Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this  flick and I should probably re-watch it at some point. Eventually, even though I did like this movie, somehow, it didn’t completely win me over. I mean, it has nothing to do with Gandhi, the guy was just amazing and one of the most aspiring human beings that ever lived and Ben Kingsley was just really impressive in the best performance of his career and yet the whole thing was still missing something in my opinion. I don’t know, maybe I was too young when I first saw it but, at the end of the day, even though it was really respectful, which was fine, it was also too straightforward, at least, that’s my opinion. I guess it goes with the territory though. Indeed, with such a beloved man, there is not much actual space to be really creative. In this genre, another example of this was with the recent ‘American Sniper’ which was, in my opinion, rather underwhelming even if it was a huge box-office when it was released. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, even though it didn’t completely blow me away, it is still a decent biopic about a fascinating historical figure and it is definitely 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. To be honest, I never really understood why this movie was so popular. I mean, sure, it was not bad with a very nice cast involved. Above all, it was pretty awesome to see Angelina Jolie completely stealing the spotlight from Winona Ryder who was in fact planning to make her come-back with this feature but, still, at the end of the day, it remains a very glossy version of your average mental hospital drama. Indeed, if you are even slightly familiar with this subject or with this genre, it is actually rather difficult to take this movie really seriously. At the end of the day, it all depends what you expect from your average drama. Basically, if you want to see some glamorous and way too gorgeous actresses playing some mental patient switching their mood following the needs of the script, you will probably eat it up. However, if you’d rather have some mental patients who look like an actual mental patient and act like one, then, you would be rather disappointed. To conclude, even though I don’t think it is anything really amazing, I still think it is a decent watch but not much more than that, I’m afraid. 

I remember very well when this movie was released. Indeed, there was a huge buzz about it as it was a dream project for Martin Scorsese which he had dreamed to make for about 3 decades, it was definitely his most ambitious production so far and the expectations were huge. With this in mind, I was obviously really eager to watch the damned thing and I even saw it in the movie theater  when it was released. Eventually, it turned out to be a decent watch, that’s for sure, but it was definitely not the masterpiece that many, including me, hoped to get. Eventually, one of the biggest complains was, even though he did try really hard, Leonardo DiCaprio was never really convincing as he was still struggling with his heartthrob status following ‘Titanic’. Indeed,  it is rather funny to think that, nowadays, everybody seems to be a fan of those Scorsese-DiCaprio movies while, 10 years ago, it was really a different story that most of us forgot. Still, it was a pretty good flick though, it looked awesome, Daniel Day-Lewis was terrific (as usual) but DiCaprio didn't feel like the right choice and you could say the same about Cameron Diaz who was actually chosen by the studio. Anyway, eventually, it was a dream project for Scorsese and even though it didn't end up being his magnum opus like it was supposed to be, it is still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look.

Basically, it was one of these obscure French obscure movies that almost no one on this website have seen. In my case, the main reason I first wanted to watch the damned thing was because it was directed by Claude Miller. Indeed, Miller is not really famous or popular here in Listal but he was well known in France and I always had a weak spot for this director. Anyway, this movie definitely belonged to his best work and I really enjoyed the damned thing.  Basically, it was a rather straightforward story, with only one location and only a handful of actors and, yet, I thought it was just quite spellbinding to behold. Above all, the confrontation between Lino Ventura and Michel Serrault, both at the top of their game, was pretty awesome. Eventually, almost 20 years later, they would release a remake starring Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman in the starring roles but even if I prefer the original French version, this US remake was actually pretty decent. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, even though it might not have been a real masterpiece, it was still a really solid thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies. 

Seriously, I’m still pissed off about this. Indeed, I was glad that I managed to find a UK double DVD with the director's cut for a decent prize but, for some reasons, they didn’t provide any subtitles and, as a result, I have to admit that I couldn’t completely follow the dialogues. Anyway, the whole thing was pretty hardcore, that’s for sure, in fact, Lars von Trier managed to make it even more hardcore than the first volume, something I didn’t think was really possible. Indeed, this time, he decided to add SM in the mix which was somehow  in fact rather unexpected. I have to say that I was slightly worried because for a good chunk of the movie, the main character apparently lost her sexual feeling which seemed rather pointless since we were dealing here with a nymphomaniac. But, eventually, so many crazy things happened during this dark 3 hours long roller-coaster and, to be honest, it was sometimes pretty random but it was always rather mesmerizing to watch. Eventually, the masterstroke was, just as with the previous installment, the long conversation between Joe and Seligman and how their relationship eventually ended in this movie was just spot-on and really priceless . To conclude, even though the whole thing was really dark and gloomy, I thought it was an interesting watch but you should be fully aware of its content before checking it out.

Since my wife has always been a fan of John Travolta, we ended up watching this movie together. Personally, I always thought that Travolta was a decent actor but even after he made his come-back with ‘Pulp Fiction’, the guy always kept making some dubious career choices. Anyway, eventually, even though it turned out to be one of the better movies starring this actor, I still ended up with some mixed feelings. Indeed, on one hand, it was a rather effective police procedural with a decent cast (John Travolta, Madeleine Stowe, James Cromwell, Timothy Hutton, James Woods), a nice mood and a decent and almost realistic story-line dealing with the treatment of female soldiers. However, even though I thought it was all fairly entertaining, it felt also really sleazy and I couldn’t shake the feeling that the makers didn’t really care about this serious topic (the frequent rapes of female soldiers) and, in fact, they just wanted to use it to make a rather straightforward thriller. At least, it was pretty neat to see the always lovely Madeleine Stowe but, unfortunately, this movie would be one of her very last theatrical features. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie (in fact, I even saw it in the movie theater when it was released) but it was such a long time ago so I thought I might as well check it out again. Back then, John Travolta just made his come-back with ‘Pulp Fiction’ and this movie was one of the (very) few movies he made afterwards that were also critically acclaimed. Well, to be honest, the first time around, I actually had a hard time to really care about the damned thing and I’m glad I gave it a second chance. Indeed, I didn’t remember that John Travolta was actually so good in this movie. Seriously, he gave here one of his best performances and the guy was just so charismatic and entertaining in this flick. The rest of the cast was also fine and most of the other characters were pretty neat as well but, in my opinion, there were actually too many of them. As a result, most of them were barely developed and the biggest victim was probably Rene Russo’s character who, even if she was involved in many scenes, didn’t do much more than tag along with Chili Palmer. Another thing that slightly did bother me was the fact that the tone was a little bit too light for my taste, even rather goofy during some scenes. Eventually, since this movie was quite popular, 10 years later, they would come up with a sequel called ‘Be Cool’ but it turned out to be such a huge failure that it made this movie look like a masterpiece. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, it is actually pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.       

To be honest, since I didn’t hear much from the guy anymore, I thought that John Boorman did retire but, apparently, he did release another directing effort a couple of years ago. It was called ‘Queen & Country’ and it was rather obscure like most of his recent work. Anyway, I always had a weak spot for this director’s work and this movie was one of the last he made that I really enjoyed. Basically, it is a rather straightforward but still very well made biopic about Martin Cahill, one o the most notorious criminals coming from Ireland. To play the lead, they made an unexpected choice of going for Brendan Gleeson, someone you would usually see playing the henchman, but Gleeson was really great here. On top of that, the directing was really solid, as expected from this director, and it was just a really interesting story. A couple of years later, they would make another movie about the same Irish gangster, called ‘Ordinary Decent Criminal’ but even though it was not bad, it didn’t really work as Kevin Spacey seemed to be especially miscast in the lead. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I thought it was a really entertaining heist feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.