Reviews by johanlefourbe

At the end of the 90’s, just at the beginning of his career, Edward Norton showed up back to back in ‘American History X’ and ‘Fight Club’ , two massive classics, and the guy was overnight already hailed as the best actor of his generation. Almost 20 years later, I have seen actually all his movies and, to be honest, in my opinion, Norton never really fulfilled those expectations. Anyway, at some point, like many other actors, he decided to direct as well and came up with this feature. Eventually, it didn’t get much a love but, since I was a huge fan of the guy back in those days, I probably gave this movie more credit than it actually deserved.  I mean,  the whole thing was really harmless and fairly entertaining but it never flies really high. Basically, even though it is a romantic comedy with a religious subject, it never becomes really deep enough to become truly remarkable. At the end of the day, you might wonder if Edward Norton actually enjoyed the experience since he never directed another movie afterwards. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

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When I was a kid, I was a huge fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme and I saw all the movies he made at the beginning of his career. Eventually, at around 14 years old, I started to get interested in other kind of movies and I discovered that his movies were not so great after all. Among his 'classics', this movie is neither his best ('Bloodsport' remains by far his most interesting feature, at least, that’s my opinion) or his worst, it is basically a typical Van Damme vehicle with a generic and predictable plot. Anyway, at the end of the day, it was really similar to 'Bloodsport', maybe too similar explaining why I didn’t care much for it. At least, I have to admit that the Muscles from Brussels was pretty badass here. Eventually, they would make a whole bunch of sequels, none of them starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and starring instead Sasha Mitchell, a very lame Van Damme lookalike, and they were really awful (I can’t believe I have actually seen 2 of those sequels… What a waste of time!). To conclude, I think it is fine if you are 12 years old and you want to watch some brainless action flick but, otherwise, you should probably watch something else instead. 

Even though Charles Chaplin had been directing many movies as far back as 1914, I actually consider this movie his official directing debut since it was his first full length feature. Anyway, back then, when it was released it was obviously a tremendous critical and commercial success. Back in those days, Chaplin was already a big player thanks to the success of his marvelous short movies but with this new long format, he was clearly displaying his ambition to reach some new creative heights. In my opinion, he was still experimenting how far he could go with the Tramp so I don't think it was as good as his later work such as 'Modern Times' or 'The Great Dictator' but it doesn't change the fact that it was yet another enchanting movie with some hilarious bits but with some social consciousness as well. Jackie Coogan who played the title character was also pretty impressive and became in fact the first major child star in the movie business. To conclude, even though it might not be one of his best movies, it is still a great classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Charles Chaplin’s work. 

Nowadays Pedro Almodovar is still considered as the most important Spanish director but, back in the 90’s, his specialty was some rather extravagant dramedies involving some rather colorful characters. This movie was basically one of them and, even though it was not bad at all, it wasn’t really one of his best. Penélope Cruz was not yet his muse back in those days and, at the time, it was Victoria Abril who seemed to inspire the Spanish master. Indeed, it was the 3^rd movie directed by Almodovar starring Victoria Abril (following ‘¡Átame!’ and ‘Tacones lejanos’) but, in my opinion,  it was the weakest they made. I mean,  pretty much like the rest of Almodovar’s work, it was rather over the top and the characters were borderline obnoxious. As a result,  I had a rather hard time to get into this story and to care about what the characters were going through. Still, he is and remains an artist since those movies have such a specific flavor and the guy basically created his own genre which is pretty remarkable. To conclude, even though it didn’t really work for me, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Almodovar’s work.