanuelle Béart, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though it could have been an epic romantic drama, it didn't really work, I'm afraid. Even though I expected it to be an adaptation from a book, it was actually an original screenplay which was rather surprising. Indeed, while watching the damned thing, I very often had the feeling that they had cut out some bits which would have been better developed in a book. It was also a mistake to go for such a short running time (only 100 minutes) when they had so much to cover in time and space and I'm pretty sure it would have worked much better if they had expand it to at least 3 hours. Eventually, even though Emmanuelle Béart was as usual so gorgeous to look at, it was really difficult to understand her behavior since there was no room to develop her character and, as a result, it was rather impossible to root for this girl. It was the same thing with Daniel Auteuil's character and even though they both did what they could, they were not helped by this material. Anyway, to conclude, even though the damned thing had some potential, I had a hard time to really care for this story but I guess it is still worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Since this movie was rather well received, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, at first, I was worried that Julie Delpy would go a for a weaker copy of the 'Before ...' trilogy and the rather poor introduction only increased this feeling. However, as soon as they sat at the dinner table with her parents, it turned out to be something really different and I was completely sold. It basically had to do with my background. Indeed, I'm French and I have been living in the Netherlands for about 15 years and I have been married for 10 years to a Dutch woman. Every year, we would go to see my family in France and, of course, most of them don't speak Dutch or English and my wife doesn't speak French and, I can tell you, the constant look of bewilderment delivered Adam Goldberg was just really familiar, pitch-perfect and rather priceless. Furthermore, Delpy managed to avoid the usual annoying romanticized look of Paris that we usually get and she gave something much more realistic and interesting. Unfortunately, even though the whole thing was very often hilarious, she went so far in making her characters flawed that it became rather difficult to care for them and the 3rd act turned out to be too random, so neurotic and, above all, not so much fun anymore. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a really solid romantic drama comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Chris Evans and Michelle Monaghan, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though Chris Evans was not bad at all and even though he had some pretty good chemistry with Monaghan, I still didn't care much  about the damned thing. I mean, sure, I have to admit that there were some good moments but most of it was just boring and generic. The biggest mistake they made was that they went for something slightly  meta by making some almost constant remarks about the rom-com genre. Well, it is a trick that almost never works, especially in this case when half of the movie was filled with some typical clichés from the genre. The group of friends was also seriously tedious and they should have kept only Topher Grace's character who was not bad and more than enough. It's too bad because Chris Evans definitely has some potential and he deserved something better than such a generic and predictable feature. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, it was still rather weak and I don't think it is worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of the genre. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though it was a very well made drama, especially visually speaking, with some really solid performances, I still had a hard time to really care about this story. I mean, Fassbender and Vikander had a very nice chemistry and they made a great couple together (it's not surprising that they have been together ever since they shot this movie) but, obviously, when you have already a perfect couple after only 20 minutes, you can be sure that it won't stay that way for very long. And, indeed, everything seemed to be ruined by a couple of miscarriages but, then, they miraculously find a baby on the shore so you might think that they will eventually get a break. Of course not. I mean, not only it was all rather predictable but it was also borderline mean-spirited. Basically, they gave us a very sweet couple who had to face some major tragedies and the only reason why was that there wouldn't be otherwise any juicy story to tell. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a solid drama and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

What the hell happened to Abel Ferrara? Back in the 90's, he was easily one of my favorite directors but it has been almost 20 years since he has released anything remotely interesting. Anyway, I was still eager to check this movie since it was his directing debut but, to be honest, it wasn't really good, I'm afraid. In fact, it was pretty much the worst movie I have seen from this director so far (I also didn't like 'Body Snatchers' but I saw it decades ago and I should check it out again at some point). Basically, it was some indie feature directed on a shoe-string budget and even though you have some other directors like David Lynch, Christopher Nolan or Kevin Smith who managed to deliver something amazing with some similar circumstances, unfortunately, Abel Ferrara gave us something terribly disjointed and messy. On top of that, it was also seriously pretentious. I mean, Ferrara gave himself the lead character who turned out to be a great misunderstood painter with not one but two hot girlfriends. At some point, somehow, the guy became a psychopath for no obvious reason and, as a result, half of the movie was also a really half-baked horror film. Anyway, to conclude, this movie was clearly a warm-up for Ferrara who had to play around before becoming a really solid director and I don't think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of this director.