Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since this movie was Noah Baumbach's directing debut, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, even though it was a decent watch, I can't say it really blew me away though. First of all, even though I have spent 4 years in college and therefore should have been able to relate easily with what these characters were going through, I didn't share this fascination about this time period in my life. I don't know, maybe it is because the Americans are so frustrated and inhibited and it 's only when they go to college that they finally start to experiment and discover what life could have to offer to them which might explain why, for many of them, college was just so damned amazing. Coming to our main feature, to make things worse, I really struggled to care about the characters involved. I mean, sure, they were fairly smart and well spoken but their conversations were rather boring which was made worse by the fact that they were also so pretentious, like most students around this age. At least, I have to admit it, the whole thing felt really genuine and realistic. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn't really work for me, it was still not bad at all and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Noah Baumbach's work. 

Even though I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie, since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, unfortunately, it turned out to be another generic and boring Jason Statham action flick. What bothered me the most was how poorly written the damned thing was. Seriously, what was Sylvester Stallone thinking? First of all, even though you get to see some great landscape of Louisiana, most of the locals were displayed as some ignorant white-trash which was borderline offensive. Then, if the undercover cop wanted to lay low, why did he stay in Louisiana? Then, it was also rather ridiculous that the guy would keep some classified files in his basement. Concerning the cast, I was rather bewildered by the fact that James Franco would show up in something like that, especially to play such a boring meth-cooking loser. Concerning Jason Statham, well, at this point, I'm not sure if you can still call him an actor since he plays every single character always the same way. The only difference here was that he was wearing a pet the whole duration. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing turned out to be seriously weak and I don't think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Jason Statham's work.

When I heard that Steven Soderbergh was going to release another movie only 4 years after announcing his retirement, I was both pleased but also rather annoyed. I mean, why didn't he just say that he was taking a break from directing instead ? Anyway, eventually, even though this movie did receive some solid reviews, it didn't make much waves at the box-office after all but I still wanted to check it out anyway. Well, all in all, even though it was nothing really groundbreaking, it was still pretty entertaining. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for the heist genre and this one turned out to be pretty neat. As usual, Soderbergh had a solid cast at his disposal and they obviously all had some fun with the material. Still, even though it was a decent story, it was nothing really amazing though. I mean, the main thing that bothered me, beside the fact that their plan was just so flawless and ran so smoothly, was how did Jimmy Logan come up with all this? Furthermore, they didn't really explain why he took all these risks. Maybe because life hadn't been kind so far with the Logans so they had to take their revenge somehow? Anyway, to conclude, even if it was no masterpiece whatsoever, I had a good time watching this movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Steven Soderbergh's work.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since it has a solid reputation and since I try to watch all the Disney animated classics, I still wanted to check it out. Well, even though it was certainly not bad at all, I still didn't care much for the damned thing, I'm afraid. Basically, the main issue I had was that, even as a kid, I never really understood the appeal of Winnie the Pooh and it certainly didn't change when I became a grown-up. Furthermore, is it me or are they constantly recycling the same stories and ideas with these characters? Anyway, basically, there was a very specific target audience for this movie, the kids between 3 and 7 years old, but I can't imagine anyone older really having a blast with this. Still, at least, the animation was really neat and it shows that Disney should focus more on hand-drawn animation since they are such masters in this art and leave the CGI animation to Pixar. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn't really work for me, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you want to entertain some very young kids. 

Since I really liked the original version and since this movie really had a solid reputation as well, I was quite eager to check it out. In fact, the first version I saw was the 3rd one directed by Abel Ferrara but, to be honest, at the time, I thought it was really weak but since Roger Ebert apparently really liked it maybe I should check it out again. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, from the 4 different movies they made out of his story, it was my favorite one and it is one of the very few remakes which was at least as good as its predecessor was. I mean, to be honest, it wasn't such a massive improvement on the first version from the 50's, it was actually a really faithful remake but the main reason I preferred this movie was because they went for a much bleaker ending this time around. It was also pretty neat to see Donald Sutherland playing the lead for once and it was really refreshing to see a lead character who did look like a normal person and not like a model. Concerning the story itself, it was still quite creepy and effective but, to be honest, it is still a B feature after all but it must be one of the best in this genre. Anyway, even if I wasn't completely blown away, it was still a solid horror feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Even though the DCEU movies didn't get much love so far, except for 'Wonder Woman', I was still  eager to check this flick. Well, it was not bad at all after all. Eventually, even though it might be unfair, the main problem was that Marvel has set the expectations so high following the huge critical and commercial success of 'The Avengers'. I mean, this movie did work but it still never reached the level of the classic delivered by Marvel. Even with Barry Allen and the Flash who was your average wise-cracking teenager, Marvel already used the same trick with Peter Parker with some tremendous result. Still, the Justice League is a great team of super-heroes, the cast was really spot on and it was pretty neat to see how they managed to bring all these characters together. Still, even though there was quite some material to cover with all these characters, it was rather bewildering that they delivered the shortest movie so far in the DCEU, all because the previous movies were considered to be too long. Considering Steppenwolf, he was yet another powerful being who wanted to destroy our world which was seriously generic and I didn't care much for him. To be honest, even though I will probably be in the minority, I actually preferred 'Man of Steel' and 'Batman v Superman'. Obviously, these movies were not great but I really liked the darker approach if only because DC was at least trying to do its own thing. Now, this darker tone is gone and even though it might please more people, they gave us something too similar to Marvel which is too bad in my opinion. Anyway, to conclude, it was still a decent effort from DC, even if there is plenty of room to improve, and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Audrey Tautou, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, even though the damned thing was sold as another whimsical romantic-comedy starring Audrey Tautou, especially after the huge success of 'Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain', it turned out to be something completely different after all. To make it even more confusing, the first act was indeed a romantic-comedy but, at some point, they went all the way back to the beginning and they retold the story as some kind of psychological thriller but they still managed to keep the whimsical soundtrack somehow. Well, this mix was quite audacious, that's for sure, and it is only in French movies that you would find such a twisted love story. Still, did it really work? I'm not so sure. Indeed, it is always tricky to handle such a rather dark subject like deep mental illness so lightly and I wonder if I wouldn't have enjoyed it more without the romantic-comedy angle. Furthermore, as the makers wanted to keep the viewers as long as possible in the dark, you never get the opportunity to understand Angélique and, as a result, it was rather difficult to really care for her. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but I was really eager to watch it for quite some time, mostly because it was Will Smith's feature film debut. Eventually, Smith had a rather small part but the rest of the cast was actually pretty impressive  (Dermot Mulroney, Lara Flynn Boyle, Sean Astin, Balthazar Getty, Ricki Lake, Kyle MacLachlan, Alyssa Milano, David Arquette, Laura San Giacomo, Christian Slater, Robert Knepper). Concerning the movie itself, it was actually not bad and it gave an interesting look on how it could be to live as runaway homeless kid in the streets of Hollywood. However, even if the subject was terribly dark, the way it was handled, even though they really tried, it still felt as if they too much glossed over this subject. Indeed, all these kids, except maybe for Sean Austin, looked much too good after spending days and nights in the street, they looked also really too well fed and healthy for this kind of lifestyle. Furthermore, even though it must be a terrible difficult and sad way of living, they seemed to be doing OK, considering the circumstances. Finally, the whole interview concept was just pointless, it didn't add anything to the story and could have been easily removed. Still, it is not very often that you get to see a movie about this subject and at least half of it was actually quite realistic and interesting. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look.

To be honest, I wasn't really expecting much from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. I have to admit it, I haven't seen 'Deep Throat' which seemed to be like an interesting watch since it had such a huge cultural impact but, from what I gathered from this movie, is that it was actually rather lame, pretty much like most porn flicks. Coming back to our main feature, well, it wasn't really good, I'm afraid. First of all, the whole thing had a rather odd structure. Indeed, they first told everything from a rather neutral point of view, basically, the official version, and then they started all over again and told the whole story from Linda's point of view. But why? As a result, the first part felt rather pointless. Then, I'm not sure if I really cared about Linda's version and something with more nuances might have maybe worked better for me. Seriously, it must have been the first biopic I saw during which the main character had to take a polygraph test to show everyone that she was actually telling the truth. In my opinion, it shows how little confidence the makers had in this story and its main source. Eventually, no matter what really happened, it is just rather sad that Linda Lovelace first became the biggest porn star in the world, even an icon, and then, tried to turn everything around and became in the process the biggest anti-porn crusader that ever lived. Unfortunately, this movie completely failed to show this journey by telling the story from her point of view. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I guess it is worth a look.