Reviews by johanlefourbe

All my life, I have been fascinated with movies. Obviously, it took me some time to finally get some understanding about the subject and, when I was a kid, like anyone else, I made some rather dubious choices. For example, when this movie was released, I must have been around 12 years old and I thought it looked really awesome. Indeed, I loved this kind of futuristic SF movies back in those days but this one turned out to be pretty lame afterwards. Apparently, the production didn’t go very well and the producer ended up re-shooting 40% of the whole thing to add some humor and to develop the characters. Well, even those re-shoots didn’t really help as it was still a rather underwhelming feature. Personally, I would rather blame Emilio Estevez who has always been a rather weak actor, or at least, he always bored me. Still, on the other hand, to have both Mick Jagger and Anthony Hopkins was just really cool, it’s just too bad they got involved in such a weak feature. Especially for Mick Jagger, the rock star only made a couple of movies so I wish he got involved in something more entertaining. To conclude, the whole thing felt like a missed opportunity and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

Even though this movie didn’t get much love when it was released, since I have been following Woody Allen for more than 20 years by now, I still wanted to check it out. Eventually, at first, I really loved the concept. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for illusionists and I thought it was pretty neat to see one trying to unmask a spiritualist. On top of that, the lead character was just hilarious and perfectly played by Colin Firth so it started to look like one of the best movies delivered by Allen in years. Unfortunately, half way through, he made a really poor decision which ruined this movie and the whole thing never recovered afterwards. Indeed, at some point, Stanley starts to believe that Sophie is actually the real deal when she was obviously a fraud. It was so stupid, I was really rolling my eyes and, to make things worse, the guy became somehow terribly joyful after making this ‘discovery’.  This decision completely messed up the tone. Then, for a while, the movie got stuck in this mode and, suddenly,  Stanley woke up and decided she was still a fraud after all, unmasking her really easily within the next 5 minutes which made his previous change of mood even more meaningless. Basically, it was yet another directing effort from Allen which had a great concept but it was just so poorly developed, it made the whole thing rather underwhelming to behold. To conclude, fortunately, the whole thing looked gorgeous and Colin Firth was just really awesome here so I still think it is a worth a look but don’t expect anything really amazing before watching it.

I remember very well when this movie was released. Indeed, following ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ which was critically very well received and Steven Soderbergh’s biggest box-office success, he came up with this more experimental and it was a huge critical failure at the time. In fact, I even saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released. Basically, we were just about 4 people watching the damned thing and, halfway through the others left the theater, so I watched the rest of it on my own. To make things worse, I had some major personal issues at the time and it is not the kind of movies you should watch, all alone in a movie theater, when you are dealing with some personal shit. Anyway, it was a rather difficult movie to follow, as if there was in fact anything to follow here, and it was shot at the time when digital filming was still seriously ugly. On top of that, most of the characters involved were either really unlikable or really uninteresting. Eventually, I think I gave the whole thing some few extra points because it tried to be original and because you will probably never see so many Hollywood stars showing up in something so experimental again. Anyway, to conclude, I guess my rating might be way too generous for this flick and you should watch it at your own risk.        

I already saw this movie but since it was ages ago, I thought I might as well check it out again. Well, I always had a weak spot for Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer, Pacino was especially at the top of his game at the time, and it was really neat to see them working again together almost 10 years after ‘Scarface’. Furthermore, the material was quite realistic which you wouldn't expect from such a romantic comedy and it made the whole thing much more interesting than the other movies in this genre. However, even though the material was raw, much more than the usual work from Garry Marshall, unfortunately, he constantly toned down this material resulting in something cute and harmless but it did loose most of its edge in the process. Furthermore, even though Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer both delivered some solid performances, they were actually miscast. Basically, they were both of them just too charismatic and the whole point of this story was to show 2 normal average looking people falling for each other. So, to cast such charismatic actors, you could say that Michelle Pfeiffer was downright gorgeous back in those days, removed most of the strength of this story. Indeed, the story was supposed to be about some lonely people but it was really hard to believe that such a beautiful woman like Pfeiffer would end up being so miserable. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it is still a decent romantic feature and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Back in 1995, I saw ‘Dead Man’ in the movie theater and I was completely blown away by the whole thing. Indeed, I never saw anything similar before, it was indeed the first movie directed by Jim Jarmusch that I had the pleasure to see and it became instantly one of my all-time favorites. So, when Jarmusch finally came up with a new directing effort 4 long years later, of course, I got really excited by the damned thing and I saw it as well in the movie theater when it was released. Eventually, even though it wasn’t a complete home-run like ‘Dead Man’ was, it was still a fascinating feature. What impressed me the most is how completely different it was from his previous directing effort. What they did have in common though is that those 2 movies both had an amazing soundtrack and, this time, Jarmusch worked with the RZA, the leader of the Wu Tang Clan, who delivered here a mesmerizing hip-hop sound. To play the title character, they went for Forest Whitaker who easily delivered one of his best performances. Anyway, basically, the whole thing was some kind of really weird mix including ancient Asian philosophy (especially ‘The Art of War’), the mob and some Hip-Hop on top of that. Eventually, this mix made this tale really intriguing but also borderline non-sensical preventing the whole thing from becoming really amazing. To conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, it still loved the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Jim Jarmusch’s work.          

In a few months, at last, they will release a new reboot for this franchise and we’ll see if they manage to have a hit, especially after all the backlash they received after they went for an all-female cast. Of course, when I was a kid, I saw both movies (probably not in the movie theater for the 1^st movie since I was only 4 years old when it was released) , like any other kid, I thought they were just awesome and I ended up collecting toys, stickers, you name it. Eventually, decades later, I thought it was really time to introduce those great childhood classics to my kids but guess what? I was actually surprised how badly they grew older, especially this sequel. Obviously, the special effects who looked pretty awesome back then were nowadays pretty cheesy but it wasn’t really my biggest concern. Indeed, the main issue I had was that the whole thing was in fact not really funny. I mean, sure, it was fairly entertaining but it was never really hilarious. To conclude, even though I’m not such a huge fan anymore, I have to admit it, it is still a decent comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

We often talk about how some actors (like Ben Affleck or Matthew McConaughey) managed to make some impressive come-backs in their career but, very often, we tend to forget that for some directors, the path was also pretty hazardous and David O. Russell is one perfect example. Indeed, back then, following this movie, he was hailed as the next best thing. Unfortunately, even though Russell was definitely a talented director, he also had some issues and he got the reputation of being quite impossible to work with (Among other things George Clooney apparently punched the guy while shooting this flick). Concerning the movie itself, to be honest, I always had some rather mixed feelings about the damned thing. Indeed, on one hand, it was definitely a well made and entertaining war comedy with a solid cast (George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube) but, on the other hand, it was certainly not as clever or groundbreaking as everyone seemed to believe. Eventually, during the following decade, David O. Russell would manage to release only one directing effort, the barely seen ‘I Heart Huckabees’, and it is in fact Mark Whalberg who would save his career by hiring him to direct ‘The Fighter’. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, even though I’m not exactly a huge fan, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I remember it very well, when this movie was released, even though it wasn’t really a box-office success, it still become a cult-classic so I was really eager to watch the damned thing. However, even though it was a decent watch and definitely one of the very few watchable movies starring Tim Allen, I can’t say I was really blown away by the whole thing though. I don’t know, back then, I haven’t watched any Star Trek movie at the time so I guess I missed most of the jokes about the original Star Trek crew. Since then, I have seen every single one of Star Trek installments though so maybe I would enjoy it more if I would give it a 2^nd chance.  Even so, I thought that the jokes were mildly amusing but never really hilarious. On top of that, even though the cast was pretty neat (Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, Justin Long), I still had a hard time to take Tim Allen seriously as the guy remains one of the most underwhelming actors I have ever seen. To conclude, even though it didn’t really win me over, it was still a decent comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are into Star Trek.