Reviews by johanlefourbe

I always had a weak spot for Wayne Wang’s work and this movie is probably his best I have seen so far. I have still have to see his older movies but I was really impressed by this one. After this movie, he would finally make a movie not focusing on the Asian community, ‘Smoke’, and this flick was once again a tremendous critical success. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, it focuses on four women who are all Chinese immigrants living in San Francisco and we see them as they gather to play mahjong, eat and discuss life. Through the movie, we discover their struggle with the American culture, especially concerning their relationship with their daughters who are a torn between between Chinese and US lifestyle. Since I’m myself an immigrant, son of an immigrant, I had no problem to connect with these characters, even though the gap between the French and Dutch culture is not as big as the gap between the American and Chinese culture. In my opinion, it is one of the best movies dealing with this topic and I thought it was really interesting. To conclude, I thought it was quite a fascinating flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in this subject.

I have always been a fan of Denzel Washington so I was really eager to check this flick. On top of that, he seemed to be playing something else than his usual righteous lead character so I was definitely intrigued. Eventually, it turned out to be a decent action flick with some really good ideas which were, unfortunately, not always well developped. First of all, even though the movie is called ‘Safe House’, the action took place only 15 minutes in the actual safe house so that was rather misleading. Then, the intro with Ryan Reynolds and his girlfriend was just terribly lame and sentimental. I mean, can you imagine Jason Bourne calling his girlfriend to make some nice chitchat at the beginning of ‘The Bourne Identity’? Of course not! It was seriously a mood killer and every interaction with the chick was seriously annoying. Ok, we got the picture, the guy is supposed to be a young and inexperienced agent, that was actually pretty good, but you don’t have to make him a total wuss. Eventually, they should have focused on the psychological struggle between Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, that was much more interesting. Eventually, it was never really clear why Washington ended up in the American consulate, instead they rather focused on some decent but rather repetitive action scenes. To conclude, in spite of the fact that the whole concept was not very well developped, it was still rather entertaining and I think it is still worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Right after ‘The Sixth Sense’, Haley Joel Osment became really popular and he was hailed as the next best thing but, unfortunately, it lasted only 2 short years and his career is already pretty much done nowadays. Basically, even though the guy was pretty cute as a kid, puberty was rather merciless on the guy (I know, it is something really mean to say but, seriously, you should check his recent pictures). Anyway, right after ‘The Sixth Sense’, when Haley Joel Osment was still pretty hot, he made this feature which has gathered a rather decent following. To be honest, I thought it was not bad at all, there was indeed a decent cast (Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, Haley Joel Osment, Jim Caviezel, Jon Bon Jovi) and the whole concept definitely had some potential but, to be honest, I wasn’t exactly blown away. I don’t know, I’m just too cynical, maybe we should all follow this concept but I didn’t buy it. To put it simply, human beings don’t work like that. I mean, it is not that we are utterly evil or something, but the most of us are rather self-centered, selfish and just plain lazy most of the time. Still, in spite its flaws and gullibility, it remains a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look.

To be honest, there is a good chance that my rating might be a little bit generous and a re-watch might change my mind completely. Basically, I saw it very young, I didn’t really pay attention to the details and I thought it was a rather entertaining thriller. At the time, Matt Dillon and Sean Young were both still in demand and, nowadays, above all for Sean Young, there is not much else of her once promising career. Apparently, her double-performance was not very well received, she even won 2 Razzie awards and therefore she became the first actress to be awarded two Golden Raspberry Awards in the same year. Was she really that bad? I’m not so sure. It is like the twist ending, nowadays, I think it’s terribly annoying and it ruins most of the thrillers in my opinion but, with this movie, like I said before, I was really young at the time, I hadn’t seen this gimmick 100 times before and I thought it was actually pretty neat. Furthermore, I always been a fan of Alfred Hitchcock’s work and it was nice that a contemporary film maker tried to emulate his style. To conclude, it might not be as good as I remember but I thought it was a decent thriller and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Once again, it was another great movie I hadn’t seen for years so I was really eager to check it out again. Even though there has been countless movies about the Vietnam war, the conflict in Cambodia has been criminally forgotten whereas there was there a massive genocide which was still taking place even when this movie was released. Only therefore, it is already a really important feature. Like many other movies dealing with foreign conflicts like ‘Cry Freedom’ or ‘Shooting Dogs’, it uses the gimmick of having a white main character so we can easily focus and identify with what’s going on but, for once, this gimmick didn’t bother me. Furthermore, even though it was Roland Joffé’s directing debut, the directing was really efficient and this depiction of war was really relentless and quite heartbreaking. Eventually, the ultimate masterstroke was to give a good chunk of the story to Dith Pran, amazingly played by a non-professional actor called Haing S. Nor who was himself a survivor from the Khmer Rouge. It made the whole thing much more compelling to watch and it is hard to imagine what it must have been to play this character after what he has been through. To conclude, it is a very good war feature and it is definitely worth a look.

I actually already saw this flick but it was such a long time ago, I thought it was really time for a re-watch. The first time I saw it, I must have been a teenager and, even though I did like it, I can’t say it really blew me away. For many, it is considered one of the greatest comedies ever made and it has obviously become an inspiration for many other features, especially the ones about men dressed in drags like ‘Tootsie’ or ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’. Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of the genre but, I have to admit it, they really nailed it here. Indeed, not only Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon were actually rather convincing as women but, above all, they were really hilarious and the whole thing is still really fun, even after more than 50 years. Still, even this time around, I wasn’t entirely convinced by the whole thing. I mean, to start with, Marilyn Monroe looked positively charming but, honestly, her character was just a brainless sexpot and , even though it was indeed quite funny, the premise is still terribly silly. Still, to conclude, it remains a classic, a really solid comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Even though I have seen more than half of the movies directed by Barry Levinson, it is actually rather surprising that I hadn’t seen yet one of his Balimore features. I was really eager to check them a very long time since I always had a weak spot for this city as I have been there at least 8 times. Anyway, it was his 2nd movie in this anthalogy (the first one being ‘Diner’, his directing debut) and I thought it was pretty good. You can feel that Levinson was full of nostalgia when he made this flick as you really get a nice feeling of the time period. Furthermore, I really enjoyed the fact that it was focusing on some average guys with a real job (which was pretty lousy but every salesman job is pretty worthless in my opinion but it made it even more compelling to watch) and some of the dialogs, especially the ones involving the ‘tin men’ drinking their coffee in their usual diners, were sometimes quite brilliant. Still, the feud between Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito was not really interesting or entertaining and, in my opinion, it would have worked better if the story would have been about two co-workers who cannot stand each other. Still, even though it was not really brilliant, I thought it was a nice feature and it is definitely worth a look.

Following the success of ‘Romancing the Stone’, unsurprisingly, they decided to make a sequel reuniting Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. The only person missing was Robert Zemeckis who had some fun with the 1st installment but he had no real interest in this sequel and he moved on towards bigger thing, a little movie called ‘Back to the Future’. Honestly, this movie has a rather poor reputation and, indeed, it was not as good as the first installment which had a really nice sarcastic tone, especially in the 1st half. However, I still have a weak spot for this flick (I have to admit it though, it has been a while since I saw it and a re-watch might change my opinion) and I really liked this flick back then when I was a kid. The point is that even though the plot is actually rather weak, Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner still have this great chemistry and it was a blast to see those characters again. To conclude, my rating might be a little too generous but I thought it was actually pretty good and it is worth a look, especially if you enjoyed the first installment.

Ever since I saw Keisha Castle-Hugues in the amazing ‘Whale Rider’, I had the highest hopes for this actress so I try to watch her movies whenever I get the opportinity. Unfortunately, except maybe for ‘The Nativity Story’, she hasn’t done anything remarkable (apparently, she has/had some major drinking issues already as a teenager) and, in this movie, she only had a very small part. Fortunately, the movie itself was not bad at all. Honestly, I usually don’t really care about movies dealing with dogs or animals but I thought it was actually superior to ‘Hachiko’, a very popular true story with quite a similar plot about a dog waiting endlessly his master who passed away. This time, it worked better not only because Red Dog was cute and had an intriguing personality but, above all, thanks to the colorful characters surrounding him, something which was terribly missing in ‘Hachiko’. Still, in spite of the fact that it was quite entertaining, the whole thing still remained too pedestrian to become really remarkable. To conclude, even though I don’t think it is really amazing, it remains a decent watch, probably the best dog movie I have ever seen and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but, since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. Nowadays, we don’t hear much from him but, back in the 90’s, I was quite a fan of Barbet Schroeder and, back then, he was really a popular director, especially after ‘Reversal of Fortune’ which must have been his most famous picture. His follow-up was definitely not so classy though as it turned out to be one of these sleazy thrillers that they used to make in the 90's. Indeed, while rewatching the damned thing, I was surprised by how much nudity was displayed by the two main actresses which is something you would never see nowadays. Anyway, it is pretty neat how much Schroeder managed to achieve with this material which was after all a rather thin premise. Another interesting thing about this movie was that it starred two female actress who were really popular in the 90’s but their respective careers has taken a dive since then. Indeed, at the time, Bridget Fonda was one of the most popular actress but, nowadays, she is retired, and Jennifer Jason Leigh was considered one of the most talented actress of her generation but, nowadays, she is still working but usually in some supporting parts. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I thought that the people involved made the best of it and I was actually entertained throughout the whole thing. Unfortunately, the final act did drag on for too long and I wish they managed to wrap the whole thing up with something else than Hedra going full mental. Indeed, it was just so predictable and therefore rather underwhelming. Another option could have been to go the complete opposite way and make her do some really crazy stuff but then it should have been so much more extreme than what was displayed in this movie. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, it was still a decent flick though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.