Reviews by johanlefourbe

Not so long ago, I have seen ‘Villa Amalia’ also directed by Benoit Jacquot and starring Isabelle Huppert and even though it was really obscure and rather flawed, it was still an intriguing drama. It is only later on that I discovered that I also saw this movie which Jacquot and Huppert made together a decade earlier. Well, I thought this movie was quite brilliant and, in my opinion, it is one of those many lost gems coming from the motherland. Indeed, basically, it is a rather typical French drama dealing with some rather messed up and conflicted romance. You either love or loathe the genre but I always had a weak spot for it and this one was quite fascinating to behold. As usual, Isabelle Huppert was quite impressive and she had a very good chemistry with Vincent Martinez (yes, he is the little brother of Olivier Martinez who is above all famous for his romances with Halle Berry, Kylie Minogue, Juliette Binoche, Mira Sorvino and even maybe with Angelina Jolie). Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I always had a weak spot for such doomed and unhealthy relationships and I thought this one was quite mesmerizing. To conclude, even though this flick is pretty obscure, I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, eventually, I wasn’t disappointed and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Honestly, it was nothing really amazing but it was still nonetheless a really refreshing comedy served by a great cast  (Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith and many others). Not long ago, I actually watched ‘Amour’, one of the best dramas I have seen lately, and I couldn't help thinking that, even though the senior population is growing exponentially in the Western countries, there are only a few movies focusing on them so it was a real joy to see such a delightful comedy about this forgotten section of our population. The concept was also pretty intriguing. Indeed, instead of spending the end of your life in a dreary retirement home in England, France or in the Netherlands, why shouldn’t we go to a fancy hotel in India with the same amount of money and much more stimulation? With this in mind, I didn’t care much about the struggle of Dev Patel to manage to run the hotel, it was a rather tedious sub-plot and it would have worked better if it would have been a decent but healthy establishment and therefore, focusing the plot on those elderly British citizens. Still, to conclude, even though it was not really a masterpiece, it remains a really nice comedy and it is definitely worth a look.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for John Malkovich, I was quite eager to check it out. Later on, I discovered that it was one of Roger Ebert’s favorite movies (indeed, according to him, it was one of the best movies ever made) and, even though I wasn’t completely blown away like him, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The point is that Tom Ripley is one really fascinating character and I have enjoyed all the movies involving this guy (with the exception of ‘Der amerikanische Freund’ but I should check this movie again at some point). The overlooked ‘Ripley Under Ground’ was also a pretty good gem. Malkovich had a slightly different approach than Matt Damon in ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ but his take was really good and made the movie quite entertaining to watch. Eventually, the main issue I had is that while I was really impressed by John Malkovich, the plot wasn’t really amazing and the other characters were not really interesting in my opinion. To conclude, even though it is a really obscure feature and in spite of its flaws, I think it is a really good thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Tom Ripley’s movies.

I already saw this movie but, only a few days ago, I also did rewatch 'Charlie's Angels' so I thought I might as well check out again this movie as well. Well, even though the first installment turned out to be slightly better than I remembered, this sequel was still pretty much an unwatchable mess, I'm afraid. The best example would be the opening scene. Basically, they were doing fine up until they managed to jump start an helicopter in free fall. Sure, it might sound cool described like this but the scene just looked awful and, above all, it wasn't entertaining whatsoever. And that's basically how the rest of the movie played out, time and time again, they pushed it too far and the end-result looked actually more pathetic than thrilling. Except for Bill Murray who decided to sit this one out, pretty much everyone involved in the previous movie returned so you even had the Thin Man player by Crispin Glover but it didn't make sense at all. And you had a whole bunch of actors and celebrities showing up for no good reason whatsoever. At least, these 3 ladies (Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu) again really seemed to have fun while doing this. For Demi Moore, it was only her 2nd movie in 7 years and I thought she was actually a good choice for this part. Eventually, the most frustrating thing for me about this flick was probably the fact that McG managed to make this sequel while he wasn’t able to make one after ‘Terminator Salvation’. I mean, of course, ‘Terminator Salvation’ was rather disappointing but there was some great potential to create a terminator story in the future and they could have developed this with some future sequels. However, even for this franchise, they were planning a 3rd and a 4th installment but they were cancelled after this sequel failed at the box-office. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was indeed pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Honestly, I didn’t care much for the first installment (I mean, come on, it must be one of the worst titles ever conceived) but, somehow, I still ended up watching this sequel. The thing is, pretty much like its predecessor, it wasn’t really good whatsoever and terribly cheesy but there were still some redeeming features. Basically, those 4 girls were actually quite interesting and most of what they were going through was not really far-fetched at all so, in contrary to many romantic-comedies and it was therefore actually possible to relate with them. It was also quite refreshing that they added some tension between them, I mean, there was no major arguments or break-outs, but still some disagreements and it made their relationships even more genuine. So, after all, the whole thing had once again some potential but it’s just too bad that the execution was so cheesy. I mean, right from the introduction with the voice-over, I was rolling my eyes in disbelief. In my opinion, those characters were actually interesting enough without adding all these annoying effects and it actually kind of ruined the whole thing for me. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really awful, it was still pretty damned average and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you love the genre.

Not so long ago, I have seen ‘Walk Hard : The Dewey Cox Story’ which was basically a spoof of your usual music biopic features and even though I thought it was rather rather disappointing, at least, it was miles better than this other spoof. This time, it was a parody of the many famous sport features we have all seen through the years and, honestly, the end-result was just terribly lame. I must confess, I’m not a huge fan of the genre, which is probably why I had such a hard time to care about ‘Walk Hard…’but this flick must be one of the worst I have seen in this genre. I mean, I’m glad for David Koechner that he finally managed to be the lead for once and he did the best he could with this material but it wasn’t enough I’m afraid. Actually, I was above all curious about this flick because Bradley Cooper had a small part in it and his turn was seriously pathetic. Back in those days, Cooper was still unknown playing some similar small characters in comedies like ‘Wedding Crashers’, ‘Failure to launch’, ‘The Rocker’, ‘Yes Man’ and it is hard to believe that 7 years later he would become one of the most interesting actors at work. Anyway, to conclude, this flick is pretty bad and it is definitely not worth a look, even if you like the genre.

It had been a while since I saw a movie directed by Claire Denis so I was quite eager to check this flick and the fact that it got some pretty good reviews made this movie ever more intriguing. 20 years after her directing debut ‘Chocolat’, Denis was again making a movie in Africa, a place where she grew up. Well, as usual with Claire Denis, the whole thing was pretty opaque which was at the same time a curse and a blessing. Indeed, on one hand, her directing style makes the whole thing quite mesmerizing to watch but, on the other hand, very often I wasn’t sure where she was getting at and the fact that you never really get to know the characters didn’t help either. Still, you really get a feeling of the place and it makes sense that the viewer is confused while watching this because it is a rather disorienting environment. Of course, Isabelle Huppert was quite impressive and she really managed to give multiple layers to her character with a very few words. It was also quite refreshing to see Christopher Lambert in a decent movie for a change (honestly, I think it was the first movie in 2 decades in which he showed up which was actually worth my time). To conclude, even though it didn’t really blow me away, it remains an intriguing drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick. Indeed, Meg Ryan and Timothy Huston are some of the biggest has-beens in Hollywood but, still, since I always had a weak spot for Meg Ryan, I thought I might as well give it at try. Well, unfortunately, I have to admit it, this flick was as underwhelming as the rest of Ryan’s work during the last decade (this movie was actually Ryan’s last movie and she hasn’t done anything much since it was released in 2009). I mean, basically, the whole thing works almost like a play, it takes place mostly in one single house, and Hutton and Ryan are basically on their own during the whole thing with some guest appearances by Kristen Bell and Justin Long. There was nothing wrong with the set-up but it was tricky and to make it work, they needed some great characters and/or some great actors and it was here not the case, I’m afraid. Honestly, I’m not sure what was the biggest issue, the characters of the actors themselves, but there was one sure thing is that it was quite cringe-inducing to behold. To conclude, the whole thing was not completely worthless but the concept was poorly developed. Actually, it had some potential and there was a nice ambiguity with the very last scene but, still, the whole thing was still very weak and it is not really worth a look.

Since I’m a huge fan of Andrew Niccol’s work (both ‘Gattaca’ and ‘The Truman Show’ are among my all time favorites, ‘Lord of War’ is a great underrated gem and even I enjoyed ‘S1mone’), I was really eager to check this flick. At last, after 6 long years, he was finally coming up with a new directing effort and my expectations were pretty high. Unfortunately, it turned out to be his weakest work so far, I’m afraid. I mean, it wasn’t bad at all, in fact, he came once again with a really fascinating futuristic concept, it’s just too bad the plot was actually rather weak. Indeed, I especially enjoyed the fact that they explained the whole concept within a few minutes and then moved on with the actual story and, until the casino scene, the whole thing was going fine, but, from then on, it became a rather tedious non-stop chase with a dash of ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ on top of that. To make a thriller was fine to me, I mean, ‘Gattaca’ was after all also a thriller, but the major difference is that it was also very contemplative in the sense that it gave the time to the characters and the viewers to think about all the consequences and the impact of such a strange way of life. Here, the characters were barely developed and the cast (Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Alex Pettyfer) didn’t manage to give some life to them. The only actor who stood out was Cillian Murphy, though he did look at least 10 years older than 25 but nevermind. He was the only one who managed to give his character a certain amount of intensity, even though his bad guy was as much underdeveloped as the rest. Basically, the whole thing felt like a missed opportunity but I still think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Even though I have watched many times the Spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood when I was a kid with my dad, I discovered his Dirty Harry flicks much later on in my life. Eventually, even though I still prefer his Westerns, I still enjoyed his famous cop features as well. The interesting thing with this franchise is that the sequels were actually pretty decent and this one was not an exception. Indeed, it was the only installment directed by Eastwood himself and it was actually a box-office success becoming the highest-grossing of the Dirty Harry film series. Back then, Eastwood was still credible in this kind of characters and was, of course, a total bad-ass (as a matter of fact, the famous catchphrase "Go ahead, make my day" came from this installment). You could argue that the plot was nothing really amazing or original but I thought it was pretty entertaining and I had a good time watching this flick. An interesting point is that the ‘villain’ in this case for once was a woman played by Sondra Locke who was Clint Eastwood longtime girlfriend at the time. To conclude, I thought it was a decent sequel and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.