Reviews by johanlefourbe

I don’t remember why exactly but I’m pretty sure I ended up watching this flick in the movie theater when I was living in England. Anyway, I thought it sounded really cool but the whole thing was not really mind-blowing eventually. First of all, even though Melanie Griffith was a fine choice and perfectly fit John Waters style, I really had a hard time with Stephen Dorff. Indeed, I think Dorff is one of the most underwhelming actors and he pretty much ruins most of the movies he is involved with. Still, I shouldn’t blame it solely on Stephen Dorff though. Indeed, like most of the movies directed by John Waters, it starts up with a decent concept with quite some potential but the execution is far from being amazing, I’m afraid. Sure, it is intriguing but it never becomes spellbinding and I wish he developed a little bit more his characters and/or his plots. Still, it is always awesome that Waters sets all his movies in Baltimore, my favorite US city which I have visited so many times. To conclude, even though I thought it was slightly disappointing, it was at least was miles better than the even more disappointing 'A Dirty Shame' , Waters' following directing effort, and I think it is worth a look.

Honestly, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and it would be pretty neat to watch it again. I remember it very well, I actually had a Belgian roommate who thought that it was the worst movie ever made but I thought it was actually pretty good. Anyway, it is arguably one of the most obscure movies directed by Eastwood, certainly the most overlooked one. Even though it was indeed his worst performing picture of the 1990s at the box-office, it was still an intriguing picture and, like I pointed out before, I would really like to re-watch it at some point. The point is that when I first watched it, I was pretty young and even though I heard about John Huston, I was pretty oblivious about the guy, I hadn't seen yet 'The African Queen' or any other of his work as a matter of fact so I missed quite a lot while watching this. Anyway, it was a pet project for Clint Eastwood who agreed to do 'The Rookie' for the Warner Brothers studio only if they would let him make this flick. Eventually, even though it is one of the least commercial efforts by Eastwood, it is actually really appealing, I highly recommend it and it is definitely worth a look.

When a movie is called ‘Wise Guys’ and it is directed by Brian De Palma, in my opinion , you are entitled to expect a great gangster feature, some kind of mix between ‘Goodfellas’ and ‘Scarface’. Unfortunately, the whole thing was rather misleading and it was in fact a comedy and instead of dealing with some hard thugs, it was dealing with some losers working for the mob. So, those guys were pretty pathetic and even though Danny DeVito was basically born to play such characters, I can’t say I thought it was really funny. De Palma always had a rather patchy career, with some ups and many downs, and this flick definitely belongs to his more underwhelming movies. Fortunately, a year later, he would come up with ‘The Untouchables’, arguably one of his biggest success, financially and critically. I don’t know, maybe, I didn’t like it because I wasn’t expecting something else and, in fact, Roger Ebert thought it was actually pretty good. Anyway, to conclude, even though I have seen worse, I thought it was just an average comedy with a rather half-baked concept and it is not really worth a look, except if you are a die-hard fan of Brian De Palma’s work.

I have always been a fan of Alfred Hitchcock and this has always been my favorite movie of his. Since it has been a long since I watched it, I thought it was really time for a re-watch. Eventually, I was once again blown away by the whole thing. Indeed, in my opinion, you have Hitchcock here at the very top of his Art. Basically, the whole thing looked amazing and I have never seen such a spellbinding progression in a thriller. Through the whole thing, you can’t help wonder what is going on with this mysterious woman and like James Stewart, you are pretty much getting obsessed with this lady. The other thing I loved about this flick is how well developed the main character was. Indeed, it was probably the most messed up lead character provided by Hitchcock through his whole career. Between his vertigo issues and his obsessions with the ladies, the guy is far from your usual perfect heroes. Unsurprisingly, like many other great movies, it was a flop when it was released, financially and critically, and it was a huge disappointment for Hitchcock. As far as I'm concerned, the only minor flaw was that they could have removed the flashback revealing the whole scheme. In my opinion, it would have been even better if we discovered the truth at the same time with the same character but it wasn’t a big deal. To conclude, I think it is a fascinating movie, a classic, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Alfred Hitchcock’s work.

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.