Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I didn’t expect much from this flick and I ended up watching with my wife if I’m not mistaken. Apparently, it is a remake of a Japanese movie which I haven’t seen but since it has some very good reviews, I would really like to check it out. Anyway, concerning this US remake, even though I think my wife did like it, honestly, I really had a hard time to care about the whole thing. Basically, it is a rather harmless and very chaste romantic feature and you either like the genre or you don’t. I mean, back in the 90’s, Richard Gere would hook up with a much younger Julia Roberts in ‘Pretty Woman’ but, in this movie, he remains faithful to his wife and doesn’t get involved with a much younger Jennifer Lopez. At the end of the day, I had to admit it, it wasn’t really a bad movie but I just couldn’t really connect with the damned thing. I don’t know, maybe I’m a cynical guy, but I find it hard to believe that ballroom dancing would be the cure for this man’s middle life crisis. To conclude, I didn’t like it much and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you like the genre.

Following the (commercial) success of 'Valentine's Day', obviously, they had to come up with a similar movie about new year's eve this time. To be honest, I didn't expect much from this flick but since there was still a nice cast packed with stars, I still wanted to check it out. Well, as expected, it was pretty weak but, at least, it wasn't really worse than 'Valentine's Day'. I mean, don’t misunderstand me, it wasn't really better either though. The main issue with those movies, in my opinion, is that the writting was just so damned lazy. I mean, it was so weak that I don't think I did care for one single of those multiple sub-plots. And yet, somehow, with all these charismatic stars, it was still fairly watchable. It was still rather weird to see Robert De Niro, probably the best actor of his generation, actually nailing his part of a dying man in a hospital but this material was so heavy, I thought it didn’t really mixed well with the other stories which were terribly light and fluffy. To conclude, my rating might be actually a little bit too generous here, the whole thing was rat her underwhelming and I don't think it is really worth a look whatsoever.

It has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. In fact, since I was really blown away by Andrew Niccol’s debut ‘Gattaca’ (in my opinion, it is definitely one of the best Science-Fiction features ever made), I was really eager to check this following directing effort and I even saw it in the movie theater. Back then, when it was released, it didn’t get much love and, I have to admit it, it wasn’t as sharp as ‘Gattaca’ was but I still thought it was quite enjoyable. The point, in my opinion, is that the concept was actually really interesting, it is just that the way it was developped wasn’t entirely successful. Indeed, there was a really nice cast (Al Pacino, Winona Ryder, Catherine Keener, Evan Rachel Wood, Jason Schwartzman, Elias Koteas, Rebecca Romijn) but I wasn’t so sure about the tone. Indeed, apparently, they were aiming for a satirical comedy but , even though the whole thing was intriguing, I can’t say it was really funny. On top of that, they had a huge opportunity to create a real virtual actress but they chickened out (in fact, the Screen Actor's Guild was apparently opposed as they thought the replacement of actors in ALL movies would be the next logical step). Still, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is actually a good movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Andrew Niccol’s work.

Following his major success with ‘The Last Emperor’, Bernardo Bertolucci came up with this movie and since I have always had a weak spot for his work, I was really eager to check it out. First of all, even though this movie was not a huge epic like Bertolucci’s previous movie, it was still quite a prestigious production and many actresses such as Natasha Richardson, Judy Davis, Ellen Barkin or Melanie Griffith were either considered or interested in playing the female lead character. To be honest, I thought it was rather hard to judge this flick. I mean, as usual with Bernardo Bertolucci, the directing was solid, I did like the interesting mood and there was a solid cast as well (Debra Winger, John Malkovich, Campbell Scott, Timothy Spall) and the whole thing definitely had some potential. However, with more than 2 hours of running time, they lost the focus half way through and towards the end, it started to become rather non-sensical. I mean, from the moment that Kit starts to wander in the desert, it became also silly and I started to loose interest in this tale. Still, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is an intriguing feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Bernardo Bertolucci’s work.

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 ‘Rabid’ which I found rather disappointing but I thought that this horror feature was not bad. I mean, sure, it wasn’t really original but I really enjoyed the mood. Indeed, like many other movies that Cronenberg would direct later on in his career, the whole thing was pretty much a filmed nightmare and even though it wasn’t the best in this genre, I thought it was still a decent watch. I discovered later on that this movie was David Cronenberg's first feature film and, even though it is nowadays pretty obscure, it was in fact the most profitable Canadian film made to date in 1975. To conclude, even though it was nothing ground-breaking, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I remember it very well, back in the 90’s, I had seen this movie and I was really impressed. Apparently, I wasn’t the only as it was very well received critically (it even won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival) and, at the time, it seemed that Edwards Burns had a bright future as a director. Unfortunately, after the more commercially oriented ‘She’s the One’, none of his movies have made a big impression and they have been more and more obscure which I think is too bad. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, like I said before, I really liked it a lot. Like some other indie productions like ‘Eraserhead’, ‘Clerks’ or ‘Following’, it was shot on a shoestring budget during the week-ends and, therefore, it managed to make quite some money at the box-office since it was so cheap. Sure, the whole thing was not really original but Burns really has a talent to create some realistic and genuine characters (a trademark in most of his work). As a result, you get something quite down-to-earth and I really loved the mood. To conclude, I think it is a pretty good flick and it is definitely wortha look, especially if you like the genre.

In my opinion, this flick is a typical example of a guilty pleasure. Indeed, the whole thing is rather silly but I have to confess that I actually had a weak spot for this movie. Obviously, the main attraction was to see Elle Macpherson completely naked for at least half of the movie and, I know, it sounds rather lame to watch a movie just for this reason but, damned, she really looked stunning. It is interesting to point out that while many actresses like Jessica Alba or Natalie Portman for example have sworn they would never been naked in a movie (yes, for the rather harmless shower scene in ‘Machete’, Alba was in fact not naked, it was altered with a computer which seemed honestly rather pointless), Elle Macpherson went for the complete opposite for her first role and decided to go full-frontal during most of the movie. You could argue that it might be a discutable way to start your acting career (eventually, she would spend most of the 90’s trying to breakthrough but it never really happened) but you won’t hear the little perverts like me complain any time soon. I’m slowly becoming aware that except for the excessive and gratuitous nudity displayed in this movie, I didn’t talk much about anything else but, basically, it is a watchable but forgettable drama starring Hugh Grant just after he reached worldwide fame with ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’. To conclude, even though I’m not sure I should recommend this flick, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are fan of female beauty or just a little pervert like me.

I remember it very well, back in the 90’s, I had seen ‘The Brothers McMullen’ and I was really impressed. Indeed, it was very well received critically (it even won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival) and it seemed that Burns had a bright future as a director. Unfortunately, after the more commercially oriented ‘She’s the One’, none of his movies made a big impression and they have been more and more obscure. From these rather obscure features, this movie was probably my favorite one though. To be honest, the whole thing was not really original and it was basically a rather basic romantic feature linking several love stories together. Still, there was a pretty neat cast (Edward Burns, Rosario Dawson, Heather Graham, Brittany Murphy, Stanley Tucci) and I really liked a lot the mood created by Burns. Indeed, pretty much like with his directing debut, there was something quite organic about the whole thing, there was something really genuine about these characters and the whole thing was as a result really nice to behold. To conclude, even though the whole thing was nothing ground-breaking, I thought it was pretty good and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Usually, I wouldn’t care for a TV production like this one but since it received some really good reviews, I thought I might as well give it a try. On top of that, it was dealing with autism which is a very dear subject to me. Well, it definitely deserved all the praise it has received and I would even say it is definitely one of the best movies about this subject. Indeed, even though they put again the focus on some genius autistic person which is apparently the only way they can manage to deal with it, which is something really sad in my opinion, they still managed to show many other things about the autistic world which were just spot on and quite spellbinding to behold. Furthermore, there is no denying that the life of this woman was just quite fascinating and it is difficult to imagine how it must have been for her to grow up in these dark ages when most people, even scientists or psychiatrists, were just plain ignorant about the damned thing. At the center of this tale, you have a very strong performance by Claire Danes who just disappeared behind her character. To conclude, I thought it was a very strong biopic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by this subject.

Disney is right now going through another renaissance and the peak of this renaissance will probably be 'Frozen' (it is rather improbable that they would improve on this performance anytime soon). However, 20 years ago, they were also going through another glorious period like the current one and, at the time, this movie was their biggest one and, for many years, it had been the highest grossing animated feature ever made. Back then, I saw it in the theater when it was released and it was pretty neat to re-watch it after all these years. Anyway, to be honest, I'm not exactly a huge fan and, from the same era, I think that 'Aladdin' (which was also a huge success when it was released but it has always been overshadowed by this classic) was actually much better. I mean, sure, it is definitely a solid feature, the animation was top-notch and, for once, Disney was creating something rather dark (the reason why my wife never really connected with this movie) almost creating a Shakespearean tragedy ('Hamlet' was a big inspiration for this tale). Still, somehow, I had a hard time to connect with the whole thing. Maybe because I didn't really like the combination of musical songs side by side with some rather dramatic material (the songs were also not really amazing) or maybe it was because it was taking itself too seriously? Still, even though it is not among my favorites, it remains a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.