Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this rather obscure feature but since I have a weak spot for Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing. First of all, this movie was another example that a random chronology must be one of the of the most annoying gimmicks because it is very often used only to make a story look more complicated that it actually is. In this case,  during the first half, I was really wondering where the story was getting at with these jumps back-and-forth but, at the mid-point, it finally became crystal clear what the hell was going on. Basically, it was about an attractive but really neurotic woman who married a rich but boring man and fell in love with a pretty but also really shallow fellow. Seriously, that’s all it was and, even though Rachel Weisz was very nice to look at and gave another strong performance, I never felt sorry for this woman at all. As pointed out by Freddie, the character played by Tom Hiddleston, it seemed that she married with the first guy who proposed to her and fell in love with the first guy who gave her a little bit of attention.  It is pretty obvious that the makers were inspired by some vintage British classics, especially 'Brief Encouter', but this movie never reached that level. At least, it was visually pretty neat and the actors involved were pretty good but I’m afraid the whole thing didn’t really work for me.

Well, this movie would be one of the rare occasions that Adam Sandler would try something else than his usual (really lame) comedies. And, as usual, every time the guy goes out of his comfort zone, it turned out to be a flop at the box-office. To be honest, I thought it was not so bad after all. I mean, it perhaps had to do with the fact that, by now, I have watched so much garbage coming from this actor so I have learned to drastically lower my expectations concerning his work but I thought the damned thing was actually watchable. Sure, it was still pretty weak and the plot was just terribly generic and predictable but there were a couple of decent ideas here and there. Indeed, in my opinion, even though Sandler played his usual moron, there was something actually interesting about this loser 'gangster' without any friend who would become best pal only with an undercover cop. Seriously, if they would have played it more straight and not as such a goofy comedy, it could have worked. Anyway, since this movie was a failure, Sandler  would then mostly focus the rest of his career making other and other again some really stupid comedies involving some really stupid characters and, surprisingly, he got away with it for so many years becoming, until recently, one of the most successful comedian actors working in the US.

Last year, my sister bought me a DVD box-set of the complete work of Xavier Dolan, I had the opportunity to watch all his movies in chronological order and I came to the conclusion that the guy really deserved his stellar reputation. With this in mind, I was really eager to see what he will do next, even if this last movie was apparently not a critical success like his previous directing efforts. Well, eventually, this movie really did hit me like a truck. Indeed, my own life was just so similar to what was going on with the main character, it was just uncanny. Basically, more than 12 years ago, I left France to go living in the Netherlands where my father was born and raised and I usually go only once a year back to France to see my parent, my brother and my sister so I pretty much knew what the guy was going through. The big difference is that I still go there every year which means that, when I get there, everybody including myself is really nice to each other and it gives us an excuse to avoid all the painful questions and subjects that we should be actually talking about. In fact, at first, I thought that Louis was living abroad which would explain why he would never see his family but he was in fact living in Paris so the guy didn't really have an excuse to leave everyone just like this. Anyway, it wasn't a big deal as the rest was pretty much pitch-perfect with an all-star French cast. Indeed, from the moment Louis gets inside, all hell breaks loose, you understand right away why the guy decided to take off without looking back and this situation was just so damned recognizable. I can understand that many viewers would find these characters borderline unwatchable, especially Antoine played by Vincent Cassel who was at the top of his game but, in my opinion, it was one of the best depictions of a dysfunctional family I have ever seen. Anyway, to conclude, once again Xavier Dolan really blew me away, I thought it was really a strong drama and it is definitely worth a look. 

When I first heard about this movie, I thought it sounded really intriguing. I mean, come on, Arnaud Desplechin directing an English speaking feature starring a great actor like Benicio Del Toro? There was definitely some potential for something awesome. Eventually, it was released at the Cannes Film Festival but it didn't make much waves after all but I was still eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, even if it turned out to be a decent watch, I can't say it really blew me away though. I don't blame Desplechin, Del Toro and Mathieu Amalric as they all did a fine job and the story, combining psychology, anthropology and Indian culture, was really interesting but the whole thing never really grabbed me. The other thing that didn't work was the dubious background of Georges Devereux. It was something that kept coming from time to time but it was never properly developed and it turned out to be more distracting than anything else. Indeed, these two men had a connection and the troubled mind of Jimmy Picard was more than enough to be dealt with. Anyway, to conclude, even if this movie was in my opinion a failed experiment for the French director, it was not bad at all and I still think it is worth a look. 

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I had it on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. Well, this movie definitely has a lame reputation and you could say that David Fincher's directing career had a rather rough start. Indeed, his first gig was to make a sequel after the massive classics directed respectively by Ridley Scott and James Cameron but the end-result was not well received due above all to a really messy constantly changing script. Fincher himself eventually disowned the film, citing constant studio interference and, apparently, he wasn't even involved in the editing. Well, even though it might be surprising, I actually liked this flick. Of course, it was nothing really amazing but I really liked the dark mood and it was visually pretty neat. In my opinion, the main issue concerning all the sequels in this franchise, even 'Aliens', was in fact that they were all basically some kind of reboot of the first movie. Indeed, the story is actually always the same: Ripley ends up somewhere being chased by some aliens, that's it. What remains is the personal touch brought by the director and Sigourney Weaver's awesome charisma. So, even though this flick didn't get much love, I still like it even though it is indeed rather messed up.

Since this movie has always been considered as a timeless classic, I was really eager to check it out. Well, eventually, I wasn't disappointed and the damned thing completely deserved its stellar reputation. Still, there was one thing that did prevent this movie from being completely amazing though. Indeed, I thought it was rather far-fetched that a big star like Margo Channing would hire such a total stranger to be her assistant just like that. I mean, it's not as if the girl was starving or living under a bridge. Fortunately, this small issue wasn't a deal breaker, not at all, and the rest of the movie was pretty much flawless. Indeed, I just loved the introduction, how all the characters were in fact rather messed up and the whole thing gave a dark and fascinating look on the acting world. It shows how at least half of this world is in fact really superficial and hard work and talent won't be apparently enough, you would need to be also ruthlessly ambitious to succceed. Concerning Bette Davis,  I have to confess that I haven't seen so much of her work so far but she was definitely impressive in this movie. To conclude, it is a great classic, I really loved the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since 'Paris, je t'aime' turned out to be pretty neat, I was quite eager to check this follow-up. Well, even though New York was a great choice, to be honest, I thought the whole thing turned out to be actually rather underwhelming. First of all, I really liked the structure used in 'Paris, je t'aime' with some clear segments taking place in some specific parts of the famous city but, here, everything was mixed up and the end-result was as a result much weaker. However, the biggest problem was that, except for the segments directed by Yvan Attal, Allen Hughes and Joshua Marston which were pretty good, everything else was neither really entertaining or interesting. The best example would be the part directed by Shekhar Kapur (in fact, it was supposed to be directed by Anthony Minghella but the guy passed away just before the shooting). Indeed, it was much more ambitious than the rest of the movie, it looked really good, the acting by Julie Christie and Shia LaBeouf was fine and, yet, it felt actually rather pretentious and the whole thing just didn't work. I was also surprised that no really famous American directors such as Woody Allen or Martin Scorse who made some of their most famous movies in New York were actually involved in this project. Instead, you get some directors like Brett Rattner and still some decent directors but their link with this city was not really obvious. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

It's only recently that I came across this movie and I was rather impressed by its rating on IMDb (7.6) so I was quite eager to check it out. Well, eventually, it turned out to be one of these hyperlink movies but while I used to love this genre (Alejandro González Iñárritu for example made a couple of great movies using this method), I'm afraid that the gimmick has become terribly overused nowadays. Still, I have to admit that this movie was easily one of the best hyperlink features I have seen in a very long time. Indeed, all the tales involved were actually pretty strong which is something quite rare. Unfortunately, it was also the main problem with this movie, each of the story was so good and interesting that they could have easily made a whole movie focusing on only one of these tales and the end-result would have worked even better. It didn't help that all the stories were only loosely connected with each other. Eventually, the most effective storyline was the one involving the journalist and the webcam boy and I was above all impressed by Max Thieriot who was at the same time charismatic but also terribly confused and vulnerable. I can imagine that they could have delivered a terrific movie by focusing only on this story. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn't completely win me over, it was still pretty good and I think it is definitely worth a look.

Not so long ago, I saw 'Foxcatcher' and I know it might seem weird to watch so soon after this documentary. The point is that, even if I did like 'Foxcatcher', it didn't completely blow me away and, above all, it bothered me that the whole thing remained so dammed ambiguous. As a result, I was quite eager to learn more about this really weird but also fascinating story. Well, I thought that this documentary was slightly better but only slightly and I think that both movies are worth a look eventually. The first weird thing about this movie was that Mark Schultz, who was also member of the Foxcatcher wrestling team and a major character  in 'Foxcatcher' was never mentioned or interviewed for this movie. My guess is that the guy, for some reason, didn't want to get involved with this project. On the other hand, you get to learn more about his brother, David Schultz, who was not only one of the best American wrestlers but also a very nice guy and one of the very few people who actually seemed to care about John Du Pont which made his fate even more heartbreaking. To conclude, I thought it was a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you want to learn more about this subject.