Reviews by johanlefourbe

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.

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. That’s the tricky thing about Krzysztof Kieslowski’s work, it is really interesting and intriguing, but not always really easy to digest, I’m afraid. I mean, 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. Still, there is no doubt that Juliette Binoche (at the time, probably the greatest French actress at work) was very good, she gave one of her best performances and Kieslowski had a sober but effective directing style. To conclude, even though I wasn’t really blown away by the whole thing, it is still a very good movie 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 quick eager to check it out again. Well, I’m really glad I gave this movie a 2nd chance after all these years because I was much more able to appreciate it the 2nd time around. First of all, Pedro Almodovar is one of those directors that I have always admired but he never became a personal favorite of mine. Indeed, he is what you can call a real author who has created his own style and, therefore, he always got my respect but, honestly, I always had a hard time with his work and this movie was not an exception. Indeed, The 1st time I saw it, I was around 20 years old only and I didn’t feel much a connection with the damned thing (back then, I hadn’t seen yet ‘All about Eve’ so that’s already a reference I completely missed). I still think it is a rather complex story, even seriously convoluted, but it is something to be expected from this director. What really touched me this time was the fact that it was focusing only on female characters (there are a few male characters but with very little screen time and very little impact) and they were all quite fascinating to behold. The cast involved was also really strong. At the end of the day, this movie did develop the usual themes you can find in almost all Almodovar’s work as it focused on some rather messed-up and sometimes annoying women but, this time around, he managed to go even deeper than usual and the end-result was quite amazing. Eventually, it is thanks to this movie that Almodovar started to gain some real worldwide success (it even won the Academy Award for the Best Foreign movie). To be honest, I think that his following feature, ‘Hable con ella’, was actually more compelling but it is all a matter of taste and I can understand why this movie is considered as Pedro Almodovar’s magnum opus. Anyway, to conclude, it is indeed one of the best movies delivered by the Spanish master it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Almodovar’s work.

Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick and the main reason I watched it was because I have a major weak spot for Sam Rockwell. Anyway, ever since 'Napoleon Dynamite' became a massive cult-classic, Jared Hess has pretty much remained in the same genre ever since, making some quirky comedies involving some rather eccentric characters. However, even though it did work with 'Napoleon Dynamite', I can’t say I was completely blown away and following 'Nacho Libre' which was even less impressive, the gimmick is starting to become really old by now. Indeed, all these characters are some major losers, which is not even really the main issue. The main issue is that they are usually obnoxious and, above all, not really funny. I mean, sure, Sam Rockwell had a blast in those weird cheap-ass science-fiction scenes but those scenes were not exactly hilarious. On top of that, the whole plot about the famous writer stealing the story was just really pedestrian and predictable. In my opinion, Jared Hess seems to have some interesting ideas but he should really choose a different angle in his next movie. To conclude, I think my rating might be a little bit generous here but I guess it might be worth a look, at least if you like the genre.