Reviews by johanlefourbe

When I was a teenager, I had the opportunity to see ‘The Killer’ in the movie theater and since it was such a big classic, I had some huge expectations but, to be honest, it turned out to be a massive disappointment, probably one of the most disappointing movies I have ever seen. With this in mind, I had some rather mixed feelings before watching this other ‘classic’ from John Woo starring Chow Yun-Fat but, eventually, I thought it was not bad at all, at least, much more entertaining than ‘The Killer’. I don’t know, maybe I just got used to Woo’s over-the-top directing style but I thought that the action scenes were pretty awesome (the scene at the end when Chow Yun-Fat shoots all those guys while carrying a baby was especially pretty insane). Furthermore, something that really bothered me with ‘The Killer’ is how pretentious the whole thing was and, fortunately, it wasn’t the case at all with this movie. Indeed, it is pretty much a bad-ass action flick, no more, no less. To conclude, even though I don’t think it was really a masterpiece, the plot was just too preposterous for me, it was still a decent watch and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Nowadays, we don’t hear much from Michael Moore but there was some point that the guy was easily the most successful documentary maker in the world. I have always been a huge fan of his work but, at some point, his success was becoming so huge that Moore himself started to become some kind of pop-star and I’m afraid there was too much focus put on him than on his actual work. With this in mind, it was pretty cool to watch this directing debut. Indeed, back then, nobody knew who the hell was this guy and it was just really efficient and very often hilarious to see him confront some corporate figures about their wrongdoings. From the very start, Michael Moore was criticized for manipulating what was on the screen but that’s something that happens in every single documentary so it has never bothered me. The strongest message of this movie, beside the fact that it might be manipulated or not, is that even though most of these huge US corporations make some profits, they still choose to fire all this people just to make an even bigger profit which shows how our world is working nowadays. To conclude, even though it might not be Michael Moore’s best movie, I really enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.  

Nowadays, James Ivory seems to be pretty much retired but, on the other hand, the guy is almost 90 years old so it is hardly surprising. Anyway, since this movie had some really low ratings (according to Imdb, it is one of Ivory’s worst directing efforts) , I had some rather low expectations but since I was in the mood in watching a fluffy romantic-comedy starring the lovely Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I thought it was not so bad after all. Indeed, usually, I really don’t like such romantic-comedies trying to make a fun of the differences between the French and American cultures because they are so stereotypical and usually seriously ignorant about the French culture (‘French Kiss’ is probably the worst in this genre) but I thought that this movie handled the subject fairly well. Sure, there were just too many characters involved and most of the plot was seriously convoluted but I thought it was still a decent watch. Anyway, to conclude, I have to admit it, I may have been slightly generous with my rating here but I think it is actually 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 give it another chance at some point.  Back in the 80’s , there was a new French wave of directors called the [Link removed - login to see]éma du Look’ with Luc Besson, Léo Carax and Jean-Jacques Beineix. Besson is obviously the one who had the biggest critical and definitely commercial success and Beineix probably the one who got the least success of the trio. Anyway, since this directing debut had a solid reputation, at least, in France, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, eventually, even though it was visually pretty neat and even though I did like the tone, I had a rather hard time to care about the story and the characters involved. That was apparently the main thing about the  ’Cinéma du Look’, those filmmakers apparently put the focus more on the style than on the narrative and I thought it was pretty obvious with this movie. Later on, Beineix would come up with ‘37°2 le matin’ which would be one of the biggest French cult-classics released in the 80’s but the rest of his career would turn out to be rather underwhelming. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, even though I thought  it was rather disappointing, it was still a decent watch and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies. 

Ever since I saw ‘Toy Story’ more than 20 years ago in the movie theater when it was released, I have always been a huge fan of Pixar’s work and I had been anxiously waiting for their new releases. However, after ‘Up’, I started to loose interest and, I have to admit it, this new feature was not really a high priority for me. Still, my kids were really eager to see the damned thing so I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, I thought it was a decent watch but not much more than that, I’m afraid. Indeed, the first annoying thing is that, when your kids ask you ‘why did it take them more than 10 years to come up with a sequel?’, the official answer has always been ‘Well, they wanted to be sure that they had a great story’. Well, when you watch the damned thing, you really wonder why it took them so long to deliver something so derivative. I mean, they obviously wanted to convince us that it was something really different than ‘Finding Nemo’ but it was really pretty much the same thing which was really disappointing. At least, it was a very well made animated feature, really gorgeous to look at, with some really funny characters, and I think it is still worth a look but I wish Pixar would stop making those cheap sequels (unfortunately, it is not the case as 3 of their 4 upcoming projects would be again some other sequels...).

It has been a while since I have seen this movie and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. By the way, I have noticed that this movie, like most of the old Dutch movies directed by Paul Verhoeven, is really rarely broadcast on the Dutch channels which is quite a shame since his work belong to the very best work coming from the Dutch film industry. Anyway, when it came out, this film was heavily criticized in the Netherlands and this criticism was one of the contributing factors in Paul Verhoeven's decision to make his films in America rather than his native land. However, 30 years later, this movie is now considered a classic in the Netherlands. Personally, I thought it was pretty good but, to be honest, I can’t say I was completely convinced by the damned thing. I mean, the characters were interesting and the actors involved gave some decent performances but I had a rather hard time to get where Paul Verhoeven was getting at with the damned thing. It seemed that he was trying to deliver something rather depraved and decadent just to get a shocked reaction from the audience. Anyway, to conclude, it must be the most trashy movie ever directed by the Sleaze master but I thought it was pretty good and it is definitely worth a look.

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this movie and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. In fact, I even saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released, Anyway, could you imagine if they would release today a movie starring both Matt Damon and Ben Affleck? It would be a major event. Eventually, the release of this movie was also an event but above all because of its controversial subject. In my opinion, it was and still is easily the most ambitious movie directed so far by Kevin Smith and it was definitely an interesting feature. Indeed, in spite of the whole controversy, Smith is actually a born and bred catholic so, even though he was poking fun at the Catholicism, he definitely knew what he was talking about (probably more than I did). Unfortunately, pretty much like most of Smith’s efforts, the whole thing was rather unfocused and there were just too many characters in my opinion so most of them were rather half-baked. I thought it was also rather lame to have the two angels switching roles just at the end. Still, in spite of its flaws, it remains a pretty cool flick and easily one of the best movies delivered by Kevin Smith so far. 

Back in 2015, Johnny Depp tried to make a come-back with ‘Black Mass’ but even though his performance was praised, the movie itself didn’t get much love after all (I still have to watch it myself). In fact, almost 20 years earlier, Johnny Depp already played in another gangster flick and, with this movie, he also received some of the best reviews of his career. To be honest, it has been a while since I saw the damned thing but, if I recall it correctly, I actually saw it in the movie theater when it was released at the time. Anyway, ever since he left ’21 Jump Street’, Johnny Depp had been famous for playing some rather weird and eccentric characters but, for once, he was playing someone slightly more straightforward than usual. Eventually, the end-result was quite impressive and it was especially pretty neat to see Depp working with such a legend like Al Pacino. Even though Pacino was playing another gangster, he wasn't playing this time some other tough guy but some kind of loser which was really refreshing and the guy was just awesome as well in this movie. To conclude, even though it was a rather straightforward crime drama, it was so well made, so entertaining, and the actors were so fine in this movie, I really loved the damned thing and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.