Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie (I think I even saw it in the movie theater when it was released) but, since it was such a long time ago, I thought I might as well check it out again. Well, there is no denying that it was a fascinating story dealing with one of the greatest athletes that ever lived but, to be honest, this movie turned out to be only decent, I’m afraid. At some point, Spike Lee was also eager to make a movie about Ali and I wonder what he would have done with such great material. On the other hand, I think Will Smith did a fine job here. Back then, for more than a decade, Smith completely ruled the box-office and he even holds the record for the actor to star in the most consecutive movies grossing at least $100 million. Right at the middle of this Golden age, he made also this attempt for Oscar glory with this high-profile biopic. Obviously, you might wonder if Will Smith was the best choice to play probably the most famous boxer that ever lived since he never displayed some really impressive acting skills so far but I thought he was actually pretty good. Eventually, the main issue with this movie was maybe that it was directed by Michael Mann. I mean, back in those days, Mann was probably at the height of his career and I always had a weak spot for this director but the guy is/was above all a fine technician and maybe it wasn’t sufficient for this material. Eventually, most of the characters were barely developed whatsoever, even Ali himself, and the movie just goes from one milestone to another without really analyzing the impact it had on the boxer, on the people around him and even sometimes on the USA in general. Anyway, Ali was one of the most fascinating athletes and this movie was still a good starting point if you want to get more acquainted with his life. To conclude, even though it was maybe not a masterpiece, I still think it was a decent biopic and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Muhammad Ali.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw [Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see]and many hoped that it would finally break the curse on video-game adaptations but, unfortunately, it turned out to be only midly entertaining. This time around, I decided to check the over high-profile video-game adaptation that was released in 2016. Well, eventually, I thought it was actually not bad at all, at least, it was more satisfying than 'Assassin’s Creed’. Indeed, it was visually really neat,  this world of Azeroth looked quite amazing and those orcs were especially just really awesome. Concerning the story, in my opinion, the intro was rather weak and it took the whole thing at least 15 mins to finally take off. Of course, you might argue that the people familiar with the game didn’t have a problem with this but, for someone like me who actually never played the damned thing, the whole thing was a mess. Fortunately, as soon as the conflict between the orcs and the Alliance was clearly stated, then, the story became much more interesting. Above all, the intern struggle within the orcs was pretty neat. On the other hand, except for Ben Foster, most of the human characters were in fact rather bland and boring. Still, all in all, I thought it was a decent fantasy feature and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Unfortunately, it seems that Pixar has lost their magical touch as they nowadays focus mostly on sequels which might be profitable but also artistically rather boring. On the other hand, for about almost 15 years in a row, up until ‘Up’, those guys had an amazing track-record and they really spoiled us as they kept releasing one masterpiece after another. In this Golden Age, they still had a few misfires though and this movie was one of them. Indeed, to be honest, I never really cared about this flick even if I should probably re-watch it some day but I'm not really optimistic. Basically, back then, DreamWorks released their first CGI animated feature and it happened to be also about bugs so there was a big debate about which one would be the best. Apparently, Pixar's effort was slightly more successful but, personally, I always preferred 'Antz'. I mean, sure, it was not bad at all but this 2nd full length feature from Pixar was a little too childish for my taste. Anyway, to conclude, even though I think it was the first minor effort from Pixar,  the animation was still solid and the whole thing was still quite entertaining so it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this movie and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. First of all, I’m pretty sure that most people would think that ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest’ has been the best movie directed by Milos Forman but, the more I think about it, the more I believe that this movie might be actually slightly overrated (in fact, I need to re-watch this movie as well). In fact, in my opinion, this classic, which was released almost 10 years after ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest’ and which also managed to win the Best Picture Academy Award, was even better and I believe it is in fact the Magnum Opus of this director. Indeed, it is easily one of the most fascinating and original biopics ever made and, even though Forman would be making almost only biopics during the rest of his career (‘The People vs. Larry Flynt’, ‘Man on the Moon’, ‘Goya's Ghosts’), none of them would manage to reach the level of this masterpiece. Anyway, to conclude, I really loved the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

When was the last time that Vince Vaughn scored a hit? Well, instead of wasting my time with one of his recent movies, I thought I should finally watch instead this movie for which he gave his breakthrough performance.  Well, since I kept hearing some really good things about this flick, I had some rather high expectations but, to be honest, I thought it was actually slightly disappointing. Sure, it was a decent watch but I never thought it was really hilarious. The best example would be the first scene involving Jon Favreau and Ron Livingston. Indeed, the scene was not bad and I understood where the makers were trying to go with this but I never thought it was really funny. Eventually, I think my favorite scene was the one when the characters were playing this hockey video-game on the Sega Megadrive. Indeed, not only I played and loved this game in the 90’s but, above all, it was one of the very few instances when a movie was correctly portraying an actual video game session which was pretty neat in my opinion.  Concerning the rest of the movie, it was not bad at all but it never really blew me away and, in fact, I actually preferred ‘Made’ also starring Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn and also written by Favreau because it was so much funnier than this flick. Anyway, even though the whole thing did’t really live up to my expectations, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this movie and maybe I should re-watch it at some point. Well, it is basically a rather cute feel-good sport feature but, not much more than that, I’m afraid. I guess it might be more interesting for the US audience who might be really fascinated by the history of their national sport but, as far as I was concerned, I thought it was just mildly entertaining. Still, there was a solid cast involved (Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell, David Strathairn, Bill Pullman, Téa Leoni) and I have to admit that it is really rare that you get to see a sports feature focusing on women for once. Unfortunately, the tone was so light and fluffy and the whole thing was so generic and predictable, as a result, I had a rather hard time to really care for it. At least, it is not very often that you get to see something watchable starring Madonna. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really mind-blowing, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Before watching this movie, I thought it could be a decent watch but it turn out to be much better than I expected. Indeed, at first, it started out as a rather standard teenage romantic-comedy but, very soon, it was clear that the whole thing was actually really much more than that. First of all, some people argued that it was rather unbelievable that such a girl would fall in love with such a mess but I don’t agree at all. Indeed, in spite of his drinking problem, the main character was actually a popular guy who was nice with everyone and, since she never had a boyfriend, she idealized him like we all did with our first girlfriend/boyfriend (indeed, I still think that my first girlfriend was an actual goddess). Still, to be honest, I was not so sure about the drinking. I mean, it’s not that the main character was drinking a lot, in fact, the guy was actually constantly drinking (I think he had a drink in 95% of the scenes). It was an interesting look on a very young alcoholic but I still think it was strange that not one of his friends or his sister or his mother would ever actually mention it at any moment. Anyway, I thought that both characters were fascinating thanks to some strong performances by Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley. To conclude, it was one of the best teenage romantic dramas I have seen, in fact, I think it might be even better than ‘The Perks of Being a Walflower’, anyway, the damned thing is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. My wife and I always had a weak spot for Hugh Grant but, let’s be honest, even though the guy always had some great charisma, he eventually has/had a rather disappointing career after all. The main issue with this actor is that he always played basically the same character in countless romantic-comedies. Still, he did make a few very good movies and this one is definitely one of them and he probably gave here his best performance. Indeed, even though he actually played his usual charismatic and womazing bachelor, the rest of the movie was actually quite intriguing. Indeed, in contrary to the other movies in this genre, it didn’t follow a linear structure. For example, in a classic romantic-comedy, the whole thing would have been about a womanizing bachelor trying to score with some single mothers because they might be an easy target. Sure, this concept might sound entertaining but, like all rom-com concepts, it also sounds terribly cumbersome and rather ludicrous. Well, in this movie, fairly early on, the main character himself actually acknowledged the fact that it wasn’t such a good idea after all and simply dropped it which was just so refreshing. Furthermore, even though it was definitely a romantic comedy, it was actually not about the main character finding the love of his life but about how he would find some unlikely connection with some 12 year old boy which was also quite interesting. Finally, it is really rare to see a movie in this genre with some actually fully developed characters. For the Weitz brothers, it is rather hard to believe that they started their directing career just a couple of years before with ‘American Pie’ and they did make a huge leap forward with this movie (unfortunately, they would never manage to reach something so good ever again during their respective careers). Anyway, to conclude, even though it was probably not a masterpiece, I actually really enjoyed the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I remember it very well the first time I saw this movie. Indeed, back then, I was living in England and I saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released. At the time, it was a huge critical classic and it is still considered as the best movie directed so far by Cameron Crowe. Well, to be honest, even though I thought it was a pretty cool feature, somehow, it never really blew me away though. It’s weird because, on paper, it sounded like a great story and since I was about the same age of the main character and since I loved the music of that particular time period, it should have been a sure winner. Basically, even though most of the characters were quite interesting thanks among other things to a very strong cast involved (Billy Crudup, Kate Hudson,Jason Lee, Frances McDormand, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Zooey Deschanel, Anna Paquin), unfortunately, I didn’t care much for the main character. Sure, I understand that it was the whole point to have an average and ordinary guy getting in touch with some larger-than-life figures but I’m afraid this approach backfired as I never really cared for him. Anyway, to conclude, even though I tend to think that this movie is slightly overrated, it is still a pretty good movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.