Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but it was a while back so I was really eager to check it again. At the time, when this movie was released, divorces were not something new but there were not as widespread as nowadays (apparently, in most western countries, more than half of the marriages end up in a divorce which is pretty huge). Even so, I don't think this movie has lost any of its impact in the meantime. Indeed, it is quite a strong drama and the fact that I'm older, married with kids (in fact, I'm even going through with 1st divorce right now), resulted that I was even more able to connect with this story. Of course, the way it was developed (the father struggles at first, even loses his job, but eventually, he turns out to be a pretty good single-parent) was rather predictable but it still worked fine because the characters and their emotions were really believable and the actors involved delivered a terrific job. At the time, Dustin Hoffman was pretty much at the top of his game and even though Meryl Streep was just at the beginning of her career, she was already one of the best actresses around and even managed to win her first Academy award in the process. Anyway, to conclude, I think this movie really deserves it stellar reputation and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I have just discovered that, after WWII, Henri-George Clouzot wasn’t allowed to make another movie following the release of ‘Le corbeau’, a movie which was at first critically acclaimed but very quickly criticized for the way it portrayed the French people very negatively. After 4 long years, following a very long fight from his defenders, Clouzot was able to get back to work coming up with this feature which was once again a massive critical and commercial success. Basically, you had most of Clouzot’s trademark here. Indeed, it is a film noir, a detective story, and most of those the characters involved have some rather dubious morality. Ultimately, this movie never reached the level of his greatest movies ‘Les diaboliques’ and ‘Le salaire de la peur’ but since those are two are among the very best French movies ever made so that would be asking a lot. Eventually, after this movie, Clouzot would direct 2 rather obscure features (‘Manon’ and ‘Miquette et sa mère’) but he would make eventually a massive come-back with the really impessive ‘Le salaire de la peur’. To conclude, I really enjoyed this movie a lot and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

In my opinion, this movie shows how pretty hopeless Megan Fox has become as an actress. I mean, the whole thing was obviously taylor-made for her, I don't think she will ever find something more suitable for her but, even so, I thought she was quite underwhelming here. To be honest, I have to admit that she wasn't really the biggest issue in this movie. In fact, the biggest problem was that the whole thing was in my opinion rather poorly written. Indeed, apparently, it was supposed to be some kind of erotic satiric horror feature but it was a failure in all these departments. Basically, it was never funny, never scary and the whole erotic angle was barely developed. It wasn't really surprising that this flick was written by Diablo Cody who became the latest overhyped writer after winning an Oscar for 'Juno' which was enjoyable but still rather overrated in my book. Coming back to Megan Fox, sure, she should take advantage of her impressive plastic, why not? But at least , she should try to play someone who is not so clueless and/or obnoxious otherwise she will never be taken seriously as an actress. Anyway, to conclude, even though the whole thing had some potential, I thought it was pretty weak and I don't think it is really worth a look.

I already saw this movie but, since it was ages ago, I thought I might as well check it out again. The main interest here is obviously to see Tom Cruise in his breakthrough performance. Of course, it was thanks to ‘Top Gun’ that he became a major star, a status he still has 40 years later, but it was with this movie that he got his first leading part and, right from the start, the guy was noticed for his charisma and the rest is just history. At the time, this flick received some solid reviews but, to be honest, the first time around, I didn’t like it at all. Indeed, even though many critics thought it was a great satire, I thought it was another typical teen comedy which wants you to believe that it is really raunchy but nothing really shocking happens after all. I don’t know, maybe I was too young at the time and I didn’t get all the subtlety involved. Well, I’m glad I gave it a 2nd chance after all these years. Indeed, I guess I wasn’t a huge fan of Cruise at the time (I’m still not) but, now, I was amazed by how pitch-perfect he was here. Indeed, at around 20 years old, sure, he was already cute but he felt also vulnerable and insecure. Rebecca De Mornay was also pretty good but her character was not so well developed. The fact that she came up with this completely wacky concept probably didn’t help. There was also a nice dark edge which I completely missed the first time I saw it. All in all, it is easily one of the best comedies involving Tom Cruise and you wish he would make more of those instead of his usual huge bombastic blockbusters. Anyway, to conclude, it was actually much better than I remembered and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are fan of Tom Cruise’s work. 

Last year, this movie surprised everyone by becoming a huge box-office hit and one of the most acclaimed animated features released recently. With this in mind, I was quite eager to check it out but, to be honest, even though I did enjoy it, I can’t say I was really blown away by the whole thing. I mean, obviously, it looked really impressive, it was very original and I don't think they could have made something better from this concept, they went all the way with its potential, and yet, somehow, I still had a hard time to connect with the whole thing. I don’t know, it was just so wild, so over-the-top, from the very beginning up until the end-credits, it pretty much borders complete nonsense constantly and while I did appreciate the approach and the guts displayed by the makers, I'm afraid it was a little bit alienating. Still, it was just filled with fun ideas, with impressive details and the voice cast was pretty much spot-on. For the team Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, it was just another hit and those guys, with the weirdest and seemingly hopeless concepts (see also 'Cloudy with a chance of meatballs' and '21 Jump Street'), they keep coming up with some surprisingly succesfull and entertaining features. To conclude, even though it wasn’t really a home run for me, it was still a really fun flick and it is definitely worth a look.

Basically, it is once again a really osbcure French flick (I was the first listal member who rated it and, 4 years later, only one other user has rated it since then). To be honest, I’m not sure if it is even really famous in France. Anyway, the main reason I wanted to watch this feature is because it was Cédric Klapisch’s directing debut. Indeed, ever since I saw ‘Le péril jeune’(his 2nd directing effort) on TV, I have been fascinated by this director who must be one of the most talented French directors of his generation. Well, like I said before, this debut is rather obscure and forgotten nowadays and even though it is far from the level of his best features, I still think it was a pretty neat quirky comedy. Playing the lead, you had Fabrice Luchini who was playing his usual character but I always find him quite entertaining so he didn’t bother me at all, in the contrary. To be honest, the concept was really interesting and they definitely could have done more but it was still satisfying nonetheless. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was a nice comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Honestly, it has been a while since I have seen this flick so maybe I should rewatch at some point. Basically, Robin Hood is like Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes or The Three Musketeers. Indeed, even though they have already made dozens of adaptations of those famous stories, you can be sure that they would come up with a new version sooner than later. Well, this flick was pretty much the Robin Hood of the 90’s and, even though it received some rather mixed reviews, it was a massive box-office hit at the time (a status the latest version directed by Ridley Scott never achieved to reach) and even the theme song by Bryan Adams was a huge hit at the time. Personally, I think it was a decent watch with a nice cast (Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Christian Slater, Alan Rickman, Sean Connery). Sure, Kevin Costner was never convincing at all during the whole thing but it was compensated by the always awesome Alan Rickman who was given apparently carte blanche to do whatever he wanted with the character. To conclude, even though it is a rather bland and pedestrian adaptation, I still think it is worth a look but don’t expect anything really amazing.

I remember very well when I saw this flick. Indeed, it was a while back, I met this dude who was just as a crazy as I was about movies and when we met, we would be constantly talking about our various favorite pictures. At some point, we agreed that he should come over to watch some movies together and we ended up having my longest binge- watching night I ever had. Indeed, we watched, if I recall correctly, about 6 movies starting from 21.00 until 6 o’clock in the morning. It was pretty glorious and, at some point during the night, we ended up watching this cult-classic. According to my buddy, it was one of the best movies ever made and I just had to watch it. Eventually, I was indeed indeed quite impressed. Obviously, I have never seen anything like this before and, only for that, it should definitely get some credit. Still, I have to admit that I wasn’t really blown away by the whole thing. I mean, basically, it is original, weird and quite fun but it is still quite an acquired taste and I didn’t find it really hilarious or massively entertaining to be honest. Still, there is no denying that it is a huge cult-classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie, in fact, I even saw it in the movie theater when it was released but, since it was such a long time ago, I was quite eager to check it out again. I remember it very well when it was released though. Indeed, after Sam Mendes’s amazing directing debut, ‘American Beauty’, there were some huge expectations with his following directing debut and it was a very ambitious period piece starring Tom Hanks who was the biggest movie star in the world back in those days. Eventually, I did like it, the whole thing looked awesome and there was indeed an impressive cast (Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Daniel Craig, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ciarán Hinds, Stanley Tucci) but, still, I wasn’t really blown away by the whole thing. I think the main issue was with the tone. Indeed, basically, it was supposed to be a dark and complex tale about two men who love and respect each other and who would do anything to protect their respective sons. However, it seems that, to make it more accessible to the mainstream audience (it was even released in the summer in the middle of the blockbuster season), they really toned down the dark edges of this story which was a misguided approach. It was especially obvious during the scenes focusing on Mike Sullivan and his son when they were together on the road. For some reason, it became some kind of whimsical bonding road-trip which was, in my opinion, rather inappropriate considering the circumstances. This tonal issue was also obvious in the performances. Indeed, Paul Newman, in his final performance, was just pitch-perfect and I really believed that his character was competent, fair but also really ruthless. Tom Hanks should have played on the same level but, unfortunately, he kept playing his character as basically a good guy who wanted to protect his son and I never had the feeling that I was actually watching a cold-hearted killer. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was slightly disappointing, it was still a solid feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.