Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. First of all, I have noticed that some viewers believe that this feature is one of the most underrated movies ever made. Well, it is definitely an intriguing movie with 2 great actors at the top of their game, I’ll give you that, but I still don’t believe it is actually a great movie. I mean, the concept was interesting but I didn’t really dig the way they handled this material. Indeed, I think psychology is really fascinating but you don’t have many movies that really deal well with this subject and this movie was one of those, I’m afraid. Basically, they gave us here a deeply deranged man played by Kevin Spacey and, in this movie, instead of exploring his wounded psyche, they went for the option ‘what if what he said was actually true?’ which was just a rather underwhelming angle. Indeed, because of this approach, the whole psychological aspect, in fact the biggest asset in this flick, was just greatly undermined and what we got instead was some melodramatic fantasy. Basically, the whole theory developed in this movie was that mentally ill patients might actually be telling the truth after all which might be neat for some viewers but I thought it was rather ludicrous and not really compelling. Anyway, to conclude, even though I didn’t really care for this movie, I have to admit that it was rather well done and the actors involved did a fine job so it is still worth a look, in spite of some massive flaws. 

I had actually already seen this movie but it was such a long time ago, I could barely remember it, so it was really time for a re-watch. On top of that, one of my colleagues gave me this DVD so I had another good reason to check it out again. Well, it definitely deserves its stellar reputation, that’s for sure. Indeed, it is probably one of the best film noir ever made and the whole thing was quite pitch-perfect. First of all, Vienna, at the end of the WWII, was a  really murky place, it was the perfect spot for such a story and those chases down the sewers have become quite legendary by now. I also really enjoyed the dialogues which were sometimes almost hilarious but , above all, I really liked the fact that all the characters were far from being perfect, in the contrary. Even the main character was pretty much a loser,  a writer of cheap novels who seemed to be borderline alcoholic and the gorgeous Alida Valli, probably the least reprehensible character, was also seriously naive. The only slight issue I had is that I didn’t really understand the motivations of Harry Lime. Indeed, why did he actually ask his friend Holly Martins to come to Vienna? Why did he actually show up again to meet his friend? Maybe I missed something and should check it out again at some point.  Anyway, to conclude, it is a very good film noir and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I already saw this movie but, since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. Well, the damned thing didn’t grow old very well, I’m afraid. First of all, the King Arthur tale is one of those stories that has been told so many times, just like The Three Musketeers, Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan or Robin Hood and every decade, we get a new version, even if we didn’t really ask for it. In the 2000's, just after the success of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean‘, even though it did sound like another misguided blockbuster, Jerry Bruckheimer released his own version which was directed by Antoine Fuqua but even though there was some buzz before its release, it didn’t get much love after all. Well, the cast was definitely interesting (Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd, Mads Mikkelsen, Joel Edgerton, Hugh Dancy, Ray Winstone, Ray Stevenson, Keira Knightley, Stellan Skarsgård, Til Schweiger)  and the whole thing looked decent enough but this movie still didn’t really work though. Basically, they went for a gritty and more realistic approach, which wasn’t necessarily a bad idea, but it certainly didn’t help that, at the very last minute, they decided to massively tone down the violence displayed. Another thing that bothered me was that, while most of the cast was decent enough, especially Stellan Skarsgård who was pretty much pitch-perfect, Clive Owen was rather weak here. It’s rather funny that, back then, Bruckheimer rejected a then-unknown Daniel Craig in favor of Owen because he was convinced that Owen would become the next James Bond. Anyway, there was not a single scene during which Owen did sound or look convincing. To conclude, I wonder if my rating might not be too high here but I guess this movie might still be a worth a look though, at least, if you like the genre. 

From time to time, you always meet someone that will argue that this movie is actually the best ever made. To be honest, I always had a hard time to get what was really the fuss about this flick. I mean, I will have to admit it, it is a very good néo-noir feature, probably even the very best one but could the best néo-noir feature also manage to be one of the very best movies ever made? I actually doubt it. The issue I have with this flick is that it is so well made, so slick, it might be actually be too faithful to the genre to be actually really remarkable, at least, that’s my opinion. Still, it remains a really solid flick nonetheless, easily the best thing ever made by Curtis Hanson who never managed to reach this level in his career again. Concerning this cast, it was pretty damned amazing (Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger, James Cromwell, Danny DeVito, David Strathairn) and they all gave some of the best performances in their career. To conclude, even though it might not be one of my all-time favorites, it is still a very good movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick but, if I recall it correctly, I actually saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released in France. Anyway, it is a really obscure feature, pretty much no one else here on Listal as seen this flick on Listal but I thought it was actually really good. Indeed, I have always been amazed by the fact that Bertrand Tavernier seems to be completely unknown here on Listal when he is , in fact, one of the best French directors and for already 4 decades now. Anyway, among all the movies directed by Tavernier that I have seen so far, this movie actually turned out to be one of his best. Indeed, I thought the subject was just fascinating, dealing with the French movie business during the WWII. This way, you get a nice view on how they used to make movies back in those days but, on top of that, they had also to deal with the limitations and even pressure provided by the German occupation. To conclude, even though it is a rather obscure feature, I really liked it a lot and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies. 

The main reason I wanted to check this movie was because it was directed by Barbet Schroeder. Indeed, even though this director is pretty much forgotten nowadays, he managed to breakthrough internationally in the 90’s thanks to some really solid thrillers and I always had a weak spot for his work. From all the movies Schroeder made at the time, it was probably not the best or most popular one but I though it was not bad. Apparently, it was a remake of an older film noir from the 40’s which I haven’t seen but I always had a weak spot for the neo-noir genre. To be honest, the cast was not completely convincing and, above all, Helen Hunt was hardly convincing as a recovering alcoholic. Furthermore, I never really cared for David Caruso but, back in those days, Nicolas Cage was still one of the most interesting actors at work and he completely stole the show here playing some kind of psychotic/asthmatic mobster. Unfortunately, 20 years late, Cage’s career has become a big joke,  it’s too bad and hopefully he will manage to make a come-back at some point. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.