Reviews by johanlefourbe

You can say whatever you want about Spike Lee but there was a time that the guy was the best African-American director and even one of the best American directors around. Indeed, at the end of the 80’s, he made ‘Do the Right Thing’ which was rightfully acclaimed when it was released and pretty much became his magnum-opus and the expectations were pretty high with this follow-up. Eventually, it didn’t turn out to be a masterpiece but I thought it was still fairly enjoyable. Eventually, it will be mostly remembered as being the first movie for which Spike Lee would work with Denzel Washington but also with Wesley Snipes. Indeed, it seems hard to believe but Snipes started up first with such dramas and comedies and it is only later on in his career that he would start focusing only on action flicks. Concerning Denzel Washington, the guy just had his breakthrough with ‘Glory’ and he will eventually have a really impressive career becoming one of the most loved and respected American actors at work nowadays.To conclude, even though it seemed at first to be a minor effort, it turned out to be a decent movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Spike Lee’s work.

Nowadays, we don’t hear much about him but there was a time when Costa-Gavras was one of the most highly regarded directors in the world. Personally, there was a time when I was quite a fan of his politically charged thrillers and it is with a great pleasure that I finally managed to watch ‘Z’ which is pretty much his magnum-opus and is even considered by many as one of the finest movies ever made. More than a decade after ‘Z’ and many other acclaimed features, Costa-Gavras finally got the opportunity to work in the USA and it was once again another spellbinding political thriller which even managed to won the prestigious Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival. Back then when it was released, it was pretty controversial since it was dealing with the Chilean coup of 1973 which was backed by the US government. I mean, sure, the whole structure was rather straightforward and this feature didn’t reach the heights of ‘Z’ but I though it was still a really solid, entertaining and very interesting movie. To conclude, even though this movie is pretty much forgotten nowadays, I really liked it a lot and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but since it was ages ago, I thought I might as well check it out again. In fact, even though it be might surprising, the first time around, the main reason I wanted to watch this movie was neither Sandra Bullock or Ryan Gosling, but the fact that it was directed by Barbet Schroeder. Indeed, Schroeder might seem to be a rather obscure director but, at the end of the 80’s, he started a successful career in the US with ‘Barfly’ (which I still need to watch) and this movie would be, so far, his very last US production. To be honest, the story turned out to be too generic but I thought it was still a decent thriller. First of all, it was pretty neat to see Sandra Bullock trying something else for once and I have to admit that, after rewatching the damned thing, she probably actually gave one here of her best performances. It’s too bad they added all this tormented past for her character as it was just convoluted and actually not necessary whatsoever. I mean, it was if they argued that every dedicated cop, especially when you are dealing with a woman, needs some messed-up reason explaining their drive. Eventually, the biggest revelation here was obviously Ryan Gosling though. Back then, the guy was still virtually unknown, and, for a time, he would be mostly famous for being the much younger boyfriend of Sandra Bullock for a while, but already then he was able to lift this movie in spite of its rather generic material. Eventually, Schroeder’s directing turned out to be fairly unremarkable after all but, at least, I did appreciate the fact that they went for a fairly realistic approach (except for the typical far-fetched action driven twist ending). Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing great, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you like the genre.

By now, I have seen all the movies directed by Charles Chaplin and, even though I really love 'The Great Dictator', this movie remains hands down my favorite Chaplin feature. Indeed, even as a kid, I saw the damned thing many times and, already at the time, I thought it was completely marvelous. In my opinion, with this movie, Chaplin managed to find the perfect balance between the funny bits with his usual awesome slapstick, the poetry and also the social relevancy. Back then, sound had already been invented for a while but Chaplin was still perfecting his own brand of movie, using sound only sporadically but the end-result was just tremendous, resulting in a movie completely entertaining and spellbinding to watch. In fact, it has been a while since I have watched it and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. Like I said before, I was very young when I watched it the first time, I really loved it and I think it is a great way to introduce movies to children, instead of the usual animated features. Personally, I was introduced to this movie by my mother and, even though it seemed the most simple thing in the world at the time, it had a massive impact on me and my everlasting relationship with cinema.

To be honest, I was completely uninspired by this movie. I mean, sure, it was fairly entertaining and Shailene Woodley is definitely a talented and charming actress but I’m afraid I have seen by now too many similar movies recently and this one definitely didn’t add much to the genre. Only recently, I have started to watch ‘The Hunger Games’ franchise, and already I wasn’t really impressed but this new YA adaptation seemed like a weaker copy and, in fact, I thought that ‘The Maze Runner’ which managed to be more successful at the box-office without any star like Shailene Woodley or Jennifer Lawrence was actually more enjoyable. The main problem was that the main concept was really not original at all and there were some details that bothered me as well. For example, why are the Dauntless constantly running and jumping? It looked really stupid and completely pointless. Furthermore, even though Shailene Woodley was praised for her performance, I thought she was physically unconvincing and I didn’t believe she was actually going through a grueling physical training. Fortunately, emotionally, she was really strong and managed to pretty much save the whole thing for being completely underwhelming. Anyway, to conclude, I think my rating might be a little bit generous here but I guess it is still worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, it has been ages since I saw this flick, if I recall correctly I saw it in the movie theater when it was released so I must have been about 14 years old at the time. Maybe that’s why I had a hard time to connect with this flick, the fact that I was quite young. Anyway, I remember it very well, at the time of its release, it was critically heralded and one of the few Shakespearean adaptations that managed to be successful at the box-office. There was a really nice cast (Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Kate Beckinsale, Imelda Staunton, Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves, Robert Sean Leonard, Michael Keaton) so the whole thing sounded really promising. Unfortunately, even though it was fairly entertaining, I thought the promising production was terribly fluffy. Of course, you might argue that it was written this way by Good Old William Shakespeare himself but, in my opinion, the story and the characters involved were rather shallow and not really interesting. To conclude, even though I wasn’t really blown away by the whole thing, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To honest, it has been ages since I have this flick and when I was a kid, I thought it was pretty awesome. Sure, nowadays, we have ‘Wall-E’ which remains my favorite Pixar production, or even the recent ‘Chappie’ which was pretty cool without being a real masterpiece but, back in the 80’s, we had Johnny 5. Actually, coming back to the comparison between ‘Wall-E’ and ‘Short Circuit’, I have noticed that all the guys growing up with this 80’s classic are always complaining that Pixar pretty much plagiarized their childhood classic. Honestly, I find this argument a little bit ridiculous since ‘Wall-E’ is a downright masterpiece whereas ‘Short Circuit’ is fairly enjoyable but still really cheesy 80’s feature. Anyway, when I first saw this movie, I thought it was rather well made and quite entertaining and, of course, I thought that Johnny 5 was a really neat robot. Unfortunately, the other characters were rather weak, especially Steve Guttenberg who must have been one of the most underwhelming actors that showed up in the 80’s. To conclude, even though it is not a masterpiece, it is still a childhood favorite and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but since it was such a long time ago, I was really eager to check it out again. If I recall it correctly, I first saw this flick in the movie theater, of course, not when it was released (back then, I don’t think Hayao Miyazaki had already had his international breakthrough) but the local Art house movie theater wanted to re-release it for some reasons, probably because of Miyazaki’s impressive reputation. Anyway, to be honest, even though this movie is considered as a classic from Studio Ghibli, I had actually a hard time to really connect with this tale. I mean, I have to admit that it was without a doubt easily their cutest production (the cat bus was especially really awesome) but the plot was just really thin. Furthermore, for once, there gave us 2 main characters but since the running time was rather short, there was no time to really develop them and, as a result, these 2 girls were both rather uninteresting and, to be honest, I thought they were even sometimes slightly annoying. Anyway, to conclude, even though I wasn't really blown away by the whole thing, it is still a really solid animated feature 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 and maybe I should re-watch it at some point. Personally, I always had a weak spot for romantic-comedies and this one is definitely a classic in this genre and, if I recall correctly, my wife really loved it. Anyway, back then when it was released, when Julia Roberts was the biggest female movie star in the world, it was a big box-office success but, to be honest, I wasn’t really blown away by the whole thing. I mean, sure, it was well made and fairly entertaining but it was just too generic and predictable for my taste to become really remarkable. I mean, when you think about it, the main character is actually pretty much a bitch and I couldn’t really root for her. In fact, Cameron Diaz, who was pretty much starting her career at her time, managed to make her character much sweeter and interesting than Julia Roberts. And of course, the always awesome Rupert Everett completely stole the show and it is thanks to this movie that he finally became noticed by the mainstream audience. To conclude, even though I’m not a huge fan, I have to admit that it is still a decent romantic-comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.