Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I heard some really good things about this film, I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, even though it might be a rather straightforward biopic, I really liked this movie a lot above all because it was a dealing with such a fascinating character. I mean, of course, we will never know for sure, maybe the guy was actually a major douchebag but there is no doubt that he was just brilliant, probably one of the greatest human minds that ever lived. I mean, not only the guy had pretty much single-handedly stopped WWII, the biggest war of all time, but he also invented the concept of computers, probably the biggest invention of the 20th century. Thanks to this movie, you get a glimpse of what this man could have been and I thought he was just fascinating, thanks to a really good performance by Benedict Cumberbatch. Unfortunately, not only was Alan Turing a great genius, but also really autistic but worse, even homosexual so, obviously, it was a little too much to handle for the British society and they pretty much killed one of the greatest geniuses that ever lived. Anyway, to conclude, I thought it was quite spellbinding and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by this subject.

I actually saw this movie in the movie theater (back then I was living in England if I recall correctly) and, to be honest, I wonder how I ended up watching this flick at the time. Anyway, since it release, this movie has pretty much reached a cult-status and it is even considered by many as one of the best British features ever made. Personally, I always had some mixed feelings about the whole thing. I mean, Jonathan Glazer, with this directing debut, definitely had a very nice visual style (I just loved the introduction), there was a very good cast (Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, Ian McShane) and especially Ben Kingsley gave one of his best performances playing a really messed up gangster. On top of that, the dialogues full of profanity were pretty awesome. And, yet, I thought the plot, while being quite entertaining, was in fact rather pedestrian. I mean, basically, it is an entertainining but still rather straightforward heist, no more and no less than that. To conclude, even though I’m not really sure if it is such a masterpiece, it is still a very well made and entertaining flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

2011 was, in my opinion, one of the most disappointing years in cinema and, fortunately, after watching many and many movies released that year, it is reassuring that I still manage to find (still very rarely though) a decent feature released at the time. Anyway, this movie was definitely one of these fine exceptions. Since it sounded pretty good, I was quite eager to check it out and, for once, I wasn't disappointed. Indeed, it is a really solid and satisfaying mix of comedy and drama. To be honest, not everything did work. For example, Bryce Dallas Howard's character was just terribly annoying. I mean, I don't think we should blame Howard, she was just as charming as usual, it's just the way this girl reacted was so predictable, it was just a drag everytime she was involved and it was just a relief when he finally got rid off her. Concerning Anna Kendrick, I'm still not sure. I mean, she gave a fine performance but it is as if the main character absolutely needed another love interest, some kind of substitute for the other bitch when it was clear that the movie was actually about something else. Indeed, it was above all about the bromance between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen and that worked like a charm thanks to some really strong performances by those 2 guys. To conclude, I really liked this movie and I think it is definitely worth a look.

I already saw this movie but since it was such a long time ago, I was quite eager to watch it again. In fact, I remember it quite well, at the time of its release, there was quite some buzz about this flick. Indeed, 5 years after ‘L’amant’, Jean-Jacques Annaud was finally coming up with a new prestigious international production and the expectations were rather high. On top of that, it was starring Brad Pitt, already one of the biggest stars in the world, so there was a fair chance it would be a critical and/or commercial hit. Eventually, even though some people really loved it, most viewers thought (me included) that it was a decent drama but not much more than that though. Indeed, even though it was a great story, it didn't turn out to be a great movie though. First of all, back then, this movie was one of Brad Pitt's first attempts to be taken seriously but even though he really looked the part, his performance was actually rather weak and he would need at least another decade to finally own his current status. Concerning the rest of the movie, it was visually pretty neat but it was a mistake to turn this story into an anti-Chinese pamphlet when it should have been more about the spiritual journey of a cocky selfish world class climber becoming a more thoughtful man. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still an interesting story and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but, since it was a while back and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out again. Well, after all these years, I have to admit that it is not so bad at all and there is no doubt that Al Pacino gave here a really strong performance. Still, to give him the Academy Award for the Best Actor was such a lame way to make amends after snubbing him 4 years in a row in the 70’s when he was really at the top of his game (Indeed, back then, he was nominated but didn't win for ‘The Godfather’, ‘Serpico’, ‘The Godfather: Part II’ and ‘Dog Day Afternoon’). Concerning Chris O'Donnell, back then, he was considered as the next-best-thing, at the same level as Leonardo DiCaprio, but his career turned out to be only decent at best after all. Anyway, coming back on the movie itself, even though I have to admit that it was entertaining, the damned thing was too long though. Furthermore, the characters didn't really work in my opinion. I mean, Pacino did a such a great job that he delivered the most charismatic blind man that ever lived but I think it did backfire because he was actually so much more attractive and interesting than most average guys that actually can see. As a result, it is pretty obvious that he could seduce so many women if he wanted to so his depressive state was never really convincing to me. Concerning O'Donnell, sure he was playing a decent kid with a heart gold but I had a hard time to root for this guy who was basically an uncharismatic whiner. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have to admit that it is still decent drama though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Al Pacino’s work.

To be honest, I found most of the Dutch movies rather disappointing but since this one had some pretty good ratings and was rather well received in the Netherlands, I thought I should check it out. At first, I really had a hard time to get into it and I thought the whole thing was going to be terrible. Indeed, Dutch humor can be sometimes rather dubious and I thought that all these characters, supposedly funny, were just pathetic and really obnoxious. And, yet, slowly, it started to win me over. Indeed, the cast with the always dependable Frank Lammers was actually pretty good and when they stopped focusing on those stupid jokes about the Dutch lower working class, spending more time on their background and their life, it became much more dramatic but it was much more compelling to behold. Towards the end, I was almost ready to give it a positive rating but the damage done during the first half was just too big. On top of that, the question remains if a guy suffering of terminal cancer would be able to run a full marathon like this but, with all movies, you need some suspension of disbelief. To conclude, even though I first thought it would be a total disaster, it turned out to be a decent watch and I think it is worth a look.

Honestly, it is a real obscure flick, in fact, I was the very first listal user to rate this movie. And, yet, for some reasons, if I recall it correctly, I still ended up watching it in the movie theater when it was released. Anyway, even though it was not really original, I thought it was a very bleak and quite depressing depiction about some junkies in Paris but it was very realistic and still compelling to watch. Indeed, even though I always enjoyed ‘Trainspotting’, I always thought that Renton and his buddies seemed to have way too much fun considering their life style. Here, there is no fun whatsoever, only despair and suffering and after ‘Christiane F. ‘ and ‘Requiem for a dream’, it must be one of the darkest movies dealing with addiction I have ever seen. Seriously, I saw this flick years ago and I’m still haunted by the whole thing. Concerning Julie Gayet, a couple of years ago, she made some headlines in France because she was having an affair with the French president, François Hollande, but I thought that she gave a really solid performance here. To conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, I thought it was a decent drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Even though it is a rather obscure feature, since there was a nice cast, I was still eager to check it out. Eventually, I thought it was a fairly realistic and interesting film dealing with the current economic crisis but, to be honest, I thought the whole thing was actually quite depressing. Probably, it had to with the fact that I was myself fired about a year ago (in fact, not even because of the crisis but that's another story) and like the guys in this movie, without a real warning, they gave me 4 months of full salary before showing me the door. With a chronicly sick wife at home, I didn't wait for something great to come out like Ben Affleck's character, within a few days, I managed to find something for much less money, kept endlessly looking for something better and after 6 months of stress and anxiety, I finally managed to find a really good job, with the same salary I used to have and I have been working there happily ever since. So, the whole thing came pretty close to me so I had a hard time to enjoy this movie. On top of that, it was another example of how capitalism, especially in the USA, is such an unhealthy way of making a living and actually an unhealthy way of living at all. I mean, there is obviously some wealth, some talented people, some good products and services to sell and, yet, they stubbornly focus on the short term targets, making some insane amount of money, and the waste as a result is just gigantic. So, all these ideas were actually pretty well developed here but it was just quite depressing to get a reminder and, on top of that, the upbeat ending didn’t match the rest of the movie and it felt like something coming from a fairy tale. Still, in spite of its flaws, it was a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look.

I already saw this movie in the movie theater when it was released but, since it was such a long time ago, I was quite eager to check it out again. In fact, I remember it very well, when it was released, it was a critical success and even won the prestigious Golden Palm at the Cannes Film festival. With this in mind, I had some rather high expectations but, to be honest, even though I did like it, I can’t say I was really blown away by the whole thing back then. Maybe I was too young at the time (I must have been 16-17 years old) and I probably missed the subtlety which has always been a trademark in Mike Leigh’s work. Well, I’m really glad I gave it a second chance after all these years because, this time around, I really loved the damned thing. Indeed, it is actually a really complex movie about some really average people and I think that’s probably what slightly bothered me the first time, the fact that there was nothing really exceptional about the characters involved. However, if you look more closely, you can see that their emotions go so deep, it is pretty much like diving into the human soul while none of the characters really tell what they think or what they feel, except maybe Maurice towards the end. I also thought that the damned thing was brilliantly written (when in fact most of it was actually improvised). For example, you can imagine that, in a Hollywood production, Hortense would have discovered that she had been adopted when she was going through her mother’s things but, no, she already knew since she was a little girl. And of course, the whole cast was pretty much pitch-perfect. Anyway, to conclude, even though it might still not be my favorite movie directed by Mike Leigh, this movie is actually pretty great and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.