Reviews by johanlefourbe

It is a rather obscure flick and, unfortunately, rather forgotten nowadays. To start up, even though François Ozon was heralded right from the start with his directing debut (‘Sitcom’), personally, I really had a hard time with this director but, finally, with this 4th directing effort, he finally displayed some impressive potential. Indeed, it was really heralded when it was released so I was quite eager to give this director another chance and, eventually, I wasn’t disappointed. At last, Ozon finally decided to drop his rather obnoxious over-the-top gimmicks and the guy finally delivered something more subtle and quite spellbinding to behold. Indeed, in the movie world, there has always been this obsession with youth and eternal beauty and it was so refreshing to have a movie dealing with some older people, giving us such 3 dimensional characters dealing with some real and relatable issues. With this movie, Ozon also managed to re-launch the career of Charlotte Rampling who was finally noticed again and she made more than 30 movies in the following 15 years (including 3 other movies with Ozon). To conclude, so far, it is probably the best movie directed by François Ozon and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Ever since I saw ‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind’, I had some great expectations concerning George Clooney’s career as a director but, to be honest, it seems that I might have misjudged his potential. Indeed, even though this new effort definitely had some potential, the end-result was eventually really disappointing and I would go as far as saying that is his weakest movie so far. Basically, the story was decent but the execution was surprisingly underwhelming. First of all, even though Clooney managed to gather an interesting cast (Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin), none of these characters were given any real screen time to be properly developped. Then, the next problem was that they made the mistake of sending all these characters on different missions which was a a poor decision since you didn’t have a real story but a collection of half-baked sub-plots. Finally, the biggest issue in my opinion is that the tone was just really inconsistent throughout the whole duration, awkwardly switching from deadly serious to rather really fluffy. Anyway, to conclude, even though the whole thing really had some potential, it was almost a failure and I think my rating might be actually too generous here.

I remember it quite well, I saw this movie in the movie theater when it was released. I was even with my sister if I recall it correctly. Back then, I was about 14 years old, I have finally discovered that there was something else than your usual action flicks and since the previous installments had a rather solid reputation, I thought I might as well check this one out. Well, eventually, I thought the whole thing was just seriously disappointing. I mean, I have to admit it, I never really cared for this genre and, years later, when I finally saw the previous installments, I didn’t really like them either. Eventually, the weirdest thing in this flick must be to have the notorious O.J. Simpson and Anna Nicole Smith, 2 ‘actors’ who were more famous for their torturous life than for their actual acting skills. For Anna Nicole Smith, it was the beginnning of a very short lived movie career and for O.J. Simpson , it would be the beginning of the end as it would be his final film role as a result of his murder trial which started the following year. Anyway, to conclude, I didn’t like this flick but I guess it might be worth a look if you are a fan of the genre.

It has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should definitely check it out again at some point. To be honest, I haven’t read the book this movie was based on but it sounds pretty good and maybe I will check it out at some point. Anyway, back in those days, Jean-Jacques Annaud was definitely one of the best French directors at work and certainly the only one who managed to have such a successful international career. Indeed, 5 years before, he had made the amazing ‘La guerre du feu’ and, now, he was coming back with another ambitious international production. Basically, the whole thing was a well made but still rather straightforward thriller but what made it really stand out was its interesting setting. Indeed, not only was it taking place in the Middle-Ages but also in an isolated abbey and, thanks to Annaud’s solid directing, this odd mix actually did work fine. Eventually, 20 years later, Hollywood launched another massive thriller, ‘The Da Vinci Code’, also with some religious undertones but it didn’t work very well. It worked here because Annaud managed to keep the scale as low as possible and even though you still could spot some Hollywood gimmicks, those were kept to the mininum. To conclude, even though I don’t think it is really a masterpiece, it is still a really original thriller and it is definitely worth a look.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. In fact, I remember quite well when this movie was released, there was quite some buzz about it. Eventually, I even saw the damned thing in the movie theater with my wife and kids but, personally, I always had some rather mixed feelings about this flick. Indeed, many people really despised it when it was released mostly because all the characters looked pretty spooky. Well, after all these years, this movie didn’t grow old well, I’m afraid, and it is still pretty damned ugly, especially the characters who all look like some creepy lifeless dolls. And yet, beside this major issue, it is actually not a bad movie though. Indeed, I just loved the breathless action scenes and, even though most of the the Christmas movies are just so tedious, this one was actually bearable and even fairly entertaining. On top of that, I always find it interesting when a director tries to experiment with something new and I think that Robert Zemeckis should be praised for that. Indeed, except for the human characters, it was visually pretty neat and there were also some dazzling action pieces. Basically, it was a half-baked experiment but like any experiment, you should respect the people who tried to push the envelop a little more. Eventually, Zemeckis would direct 2 more features using the same technology (my favorite would be ‘Beowulf’) but none of these movies would manage to really impress the audience or the critics. It must have stinged like a b*tch though when James Cameron came around with ‘Avatar’ which was using a similar concept but still managed to have a monster hit at the box-office. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I remember very well when this movie was released. At the time, there was quite some buzz about it. Indeed, back then, Quentin Tarantino was suddenly the hottest thing in Hollywood and it was his second feature length screenplay (his first one was ‘True Romance’). Indeed, following his new success with ‘Reservoir Dogs’, Tarantino was a hot property and everything he had done before was quickly released to profit from the hype as much as possible. Still, the script was rewritten so much by Oliver Stone, producer Richard Rutowski and screenwriter David Veloz that eventually the finished film beared little resemblance to Tarantino's original script. Anyway, how was the movie itself? Even though it was really controversial when it was released and even though it was obvious they tried to make a 90’s version of ‘Clockwork Orange’, I don’t think it was really that amazing. Don’t misunderstand me, I thought it was still a pretty good movie and I enjoyed the kinetic directing but, to be honest, even though Stone is pretty clever, he is not Kubrick and I thought that Mickey and Mallory were rather shallow and not really interesting. To conclude, in my opinion, it is actually far from being a real masterpiece but it is still a pretty good flick though.

To be honest, I wasn't exactly dying to see this movie but my daughter was really eager to see it so we ended up watching it in the movie theater. This year, she turned 9 and, suddenly, she has decided to suggest some movies which is fine but, last time, she chose to see 'Home' which was not bad but way too childish for my taste. This time, I thought, it would be a little bit more entertaining but, eventually, the whole thing was still rather underwhelming. I mean, to start off, even though 'Despicable Me' and its sequel were not bad, I still think those movies were rather overrated. However, it was really obvious that the minions were by far the best thing in this franchise and a movie focusing on them was rather promising. Unfortunately, they came up with a rather underwhelming plot and I can't say I really cared for this story. Basically, the whole thing is supposed to show how those minions ended up with Gru which wasn't really a bad idea but this whole concept was rather poorly handled and this journey was basically rather boring. Still, at least, the animation was fine, those little yellow guys were fun to watch and my daughter had a good time so that's still worth something, I guess.

I already saw this movie when it was released but since it was such a long time ago, I was quite eager to see it again. I remember it quite well, before it was released, there was quite some buzz about it, the whole thing seemed to be a really ambitious project and some thought it might be as good as ‘Gladiator’. Eventually, it didn’t get much love when it was released. In fact, I'm maybe in the minority but I actually liked this flick and, as a matter of fact, I thought it was even better than 'Gladiator'. I know, Orlando Bloom is not really an amazing lead actor and he has been mostly blamed for this failure and I have to agree that he was the weakest point in an otherwise stellar cast but this movie had more to offer than the famous sandal epic, at least, in my opinion. Indeed, it was pretty spectacular and rather well grounded in history (at least, it felt so). On top of that, I'm always intrigued by movies dealing with religion and I thought this one was pretty good, even if it was a flop back then. A few years later, Ridley Scott released a director's cut with 40 mins of extra running time and this longer version has been much better received so I might check it out at some point. Anyway, to conclude, even though it has a rather lousy reputation, I have actually a weak spot for this movie and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Ridley Scott’s work.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. I wish I saw this time the Final Cut but I saw (again) the Redux version but maybe I will buy the Final Cut at some point. Anyway, eventually, it is rather difficult to judge this movie without thinking about how messed up the production was. Indeed, the behind-scenes details have become pretty much as famous as the movie itself but we shouldn’t forget that this flick was on its own quite brilliant already. Through the years, the Vietnam war has been a big source of inspiration for the American directors and, in this genre, it must be one of the best (I still prefer ‘Platoon’ though). To be honest, it is not the easiest film to digest but, after multiple re-watches, there are still many things to get from it. However, after rewatching it again and rewatching the longest version on top of that, I was rather surprised by easily it went down this time around and I was probably even more fascinated by the damned thing. Seriously, pretty much right from the intro with ‘The End’ by the Doors, I was actually already pretty much hooked and, even if this movie is not flawless, there are some many iconic and unforgettable scenes though. Eventually, for Coppola, who spent 16 gruling months shooting this flick, spending pretty much all his money, losing about 45 kilos while filming, even threatening suicide several times during the making of the film, it seems that the film permanently burned him creatively and, unfortunately, he never managed to make again something so amazing during the next 35 years. Anyway, to conclude, it is a rare movie I enjoy more each time I watch it, it is pretty much a classic and a must see for any decent movie lovers.