Reviews by johanlefourbe

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.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for François Truffaut’s work, I was really eager to check it out. Basically, following the massive critical success of ‘Le dernier métro’, Truffaut came back just a year later with this feature which was maybe less ambitious but actually more enjoyable in my opinion. Indeed, even though ‘Le dernier métro’ is definitely a French classic, somehow, I didn’t connect with the damned thing. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, sure, it was nothing really ground-breaking but I thought that both Gérard Depardieu and Fanny Ardant were really impressive and they made for a mesmerizing couple. A few years later, Truffaut would make his final directing effort, the slightly more underwhelming ‘Vivement dimanche!’ also starring Fanny Ardant who was his lover at the time and it would be already the end of the career of one of the greatest French directors that ever lived. To conclude, even though it is definitely not a masterpiece, I still had a weak spot for the damned thing and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in François Truffaut’s work.   

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 always had some mixed feelings about the damned thing. I mean, on one hand, it is one of the very few movies starring Tom Cruise which was slightly more risky than his usual features but, on the other hand, it felt like another pointless US remakes. Indeed, even though it was visually interesting, it didn’t really add much to the original version. On top of that, even though ‘Abre los ojos’ was pretty good, I can’t say I was a huge fan and this remake gave me pretty much the same feeling. Basically, it was a decent mind-f*ck with a star cast but, in my opinion, it all felt slightly pretentious to me. Still, I have to admit it, Tom Cruise was really good here and we shouldn’t forget Cameron Diaz who gave definitely one of her best performances. For Cameron Crowe, this movie would be his last critical success and he has been struggling ever since to deliver again something which was really worthwhile. To conclude, even though it didn’t really convince me, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I didn’t care much for the damned thing. Seriously, even though I don’t mind a decent romantic-comedy from time to time, this one was just based on some rather lame concept and most of it was at best boring but usually rather cringe-inducing. Back then, Ben Affleck just got his breakthrough with ‘Good Will Hunting’ and, even though, he quickly reached the A list like his best buddy Matt Damon, right from the start, the guy was making some really poor choices, that’s for sure. Concerning Sandra Bullock, she has always been one of the most charming actresses, no doubt about it, but she tends to get on my nerves when she plays such supposedly quirky chicks. Coming back to our main feature, what we have here were basically two really likable leads stuck into a rather boring a story and they did what they could with this rather poor material. To conclude, the whole thing was pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look, even if you like the genre. 

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this movie (it was even nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award in 2014), I thought I should check it out. Eventually, I thought it was a decent drama but I can’t say it really blew me away. I don’t know, maybe I have seen already too many movies dealing with this subject such as ‘The Magdalene Sisters’. Furthermore, the whole confrontation with Sister Hildegarde at the end was also rather weak (and, obviously, it never happened for real) and it shift the focus from the Irish Catholic church to a single individual which was a rather misguided choice. Eventually, what really made this movie work was the interesting relationship between Judi Dench’s and Steve Coogan’s characters thanks to some solid performances from both actors. Still, even though Judi Dench shouldn’t be blamed, I thought that there was not much consistency in her character. Basically, depending on the needs of the plot, Philomena would be either plain and then, suddenly, actually rather wise and smart. Anyway, to conclude, even though it wasn’t really a masterpiece, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Apparently, this movie was the last one Charles Chaplin made during the silent era and it is yet another flick I have seen many times when I was a kid. Indeed, I remember it very well. At some point, the greatest classics directed by Charles Chaplin were broadcast on one of the French channels and my mother recorded all of them. Eventually, I was really grateful and I ended up watching this movie so many times back then. Personally, I tend to prefer this one over 'City Lights' but, I have to admit it, it is mostly pure our of pure nostalgia, I guess. Anyway, even though the plot was basically pretty basic, the whole thing worked amazingly well. Indeed, even though I'm usually a tough customer concerning comedies, I thought this one was just downright hilarious and completely entertaining from the beginning until the end. Eventually, the only thing that might have prevented this movie from becoming even better was probably the fact that there was no actual plot and the whole thing was therefore pretty random. To conclude, I loved the damned thing, it is a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Charles Chaplin or if you like the genre. 

By now, I have seen all the movies directed by Clint Eastwood and, out of all the movies he has directed during his prestigious career, it is easily the one I appreciated the least (yes, even the underwhelming ‘Blood Work’ was still better than this). It wouldn’t go as far as saying that it was real crap but it was not far from it, I’m afraid. I mean, for once, he tried to direct some kind of high-tech feature, a spy flick with some nifty gadgets but even though the whole thing definitely  had some potential, in my opinion, it was an utter failure. It was apparently the most expensive movie Eastwood has ever made (for that time, it was apparently pretty expensive) and it was actually a box-office hit but I seriously had a hard time to care about the damned thing. I don’t know, in my opinion, it looked pretty cheesy and the story was not really entertaining. Somehow, it felt as if he got sidetracked by all the techno stuff and, as a result, he didn’t pay much attention to the plot this time. Anyway, with ‘Blood Work’, it is the only film Eastwood really messed up so, for a career spanning 4 decades and more than 30 movies, it is that not so bad after all.