Reviews by johanlefourbe

Personally, I always had a weak spot for Dianne Keaton and she was the most attractive aspect of this flick. Indeed, in my opinion, it is a rather typical 80’s comedy, supposedly dealing with a timely subject, but the approach is usually cheesy and our appreciation of those flicks is usually colored by a good doses of nostalgia. Basically, this time, it develops this theory that, nowadays, women have become so focus on their career that they are not able to be mothers anymore. It was, at the time, something rather new and, of course, the studios had to surf on this new hype. On top of that, at the time, they created a kind of sub-genre in comedy about people getting a kid or a baby pretty much against their will and this movie was definitely one of those. Back then, when I was very young, I thought the whole thing was quite hilarious but, to be honest, it didn’t grow old very well. The point is that Diane Keaton has some very good comedic timing and basically carries the whole thing on her shoulders but, honestly, it was just way too pedestrian and predictable to become really rewarding. To conclude, I think my rating might be a little bit too generous but I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Back in those days, Dakota Fanning was probably the biggest child-star at work. She smoothly transitioned to some more adult work but she hasn’t reached a huge critical success yet but she is still young. Anyway, usually, I’m not a huge fan of those movies (for example, I really didn’t like ‘Flicka’s starring Alison Lohman) and I really didn’t like much ‘Charlotte’s Web’ which had a bigger profile than this movie but, somehow, this one was actually pretty decent. I’m pretty sure I saw this one with my step-daugther when she was around 12 years old. Indeed, those movies are made with this demographic group in mind and I’m not sure someone else would really like a movie like this one (their mothers, maybe). Of course, the story was not really original and the whole thing was still quite predictable but it still remain an uplifting story. At least, whereas Alison Lohman was just way too old to play the lead in ‘Flicka’, Dakota Fanning really fit the part and gave a charming performance. I also had a weak spot for Kurt Russell and he was pretty solid as well. To conclude, even though there are 100s reasons why I shouldn’t like this flick, I thought it was not bad at all and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Oh dear, this movie was a tough watch… I mean, since I was familiar with Charlie Kaufman’s work, I knew beforehand that it would be quite surrealist but still. I guess it might have to do with the fact I’m going through a difficult time in my life right now so I wasn’t in the best mood to watch such a depressive picture. Indeed, I thought it was really dark and not so much fun like the previous movies involving Kaufman. I mean, it was pretty straightforward for the first 30 minutes but, then, I think when Cotard started his huge meta play, that’s when the whole thing became more and more difficult to follow and to grasp. The late Roger Ebert really loved this flick and if you read his review, completely worshipping this movie, you will see that it is pretty far out as well. I don’t know, the combination of my own current personal struggles, the massive agony faced by Caden Cotard and the (recent) tragic death of the great Philip Seymour Hoffman (I saw this movie a month after he passed away) didn’t make for a very pleasant watch. Don’t misunderstand me, it is a good movie, it goes very deep in the human psyche, but I got lost pretty quickly and I had a rather hard time to connect with all those characters, fictional or real. Anyway, to conclude, even though I think it is a rather difficult movie, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you like (very) thoughtfull and poetic features.

Honestly, I didn’t think it was so bad actually. The point is that I went to see it with some rather low expectations and that’s probably why I didn’t think it was too underwhelming. First of all, I really enjoyed Joel Kinnaman. Indeed, I thought he had a great charisma and it was nice that they took some time to show him as a police officer before he becomes Robocop. Unfortunately, that’s probably the only thing they really got right. I mean, there were many good things, but probably too many of them actually. The whole thing tries to be a futuristic action flick, a familly drama, a political thriller and also a satire, that was just way too much to handled and all of those ideas were rather half-baked. Personally, I don’t think that the original movie directed by Paul Verhoeven (I prefer ‘Total Recall’) was that great but Verhoeven definitely managed to mix all those genres together very well whereas, with this remake, they kept switching from one thing to another, hoping that we wouldn’t notice all the plot holes and the very weak script. Apparently, José Padilha (who made the amazing ‘Tropa de Elite’) didn’t get much freedom from the studio which couldn’t make up their mind if they wanted a brainless and badass action flick or something more thoughtfull. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it remains a really intriguing story and I still think it is worth a look but don’t expect anything really amazing.

Even though this movie is now more than 40 years old, it still has a pretty damned good reputation and I was really eager to check it out. Eventually, I wasn’t disappointed and it definitely deserved to win the Best Picture Academy award at the time. Indeed, it is quite a fascinating war feature with a fascinating real figure in the middle. It seemed that Patton was quite a character but you can’t deny that he was a great military strategist and the masterstroke in this movie was to make a multi-layered portrait of this ultimate soldier. Obviously, George C. Scott (who also won the Academy award but refused it because he was against the idea of a competition between actors) was quite brilliant and this performance would be the one he will be forever remembered. The funny thing is that he didn’t believe that he actually did a good job and would, apparently, apologize often to the director Franklin J. Schaffner because he didn’t deliver the goods. Francis Ford Coppola, who was even younger than I am today, was also involved in this classic and would even win his first Academy award as a writer. To conclude, it is classic, a very good war feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I never really understood the huge love and hate reactions towards this franchise. In my opinion, it is neither great or awful like everyone is trying to convince you. I mean, it is definitely nothing amazing but I can imagine that some viewers might love it. Personally, I even think that the first installment was not bad at all but from the first sequel, it became an endless and rather tedious soap-opera around this love triangle. Anyway, with this 4rth installment, it was slightly better but not much more, I’m afraid. I mean, at least, something happened, Bella and Edward finally had sex! Even though, in theory, it might seem possible that a vampire fall in love, it seems rather odd that he would want to have sex at all. Anyway, even though they get in bed, it hardly seems enjoyable, even if Bella tries very hard to convince Edward that she really had a great time (usually, it is the other way around). It doesn’t really matter because she quickly became pregnant and it gets pretty damned creepy (and that’s why you shouldn’t have sex, teenagers, it is not fine at all and you are sure to go through a very painful pregnancy and your baby will probably be an awful monster). Basically, it is a rather odd soap-opera with some rather unsettling ideas about sex and whatnot so I didn’t really enjoy it much but if you love the genre, you will probably eat this up.

Michelle Rodriguez is nowadays the main choice to play the tough female sidekick in some blockbusters but many forgot that she actually started with a lead part in this forgotten little indie gem. Indeed, back then ,it was heralded at the Sundance film festival and ended up winning the Grand Jury Prize. At the time, Rodriguez had no acting experience and beat up more than 300 other girls at her first audition to win this part. Anyway, it was pretty obvious that she was born to play such parts (too bad she has been ever since typecasted in similar parts) and, this time, a character was a little bit more developped than her usual one-dimensional tough girls. Of couse, I have to admit it, the whole thing was not really original and fairly predictable but there was still something really compelling about this character. Concerning the director Karyn Kusama, she became a hot item after releasing this movie and, after that, she made some more commercial projects but they were rather underwhelming and both flopped at the box-office (‘Jennifer's Body’, ‘ Æon Flux’) . To conclude, even though it is pretty much forgotten nowadays, it is actually pretty good and it is definitely worth a look.

Pretty much every decade, they come up with a new version of this classic story and when I heard that Paul W.S. Anderson was behind it, I was even more skeptical. To beginning with, the intro was seriously tedious and I thought the whole thing would really bore me but, fortunately, it got better after that. Above all, Anderson managed to get a really massive cast (Matthew Macfadyen, Milla Jovovich, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Til Schweiger, Orlando Bloom, Logan Lerman, Mads Mikkelsen, Christoph Waltz, Juno Temple) and it pretty much redeemed the whole thing for me. You could argue that there was quite an overkill in the bad-guy department (Milady de Winter, the Duke of Buckingham, Rochefort, Richelieu) but the actors involved really had some fun with their characters, even though I wasn’t really convinced by Milla Jovovich. Still, I have to admit it, all these fancy action scenes with slow-motion and CGI were rather underwhelming after a while and, honestly, the makers really didn’t anything really interesting to this tale which has been told so many times already. To conclude, I think my rating might be really generous here but I guess this movie is still worth a look though, if only for the cast and above all if you are a fan of the genre.

Obviously, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but, somehow, I still ended up watching it. I wonder if I watched it at the time with my step-daughter. The point is that this movie was obviously made for a target audience (the young girls between 10-14 years old) and the rest of us wouldn’t or shouldn’t care for it. Anyway, it was highly inspired by ‘Roman Holiday’, a classic which already didn’t really blow me away, but this movie never comes nearby the level of this timeless romantic tale. I mean, Julia Stiles and Luke Mably did their best but there was no way they could compete with the huge charisma of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Above all, there was a terrible lack of ambition from the makers, they just followed the formula without adding anything remotely edgy or interesting and I really had a hard time to care for the whole thing. Still, I always had a weak spot for Julia Stiles, back then she was one of the most in-demand actress of the time and it’s too bad we don’t hear much from her anylonger. To conclude, it is a rather weak romantic-comedy and I don’t think it is really worth a look, expect maybe if you are a fan of the genre.