Reviews by johanlefourbe

Almost 40 years after this movie, Baz Luhrmann came up with an ambitious remake with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role but even though the whole thing had some potential, I still preferred this version though. Still, even though I did like this movie, it was still missing something to become truly amazing. Indeed, I did read the book before watching this movie and I really loved the damned thing but even though this adaptation was decent, it was really far from the awesomeness displayed by the book. Basically, in fact in both movies, what really bothered me was how annoying and vapid was Daisy Buchanan. Personally, I always believed that this character was already the weakest link in the book but the rest of it  was so mesmerizing that it still worked fine for me. However, in this movie, even though Mia Farrow was really pretty back in those days, it didn’t change the fact that her character was pretty much nothing more than a silly doll and it always seemed to me rather odd than someone so amazing like Jay Gatsby would be obsessed with such a boring girl. Still, in spite of its flaws, I always loved this story, Robert Redford was a perfect choice to play the title role and I think this movie is really worth a look. 

Even though ‘[Link removed - login to see]’ has a rather lame reputation, I thought it was in fact a decent watch and I was rather curious to see this new reboot with an even younger Jack Ryan. Well, eventually, I was really amazed by how underwhelming the whole thing turned out to be. I mean, it’s not that the whole thing was poorly directed or the actors involved were awful, it’s just that the story barely worked in my opinion. In fact, if you would take all the scenes separately from each other, they were usually decent but, together, it was frankly quite a mess. For example, in the introduction, we get to see how Jack Ryan got badly injured, especially his back, during the war in Afghanistan. They really took their time to show how messed up he was, how difficult it was for him to walk again which was fine. However, during the 2^nd half of the movie, you get to see the guy jumping around, doing some very physical stunts and fighting some bad guys along the way which was also fine on its own but it really clashed with what was displayed at the beginning. Then, you had also the whole relationship with his girlfriend which brought some issues. To start with, Keira Knightley was pretty weak here but, above all, they didn’t really know what to do with her character. Basically, they wanted her to be more than the typical girlfriend who doesn’t do anything but wait for the hero to come back so they tried to include her in the action but it was once again terribly awkward. Indeed, completely at random, she shows up in Moscow while Ryan is on mission, then, the only thing he can come up with is confess that he is a CIA agent and, then, 5 minutes later(!), she becomes involved in his mission. I could go on and on but it is just clear that it was a rather weak story, or at least, that it was really poorly written. To conclude, even though it sounded at first like a promising movie, the whole thing turned out to be terribly disappointing and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

Once one of the most promising directors from France, Mathieu Kassovitz eventually turned out to have a rather disappointing career after all. Indeed, his 2^nd directing effort, ‘La haine’, turned out to be one of the most acclaimed movies released in the 90’s and many people expected great things from this guy but none of his following directing efforts ever reached that level again. This movie was a fine example. Indeed, at some point, Kassovitz got the opportunity to work in Hollywood and, like many other successful French directors, he was hired to direct a horror flick but, at least it wasn’t a remake. Well, it was certainly nothing really amazing but I thought it was still fairly entertaining thanks to some solid directing and a decent cast (Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr., Penélope Cruz). Obviously, the whole story was seriously preposterous and, above all, what really annoyed me and almost ruined the whole thing for me was the fact that the main character, a psychiatrist, would end up being a patient in the mental hospital where she used to work. Seriously, that was something really ridiculous and almost impossible to swallow for me. Anyway, to conclude, I think I’m being rather generous with my rating here but I still think it is worth a look though. Still, you shouldn’t expect too much before watching the damned thing. 

I already saw this movie, if I recall it correctly, I even saw the damned thing when it was released in the movie theater. Anyway, since it was a while back and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out again. In fact, I remember quite well when this movie was released, it was a critical success and it would be Robert Altman’s last really successful movie. Back then, since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this movie, I had some rather high expectations but, eventually, pretty much like most of the other movies directed by this guy, even though it was indeed a decent watch, I can’t say I was really blown away after all. After rewatching it after so many years, I think I know why now. I mean, there is no doubt that it was very well directed and there was an impressive all-star cast involved which was another trademark in the late work of Robert Altman. However, I noticed that I tend to find Altman’s approach to mix up so many characters together and to have them talk very often at the same time rather confusing and this movie was not an exception, I'm afraid. As a result, even towards the end, I was still struggling to figure who was each character and how they were related to one and another. On top of that, I wonder if the whodunit was actually really necessary. Indeed, it came rather late and, as far as I was concerned, it didn't have much added value. And, yet, Altman did recreate a convincing and interesting microcosm, in fact, not 1 but 2 distincts worlds, living side by side, and the characters involved who were maybe not really fascinating were still quite intriguing. Anyway, to conclude, even though I don't think it is really a masterpiece, it was still pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Robert Altman’s work. 

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should definitely re-watch it at some point.  Eventually, even though it was definitely a powerful tale based on a really important piece of history, somehow, I didn’t really connect with the whole thing. I don’t know, somehow, it seemed to me that it was just a well made but maybe too straightforward historical epic feature. Eventually,  the only big mistake made by this movie was probably to tell its story from the point of view of a white commanding officer when it should probably have been told from the point of view of a black soldier. On top of that, it didn’t help that I never really cared for Matthew Broderick who has always been an underwhelming actor in my opinion (to think that the guy was, at some point, the coolest kid around following the success of ‘Ferris Bueller's Day Off’ seems hard to believe nowadays). At least, there is no doubt that Denzel Washington and [Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see] were both incredibly charismatic here and this movie would provide a really deserved breakthrough for both actors. To conclude, even though I wasn’t really completely blown away by the whole thing, it was still a really interesting watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by this subject. 

Personally, I have always been fascinated by hackers. It is probably due to some kind of professional deformation since I have been working in the IT business for more than a decade now. Anyway, even though I always been interested by this subject, I have noticed that it has always been constantly poorly developed in the movies (even in ‘The Matrix’ which is supposed to be classic, the hacking was seriously laughable). Apparently, the acclaimed TV-show ‘Mr. Robot’ is finally dealing properly with this subject and I will definitely check it out at some point. Anyway, more than 20 years ago, they made this flick which, with such a title, should have been the ultimate movie about this topic but, unfortunately, the whole thing was terribly underwhelming. At least, we got the opportunity to see a very young and very cute Angelina Jolie but the movie didn’t have much else to offer, I’m afraid. Indeed, the characters were all ridiculous, especially the way they look and talk, the plot was rather inane and, obviously, all the technical stuff didn’t make any sense. To conclude, I really didn’t like this flick and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. First of all, I have to point out that, even though I have seen many movies written by David Mamet or based on his work (about 19 if I’m not mistaken) , I can’t say I have really been blown. This movie is however the exception. Indeed, it was based on his Pulitzer prize winning drama and the whole thing was simply just spellbinding to behold. Indeed, the concept was in fact pretty simple and the whole idea was to have a bunch of great actors (Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, Jonathan Pryce) put together delivering some of the best dialogues ever written. To make things even more intriguing, it all took in a really realistic and rather mundane spot,  a real estate office, and the fact that I have absolutely no feeling whatsoever for this kind of profession made the whole thing even more spellbinding to me. In this messed up little world, you’re either a winner or a massive loser and you would just need a couple of failures to become another black sheep. To conclude, it is a great flick and you should definitely check it out.