Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I’m a big fan of Asghar Farhadi’s work, I was quite eager to see this movie, especially since it was another critical success. Well, once again, I wasn’t disappointed, that’s for sure. Indeed, Farhadi delivered another fascinating humanistic tale and the end-result was once again quite spellbinding to behold. In fact, the story itself which was based on something that apparently really happened in Iran was not the most interesting aspect in this movie. As usual with this director, what was mostly interesting was the attention and depth he gave to the characters, especially the main character. Indeed, the guy was quite charismatic with his gentle smile but, fortunately, he turned out to be so much more complex than just a pretty face. Indeed, at first, you obviously root for the guy but, eventually, even if he was never really dishonest, he was never completely honest either. I mean, what if these gold coins would have been enough to cover his debt? What if his debtor would have accepted the 70.000 tomans and let him pay the rest over time? In these cases, it would have been really doubtful that he would have given them back to their rightful owner. There was also the fact that he got into an ugly fight with Bahram which displayed how flawed and also self-centered he was. But, on the other hand, are you sure you would handle much better such a situation? Indeed, with almost all conflicts, we are all always convinced that we are doing the ‘right’ thing at least for our own benefit but, as displayed in this movie, what is right and what is wrong is highly subjective. Eventually, you get such a mirror effect and it made me reflect on my own life wondering if I really did act the right way during such major conflicts. Anyway, to conclude, it turned out to be a really strong drama and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Asghar Farhadi’s work. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that I barely remembered ‘A Dog's Purpose’ but, apparently, it didn’t impress me at all when I saw it. Eventually, within a few mins, I was reminded that it was actually dealing with a dog who seemingly keeps getting endlessly reincarnated. Of course, it is really far-fetched and how much you will enjoy this movie and its predecessor will depend on how much you can swallow this idea. However, for some reason, I actually enjoyed it more this time around though even if most of the movie still didn’t really work. For example, did the chronology really make sense? I mean, CJ was a baby when Bailey was an old dog, then he came back many years later as Molly and spent maybe 7 years with CJ before tragically dying. After that, the dog came back as Big Dog and died of old age but, how old was CJ then? It means that, with the final reincarnation as Max, she was well into her 30’s and, yet, she never had performed on stage yet? Anyway, in spite of all these flaws, I have to admit that the last 30 mins were actually quite heartbreaking. Indeed, when Dennis Quaid’s character finally meet again Max and instantly knew that it was still the same dog he used to have when he was a kid in ‘A Dog's Purpose’, I have to admit that I was on the verge of tears. Anyway, to conclude, I think I might have been too generous with my rating here but I guess it is still worth a look but probably only if you really like the genre.  

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but since it seems to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, to be honest, I have to admit that I didn't remember at all this terrorist attack in Mumbai back in 2008. I guess it has to do with the fact that such horrific terrorist attacks occur on such a regular basis that, at some point, it becomes hard to keep track of all of them. Anyway, it was definitely a nightmare for all the people involved, that’s for sure, and this frightening mood was something that the makers really nailed here. Basically, I was on the edge of my seat through the whole duration which is something you might expect from your average horror flick, except that here, it really did happen which made the whole thing even more horrifying to watch. I also really appreciate the way they developed all the characters. Even the terrorists were given enough attention, as they were displayed as rather simple (not one of them could speak English apparently), poor, with apparently no perspectives and, yet, they had feelings and even made some jokes during this bloodbath. I have to admit that I was slightly worried when I saw Armie Hammer as I thought he might be playing the heroic white guy who will save the day for everyone. Fortunately, it wasn’t the case and he turned out to be just another guest like everyone else. Eventually, these events became famous because of the courageous behavior of the staff and they handled this very well by not focusing on one individual in specific but several of them. On the other hand, it was rather shocking to see how long it took for the special forces to finally get there but, with an hostage situation like this one, it is always tricky to handle fast. Anyway, to conclude, I have admit that I was actually rather impressed by the damned thing and I think it is definitely worth a look.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, to be honest, I have actually very little knowledge about (American) football so I have to admit that I had no idea who Kurt Warner was before watching this movie but I think this lack of knowledge actually allowed me to enjoy more this movie. Anyway, it was definitely an inspiring story, no doubt about it, and it is basically the dream of any young boy (or girl) who ever played any sport. For the NFL, it was and still is pretty much pure gold and they couldn’t have asked for some better PR campaign. Concerning Kurt Warner’s private life, even though Anna Paquin gave a solid performance, it was nothing really fascinating. However, I have to admit that it was rather heartbreaking to see him bonding with these kids so well probably because I recently met a great woman recently but our relationship stranded because it didn’t work out at all with her children, in spite of all my efforts. Concerning Kurt Warner’s football career, well, sure, it was actually quite predictable but I still think it was entertaining. On top of that, it is still so impressive how the guy went from being a supermarket employee to become NFL MVP and win the Super Bowl in his very first year in the NFL when he actually started out on the bench. Concerning Zachary Levi, I have nothing against the guy, I guess he wasn’t bad here but there was nothing really memorable about his performance though. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing groundbreaking whatsoever, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I have finally started to dig into Buster Keaton’s work only recently but, since then, I have seen my share of movies starring the classic comedian and, by now, I think I have a good understanding of his work. Before watching this short, I have to admit that I was actually slightly worried that I had seen actually too many shorts by Keaton at this point to really care anymore. However, I was actually pleasantly surprised by this movie after all, in fact, I would go even further than that. Indeed, I'm pretty sure it actually turned out to be the best short feature I have seen starring Buster Keaton that I have seen so far. Sure, the story was maybe nothing really groundbreaking but the damned thing was just so entertaining. Indeed, most of the jokes were actually quite hilarious which I should have been expecting from this master. I was also so impressed by the acrobatic stunts the guy pulled in this movie. Indeed, the cool things with his movies is that, while watching them, you actually know there was no CGI available and barely any special effects either so everything happening was actually physically done by the actors. For example, there was this scene during which 3 actors (including Buster Keaton himself of course) were on top of each other, these guys were basically running back and forth between two buildings, the whole thing looked so insane and I was basically gobsmacked. Anyway, to conclude, I really enjoyed this short and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. As usual, I didn’t know anything about this movie before watching it and, for some reason, I thought it would be a decent romantic-comedy that I could watch with my (now ex-)wife. Well, it was probably a good thing that I eventually watched this movie on my own after all since it turned out to be a really raunchy R rated comedy. Indeed, they basically took the concept of ‘American Pie’ and swapped the gender of the main character which wasn’t necessarily a bad idea. Unfortunately, I don’t care about most of these movies because the end-result is usually that such raunchy comedies focusing on women can be just as lame as the usual raunchy comedies with male characters. Well, this movie was not an exception, I’m afraid. Sure, there was a pretty cool cast involved and it was above all really neat that Aubrey Plaza was playing the lead for once. Still, I thought it was rather annoying that all the characters who were playing some teenagers were 7 or 8 years too old, even if it was apparently done on purpose for this movie. However, a bigger issue was the fact that most of the jokes were hardly funny and even more problematic was that the tone felt sometimes rather misguided. The concept was basically to have this girl finally discover her sexuality which was intriguing and even supported by her best friends. However, her experiments went pretty far and it was rather weird, even borderline unsettling, that really no one told her how f*cked-up it actually was. I mean, sure, it was a good thing to show some parents being considerate about the sexual life of their kids and that they had a good talk about it but to give them some lubricant before they have sex for the 1^st time? Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing had some potential, I didn’t care much about it after all and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Jacques Audiard, I was quite eager to check it out. The first thing I enjoyed with this movie was that it was so different then Audiard’s previous work and the fact that his work is so versatile is probably one of the main reasons why he has become one of the most interesting French directors that emerged during the last 20 years. Even the black-and-white photography which can be a fancy useless gimmick was pretty neat here. Indeed, it was quite beautiful and it gave the whole thing a classy look. On top of that, it did match my feeling about Paris which is, in spite of its romantic reputation, a rather grey place in my opinion. Concerning the content itself, well, even though it was also interesting, it never really reached the level of Audiard’s best work though. Eventually, I think the main issue was with the 3 main characters involved. Indeed, they were all intriguing enough but never really fascinating after all. Especially Émilie Wong, she was such an annoying egocentric woman, a fact which was actually pointed out by her own sister. And, yet, I have to admit that there was something really genuine about this girl and she was a good reminder of all these frustrating years when I was living in France and I desperately tried to start a relationship which such neurotic girls. No wonder I left the country when I was 20 years old and never looked back again but that’s a different story. For the rest, the movie was a combination of good ideas and some really half-baked ones. For example, the ending during which 2 really random couples were formed didn’t really work. Anyway, to conclude, even if it turned out to be a minor effort, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Jacques Audiard’s work.

Recently, I have been focusing on older movies and this one is one of the oldest I have seen so far. In fact, I think it must be the oldest documentary I have ever seen. Sure, I saw ‘Life of an American Fireman’ not long ago which was even older but so much of it was obviously staged, I’m not sure if you should really consider it as a documentary. However, in this case, you really fell like you have been dropped in a factory more than hundred years ago and, as far as I was concerned, for some reason, I thought it was quite mesmerizing to watch somehow. Indeed, you get to see the industrial revolution in its full glory and I thought it was quite interesting to see, in spite of all these fancy steam machines, how much people were still needed at the time to do some repetitive (and seemingly really boring) manual labor. Of course, at the time, nobody had any issue to have some kids involved as well. The main critic about this movie was the fact that a biscuit factory was extremely dull to watch but, while I would have to agree, I actually did appreciate that they focused on such a basic and decidedly not fancy establishment as you got a good taste of what it must have been for the folks doing this kind of jobs at the time. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really mind-blowing, I think it was actually pretty neat and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in film history.