Reviews by johanlefourbe

Back in the 90's, Woody Allen was one of my favorite directors and I have watched more of his movies than any other director (already 37 films!). But honestly, even if I keep watching his features from time to time when I have the opportunity, I can’t say I'm still a big fan of his work anymore. Seriously, in my opinion, it has been many years since he actually directed a really good movie and this movie was not an exception, I’m afraid. I mean, it wasn’t a bad movie at all, the directing was actually pretty good and so were the two lead actors but the story was just rather weak. Basically, it was some kind of light version of ‘Match Point’, which was maybe a critical hit but I though it was actually rather overrated. The plot also reminded me of the last masterpiece directed by Sidney Lumet, 'Before the Devil knows you're dead', but 'Before...' was actually way more convincing. Finally, I couldn’t help wondering why on Earth the whole thing had to take place in England?!? I'm pretty sure it would have been better if it took place in New York. Anyway, to conclude, it was not completely terrible and I think it is actually worth a look but we were far from the golden years of Woody Allen's masterful career with this flick. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but I always had a weak spot for Renny Harlin’s work, I thought I might as well check it out. I know, Harlin is far from being a great director but many of his movies often fall in the category ‘guilty pleasure’. Well, this movie was actually a typical effort from the Finnish director. Indeed, this concept of ‘cleaner’ as a profession was pretty awesome and that there was definitely some potential to deliver at least a decent thriller. And, indeed, the beginning was promising with a nice mood and it was pretty neat to have Samuel L. Jackson playing the lead for once. Unfortunately, after a while, the story became rather weak and I kind of lost interesting in the whole thing as it became a rather average and predictable thriller. It is something rather usual with this director, even though he often manages to come up with some interesting ideas, he fails to properly develop these ideas and his movies almost always end being rather lazy and even cheap. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I though it was a decent watch though and I think it is still worth a look. 

Seriously, I still have a hard time to believe that Adam McKay has just won the Academy Award for Best Writing for ‘The Big Short’ and his movie was even very close to win also the Best Picture Academy Award (eventually, I thought it was a decent watch but not much more than that, to be honest).  Before this massive critical success, the guy had only directed some raunchy comedies starring Will Ferrell like this one. To be honest, even though this movie was a step-down from ‘Talladega Nights’, it was actually slightly better than I expected. Indeed, the beginning was actually quite all right and the material was in fact  interesting. Hell, even,  the jokes were actually pretty funny. Unfortunately, rather quickly, the whole thing completely lost focus and, from this point,  this feature was only about some rather tasteless jokes, most of the time involving both leads shouting insults at each other. Later on, Will Ferrel  and Adam McKay would work again together on ‘The Other Guys’ but even though it sounded promising, I thought it was really disappointing and in fact weaker than this movie. Anyway, to conclude, I think it’s too bad because, with such a concept, it could have been way funnier but I still think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Seriously, this story had some great potential and I just loved the material. Indeed, I always find it more interesting when a movie would focus on smart people  instead of your usual attractive people. At first, when watching this flick, it reminded me of ‘The Social Network’. Basically, this movie is what  ‘The Social Network’ would have looked if another less gifted director would have directed it. Indeed, unfortunately, even though it was based on a really fascinating story, the end result was just rather average. Basically, the whole thing was just really predictable and full of clichés and the dialogues were rather lame. Eventually, the big difference between ‘The Social Network’ and this movie was that while the movie directed by David Fincher  was really deep and thoughtfull, this movie was however just a piece of fluffy entertainment. Concerning Kate Bosworth, this movie would be her first and last high-profile production she would make following the failure of ‘Superman Returns’ and, since then, she would be only seen in some really obscure (and usually not really interesting) movies. It’s too bad because she seemed to have a bright career ahead of her when she started. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, it was not bad and it is indeed even rather entertaining but it was just really forgettable and it could have been so much better.

I already saw this movie but since it was such a long time ago, I was really eager to check it out again. In fact, I did see this flick in the movie theater when it was released almost 20 years  ago and, at the time, it was a massive critical success so I had some rather high expectations. I don’t know, maybe I was too young but, at the time, even though I did like it, I can't say I thought it was great like everyone seemed to think. Indeed, I thought it was a little bit frustrating and I wish this couple would just kiss each other and move on with their life instead of remaining stuck for some rather obscure reasons. And, yet, after re-watching the damned thing, I have to admit that I was really impressed this time around. To be honest, I was still not really fascinated by the story but the whole thing looked just so amazing, it is easily Wong Kar-Wai's best directing effort and I would go further and I argue that it is one of the most gorgeous movies ever made. Anyway, to conclude, I'm really glad I gave this movie a 2nd chance, I now really love the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Wong  Kar-Wai's work.