Reviews by johanlefourbe

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.

Honestly, it has been a while since I have watched this flick and I should probably re-watch it at some point. Anyway, I have noticed that it is probably one of Ron Howard’s most obscure movies but even though it is rather underrated, I thought it was actually pretty good. I remember it very well, back in the days, my sister (another movie buff) really liked it a lot so I got really intrigued. Eventually, just like her, I really enjoyed it. Indeed, it is probably one of the most realistic and convincing depictions of a newspaper office ever put on the silver screen (the best one remains, of course, ‘All The President’s Men’). There was also a very strong cast and I especially enjoyed Michael Keaton in one of his typical mercurial performances. It’s too bad we don’t hear much from him anymore but, unfortunately, the guy recently made an impressive come-back with the amazing ‘Birdman’. Unfortunately, as usual with Ron Howard, the whole thing was still too light, too slick to become really remarkable. To conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, I always had a weak spot for this feature and it is definitely worth a look.

Personally, I always had some mixed feelings about ‘Scent of a Woman’, the 1992 version starring Al Pacino. I mean, for the previous 20 years, Pacino had been obviously one of the greatest thespians, delivering some amazing performances especially in the 70’s (‘The Godfather’, ‘Serpico’, ‘The Godfather: Part II’, ‘Dog Day Afternoon’, ‘...And Justice for All’, ‘Scarface’,…). Eventually, to make up for their previous mistake, the Academy decided to reward him for this performance which was indeed decent but far from his best work. On top of that, it was a remake of a fine Italian movie and, in my opinion, the US version was actually weaker. I mean, between Vittorio Gassman and Al Pacino, I would have a hard time to pick up which one was the best but what was obvious is that this original version was much darker and therefore much more satisfying than the remake. Indeed, if you put Al Pacino aside, the whole thing was pretty much an underwhelming fairy tale. Here, it was really raw with much more depth. To conclude, even though I’m not sure if it was really a masterpiece, it was still a fine drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Italian movies.

At last, I'm finally done with this franchise... To be honest, I have never really understood the passion it created, either from the lovers or the haters. Sure, it is all rather weak and underwhelming but it is also rather harmless and I have seen much worse through the years. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, in my opinion, it was actually a step down from the previous installment. Indeed, Bella has finally become a vampire, she and Edward have managed to have some weird hybrid baby (by the way, it must be the creepiest baby I have ever seen) but, instead of focusing on this new set-up, they all get wrapped around some really boring supposedly climatic fight with the vampire big bosses, a fight which never happened in the book and, in fact, also never really takes place in this movie either. So, during the whole thing you wonder what the fuss is all about and, eventually, nothing really major happens after all so it felt like a pretty huge waste of time. To conclude, I didn’t really hate it and of course I didn't like it either but I certainly cannot recommend it, especially if you consider all those other far superior movies dealing with vampires.

At last, after watching maybe 20 movies starring Jackie Chan, I finally saw something that was actually worthwhile... Ok, I have to admit that I have seen mostly his US productions which are probably not his best work but still. Anyway, this was definitely a fun flick, that's for sure. I mean, as usual, the plot was pretty weak and the dialogs were sometimes rather pathetic (the fact that I have seen a dubbed version in English didn't help either, I guess) but it was still pretty entertaining nonetheless. Indeed, this whole drunken boxing style (which apparently did exist for real) was just a great concept and it was a great match with Jackie Chan's style. Indeed, most martial artists are always terribly serious but, here, Chan brings something terribly wacky to those otherwise rather reptitive fighting scenes and the end-result was just really neat. Concerning the supporting cast, they were terribly forgettable, except for the step-mother played by Anita Mui who was also really funny. To conclude, I still don't think I'm a huge fan of Jackie Chan's work, there is too much stuff that bores me in his movies, but this is a good movie, absolutely, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

For some reasons, I was really eager to check this movie for many years and I guess it was because I have a weak spot for Richard Gere and Sharon Stone. Anyway, after all these years, it wasn't really worth the wait, I'm afraid. I mean, it wasn't completey awful, I actually liked the story about this man torn between two women and, for once, I did like the gimmick of the main character randomly re-living some memories with each woman. However, pretty much everything else was really weak though. Indeed, the whole thing had the quality of a TV drama, even the cheesy soundtrack seemed to be 10 years older. On top of that, I keep saying it over and over again, Sharon Stone is actually a rather unconvincing actress but, here, even though she did sound terribly off in some scenes, I have to admit that she was decent from time to time, however, she wasn't even the worst thespian here though. No, in my opinion, Richard Gere was just really terrible. Basically, it is one of these films where Gere just brings his pretty face but actually seems to forget that he is supposed to be acting. Indeed, everything he did or said just sounded terribly fake to me. Anyway, to conclude, even though the whole thing had some potential, it just didn't work at all and I don't think it is really worth a look.

Obviously, I had seen this movie many times when I was a kid but I still wanted to check it again. After all these years, it is still usually considered as the weakest installment of the original trilogy. Even though you could blame the Ewoks, I thought they were actually pretty cool but they were definitely another piece of evidence that this trilogy is actually pretty childish. It is not necessarily a bad thing but I just believe the whole thing is much more enjoyable when you watch it the first time when you are around 10-12 years old. No, the main issue in my opinion is that this sequel is almost a remake of the first movie. Indeed, the main plot is basically to destroy another death star against all odds. Sure, it was handled differently but the goal and outcome were pretty much the same. Still, it doesn't mean it was not a really entertaining flick though. Indeed, in my opinion, the Ewoks were childish but pretty cool, the whole extended intro with Jabba the Hutt was just really awesome and I really liked the way they developed the complex relationship between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. To conclude, even though it might not be the best movie in this trilogy, it is still a fine blockbuster and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I don't know if you have noticed but I'm not a huge fan of Jackie Chan. In fact, this movie is the very first one I actually saw starring this actor. Indeed, basically, I saw it in the theater when it was released in France. Basically, since I loved Bruce Lee's movies and since Chan also had a really solid reputation, I really wanted to see something with this guy and I had some rather high expectations. To be honest, at the time, I was seriously disappointed and I really didn't connect with this flick at all. Well, about 20 years later, I decided to give this movie a 2nd chance and guess what? I thought it was actually a decent watch after all. I mean, sure, the dialogues and the jokes were still pretty lame (the fact that I saw a dubbed version in English didn't help either I guess) but the action scenes were really solid and the plot was decent enough for once. To be honest, I didn't remember much while re-watching it but I still knew that the lovely Michelle Yeoh was involved. She was good and definitely one of the best sidekicks Jackie Chan ever had. In fact, she was so good that they even made a spin-off with her character. To conclude, after seeing so many lame movies with this actor, this one is actually not bad and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.