Reviews by johanlefourbe

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this movie but since it was one of the last movies directed by Robert Rodriguez that I haven't seen yet, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it wasn't really good, I'm afraid. Basically, when it was released, even though it wasn’t a massive flop, it was still barely noticed and the whole thing sure didn't get much love. In fact, it all started more than 10 years ago, with the surprise success of 'Spy Kids'. Suddenly, Rodriguez really started to believe that he was actually good in the family-friendly genre when, in fact, 'Spy Kids' was never really good to start with and the movies he made afterwards were increasingly disappointing. Eventually, this one might not even be his worse one ('Spy Kids 3' was just too abysmal) but it wasn’t really far behind. Indeed, the story was terribly generic and boring, the kids all delivered some really weak performances and I seriously had a hard time to care about the damned thing. To conclude, to be honest, my rating might be actually too generous here and I really don't think it is worth a look, except if you are dying to watch every single movie directed by Robert Rodriguez.

Honestly, it has been a while since I have watched this flick and maybe I should re-watch it again at some point. Anyway, back in the 90’s, I was quite a fan of Ken Loach’s work and I’m pretty sure I saw this one in the movie theater when it was released. At the time, Loach was pretty much at the top of his game and this flick was easily one of his best. Basically, it follows his usual template, developing a drama within a hyper-realistic British barren social environment. I always had a weak spot for this fascinating approach but, this time, he also managed to give us some really interesting characters, especially the title character very well played by Peter Mullan. Indeed, it would be his breakthrough performance and the guy was rightfully acclaimed for his impressive work. On top of that, with this movie, Loach really managed to deliver almost a perfect balance between the serious dramatic moments and some lighter humorous scenes and the combination just worked like a charm. To conclude, I really liked this movie a lot and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Ken Loach’s work.

I didn’t expect this movie to be so obscure. Indeed, not even 10 Listal users have rated it so far and I was only the 2nd who apparently saw the damned thing. Anyway, for more than 20 years, I have been a massive fan of Pink Floyd and, if I’m not mistaken, the soundtrack for this movie was their first CD I ever bought. Indeed, when I wanted to discover their music, I was at the music shop with one of my best friends and when I was wondering which one I should get , for some reasons beyond me, he advised me to buy this one. Eventually, it was a good advice and I really loved the damned thing. For many years, I was wondering about the movie it was supposed to be coming from. I mean, I had never read anything about it, I had never met anyone who actually saw the damned thing but I sure wanted to see it. Eventually, I think something like 7 years later, another one of my best friends bought a DVD player and I wanted to buy him a cool movie and I finally bumped into this flick. To be honest, I don’t think this buddy really cared about Pink Floyd but I had to watch the damned thing. So, how was this movie after all? I have to admit it, it wasn’t really a masterpiece but I still enjoyed it. Basically, it is a rather typical drug drama with some decent directing and average acting but I just loved this soundtrack, it worked so well with this movie and it made the whole thing quite mesmerizing to behold. To conclude, it is definitely an acquired taste but I still think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are a fan of Pink Floyd.

Once again, it is one of these really obscure French movies that almost no one has seen here on Listal (in fact, I was the 3rd user who has rated the damned thing). It seems that Bertrand Blier never managed to breakthrough internationally but the guy always had a stellar reputation in France and I always had a weak spot for his work. In fact, I even saw this flick in the movie theater when it was released and I can’t believe that it was already 20 years ago… I feel so old suddenly… Anyway, I thought it was a really intriguing drama dealing with prostitution, even if not everything did work though. Indeed, basically, the main issue I had is that it gives a rather fanciful and glamorized vision of this profession. In fact, by showing a woman really enjoying this work, you could argue that the whole thing was pretty much the wet dream of every average hetero man. And yet, there was something quite mesmerizing about this tale above all due to the impressive performance by Anouk Grinberg, probably one of the best French actresses at the time (she even won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at Berlin International Film Festival). To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I really have a weak spot for this movie and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Honestly, it is rather difficult to judge to this movie 10 years later. Indeed, after all these years, especially after the very lame 3rd installment, it seems hard to believe that this first sequel was actually pretty good and quite enjoyable. Indeed, in fact, it all started with ‘Meet the Parents’. Back then, Robert de Niro already started to throw his amazing legacy away by showing up in some underwhelming features but, at least, those movies were watchable and, from the few comedies he has made, this one definitely worked. Hell, it worked so well, they pretty much remade the whole thing again with ‘Shrek 2’, again with some tremendous success. For the sequel, they didn’t take any risks and they pretty much took the same formula but they added some new characters played by such big stars like Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand (for Streisand, it was her first movie in almost a decade). Obviously, it remains some really low-brow entertainment but, in this genre, it was actually quite fun and I actually liked the damned thing. To conclude, even if it didn’t grow old very well, I still think it is a decent comedy and I think it is worth a look but don’t expect anything amazing before watching this movie.

I have re-watched it fairly recently and, even though it might not be a great movie, I still think it remains a pretty good SF feature. Basically, it is another one of Ron Howard’s 80’s classics but, as usual with this director, even though there was some potential, it wasn’t amazing after all. I mean, the whole concept of mixing some senior citizens (even though the senior population is growing exponentially every day, Hollywood still refuses to make movies about older people which is a real shame in my opinion) with some aliens was actually quite a genius move. Unfortunately, the whole thing never really fulfills its great potential. I mean, it’s pretty obvious that they were aiming at something like ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ but it never reaches that level. For starters, they could have dropped Steve Guttenberg. Indeed, the guy must have been one of the most underwhelming lead actors I ever seen. Eventually, of course, they had to come up with a sequel but it seems rather underwhelming so I’m in no rush to watch it. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I think it is a very original and very enjoyable SF 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 I even saw it in the movie theater when it was released, if I recall it correctly. Anyway, it was Christophe Gans's directing debut, one very talented French director who is unfortunately rather unproductive since he has made only 4 movies during the last 20 years (I still have to see his last one, another version of 'La belle et la bête', even though it doesn’t seem to be really amazing). Anyway, as it is a debut, it was far from being perfect but Gans definitely displayed some potential. First of all, the action scenes, heavily inspired by the 90’s Honk-Kong features, were pretty awesome, especially for a French production. On top of that, he managed to make Mark Dacascos, a rather underwhelming martial-artists that you would usually find in the direct-to-DVD bin, an actually charismatic lead. Eventually, I have to admit it, the plot was actually pedestrian and it is pretty obvious that Gans wanted to focus mostly on the visuals on his first directing effort but, for once, it didn’t bother me and I thought that the whole thing was fairly entertaining. To conclude, I always had a weak spot for this movie and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I remember quite well when this movie was released. Indeed, there was quite some buzz about it as it was a new steamy thriller starring Michael Doublas and Demi Moore. Especially, Douglas built up his career and reputation on such features after his success with ‘Fatal Attraction’ and more recently with ‘Basic Instinct’ so they were all hoping to have another hit with this. Unfortunately, the whole thing was eventually rather underwhelming. Indeed, after all, the only thing that really did work was the controversial poster. I mean, sure, it was a nice idea to make a movie about sexual harassment but it was a pity that it was so poorly developped. Indeed, how can we believe that Michael Douglas, of all people, wouldn’t fall for Demi Moore’s charm and she had to harass him in order to get laid? Seriously, that just didn’t work. I mean, if they had reversed the roles, that Moore was the victim and Douglas the sexual predator, then, we would have had something interesting but, apparently, the makers didn’t dare to have something so close to something realistic, so, they thought it would be smarter to take this underwhelming and unbelievable angle. On top of that, they added a very murky corporate complot which barely worked as well. To conclude, even though the whole thing had some potential, it turned to be rather disappointing and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

I remember it as if it was yesterday. Indeed, when I started to live with my (at the time, future) wife, every morning, I would watch some cartoons on TV with my step-son. He was about 8 years old at the time and even though some of them were pretty lame, some of them were actually pretty neat, there was one that clearly stood out from the rest and it was ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’. Indeed, it was such a weird and surrealistic cartoon, pretty much as enjoyable for the kids and grown-ups and I always had a good time watching the damned thing. So, obviously, when they came up with a full length feature, we had just to see the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released. Eventually, they didn’t take any risks and they made something pretty straightforward which was basically an extra long episode and even though 20 minutes of SpongeBob was fine, I had a hard time to care for 90 minutes with these wacky characters. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you enjoy the TV show.

To be honest, I didn't expect much from this movie but since Nick, my step-son, was really eager to watch it, I thought we might as well check it out right away. Well, eventually, I must admit that I was actually positively surprised by the damned thing. I mean, obviously it was no masterpiece and it remains far behind the timeless first 2 installments but for a sequel which seemed to be at first a shameles cash-grab, it was actually fairly decent. Indeed, first of all, they actually managed to deliver a fairly entertaining story and I thought it was a very nice idea to mix all these timelines together. Furthermore, I enjoyed the way they managed to add an older Arnold Scharzenegger and it was a very nice move to have him step back and give the main stage to Emilia Clarke and Jai Courntey who were very well cast. However, I think I was a mistake to have John Connor to be the main antagonist (something completely spoiled by the trailer by the way) and Jason Clarke was not a great choice for this part. How awesome it would have been if they had managed to get Christian Bale on board! Anyway, to conclude, it is actually pretty neat that they managed to deliver a decent blockbuster from a project which seemed doomed from the start and the damned thing is actually really worth a look.