Reviews by johanlefourbe

First of all, there was actually something that really annoyed me about this flic. Indeed, in France, its title was ‘Le flic de San Francisco’ (translated as ‘San Francisco Cop’) as if it was some kind of sequel or spin-off to ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ when this movie had actually nothing to do with this franchise. Anyway, through the years, somehow, I have managed to watch all the movies starring Eddie Murphy and I can tell you, it has been a terribly thankless task. Indeed, back in the 80’s, Murphy emerged as one of the biggest movie stars in the world and practically all his movies became some box-office hits. Then, in the 90’s, his work started to become already underwhelming but the audience was still apparently interested in the funny guy. Finally, in the 2000’s, his movies became more and more moronic and, above all, almost always some huge flops. Anyway, it is all very sad but, as a result, some rather weak movies like this one are eventually actually starting to look half decent after all the garbage he has made through the years. I mean, sure, it was nothing amazing whatsoever and Eddie Murphy had already made many similar movies in the past but I thought it was watchable and, for once, it was a little bit darker than his usual work which was refreshing. Anyway, all in all, even though it was not awful, it was still pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

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). Well, this is definitely one of his more obscure movies (I was only the 3rd listal member who has rated the damned thing) and it absolutely belongs to those movies where Robert De Niro is show prominently on all the promotional material when he in fact just has a supporting part. Apparently, this movie didn’t get much love, especially here on Listal, but I thought it was actually not bad at all. I mean, sure, Robert Wuhl must have been one of the most underwhelming leading man emerging from the 80’s, but Martin Landau was especially really good here and I thought that the material was actually fairly well handled here. To conclude, there is a fair chance that my rating might be too high for this movie but I still think it is a decent watch and I think it is worth a look but don’t expect anything really amazing.

Even though it is a really obscure feature (I was only the 3rd listal user who has rated it), since I had a weak spot for Richard Gere, I thought I might as well give it a try. In fact, the most interesting thing about this flick is that it was Gary Sinise’s directing debut. Indeed, even though it is rather uncommon, it happens sometimes that some struggling actors would decide to direct their own movie to launch their acting career. That’s what Vin Diesel, Billy Bob Thornton an Same Neill did and that’s what apparently Gary Sinise did as well with ‘Of Mice and Men’. Anyway, 4 years before his breakthrough with ‘Of Mice and Men’, he made this flick which was barely seen at the time but I thought it was actually not bad at all. I mean, sure, there is something quite romantic about the concept of two farmers deciding to to rob banks but I thought that the whole thing was still rather gloomy and therefore still effective. You might also wonder if Richard Gere was really the best choice for this part but I thought he gave here a fairly decent performance. To conclude, even though it is really obscure, I think it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I really enjoyed J.C. Chandor’s previous directing effort, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, first of all, to be honest, I thought the whole thing was like a very long and agonizing anti-commercial against sailing. I mean, seriously, if you ever thought of buying or renting a sail-boat and go on some adventure, you might first want to watch this movie. That’s maybe the only issue I had with this movie. Indeed, I don’t really care about sailing and watching this flick made the whole thing even less attractive to me. However, I doesn’t mean that it was a bad movie, far from it. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for such minimalist movies dealing with one character like ‘127 Hours’, ‘Buried’ or ‘Locke’ and this movie is probably one of the best in this genre. Indeed, even though we know nothing and learn nothing about the background of this lonely character, Robert Redford managed to make him really compelling to watch without any dialogues. Furthermore, it was visually impressive, it must have been terribly difficult to film but the whole thing was really spectacular and completely convincing. To conclude, even though I wasn’t completely blown away by this movie, there was still something quite mesmerizing about the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Yesterday, my daughter was really eager to see a movie and, to my surprise, she chose this one. To be honest, I didn’t know much about this flick and I first thought it was actually a drawn animated feature. I was therefore positively surprised that it was actually a stop-motion feature produced by the guys responsible for ‘Coraline’ and ‘ParaNorman’. Well, to be honest, I must admit that the whole thing was really confusing when it all started. Indeed, since the running time was fairly long for an animated feature (more than 90 minutes), it felt as if they just skipped any form of introduction and it took me seriously 20 minutes to fully grasp who was who and what the hell was going on and I can’t imagine how confusing it must have been for young kids. Anyway, when I was finally able to grasp the story, I was slightly bothered by the fact that the boxtrolls, obviously an oppressed minority, were completely helpless without the assistance of this white boy. Maybe I’m going too far in my analysis but I thought it was rather condescending that without this white boy, they would have been pretty much lost. Still, the story was actually fairly entertaining and the animation was just downright impressive. I mean, the amount of details was just amazing and I can’t imagine how much work it must have been to create all this. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was still a decent animated feature 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 was really eager to check it out again. To be honest, I always had some rather mixed feelings about the damned thing but I have to admit that I always loved the introduction though. Indeed, you get to see the main character in his hotel room, preparing for his trip, sticking some huge chunk of hashish around his body and, all this time, you could hear his heart pounding so loudly. It was a simple idea but so effective and I think I had never seen anything so intense before. Then, the guy goes to the airport, through the customs with his heart still pounding louder and louder and the pressure was just huge. I thought it was just spellbinding and nerve-wrecking. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the rest of the movie didn't work so well though. Indeed, at first, it was designed as a cautionary tale about the risks of smuggling drugs from some foreign country but, instead, it turned out to be one of these movies during which Arabic people are constantly shouting and are all basically Evil. Sure, it was still a well made and quite entertaining thriller but it was quite obvious that the whole thing was just way over-the-top and obviously fairly offensive towards the Turkish people. In fact, Billy Hayes, the guy who wrote the book it was based on and who supposedly went through all this, himself admitted that what was presented in the movie was a very exaggerated version of what happened to him in prison in Istanbul. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws and even though I think it is rather overrated, it is still a decent watch 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 was quite eager to check it out again. Anyway, even though it was released in 1969, in my opinion, it actually belongs to the great wave of amazingly inspired US movies from the 70’s. Indeed, back then, the box-office was not ruled by giant robots or super-heroes, it was ruled by such deep and dark features and this movie was a fine example. To be honest, I have never been really impressed by Jon Voight (seriously, in fact, the guy is nowadays more famous for being Angelina Jolie’s father than for his actual acting legacy) but he did make a few impressive movies and this movie is definitely one of them. And, of course, Dustin Hoffman was at the time one of the best actors in the world and he gave here one of his best performances. I still think it is a tricky movie though. I mean, both of the main characters were not exactly really like-able and you might wonder why they didn’t even at least try to have a regular job. In my opinion, it was basically displaying the destruction of the American Dream, no less than that. Indeed, they gave us this naive guy coming from Texas hoping he would make it in New York. However, instead, he did end up in the dark underworld of New York filled with misfits, filth and despair. One thing that was also interesting was that, instead of plainly stating his background, they gave us some rather fleeting bits and pieces dealing with Joe’s past showing that the guy was in fact already some damaged goods probably even before getting to New York. I also liked the look given by Dustin Hoffman during some silent scenes showing so much depth and humanity. Anyway, to conclude, it is basically a classic 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 since I had it on DVD, I thought I might as well check it out again. First of all, back in the 90's, it seemed that Mathieu Kassovitz was set to become the next great French director. Indeed, back then, he made ‘La haine’ which became a huge critical success in France and, abroad, it became also a cult-classic. Unfortunately, none of his following directing efforts became really impressive (I did love ‘Assassin(s)’ but I was probably the only person on Earth who really did like it). In fact, Kassovitz got so fed up with the movie industry that he directed only 1 movie during the last 10 years and it is even doubtful that he might direct anything new in the future. Anyway, before ‘La haine’, he came up with this movie. Sure, it was maybe not masterpiece but I thought it was a fairly entertaining romantic-comedy, no more and no less than that. It was pretty obvious that Kassovitz had been inspired by Spike Lee, especially 'She's Gotta Have It' but he could have used some worse inspiration and the lack of pretension was quite refreshing, especially coming from this director. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really ground-breaking, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

I already saw this movie but since it was available on Netflix, I was quite eager to check it out again. Back then, when this movie was released, if you would ask around, many people would have told you that this was the best movie released in 2015, no less than that. With this in mind, I had some high expectations but, to be honest, I had my doubts even before watching the damned thing. Eventually, I have to admit that it was a really entertaining action flick but not much more than that, I'm afraid. Basically, the whole thing was just a very long chase scene. Sure, I’ll give you that, it was well made and quite spectacular to behold but, seriously, the movie had pretty much nothing else to offer so I kind of missed what was so amazing about it. Concerning the casting, Tom Hardy was a good choice and he did a solid job but, like everyone else, I thought he was actually upstaged by Charlize Theron who was just really intense throughout the whole thing (and, as a result, for the time being, they won’t make another movie about Max, next, they will make instead a movie focusing on Furiosa). I don’t know, it was as if Max was more mellow than actually mad. But that's the problem with the whole chase thing, some would argue that it was just very cool to have some non-stop wall-to-wall action scenes but some character development would have been more than welcome. I have to admit that the production design was pretty amazing though but it was still not enough to cover up the fact that the story was nothing really spellbinding and just too similar to the previous installments. Anyway, to conclude, I think it is actually overrated but I have to admit that it is still a very good action flick and it is definitely worth a look.

To be honest, I have never really cared about Amy Winehouse while she was still alive. I mean, she did have an interesting voice but, especially towards the end, she looked just terrible and I mostly remembered how her chaotic behavior was described in details in the media and, soon enough, she was already gone. It seemed that she reached fame and disappeared within a few years and I didn’t pay much attention to her or her legacy. With this is in mind, I thought it was still a decent documentary, even if it wasn’t groundbreaking. Basically, the most interesting part was roughly the first half, before 'Back in Black' was released, when you get to see some rather intimate footage before she became famous. There, you had more or less the possibility to get to know who she might have been at the time and you definitely get to see her great musical potential. Unfortunately, the second half, after 'Back in Black', was much less interesting as it pretty much focused on her downward spirale without giving much new insights and it felt like a very long tabloid story. Seriously, even though I never really cared for her, I already knew most of this stuff. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you're a fan of Amy Winehouse.