Reviews by johanlefourbe

I remember it very well when this movie was released. Indeed, it was a huge box-office success but, to be honest, I didn't appeal to me at all and it was only a year later that I finally saw it in French at a friend's house (eventually, I would watch it again years later in English with my wife and then again in Dutch with my kids). Eventually, I have to admit that it was actually better than I expected. Indeed, it was visually really neat and they did manage to create a really fascinating magical world. Still, there were enough elements that did bother me though. Basically, even though everything about this world and this wizard school was really cool, this plot about the philosopher's stone was seriously underwhelming. On top of that, in my opinion, the 3 young actors portraying the lead characters delivered some really poor performances. Rupert Grint was the least worst of them but Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson were rather pathetic and it would take them several years to finally deliver something decent. Finally, and that was really the main issue with this installment and the following one, the thing that always really bothered about this movie and its sequel was how the tone didn't match at all the mood of the rest of the franchise. Indeed, while most of the movies were pretty dark, this movie was just really childish and I never got the feeling that anything serious was really at stake. To conclude, even though I believe it is rather overrated, I have to admit that it is still a decent blockbuster and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, it has been ages since I have seen this movie and I should probably re-watch it at some point. Anyway, even though ‘Platoon’ and ‘Born on the Fourth of July’ were both some massive critical success, it seems that many viewers tend to forget it but Oliver Stone actually made a trilogy about the Vietnam war (as a matter of fact, Stone was even working on a 4rth Vietnam movie called 'Pinkville' which was cancelled at the last minute). For some reason, even though the other movies in this trilogy were critically acclaimed, this one was actually barely noticed when it was released. It's a shame though because, even though it was maybe not a great masterpiece,  it was still a pretty good drama with a very solid performance by the always dependable Tommy Lee Jones. The only issue I can think of is that, especially if you compare it to the two other Vietnam installments, the whole thing was rather unfocused. Still, it is probably one of the most obscure movies made by Oliver Stone but it is probably also one of the most underrated ones he made and it is much better than anything he has released in the last 10 years. 

Even though this movie didn’t get much love when it was released, since I always had a weak spot for Robert Redford, I was still eager to check it out. Basically, 5 years after [Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see], arguably their biggest critical success, Robert Redford and Sydney Pollack were working for the very last time together. Basically, the whole thing felt really similar to ‘Out of Africa’, maybe too much, as it was dealing with a sweeping love story taking place in some exotic location once again involving the always charismatic Redford as the romantic lead. So, I have to admit it, it all felt rather derivative but I still liked the damned thing.  Indeed, I have always been fascinated by poker and to have this legendary  actor play a master poker player in the steamy city of Havana was a real treat. Unfortunately, pretty much everything else in this movie was fairly weak. Indeed, above all, the political angle and the Cuban revolution were rather poorly developed and the movie would have worked better without those. Still, to conclude, even though it was probably not a masterpiece, I thought it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Basically, it was another really obscure movie that I wanted to watch for many years, above all, because it was directed by Brian De Palma. Eventually, I finally managed to watch a (very bad) copy on YouTube and I'm glad I didn’t spend any money to finally see the damned thing. Indeed, basically, it was some kind of weird experimental comedy and it was really terrible, I'm afraid. Apparently, I have discovered afterwards that it was in fact a student project made on a very low budget, which might explain why it looked so cheap, and it was in fact co-directed by DePalma with a bunch of student directors. I mean, it was pretty neat from De Palma that he decided to give those students the opportunity to work with him but it doesn’t  change the fact that the whole thing was just a boring mess. Seriously, there was no plot, no real concept behind it (why it was called 'Home Movies is beyond me) and the characters involved were either obnoxious and/or tedious to watch. The only positive thing I might think of is that Nancy Allen, who was married with De Palma at the time, sure looked lovely back in those days. Anyway, to conclude, the whole thing was just a huge waste of time and I don't think it is worth a look.

Apparently, it is another rather obscure feature that almost no one here on Listal has seen. In fact, I’m pretty sure I saw this one in the movie theater when it was released. Basically, a couple of years before, I saw ‘Microcosmos’ also in the movie theater and it just blew me away so when I heard that Jacques Perrin was producing another flick, I was really eager to check it out. This movie was actually pretty tricky because it wasn't a documentary anymore but a work of fiction and, even though it didn’t completely blew me away, it was still a really solid feature. Indeed, first of all, the whole thing really looked gorgeous. Furthermore, the story worked really well. Indeed, with this kind of movies, they usually end up adding some bogus Western character as the center of the story supposedly to make it easier for us to connect with the whole thing.  I always thought that it was rather lame gimmick and, here, for once, they only focused on the natives resulting in a much more convincing and very often really fascinating tale. As a result, even though it was still some fiction, the people, their tradition and what they were going through felt quite genuine. To conclude, even though it is a rather obscure feature, I really liked it a lot and it is definitely worth a look. 

When I heard that Bernardo  Bertolucci was finally coming up with a new directing effort, of course, I got pretty excited and even though it didn’t get much love when it was released, I was still eager to check it out. Basically, it was another small feature, quite similar to his previous movie, 'The Dreamers', probably too similar in fact.  Indeed, the whole thing was even more minimalist since it was just about 2 characters spending the whole movie in some basement. Still, I actually loved this young boy and his seemingly crazy idea. Basically, he is a teenage boy  who doesn't get along with anyone and, instead of going on a ski trip with his school, he decides to spent the whole week all by myself in his basement. Obviously, the guy really had some issues and, yet, I thought his plan was actually really neat since I have myself always had a rather difficult time to connect with other people. So far, it was working very well  for me but, then, they had to introduce a girl in the mix and that's when it started to fall apart. First of all, she wasn't some random girl but his half-sister who he barely  had any contact with but what really ruined the whole thing was the fact she was a junkie going cold turkey. It wasn't really interesting, I had already seen too many junkies doing this, above all, it had nothing to do with what happened before and, for some reasons, this young anti-social boy started to bond with her fairly easily, too easily in my opinion. You could argue that they were both outcasts but, still, it didn't really work for me. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I still think it is worth a look, especially if you're interested in Bertolucci's work.

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and maybe I should give it a second chance at some point. It is a rather obscure feature (I was only the 3^rd listal members who has rated the damned thing) and, in fact, I even saw it in the movie theater when it was released. Back then, I thought it seemed really intriguing, it was directed by a good director (Stephen Frears) and there was a fine cast involved (Billy Crudup, Woody Harrelson, Patricia Arquette, Penélope Cruz) so I had some rather high expectations. Well, unfortunately, I turned out to be rather disappointing. I mean, it was rather well made, I’ll give you that, but, at the end of the day, I never really cared about the story or the characters involved. Basically, it was some kind of post-modern Western taking place just after WWII which is something rather tricky to handle and while watching this, I couldn’t help thinking that Stephen Frears, even though a really talented and versatile director, was maybe not the best choice to direct this. Apparently, Sam Peckinpah did try to get this movie produced for years and I think It might have worked better with him. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look. 

As you may have noticed, I’m a very obsessive movie watcher and one of my very first obsession was/is Robert De Niro. I just love this actor and I have been watching many of this movies during the last 20 years (I have seen 72 of them so far). However, since the beginning of this decade, he has been making about 3 or 4 movies a year and most of them were of a very dubious quality so I’m not as fanatic as I used to be about his work but I still watch some of them from time to time. Anyway, even though De Niro did get his breakthrough thanks to ‘Mean Streets’ directed by Martin Scorsese, in fact, before that he had actually worked 3 times with Brian De Palma. This was the 3^rd one they made together at the time. To be honest, if it would have been directed by someone else and starring some unknown actor, I’m pretty much I wouldn’t have bothered watching this flick. Still, I thought it was a decent watch. Indeed, it is basically an experimental and rather messy comedy, something typical of the time-period, and only therefore, I though it was quite intriguing. To conclude, even though it was nothing amazing, I thought it was not bad and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Robert De Niro or in Brian De Palma’s work. 

To be honest, I have never really understood why ‘The Hangover’ franchise turned out to be so popular. I mean, I have to admit it, the concept was decent but I never understood why, if you have a bunch of colorful characters having a very wild night in Las Vegas or in Bangkok, why would you bother show the day after, when all the fun is gone and the guys spend all their time to recover the damages and their senses? Anyway, at least, with this movie, they didn’t completely recycle the plot of the 1^st movie but even so I’m afraid it turned out to be even more underwhelming than the previous installment. Indeed, the main issue with this whole franchise is that, even though Alan was supposed to be hilarious, he is in fact most of the time completely obnoxious and, with this 3^rd movie, it became so bad that his buddies of the Wolf Pack simply can’t stand him anymore and would rather have never met him. As a result, the whole thing is basically about Alan completely antagonizing his so-called ‘friends’ and it was really cringe-inducing to watch. To conclude, it was pretty weak and I don’t think it is worth a look.