Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. In fact, I actually saw this flick in the movie theater with my wife and kids when it was released. Back then, it was a critical flop and it has indeed a rather lame reputation but, personally, I think it is not so bad after all. I mean, I have to admit it, with this production, the limitations of DreamWorks Animation became rather obvious, especially compared to the stellar work delivered by Pixar at the time. Indeed, even though the plot was really different, this movie was probably still too similar to ‘Finding Nemo’ which was released just the year before. Another annoying trademark from DreamWorks, still used nowadays, was to have a star-studded cast to cover up the fact that the story was actually rather weak. Fortunately, the voice cast was actually really spot on this time and it made the whole thing probably more entertaining than it actually deserved. Indeed, in this case, they came up with a rather convoluted story involving some gangsters sharks but, to be honest, it never really worked. It didn’t help that 99% of the jokes were based on some or more less obscure pop-culture references  and these jokes became fairly soon rather tiring, even borderline exhausting. And, yet, I have to admit that the damned thing was still fairly entertaining, above all, thanks to the neat voice-cast involved. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

It has been a while since I have seen this movie and maybe I should re-watch it at some point. In fact, if I recall it correctly, I saw this feature in the movie theater when it was released and, to be honest, I have actually no idea why I went to see the damned thing at the time. On top of that, I don’t think I was aware of the Studio 54 at the time which makes my choices even more strange. Anyway, even though it has a rather lame reputation, I thought it was in fact not so bad at all. I didn’t know it that at the time, but the movie was apparently messed up in post-production by the Weinstein brothers and the whole concept was completely changed. Apparently, it was supposed to be even darker and the main character was supposed to be sexually even more ambiguous which all sound quite intriguing. Anyway, I thought there was something quite fascinating about this messed up disco world. Back in those days, Ryan Philippe still had a great potential at the time and he was pretty good here, Salma Hayek was just gorgeous as usual (even if she didn’t have much to do) and even Mike Myers didn’t get too much on my nerves. To conclude, I actually have a weak spot for this movie, it is definitely a guilty pleasure of mine and I think it is worth a look.  

I already saw this movie but, since it was ages ago, I thought I might as well check it out again. Well, I was actually surprised by how little I actually remembered the damned thing which is usually not really a good sign. Anyway, I have to admit that I always had some mixed feelings regarding this movie. Indeed, even though it started out as a rather ambitious project (Isn’t it always the case when Tom Cruise is involved?), it didn’t turn out to be really amazing after all. Still, somehow, I can’t really discard the whole thing. Indeed, it was actually a really good story and it could have been a great epic. Furthermore, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman (who just got married a couple of years before) had tons of chemistry together. Still, even if Cruise was, as usual, quite charismatic, he was however not convincing at all playing some poor Irish farmer. However, I would mostly blame Ron Howard though. Indeed, eventually, the biggest problem was that the tone was just too light. While re-watching this movie, it reminded me of some (really successful) epics such as ‘The Godfather’ or ‘Titanic’ and during both movies, you didn’t have some rather goofy supposedly funny scenes every 5 minutes which in this case really bogged down the impact of this movie.That’s in fact a recurring issue with Tom Cruise, the fact that he is able to get involved in some really interesting projects but too often he or the director he is working with make the misguided choice of toning down too much the material resulting in something without any edge whatsoever. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and I think it is still worth a look, especially for Tom Cruise’s fans.

Since my wife has a weak spot for such Dutch romantic-comedies, I thought we could check it out together. Eventually, even though it seemed to have some potential, unfortunately, it turned out to be terribly underwhelming. The first thing that bothered me was how it shamelessly copied ‘You’ve got mail’. On top of that, this plot-line was very thin, everything was randomly and poorly connected to it and, as a result, the whole thing felt like a boring mess. Then, the other thing that bothered me was how annoying all the supporting characters were. They managed to get a lot of famous Dutch actors and celebrities to play all kinds of small and even smaller characters but all these supposedly quirky characters were just so over-the-top and not entertaining whatsoever. Eventually, the only thing that worked in this movie were 2 leads : Marwan Kenzari and Bracha van Doesburgh. Indeed, they were the only actors who played it straight, they were both really cute and charming and they had some decent chemistry together. I wish they got a better story to work with because they really deserved it. To conclude, even though it was a massive disappointment, I guess it is still worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and maybe I should re-watch it at some point. Anyway, I remember very well when it was released. Indeed, it sounded pretty neat so I even saw it in the movie theater at the time. Unfortunately, even though I thought it was a decent watch, it turned out to be a critical failure and, above all, a massive box-office bomb. I mean, sure, the story didn’t work very well as it was way too obscure and the fact that it didn’t have much to do with the legendary video game it was supposed to be coming from didn't help either. However, the whole thing was seriously visually impressive and a huge milestone in this area. Indeed, it was the first time that they released a fully computer-animated feature film with some photorealistic characters and it felt really revolutionary to me. I’m rather amazed that after all these years this movie doesn’t get more credit. At least, if you compare it to your average video-game adaptation, you have to agree that it was miles better than the other garbage in this genre. To conclude, even though this movie has a really poor reputation, I think it is actually quite underrated and I believe it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Once again, the thing I enjoyed the most with this movie was to witness the evolution of Xavier Dolan. Indeed, this 3rd directing was even more ambitious than his previous movie (with a duration of almost 3 hours, it is also Nolan’s longest movie so far), even if it was more straightforward than the rather surrealist ‘Les amours imaginaires’. Anyway, the whole thing was basically a fascinating portrayal of a man who has decided he wanted to be a woman. This time, Xavier Dolan took a step back and Melvil Poupaud, in my opinion, one of the most underrated French actors, played the lead and he gave her a great performance. What was also interesting about this movie is that it was not only focusing on this guy/girl’s journey but it was also focusing on the impact on his relationship with the love of his life. This part was quite fascinating as well, Suzanne Clément was also very strong and, with Poupaud, they had some great chemistry together. So, it was definitely a strong drama but I’m afraid it was still missing something to become truly amazing though. Above all, the second half was not as strong as the first part. Indeed, it seems that Dolan didn’t really know anymore what to do with this couple. Should they stay together? Should they split for good? In this process, a 3^rd person was introduced (Charlotte) but she was barely developed and she didn’t have much impact on the whole tale after all. Like when they met this other couple with a transgender man, it might have seemed like a good idea but it didn't work out and felt misguided. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was quite a fascinating watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Xavier Dolan’s work.

Back in the 90’s-80’s, it must have looked great on paper to make a movie starring Richard Gere and Kim Basinger, two massive sex-symbols from that time period. Indeed, back in those days, the box-office was driven by the stars involved and not by some huge franchises with some super-heroes, robots or cloned dinosaurs. Anyway, they already tried to cast those 2 stars in the 80’s with the incredibly lame and underwhelming ‘No Mercy’ and, 6 years later, they would give it another try with this thriller. I know it might sound surprising but I thought it was not so bad after all. I mean, obviously, the plot was seriously far-fetched, even often borderline ridiculous, which prevented the whole thing from being taken really seriously. It’s too bad because the mood was actually pretty good and, at least this time, Gere and Basinger were really charismatic and they had some great chemistry together. That’s often the problem with the modern thrillers trying to copy Hitchcock’s work, they don’t understand that you should keep the proceedings to something simple, otherwise, it becomes really difficult for the viewers to invest themselves in the story. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was a decent watch and I 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 flick and maybe I should re-watch it at some point. Anyway, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this feature but since it was directed by the great Federico Fellini, I was quite eager to check it out. Unfortunately, I’m afraid it turned out to be one of his movies I enjoyed the least among the ones I have seen so far. Basically, pretty much like ‘Amarcord’ which would be the following directing effort delivered by this director, there was no plot whatsoever and instead he gave us some quirky characters involved in some (really random) situations. In fact, I was just re-watching the trailer for this movie and what you get to see in these 2 minutes exactly summed up how the whole thing was, very non-linear and very random, and I thought it was rather exhausting after 2 hours. At least, it made Roma looked like a very attractive city but I didn’t get much else from this rather experimental feature which is usually considered as a rather minor effort in Fellini’s filmography. To conclude, even though it was slightly underwhelming, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Federico Fellini’s work.