Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and, if I recall correctly, I saw it in England in the movie theater when I was living there at the time. Back then, I wasn’t really familiar Zhang Yimou’s work (in fact, even today, I still haven’t watched his best movies) but since the guy had a really solid reputation, I was really eager to check one of his movies. Eventually, I was quite impressed and I liked this movie a lot. It is actually funny that, a year later, Ziyi Zhang will get her breakthrough with ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ and she will be involved in many kung-fu movies later on her career but, in fact, her acting debut had nothing to do with martial-arts at all (in fact, she is not actually a trained martial artist). Coming back to our main feature, it is a simple tale taking place in the Chinese countryside in the 40’s if I’m not mistaken. Basically, it is a rather straigtforward love story but Zhang Yimou is quite a story teller and I thought the whole thing was quite spellbinding to watch. To conclude, even though it is pretty much forgotten nowadays, I thought it was really good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Asian movies.

Nowadays, I keep watching the movies directed by Ken Loach but even though they are decent, it has been a while since he made something that really impressed me. It’s too bad because, back in the 90’s, I was quite a fan of his work, he directed his best movies and this one was definitely one of my favorites. Indeed, you have his usual sober and realistic directing style, almost documentary-like, with the usual bleak British social background. The big difference with this movie is that the tale was really compelling and I really cared for the characters involved which was unfortunately not really the case concerning Loach’s more recent work. Concerning Robert Carlyle, pretty much like Loach, back in the 90’s, he was probably one of the most compelling actors at work (especially after his breakthrough in ‘Trainspotting’) and it’s too bad he doesn’t do anything really amazing nowadays. In this movie, he was giving his full feature length debut and, right from the start, it was pretty obvious that the guy was the real deal as he gave a really solid performance. To conclude, even though it is nowadays pretty much forgotten, it is actually a really good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since Nick, my step-son, was really eager to watch it, I bought this on dvd. Well, at least, it was slightly better than the really lame 'The Legend of Hercules' which was released a few months before. Indeed, it was apparently a pet project for Dwayne Johnson and I have to admit that the guy was perfect for the title role. There was also a decent supporting cast (Ian McShane, John Hurt, Rufus Sewell, Joseph Fiennes, Peter Mullan, Joe Anderson and Irina Shayk even managed to show her nice little ass even though she had only maybe 2 minutes of screen time!). Unfortunately, that’s pretty much the only positive things I could find regarding this movie. Indeed, they tried to convince us that they would give a different take on this legendary figure (this time, the guy is not a demi-God, he is actually a mercenary who can fight very well, pretty much like Achilles in 'Troy') but I didn’t really buy it and I thought it was in fact rather boring. Towards the end, they even added a supposedly clever twist but it was just as underwhelming as the rest. To conclude, it could have been worse but it was pretty weak and I don't think it is really worth a look.

Personally, maybe because I’m in fact just a little pervert, I have always been intrigued by sexuality in the movies. Indeed, it is not very often that you see this subject well handled in a movie and I always find it ridiculous that American movies have no problem to show any kind of violence but, with the most typical sex scene, you will have the woman almost always not removing her bra to have sex which is always laughable. So, from time to time, you get a mainstream picture actually daring to be more explicite and I’m always curious to see if they finally handled this subject in a satisfactory manner. With this in mind, I decided to check this flick which had gathered quite a controversial reputation since its release. Eventually, it was a decent watch but I can’t say I was blown away by the whole thing. Indeed, the sex scenes were not bad but, to be honest, there was such a heavy and gloomy mood throughout the whole thing, it made the movie a little bit depressing. On top of that, the tale and the characters involved were seriously murky so I had a hard time to connect with this flick. To conclude, even though it was flawed, I still think it was an intriguing feature and I think it is worth a look, especially if you’re looking for something more explicite without being some porn.

Since I have a weak spot for Jonathan Demme's work, I was quite eager to check this movie. Eventually, it turned out to be a really wild comedy and I almost really enjoyed it. First of all, I just loved the soundtrack, it was exactly my kind of music and it was even more unexpected from a movie from the 80's since those movies have usually the most lame and cheesy soundtracks you can possibly imagine. Coming back to the movie itself, for once, I thought that Melanie Griffith was really well cast and actually quite convincing. Concerning Jeff Daniels, he is definitely a more dependable actor than Griffith but, to be honest, I have seen him play such roles too many times before to really care. Eventually, the whole thing really had some potential but, at the end of the day, I just had the feeling that the characters were pretending to be crazy, I don't know, maybe, it was just too whimsical for my taste. Still, when you get to see the great Sister Carol singing a great tune during the end-credits, you definitely get a few extra points from me. To conclude, it was still an original comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

It has been a while since I have seen this flick and I will definitely re-watch it whenever I get the opportunity. The saddest thing about this flick is that it was Roger Avary only 2nd directing effort after a 20 long years and I hope the guy will come up some day with something new. I thought that his directing debut ‘Killing Zoe’ was really solid but this second directing effort really impressed me. Indeed, it must be the darkest but also the most compelling depiction of the college life I have ever seen. First of all, you had a very interesting cast filled up with some up-and-coming actors (James Van Der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon, Jessica Biel, Kip Pardue, Kate Bosworth, Ian Somerhalder, Jay Baruchel, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Clifton Collins Jr.). Above all, I really loved the tone. I mean, there is truly a lot of despicable stuff going on and, yet, the whole thing was always entertaining and I thought that those really flawed and messed up characters were really fascinating to behold. Concerning James Van Der Beek, I’m pretty sure it is the only interesting flick I have seen starring this guy (ok, ‘Varsity Blues’ was not bad either…). To conclude, I think it deserves a better reputation 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. First of all, I have noticed that this movie doesn’t really have a stellar reputation but I always had a weak spot for this flick when I was a kid. Indeed, back then, I must have been 12 years old when I first watched it and I thought at the time that the concept was quite fascinating. Back in those days, Arnold Schwarzenegger was probably the most badass action star and even though this movie didn’t reach the level of ‘Predator’ which was released the same year, it was still not bad at all. Well, after re-watching the damned thing after all these years, I have to admit that it didn't completely work. Still, half of it was actually pretty neat. Indeed, Arnold Schwarzenegger was perfect to play the lead and I really liked how the main character was a decent guy who was still fairly cynical as he didn't care much about the rebellion. Richard Dawson was also pitch-perfect. However, the rest of the characters were all rather poorly developed, especially the character played by Maria Conchita Alonso who had such a ridiculous arc going from from a dumb bimbo to an innocent victim and finally becoming a revolution fighter. Above all, the directing was rather weak and the tone should have been darker (the happy ending was for example rather lame) but, on the other hand, Paul Michael Glaser had been hired at the very last minute after 4 other directors had been fired or dropped out from this project. Anyway, to conclude, even though this movie was not as awesome as I remembered, I still think it is a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I really enjoyed Kenneth Lonergan's debut, 'You can count on me', I was really eager to check his following directing effort and I was rather surprised that it took him more than a decade to finally come up with something new. Apparently, the movie was actually done much earlier, around 2006, and it was stuck for 5 years during the editing process because Lonergan's version was about 3 hours long but he was supposed to make something much shorter. Eventually, Scorsese edited the theatrical version which was still 150 minutes long and, even though it was barely seen, it was actually heralded as a masterpiece nonetheless by many critics such as Roger Ebert. To be honest, even though I thought it was quite intriguing with some very strong performances, especially by Anna Paquin, I can’t say I thought it was really amazing. I mean, the main story was not bad but did it really require such a long running time? I thought the whole thing was honestly completely all over the place constantly jumping from another trivial sub-plot to the other without really finishing what they already developed. On top of that, the main character was pretty annoying and even though her behavior seemed pretty consistent for a teenager, I'm not sure that I really cared to see her going basically nowhere for almost 3 hours. To conclude, I think that there was a lot to admire here, it was definitely an ambitious drama and even though I think it was just way too flawed to be called a masterpiece, it is still worth a look.

Like everyone else, I was very pleased by Matthew McConaughey's come-back but who would have expected him to win an Academy award so fast following this welcome renaissance? With this in mind, I was really eager to check this flick and I wasn't disappointed. I mean, pretty much like when Ben Affleck was called the worst actor in the world, I always believed that McConaughey had some potential, he just needed to pick up some decent material and, here, he goes all the way giving one hell of a performance. Concerning the story itself, it was definitely a strong tale, even though not everything did work. For example, I had a rather hard time to care for Jennifer Garner's character and, later on, I discovered that this woman was actually made up for the film which made this character even more superfluous. Apparently, even Jared Leto's character didn’t exist either so, even though Leto was pretty strong, I find it rather difficult to justify the addition of this transvestite. I mean, it seemed like a cheap way to get some attraction with a misfit embodying some of the most common stereotypes about HIV patients at the time. To conclude, even though it wasn’t really flawless, thanks to a really impressive McConaughey, I really enjoyed the damned thing and I think it is definitely worth a look.

Honestly, it is quite an obscure flick and I wasn't expecting much but since I had this movie on dvd for so long, I thought it was really time to watch the damned thing. Well, eventually, it was a rather straightforward and weak road-trip and I really had a hard time to care about the whole thing. I mean, I have to admit it, Christopher Walken was actually really good, as usual, and it was very neat that he was playing the lead for once. Unfortunately, pretty much everything else in this movie was just underwhelming. For example, Alessandro Nicola has never really impressed me in this movie or even before and he was just not charismatic enough to play the lead character (apparently, Sam Rockwell was to play the lead at some point and he would have been a much better choice). Then, you had Sharon Stone, an actress who was a late bloomer but, except for the great 'Casino', she hasn't done anything amazing during the rest of her career. Nowadays, just like in this movie, she usually shows up for a couple of scenes playing (rather poorly) some rather obnoxious lady. Anyway, to conclude, even with the great Christopher Walken, it was a rather weak feature and I don't think it is really worth a look.