Reviews by johanlefourbe

After watching ‘White Bird in a Blizzard’ (which was pretty good) and ‘Smiley Face’ (which was pretty lame), I was quite eager to check the feature that Gregg Araki did direct between these 2 movies. Well, I really liked the way it started and the damned thing had seriously some potential. Indeed, it was one of the best depictions of college life I have seen in a very long time. Furthermore, I loved Araki’s approach towards sexuality which was basically that almost no one is actually totally gay or hetero. Eventually, even though the characters were really promiscuous, it was never displayed as something really depraved or depressing like it was in ‘The Rules of Attraction’ for example and this approach was really refreshing. Unfortunately, even though this material was really interesting and more than enough to deliver a strong movie, for some reasons, Gregg Araki thought it would be a good idea to add a really misguided plot about some conspiracy involving an apocalyptic cult with some paranormal gifts. Seriously, it was so weak, so half-baked, it felt as if Araki had watched ‘Donnie Darko’ too many times and thought he could pull something similar but the end-result was just rather pathetic. It’s too bad because everything else in this movie was actually really solid. Anyway, to conclude, even though this movie didn’t really work, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you are interested in Gregg Araki’s work. 

I’m well aware that the Duplass brothers are the leaders of the mumblecore genre but I haven’t seen much of their work so far and since I didn’t care much for this movie, I’m not sure if I will make much of an effort to check the rest of their work.  To be honest, I’m not really sure what the mumblecore genre is/was about but this movie was basically another quirky indie comedy which is something I have come to dread more and more recently. In this case, it was made even worse by the fact that the main characters were both some really pathetic losers. In fact, even the sub-plot involving Susan Sarandon didn’t really work. First of all, Sarandon was just miscast here. Indeed, to play a lonely woman craving for attention, they shouldn’t have cast one of the most charismatic woman in this age group. Furthermore, imagine if Sarandon’s character would have been a heterosexual man receiving some flirtatious messages from another male colleague? It would have been rather cringe-inducing and shows how misguided the whole thing was.  And, yet, there were some nice scenes here and there. For example, the scene when they crashed the Porsche was just priceless. Furthermore, all the actors involved (Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon) delivered some solid performances. To conclude, even though it didn’t really work for me, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch after all and I guess it is worth a look but only if you like the genre. 

It’s only after watching about 10 movies directed by Jean-Luc Godard that I came to the conclusion that I’m actually not a huge fan of his work. Indeed, many years ago, I saw and really loved ‘A bout de souffle’ which is still one of my all-time favorie movies but everything else I have seen from this director didn’t really impress me after all and this movie was not different, I’m afraid. I mean, I do admire how the guy rejected most of the traditional rules involved in movie making, basically creating his own experimental style, but, in my opinion, the end-result was maybe artistic but also seriously random. At least, Anna Karina was once again so charismatic and it was rather funny that between ‘Une femme est une femme’ (the first movie she made with Godard) and this feature made 5 years later, she almost completely lost her accent when speaking French. There were also some pretty neat cameos from Marianne Faithfull, another Japanese singer called Kyôko Kosaka and, of course, the always awesome Jean-Pierre Léaud. Anyway, to conclude, even though I had a hard time to really care for the damned thing, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Godard’s work.   

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick and since there was a really neat cast involved, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, it seems that this movie belongs to this sub-genre of the failed military mission based on some true events (the most famous one  in this genre must be ‘Black Hawk Down’).  In this case, the whole thing turned out to be some kind of mix between ‘300’ and ‘American Sniper’ and, while I did like ‘300’, I can’t say I really cared much about ‘American Sniper’  which must be one of the most overrated movies released recently but, all in all, this movie was not bad at all. To be honest, when they started the movie with some documentary footage of some actual SEALS training, I have to admit that I had some doubts. Indeed, it seemed rather disrespectful to compare some actual soldiers with some actors who would only pretend to be involved in some combat situations. However, it did make sense after all because, thanks to this introduction, you could understand that those guys have received some  of the most difficult training ever conceived in order to survive such difficult, even impossible, combat situations. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn’t really blow me away, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

In fact, I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I had it on DVD, I thought I might as well check it out again. First of all, I have to admit that I always had a weak spot for the first installment but, unfortunately, this sequel turned out to be slightly disappointing. I mean, it was still fairly entertaining and it was pretty neat to see Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones back in action but I really had a hard time to care about what was going on this time around. On top of that, not only the plot was just terribly generic but they spent maybe at least half of the running time trying to fix the biggest mistake made in the previous movie. Indeed, even though 'Men In Black' clearly had some franchise potential, the makers decided for some reason, at the end, to retire K. It turned out to be a huge mistake since he was not only one of the best characters in this movie but also clearly vital for this concept. As a result, they had to find a way to bring him back but it was never really convincing or really entertaining either. Anyway, even though it turned out to be the weakest installment in this franchise, I have to admit that it was still watchable and  it is worth a look though, especially if you like the genre.