Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even though I didn’t really hate 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine', like everyone else, I thought it was quite disappointing. It seems that they really wanted to make amends with this sequel and when I heard that they picked up Darren Aronosfky do direct the damned thing, I became really excited. However, he dropped out at some point and since this movie didn’t make much wave after its release, I thought I might as well take my time to watch it. Eventually, it was not bad but, in my opinion, it was just slightly better than its predecessor. I mean, I really liked the fact that it was taken place in Japan but I'm afraid that's the only thing that I really enjoyed. The story was decent but nothing really amazing and I pretty much lost track of who was actually the bad guy in this tale (I think I counted about 5 villains...). I was also surprised about how few mutant were involved in this story. I mean, if you remove Jean Grey, who was basically a ghost, and the 2 cameos during the credit sequence, there were only 2 of them and Viper was not really impressive. Anyway, I hope one day we'll get to see a super-hero feature directed by Darren Aronosfky (he was also supposed to make Batman before Nolan took over) but Wolverine remains a badass character, this installment was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

As you may have noticed, as a kid, I kind of missed on the whole frenzy around 'Back to the Future' but I sure didn't miss a thing about this flick. Indeed, I was just a little bit older than my own daughter when I watched it in the theater and I just loved the damned thing. Basically, Robert Zemeckis tried to make a convincing mix of animation and live-action, at the time, it was quite revolutionary and, at my young age, I thought the whole thing was just mind-blowing. Back then, I even had a book about this movie collecting all the stickers. Basically, I was a huge fan. Of course, later in my life, I had to re-watch it with my kids (that's the great thing when you get some kids of your own, you get an excuse to watch again all those childhood classics with them) and I was still impressed by the damned thing. I must admit it, the whole detective story was maybe not really original after all, but it was still really entertaining and, visually speaking, after all these years, it remains a great technical achievement. Above all, it is a really fun flick and possibly the best thing Zemeckis has made in his whole career.

I already saw this movie but since it was ages ago, I was quite eager to check it out again. Following his big success with 'The English Patient', Anthony Minghella came back 3 years later with this ambitious project and even though it was not such an overwhelming success like its predecessor, there was still a lot to enjoy about the damned thing. First of all, there was a very nice cast composed of up-and-coming young stars (Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett), plus the always dependable Philip Seymour Hoffman who stole the show everytime he was on the screen. Of course, one of the main attraction in this movie was the main character himself, Tom Ripley, a really fascinating guy, and I thought that Matt Damon, who just had his breakthrough a couple of years before with 'Good Will Hunting', did a fine job (and, after all these years, it is still one of his best performances so far). In fact, I think it is possible that Jude Law actually upstaged him playing Dickie Greenleaf but, anyway, they were both really good. On top of that, the whole thing looked quite gorgeous and Minghella managed to create a nice tense mood. What I also loved about this movie is that it is a basically a serial killer thriller but, in contrary to most of the movies in this genre, everything happening was actually plausible. There was also the fact that, even if Ripley was definitely talented, many characters actually didn’t fall for his schemes which made the whole thing even more fascinating to behold. I have to admit that, after all these years, I still haven’t watched ‘Plein Soleil’ which is considered by many as a much superior version and I should definitely watch it whenever I have the opportunity. Anyway, to conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, it is still a really good thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I had no idea what to expect from this movie but since there was a nice cast, I was quite eager to check it out. Fortunately, I had no idea what it was about beforehand and it made the whole thing definitely much more enjoyable to watch. Still, I'm not sure how to judge the whole thing. I mean, the concept was certainly intriguing but, to be honest, I'm not sure if it was actually believable. Sure, I'm no marketing expert but I seriously doubt that this would be a really effective method. So, maybe you should put this aside and see it as a sarcastic view on our consumerist society but even so, it wasn't really satisfaying. Indeed, they spent just way too much time dealing with some sub-plots involving each family members and, with such a short running time, there was no way it could have worked. On top of that, the last 10 minutes were just really weak and there is no way they could have found something more underwhelming. And yet, I still think it was original and I think that all the actors involved ( David Duchovny, Demi Moore, Amber Heard) did a decent job, especially Demi Moore who I usually found rather weak. To conclude, I guess my rating might be a little too high but I stil think it is worth a look but don’t expect anything really amazing.

Honestly, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should probably re-watch it at some point to make up my mind for good about the whole thing. First of all, you can say whatever you want about Ron Howard but most of the movies he made in the 80’s actually turned out to be some classics (with the notable exception of the abysmal ‘Gung Ho’) and this movie is definitely a fine example. I mean, even though it was actually pretty cheesy, it was still a success and it pretty much launched Ron Howard's and Tom Hanks’ careers (they will eventually work back together 10 years later with ‘Apollo 13’ and again 10 years later with ‘The Da Vinci Code’). Indeed, for Hanks, it was his first starring role and for a decade long, he would play similar character in similar comedies until ‘Philadephia’ would make him overnight an Oscar winner and a really respected dramatic actor, a status he has never lost ever since. To be honest, like I said before it has been ages since I saw this flick so I should give another shot at some point but it remains a rather harmless and fairly entertaining fantasy comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should probably re-watch it at some point to make up my mind for good about the whole thing. The thing is that, before watching it, I really thought it looked quite awesome. I mean, 4 years after the really amazing 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid', George Roy Hill was making another movie starring once again Paul Newman and Robert Redford, this time about some con artists in the 30's. On paper, it sounded just great and, indeed, while 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' was at the time snubbed by the Academy, this flick managed to win the Best Picture Academy award. So, it all sounded great but, to be honest, I thought it was actually slightly underwhelming. I did like it, I mean, come on, anything starring BOTH Paul Newman and Robert Redford has to be damned entertaining but, I don't know, I thought it was just too easy. Indeed, as if they thought, if we just put all the same ingredients, we will get once again something great. On the other hand, I'm in the minority here since it is quite a popular feature. To conclude, even though I wasn't really blown away, it i still a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Already 20 years ago, they released this flick, it has been a while since I have seen it and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. To be honest, even though the TV show was quite popular (the first version ran for 10 years starring good old Richard Dean Anderson AKA MacGyver), I never really followed it but I always had a weak spot for the film that started it all. Of course, the whole concept is completely far-fetched but that’s the beauty of Science-Fiction, you can show pretty much everything you want and, here, they went pretty wild but I really enjoyed this weird Egyptian world which was visually quite interesting. Obviously, Kurt Russell and James Spader were playing some stereotypes, the tough soldier and the nerdy scientist but it didn’t bother me. Since then, this movie has become pretty much a cult-classic but not everybody agreed and the great Roger Ebert really didn’t like it at all so it shows that even though the whole thing definitely had some potential, it was still not really great. To conclude, I still think it is a solid and entertaining SF feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Usually, I'm rather apprehensive towards movies dealing with autism. Indeed, most of the time, they put the focus on the wrong aspects like the fact that some autists are some kind of geniuses, the worst example being 'Rain Man' which is a decent and entertaining feature but a rather weak portrayal of autism. Well, at last, they managed to make something really interesting and compelling about the subject and this movie might be the best one I have seen so far. I know, just like in 'Rain Man', the main character was some kind of mathematical wizard, which remains a terribly annoying stereotype, but they toned this aspect and displayed it more as an obsession instead of some kind of magical gift. Furthermore, I thought that the characters were very well written, some really 3 dimensional beings, thanks to some very solid performances by Radha Mitchell and Josh Harnett who gave easily the best performance of his career. Finally, I truly enjoyed how messed up their relationship was. Indeed, another Hollywood romantic-comedy would have taken many easy short-cuts to make it easier to swallow but, here, they dared to show all the fights and arguments involved in any relationship, especially one involving 2 socially impaired people. To conclude, I really this movie a lot and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in this subject.

Like many other movies directed by Clint Eastwood, it has been a while since I have see this one and I will probably re-watch it at some point. Before making back-top-back all those heavy dramas (some people have actually criticized him of making nowadays some obvious Oscar bait every time around), Clint Eastwood used to mix it a little bit more in the past, making also some features easier to digest. This movie is a perfect example. Indeed, it was obviously nothing amazing but it was never supposed to be a major game-changer, it was supposed to be a rather light feature and and it was definitely pretty entertaining. The cast (one of the best Eastwood ever had, including Eastwood himself, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, James Garner, James Cromwell, Marcia Gay Harden) obviously had a blast making this and I had a fairly good time watching this. Still, with such great actors involved, it was still a little bit frustrating that they didn't get something a little more substantial to chew on. To conclude, the whole thing was rather harmless but also really forgettable, I'm afraid, but like everything else directed by Clint Eastwood, it is still definitely worth a look.