Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even though this movie is rather obscure, since it was directed by Steven Spielberg, I was still quite eager to check it out. Indeed, even though 'Duel' is nowadays considered as Spielberg's directing debut,  this movie was in fact his official first theatrical feature film. Anyway, even though 'Duel' was a pretty cool flick, I thought this one was rather disappointing, to be honest. First of all, it all depends where you stand concerning Goldie Hawn. Basically, she played here the same character she has portrayed in most of her movies, her typical hysterical whining rather annoying chick, so if you have a weak spot for her gimmick, you will probably enjoy this movie for than I did, otherwise, it might not work for you. For Spielberg, I think it was a rather interesting attempt to deliver a dark comedy but it wasn't nearly dark enough to make it really entertaining, at least, as far as I’m concerned. To conclude, it is one of the most obscure movies directed by this director and even though it is not really a must see in my book, I thought it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Steven Spielberg’s work. 

Like any other pop-star, Eminem tried to be an actor at some point but, even though most of this movies turn out to be usually pretty terrible (see ‘Crossroads’, ‘Glitter’,  ‘Burlesque’, ‘The Bodyguard’ or  ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin'), this movie turned out to be actually pretty good. Sure, you might argue that Eminem had to play someone so similar to him that he didn’t really had to act at all and just be himself which would be true. However, I think it was a smart choice because Eminem, just like Britney Spears or Mariah Carey, is not an actor so, to minimize the risks, I understand that he would choose such a part. Furthermore, even though this tale was rather straightforward and generic, I thought it was fairly entertaining and I really enjoyed the gritty approach. For Curtis Hanson, after ‘L.A. Confidential’ and ‘Wonder Boys’, it was another critical success but we don’t hear much from him anymore and he seems nowadays to be retired due to Alzheimer disease. Coming back to our main feature, to conclude, even though it was nothing really groundbreaking, I thought it was a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are a fan of Eminem’s work. 

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.