Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since '300' was quite a success at the box-office, it was only a matter of time before they came up with a sequel. Eventually, it took them 8 long years to come with a new installment and it is always risky to wait for so long since there is a fair chance that the audience wouldn’t care for it anymore which was apparently what happened to 'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For'. Anyway, I thought that this sequel was not bad but not really amazing though. I mean, first of all, in my opinion, '300' was pretty good but also rather limited and those limitations were even more obvious here. I mean, Leonidas was really missed here (apparently, Gerard Butler turned down this movie) and Themistocles was not really badass enough. Furthermore, this project was supposed to be about Xerxes which was a very neat idea and, indeed, you get a very quick bit explaining the origins of this character but, unfortunately, it was dropped very quickly and they decided to focus on Artemisia instead. Fortunately, Eva Green was really convincing and definitely the best thing in this movie. To conclude, all in all, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. Even though Brian De Palma is nowadays pretty much forgotten, I always had a weak spot for his movies, especially his earlier work. Indeed, back then, De Palma was the only man that could be considered as one of the very few directors managing to follow the footsteps of the great Alfred Hitchcock. With this movie, it was even more obvious since it was almost a remake of ‘Vertigo’ (apparently, Hitchcock himself was not amused by the similarities between both movies). Obviously, this movie never reached the level of Hitchcock’s masterpiece but I think it was still really entertaining. Indeed, something really specific about De Palma’s thrillers is the focus on how insane the characters tend to be. Sure, it is usually quite over-the-top, but, somehow, I always foudn this insanity quite compelling to behold. For De Palma, it would be his first box-office success and he would become one of the most sought after director for the next 20 years. To conclude, I think it is a pretty good thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Brian De Palma's work.

Maybe you have noticed it but I’m extremely obsessive about my movie watching and one of my very first obsessions was to watch all the movies starring Robert De Niro. Nowadays, it has become a rather thankless task since the guy keeps showing up in some rather lame features, pretty much ruining his impressive legacy in the process, but I still managed to watch 71 movies starring this actor. Anyway, during this journey, I still managed to watch some pretty obscure flicks which were eventually not bad at all and this movie was definitely one of those. I mean, I have noticed that it has received some rather low ratings but I thought it was a decent watch. Irwin Winkler already made the rather obscure ‘Guilty by Suspicion’ also starring Robert De Niro and, just a year later, they were working again on this movie. Anyway, even thought the whole thing was nothing really original, the thing I really liked is that even though De Niro was playing a terrible loser, this character was still quite compelling to behold. To conclude, even though it was far from being a masterpiece, I thought it was a decent flick and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

It has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should probably re-watch it at some point. Honestly, I always found it rather difficult to judge this movie. Indeed, back in those days, the best movie released at that time was obviously ‘Raging Bull’ so the fact that this movie eventually won the Best Picture Academy Award was always quite controversial. And, yet, I still think it is actually a really good drama though. Indeed, for various reasons, I always thought that psychology is a rather fascinating subject but not only you don’t get many movies dealing with this topic but most of them give a rather unrealistic and colorful image of such patients (see for example ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest’ or ‘Girl, Interrupted’). Well, this movie gave one of the most convincing and compelling depictions of depression that I have ever seen. Indeed, the directing was solid without being too flashy and there was a really good cast. At the time, it launched the career of Timothy Hutton who became one of the youngest winners of an Academy Award ever but this guy never really fulfilled those great expectations. To conclude, all in all, I think it is actually a very good movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Francis Ford Coppola completely ruled the 70's but it was as much a blessing as it was a curse. I mean, basically, for each movie he made afterwards, the audience was expecting another 'Godfather' or another 'Apocalypse now'. Well, it never happened and with each new release directed by him, his reputation continued to diminish and, nowadays, he is pretty much considered a has-been. Personally, I think it's a shame because he has actually made some decent flicks which are terribly overlooked and this movie is a perfect example. I mean, I’m not a huge fan and it is definitely nothing amazing whatsoever but I thought it was rather harmless and fairly entertaining. In fact, it reminded me of ‘Back to The Future’. Indeed, if you remove all the fancy gadgets, the plots are actually quite similar and maybe that’s why I had a hard time to get into this story. Indeed, I never really get this obsession to go back to the American 60’s as if it was the best time period ever. Anyway, to conclude, I thought it was a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Francis Ford Coppola’s work.

To be honest, it has been a while since I have this flick. Anyway, somehow, the small Art house movie theater nearby was showing this movie and since it was Tim Burton’s directing debut, I was really egaer to check it out. Therefore, I saw the damned thing on the silver screen. Back in those days, Burton hadn’t direct any full length feature yet and, allegedly, it was after watching 'Frankenweenie' that Paul Reubens decided to pick Burton to direct this flick. Eventually, it turned out to be a surprise success and it launched Tim Burton’s career. Anyway, I thought it was all right but nothing amazing though. Indeed, even though it was Burton’s debut, the directing was already pretty good but I thought that the main character Pee-wee Herman was seriously annoying and, above all, not really funny, so I had a rather hard time to care about him or what he was going through. I mean, it is pretty much like watching the earlier Adam Sandler movies like ‘Billy Madison’ or ‘Happy Gilmore’. Indeed, in the USA, those movies are extremely popular but when I watch those, I just see some terribly obnoxious morons. Anyway, to conclude, even though I wasn’t really blown away by the whole thing, I still think it is worth a look though especially if you are interested in Tim Burton’s work.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. I have to admit that, the first time around, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, I thought I might as well watch it. Eventually, I was really impressed. Indeed, it is definitely one of the best movies in this genre and, in fact, I do believe McQueen even gave here the best performance of his career. I mean, sure, you could argue that the whole thing was barely original but I thought it was rather well made and it was definitely a compelling tale. Considering McQueen, he basically gave the same character he always played in all his movies, but, man, he does it so well and, for once, his usual tough guy actually became quite vulnerable which was quite spellbinding to behold. Sadly, it would be his last great movie and the rest of his work would never be as compelling as it was here. Concerning Dustin Hoffman, his character was not really flashy but still entertaining nonetheless and while it was pretty much the beginning of the end for McQueen, Hoffman was at the top of his game at the time and the guy would pretty much rule the 70’s. The only critic I might have was that, after the second escape attempt, the whole thing did loose some steam for a while. Furthermore, I didn’t really understand why Papillon didn’t stay with this tribe living on a beautiful beach instead of continuing his journey. However, it was rather priceless that he was eventually betraying by some nun. Anyway, to conclude, even though it is a little bit forgotten nowadays, I really liked this movie a lot and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

A couple of years ago, Steven Soderbergh surprisingly decided to retire. Even though, this interesting director will be missed (I wouldn't be surprised if he made a come-back though), the guy was pretty much a workaholic, making very often 2 movies ever year towards the end, and it had a rather negative impact on his work. Anyway, after his impressive directing debut 'Sex, Lies and Videotape', he got involved for a while with some rather obscure features and this movie was basically one of those. I mean, I did like the directing and the way he managed to recreate this time period but I had a rather hard time to really care about the characters and what they were going through. Maybe I already saw too many movies with a similar story or maybe it was the fact that all the kids gave some rather weak and unconvincing performances. Indeed, in most of the movies dealing with kids, the children actually talk and react not as real children but more following the stereotypes that adults have about children and this movie was not an exception. However, during the second half, it became much darker and more compelling to watch and I wish they moved towards this part more quickly. To conclude, even though it didn’t really blow me away, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you're interested in Steven Soderbergh's work.

Robert Rodriguez is an interesting director but, to be honest, he has a rather mixed track-record. I mean, except for ‘Sin City’ which was really impressive, he hasn’t done anything else really amazing. Anyway, more than 20 years ago, he had his breakthrough with ‘El mariachi’ which was made on a shoestring budget. It was then followed by ‘Desperado’ made with $7 million (still a rather cheap budget but already 1000 times the amount of money used for its predecessor). Eventually, almost a decade later, Rodriguez decided to make another installment, completing already his second trilogy in 2003 (alongside the Spy Kids franchise). It was once again even more ambitious with many actors added to the cast (Johnny Depp, Mickey Rourke, Eva Mendes, Willem Dafoe and even Enrique Iglesias!). Eventually, pretty much like ‘Desperado’, I thought it was a fun movie but not much more than that, I’m afraid. The main issue, this time, is that there were so many characters that, as a result, you barely get to see Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek, supposedly the leads here. Still, back in those days, Johnny Depp was not ruling (or ruining) the box-office yet, he definitely stole the show with a really wacky performance. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, 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. In fact, the first time I saw the damned thing was in the movie theatre when it was released and I never saw it again since then. At least, until this rewatch obviously. Anyway, even the second time around, I'm afraid this movie is still David Fincher's weakest directorial effort so far. I don’t know, it seems that after directing 3 critically acclaimed features and among those, arguably 2 of the best movies ever made (‘Seven’ and ‘Fight Club’), it seems that the guy wanted to take a break and make something much more basic and simple. I mean, the die-hard fans could argue otherwise, but there was nothing really amazing about this movie and even Fincher himself described it, at some point, as a low-budget B-film. Of course, it was still not bad at all and the whole thing looked terrific, I wouldn't expect less from such a director, and it was still fairly entertaining. The point is that there was, as pointed out before, in contrary to all the other movies made by Fincher, an obvious lack of ambition to make something else, something brilliant, and as a result we ended up with a solid but still rather generic thriller. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was so far the only rather forgettable movie coming from this amazing director, it is a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in David Fincher’s work.