Reviews by johanlefourbe

This is the very first movie I have shown to my daughter, I have seen it countless times when she was just 2 or 3 years old and I thought it was really time to write a review for this feature. The funny thing about this production is that, even though 'Pinocchio' and 'Fantasia' were both critically heralded, they were also some really ambitious projects that had cost Disney a lot and they didn't turn out to be some huge box-office success like 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'. So, back then, they decided to come up with something smaller and cheaper and, surprisingly, it turned out to be a hit. To be honest, I think that the scope was too limited to make it one of my favorites and, with a running time of barely 60 minutes, and the fact that Timothy Q. Mouse was just a recycled version of Jiminy Cricket, it did feel a little bit cheap. And yet, this Dumbo character was really awesome. Indeed, it showed some guts to have a title character who didn’t say a word during the whole thing and there were a couple of scenes involving him and his mother that were just amazing and quite heartbreaking to behold. Also, you won't see any time soon in a Disney feature an infant getting drunk and hallucinating afterwards and a bunch of black crowns smoking some huge cigars. On top of that, they gave us their weirdest (but, in my opinion, also one of their most awesome) musical sequence with the legendary 'pink elephants on parade'. Anyway, to conclude, even though it might not be one of the best productions from Disney, it is still really charming and definitely worth a look.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but I still ended up watching the damned thing. First of all, when you have a cast composed of 5 women and the most famous one is only Jaime Pressly, you should know you are in trouble. In fact, I have to admit that it was not as bad as I expected. I have actually never played the game it was based on but, at least, contrary to the dreadful 'Street Figther', they gave us a fighting tournament which looked more like one of those games. I also liked the introduction of the characters, even though the way they were invited was rather preposterous. Finally, I read that some people were not convinced by the fighting scenes but I disagree, they were pretty decent in my opinion. So, it seems that they had all the basic ingredients right which is pretty rare for a video-game adaptation but, even so, the whole thing was still underwhelming though. Indeed, even though the ladies looked charming, the dialogues and acting were really weak and, on top of that, they did add just way too many lame sub-plots and, towards the end, the whole thing completely fell apart. Anyway, to conclude, my rating might be a little too generous here, it was still pretty weak and it's too bad because the whole thing actually had some potential.

To be honest, except for Vin Diesel, I'm not sure that anyone was really dying to see yet another sequel involving Riddick. On top of that, it seems that Vin Diesel doesn't seem to be able to bring up some new material and keeps coming back with some sequels which is pretty disappointing (indeed, from the last 8 movies he made, 6 of them were sequels!). Anyway, I have to admit that Riddick is actually a pretty cool character so I still wanted to check it out. Well, eventually, this movie gave me pretty much the same feeling as its predecessors. I mean, it was not bad, it was even visually quite appealing and they definitely managed to create an intriguing world but, at the end of the day, it is still a B feature. Indeed, the plot was just too pedestrian, in fact, they pretty much used the same concept used in the first movie. Indeed, in 'Pitch Black', some huge monsters come at night and the characters have to fight for their survival releasing Riddick to help them. Here, exactly the same thing happens, except that the beasts come out when it is raining. To conclude, I'm not sure that this sequel was really needed but it was a decent watch and I guess it is worth a look if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick. Indeed, it is a very obscure flick starring Sandra Bullock before she reached stardom but since I had this dvd for already more than 3 years, I thought it was really time to watch the damned thing. Well, that was pretty terrible, that's for sure. Basically, it is one of those terrible movies in which Bullock had a very small part but they have been re-released on dvd with her displayed prominently on the box after she reached stardom. In fact, this movie would be the last very low budget thing she would make, everything after involving her would have a rather high profile. In fact, the only main scene when she showed up was actually pretty good, except for one thing. Indeed, she got involved in one of her very few sex scenes and she actually did a fine job but how are we supposed to believe that she is actually having sex if she keeps her underwear on?!? At least, if she wore a tiny thong, that could have been doable but not with those massive panties on and it really ruined the whole thing. A part from that, you had also a decent scene with Steve Buscemi but the rest was pretty much a supposedly funny but in fact very lame version of 'Donnie Brasco' with a shoestring budget. To conclude, it was pretty bad and you should rather avoid it.

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. In fact, I’m not sure which one I saw first, this movie or ‘Requiem for a Dream’. Anyway, since I’m a huge fan of Darren Aronofsky , probably one of the best directors at work nowadays, I was really eager to check this directing debut. As a matter of fact, I have noticed that this movie has received some rather mixed feedback. Indeed, either you love it or you think it is an incomprehensible mess. Personally, I do think that the whole thing tends to be a little too murky and even though it was really ambitious and often mesmerizing to behold, it was pretty obvious that it was a directing debut and it kind of lost me of a couple of times. Anyway, with this movie Aronofsky joined the selected club of directors like Christopher Nolan, David Lynch or even Kevin Smith who all had their breakthrough with a small movie made on a shoestring budget (Indeed, this movie cost only $60,000 to make, most of which was raised with contributions from the director's friends and family). To conclude, even though I don’t think it is really a masterpiece, it is still a pretty good mindf*ck and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Darren Aronofsky’s work.

To be honest, more than a decade later, it is actually rather difficult to give this movie a fair deal. Indeed, since then, not only Johnny Depp’s career has become extremely underwhelming (his last movies ‘Mortdecai’, ‘Transcendence’, ‘The Lone Ranger’ , ‘Dark Shadows’, ‘The Rum Diary’ and ‘The Tourist’ have all been some critical and commercial flops) but he has given us a terrible overdosis of Captain Jack Sparrow after no less than 4 sequels. After all this, we could almost forget that the first installment in this huge franchise was actually a really fun blockbuster. I remember it very well, I even saw it in the movie theater when it was released. Back in those days, Depp was still considered a box-office poison, many wondered how the hell he ended up playing the lead in a blockbuster like this one and many thought that this project would turn out to be a massive flop. I knew better, I was convinced that, if you gave this actor the right material, he could do pretty much anything and, indeed, Depp was just really awesome playing this iconic character. To be honest, I think that the movie itself tends to be slightly overrated though. I mean, sure, it is indeed an entertaining flick but, like most of the blockbusters, it is nothing really ground-breaking. Anyway, to conclude, if you manage to forget all the recent garbage involving Johnny Depp, it is actually a fine blockbuster and it is definitely worth a look.

Of course, I have seen this movie many times when I was a kid but I still wanted to check it out again. It is usually considered as the best installment of this whole saga and, after re-watching the damned thing once again, I believe it really deserves this status. Indeed, even though it still remains a seminal piece of popcorn entertainment, this time, it was quite darker than its predecessor and towards the end, it almost became some kind of Greek tragedy. Indeed, the climax with the duel between Skywalker and Vader has become pretty much the stuff of legends, it is still thrilling after all these years and I would be really surprised if they would ever manage to top that in the upcoming sequels. Sure, 35 years later, it seems pretty cheesy to discover the truth about Luke's father but it is because it has been copied and parodied so many times afterwards and, in fact, it was terribly effective. The good stuff didn’t stop there though. Indeed, you also had the enigmatic Boba Fett whose backstory would be really messed up in the prequels and, of course, the all mighty Yoda who would become one of the most beloved characters in this franchise. To conclude, it is a childhood classic, it is terribly entertaining and it is absolutely worth a look.

I already saw this movie, in fact, I’m pretty sure I saw it in the movie theater when it was released. Anyway, it was years ago and I was quite eager to check it out again. Well, basically, it is one of these rather obscure French movies that almost no one has seen here on listal. On top of that, Nicole Garcia is not really a major French director, even in France she is not regarded as a great director, but, somehow, I have managed to watch half of her directing efforts and I must admit that I have a weak spot for her work. Anyway, for her 3rd movie, she was working with Catherine Deneuve and the end-result was once again quite interesting. To be honest, I have to admit that I didn't remember much about the damned thing and, after rewatching it, it turned out that it wasn't an easy movie after all. I mean, I really liked the tone, the mood and most of the characters involved but the story was told in such a convoluted way. I mean, on one hand, it did make the whole thing probably more intriguing than if it would have been told in a more straightforward way. However, on the other hand, it was sometimes borderline incomprehensible and rather frustrating to watch. At least, it was very nice to have the great Catherine Deneuve to play the lead and she was really at the top of her game here. The rest of the cast was also really neat (Jean-Pierre Bacri, Jacques Dutronc, Emmanulle Seigner) even if I'm still not sure how some of these characters actually did fit into this story. Anyway, to conclude, I think I'm being slightly generous with my rating here but, I thought it was a decent feature and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Dwayne Johnson and Susan Sarandon, I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, I was at first rather positively surprised by the introduction. Indeed, everyone seems to agree that the kid made a stupid mistake by accepting the package and opening it but I don’t agree. I mean, at no point, he has said that he wanted to help his (supposedly) best friend to sell the dope and, yet, the guy sent the package anyway. Then, picture yourself as a teenager who has no real knowledge about the drug trafficking laws, would you really think of refusing the package? I mean, sure, after watching this movie, in his situation, I would definitely not accept it but, before, I’m pretty sure I would have done the same thing : sign for it and open the damned thing. So, the introduction was really strong and I was really wondering where the whole thing might go. Obviously, what happens next was rather preposterous (not only the father played by Dwayne Johnson with no police experience whatsoever becomes an improvised undercover agent but after only one delivery, he already gets in contact with a major player in the cartel) and there was way too much cowboy stuff at some point. And yet, I thought that the whole thing was most of the time quite compelling because even though the action was sometimes bordeline ridiculous, the motivations of most the characters really made sense and I think the whole thing is actually worth a look.

Basically, it is once again one of these really obscure French movies that almost no one has seen here on listal (indeed, not even 10 listal members have seen it so far). Anyway, I remember this movie pretty well, I even saw it in the movie theater when it was released. At the time, Cédric Klapisch just had his biggest box-office success, ‘Un air de famille’, but, for this follow-up, he decided to go for something more experimental, probably his most ambitious project so far. Indeed, he tried to make a SF feature but it was something more sentimental and poetic than your usual SF movie with the usual impressive special effects and futuristic gadget. Eventually, it was barely seen at the time and it didn’t get much love but I thought it was not that bad. Indeed, Kaplisch was working again with Romain Duris, his muse, and the guy was completely watchable as usual. Ok, I’ll admit that the whole story was a little bit half-baked and Klapisch didn’t completely convince me with his vision of the future but, somehow, I still liked the damned thing. To conclude, even though it is a really obscure flick, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.