Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but Nick, my step-son, really loved it the first time he watched the damned thing so I thought we should check it out together. Well, eventually, I didn’t like it much, I’m afraid. I mean, basically, it is one of your typical sappy family features and, either, you are 12 years old or you love this genre or it will pretty much really bore you. Sure, it is based on a rather amazing story and, indeed, it is actually a powerful tearjerker with some touching scenes here and there but, in my opinion, the biggest issue was that they did add way too many sub-plots . On top of my head, I could name a few : the main character had some problem at school, his father left him, his cousin came back wounded from an unknown war, there was also a storm, they wanted to close down the animal hospital so they have to raise some money,… Give me a break! It was seriously a little bit too much for me. At the end of the day, I think I would have preferred a documentary instead of all that stuff they added. Anyway, to conclude, I don’t think it is really worth a look but if you love the genre, you might enjoy it more than I did.

Michael Cimino is what you could consider a really doomed director. Indeed, once a wonder boy following the release of ‘The Deer Hunter’, he completely destroyed his career with the really misguided ‘Heaven’s Gate’ and he single-handedly managed to end up the golden age of American cinema, an age when the authors were given pretty much carte blanche and a seemingly unlimited budget. Since then, Cimino never really recovered, he only made 5 other movies afterwards and it has been already 20 years since he released another movie. It is actually quite a shame since the guy seemed to be actually quite talented. Anyway, he made this flick 5 years after the ‘Heaven’s Gate’ disaster and even though it was not really a masterpiece, I thought it was pretty good though. At the time, Mickey Rourke was still quite a popular actor with a pretty face and I thought he gave a solid performance. Above all, even though the story was rather pedestrian, I really enjoyed the mood created by Michael Cimino (In fact the exterior shots of New York City were actually sets which were built somewhere else and they were so convincing, so realistic, that they even fooled Stanley Kubrick who attended the movie's premiere even though he was actually born in the Bronx). To conclude, even though it is nothing amazing whatsoever, I think it is still a decent flick and it is definitely worth a look.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a pretty nice cast, I thought I might as well give it a try. Eventually, it is a rather nice comedy with a very convincing mood and look for the time period and it was actually a rather neat story. The main issue, in my opinion, is that they tried to combine too many sub-plots and themes to the main story. Indeed, on one hand, you had medicine which was constantly discovering new ways to treat their patient, therefore conflicting with the traditional ways to cure diseases but, on the other hand, there was also the situation of women who didn’t have the same rights as men at the time (do they actually have the same rights nowadays?). That was already too much to handle for such a whimsical comedy and the love triangle involving the main character with the 2 sisters was also rather unnecessary and quite predictable. Still, it was a rather fun flick, especially thanks to Rupert Everett who stole the show every time he was on the screen. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for this actor and, even though he basically always plays the same character in all his movies, I always find him really marvelous and hilarious. To conclude, even though it is nothing amazing whatsoever, it remains a fairly entertaining comedy and I think it is worth a look.

Honestly, it is such a weird movie. I mean, it is not really a bad flick, a massive director like Michelangelo Antonioni couldn’t really direct a bad flick, but, still, the whole thing was so misguided, so flawed, it is still pretty much considered as a low point in his impressive career. Indeed, when it was released it was a huge flop and it was pretty much destroyed by the critics but, somehow, there was still something intriguing about the whole thing and it has become more or less a cult-classic. Basically, it is a mix with the hippy/counter-culture spirit, Antonioni’s artistical European directing style and the US film industry as it was the first time Michelangelo Antonioni shot in America. Therefore, the end-result was a rather schizophrenic feature which was visually still quite impressive, with some nice music provided by such bands like Pink Floyd, but the plot (was there really a plot in fact?) and the pathetic characters made it really difficult to root for this flick. Eventually, Antonio would rebound with ‘Professione: reporter’ 5 years later, but he will never reach the same heights he did before with such classics like ‘Blowup’. To conclude, even though it is a rather messed up flick, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you are interested in Antonioni’s work.

I have actually seen this flick in the movie theater when it was released and, at the time, I really loved it. Indeed, back then, I never saw such a daft black comedy and I thought it was just awesome and quite hilarious. Personally, I always had a weak spot for Kathleen Turner who was still on the A list at the time and she was just perfect for this role. Since then, I have followed John Waters and watch all the movies he made afterwards (I still have to watch his older movies he made before like ‘Hairspray’ of ‘Ping Flamingos’) but, honestly, none of them really impressed like this one though. Indeed, with this flick which was pretty much the most mainstream thing he has ever done, he managed to keep his wild and dark sense of humor, combined it with an entertaining plot and also made the whole thing almost look like a standard commercial comedy. I have to admit it, towards the end, it tends to loose focus but it was still really entertaining. To conclude, it seems to be pretty much forgotten nowadays but I think it is actually one of my favorites comedies and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in John Waters’ work.

Since I kept hearing many good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of boxing as a sport, I always had a hard time enjoying watching two grown men completely beating each other up, but I can’t deny the fact that there is still something quite dramatic about this sport which works very well with movies, in contrary to most other sports. Well, this fight must be one of the most famous fights that ever took place and everything about it was larger than life. Indeed, you had the young George Forman who was like this huge monster who seemed unbeatable and, of course, the legendary Muhammad Ali with his huge mouth and his unique charisma who was much older and who seemingly didn’t stand a chance. Eventually, the fight didn’t disappoint and, against all odds, with all Africa behind him, Ali won back his title which he lost not because he faced a better opponent, but because he didn’t want to take part in a war in which he didn’t believe in. Eventually, the whole thing was pretty fascinating to behold and you can see that even though ‘Ali’, starring Will Smith and directed Michael Mann, was a decent attempt, they never really managed to grasp the complexety and magnitude of this massive man. Here, they definitely succeeded and this flick is definitely worth a look.

In 2014, the Russo brothers surprised everyone with ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’. Indeed, even though they seemed to be a rather weird choice to direct a blockbuster like this one, eventually it turned out to be a financial and critical success and it is now considered as one of the best super-hero flicks ever made. More than than 10 years ago, they made this directing debut and it couldn’t be something more different. Indeed, basically, it is a rather small quirky indie feature and I think it was barely noticed when it was released. To be honest, it was nothing really original or amazing but, at least, it was miles better than their following feature, the terribly underwhelming ‘You, Me and Dupree’, and I thought it was fairly entertaining. At least, there was a nice cast (William H. Macy, Isaiah Washington, Sam Rockwell, Luis Guzmán, Patricia Clarkson, George Clooney), they all delivered some solid performances and, obviously, any movie starring William H. Macy and Sam Rockwell is pretty much bound to be fun to watch. To conclude, as I mentionned before, it is a rather small indie flick but I thought it was pretty good and it is worth a look, but don’t expect anything really mind-blowing.

When I heard about this flick, I thought it had some great potential so I was quite eager to check it out. Indeed, Charles Darwin must have been one of the most brilliant human-beings that ever lived and to make a movie about this man and his revolutionary theory sounded like a great challenge. Unfortunately, they decided to rather focus on how the man became physically and mentally ill after the death of his oldest daughter. So, instead of having a deep reflection about his amazing theory of evolution, we got instead a well made but still terribly pedestrian domestic drama. I mean, it was not completely worthless, Paul Bettany gave a really solid performance, he did what he could with the material and there were some interesting bits about his struggle between what he believes his true and the common beliefs had the time and also between his love for his wife and the fact she deeply believed in God while his theory pretty much shattered most of the Dogmas she believed in. To make things worse, towards the end, all these dilemmas seemed to be pretty much easily solved after a heartfelt and emotional discussion between the two of them which seemed a rather abrupt short-cut. To conclude, the whole thing felt like a missed opportunity but, somehow, it remains watchable and I think it is still worth a look.

I know that this movie doesn’t really have a stellar reputation but, honestly, I thought it was actually fairly enjoyable. The point is that, from the start, the whole thing looked and sounded really awesome to me. Indeed, two of the greatest actors, Robert de Niro and Sean Penn, at the time at the heights of their Art, were working together so I was pretty much sold even before watching the damned thing. The fact that it was directed by Neil Jordan, a very solid director, made me think that it would be a sure winner. Eventually, I have to admit it, it was nothing great whatsoever. I mean, both de Niro and Penn were fine and it was fairly entertaining but the plot was seriously pedestrian and predictable. At the end of the day, the main issue, in my opinion, is that the characters were not developed enough and the whole thing felt like it was rather poorly written. Still, I think it was harmless and I enjoyed it for what it was. To conclude, even though it is far from being a masterpiece, I still liked the damned thing and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in those 2 actors.

I always had a weak spot for Michael Winterbottom so I was really eager to check this flick. Even though I have always admired this director, there was still something that always bothered me with this guy though. Indeed, like some other directors such as Woody Allen or Steven Soderbergh, the guy is pretty much a workhaolic, making at least 1 movie every year, sometimes even 2. As a result, most of his movies start with a promising concept but they usually end up being half-baked, at least, that’s my opinion and this flick is a perfect example. At the time, it was probably his most ambitious project (it was in fact the very first feature film about the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and it was even shot just a few months after the war on locations in Sarajevo and Croatia) and it was definitely an interesting feature. I also enjoyed how realistic and grim the whole thing was. So, the set-up was really good but, unfortunately, I didn’t care much about the main plot. Sure, it was based on a real story but I strongly believe, with such realistic tales, that you should put the focus on the locals, not on some Western foreigner. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it still think it is a pretty good flick and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested by this subject.