Reviews by johanlefourbe

Back in the 90's, I was a huge fan of Win Wenders and, if I recall it correctly, I even saw this movie in the movie theater when it was released. Back then, it didn't get much love (unfortunately, Wenders's movies would get some increasingly poor reviews in the following decade) and there was especially some bad buzz because Mel Gibson, still a major star at the time, really hated it and made sure that everyone knew about his disdain towards this movie. In fact, I thought it was actually pretty cool to have Gibson in some artsy feature for once. Sure, the whole thing was not really amazing and like most obscure indie features, it took itself a little too seriously. And, yet, I really liked the mood created, something I always loved about Wenders's work, and also the characters involved. Back in those days, Milla Jovovich was not only just a pretty face, she was still a very promising actress but, very soon, she would be lost getting involved in all these dreadful Resident Evil sequels. To conclude, even though it might be an acquired taste, I thought it was pretty good and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Wim Wenders.

What the hell was this movie? I was aware that it had been rather poorly received when it was released but since I always had a weak spot for David Cronenberg's work, I was still eager to check this movie. Well, it turned out to be a rather unpleasant experience and I would go as far as saying that it is the weakest movie directed by Cronenberg that I have seen so far. Of course, you could blame Robert Pattinson for ruining the whole thing just because of the whole 'Twilight' phenomenon but I think he was actually well cast and he has delivered here a solid performance, just like the rest of the star-studded cast (Juliette Binoche, Samantha Morton, Paul Giamatti, Jay Baruchel, Mathieu Amalric). The problem is that I just couldn't care less for these vacuous characters who were apparently unable to have a normal conversation but, instead they would constantly give some rather obscure and annoying riddles. Seriously, after 5 minutes, I pretty much knew where the whole thing was getting at, I was already completely bored and the only thing I could do is wait until it ended. Anyway, to conclude, after 3 really solid movies starring Viggo Mortensen, this feature was definitely quite a step down for David Cronenberg and I don't think it is really worth a look.

Among all the classics released through the rich history of Disney, this movie is probably not one of my favorites but I have to admit that it is quite charming. First of all, as usual, the animation was just top-noch. My favorite part was probably the first 10 minutes, when Lady is introduced to her family. Indeed, even though I'm not myself a huge fan of the whole concept of pets, my wife is a huge dog lovers and, right now we have 7 of them (I know, it is a lot and that's a rather long story...). So, I can say I'm a little bit familiar with the behavior of dogs in a general and those first 10 minutes were just completely convincing and quite fascinating to watch. Unfortunately, they couldn't help it, they had to make those dogs talk. Seriously, it must be one of Disney's most annoying trademarks, the way they always have to make all animals talk. On top of that, I thought it was always rather condescending the way they tried to romanticize the life of stray dogs. And yet, in spite of these flaws, it does work anyway and the spaghetti scene must be one of the most romantic moments I have ever seen. Anyway, to conclude, even though I don't think it is really amazing, it is still a solid animated feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but since it was such a long time ago and I since I had it on DVD, I thought I might as well check it out again. In fact, I even saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released. Indeed, back in those days, I was a huge fan of Woody and I was trying to watch all his movies when they were coming out. Furthemore, back then, Mira Sorvino was not only really charming but she was also an interesting actress and she was even awarded an Academy award for her work in this movie. Unfortunately, eventually, she dropped out from the A list pretty soon afterwards and it has been a long time since she has done anything really impressive. Recently, she actually turned her back on Woody Allen which is rather sad since it was probably thanks to him that she reached the highest point of her career. Anyway, coming back to our feature, I'm glad I did re-watch it because I didn't expect to enjoy it so much. Sure, it was nothing really groundbreaking but, even though it followed the usual template used in most of Allen's features, the characters really worked and the whole thing was quite entertaining. Anyway, to conclude, even though it wasn’t really a masterpiece, I thought it was actually pretty good  and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Woody Allen's work.

To be honest, I was actually really surprised that they went forward with this sequel. Indeed, one of my most popular lists is about failed movie franchises and my favorite aspect about this list is to predict which franchise will be a failure right from the first installment. I'm actually pretty good at this and my only mistake, so far, was with this franchise but who could blame me? Indeed, the first movie was watchable but nothing really amazing and, above all, it was far from being a real box-office hit. Anyway, when you watch this sequel, you might wonder why they even bothered. Basically, they gave us pretty much the same ingredients, except that the whole thing was slightly more tedious to watch. On top of that, the first movie had at least a star-studded supporting cast while here, they only managed to bring Stanley Tucci along. I don’t know, I thought also that most of the characters were actually poorly developed. For example, was it me or Alexandra Daddario and Brandon T. Jackson didn't have anything to do during the whole thing? Obviously, this movie had even less impact than its predecessor and, now, we can finally declare this franchise dead and buried. To conclude, I thought the whole thing was rather boring and I don't think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you love the genre.

Even though I was pretty sure that I saw this movie when I was a kid, when I finally re-watched it with my own children, I didn't remember much of it. For example, I was actually surprised that the most iconic trademark of Pinocchio, the fact that his nose is growing when he lies, actually shows up just once in the movie. It actually shows how powerful this tale is and how it will be forever linked to this Disney version. Indeed, after the tremendous success of 'Snow White', Disney decided to go for another well known tale and it became another major classic. What I personally enjoy the most about the whole thing, except for the amazing animation even after 75 years, was actually how dark the whole thing was. Indeed, back then, they were still pretty much experimenting, testing how far they could go, and they didn't develop yet their traditional formula of avoiding anything that could be possibly challenging in order to always reach the lowest common denominator. Here, you get a rather complex main character who makes some terrible decisions but this little guy was much more fascinating than the perfect princes and heroes that they would give us afterwards. Anyway, to conclude, it is a timeless classic and it is pretty much a must-see, especially if you like the genre.

At the beginning of the 90's, after directing movies for already 20 years, Clint Eastwood finally emerged as a major director thanks to the deserved massive critical success of 'Unforgiven'. Later on, Eastwood would have a string of disappointing features ('Absolute Power', 'True Crime', 'Space Cowboys', 'Blood Work') and, from this string, this movie was the only one which had the potential to be really good. Indeed, there was a pretty good buzz about it before its release, the story was really intriguing and there was a pretty strong cast (John Cusack, Kevin Spacey, Jude Law). Unfortunately, even though it wasn't a complete disaster, the whole thing turned out to be a misfire. Indeed, it is one of those few times where the subject seemed to go way over Eastwood’s head (‘J. Edgar’ was actually another example). Basically, he gave us some rather complex conflicted sometimes even weird characters but he had apparently no clue what to do with them and the end-result was just rather underwhelming. Eventually, it was not a bad movie, far from it, the actors involved were fine and there was something really intriguing about the story but unfortunately it never fulfilled its great potential. I still think it is worth a look though.

As you may have noticed, I’m a very obsessive movie watcher and one of my very first obsession was/is Robert De Niro. Indeed, I just love this actor and I have been watching many of this movies during the last 20 years (72 so far and still 20 to go). 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, coming back our main feature, it is interesting to see that way before 'Meet the Parents' or 'Analyse This', Robert De Niro was already showing up in some mainstream commercial comedies like this one. The big difference, however, is, first, it was actually a good comedy and, secondly, those movies were really the exception, the rest of his work was focused on some really challenging and interesting productions. To be honest, since I kept hearing some great things about this movie, I was expecting a little bit more from it but, eventually, it was a decent road-trip combined with the usual buddy cop gimmick. So, it was nothing really original but it was still fairly entertaining and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Robert De Niro's work.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since I had this movie on DVD like forever, I thought it was really time to watch the damned thing. First of all, have you ever noticed that if a heist takes place at the end, there is about 95% chances that it will end well for whoever was involved? But if the heist takes place earlier in the film, you can be pretty sure that it would end badly somehow. I had actually never paid attention to this until I watched this flick. Not that it was really good, it was actually pretty weak , especially Famke Janssen was rather unconvincing as a supposedly white-trash housewife (to cast a previous Dutch model for this part was also pretty risky). To be honest, not everything was worthless. Indeed, I have to admit that I really didn’t see the twist coming after the heist but I'm not sure if it was because the whole thing was clever or in fact poorly put together. At least, Harvey Keitel was clearly rising above the poor material and the guy managed to deliver a solid performance. Another surprise was to see a very young topless Lucy Liu in a very short scene. To conclude, even though it wasn’t a complete failure, it was still pretty weak though and I don't think it is really worth a look.

It is rather funny to think that, back in those days, Milla Jovovich was not linked to all these dreadful Resident Evil flicks but she was then Luc Besson's muse, she was even married to the guy for a few years. I'm not sure if this movie was big abroad when it was released but, in France, it was pretty huge and it was a big box-office success if I recall it correctly. For Luc Besson, it would be a turning point in his career. Indeed, up to that point, it was one of the most successful French directors, at least definitely the most ambitious one but, after this flick, he would stop directing for a while and would focus instead on producing a massive number of disposable action flicks for the international market ('The Transporter' , 'Taken', 'Taxi',...). At some point, he would finally go back to directing but none of his recent directing efforts have been really inspired or inspiring so far and it seems that the guy has pretty much lost his touch. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, it is pretty much a typical Besson feature. Indeed, it was very well made, visually quite appealing and there were some decent performances but the whole thing was way too shallow to become really remarkable. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you are interested in Luc Besson's work.