Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I kept hearing good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, I wasn’t disappointed and I’m glad I knew very little about it beforehand which is the best way to watch any movie in my opinion. Basically, it is a heartbreaking drama and a nail-biting thriller at the same time and, even though not much really happen during the whole thing, it was quite spellbinding to watch. Indeed, in the contrary to most of the US thrillers which go for the cheap thrills without much consistency, here, the story and the characters evolved organically which was a really refreshing approach. It was the first movie directed by Jeff Nichols that I have seen so far and he seems to be one of the most interesting American directors at work nowadays and I will definitely check his other movies when I get the opportunity. Of course, Michael Shannon should get some credit as well and he is definitely something else than your usual pretty faces, an intense actor who is finally getting some recognition. As you can see, even though I really enjoyed this movie, my rating is rather low which had to do mostly with the ending. Indeed, even though the movie was obviously about mental illness, Jeff Nichols pulled a ‘Breaking the Waves’ conclusion on us as he gives a rather enigmatic last scene which migh suggest that the main character might have been some kind of visionary after all. In my opinion, it either contradicted the whole thing or I missed the whole point. Still, in spite of this conclusion, it remains a very strong feature and it is definitely worth a look.

Even though I have watched many times the Spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood when I was a kid with my dad, I discovered his Dirty Harry flicks much later on in my life. Eventually, even though I still prefer his Westerns, I still enjoyed his famous cop features as well. The interesting thing with this franchise is that the sequels were actually pretty decent and this one was not an exception, even though it was still the weakest installment though. The point is that all these movies were pretty much resting on Clint Eastwood’s shoulders and the plots provided in these flicks were usually not really amazing, at least, that’s my opinion. Well, this time, the story was the weakest they would provide with the always bad-ass Dirty Harry. In fact, Clint Eastwood was supposed to direct this one but after getting rid of Philip Kaufman, he had to take over the directing duties on ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’ and he was still too busy working on the post-production and couldn’t direct this movie at the same time. One of the asset of this 2nd sequel was Tyne Daly as she gave a solid performance and she would be Harry’s only female partner. To conclude, even though this flick was  slightly disappointing, I thought it was still entertaining (it was also a major success when it was released) and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wonder how I ended up watching this flick. Maybe I was eager to see Jessica Biel in her acting debut? Anyway, even though it is a really obscure flick, I thought it was actually not bad at all and I was above all impressed by Peter Fonda. Peter Fonda never really had what you could call a stellar career and became above all famous as a counter-culture figure in the 60’s. The biggest appeal with this flick is that Fonda got to play a drastically different character, a quiet and introverted man, something quite different than the free spirit he portrayed in ‘Easy Rider’. Apparently, it was also a way for him to channel his father, the great Henry Fonda, possibly one of the greatest thespians that ever lived but apparently not the easiest father to communicate with. Obviously, Peter Fonda was praised for his portrayal and it was definitely deserved since he really carried the movie on his shoulders. Concerning the movie itself, I thought it was pretty good but nothing really amazing. Basically, without the impressive performance by Fonda, this flick didn’t have much to offer, I’m afraid. To conclude, even though it was not really groundbreaking, it remains a pretty good drama and I think it is definitely worth a look. 

It was bound to happen. Indeed, at last, I have seen a movie with my dear film club which I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. I mean, it was actually a decent feature with some solid directing, some flawless acting and the kids were just hilarious (I especially enjoyed the fact that their behavior was always convincing and wasn’t plot driven like most of the children characters). Basically, I really had a hard time to connect with the parents . Indeed, even though they were both charismatic, the vader was pretty much a douche-bag hiding behind his art to explain his attitude and the mother was rather annoying as she kept nagging her husband to be someone he wasn’t. The fact they were both quite selfish and, as a result, put their kids on the side line didn’t help either. Usually, I don’t have a problem with flawed characters, in the contrary, maybe, it was the fact that it reminded me of my chaotic relationship with my own wife. Still, it was far from a being a bad movie, the time went by very quickly while watching this which is always a good sign and I could have spend more time with them just to see how their relationship would evolve. To conclude, even though it wasn’t really a homerun this time, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Italian movies.

Honestly, I didn’t expect much from this flick but somehow, I still ended up watching it. Basically, it is the old gimmick of someone magically switching bodies (this time, a notorious womanizer becomes a woman). Personally, except for ‘Big’ which was still nothing great, I don’t think I enjoyed any other movies in this genre. Obviously, the premise is ridiculous and the trick is that the makers have to make sure that either the main character and/or what he/she is going through is really compelling to watch. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really the case here. First of all, even though Roger Ebert thought that Ellen Barkin delivered a strong performance, I didn’t agree. Especially in the first scenes, right after the transformation, she definitely behaved and sounded like a woman and not as a man trapped in a woman’s body. Later on, she became more convincing but the whole struggle with the high heels became old very fast. Furthermore, even though they tried to make it darker than the usual flicks in the genre, they still chickened out with some key scenes. I mean, why didn’t Samantha/Steve have sex with Sheila Faxton? There was no real reason why not, except that it was apparently ok to seduce a rich lesbian woman to get a contract but there was no way they would show a gay love scene in a mainstream comedy. Same thing with Walter. Indeed, would it be ok for Samantha/Steve to have sex with Walter who was Steve’s best friend? Again, a rather intriguing situation but they didn’t dare explore it so they have sex but it is off-screen when they were both extremely drunk so they never really had to face this situation. Anyway, to conclude, it was rather weak comedy and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Honestly, I was expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Sylvester Stallone, I thought I might as well give a try. Well, Stallone has done some pretty lame movies in the 80’s (later on that as well, as a matter of fact…) but this one is definitely one of the worst ones. Apparently, Sylvester Stallone himself was well aware how bad the whole thing was and did it just because Menahem Golan offered him an insane amount of money. Basically, the whole thing is a rather odd and misguided mix between a family drama and sport feature involving arm wrestling, of all sports. Right from the start, you get a really cheesy scene with Stallone cleaning up his truck with some typical corny 80’s music. From that point, they never looked back and the whole thing was just pathetic. The weird thing is some of the scenes about the father-son relationship were not bad at all but these scenes were lost in the rest of the movie which was pretty worthless. To conclude, it was pretty bad and I don’t think it is really worth a look whatsoever, except maybe if you are a huge fan of Sylvester Stallone.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Cameron Crowe’s work and since there was a pretty cool cast, I still wanted to check it out. Well, first of all, I have to admit it, it was definitely a cute concept and the whole thing was definitely cute as well but, I’m afraid that was pretty much everything this movie had to offer. I mean, it was just terribly predictable : from the very start, you know Matt Damon will buy a zoo, you know it will seem as if they are heading towards disaster but you know also that, at the end, everything will be fine. Since you already know all this, how do you manage to still make an entertaining movie? Well, in my opinion, you should either provide some really intriguing characters and/or have them going through some really interesting/entertaining events through this adventure. Well, that was the main issue basically. I mean, the actors were not bad at all and managed to portray some really nice people but I really had a hard time to care about what they were going through and the plot was just a succession of obligatory scenes just to move on towards the predictable happy-ending. Eventually, Cameron Crowe took a break of 6 years after ‘Elizabethtown’ before making this and you wonder if this movie was actually an improvement. Still, it remains a decent watch, the actors were likable, it was definitely a cute movie and I guess it is worth a look but don’t expect anything really amazing.

Even though Michael Crichton was mostly known for his books, among other things he wrote the novels that inspired such movies like ‘Jurassic Park’ and he also created the massive TV show ‘ER’, he was also a movie director and, even though none of his movies made much an impact, some of them were still fairly interesting, especially this directing debut. Indeed, it is nowadays pretty much forgotten but I thought it was actually a solid SF feature. In my opinion, the concept was actually pretty awesome and rather well developed by Michael Crichton. Not many knows it but this movie was also a landmark in motion picture history as it featured the first use of computer digitized images as part of a feature film (it was used to provide the gunslinger's point of view). Obviously, it doesn’t look really impressive when you watch it through our modern eyes, but you have to keep in mind that it was made 40 years ago and it was basically the precursor of all the CGI you see nowadays in most of your average blockbusters. It was also fun to see Yul Brynner providing a parody of his legendary character from ‘The Magnificent Seven’. Still, even though I really enjoyed this movie, it missed something to become truly awesome. I mean, the concept was really cool and I liked how they approached the material but since no character was really developed, it was rather difficult to get into the story which wasn’t really great after all. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, it remains an intriguing SF feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, when I heard about this project, I thought it sounded awesome. Indeed, after making ‘The Girlfriend Experience’, a movie starring Sasha Grey, a notorious porno star, as a high-end call girl, Soderbergh was this time making a (supposedly) kinetic spy action flick starring Gina Carano, a MMA champion. Furthermore, there was an impressive supporting cast so I was pretty sure it would be a winner. Eventually, it didn’t get much love when it was released but it was still eager to check it out anyway. Unfortunately, the whole thing turned out to be a huge disappointment and easly the weakest movie directed by Steven Soderbergh since ‘Full Frontal’ back in 2002. The point is that all the ingredients were there but the mix didn’t work out somehow. Of course, you could blame the limited acting skills of Gina Carano but I think she did what she could with the material and I’m sure she could impress us if she gets another fair shot. Above all, I thought the whole thing was just plain lazy. I mean, take the soundtrack for example, it was just some annoying generic spy tunes and it would have worked better if they got rid off it. On top of that, the story was not only rather non-sensical but seriously pedestrian and underwhelming. Finally, even though Carano was pretty bad-ass in the action scenes, Soderbergh, who is usually a fine director, didn’t manage to bring much tension in those scenes which felt pretty lifeless. The main problem I have with this director is that, pretty much like some other directors such as Woody Allen or Michael Winterbottom, instead of spending 3 or 4 years on one project and make sure it is a great flick, he made no less than 18(!) movies in 14 years and, as a result, you get such half-baked features. Anyway, to conclude, I think my rating is actually really generous here, but I guess it is still worth a look, if only for the awesome cast and for the interesting potential displayed by Gina Carano.

Since me and my step-son Nick had watched all the Lethal Weapon movies, of course, we had to watch this one as well, even though it doesn’t really have a stellar reputation. Honestly, even though it was indeed not as good as the previous installments, I was surprised about how much I actually enjoyed it and, for a 3rd sequel, it was actually quite entertaining. Of course, the story was nothing great but what really matters is that there was still this great chemistry between Mel Gibson and Danny Glover and, in this genre of the buddy cops, they remain far ahead the rest of the competition. The other neat thing is that they managed to bring back Joe Pesci and Rene Russo, albeit with a reduced running time especially for Russo, but still with a satisfying result and they managed to bring also Chris Rock and Jet Li to the party as well. It was actually Jet Li’s first American feature, he was a really cool opponent and it was quite funny to see Riggs and Murtaugh discussing the fact that they should avoid fighting with him since they are not so young anymore and the guy is just a walking killing machine. To conclude, even though the whole thing pretty much followed the same formula, it actually worked and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.