Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even though I used to be a huge fan of Woody Allen's work, I have to admit that I don’t really care much about his movies anymore. I mean, I still check them whenever I have the opportunity but, in my opinion, it has been decades since he has delivered anything really mindblowing. This flick was a perfect example. Indeed, even though it must be one of his most acclaimed recent directing efforts, it turned out to be a decent watch but I thought it was still nothing really amazing after all. I mean, there was a very good cast (Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz), they all delivered some pretty good performances and there was some really good dialogues, especially at the beginning. Unfortunately, even if Allen gave us 4 intriguing characters all involved in some even more intriguing relationships, the whole thing never went anywhere after all. As a matter of fact, at the end, Rebecca Hall’s and Scarlett Johansson’s characters end up basically at the same position they started . Eventually, I really loved the first half and it reminded me of Allen's best work but, while the second half was watchable, it was still rather underwhelming. Anyway, to conclude, even though I think it is actually rather overrated, I have to admit that it was still an entertaining romantic flick and it is definitely worth a look.  

Even though 'One Hour Photo' is pretty much forgotten, I really enjoyed this movie and it is a real shame that he took Mark Romanek 8 years to finally come up with another feature. As a result, I was really to eager to watch this flick. First of all, I was quite impressed by the directing. Indeed, it was really different than his previous movie but it was still quite impressive. Above all, the eerie atmosphere was very well done and I really liked the idea of a SF story set in the past somehow. Furthermore, there was a really good cast (Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins) and they all delivered some solid performances, especially Mulligan who honestly never really impressed me until I saw this flick. The plot was really intriguing and reminded me of 'The Island', the best and most underrated movie directed by Michael Bay, except that Romanek’s movie didn’t have all those unnecessary action scenes. Still, there were a few things that bothered me. First of all, the back and forth by Andrew Garfield between the two girls didn't really convince me. After 10 years, in a very touching scene, Knightley confesses her sins and, suddenly, he gets back with Mulligan. Couldn't he discover earlier, by himself, that he actually loved Mulligan all along? Furthermore, after spending 10 years in the 'real' world, shouldn't they have figured out that the rumors such as the deferrals were fake? Mulligan's character seemed especially way too bright for this. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a very original and fascinating SF feature and it is definitely worth a look.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Jamie Fox, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, even though Jamie Foxx can be pretty funny, I have to admit that he also can be pretty obnoxious. I guess it all depends on the material he is provided with. For example, a few months ago, I saw 'Booty call' which I thought would be really terrible (I mean, what should you expect from a movie with such a lame title?!?) and guess what? I was actually pretty good. Unfortunately, this other movie starring Jamie Foxx was not that good at all. Indeed, even though he really hard and I don't think I should blame him butit's just that the plot was just so pedestrian and predictable. Basically, it was really one of those standards romantic-comedies with a standard plot that I have seen like 100 hundred times before and, as a result, I was just bored during the whole thing. To conclude, I didn't like this flick, I thought it was really boring and not really funny whatsoever and it is honestly not worth a look, even if you are a fan of Jamie Foxx’s work. 

Since I'm a huge fan of Alejandro González Iñárritu, I really had to watch this movie at some point. Well, first of all, I thought it was such a depressing movie... I mean, there was absolutely no joy but only total despair in the life of Uxbal played by the always brilliant Javier Bardem. Still, I must admit that, even though I did enjoyed this movie, it is probably the weakest movie I have seen so far directed by Iñárritu. Maybe it had to with the fact that there was too much material to explore. I mean, they gave us a look on criminal life, homosexuality, marital issues, illegal immigration, bipolarity and even some psychic paranormal stuff. Still, it was far from being a bad movie. Indeed, Iñárritu’s directing was as usual really strong and Bardem's performance was quite impressive. Seriously, the guy definitely carried the whole thing on his shoulders. This movie also reminded me of 'Gomorra', in the sense that they completely removed all the glamour surrounding this kind of criminal life style. Indeed, even though Uxbal seemed to have some contacts with the police and every layers of the criminal system, he didn’t have a fancy car or much money and he even lived in some shitty appartment with his kids. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was not really fascinating, it was still a very well made drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Iñárritu's work.

Following his tremendous critical success, like many other directors before him, Wong Kar Wai finally deciced to make the move to the USA. Unfortunately, even though the damned thing really had some potential, I'm afraid he delivered his least appealing movie so far. I mean, he definitely got a very a nice cast (Norah Jones, Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman) and they all delivered some decent performances. Furthemore, his directing was, as usual, quite gorgeous but, unfortunately, the whole thing still didn't really impress me. Eventually, I think it had to do with the fact that this director has actually a rather artificial approach to direct his movies but, so far, most of them turned to be quite spellbinding to watch so it wasn’t really a big issue. Unfortunately, this time around, it didn’t work very well and it even became bordeline boring to watch. I don’t know, maybe it was because the English language don't fit well with his style or maybe it was because the story was actually rather weak. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still loved the directing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Wong Kar Wai's work.