Reviews by johanlefourbe

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. 

My father has always been interested in gypsies and he had mentioned a few times that ‘Latcho Drom’ was a great movie about the subject. For some reasons (probably because it is pretty damned obscure), I never saw this flick but I did manage to see this follow-up directed by the same director about this subject. I even saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released. Anyway, I wasn't disappointed and I thought it was a fascinating movie. Obviously, it uses the very old gimmick of having the main character being an Occidental and putting the guy in some exotic environment and while this gimmick usually annoys me, it worked fine here. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for Romain Duris who must be one of the best French actors of his generation and he was the perfect choice to play this character. On top of that, he had some great chemistry with the really charming Rona Hartner. Finally, it is pretty obvious that Tony Gatlif has a lot of love and respect for the Gypsy culture and he managed to give here a very detailed and fascinating portrait. To conclude, I really loved the damned thing and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by the subject.       

I remember it very well when this movie was released in France. Indeed, it was a big event because it was based on a massive classic of the French literature written by Emile Zola and there was also a major casting stunt by hiring Renaud to play the lead character. Indeed, Renaud was and still is a very famous French folk singer with some well known socialist political views and you can imagine that he felt some deep connection with the material. Back then, I actually read the book it was based on and I even gave a presentation about it as a school assignment. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, it was definitely an ambitious project and it was apparently at the time the most expensive movie ever produced in France but, to be honest, I wasn’t completely blown away by the whole thing. Sure, it was well made and the actors involved did a fine job but, somehow, it was just too easy as it was pretty much riding on the prestige of this book without actually adding much to mix. Anyway, to conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

At some point, I came across this movie and I thought it could be neat. Well, eventually, it turned out to be one of the most messed up Christmas movie I have ever seen but even though the whole thing definitely had some potential, it didn’t really work for me, I’m afraid. At the end of the day, I guess what bothered me the most was the way they mixed up the tone. Indeed, during the 30 first minutes, it was basically a black anti-Christmas comedy but, then, when Krampus finally showed up, it became a really dark and creepy horror feature. In my case, I did like the comedy part with some major sarcasm but the horror stuff rather bored me but, above all, I thought that the mix didn’t really work. For example, as a result of this mix, during a supposedly scaring scene, you would have the characters saying stuff like ‘Come on! Seriously?!?’ pointing out how ridiculous the whole thing was and pretty much ruining the gloomy mood.  Finally, the ending was really predictable, I figured it out from the very beginning as soon as the sister disappeared, and it was rather weak as well. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it was a decent watch though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Even though this movie seems to be rather forgotten, especially abroad, I remember very well when it was released in France. Indeed, even though it was already the 4th directing effort for Josiane Balasko, it was her first big box-office hit as a director. With this in mind, I thought I might as well check it out, even if I’m not really a huge fan of French comedies. Well, eventually, I thought it was a decent watch but I can’t say I was really blown by the whole thing though. It is always the problem with this kind of movies. On one hand, it was in fact one of the very few commercial movies dealing with gay women so it was a good thing that they explored this subject but, on the other hand, it was filled with the usual boring stereotypes about lesbian women so the end-result was rather mixed. Still, I have to admit it, some jokes were quite hilarious and I especially enjoyed Alain Chabat. Back then, Chabat was mostly famous with ‘Les Nuls’, a french group of comedians, and, with this movie, he got his first starring part and it was right away  a box-office hit. Anyway, to conclude, even though I’m not really a huge fan, I have to admit that it is a decent comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.