Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since it was ages ago, I was quite eager to check it again. In fact, I remember it very well, the first time I saw it, I was not really interested by the whole thing but after it won the Best Picture Academy award, I thought I might as well give it a try. So, I went to see it in the theater, without knowing the plot or who the hell was John Nash and I must admit it, I was actually positively surprised. Indeed, since I didn’t know what it was about, I really didn't expect it when Nash started to become insane and it made for a rather intriguing viewing. Since then, the opinions on this flick have been rather polarized though. Indeed, some think it is really amazing and some others think it is one of the most overrated features to win the big prize at the Academy awards. Personally, I think it is not bad but, on the other hand, it was also rather obvious that Ron Howard basically chickened out and removed many dark elements surrounding John Nash’s life, elements which could have made the movie really and truly brilliant. Eventually, did it really deserve to win the Best Picture Academy Award? Certainly not. Was Ron Howard really the most adequate director for this job? Absolutely not. However, it is still quite a fascinating story, Russell Crowe did deliver a really solid performance and since it is one of the very few big budget movies that was dealing with schizophrenia, it gets a few extra points from me. Anyway, to conclude, even though I wasn’t completely sold by the whole thing, it was still a decent biopic and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Back in the 80’s, Rob Reiner was easily one of the most successful American directors but ever since the huge debacle called ‘North’, the guy has never managed to get back his magic touch. Since I always had a weak spot for his work, I still watched most of the movies he made afterwards (7 out 11) but this feature must be the weakest one he has directed so far, after the abysmal ‘North’ of course. Honestly, even though the whole thing was rather harmless, nothing actually worked in this movie. Indeed, the concept was just lame and the characters were rather boring so it was rather hopeless from the very beginning. At least, I have to admit it, Kate Hudson was really cute back in those days but I never believed in Luke Wilson’s potential as a romantic lead and I don’t think they had much chemistry together. Above all, it was a rather sad affair for Sophie Marceau. Indeed, it is not very often that you get the opportunity to see the lovely French actress in a US production so you wonder why she chose a project so underwhelming. Anyway, even though I have seen worse, the whole thing was pretty weak and I don’t think it is worth a look. 

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this movie and I should probably re-watch it at some point. In fact, I actually saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released. Anyway, it must be the most obscure movie directed by Danny Boyle. It was also the last one he did with McGregor and since then, they have never worked together again, at least until ‘T2 Trainspotting’ which would be released 20 years later (Apparently, Ewan McGregor was Danny Boyle's first choice to play the main character for 'The Beach'. However, the studio wanted Leonardo DiCaprio and cast him before Boyle could intervene. While McGregor has blamed the studio, he has reportedly not spoken to Boyle for years.) Anyway, in my opinion, the biggest challenge for this movie was to come after such amazing movies like 'Trainspotting' and 'Shallow Grave'. Indeed, I have to admit hat it never managed to reach this level of awesomness but it was never meant to do so in the first place. It is pretty obvious that, this time, they just wanted to have some fun and Boyle made in the process his most frivolous picture so far which was definitely not a bad thing. In my opinion, it is a light but entertaining feature, visually quite interesting and it’s too bad that it has always been overlooked. 

At first, this movie got some interesting buzz but, after it was released, it turned out to be a critical and commercial flop. Still, even though I didn’t expect much from the damned thing, since there was a pretty cool cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, it has been a while since I have seen such an underwhelming musical. Indeed, not only it was rather boring and really unoriginal but what bothered me the most was how they handled this material. Basically, I grew up in the 80’s and in the 90’s listening to this music and, in my opinion, the approach they chose for this movie didn’t work at all. Indeed, even though you might think they would try to give some hommage to the music of this time periode, in fact, they gave us some kind of satire which felt rather disrespectful and not entertaining whatsoever. Concerning the characters, even though there was a really nice cast involved, they all played some tedious stereotypes with Tom Cruis being the only exception. Apparently, it was a big challenge for him to get involved in such a musical but, even though his character was borderline ridiculous, Cruise still managed to make him interesting to follow and I wish the movie focused instead on him. Anyway, to conclude, the whole thing was really weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this movie and maybe I should re-watch it at some point.  First of all, the fact that I have not read the book probably allowed me to enjoy this movie more than it might deserve but I always had a weak spot for the damned thing and I believe it is one fo the best erotic thrillers out there. Sure, the story was rather generic and predictable and, at the end of the day, I don’t think that the characters were well developed. Eventually, it doesn’t really matter since the whole thing was more about the mood and, as a result, I thought it was quite spellbinding to be behold. Concerning the lovely Jane March, you might wonder if a movie like this one was the best way to start her career at about 18 years old. Eventually, even though she seemed to have indeed struggled with all the attention she got from this movie, her next project would be actually another erotic thriller called ‘Color of Night’ which turned out to be one of the worst movies ever made and her career was pretty much ruined for good after that. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, I thought  it was actually pretty good and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.