Reviews by johanlefourbe

Honestly, while watching this flick, I couldn’t thinking ‘what the hell happened to Chris Columbus?’ I mean, I never been a huge fan of this director but he always seemed rather ambitious and managed to launch 3 different franchises (‘Home Alone’, ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Percy Jackson’). However, this time, he came up with a movie which was really small in scale but also quite irrelevant at this stage of his career. Anyway, I still wanted to check this flick and I was really amazed by how the whole thing was underwhelming. Indeed, it is basically one of those movies which starts up with a really lame and cringe-inducing introduction and, right from the start, you wonder if they will ever be able to recover from the damage done. On top of that, I thought that Paul Rust was a really poor choice for the lead and they honestly could have come up with someone a little bit more interesting and/or charismatic. At least, Hayden Panettiere was really charming and she did what she could with the material but the whole concept was pretty weak and too predictable. To conclude, I think I’m being rather generous with my rating here and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

First of all, I have noticed that even though Robert Redford managed to win the Best Director and Best Picture Academy award for his directing debut ‘Ordinary People’, I have the feeling that the guy has never been really taken seriously as a director. Maybe it’s because we couldn’t accept the fact that ‘Ordinary People’ won over ‘Raging Bull’ which was arguably superior. Anyway, I always had a weak spot for this director, by now, I have seen all his directing efforts, and I think this flick was one of his best. Indeed, I thought it was a very subtle and intriguing study about the impact of television, already 60 years ago. Eventually, it shows that television can be entertaining but also terribly manipulative, something that has never changed. Back in those days, Ralph Fiennes just had his breakthrough in ‘Schindler's List’ and, here, he once again delivered a solid performance. Eventually, he would eventually become one of the best actors of his generation. To conclude, even though it is nowadays pretty much forgotten, I thought it was a rather fascinating feature and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Robert Redford’s work as a director.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Kate Hudson, I thought I might as well give it a try. To be honest, it wasn’t really good, I’m afraid. I mean, Kate Hudson is a really charming actress but, unfortunately, she always play same supposedly whimsical chick in some rather average romantic-comedies like this one and it is very rare that she actually takes any risk (the only examples I can come up with are ‘The Killer Inside Me’ which I still haven’t watch and ‘The Skeleton Key) . On top of that, I thought that the whole concept was just terribly pedestrian so I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing. At least, the supporting cast was interesting (John Corbett, Joan Cusack, Hayden Panettiere, Abigail Breslin, Helen Mirren, Felicity Huffman, Amber Valletta) and it was especially neat to see a very young Hayden Panettiere before she became a household name with ‘Heroes’. To conclude, I have seen worse but I think it is a really average romantic-comedy and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of the genre.

I can’t believe it is already 20 years since this movie has been released. Damn.. It makes me suddenly feel really old. To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and maybe I should re-watch it at some point. I guess I’m a little nostalgic while looking back at this movie but I was about 14-15 years old the first time I watched the damned thing and I was quite able to identify with the characters back in those days. Eventually, it is pretty weird to think that Ben Stiller, with his track-record, would direct something like this but it was an interesting directing debut and it’s too bad he never really explored this other side. To be honest, just like its main characters, the whole thing was a little too vacuous to be really amazing but I thought it was quite entertaining anyway. Concerning Winona Ryder, back in those days, she was one of the most popular actresses in the world but it wouldn’t last for long, I’m afraid. On the other hand, Ethan Hawke was still struggling to get back to the success he got with ‘Dead Poets Society’ and it seems that it was this flick that finally re-launched his career. To conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, it is still a decent cult-classic and it is definitely worth a look.

It had been a while since I have seen this flick so I thought it was time for a re-watch. Well, even though it must have been at first quite an ambitious project for Steven Spielberg, eventually, it turned out to be one of his most forgotten movies. It's too bad because I think it is actually pretty good. Indeed, in my opinion, it was a great story and it dealt with a very important subject but, I have to admit it, the movie itself was not really amazing. Indeed, the story was quite intriguing and there was an impressive cast (Morgan Freeman, Nigel Hawthorne, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Pete Postlethwaite, Stellan Skarsgård, Anna Paquin, Chiwetel Ejiofor) but I thought that the whole thing tried to be way too much theatrical for its own good. It’s like having Spielberg gently whispering in your ear all the time ‘Don’t worry, it is all very depressing but it’s still just a movie after all’. Years later, he would come back with another movie slightly about the same subject, ‘Lincoln’, and he would definitely nail it this time. To conclude, even though it never really reached its full potential, I still believe it is a solid historical drama 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 and since it was available on Netflix, I was quite eager to check it out again. Back in those days, James Ivory was pretty much at the top of his game and following the huge critical of ‘Howards End’, he was going back with pretty much the same team including producer Ismail Merchant and once again Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson playing the leads. Eventually, I really enjoyed the lovely and gentle mood, the pacing was also fine, even if nothing much happens after all. The fact that the main character never evolved probably didn’t help but it made sense though. Anyway, I was above all impressed by Anthony Hopkins who was once again so brilliant and really pitch-perfect here. Basically, after a while, I forgot I was watching Hopkins as he completely disappeared into this character. As a result, even though Emma Thompson was fine, she was slightly less convincing though (it is not an easy task to perform next to someone so good though). Indeed, when I was watching her, I was still really conscious that I was watching a bright modern woman acting as if she would be attracted to such an old-fashioned uptight man completely unable to express his feelings and thoughts. Eventually, the fact that I never really believed in their doomed romance was definitely an issue. Concerning the historical part, it was definitely intriguing, how this household, master and servants, was apparently completely sheltered from the rest of the world and basically manufactured their own views and thoughts which obviously had not much to do with what was actually going into the real world. I still think it was rather frustrating that they kept repeating the same scenes over but skipped completely WWII and its aftermath on this household. Anyway, to conclude, it is still quite a subtle feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Nowadays, Brian De Palma’s career has become rather disappointing but there was a time when the guy was one of the most interesting directors around. I always had a weak spot for this director and, therefore, I was really eager to check this flick. After his biggest flop with ‘The Bonfire of the Vanities’, De Palma reluctanctly came back to the genre he has been the most assiociated with, the psychological thriller. To be honest, it was definitely not one of his best flicks but I thought it was entertaining enough. Indeed, obviously, the whole thing was terribly far-fetched but I find it actually rather fascinating when a thriller tries to go a little bit deeper into the psychology of its characters, even though it didn’t make much sense here. On top of that, it was just really neat that John Lithgow, who actually started his career with Brian De Palma with ‘Obsession’ and later on with ‘Blow Out’, was for once playing the lead. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was still a decent thriller and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Brian De Palma’s work.

Basically, it was once again one of these rather obscure French flicks that I watch once in a while. To be honest, I'm not exactly a huge fan of Claire Denis's work but there is always something intriguing in her movies and this one was a perfect example. Indeed, the whole thing was pretty enigmatic, even concerning the title, the characters have 2 short conversations about the topic but we are never near an explanation and this cryptic quality is what makes this movie work but it makes the whole thing also rather frustrating to watch. Indeed, there was barely any dialogues and when the characters spoke, it was never really clear what they actually meant as they often spoke in riddles. And yet, it was nice for once to have some real characters, with some real jobs living a real life instead of the artificiality provided by your average Hollywood production. Also, you were not spoon-fed what the characters were thinking or what you should think about what's going on, you had to make those conclusions on your own. To conclude, even though I wasn't completely blown away by the whole thing, it was still an interesting watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but with such a cast, there was no way I wasn't going to watch it at some point. And, indeed, the whole thing was pretty much like a all-star game of acting (Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, Susan Sarandon, Robin Williams, Ben Barnes) but, unfortunately, this interesting cast was pretty much the only interesting thing this movie had to offer. Basically, it is one of those very lazy movies where the plot is just really weak but the makers hope we won't notice it thanks for the star-studded cast. I mean, to be honest, it is not even that the whole thing was terrible, I think that there was actually some potential but there was no way, with a running time of barely 90 minutes, that they would be able to correctly develop half a dozen of sub-plots. I think that the one that bored me the most was the one involving Katherine Heigl's pregnancy. The weirdest and creepiest one was probably the one with Topher Grace trying to have sex with his brother's sister and the fact that it didn't seem to bother anyone. Anyway, to conclude, to have a lot of stars doesn't mean that a movie will be great, that's for sure, and therefore, I don't think this movie is really worth a look.

Nowadays, David Cronenberg has become a respected director and he has specialized himself in some rather straightforward dramas but, at the beginning of his career, he was famous for making some rather nasty and unsettling horror features. This movie is a fine example. To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but since I always had a weak spot for David Cronenberg, I was quite eager to check it out. From the same era, from the same director, I also saw ‘Shivers’ which was not bad but I thought that this one was rather disappointing. I mean, pretty much like the other movies that Cronenberg would direct later on in his career, the whole thing was pretty much a filmed nightmare but, to be honest, I had a hard time to care for this flick. Back then, when it was released, this movie was above all noticed because Marilyn Chambers, a famous porn star, was playing the lead and this movie would launch a somewhat successful mainstream career for Chambers. To conclude, even though it wasn't really a bad film, I’m not sure if it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of David Cronenberg.