Reviews by johanlefourbe

This is a rather weird movie. Indeed, I had actually never heard about the damned thing and,  if I recall it correctly,  I bumped into it when I was at my local DVD renting shop (yes, back then, we didn’t illegally download movies, we used to rent them…). Basically, it was a rather obscure US indie feature starring somehow an all-star French cast (Gérard Depardieu, Johnny Hallyday, Renaud, Saïd Taghmaoui, Richard Bohringer). Of course, you probably don’t know Johnny Hallyday and Renaud but, in France, they are some of the most famous singers out there and, so, to see them together in an American movie like this one was rather surreal. Especially for Renaud, this movie was only the 2^nd he made, 10 years after ‘Germinal’, and I wonder how they managed to convince him to get involved in this project. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I have to admit it, it was nothing really amazing but I thought it was still fairly entertaining. Indeed, it was just so much fun to see all these actors together (they even managed to have Havey Keitel as well!) and some of the jokes were actually pretty funny. To conclude, even though I might be generous with my rating here, I though it was a decent watch and I think it is worth a look. 

To be honest, it is a rather obscure film and I ended up watching it because it was on TV so I thought I might as well check it out.  Above all, I decided to see it because the lovely Emmanuelle Béart was involved. I’m not sure if Béart is really famous abroad, probably not, but she has been on the A list in France for maybe 30 years.  Anyway, a year before this movie, she gave her breakthrough performance in ‘Manon des sources’, pretty much a classic in France. Surprisingly, she didn’t wait much longer and she went already the next year in the US to launch her international career which might have sounded like a great idea except that she picked a terrible movie for her first role in an English-language motion picture. Basically, it is one of these romantic-comedies with a fantastic angle and I think you could compare it to ‘Splash’, except that they switched a mermaid for an angel. I mean, right from there, it was already a lame concept but, on top of that, it was just so poorly developed. Concerning Béart, I have to admit it, she was really charming but she seemed to be totally lost and seriously wasted in this movie. To conclude, the whole thing was a big waste of time and it is not worth a look whatsoever. 

[Link removed - login to see]Éric Rohmer that I had the pleasure to see. I must have been 16 years old, I saw it in the movie theater and I thought it was one of the most charming movies I ever saw. To be honest, I don’t think that this tale or those character were really amazing but I was quite impressed by Rohmer’s sober and natural directing style and all the actors involved delivered some solid performances. Basically, when I saw this movie, I was quite young and since it was about a young man falling in love with 3 different girls, it was really easy for me to connect with this guy. At the end of the day, since it was dealing with some summer flings, it was rather frivolous but there was still something quite mesmerizing about the damned thing. Eventually, I would also see the follow-up ‘Conte d’automne’ in the movie theater but even though it was also a decent watch, I really preferred this movie though. Unfortunately, after all these years, I have still not watched the 2 first installments in this cycle which is quite a shame. Anyway, to conclude, it is actually one of my favorite romantic features and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Éric Rohmer’s work. 

To be honest , it has been a while since I have seen this movie. Indeed, back in the 90’s, I discovered François Truffaut’s work and I managed to watch 2/3 of his movies. Anyway, this movie was not one of my his  acclaimed ones, it apparently didn’t get much love when it was released, but Truffaut really loved the damned thing. Eventually, it was not really the most accessible movie directed by the French master but I really liked the mood and there was definitely something quite mesmerizing about it. The most interesting thing about this movie, in my opinion, was to see Jean-Pierre Léaud finally dropping the Antoine Doinel character who was fascinating, one of the most interesting characters delivered by the French cinéma, but it was really time for something new for this talented character, especially with this director. Eventually, the main issue, I guess, is that even though this romantic triangle was interesting, it never really blew me away either and I always find it rather difficult to really care about the so-called ‘difficult’ love life of the upper-class in such period pieces. Still, to conclude, even though it was maybe not a masterpiece, it was still a fine romantic feature and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in François Truffaut’s work. 

This movie was not really a priority for me but since it was soon to be removed from HBO, I thought I might as well check it out. After directing quite a few blockbusters with some various end-results, Jon Favreau decided to go for something smaller this time. Well, it turned out to be a fine watch, in fact, it was easily one of the best movies I have seen about a chef and his restaurant. Indeed, the food was really gorgeous to look at, I don’t think I have ever seen anything like this before (maybe in ‘Yin shi nan nu’ but it was ages ago since I saw it) and the cooking process has never been displayed better than in this movie. I think my favorite moment was actually when he prepared the grilled cheese sandwich for his kid. It had totally nothing to do with the actual story but it looked just so awesome. Furthermore, I really liked this main character, Jon Favreau gave himself a very nice role and I believe he gave here the best performance of his career. Unfortunately, pretty much everything else in the movie was not really impressive, I’m afraid. Indeed, the story was really pedestrian and generic. I mean, it is the second movie in a row in which I saw a bogus family drama with the main character being divorced (FYI, I saw ‘San Andreas’ yesterday). Why does all these guys always have to be divorced? It is just a cheap way to add some fake conflict to a story. The other thing that disappointed me was the fact that, even though the whole thing was about the main character getting a food truck, he actually drops it at the end to work again in a regular restaurant. Then, finally, the last thing that bothered me is that, except for the main character, all the other characters were rather poorly developed and some of them, like Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr. and Dustin Hoffman should have been provided more screen-time or removed completely. To conclude, even though it didn’t completely work, I thought it was still a decent feelgood feature and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I remember it very well when this movie was released in France. Indeed, it became a massive cult-classic and I can’t say how many people I heard saying that they loved the damned thing. To be honest, at the time, I was just about 14 years old and even though I was well aware about Les Nuls (a very famous group of comedians in France at the time), I wasn’t really familiar with their work. Indeed, back then, there was no Youtube and they were working for Canal+ which was, and still is, an encrypted channel. Anyway, since I kept hearing some great things, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, eventually, I thought it was a decent watch but, to be honest, it didn’t really blow me away. Basically, it is a ridiculous and absurd comedy with some over-the-top jokes coming at you every 30 seconds. Eventually, if you really love the genre, then you will have a blast watching this, otherwise, it might be rather borderline cringe-inducing. Well, in my case, I thought it was fairly entertaining but also seriously moronic and I don’t believe that a movie can be great when it is based on so much stupidity. Anyway, to conclude, even though I think it is slightly overrated, it is still definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French comedies. 

I remember it very well, the very first movie directed by Éric Rohmer that I had the pleasure to see was ‘Conte d’été’. Indeed, I must have been 16 years old, I saw it in the movie theater and I thought it was one of the most charming movies I ever saw. With this in mind, I was really eager to see this follow-up which would be the finally chapter in this cycle directed by Rohmer (after all these years, I have still not watched the 2 first installments which is quite a shame). Eventually, even I thought it was pretty good, I still enjoyed more ‘Conte d’été’. I mean, Rohmer brought back his typical sober and natural directing style and all the actors delivered some solid performances but I cared slightly less for the characters this time. Basically, when I saw these movies, I was around 16-18 years old, and ‘Conte d’été’ was about a young man falling in love with 3 different girls and it was really easy for me to connect with this guy. With this movie, Rohmer was mostly focusing on some women in their 40’s and, while it was interesting, it was not as mesmerizing as the teenage romances displayed in ‘Conte d’été’. To conclude, even though it didn’t completely blow me away, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Éric Rohmer’s work. 

This movie was not really a priority for me but since it was soon to be removed from HBO, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, I thought it was not bad at all. Indeed, I thought it was a rather well made and really spectacular disaster feature. Furthermore, once again, Dwayne Johnson displayed that he is probably the most dependable action movie star in the world. Concerning Alexandra Daddario, she might have been slightly too old to play Dwayne Johnson’s daughter and she was so gorgeous that it was almost distracting but I’m not sure if it was actually a real issue.  Concerning the story,  usually,  with this genre, they show the mayhem from various point of views by providing many characters with their own sub-plot but, here, surprisingly, they decided to focus only on one family instead. It actually worked fairly well, even if it was rather difficult to believe that a rescue pilot would be alone in this helicopter and would be allowed to use his helicopter to rescue his own family during such a major disaster instead of doing his actual job. What bothered me even more was the fact that the main character was divorced. Indeed, this family drama was just seriously generic and pedestrian and it didn’t add much to the whole thing. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it was a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.