Reviews by johanlefourbe

[Link removed - login to see]I already saw this movie but since it was such a long time ago, I was quite eager to check it out again. In fact, I’m pretty sure I saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released at the time. Anyway, 20 years ago, when Johnny Depp was still considered as a box-office poison, he was also one of the most interesting actors at work at the time. Still, to be honest, before re-watching the damned thing, I was pretty sure it was probably not one of the best movies he made at the time (his track-record was back then pretty amazing). Well, I have to admit that I was actually really positively surprised by the damned thing, even after all these years. Indeed, on the paper, the whole thing sounded really ludicrous and there was no way that such a mix involving mental illness and a typical romance should have worked. And, yet, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the damned thing. Indeed, Johnny Depp was a perfect choice to play this character and even Marlon Brando delivered here one of the very decent performances when the end of his career was at the time pretty pathetic. Hell, even the sub-plot involving Brando's love life with Faye Dunaway was cute and effective. Eventually,  even though it was maybe not a masterpiece, it still must be one of the very few movies I have seen which really managed to mix so well something terribly serious like a mental patient with a whimsical romance and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Johnny Depp’s work.

I’m not really sure if this movie is famous abroad but, in France, it is pretty much a cult-classic. Anyway, I remember very well  when this movie came out and I even went to see it in the movie theater with my buddies when it was released. Back in those days, Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci were on the verge of becoming the biggest power couple in France and this movie was already the second one they made together (they would eventually make 7 movies together). Anyway, coming back to our main feature, it turned out to be pretty entertaining and, above all, visually really impressive, especially for a French production. The main issue is that it was rather shallow after all. I mean, for example, they had Monica Bellucci, one of the most gorgeous women in the world especially back in those days, but they chose to give her a mute character which basically meant that they wanted her for her great looks and not really for her acting talent. Concerning the other characters, it was pretty much the same thing, they were usually pretty fun but they were also reduced to some cartoon figures. To conclude, in spite of it flaws, I think it was still a pretty cool flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see a bad-ass French action flick. 

A couple of years ago, my wife bought me a book written by Jo Nesbø, it was one of these thrillers starring Harry Hole. Eventually, even though I didn’t expect much about it, I thought it was pretty good and I even ended up reading a 2^nd book about Harry Hole for which, by the way, they will soon release a movie adaptation starring Michael Fassbender as Harry Hole.  Anyway, I had noticed that this movie adapted from his work had some pretty good ratings so I was quite eager to check it out and I even managed to convince my wife to watch it with me. Eventually, I think we both enjoyed it, even if the story was sometimes seriously far-fetched. I mean, at some point, the main character go all the way down into a cesspool, I mean, seriously, all the way down, he even has to breath with a toiler paper carton roll. Then, he tries to run away with a tractor but he can’t find the keys so he goes to the farm. There, he discovers that the farmer has been killed but he does find the tractor keys. So, you think he will be able to get away but you would be wrong. In the shed, he is attacked by a huge white dog who bites him pretty bad but he still manage to kill the damned dog by impaling him on the tractor fork (that was seriously gruesome). Then, he finally manages to get away on the road, all covered with sh*t, on his tractor, with the big white dog still impaled. That was seriously some of the most insane 15 minutes I have seen in a movie and I won’t mention the car accident happening later on. Still, I thought it was quite entertaining and I especially enjoyed the main character who was really smart and charismatic. To conclude, even though it didn’t completely convince me, it was still a neat thriller and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Obviously, this movie was nothing really amazing but I have to admit that it always been one of my guilty pleasures. Indeed, for some reasons, I actually saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released, I must have been something like 12 years old at the time, and since I was just a kid, I thought it was pretty neat. Still, for some reason, even though it is nothing really groundbreaking, I think it is a rather cute and sweet romantic-comedy. After watching many movies starring Michael J. Fox, I came to realize that the guy wasn’t able to play anything else than some variations of Marty McFly but, back in those days, it wasn’t so obvious yet and I thought he was actually pretty good. At least, his usual gimmick didn’t bother me too much and I thought he was quite charismatic. I’m pretty sure it was also with this movie that I would discover Woody Harrelson who would become in the years to come one of the most interesting character actors in the business. To conclude, even thought the whole thing was rather predictable, I think it is a decent romantic-comedy and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.       

A long time ago, when I was a student, I spent a year in Cambridge and, when I was there, I had the pleasure to follow a course about film history. The goal with this course was to start from the very beginning and go slowly up to the 80’s, if I’m not mistaken. So, this was the first movie we had to watch and, to be honest, it wasn’t an easy one. I mean, to give you an idea, before we watched the damned thing, our teacher actually warned us that it would be probably seriously tedious and she said she wouldn’t blame us if we wouldn’t stick around until the end. And, indeed, at the beginning, I think the whole class was present but, at the end, we were only 3 still watching the damned thing (including me,  of course). And, yes, the whole thing was just so boring to behold. Indeed, for more than 2 hours, you get to see a decadent mute black-and-white murky drama involving some Roman guy apparently called Maciste. At the end of the day, it boils down to how much slack you should give to a movie just because it is old. Well, I don’t, I think it was really terrible and I don’t think it is worth a look, except maybe if you are a big fan of the genre. 

To be honest, I find it rather difficult to judge this movie. Indeed, on one hand, it was easily better than the last 4 directing efforts from this director (but it wasn’t something really difficult to pull). On the other hand, it was still nothing really amazing though. First of all, Shyamalan went for one of the the oldest and cheapest tricks in the horror genre, the found-footage gimmick. This way, the whole thing was so cheap that, even if it would completely fail, it would still make some money at the box-office (which it did). Still, I have to admit  it, I always had a weak spot for the found-footage genre and, if done properly, it can work very well. No, eventually, what bothered me the most is that, as usual with this director, the whole thing started with a decent concept but it was at the end of the day rather poorly written with some massive plot-holes. For example, I found it rather hard to believe that a woman would leave her 2 kids alone with her parents when she hasn’t been in touch with them for 15 years. Seriously, who does that? And, then, Shyamalan couldn’t help it, he had to throw in a twist which was really predictable and underwhelming. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was not bad but maybe I’m being generous with this movie because the previous efforts from this director were just so lame.        

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was really eager to check it out again. Well, it must be one of the biggest cult-classics released since the beginning of this millennium, even if some viewers really didn’t care for the damned thing at all. I have to admit it, it is actually rather difficult to discuss this movie since the whole thing is pretty weird and rather messed-up and, in fact, even Jake Gyllenhaal himself admitted that he had no idea what the movie was about.  What Richard Kelly managed to do is to mix a believable teenage reality with some really dark fantasy and, somehow, even though half of the movie was almost impossible to follow, the end-result was still quite fascinating to behold which was quite an achievement. After 5 long years, as a follow-up, Richard Kelly would come up with another major mind-f*ck feature (‘Southland Tales’) but it turned out to be a massive critical failure and his career never really recovered from the blow. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, I really loved the damned thing and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.