Reviews by johanlefourbe

Nowadays, the Farrelly brothers don’t seem to be able to catch a break anylonger but there was a time when they were massively successful. Indeed, after the huge success of ‘Dumb & Dumber’ and ‘There’s Something About Mary’, they came with this flick which would be their last box-office hit. This time, they were reunited with Jim Carrey who had his breakthrough thanks to them with ‘Dumb & Dumber’ and the end-result was another really daft comedy. As usual with the Farrelly brothers, most of the jokes were pretty outrageous and, back then, it still worked and I thought it was actually better than the appalling ‘Dumb & Dumber’ (indeed, I really think this ‘classic’ sucks balls and, in my opinion, it is one of the most overrated movies ever made). Anyway, the biggest asset in this movie was the impressive one-man-show provided by Jim Carrey (you wonder how this force of nature remained unknown for so long) but there were also a couple of juicy supporting parts as well. Of course, you could always argue that the whole thing was terribly gross and obviously not really accurate concerning the depiction of this mental disease but I enjoyed most of it. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, it remains a decent comedy and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I have seen this one only once and it was a while back but I really liked it. It seems to be one of more obscure features directed by Steven Spielberg (with a filmography of 30 movies, built up over 40 years including the Indiana Jones franchise, ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘Jaws’, ‘E.T.’, ‘Schindler’s list’, ‘Saving Private Ryan’, it is hardly surprising that some of his other movies tend to be overlooked). However, I think it is actually one of his best dramas. Indeed, even though it was again focusing on a young boy, like ‘E.T.’ , the whole thing still remained pretty bleak which was something rather unexpected with a Spielberg feature. Furthermore, there was this impressive performance by Christian Bale who was just only 13 years old back then. Even though Christian Bale has become one of the most dependable actors of his generation, we tend to forget that the guy has been around for already 25 years. Eventually, even though his performance in this movie was praised, he never become what you could call a ‘child-star’ and it took him 17 years to really breakthrough with ‘The Machinist’. To conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, I really enjoyed this flick and I definitely have to rewatch it when I get the opportunity.

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. Even though it was made 6 years after ‘Pulp Fiction’, the makers were definitely inspired by this seminal classic. Indeed, you have the same back in forth in time and various character with their own agenda involved in some shaddy scam. Unfortunately, it was just another weak copycat. I mean, half of it was actually quite decent but the other half was kind of worthless. Let’s take the main character, for starters. I have nothing against Steve Zahn but he doesn’t have what it takes to be a lead actor, especially when he portrays one of his typical obnoxious figures. And to make us believe that Salma Hayek would fall for him was also rather pathetic. Still, there was indeed a very nice cast involved (Steve Zahn, Salma Hayek, Jeff Goldblum, Elijah Wood, David Cross, Tom Wilkinson, Orlando Jones, Lara Flynn Boyle, Michael Rapaport) and there were some nice ideas but even those good scenes were eventually half-baked and lost in a rather weak screenplay. Anyway, to conclude, even though I have seen worse, it was still pretty damned average and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Nowadays, the CGI animated features is pretty much saturated, many titles are not really amazing and ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ didn’t get much love. I eventually ended up watching it on dvd and my kids and I really loved the damned thing. In my opinion, this first installment was just daft and I think it is one of the most underrated modern animated features. With this in mind, I went to see this sequel with all my kids (plus my step-daughter’s boyfriend) and we had a pretty good time, even though it was an obvious step-down from the previous installment. Indeed, the whole thing was just really childish this time and they get rid off of most of the surrealistic vibe which made ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ so unique. They started with a pretty awesome concept , and indeed, all these mutant food animals were quite awesome but it was unfortunately the only selling point of this feature. I mean, the whole plot and Chester V (the villain) were just really underwhelming. To conclude, it was rather predictable, like most sequels, it was rather disappointing but I guess it is still worth a look, especially if you like the first installment.

Starting with 3 critical successes in a row, it seemed that Jason Reitman could do no wrong and was set to become one of the most exciting directors at work nowadays. However, his impressive progression seemed to have slow down with this 4th directing effort which didn’t get much love when it was eventually released. To start with, in his previous movies, the main character was flawed but still likeable whereas, here, even though Charlize Theron gave a fearless performance which was universally heralded, she was basically a selfish obnoxious bitch so the whole thing was harder to sell. But that wasn’t the main issue, in my opinion, the main problem was that it took way too long before she realized how insane her whole plan was. Even though the outcome was pretty obvious (except for Mavis), the way it was handled by her ex and his friends was actually quite subtle and sensitive and it was definitely one of the best moments in the movie. Patton Oswalt was also very good as a rather unlikely ally and he managed to counter-balance Mavis’ awful behavior. Eventually, the girl was a mess in high-school, a popular girl, but still a mess, and after all these years, she is still an egocentric bitch and the ending of the movie shows that she didn’t learn anything from this journey so why should we care at all? Anyway, to conclude, even though the whole thing had some potential , it didn’t really work out but I still think it is worth a look, especially if you enjoyed Jason Reitman’s previous movies.

Nowadays Pedro Almodovar is still going strong as the most prominent Spanish director but, back in the 90’s, his speciality was some rather extravagant dramedies involving some pretty colorful characters. This movie was basically one of them and, even though it was not one of his best movies, it was still pretty good though. Penélope Cruz was not yet his muse back in those days and, at the time, it was Victoria Abril who seemed to inspire the Spanish master. Even though Abril is Spanish, She has been living in France for 30 years and she is pretty famous there as well but she never had an international career like Cruze. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, pretty much like the rest of Almodovar’s work, it is pretty much over the top and the characters are always bordeline obnoxious which makes it always rather difficult to get into his movies. I still think he is an artist though since those movies have such a specific flavor and the guy basically created his own genre which is pretty remarkable. To conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, it remains a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Almodovar’s work.

Obviously, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but I thought I might as well check it out if it deserved its terrible reputation. Well, what can I say? It was indeed pretty terrible. The first striking thing is that even though it was already the 4th installment in this franchise, even though it was made made more than 10 years after the first classic movie, the shark still looked terribly cheap-ass. Not only the shark looked terrible but every time it attacks someone, you get some awful editing and, somehow, you eventually get the shark with a victim in its mouth. How it all really happens really beats me. This time around, they came around with the most ludicrous plot about an evil shark who tracks the Brody family to kill them one by one. It was seriously quite pathetic. And the ending was also priceless. Apparently, just 5 days after the movie opened in the USA with some dismal results, they reshot the climax and what you got is a scene obviously shot in a water tank with a ridiculous painting in the background. I mean, how cheap can you get? To conclude, it is pretty bad and not really worth a look.

Even though my wife is very fond of Barbra Streisand, personally, I never really cared for her but I thought I still should check this movie anyway. Eventually, I thought it was not bad at all. Indeed, it is basically a rather odd romantic-comedy with some political undercurrent but, somehow, it worked out actually pretty well. The movie does follow the standard rom-com formula : two charming people from a different background are constantly bickering but they are still drawn to one and another. Some that was pretty basic but the difference is that both characters were actually quite interesting and well played by Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand. So, the whole thing is never really serious but it is never really too fluffy either. Of course, with a director like Sydney Pollack, the directing was pretty solid and the whole thing was quite entertaning, albeit a little bit forgettable. Redford and Pollack would make 7 movies together (this was the 3rd one) and even though it might not be their best or most succesfull feature, I still think it is a decent romantic feature. To conlude, even though this movie is nowadays pretty much forgotten, it is actually pretty good and I think 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 Danny McBride, I thought I might as well give a try. Eventually, I’m not sure what to make of it after watching it. I mean, on one hand, there was some kind of surrealistic vibe to the whole thing, like watching a very slow trainwreck. But, on the other hand, the jokes were always rude and often very lame and I always find it difficult to care for a comedy when the main character is an obnoxious moron. Recently, a little bit in the same genre, I saw ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ and, even though it was nothing amazing either, I could somehow find Napoleon amusing and intriguing. In this case, there was not one redeeming quality to this Fred Simmons and it made the whole thing sometimes rather cringe-inducing to behold. Still, Danny McBride goes all the way and gave a solid performance as one rather pathetic man and it definitely opened many doors for him. To conclude, I’m really not sure about my rating, it might be terribly generous but, somehow, it remains a rather odd comedy and I guess it might be worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Joaquin Phoenix, I thought I should give it a try. Basically, it is a pretty obscure feature which was not even released in the US because it was premiered just 2 days before the tragic events of 09/11. Obviously, such an anti-military feature couldn’t be released in the middle of this tragedy and eventually it was released a year later (on the foreign market) and was barely noticed. I think it’s a shame because it is actually a pretty good flick dealing with anti-establishment behaviors. Of course, it was nothing really amazing but I thought it was a fun and entertaining feature. It also displays the range of Joaquin Phoenix, one of the best actors of his generation, and he was again really good in such a controversial comedy. Concerning Gregor Jordan, it was another interesting attempt for the Australian director who seems to be quite talented but all his movies always seem to underperform and are always plagued by some flaws. Still, all in all, this movie basically suffered from bad timig but it is actually pretty good and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.