Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie, in fact, I saw it in the movie theatre when it was released, but since it was such a long time ago, I thought I might as well check it out again. In fact, I remember it very well, before this movie was released, there was quite a buzz about it but, eventually, even though it made some decent business at the box-office, it wasn't really well received at the time. Well, to be honest, this movie didn’t grow old very well, I’m afraid. I mean, the idea of making a werewolf movie within a modern realistic setting was not bad and, on top of that, to have Jack Nicholson play a werewolf was actually quite brilliant. Michelle Pfeiffer was also quite gorgeous at the time but I’m afraid her part wasn’t really developed enough. However, you might wonder if Mike Nichols was actually the right choice to direct this stuff. I mean, the guy always had a stellar career but with this kind of material, you needed someone who could handle some major special effects and some heavy make-up. At least, they did hire Rick Baker, probably the most famous famous make-up artist at the time, but I’m afraid it wasn’t enough though. The point is that it could become pretty campy pretty fast and I’m afraid that’s what happened here. Indeed, as long as they were focusing on Nicholson’s character before the transformation, the whole thing was maybe generic but it was still fairly compelling, but as soon as the guy became a werewolf, I'm afraid it became rather ridiculous. Anyway, to conclude, I think I’m actually too generous with my rating for this movie but I guess it still worth a look, especially if you have a weak spot for Jack Nicholson.

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. Basically, it is a typical example of what he did in the 80's, some colorful but also very daft soap-opera with some rather messed up characters. I mean, like in most of his movies, most of the characters are women but does he really provide a positive image of women? It seems that they are all emotional wrecks, impossible to make some sound decisions because they have been manipulated by some douche-bags. And yet , in spite their rather perplexing behavior, they were still quite spellbinding to behold and that's the power of Almodovar's work, in the way that he is able to create some complex female characters who are as much neurotic as they are powerful. To conclude, even though I don't think it is really a masterpiece, I still think it is a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Pedro Almodovar's work.

Since a couple of years, they have decided to add more movies to the list of nominees for the Best Picture Academy Award. You may like it or not but there is definitely one impact is that you get at least one very surprising nomination that nobody was expected and it was definitely the case when this movie was nominated. Indeed, even though there was a pretty good buzz before its release, it was eventually received with some rather lukewarm reviews. Even so, I still wanted to check it out but, unfortunately, I can't say I was really convinced. I mean the directing was pretty good, the cast did a fine job, especially the young boy playing the lead but I wasn't really convinced by the story. Basically, it is a rather heartbreaking drama about the trauma of a young boy, probably autistic, following the 09/11 tragedy, and it was some pretty strong material, but then, instead of developing this dramatic situation, they constantly toned down the whole thing by adding some quirky scenes every 2 minutes. Maybe it made the story easier to digest for some viewers but, in my case, it actually weakened the powerful emotions displayed. To conclude, even though it was rather flawed, I still think it remains a decent drama and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Obviously, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since Nick, my step-son, loves ghosts flicks I thought we might as well give it a try. Basically, at the end of the 90's, they thought it would be a good idea to remake those old classics like 'Dracula' which was directed by Francis Ford Coppola or 'Frankenstein' by Kenneth Brannagh which were both not bad but they also produced some terrible remakes like 'The Haunting', 'House on Haunted Hill' and this flick. Indeed, it was terribly weak. First, you get this really convoluted and messy introduction and soon the characters were stuck in this weird house for some rather dubious reasons but there wasn't a single moment during which it became slightly compelling. Sure, the house was visually interesting but it was just some elaborate set-design, in fact, it was so elaborate that there was no connection left with the real world and therefore, it was not really convincing. Even those 12 ghosts who did look rather nasty were actually rather underwhelming. To conclude, I think I'm being quite generous with my rating here, it is just a really weak horror flick and I don't think it is really worth a look, even if you love the genre.

Even though there was a huge hype surronding ‘1492: Conquest of Paradise’, it was eventuallly a flop and Ridely Scott when through his biggest career deep so far, a deep which lasted until ‘Gladiator’ but the guy has never looked back since then as he has made about 1 movie every year for the last 14 years. Anyway, during this deep, Scott made this flick and it is definitely one of his most obscure features (I can only think of ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’ which could be even more obscure). Since I have always been a fan of Ridley Scott’s work, I was really eager to check this flick and I actually took me several years to finally see the damned thing. Eventually, even though it was nothing amazing, I thought it was still not bad at all. First of all, there was a neat cast of young upcoming actors (Scott Wolf, Jeremy Sisto, Ryan Phillippe, Balthazar Getty) and Jeff Bridges, one of the best actors around, as usual, delivered a solid performance. Obviously, the story was rather generic (the main issue in most of the movies directed by Ridley Scott) but I thought it was entertaining enough. To conclude, even though it is a rather obscure feature, I think it is actually worth a look, especially if you are interested in Ridley Scott’s work.

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from this movie but I still wanted to check it out. Indeed, on one hand, you had Chiwetel Ejiofor, probably one of the best actors around nowadays, but also, Tim Allen, probably one of the most underwhelming actors I have ever seen. Fortunately, Tim Allen showed up for maybe only 10 minutes so that wasn't enough to ruin this movie (he was still miscast though and I would have rather had someone like Bruce Willis instead). Basically, it is a rather intriguing movie about martial arts, especially jiu-jitsu, which wasn't something I would have expected from David Mamet but the guy has been doing this sport for already 6 years at the time so that explains a lot. On top of that, a third of the characters were Brazilian for no apparent reason so that was a rather odd mix. The main issue, in my opinion, is that with a running time of barely 100 minutes, there was just too many characters and intrigues to carry and, at the end of the day, half of it didn't make much sense. Still, Mamet has managed to create a rather fascinating world and Ejiofor was completely convincing and spellbinding to behold so I think it is definitely worth a look.

Comedy is probably the genre I’m the most critical about. Indeed, I don’t find most comedies to be really funny as they usually go for the stupid jokes. However, there are a few exceptions and this flick is definitely one of them. Basically, it is one of those movies I saw when I was much too young, back then in the 90’s, when you could watch pretty much anything as a kid before it became politically incorrect. Back then, even as a kid, I loved the damned thing and I thought it was just hilarious. Basically, even though it remains a mainstream production, it still stand out from the rest because it is actually pitch black and terribly sarcastic and I really enjoyed the fact that Danny DeVito, in his 2nd directing effort, never backs down at any moment. Indeed, in your average Hollywood production, at some point, they would start to turn down the cynicism in order to reach a terribly underwhelming happy ending. Not here though. Here, they go for broke and show you some of the most flawed characters you will see in a comedy. On top of that, Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner gave some solid performances and they had some great chemistry together. To conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, I really love this comedy and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but with a cast including Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill, I still had to watch it at some point. Well, right from the start, the whole thing sounded really ludicrous so it seemed that it was completely doomed from the start but, eventually, the main issue was in fact that they mixed up this wacky concept with a straight R-rated comedy and a really standard and boring alien invasion plot. That was just so wrong and they couldn't have chosen a worse way to handle this. I mean, if you go for something stupid like this, then, go for broke then and make something completely insane. But since it is a commercial Hollywood picture, they just gave us some glimpse of what it could have been and, instead, you just got some rather underwhelming characters going through the motions. I mean, I’m not saying that it could have been great, it was a tough sell anyway, but the way they handled the whole thing was seriously pathetic. And what was that about one of them being an alien?!? That was totally f*cking random like ‘sorry, guys, we are kind of stuck here so let’s make one of them being an alien so he explain the whole thing in a few sentences so that we can speed up the whole thing in the process’. To conclude, it could have been worse but it could have been much better so I don’t think it is really worth a look.

There was a time when Alison Lohman was one of the most promising actresses around. And then, back in 2009, she did a small part in the average ‘Gamer’, met her future husband Mark Neveldine who directed this flick, married the guy, got a kid, and since then she has never made any more movies. How sad is that? Lohman had her breakthrough in 2003 with ‘Matchstick Men’, one of the better movies directed by Ridley Scott, and a year before, she made this flick for which she delivered also a very strong performance. To be honest, the whole thing didn’t work perfectly, there were too many characters with not enough room for them all of them and some bits just didn’t work very well. Still, it is not very often that you get to see so many strong female characters played by a stellar cast (Robin Wright, Michelle Pfeiffer, Renée Zellweger). The best one was probably delivered by Michelle Pfeiffer who many thought would get an oscar nomination for her work (it didn’t happen after all because the movie was barely seen at the time) and she was indeed very strong here but I was still impressed by Alison Lohman who never got upstaged at any moment by those more experienced actresses. To conclude, I think this movie deserved more love and it is definitely worth a look.

Last year, I discovered that Curtis Hanson had retired because of Alzheimers. It sounds rather tragic that his career ended up this way. Hanson was actually quite a late bloomer as he had his biggest success with ‘L.A. Confidential’ rather late in his career. 3 years later, he came up with this follow-up which was barely noticed by the audience, even though it received some stellar reviews. Personally, I really liked this flick and even though it might not have been as epic as ‘L.A. Confidential’, it was almost as good and it definitely deserved more love. First of all, there was a very solid cast (Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Holmes) and they all delivered some solid performances, especially Douglas who was universally praised at the time. Personally, I always had a weak spot for this kind of characters, those guys (they are always guys, aren’t they?) who are or who were once brilliant but still can’t help being some terrible losers and, as a result, their life always seems to be a mess. In this case, it is even more enjoyable because Michael Douglas always plays the exact opposite, some shallow but terribly charismatic and successful SOBs and it was a just a blast to see him play around with his image. To conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, I think it is still a really solid drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.