Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie, I have even seen it in the movie theater when it was released, but, since I have it on DVD, I thought I might as well check it out again. I actually remember it very well when this movie was released. Indeed, since 'The Matrix' had quickly became a modern classic and even one of the most influential movies released in the 90's, the expectations for this first sequel were huge but even though it was a box-office hit, it turned out to be a critical flop, the first one of a very long streak of failures for the Wachowski siblings. Well, while I was re-watching it again, I was amazed by how I struggled to make head or tail of this story. Seriously, what a bunch of pretentious pseudo-philosophical concepts… The funny thing is that I saw it a couple of times by now but it is still some massive gibberish. The fact that I was never a fan of 'The Matrix' obviously didn’t help. Sure, this classic was visually really impressive and an absolute milestone in this area but, story-wise, half of it didn't make much sense or simply really bored me which was a shame because the original set-up was just fascinating. Well, this sequel pretty much gave me the same feeling : it was really pretty to look at, there were some impressive action scenes (The highway scene must be one of the best chases I have ever seen) but the story was either bonkers or just plain silly. In my opinion, the fact that the whole story and mythology started to fall down here shows that the first movie was never really great in the first place. At least, Monica Bellucci looked stunning but her character was really poorly developed, and it's a such a shame she never had a bigger career in the US probably because of these underwhelming sequels. Anyway, all in all, even though it was nothing great, I don't think it was so bad though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

It is definitely another really obscure feature, I was the first one who rated the damned thing on Listal and only one other user has rated it so far. Even on IMDB, there is not even a poster for it and barely anyone saw it there either. Since I have always been a fan of Neil Jordan’s work, I was still quite eager to check the damned thing anyway. The first interesting thing about this movie is that Jordan was already making movies for almost a decade (his previous movie ‘We're No Angels’ was even starring such big stars like Robert De Niro and Sean Penn) and you might wonder how he ended up directing such a small feature at this point in his career. Eventually, I have to admit it, the whole thing was not really amazing but there was something quite mesmerizing about it and I really enjoyed the mood. Eventually, they had to give us some kind of a plot and it didn’t really work but there was definitely something intriguing by the original set-up. To conclude, I thought it was a nice sweet little movie and it is really worth a look, especially if you are interested in Neil Jordan’s work.

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). However, since the beginning of this decade, he has been making about 3 or 4 movies a year and most of them were of a very dubious quality so I’m not as fanatic as I used to be about his work but I still watch some of them from time to time. Anyway, even though it can be interesting to dig up into his old work, it can be pretty thankless as well and this flick was a good example. Not to be confused with ‘The Swap’ which was released 10 years later which was basically using the same footage but re-edited resulting into a completely different movie, this flick wasn't really good, I’m afraid. At least, Robert De Niro had a lead part which was an improvement on than ‘Born to Win’, another obscure feature with De Niro displayed prominently on the promotional material when in fact he was in there just for a few scenes. To conclude, it is a really obscure feature and you should probably avoid it, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Robert De Niro.

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.