Reviews by johanlefourbe

After 10 long years,  Francis  Ford Coppola was finally coming up with a new directing effort and, even though it was barely noticed when it was released, I was still really eager to check it out. Eventually, it took me a while to finally see the damned thing and, to be honest, even though it was not bad,  I can’t say I was really impressed by this movie. The whole thing is that it was definitely an ambitious project  and there were some interesting ideas here and there but, unfortunately, it was just really too complex and murky. Indeed,  even though it was probably meant to deep and thoughtful,  the end-result  felt rather convoluted. There was also way too much material, like getting younger at once, getting older at once, reincarnation, some other super-powers, the birth of language, WWII ,  a love story going through several generations and some time-travelling if I'm not mistaken. I mean, that was a lot to digest  and even though you might argue that Coppola  maybe wanted to make amends for all the time lost, most of it barely  worked on its own and, combined with the rest, it was pretty much a mess. To conclude, I still give it some extra points for trying to deliver something deeper  and there might have been a great movie there hidden somewhere  so I still think it is worth a look,  but it is still a shame that such a great master took so much time to deliver something  rather bonkers and underwhelming. 

I already saw this movie but since it had been a while, I thought I might as well check it out again. At first, it seemed to be just another uninspired remake of a good classic starring Michael Caine, just like 'Get Carter', 'Alfie' or 'Sleuth' (it reminds me I still haven't watched the original version). On top of that, the fact that, Edward Norton, probably the best actor involved, didn't want to do this movie at all but was eventually contractually obligated to play this part, wasn't exactly a good omen either. And yet, I have to admit that it turned out to be a really decent heist flick. Indeed, first of all, there was really solid cast (Mark Wahlberg, Edward Norton, Charlize Theron, Donald Sutherland, Jason Statham, Mos Def, Seth Green) but, above all, the damned thing was actually quite entertaining. Eventually, in my opinion, the only thing that prevented this movie from becoming actually really good was the lack of stakes. Indeed, after all, it all seemed too easy and it didn't help that, at the end, the main character had his revenge on the bad guy without killing him himself, got his money back and managed to have Charlize Theron as his new girlfriend. Since this movie had been a decent box-office success, they immediately made some plan to make a sequel which was supposed to be called 'The Brazilian Job' but it was endlessly delayed and eventually dropped altogether. Anyway, to conclude, even if it might seem to be another misguided remake, it is actually a really decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Of course, like anyone else, I was really curious about this new Star Wars installment, especially since the reviews were so positive. Unfortunately, I’m afraid I actually ended up with some mixed feelings about the damned thing. I mean, sure, it was a really fun blockbuster, no doubt about it, and it was much better than any of the prequels but, to be honest, it wasn’t really such a difficult goal to achieve. Basically, what above all really bothered me with this movie was how it shamelessly copied the whole plot of  'A New Hope'. Sure, they did change a few details which most of the time worked out fine but, as far as I was concerned, this movie felt more like a remake than something actually really new. On the other hand, it seems that the mainstream audience didn't really care since it became a massive box-office success like 'Jurassic World' which used exactly the same trick recycling the same story used in 'Jurassic Park'. Still, I have to admit it, they actually nailed it and it was especially awesome to see Harrison Ford playing again one of his most iconic characters. I think that it was also a good move to kill him off because he was so good that he was actually pretty much upstaging  the new characters. This way, they will hopefully get more attention in the following installments (well, that didn’t happen at all after all…). Since then, I did re-watch this movie and even though it is not bad at all, it might actually be the most overhyped movie ever released. Anyway, to conclude, even though it wasn’t really a complete home-run for me, I have to admit that it was still a solid Star Wars flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Of course, I had already seen this movie but since it was a while back,  I thought I should give it another try. In fact, it was my wife who actually introduced it to me when we first met. Indeed, it was one of her favorite movies, one of those that she saw so many times as a child, and she was (rightfully) shocked that I never saw the damned thing in my life. Well,  even though I can see why it has been so much loved after so many years, to be honest, I didn't really connect with this movie, I'm afraid. I mean, I do think that Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer both delivered some really solid performances and some of the tunes were rather catchy, but, unfortunately, the story was just rather sleep-inducing to me. Sure, it is really innocent and harmless but also terribly simplistic and frankly rather outdated.  For example, don’t you think it is rather odd that Maria and the Captain would fall in love without having one single conversation? Sure, it is all inherent to the genre but it all felt rather fluffy to me.  And what about this third act? I mean, so far,  it was a rather charming fairy tale so why on Earth did they bring WWII in the mix? Such a really serious historical tragedy didn’t belong in such a childish musical and I thought it was seriously misguided to portray them as some kind of resistance heroes. To conclude, it was obviously not my thing but it remains a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

When was the last time Brian De Palma actually delivered a really good movie? At least 2 decades ago with 'Mission Impossible' (which I found actually rather overrated). Still, every time he comes up with a new directing effort, I get really excited, especially when, in this case, it sounds like some perfect material for him. Well, eventually, I'm actually amazed about how underwhelming the whole thing turned out to be. I mean, I wonder if the original French version was any good to start with (I have my doubts) but it was probably better than this. Basically, the main issue I had was that, even though it was sold as some kind of steamy erotic thriller, the whole thing felt terribly flat and weak. Indeed, all the characters were underwritten, all their relationships were barely developed, even everything involving their work was just so boring and even rather unconvincing. The saddest thing was that both Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace are some really strong actresses and they both managed to do a lot with this really thankless material but it was just not enough to save this flick. Anyway, to conclude,  unfortunately, it turned out to be another massive disappointment from this director and I don't think it is worth a look. 

Basically, it is one of those rather obscure French features that almost nobody on Listal has seen apparently. In fact, I actually remember it quite well when this movie was released in France. Indeed,  back then, there was mostly some buzz about it because it was a musical starring Mathieu Demy, the son of Jacques Demy, the guy who had made those 2 really prestigious French musicals:  'Les parapluies de Cherbourg' and 'Les demoiselles de Rochefort'. Well, in my case, the main reason I actually wanted to watch the damned thing was because the always charming Virginie Ledoyen was also involved. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, the basic idea was to make one of those whimsical musicals that made Demy Sr famous but, this time, with a modern setting and dealing with some serious contemporary issues like AIDS. Well, even though this mix was intriguing, it wasn't really convincing as the whole thing keeps switching between some very cheesy and fluffy moments and some other rather dramatic and heavy scenes. To conclude, even though it didn't really work for me, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies. 

I already saw this movie but since it was such a long time ago, I was really eager to check it out again. Well, to be honest, I was rather surprised by how much I struggled to get into the damned thing while I was watching it for the 2nd time. Back then, however, this movie seemed to be the birth of a great new director. The first thing I loved about this flick was the story which I found really fascinating and I really loved the way Clooney approached it. Basically, they didn't really care if it was true, they just took what sounded awesome, removed the dull bits and this mix was just seriously entertaining. The second masterstroke was to give the lead to Sam Rockwell who was just great here and it is really surprising that the guy, even 20 years later, is still so criminally underrated. Eventually, even though it was such a weird messed-up story (in fact, the original screenplay by Charlie Kaufmann was probably even more messed up), Clooney managed to make something so secure and so well balanced which was even more impressive since it was his first movie as a director. So, what bothered me so much when I was rewatching it so many years later? I don’t know, I guess I didn’t really connect with the story this time around. I noticed that, while I was positively surprised to see Julia Roberts playing a more edgy character than she usually does with some fair amount of success, Drew Barrymore was actually rather disappointing. The fact that I never understood why her character would stay for so long with Chuck Barris probably didn’t help. Anyway, to conclude, I guess I will have to watch it again to make up my mind for good but I think it is still underrated and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

It has been a while since I have seen this flick but, if I recall it correctly, I'm pretty sure I actually saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released. To be honest, I actually wonder why I actually chose to see the movie when it was released but it turned out to be a nice surprise eventually. I mean, sure, it was probably nothing really amazing but I thought it was a decent watch. Basically, it follows too closely the old formula of a rich teenager at a crossroad in his life to become reallly remarkable but the characters were fairly well written and the cast was really good (Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes, Jeff Goldblum, Amanda Peet, Ryan Phillippe, Bill Pullman, Susan Sarandon, Rory Culkin). Concerning Burr Steers, it was a really nice directing debut and, eventually, it took him 7 long years to finally come up with something new but, unfortunately, he delivered back to back '17 Again'  and 'Charlie St. Cloud', two really underwhelming Zac Efron vehicles. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, even though it is rather forgotten nowadays, I think it was not bad and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I kept hearing some really impressive things about this movie (for example, it has been on the IMDb top 250 for a while already), I was really eager to check this flick and I had some rather high expectations. Well, to be be honest, even though I found many things to admire, I can't say it really blew me away though. I mean, it is definitely a gorgeous  stop motion animated feature, probably one of the very best I have ever seen, at least in this area. The main issue I had is that even though the story and the characters involved were decent, they never became really more than that, at least, for me. I mean, at some points, I thought that it was finally going towards the right direction but, eventually, it never happened, that magical moment when you are swept away by a great tale. The strange thing is that it was about Asperger syndrome, a form of autism and Autism is a very dear subject to me. Still, while the makers handled the subject very well, it never really grabbed me. To conclude, even though I didn't completely connect with it, it was still a very good feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.