Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since this movie won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film festival, I was really eager to check it out. It was quite a striking war movie, all taking place in a tank, except for a couple of shots, and it gave a similar feeling of claustrophoby you had while watching the seminal classic ‘Das Boot’. Here, this feeling is even worse since the soldiers have even less space but, at least, you could say that they were not underwater. Unsurprisingly, the director, Samuel Maoz was himself a gunner in one of those tanks during this conflict so the whole thing felt really realistic and relentless. Still, somehow, it didn’t completely grab me. First of all, I’m not really familiar with this conflict, how it all started, for how long and how it all ended. Honestly, it might sound stupid, but it is only half way through that I discovered that it was actually an Israeli tank. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter who is in there or why they ended up here. It is all about some average fellows like you and I who ended up in a big metal box who have to try survive by killing someone else which they don’t even know. To conclude, even though it might not be as great as ‘Das Boot’, it remains a very original war feature and it is definitely worth a look.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but I always had a weak spot for Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman so I thought I might as well give it a try. Well, it wasn’t really good, I’m afraid and it was another disappointing feature directed by Joel Schumacher. Right now, I have seen 20 movies directed by this guy but most of them were rather underwhelming and even if this movie might not be one of his worst, it was still pretty damned average. I mean, basically you get Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman held hostage in their house after 10 minutes and the first thing you ask yourself is how are they are going to keep this up for another 80 minutes? Well, not very well, that’s for sure. Basically, you have the bad guys screaming usually at Cage and sometimes at Kidman and threatening them with a gun and they kept repeat this endlessly. At some point, you had Nicolas Cage trying to outsmart them and, finally, there was a new dynamic in the story but it was just for a very short moment and they got back to the same tiresome routine I explained above. The number of twists was quite huge as well and, at some point, it seriously got on my nerves. To conclude, I think I might be generous with my rating here, the whole thing is pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Except for ‘When Harry Met Sally…’ which must be the best romantic-comedy ever conceived, I never really understood the fuss about Billy Crystal. I mean, I have nothing against the guy but except for presenting the Oscars more than anynone else, what has he actually accomplished in the last 2 decades? Anyway, since this movie was one of his more popular features, I thought I should give it a try. Well, it was not bad and rather entertaining but not much more than that,I’m afraid. Basically, it is one of those comedies with a fish-out-of-water situation and even though the characters were funny enough, it followed too much the formula and therefore it was terribly predictable. The other flabbergasting aspect about this flick is also the fact that Jack Palance won an Oscar for his performance. Right there, you have the perfect example about how the Academy awards can be ridiculous. I mean, Jack Palance was not bad at all, he was indeed quite fun but was his performance really oscar worthy? Hell no… At least, he gave one of the most memorable acceptance speeches at the Oscar ceremony. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, it remains a decent comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

One thing I really appreciate about Jason Statham is that he doesn’t wander around in other genres like romantic-comedies (like Gerard Butler) or just some really lame comedies (like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel, hell literally all the other major action stars). The downside is that all his action movies start to look all alike and the fact that he plays each time the same character doesn’t help much. Basically, this movie is a typical example and I was bored during most of the duration. At some point, it finally seemed to take off a little bit with some solid action scenes but with such an overly convoluted plot, I really had a hard time to care about the whole thing. I mean, how many bad guys were there (the Russians, the Chinese maffia, the corrupted cops, even the mayor)? And how many Macguffins? Again, with the genius kids and the safe(s), it was a little too much. Honestly, I don’t think Statham should make a period drama but it wouldn’t hurt to diversify a little bit in my opinion. To conclude, it is a rather forgettable Statham vehicle and I don’t think it is really worth a look, expect maybe if you are a die hard fan of this action star.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since it won the Best Picture Academy award, I thought I should give it a try. The first interesting thing about this movie is that it was actually the end of an era. Indeed, while musicals were dominating the movie world at the time (The Broadway Melody (1929), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Going My Way (1944), An American in Paris (1951), Gigi (1958), West Side Story (1961), My Fair Lady (1964), and The Sound of Music (1965) all won the Best Picture Academy award), this movie was the last musical to get the big prize. Eventually, it will take 34 years with ‘Chicago’ (which I really despised by the way) so that another musical won this prestigious award. Coming back to our main feature, I’m not sure if it is really that great. I mean, by now, I have seen so many adaptations of Charles Dickens’ classic that I have usually a hard time to care about this story anylonger and the fact that I’m not a huge fan of musicals in general didn’t help either. However, I actually liked this version. Indeed, the songs were pretty cool and I always had a weak spot for the Artful Dodger who is way more fun and interesting than the title character. To conclude, even though I don’t think it is really that great, it remains a solid musical and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for both Wes Bentley and Rachel Nichols, I thought I should give it a try. First of all, I was wondering if Bentley was already sober at the time (he used to have a massive substance issue all along the 2000’s) and, apparently, he sobered up only a couple of years after making this flick. In retrospect, for a huge junkie, it didn’t really show on the screen (not like in ‘Soul Survivors’ where it was quite obvious or maybe the movie just plain sucked, that could be another explanation), and he gave a solid performances especially regarding those circumstances. Anyway, who am I kidding? It was seriously a rather weak horror-thriller flick. Indeed, there was this very long and boring intro and it took like forever before the whole thing really started (I don’t know, I think it took maybe 30 minutes before she becomes hostage or at least, it felt like 30 minutes) and it never really took off. Still, there was something quite intriguing and challenging to have the whole plot taking place in a parking lot with only 2 actors. The issue is that you need first a really good script (which wasn’t the case here) and some terrific actors and while Wes Bentley was barely decent, Rachel Nichols was rather underwhelming. Anyway, to conclude, even though the concept was not bad, it was still a rather weak feature and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Among the massive epics directed by David Lean, in my opinion, it must be the most accessible one. I think that the very best remains, by far, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, but this movie has a running time of almost 220 minutes and, therefore but also for some other reasons, it is a rather demanding flick. In my opinion, 'The Bridge on a the River Kwai' is more an exciting feature and, basically some kind of forefather to our own blockbusters. Basically, it is a really entertaining piece of work and I even remember watching this flick with my dad back in those days. I thought it was really good and I already enjoyed it back then. Apparently, even though David Lean and Alec Guiness worked together on many movies, they actually didn’t get along very well and it was the only movie he made for Lean for which Guiness had the lead. He was very good in this, and apparently, he believed it was his best work. To be honest, it has been a while since I saw this flick and I will definitely re-watch it in the future at some point. To conclude, it is a massive classic, it completely deserves it reputation and it is definitely worth a look, a must see for any decent movie buff.

Even though John Dahl never really fulfilled all the good expectations we had after ‘The Last Seduction’ was a critical success, he definitely had a good run in the 90’s with some of the best neo-noir features ever conceived. The funny thing is that those great gems didn’t get much love when they were released (I have to admit it, I didn’t really love ‘The Last Seduction’ either but it has been years since I saw it and I should definitely re-watch it). Anyway, I really loved ‘Kill Me Again’, John Dahl’s directing debut and I was really eager to check his following directing effort. And, once again, I was really impressed. Indeed, I just loved the mood and there was a great cast (Nicolas Cage, Dennis Hopper, Lara Flynn Boyle, J.T. Walsh, Dwight Yoakam). Back in those days, Nicolas Cage was still a very good actor and he wasn’t embarrassing himself like nowadays. For Lara Flynn Boyle, it was one of the first movies she did after her breakthrough with ‘Twin Peaks’, she was definitely born to play such femme fatales and it’s too bad her career went nowhere pretty fast (she also looks terribly ugly nowadays after some terribly misguided plastic surgery. Such a shame…). Even though I usually have a hard time to care for the usual preposterous plots in your average US thriller, I thought it worked like a charm here and I really enjoyed this far-fetched story. To conclude, even though it is nowadays pretty much forgotten, it is actually a really good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a pretty cool cast, I thought I might as well give it a try. First of all, it was very nice to have once again William H. Macy playing the lead and he delivered a decent performance but, to be honest, he didn’t do such a good job as writer on this feature. Indeed, half of it was pretty good but the other half seriously went nowhere. Let’s start with the good stuff. The whole little world behind the scenes making those widely different movies was really intriguing and remembered me of my days when I was a production assisant at the NFTA (Dutch film school). Indeed, it shows how relentless and fully absorbing movie making can be. Personally, I really had a hard time to connect with this world and the people involved in it who were completely caught up in the movie making process, a process which I found rather thankless and tiresome (as you might guess I didn’t pursue a career in this direction). Unfortunately, the rest was not really good, I’m afraid. Take the main character. Apparently, he didn’t produce a movie for a decade but, completely out of the blue, he manages to start up the production on a massive blockbuster with a seemingly huge budget and, constantly, he keeps making some bizarre decisions and for no apparent reasons, the Hollywood executives keep giving their blessings. It didn’t really add up with the loser suicidal producer who couldn’t get anymore job. The other thing that really bothered me was his obsession with Meg Ryan’s character and the way their relationship was developed. It was rather distracting and even though it got better towards the end, the damage was already done. To conclude, it is a movie with some good ideas but the execution was really deeply flawed so I don’t think it is really worth a look.

If you follow my work here on Listal, you might have noticed that I am slightly obsessive concerning my movie watching and I keep watching compulsively movies regardless of the quality, just because an obscure actor that I like is in it. One of my first obsessions was the movies starring Robert De Niro and, by now, I have seen almost 70 movies starring the great thespian, more than any other actor. Even though it has been some great fun tracking down his movies, there was a major downside though. Indeed, in the last 15 years, De Niro has made only one great movie (‘Silver Linings Playbook’) and the rest was rarely decent but usually pretty weak and you even had some pure garbage along the road. Well, this movie belongs to the last category, the garbage. To start with, it is one of those features which displays Robert De Niro prominently on all the promotional material where in fact, he is just maybe 15 minutes in the movie. Still, Greg Kinnear and Rebecca Romijn are both some charming actors, Cameron Bright definitely showed some potential but even they couldn’t save this flick from being terribly underwhelming. Basically, it is a very weak thriller with a rather preposterous plot and I really had a hard time to care for the whole thing. To conclude, it is pretty bad and not really worth a look, even if you are a huge fan of Robert De Niro’s work.