Reviews by johanlefourbe

It seemed to be a rather obscure picture so I wasn’t really sure what to expect from it but, since it was directed by King Vidor, I thought I might as well check it out. Recently, I have been watching some older movies from the 30’s and 40’s and, back then, the screwball comedies were really popular but, to be honest, I always struggle with this genre. Indeed, most of these movies are just too silly for my taste. Well, this movie was something else and, only therefore, I gave it some extra points. Sure, it was maybe not really ground-breaking and it was pretty obvious that it was adapted from a play but I did like this idea of focusing on the stoop of some average building in Manhattan for about 24 hrs. Indeed, they gave us this way such a convincing and compelling portrayal of the diverse people living in New York with all their different backgrounds, cultures, religions and even prejudices. It also displayed one of the most basic murders I have ever seen but it was actually quite refreshing. Indeed, Hollywood movies, especially thrillers, can be so far-fetched but, in fact, in many cases, women are killed by their jealous husband as it was depicted in this movie. Eventually, in my opinion, the only thing that prevented this movie to become even better was that the acting was most of the time borderline average. It’s too bad because most of the characters felt genuine and were interesting enough and the writing was actually quite solid. At least, it was pretty neat to see once again the lovely Sylvia Sidney, even if I have to admit that I wasn’t really sure if she was actually really better than the rest of the cast. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it turned out to be a really intriguing movie and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to watch something slightly different. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though the material was actually really interesting, I’m afraid that the end-result turned out to be some kind of 3^rd rate copycat of ‘Traffic’. To be honest, I don’t think that Steven Soderbergh’s classic did grow old very well but there is no doubt that it was pretty much a masterpiece compared to this flick. Basically, it was dealing with the opioid scandal, a very topical subject, and I think that each of these 3 entangled tales could have actually worked on their own. However, it seems that combining them turned out to be a mistake since all of these 3 stories were terribly half-baked after all. Concerning the cast, except for Gary Oldman, there were all some B stars at best (Armie Hammer, Evangeline Lilly, Greg Kinnear, Michelle Rodriguez, Luke Evans, Lily-Rose Depp, Kid Cudi, Mia Kirshner) and, to make things worse, they were all weak here. Even Oldman, I know the guy has an impressive reputation and, indeed, he can be pretty awesome, but I also believe that he spent at least half of his career getting involved in such rather worthless productions. The fact that he delivered here a rather poor performance probably didn’t help either. Eventually, it will be mostly remembered as being one of the last movies starring Armie Hammer before he was hit by a sex scandal but, to be honest, I don’t think we will really miss him. Indeed, even though I could imagine a gritty actor playing a really unhinged undercover cop, Hammer was constantly underwhelming and unconvincing here. Anyway, to conclude, even though I actually think it did have some potential, the damned thing turned out to be rather lame and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

I remember it very well, back in 2000, ‘Jackass’ was at the time a big hit on MTV but, to be honest, it seemed to be so stupid so I pretty much boycotted the damned thing back then. Eventually, it took me more than 20 years to finally watch these movies and you might wonder why I changed my mind. Well, the main reason why was because, back in 2022, ‘Jackass Forever’ was actually hailed as one of the best movies of the year by Indiewire, no less than that. This surprising critical praise really intrigued me and I thought I might as well check this franchise after all. Well, after all these years, I have to admit that I actually enjoyed the damned thing and this sequel worked as well. It’s too bad the intro is getting less and less impressive with each installment (seriously, I saw the movie yesterday and I already forgot how they started the damned thing) but I guess they will never manage to top the insane race with a giant shopping cart displayed in the first movie. On the other hand, the conclusion was once again really cool though. In general, they used a lot of slow motion this time around but the effect didn’t feel overused and it worked every time. I also did appreciate the fact that they didn’t shoot anything abroad because I always thought that it was rather cringe-inducing to see them trying to offend people when they had no idea about their culture. Concerning the rest of the movie, there was no skit that really popped out but it was because everything actually worked fairly well. It probably also had to do with the fact that it was already the 3^rd movie I have seen with these guys in a rather short time so I guess I’m getting used to their shenanigans. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing ground-breaking, I have to admit that I enjoyed the damned thing and I think it is worth a look but probably only if you really like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but, since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, the damned thing turned out to be so much worse though. I have to admit that it was only afterwards that I realized that this movie was actually directed by Dennis Dugan, a guy who has spent most of his directing career delivering some dreadful movies starring Adam Sandler. Well, even if it wasn’t his worst movie (pretty much nothing can be worst than ‘Jack and Jill’), it wasn’t far from it though. Basically, it was dealing with a whole bunch of romances intertwined with each other. Sure, there is actually nothing wrong with such a generic concept except that, in this case, everything single of one of these little romantic tales turned out to be so half-baked, rather pathetic but, above all, not entertaining whatsoever. Seriously, even though I have to admit that Maggie Grace was actually quite charming in spite of the rather abysmal material, pretty much nothing worked with this movie though. Concerning the cast, I have become unfortunately used to see Diane Keaton showing up in such lame romantic-comedies recently but this movie was probably the worst of the bunch. To make things worse, she was really weak playing some blind woman but I have to admit that she wasn’t helped by the fact that none of the characters involved in this movie was properly developed whatsoever. On the other hand, I was much more surprised to see Jeremy Irons ending up here. Indeed, even if Irons might not have a perfect track record, he always managed to stay away from such drivel, at least, until now. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was just so lame and even if you have weak spot for the genre like I do, you should definitely avoid it.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Cédric Klapisch, I was quite eager to check it out. I don’t think that Klapisch is well known outside of France but I have been following his career from the very beginning with ‘Le péril jeune’ and I always had a weak spot for his work. Well, this movie was another interesting addition to an already solid filmography. Above all, as long as they simply hung out with these dancers and forgot the plot, it was actually quite fascinating to behold and the dancing scenes were very often spellbinding to behold. Unfortunately, it’s too bad the damned thing turned out to be narratively speaking rather weak after all. What bothered me the most was probably the fact that the main character met a famous choreographer earlier in the movie but then, somehow, she bumped into his dance company in the middle of nowhere in France at this artist residency which was rather ridiculous. I mean, by skipping their first encounter and having her meeting him for the first time in Brittany would have worked so much better. There were also a whole bunch of half-baked and rather unnecessary sub-plots. The one involving her physical therapist falling in love with her was the least problematic. In fact, I have to admit that it was actually almost entertaining thanks to a solid performance by François Civil but it still felt rather useless though. Another thread involving her relationship with her father played by Denis Podalydès was however so generic and a waste of time. Finally, even though Mehdi Baki is a fantastic dancer, I don’t think they ever had a single conversation so it was rather difficult to root for their new romance. Furthermore, she had to be reborn and found some new connection with dancing, that was the whole point of this movie, and I don’t think that she had to also hook up with a new boyfriend and fix up her cold relationship with her father on top of that. 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 matter.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even if it didn’t really work out, it was certainly intriguing to see Schwarzenegger playing in a drama for the very first time in his career. Sure, his performance was maybe not award worthy but it was still a really decent effort though. Eventually, I had more issues with the directing after all. Indeed, even thought the prospect of seeing the Austrian Oak going through such a traumatic experience was more than enough, they felt compelled to add a 2d point of view on this tragedy but I’m afraid this approach did backfire after all. Sure, I will have to admit that there was nothing wrong with the sad story of Jacob Bonanos and Scoot McNairy delivered, as usual, a solid performance. However, if both stories on their own definitely had some potential, combining them certainly deluded their impact. As a result, instead of going deeper into what was really going on with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character because there was simply not enough time, they gave us too many scenes during which the guy seemed to be constipated. It was also weird how the guy at first wanted someone to apologize to him but, from there, actually decided to kill the air traffic controller who was involved. Of course, you could argue that it was what actually happened during the true story on which this movie was based on. The issue was that they spent too much time showing that Roman Melnyk as some middle-mannered man and too much time showing that Jacob Bonanos was probably the least responsible in this tragedy. As a result, this ending felt rather bewildering since it didn’t match at all how these 2 men were portrayed during the whole movie. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it turned out to be a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you want to see Arnold Schwarzenegger doing something completely different for once.