Reviews by johanlefourbe

Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino, I have a huge weak spot for those two actors and it is a real shame that both their careers are in pretty bad shape nowadays. I mean, they still make movies but nothing really noteworthy. Anyway, back then, when they were still young and on the A list, they made this flick together and I thought it was actually not bad at all. The point is that, of course, the whole thing is way too over-sentimental and, instead of some regular folks, you have those two gorgeous people who obviously will fall in love in each other. Still, you don’t see much movies dealing with blindness and I thought they treated the subject fairly well. Also, you can say whatever you want about Val Kilmer but when the guy gets the right material, he can deliver some pretty solid performances and it was definitely the case here. Also, like any Hollywood picture, since there is one character with a disease or a handicap, of course, they will try to fix him which was also rather annoying but, I must admit it, it was quite intriguing to behold a formerly blind man going through life with a new ability to see resulting in many psychological trouble. To conclude, even though it is nothing great, it remains a rather decent romantic drama and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Basically, it is once again one of those really obscure French movies which almost no one has seen here on Listal. I had seriously no idea what to expect from this flick but since Isabelle Huppert was playing the lead character, I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, it turned out to be an intriguing drama with some rather interesting characters but the makers keep you so long in the dark about their motivations that I kind of lost interest at some point. I mean, I did like the directing and there was something really nice about the relationship between Ann and Georges but it was really difficult to follow them and their thoughts. Every once in a while, the director would give the audience a very little bit of explanation so you could chew on it for a while but most of the movie was pretty obscure, I'm afraid. Eventually, most of the actions taken by Ann turned out to be pretty random, she was pretty much a cold, arrogant and selfish woman and it was rather difficult to really care for her and what she was going through. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was rather flawed, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Recently, Rugter Hauer, arguably the most famous Dutch movie star, has been coming back making some movies in the Netherlands and this must have been the most ambitious feature so far. Indeed, who other than Hauer could portray another Dutch icon like Alfred Heineken? So, the cast was quite brilliant and, of course, this movie was dealing with one of the most notorious real crime in Dutch history so they had the ingredients to make quite a great movie. Eventually, the end-result was pretty good but still not really mind-blowing, unfortunately. To start with, the directing was quite decent with a rather bombastic soundtrack which somehow reminded me of ‘Inception’. I don’t know, like I said before, it is quite a fascinating story which doesn’t deal only with the kidnapping of Heineken, of course with his detention but also with what happened after he was freed. Unfortunately, even though some bits were really well setup, some of the scenes were terribly murky and sometimes, the narration was pretty shaky. The fact that they added some terribly underwhelming subplots (his girlfriend who was also with another gang members and the fact that he has to get his driving license) involving Rem Hubrechts/ Willem Holleeder didn’t help either. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn’t really reach its potential, I still think it is a decent crime feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies.

Back in the 90’s, I used to really worship Al Pacino. I mean, nowadays, I still have a weak spot for the guy and keep watching his movies whenever I get the opportunity but pretty much like Robert De Niro, you can feel that the spark is not there anymore. Anyway, back in the good old 90’s, Al Pacino made his directing debut with this feature which was a fairly ambitious and experimental project. Indeed, it is labeled as a documentary but I’m not sure if it is actually really accurate. Anyway, even though Pacino has become famous by portraying some of the most famous mob figures, he has actually always loved the theater and especially the work of William Shakespeare. So, to make this all accessible to the movie watchers, he came up with this flick. Apparently, it was supposed to be a straightforward adaptation of ‘Richard III’ but Al Pacino thought he could never compete with the version made by Laurence Olivier, the greatest Shakesperian actor that ever lived. As a result, he came up with this and ended up shooting 80 hours of footage over 4 years between his various movie projects and, I have to admit it, it is pretty damned hard to follow and many actors involved had no clue where the whole thing was getting at. Still, even though it is nothing really amazing, it remains an intriguing experimental flick and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Basically, it is once again one of those really obscure French movies which almost no one has seen here on Listal. Honestly, I’m not sure how I ended up watching this flick or why I wanted to see it in the first place. Anyway, I thought it was not bad at all and a rather fun flick. The first interesting aspect is that this movie was yet another collaborations of the Podalydès brothers. Indeed, even though most brothers in the movie business seems to end up directing movies together or separately (The Coen brothers, the Scott brothers, the Hughes brothers, the Wachowski brothers,…), those two guys took a different path as Bruno directs while Denis acts. And, I have to say, I really enjoyed Denis Podalydès in this flick. Indeed, he portrays one of those grumpy and selfish Frenchman and he had some pretty nifty dialogs, a really good timing resulting in some quite hilarious situations. Obviously, the story was not really revolutionary but it was never meant to be and I thought it was fairly entertaining. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, it remains quite enjoyable and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Every year, you have one very obscure indie feature scoring very big at the box-office and this movie was one of those. Since then, it has developed some extreme reactions. Indeed, apparently, most of the people either thought it was hilarious while the rest really despised it. With this in mind, I was rather curious to check the damned thing. Eventually, I enjoyed it, even though it was really nothing great. I mean, there is really a relentless way how the makers decided to portray this Napoleon Dynamite guy and it was rather courageous but also difficult to care for this deeply unlikeable character. Also, I also appreciated the way they described the grim high-school life. Indeed, even though Napoleon is way down at the bottom of the barrel, the popular kids didn’t look glamorous at all which was quite refreshing. Furthermore, I also liked the fact that he was not really bullied, that nobody really treated him very badly which is another old stereotype from most high-school movies. Still, there is not much going on in this flick, except a succession of weird and eccentric characters. To conclude, I don’t think it is anything great but I still enjoyed the damned thing and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

For many years, I wanted to see this movie but, somehow, it was never broadcasted in any of my TV channels. Eventually, I watched first the sequel and, guess what, 2 months later, the BBC was showing this movie… Anyway, I was quite blown away. Indeed, visually, it was just amazing and it was way ahead of its time, at least 10, maybe 20 years than its contemporaries. While watching the end credits, I noticed that Moebius, one of my favorite comic-book artists, was a conceptual artist and it figures. Indeed, this world was completely immersive and, to think that it was made 30 years ago, it still blows my mind, especially coming from Disney which was never really daring in its live productions. Of course, when it was released, it was completely misunderstood and it failed at the box-office. Unfortunately, even though it was visually amazing, the story was not really great though. I mean, the possibilities were quite limitless and they could have made one hell of metaphysical tale about the relationship between users and programs, between players and games and so many other things. Instead, there was this rather murky plot but it was still fairly entertaining. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, from a visual point of view, it is quite a visionary feature and it is definitely worth a look.

For about 15 years, I have been faithfully following the Coen brothers but, to be honest, it had been a while since they really blew me away. Indeed, even after watching ‘No Country for Old Men’ twice, I still didn’t think it was one of the best films ever made, or even one of their best movies. The main issue with the Coen brothers is that it all depends on my mood. Depending on when I would watch one of their movies, I would either love it or it would make me indifferent. Apparently, this time, I was in a great mood since I really loved this flick. Indeed, I thought it was quite hilarious, one of their best sardonic comedies. Llewin Davis was a great character, some guy who decided at some point to become a folk singer but was never able to breakthrough, partly because of his lack of luck and partly because of his obnoxious behavior. It was such a flawed individual, indeed quite talented with his guitar and songs but so socially awkward and stubbornly making the wrong decisions. Obviously, it is a star making performance for Oscar Isaac but the rest of the cast, especially John Goodman was really good as well. The only issue I would have is that the whole thing was maybe too episodic but it was a minor flaw. To conclude, I really enjoyed this flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in the Coen brothers’s work.

I remember it very well, when this movie came out, there was a huge buzz about it, at least in France, my homeland. Indeed, at last, a French production was finally competing with the great American blockbusters and Luc Besson, probably the most ambitious French directors at the time, was finally coming up with a huge SF movie starring no less than Bruce Willis, one of the biggest movie stars, and the expectations were pretty high. Eventually, it was not really great (like most of Besson’s work) but it was still a very fun and entertaining science-fiction feature, no doubt about it. First of all, it really looked awesome. I re-watched it again 16 years after its release and it still holds up very well with some great costumes by Jean-Paul Gaultier, some great sets and designs and, to sum it up, Luc Besson created one of the most compelling futuristic world I have seen. Basically, the main issue, as usual with this director, was with the plot. Like I said before, it was quite fun but still terribly pedestrian. Furthermore, even though Bruce Willis was really good in this, giving his usual John McClane performance, I wasn’t really convinced by Milla Jovovich. I mean, she looked good, that’s for sure, but the whole autistic acting grew thin pretty quickly and, after a while, except for her great body, you wonder why Korben Dallas would actually fall for her. Still, in spite of its flaws, I really have a weak spot for this flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Basically, it is once again one of those really obscure French movies which almost no one has seen here on Listal. If I recall correctly, back then, I bought a very cheap dvd box with 4 movies including this flick so I thought I should give it a shot. Eventually, I really loved it and it was once again the proof that the French can really deliver some really solid war dramas. To be honest, Dupeyron is not really one of the greatest French directors I know but his directing was really efficient here. Of course, the story feels really similar to ‘The English Patient’ but it was less romantic and more realistic in my opinion (I still preferred ‘The English Patient’ though) so both movies are similar but not identical. It also reminded me of ‘Johnny got his gun’, a movie I should seriously re-watch some day. Anyway, in my opinion, it is easily one of the best WWI features I have ever seen and there were some really interesting characters thanks to a great French cast with André Dussolier and Sabine Azéma. To conclude, even though it is quite obscure, it is actually a really good war drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.