Reviews by johanlefourbe

It has been a while since I have seen this flick but I always had a weak spot for the damned thing. The first thing I really enjoyed was the way Robin Williams handled this character. Indeed, I always had a lot of respect for his work but it was just great to see him playing a completely different character and, for once, to tone down, no, to completely erase his usual hysteria. Indeed, I thought Williams was just really impressive and he received some deserved critical praise for his performance. Concerning Mark Romanek, he has built up a rather impressive career as a video-clip director and he is even considered as one of the very best in this field so it was only natural that, at some point, he would move forward with feature films. Well, even though this feature was not a masterpiece, it was still quite promising and it’s a shame that it took him 8 long years to come up with a follow-up (the also intriguing ‘Never Let Me Go’). The point is that he got involved in many projects that were either cancelled (‘The Lost Symbol’) or from which he just dropped off (‘The Wolfman’). Anyway, to conclude, even though it misses something to become truly remarkable, I thought it was a solid thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Oh dear... I really had a hard time to get into this flick. I mean, first of all, even though I thought that the concept of the first installment was interesting, I can't say I was completely sold by the end-product and, with this sequel, it wasn't really better, I'm afraid. Sure, there were some moments that did work but most of it was in fact rather dull. I mean, the whole thing was pretty much like watching a bad movie and pretending that it is actually something better than it actually was. Eventually, the weirdest moment might have been when you get to see Alexa PenaVega in a very revealing outfit. As a result, at the same time, you are torn apart between the fact that she looks actually pretty good and the fact that, no so long ago, you used to watch her with your own children when she was just a kid in those 'Spy Kids' flicks also directed by Robert Rodriguez. A part from that, there was once again a fun cast apparently having a blast doing all kind of crazy sh*t and all trying really hard to convince the viewers that this flick was actually really entertaining. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn't really work for me, it was still not so bad after all and, if you love the genre, you might end up enjoying it more than I did.

That's another really obscure flick. Basically, I bumped into this flick and I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, it turned out to be a hell of a really bad movie. To be honest, I really had a hard time to get what it was all about. I mean, I heard that NSYNC was involved but, except for Justin Timberlake who was pretty easy to recognize, I had no idea when they actually pop-upped. Indeed, I thought there were at least 20 guys in this movies that could have been in a boy-band and, it figures because no less than 5 different boy-bands gave some cameos here. So, you get the idea, watching this flick was like watching a very bad video clip lasting 90 minutes involving a whole bunch of boy-bands. Indeed, it was pretty lame. The only redeeming features were to see a very young Britney Spears just when she started to become pretty huge and also Dwayne Johnson when he was still known as The Rock in his very first part. That’s it, I'm afraid. The rest is pretty much a cringe-inducing feature with a laughable plot, some awful acting and it is pretty much one of the worst movies I have seen recently.

I have noticed that this movie received some rather mixed reactions and some people even really hated it. Personally, I'm a huge fan of 'Cube' (which I really need to re-watch by the way) so I was quite eager to see this following effort directed by Vincenzo Natali. Well, I thought it was pretty good. Apparently, Natali wanted to make this movie right after 'Cube' but he thought that the technology was not ready yet and I think he made the right decision as the whole thing looked pretty impressive. Futhermore, Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley were very well cast and they both delivered some solid performances. Finally, the thing I enjoyed the most was how they perfectly mixed several genres like SF, horror, thriller and even some dark comedy and it actually worked very well, most of the time. Unfortunately, it was still missing something to become truly remarkable. Indeed, the whole concept was really intriguing and rather well developed but, very soon, I was wondering what they were getting at and that was the problem, nowhere specifically. Basically, they created this impressive being but this movie didn't have much less to offer which was a little bit disappointing. The underwhelming violent ending is another example of how clueless they seemed to be about dealing with this creature. Still, in spite of its flaws, it thought it was a decent flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Of course, I had some low expectations before watching this flick but even so I thought it was really awful and easily one of the worst movies I have seen for a while. Indeed, basically, it is a collection of supposedly funny segments but they were just really cringe-inducing and I don't think I can pick up a segment which was actually slightly worth a look. Apparently, I have seen an alternate version intead of the one released in the US but there is no way that I'm going to check this other version just too make sure that it is just as bad as the one I have seen. The most bewildering thing about this project is the stunning number of famous and sometimes even really good actors that got involved into this. My best guess is that it was some kind of domino effect : actor A said yes, then since actor A said yes, actor B thought he should say yes as well, and then actor C had to say yes too,.... Apparently, I was right, Hugh Jackman was the first one to get on board, then Kate Winslet was next so they shot first their segment that was shown to convince the rest. Anyway, this flick is an utter commercial and creative failure, you wonder how many decent low budget features could have been made instead with all these talented actors and directors, it is absolutely not worth a look and you should avoid it.

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this movie and maybe I should give it a second chance. On top of that, I saw when it was released in the movie theater and I must have been 15-16 years old so perhaps I was just too young to appreciate it. The point is that I didn’t like it much. Indeed, back then, I kept hearing some great things about Michelangelo Antonioni who was supposedly one of the greatest masters, the guy was back after more than a decade with a new feature so I was expecting something truly amazing. Well, eventually, I think it was the first time I saw a movie that was so filled with some pseudo-philosophical bullsh*t. I mean, sure, there were a few nice naked ladies but I had a really hard time to care for the rest. There was also a nice cast (Fanny Ardant, Irène Jacob, John Malkovich, Sophie Marceau, Vincent Perez, Jean Reno, Inés Sastre, Peter Weller, Marcello Mastroianni, Jeanne Moreau) but the whole thing was just rather pretentious and seriously boring to behold. To conclude, I thought it was a really disappointing feature and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of the genre.

Since I was born in 1980, obviously, I didn't see the original trilogy in the movie theater when it was released but I saw those movies many times with my dad on TV when I was growing up. However, I did manage to watch the second trilogy in the movie theater and when the first installment was released, it was huge, probably the biggest cinematic event I have ever witnessed in my whole life. So, the hype was massive and even though it was a huge box-office success, even the highest grossing movie released that year, it was eventually rather poorly received. I mean, after all, with such a hype, there was a fair chance that it would disappoint but the whole thing was just not really good, I'm afraid. In my opinion, it was still really neat to get back to this mesmerizing world and, visually, it was pretty amazing, even if you watch it nowadays more than 15 years later, it is still impressive. Unfortunately, the whole thing was rather poorly written. Indeed, the main concept was the discover of Anakin Skywalker by the order of the Jedis which was a fine idea but the way they get there was just really convoluted, not really convincing and, above all, not really entertaining. For example, take the pod race, it is probably one of the most thrilling sequences in the whole franchise and, yet, what does it has to do with the actual story? Not much, I'm afraid. The rest of the story was actually even worse as it was some kind of very murky political intrigue. Finally, one last misguided choice was to introduce Darth Maul, one of the most badass characters in this whole franchise, and eventually killing him off after he barely spoke any words and after he gave just one cool lightsaber duel. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is a decent watch though but it was certainly not the masterpiece that many were expecting to see after waiting for so many years.

I’m not sure if this movie is really famous abroad but, in France, it is pretty much a massive classic. Indeed, I remember when it was released, I was just a kid but there was a huge hype around this movie at the time. Eventually, I saw it again many years later with my kids and I was once again quite impressed by the whole thing. I mean, obviously, it is basically a gimmick, to have a movie focusing mostly on some animals and it definitely had some limitations. I mean, it is really tricky to get such wild animals involved in some plot and it felt a little bit forced sometimes. And, yet, Jean-Jacques Annaud managed to give some really beautiful scenes here and the whole thing definitely had something quite poetic. With barely any dialogue and almost no soundtrack, it is a rather minimalistic affair but also quite mesmerizing. 16 years later, Annaud tried something similar with ‘Deux frères’, a movie involving 2 tigers, but even though the end-result was interesting, it was even more far-fetched and therefore less satisfying. To conclude, I think it is quite an unique feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see something a little bit more experimental.

Like everyone else, I have been quite impressed by David O. Russell's recent come-back. Indeed, I really liked 'The Fighter' and I completely loved 'Silver Linings Playbook' which surprisingly turned out to be my favorite movie released in 2012. So, when I heard that he was already coming back so soon with another ambitious project involving in all-star cast with most of the actors from his two last projects, I got pretty excited. On top of that, it was nominated for no less than 10 Academy Awards so it sounded pretty amazing. Well, eventually, it was pretty good but I can’t say I was really blown away by the whole thing though. Indeed, basically, it was a decent story but I couldn't help thinking that they were hiding its weaknesses behind some rather supposedly deep voice-overs and by casting some big actors for virtually all the talking parts. I mean, don’t misunderstand me, all the actors involved delivered a fine job and it was entertaining but it wasn't a really great story. One issue I had for example is that it starts up with 2 con artists who were represented as some really low life criminal losers and, yet, when the plot needed it, they became some kind of geniuses. Also, once again, just like for 'Silver Linings Playbook', I thought that Jennifer Lawrence was just too young to play a young mother. I mean, seriously, she was maybe 22 years old when she shot this movie. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look but don’t expect anything amazing before watching it.

Personally, even though he hasn’t done anything really amazing for at least a decade, I always been a huge fan of Kevin Spacey. Still, you wonder somehow how he got involved in some of his projects like this one for example. Indeed, how on Earth did they come up to cast him as a famous Irish crime lord?!? Also the fact that I saw before, about the same subject, ‘The General’ directed by John Boorman, a really better movie, it didn’t help either. Still, this Martin Cahill was quite a fascinating character and the whole thing was still fairly entertaining. Another neat thing about this flick was the nice supporting cast (Linda Fiorentino, Peter Mullan, Colin Farrell, Christoph Waltz). Indeed, here, you get to see a young Colin Farrell just before his breakthrough with ‘Tigerland’ and, even more interesting, you get to see Christoph Waltz who was completely unknown at the time and it will take almost a decade before we would eventually get acquainted with this actor thanks to ‘Inglourious Basterds’. Eventually, the whole thing felt like a rather half-baked project based on a fascinating story involving some interesting actors, even though half of them were rather miscast. Still, I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.