Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, since I really didn’t like ‘Diary of the Dead’ at all, I had some rather low expectations with this last installment but, fortunately, it turned  out to be slightly better than its predecessor. Indeed, this time, Romero dropped the found-footage gimmick which was a blessing and I really liked the fact that they chose to follow one of the small characters involved in the previous movie. Finally, the whole concept of focusing the action on an island was also pretty neat.  So, this movie really had some potential but, unfortunately, it was still quite underwhelming, I’m afraid. Indeed, the first issue was that, even though the running time was quite short (barely 80 mins), there were just way too many characters involved and not of them was properly developed. It’s like the concept of surviving on this island during a zombie outbreak, they really didn’t do much with this idea which was too bad. Finally, they cooked up some theory that the zombies could be eating animals (instead or as well than humans ?) as if it was some big deal but, in my opinion, it didn’t have any real impact. To conclude, it is rather sad that George A. Romero seems to get some founds only to make zombie movies since those are becoming more and more underwhelming and I don’t think this one is really worth a look. 

When I first heard of this movie, I thought it was a really neat concept but I was pretty sure they would really mess it up, giving us another lame supposedly edgy/sexy comedy. However, since I kept hearing some pretty good things about the damned thing, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, I have to admit that they actually really nailed it. Indeed, they promised us a wild party and that’s exactly what they gave us. Seriously, if you have ever enjoyed or dreamed about going to something huge like this, you will certainly have a blast watching this. Of course, the parties I have been to never were so massive and some stuff displayed in this movie was slightly over-the-top, but, the great thing is that it was just slightly over-the-top and most of it was highly possible and completely recognizable. Indeed, that’s what a party should look like and, once in your lifetime, you should try to achieve something like this. On top of that, the found-footage approach, a terribly overused gimmick in the horror genre, was just perfect here. Obviously, there were still a few elements that didn’t really work. For example, the main character was complaining way too long about the fact that the party was too big. Furthermore, the whole romantic triangle involving the main character, his childhood crush and the hottest girl from his school was seriously generic and predictable. Finally, the scene towards the end with the guy with the flame-thrower didn’t belong in this movie at all and barely worked at all. Still, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. Still, I can remember this movie as if I watched it yesterday. Indeed, it had a huge impact on me and it became instantly one of my all-time favorites. Basically, I had never seen such a black comedy before and I thought it was just really intriguing. It’s like the concept (4 friends get together to eat until they die), of course, it was quite disturbing and, yet, I thought it was completely fascinating. Indeed, death is and always has been a taboo and, here, you have a movie about 4 guys who decide to end it all, not really because they are depressed of fed up with the world but, simply because they can and, instead of having a random death like everyone, they will die on their own terms, having a major blast in the process. By now, I have seen more than 5000 movies and I have never seen another movie dealing with this subject in this way and, therefore, I believe it is truly original and I’m amazed it doesn’t get more acclaim. To conclude, I really loved the damned thing and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see something equally disturbing and inspiring.  

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and maybe I should re-watch it at some point. I didn’t know this before but, apparently, this movie was a passion project of Peter Weir who especially made this movie for Gérard Depardieu with no other actor ever considered for the lead male role. In fact, they even pushed the production for a full year because Depardieu was not available and, in the meantime, Peter Weir directed ‘Dead Poets Society’ which turned out to be a one of his biggest critical and commercial successes (I wasn’t huge fan though). Eventually, it would be the first major motion picture theatrically released in English for  [Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see]but he never really managed to have a major international career. Anyway, concerning the movie itself, it was a cute romantic-comedy but  not much more, I’m afraid. I mean, Gérard Depardieu and Andie MacDowell were both fine here but the concept was rather thin. Above all, the whole thing was just too generic and predictable to become really remarkable. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick. On top of it, it is something really obscure  that was barely noticed when it was released (personally, I saw it a few years later on DVD) and the only reason I really wanted to watch it was because I always had a weak spot for Neil Jordan’s work. Eventually, even though it might seem like a very misguided idea to remake such a classic like ‘Bob le flambeur’ (the fact that I eventually saw this classic only afterwards probably  helped me to appreciate this modern version slightly more than it actually deserved), I thought it was not bad at all. Indeed, first of all, I always had a weak spot for heist movies and I thought that this one was quite entertaining, even if it was nothing really groundbreaking or original. Furthermore, I really enjoyed the mood delivered in this movie, thanks to some solid directing by Neil Jordan and, finally, I thought that Nick Nolte gave a very good performance here. Ayway, to conclude, even if it is probably not a masterpiece, I thought it was a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

A couple of years ago, I saw ‘Land of the Dead’ and, even though it was definitely not a masterpiece, I was really surprised by the damned thing which turned out to be pretty decent. This time, for once, Romero didn't take a decade or two to finally release a sequel and this new installment was released just 2 years after the previous one (My guess is that his wallet really needed it more than us). Anyway, this feature turned to pretty disappointing and a massive step-down, even compared to the previous installment. Basically, this time, Romero decided to go for the found-footage gimmick but, even though it wasn’t necessarily a bad idea, I’m afraid it came at least 10 years too late to be actually relevant in any way. Sure, Romero did try to add to some clever bits about  social media but it felt really flat. On top of that, the whole structure, road trip and all, was seriously generic and the performances were (once again) really weak. Seriously, it felt like watching a boring B feature and if there wasn’t Romero’s name on it, I’m pretty sure sure nobody would care for the damned thing. I sure didn’t. To conclude, I thought it was pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Basically, it is one of those rather obscure French movies that almost no one has seen here on listal. In fact, I remember it very well when this movie was released and I’m pretty sure I saw it in the movie theater at the time. Indeed, I guess, Agnès Jaoui is pretty much unknown abroad but she actually always had a solid career as actress in France for many years. Anyway, back in 2000, she surprised everyone with this directing debut which was a big commercial and critical success in France (it even won the César of the Best French movie for that particular year). Basically, what made this movie really intriguing to me was the fact there was no real plot and that it was rather focused on the characters. It is in fact something really French, to have a whole movie during which nothing much really happen and, instead,  you just get to see some couples endlessly talking to each other. Anyway, in this case, it worked just fine. Indeed, the characters were indeed very well nuanced and well portrayed by the cast which delivered some solid performances (Jean-Pierre Bacri, Alain Chabat, Gérard Lanvin, Agnès Jaoui). To conclude, I really liked a lot this romantic feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies. 

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and it is basically one of those rather obscure French movies that almost no one has seen here on listal. I think I did see this one in the movie theater when it was released and I wonder how I ended up watching the damned thing. My guess is that I wanted to see it because it was really heralded by the critics when it was released. Anyway, eventually, even though the story was obviously rather far-fetched,  it turned out to be a really effective and entertaining thriller. Above all, what really worked for me in this movie was the really solid performance delivered by Sergi López. It is probably thanks to this movie that he eventually play the bad guy in ‘El laberinto del fauno’, probably his most high-profile international production. Eventually, I have to admit that I didn’t care much for the other characters (I still had a weak spot for Sophie Guillemin though) but Harry was so fascinating , it made the whole thing quite spellbinding to behold. To conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, I really liked it a lot and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies. 

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since we're all currently involved in a worldwide pandemic with the coronavirus, I thought I might as well check it out again. Back then, the first time I watched the damned thing, even though I thought it was fairly entertaining, it didn’t really impressed me though. However, nowadays, since we have all become virus experts thanks to the constant flow of information concerning the Covid-19, I was actually amazed and quite terrified by how scientifically accurate this movie actually was after all. The only thing that really bothered me was that everything was just rushed too much. Indeed, only within a couple of days, the deadly virus arrived in the US, spred itself, killed 100s of people, but a cure was found and the town was saved.  It would have been so much more efficient and realistic to spread the action over several weeks, even a few months. Concerning the rest of the movie, it was also rather pedestrian and predictable. It was like the relationship between Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo. Russo's character turned out to be really passive and, of course, Hoffman's character was a workaholic and they divorced but, to save the day, they had to work again together. I mean, seriously, that’s a very old gimmick. However, the chase during the final act was even more problematic as it was terribly far-fetched. Still, the whole thing was well made, there was a terrific cast involved (Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Cuba Gooding Jr., Donald Sutherland, Patrick Dempsey) and they all delivered some solid performances. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its a flaws, I have to admit that it is still a decent virus-related thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.