Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wonder how I ended up watching this flick but, in fact, I think I saw it in the movie theater when it was released. Indeed, I really loved ‘Dead Man’, it is actually one of my all-time favorites and it had a huge impact on me when I saw it at the time. From the moment I saw this flick, I became an instant fan of Jim Jarmusch and, by now, I have seen most of his movies (I’m just missing the last two, ‘Only Lovers Left Alive’ and ’The Limits of Control’). Anyway, the one thing I loved about ‘Dead Man’ is the soundtrack which is definitely one of the very best soundtracks I have ever heard and it has been haunting me ever since (as a matter of fact, I have even bought the soundtrack, the only one I have ever bought). So, when I heard that Jim Jarmusch was directing a documentary about Neil Young, the guy responsible for ‘Dead Man’ amazing soundtrack, of course, I had to watch it at some point. Eventually, it was a decent watch but I can’t say I was really blown away by the whole thing . The point is that, to be honest, like most of the old rockers, Neil Young is not really producing his best music right now or at the time when this documentary was made, at least, that’s my opinion, and therefore this feature was slightly disappointing. Still, to conclude, even though it is nothing really great, it is still worth a look, especially if you are interested in Neil Young.

Honestly, I have never been a huge fan of this flick but since I hadn’t seen it for a while, I thought I might as well give it another try. When it was released, back then, the Farrelly brothers were still really popular and this flick was their biggest success so far (though you might argue that ‘Dumb & Dumber’ was even more successful). To be honest, it is not a bad flick. Indeed, Cameron Diaz was perfectly cast, she looked really stunning and her character was just really charming and sweet. Ben Stiller was also a good choice here and the combination of those 2 characters worked fine. Unfortunately, I had a hard time to care about the other characters. Which one ? All of them! Indeed, even though Diaz and Stiller’s characters were pretty much down to earth, the rest was just some underwhelming cartoonish figures. Concerning the jokes, I have to admit it, some of them were pretty good but some of them were just gross and awkward. For example, they try to judge the characters who are discriminating Warren, the mentally disabled brother, but the makers themselves make fun of the guy throughout the whole thing. I mean, how messed up is that? To conclude, even though I don’t think it is a masterpiece whatsoever, at least, it was miles better than the inane ‘Dumb & Dumber’ and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I remember it very well, the first time I saw this flick, I must have been 12 or 13 years old, it was broadcasted on TV and that’s how I ended up watching it. Honestly, isn’t it how we all saw this flick after all? Anyway, basically, it is a fairly traditional musical biopic and the main reason why I still remember it today is because it was probably the first movie in this genre that I have ever seen. The fact that Richie Valens was so young (just 17 years old) when he died was also another reason why it had an impact on me since I was so young myself. Eventually, it is difficult to judge Richie Valens as an artist since he had only 3 hit songs (on the other hand, ‘La Bamba’ must be one of the most famous pop songs ever). For Lou Diamond Phillips, it would be a breakthrough performance and there is no denying that he definitely displayed some charisma here but it will probably remain his most famous part. To conclude, even though it is nothing amazing whatsoever, it is actually a decent musical biopic and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

It is another one of these movies which I haven't seen for many years (maybe 20 years ago, as a matter of fact) but I definitely have some fonds memories about this flick and I will definitely check it out again whenever I get the opportunity. Basically, it was the closest thing to a comedy that Polanski have made at the time (since then, he has made the very dark and sardonic ‘Carnage’ which was really awesome by the way) and even though I'm usually critical about comedies, I really enjoyed this one. Indeed, even though it is supposed to be funny, it goes beyond that since the whole thing is quite gorgeous to look at. Furthermore, Polanski has definitely a rather particular sense of humor and the whole thing still remained rather gloomy which was something positive, at least, that's my opinion. It is considered by many as one of the best vampire movies ever made and I share this opinion. For Polanski, this movie would be a turning point. Indeed, at the time, he was one of the most promising directors in the world and there was still some playfulness in this work. It would all change after his wife Sharon Tate (who he met will shooting this movie) would be brutally slaughtered by the Manson family. To conclude, even though it is not considered as one of Polanski’s masterpieces, I really enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Roman Polanski’s work.

I wonder if a lot of people remember this movie but, somehow, it seems pretty much forgotten which is quite a shame. Indeed, when it was released, it was a big critical success and launched the once promising career of Lee Tamahori. Back then, I was very young when I saw it and I was definitely impressed. Basically, you don’t get to watch many movies about the Maoris and even though this one was a fairly traditional drama, I thought it was very powerful. Indeed, you get a glimpse of the struggle of this people who were once indeed great warriors but are nowadays outcasts and who very often don’t fit in very well in our modern world. After this promising debut, Lee Tamahori got his ticket for Hollywood and you could have hoped that he would make some great things there as well but, unfortunately, none of his following features was really good, the lowest poinht being probably ‘xXx: State of the Union’. I still have to see his last flick though, ‘Mahana’, which sounds quite interesting even though it didn’t get much love when it was released. Anyway, to conclude, I think it is a very good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by this subject.

Once again, we have seen a great film with the filmclub. In fact, we pretty much all agreed that it was one of the best movies we have seen together so far. I actually already heard about this movie 6 or 8 before it was released and, of course, I was really intrigued by this concept but, to be honest, I didn’t expect it to be so amazing. I mean, sure, it is a very nice gimmick (shooting a movie over a period of 12 years starting with a boy at 6 years old until he reaches 18 years old) but a gimmick remains a gimmick unless you manage to do something great with it and Richard Linklater certainly did something quite amazing here. Indeed, a traditional movie would give you a nice story, a great story if you’re lucky, but here they gave us a genuine slice of life. Of course, you could argue that they could have shot a documentary and you would have ended up with the same results but I highly doubt it. Indeed, for almost 3 hours, you spend more than a decade with these characters and even though nothing hugely dramatic happens, the whole thing was just spellbinding to behold. To conclude, I really loved this flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see something really different.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but the concept sounded pretty cool so I was still eager to check it out. Indeed, the scariest thing I have ever seen was an episode of ‘The Outer Limits’ and it was also involving mirrors. It scared me so bad, it left me sleepless for many nights and it was probably the most traumatising thing I have ever seen. I also enjoyed ‘Candyman’ a lot and mirrors were really important there as well. Basically, there is something really creepy about mirrors and I hoped this movie would develop this.Unfortunately, I thought it was just rather underwhelming. Indeed, basically, it is once again one of these thriller/horror flicks who has an obviously mentally disturbed main character but instead of developing the psychological aspect, they make sure that everything he sees and hears is 100% accurate. Why throw away any amound of ambiguity? Why don’t they let us wonder if the guy might be competely crazy or not? Instead, from the moment that the weird stuff starts up, the main character freaks out for about 5 minutes about what’s going on and then he becomes basically Jack Bauer, an almighty cop saving the day, and not a single moment again, he stops to tell himself ‘what the f*ck is actually going on here?!?’. To conclude, I was rolling my eyes in disbelief during the whole duration, sure it is sometimes creepy, even gross for a couple of scenes, but I really had a hard time to care about the whole thing and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

It is rather surprising that it took them so long to finally adapt this seminal US classic and when I heard that Walter Salles was directing, it sounded really promising but, when it was released, it was rather poorly received. I still wanted to check it out though. Eventually, even though it was a decent attempt, the whole thing was indeed still rather disappointing. I mean, it did look pretty good and there was a rather impressive cast (Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Amy Adams, Tom Sturridge, Alice Braga, Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen, Steve Buscemi) but, unfortunately, the whole thing felt rather flat. Indeed, their way of life, this neverending journey was supposed to be fascinating and full of excitement but, while watching this, I couldn't help thinking that it seemed rather pointless. I also thought that Sam Riley and Garrett Hedlund were rather miscast. Indeed, in this adaptation, I thought that Sal Paradise was pretty much a wimp and Dean Moriarty an underwhelming gigolo. Those people should have been amazingly deep and smart, especially Moriarty who was supposedly the muse of the whole beatnik generation, but they sounded more or less like some rambling junkies/alcoholics. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it remains an intriguing story and I still think it is worth a look but they could have done so much better with this material.

As you may have noticed, I’m not exactly a huge fan of thrillers in general. Sure, some of them are quite entertaining but I’m always amazed and rather annoyed by the over-the-top and usual stupid twists involved and even with such classics like ‘Seven’ or ‘The Silence of the Lambs’. Still, there are some exceptions and this movie is actually one of them. It is not in fact a really famous flick and it has never been considered as a masterpiece but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sure, I’ll admit it, it is nothing really amazing and, indeed, the story was rather far-fetched and there was some rather unbelievable twist but, at least, the whole thing was well constructed and very tense from the beginning until the end. It does help  when you have such fine actors like Jeff Bridges and Glenn Close and they both delivered some solid performances (I especially enjoyed Jeff Bridges, such an underrated actor, it was great to see him tackle a really different character for once). To conclude, even though it was definitely not a a game-changer whatsoever, it remains a solid thriller and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but the title sounded cool and there was a really nice cast involved so I thought I might as well give it a try. Eventually, the whole thing turned out to be a huge disappointment though. Indeed, it has been a while since I have seen such a messy thriller. I mean, it is quite usual, with this genre, that they keep you in the dark for a while but, slowly, you are supposed to understand what’s going on but, here, it wasn’t the case at all. Indeed, at the beginning, you know basically nothing and, at the end, you know just as much which was still nothing. The issue is that, from time to time, it seems that the plot was going somewhere and you think you might get a grip on the story but, then, it seemingly dropped what was going on and then they would move towards something else and, as a result, the whole thing was terribly underwhelming to behold. For example, why was there this sporadic argument about jurisdiction? It was never properly developed and you wonder what was the added value for the main story. Same thing about the fact that Jeffrey Dean Morgan was a cop from New York or the fact that Sam Worhington and Jessica Chastain were married. It’s a pity because the actors involved (Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jessica Chastain, Chloë Grace Moretz, Annabeth Gish, Sheryl Lee) did a decent job with some poorly developed characters. Still, the mood was pretty good and the whole thing seriously had some potential. Anyway, to o conclude, I think my rating might be a bit generous here but I still think it is worth a look somehow.