Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick. Still, I remember it quite well when it was released. If I recall it correctly, my sister saw it in the movie theater when it was released and since she was really enthusiast, I was quite eager to check the damned thing. Basically, even though I wasn’t exactly blown by the whole thing, I have to admit that it was still a fairly enjoyable quirky Aussie comedy. Eventually, this movie launched the career of Toni Collette but even though I always thought she was an intriguing actress and she always had a steady career, she has never done anything really mind-blowing ever since. Concerning P.J. Hogan, this directing debut opened for him the door of Hollywood and his following directing effort would be ‘My Best Friend's Wedding’, arguably one of the most successful romantic-comedies of the 90’s (I’m not a huge fan but I have to admit that it was a hit). Eventually, almost 20 years later, Collette and Hogan would make another movie together called ‘Mental’, a feature which didn’t make much waves when it was released. To conclude, coming back to our main feature, it is a pretty good comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick so maybe I should give it another shot but, at the time, I really didn’t care at all for this movie. Indeed, I have noticed that the whole thing managed to get a pretty decent rating on Imdb but, personally , I was actually bored by this tale. I mean, I’m glad for Richard Dreyfuss that he managed to get the lead, something that will occur less and less in the following 20 years, and he managed to give a solid performance but it wasn’t enough for me. I don’t know, it was a typical uplifting school drama with the usual stereotypical plot (teacher goes to school and hates it, teacher starts to get along with students, suddenly, he becomes an amazing teacher and he loves the student and they love him back…). Maybe I’m just too cynical for this kind of material, maybe I just never had such an amazing teacher and I’m just jealous but I just failed to see what was so amazing and/or inspiring. To conclude, I have to admit that it wasn’t really bad but I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you love the genre.

It is a rather obscure flick but since it was directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Redford, I was really eager to check it out. To be honest, I thought the title was really lame. I mean, sure, when you watch the movie, it does make sense but it wasn’t a really catchy title. Surprisingly, it actually became a box office success at the time but you could be sure that a movie like this one would never make any money nowadays. Anyway, concerning the movie itself, it was a decent watch but it was definitely not one of the best collaborations between Pollack and Redford, I’m afraid. I mean, sure, Robert Redford was really charismatic, he had some really good chemistry with the great Jane Fonda and I liked the message that corporate business would pretty much ruin anything just to get a quick buck. However, the whole impact of this movie was toned down by a very predictable romance between the two leads. Therefore, you never know for sure if you are watching a romantic flick or a social-political drama. Still, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you are interested in Sydney Pollack or Robert Redford.

Like everyone else, I was eagerly expecting this sequel and, after almost a decade, it was finally coming up so I was genuinely excited. However, when it was released, it turned out to be a flop and received some poor reviews. To be honest, it seemed hard to believe since the first installment was such a blast. Eventually, I have to admit that the critics were right as the whole thing was indeed just terribly disappointing. I mean, right from the start, with the small story starring Mickey Rourke, it felt all wrong. Indeed, they really messed up his make-up this time, Marv looked awful, way too big and at least 10 or even 20 years older than in the previous installment when he should look actually younger. Above all, the story was rather boring and the performance by Rourke, while he was amazing in ‘Sin City’, was just terribly weak and made Marv a real joke. Eventually, except for ‘A Dame to Kill For’ which is one of the best stories in the comic-book series, all the other stories were just underwhelming. The most bewildering one was maybe the last one called ‘Nancy’s Last Dance’, not only was it barely entertaining but, above all, it gave some major continuity issues with the rest of the stories. It was really stupid and, in my opinion, they gave us this tale just so that Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba and Bruce Willis, arguably the biggest stars in this franchise, had a little more screen time. Hell, even ‘A Dame to Kill For’ which was supposed to be really awesome, didn’t really impress me either. Anyway, to conclude, it is hard to believe that they took almost 10 years to deliver this, it looks like ‘Sin City’, it moves like ‘Sin City’, but it sure ain’t at the same level of this modern classic.

In my opinion, ‘Festen’ was and is a great masterpiece and it is definitely one of my all-time favorites. So, for many years, I was wondering what Thomas Vinterberg would do next and when I heard he was finally coming up with a new directing effort, I really had to watch the damned thing. Apparently, he spent 5 years on this international production which cost no less than $10 millions and it was eventually barely noticed when released receiving some rather abysmal reviews in the process. To be honest, I didn’t know all this before watching this. Indeed, I just saw it was directed by Vinterberg and I thought it was awesome that he was coming up with an ambitious international production after his sober Dogma effort. Sure, I have to admit it, the whole thing was pretty messy and it was so murky, it was almost impossible to follow. And yet, I thought there was something still strange and mesmerizing about the whole thing. I don’t know, maybe I should check it out again at some point to make up my mind for good about the damned thing. Anyway, to conclude, there is a fair chance that my rating might be too high on this one but I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Thomas Vinterberg’s work.

From the 70's until the end of the 90's, Brian De Palma was one of the most highly regarded directors but now he is pretty much forgotten and that's a pity. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for this director and even though this movie is quite obscure, I still wanted to check it out. Basically, it was the first movie De Palma made after his breakthrough with ‘Carrie’ and even though it was far from being one of his best efforts, I thought it was still a decent watch. Like most of the movies delivered by this director, the most enjoyable element was the dark and gloomy mood which managed to cover most of the paranormal non-sense delivered in this movie. It was also nice to see the charming Amy Irving who was just starting at the time and she eventually became mostly famous for being Steven Spielberg and even more famous for divorcing him for an estimated $100m. Concerning Kirk Douglas, even though the guy was already 60 years old at the time, he still wanted to play the lead but, thanks to this eternal charisma, it actually worked. To conclude, I thought it was a decent thriller and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Brian De Palma’s work.

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick but even though it has a rather lame title, I thought it was actually a solid thriller. Sure, the whole thing was pretty much straightforward and we have all seen this gimmick many times before with a murky murder case told to the police by someone involved through some flashbacks. Eventually, maybe that’s why I actually enjoyed the damned thing, the fact that it was a simple story told without too many bullsh*t. Indeed, even though most thrillers have the potential to be entertaining, in my opinion, most of them rely on some really preposterous plots and I’m pretty much sick of all those really stupid twist endings. Well, with this movie, they didn’t give us an amazing live-changing masterpiece but, at least, they provided some realistic and believable characters and a story which seemed for the most part to be plausible and I thought it was just really refreshing. On a side note, even though it seems like ages ago, back in those days, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis were one of the golden couples in Hollywood and it was one of the very few movies that they would eventually make together. To conclude, I actually have a weak spot for this flick and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I wasn't really dying to see this movie but my little daughter wanted to watch it. Apparently, the guys at Disney seem to have found a new successful concept which is to release some live action versions of their most famous fairy tales. This time, they didn’t even try to add a new twist like they did with 'Alice in Wonderland' and with 'Sleeping Beauty' and they pretty much gave the most straightforward adaptation you could think of. However, since they still wanted to reach a respectable running time, they had to stretch everything a little bit longer than actually necessary but those additions didn’t really improve the whole thing, I'm afraid. At some point, Mark Romanek was actually supposed to direct the damned thing but, as usual, he dropped off because of the usual creative differences but I can’t help wondering what he would have done with the material. Eventually, it remains watchable and fairly entertaining thanks to some decent visuals and a Cate Blanchett perfectly cast as Lady Tremaine. To conclude, I guess I wasn't really the targetted audience but, if you love traditional fairy tales, you'll probably enjoy this movie very much and you should definitely check it out.

I already saw this movie in the movie theater when it was released but, since it was available on Disney+, I was quite eager to check it out again. I remember very well when I first watched it though. Indeed, after 5 long years and a couple of disappointing sequel/prequels, Pixar has finally come back with an amazing original feature. As soon as I heard about the interesting concept, I was already excited but since they already let me down with 'Brave', I was still a little bit cautious. Eventually, there was really nothing to worry about after all. Indeed, the whole thing was just downright impressive and it worked on every possible level. As expected with Pixar, the animation was quite gorgeous, even though I could have easily done without the 3D. Above all, it is the amount of depth in the story and the characters involved that made the whole thing quite impressive. Indeed, basically, they became incredibly ambitious and decided to show what happens in the human mind, no less than that, and this journey was just fascinating to behold. To be honest,  I'm not sure if the young kids will be able to grasp what was exactly going on and even though it was sold as a family feature, I think it is above all really enjoyable for the grown-ups. Anyway, to conclude, I really loved the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you're a fan of Pixar's work.

Since I was so disappointed by 'Elysium', I kinda lost faith in Neill Blomkamp and I wasn't exactly dying to see his next directing effort. Still, I have to admit that the damned thing was intriguing so I gave it a shot. Eventually, even though not everything did work, I was actually positively surprised but the guy seriously need to try something drastically different because his gimmick is getting old very quickly. Basically, I just loved Chappie, this weird robot. Indeed, of course, it was visually impressive, which was expected with this director but, above all, I just loved his personality and he must be one of the most engrossing characters I have seen for a while. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much the only really interesting thing this movie actually had to offer. Indeed, all the other characters were terribly stereotypical and uninteresting and the plot was terribly generic and almost boring. I actually read somewhere an interview of Blomkamp in which he actually admitted that he had a passion for intricate and interesting concepts but that he also didn’t really care much about the plots and would rather focus on those clever concepts. Well, it was indeed pretty obvious in first 3 movies so far and I hope that he will some day understand that a great concept can be pretty much ruined by a really weak story. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I actually liked the damned thing and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.