Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I had seen all the movies directed by Sergio Leone, except for this one, of course, I was really eager to check it out. It is actually a really obscure feature and since it was Leone’s directing debut, you would assume that it should get at least a little bit of interest. Anyway, I bumped into this dvd while I was on holiday in France so I got lucky, even though, to be honest, it wasn't really good, I'm afraid. Indeed, if you compare it to the other work of Leone, almost all of them masterpieces, the whole thing was just rather messy while his Westerns were usually really focused and minimaslitic. Here, you will have a rather hard time to recognize his great touch. I mean, there might have been a good story there, hidden somewhere, but it was just too ambitious with too many characters and too many intrigues and sub-plots. On top of that, the acting was rather poor and the dialogues were terribly cheesy. At least, the production value was not bad at all with some nice costumes and some awesomely decadent decors. To conclude, even though it wasn’t completely terrible, it was still rather disappointing and I'm not sure if it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Sergio Leone’s work.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but since I have always been interested in François Ozon's work, I was really eager to check it out. Basically, like most of Ozon's features, it was rather difficult to make out what he was trying to achieve here and I had rather to judge the whole thing. This time, he went to direct something really different, a romantic costume drama and his first and only English speaking feature so far on top of that. Honestly, you are never really sure if the whole thing was actually straightforward or an actual satire of the genre. The fact that the main character was actually rather annoying didn't help either but we should give Romola Garai some credit as she still managed to make this woman still interesting to follow. Another interesting aspect was to see the always watchable Michael Fassbender at the beginning of his career and, from the moment he was on the screen, the whole thing became much more intriguing. Unfortunately, his character went from dark and brooding to become a seriously obnoxious douchebag. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is an interesting watch and I think it is actually worth a look, especially if you are interested in François Ozon's work.

It is probably the most popular movie directed by Tony Scott and it has generated a huge cult following ever since it has been released (like everything else involving Quentin Tarantino as a matter of fact). To be honest, it is actually rather sad that Tony Scott’s most heralded work would be mostly remembered as a Tarantino feature. Anyway, personally, I always had some rather mixed feelings about the whole thing. I mean, sure, I did like it, it is and remains a fun flick, very well made with an impressive cast (Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Christopher Walken, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Rapaport, James Gandolfini, Chris Penn) but, honestly, I never thought that there was anything really mind-blowing about the story, at least, that's my opinion. At the time, Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette were both really in demand and, 20 years ago, nobody would have expected that Slater’s career would turn out to be a let-down. Anyway, to conclude, even though I don’t think it is really amazing, it is still a classic from the 90’s, it is one of the best movies directed by Tony Scott, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I kept hearing some good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. Basically, it is yet another vampire movie dealing with some teenagers and even though it was more rewarding than 'Twilight', it was still not original enough to be really amazing but, still, I thought it was fairly entertaining. To be honest, I haven't seen the original version from the 80's but, apparently, they have changed most of the story. Anyway, there was a nice cast (Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Tonijn Collette, David Tennant, Imogen Poots, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Dave Franco and David Sarandon who actually played the Jerry character in the original version). Above all, Colin Farrell seemed to have a lot of fun playing this modern vampire. Eventually, even though they definitely didn't developed anything original whatsoever, they managed to make it interesting enough thanks to a solid execution but, to be honest, it was just enough to make it stand out among the multitude of already existing vampire features. Concerning Craig Gillespie, you have to give the guy some praise for trying something totally different from one movie to the other with some fairly good results on top of that ('Mr. Woodcock', 'Lars and the Real Girl', this movie and 'Million Dollar Arm'). To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was still a decent feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

When I was kid growing up in France, like all the other kids, I did watch ‘La télé des Inconnus’ many times and even though I didn’t get half of their jokes, I thought it was still pretty awesome. Later on, in the 90’s, when they were still massively popular, they released this movie which was their first and it was a huge box-office success in France. Instantly, it became a cult-classic and virtually everyone of my generation in France have seen this movie at some point. Basically, it is a comedy with a rather straightforward plot with some pretty good jokes, typically in the style of ‘Les Inconnus’ and some of those jokes have become pretty legendary. To be honest, I thought it was fairly funny and entertaining but nothing really mind-blowing though. I mean, sure, when I was 12 years old, I thought those guys were hilarious but, since then , I’m not such a huge fan anymore (on the other hand, I have to admit it, if you watch this movie really drunk or stoned, you could have a real blast). To conclude, even though it didn’t really blown me away, it is stil a decent comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Obviously, I had already seen this movie but the last time was a while back so I was quite eager to check it out again. Eventually, after more than 20 years, it is still a hell of an entertaining action thriller and, unfortunately, the last really good movie starring Harrison Ford (surprisingly, it was even nominated for 7 Academy Awars which is really uncommon for an action flick like this one ). Indeed, for most of the running time, I was on the edge of my set, following Richard Kimble, not a super-hero but a simple doctor, escaping the police force relentlessly chasing him. Obviously, Ford gave a really strong performance, playing an average guy in a very tight spot and, of course, Tommy Lee Jones was just terrific, playing one of the best police officers I have ever seen. The great thing about this movie is that, even though you get to see some rather preposterous stuff like in any action flick, everything displayed might actually happen in real life making the whole thing really spellbinding to watch. Unfortunately, during the last 20 minutes, they had to solve all the loose ends and then, it really lost some steam. As a result, it had to lower itself to the level of your average action feature (there is even a good old confrontation on a roof top, for crying out loud). Still, in spite of its flaws, it is a terribly entertaining flick 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 was quite eager to check it out again. First of all, it had been also many years since I saw a movie starring Iréne Jacob and she kept reminding me of another actress and it took me a while to figure out that it was Claire Danes. I know, they don't actually really look a like but it had mostly to do with her silhouette and her body language which was just so similar to Claire Danes, at least, in my opinion. Anyway, in fact, it was just seriously distracting. Coming back to the movie itself, it has always been considered as the best movie in Krzysztof Kieslowski's heralded trilogy but, to be honest, I still think it is a rather tricky movie. Fortunately, I was more able to enjoy it this time around but I still struggled to connect with the damned thing though. Above all, it had to do with the fact that what Kieslowski tried to achieve with this movie still remained rather obscure to me. On top of that, to be honest, I don't think that the characters were really fascinating. Still, there is no doubt that Iréne Jacob and Jean-Louis Trintignant gave some strong performances and there was something really interesting in their relationship which was refreshingly platonic. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn't blow me away, it is still a strong drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Krzysztof Kieslowski's work. 

It has been a while since I have watched this flick and, to be honest, I think I might have been too young when I first watched it. Indeed, at around 14 years old, I started to watch the major classics and I watched them ferociously at a very quick pace. The problem is that, even if a movie is great, sometimes, the timing is not right and it goes way over your head and I think that’s what happened to me with this flick. Basically, it is full of symbolic and sub-text and, like I said before, I didn’t get much of it and it might need a re-watch at some point. In this prestigious trilogy directed by Kieslowski, this movie was the one which get the least love but it was actually my favorite. Indeed, this time, it was actually more ore less a comedy, the whole thing was not so heavy and therefore easier to digest. After Juliette Binoche, the main character was played this time by Julie Delpy, another French actress who managed to get a rather healthy career abroad, and Delpy was really charming here. To conclude, even though I wasn’t completely blown away, it was still a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s work.

I already saw this movie but since it was ages ago, I was quite eager to check it out again. Well, at least, in France, it is definitely a cult-classic. At the time, Jean-Jacques Beineix, like Luc Besson and Leo Carax, was one of the biggest hopes in French cinéma and this movie was his biggest box-office success in France (since then, he has made only movie during the last 25 years which is quite shame). This movie was also the opportunity to discover Béatrice Dalle in her acting debut and she would turn out to be one of the most promising French actress but also one of the most troubled and messed up celebrities for many decades in France. Coming back to the movie itself, I’m really glad I watched it again after all these years though because I was much more able to appreciate it this time around. Indeed, it is actually a rather beautiful movie visually speaking and there is also a nice soundtrack. I was also surprised by how much fun some scenes actually turned to be which is not something that you would expect from such an intense and sometimes really dark love story. And, yet, it was still missing something to become truly great though. Indeed, even though the two main characters were both quite charismatic and interesting to follow, Beineix made the mistake of constantly pushing them, especially Betty, to go to such dark places without any good reasons and this process became at some point just too relentless and tiresome. Anyway, to conclude, even though I’m not sure if it is really a masterpiece, it is still really good though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a pretty cool cast, I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, it turned out to be one of the most half-baked thrillers I have seen for a very long time. I mean, right from the start, the whole premise was terribly misguided. Basically, you get a brother and a sister who gets involved in a car crash after a robbery and, after killing a cop, they have to run away in the middle of the woods, in the winter, during a snow storm. Seriously, does it sound remotely believable to you? On top of that, they have added too many characters with too many sub-plots for such a short running time. I mean, it wasn’t completely awful, I did like the cast (Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde, Charlie Hunnam, Kris Kristofferson, Sissy Spacek, Kate Mara, Treat Williams) and they did what they could with the materical. I also liked the way the relationship was developed between Olivia Wilde and Charlie Hunnam and the whole thing would have been more compelling if they started the story when they meet each other and solely focused on them slowly giving up some details about their troubled past. Anyway, to conclude, I thought it was a rather weak thriller and I don’t think it is really worth a look.