Reviews by johanlefourbe

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.

It has been ages since I saw a movie directed by Jacques Tati (the guy made only 5 movies though) but since this movie has a really solid reputation, I was quite eager to check it out. I remember the first time I saw a Tati movie, I think it was ‘Jour de fête’, it must have been more than 20 years ago. Well, after hearing so many great things about his work, I have to admit that I was actually slightly disappointed. Eventually, it’s something that took me a while to understand, the fact that Tati’s movies are actually much deeper than your usual vintage silent comedies and it was eventually even more obvious with this movie. To be honest, I’m hardly surprised that this movie was a commercial and critical flop when it was released. Indeed, there was definitely something unique about this movie and, if you have any understanding of movies in general, you can’t deny that it was the work of a true artist. The attention to the details was quite impressive and, eventually, you have to figure out on your own what Tati was trying to achieve here. The one thing that struck me the most was when you get to see some advertisement showing London with a skyscraper and, then, a few seconds later, you basically got exactly the same landscape in Paris and it’s a feeling that I had so many times while I used to travel as much as possible. And, yet, even though I really admired the work done, I’m afraid it was still too random for me though. It’s not that I did mind the fact there was no real plot but there was also no real dialogues or even a main character. Indeed, even Mr Hulot only showed up and disappeared completely at random through the whole thing so there was not much for the audience to really hang on to. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn’t completely sold, it was still a really original and intriguing movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Jacques Tati’s work.

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. I wonder what was the meaning of this beautiful title but you won’t get any answer after watching this flick. Anyway, even though the end-result was definitely half-baked, I still think it was a really strong story. Of course, there was the issue of casting Adrien Brody and Salma Hayek to play some Iranian characters, even though Hayek does have some Lebanese roots. Above all, beside this dubious casting, both actors didn’t deliver some strong performances here but they were not helped by the approach chosen with this material. Indeed, at some point, Isaac got arrested and it was as if the whole movie stood still for way too long after that. Basically, they gave us a seemingly endless back-and-forth between Isaac getting tortured and Farnez worrying about him and not much else. In fact, the most interesting thing was not the relationship between Isaac and his wife but between Farnez and Habibeh, her servant. Indeed, instead of showing the Iran revolution being led by some religious fanatics, they gave a different point of view showing that the social inequalities in this country also played a role. As a result, I was quite surprised that, according to this movie, the main motivation behind the Iranian revolution was actually maybe not religion but financial discrepancies between rich and poor in Iran. Unfortunately, this angle was never properly handled which really felt like a wasted opportunity. Instead, they kept hammering the fact that the Western Capitalist way of life is apparently the answer to all problems which is definitely not the case. Indeed, our way of life only seems to be the least of all evils and all alternative lifestyles are simply not tolerated. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in this subject.