Reviews by johanlefourbe

Before this movie was released, there was a pretty good buzz about it. Eventually, it turned out to be a flop (it seems that the Wachowskis can’t get a break nowadays) but since it looked pretty badass, I still wanted to check it out. Eventually, even though the concept really had some potential, I thought the whole thing was actually quite underwhelming. Yes, there are some nice action scenes but because those Ninjas work mostly at night or in the shadows, you barely see a damned thing and the story was really weak. I mean, it starts basically with 3 storylines (Raizo as a kid training, Raizo as an adult training and the investigation by Naomi Harris). I understand that the whole investigation thing was to give the proceedings a more grounded setting but, man, that was really tedious. And, honestly, you spend a good chunk of the movie watching the guy training. The only thing which was remotely interesting was the conflict between Raizo and his trainer but, apart from that, I thought that the whole thing was pretty boring. Personally, even though I did like ‘V for Vendetta’, I thought it was vastly overrated and this movie was a huge step backward for McTeigue and the Wachowskis. To conclude, even though it could have been pretty awesome, I thought it was actually pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Nowadays, Wim Wenders doesn't do anything really amazing anymore but, back in the 90's, I was a huge fan and tried to watch as many of his movies as possible. This movie was the last one he made in the 90's and it was definitely a great flick. If I'm not mistaken, it was one of the first documentaries I ever saw in the theater and I really loved it. To start with, the music was just downright amazing (eventually, a couple of years later, I had the privilege to see Omara Portuondo in a concert in my hometown in France. Good times!). Those old guys were also quite interesting and I thought that the whole thing was really spellbinding to watch. I'm afraid most of them must have passed away by now (I don't dare to double-check this on the internet... It would be really disheartening.) but it was just pretty neat to see them finally get some deserved recognition, even if it was really late in their career thanks to Ry Cooder for making this great CD and thanks to Wim Wenders for making this documentary which was a great marketing stunt. To conclude, I thought it was a great flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in music.

Back in the 90’s, after ‘La Haine’, Matthieu Kassovitz became overnight the most exciting French director. His next movie ‘Assassin(s)’ (a great movie in my opinion) was barely seen so, with his 4th directing effort, he decided to go for a more commercial flick. It was a big commercial success, at least in France, and after that, he tried his chance in Hollywood (with not much success, I’m afraid). Coming back to our main feature, Kassovitz was working again with Vincent Cassel, arguably the most successful French actor of the last two decades, and he decided to give him Jean Reno, another French icon, as his partner, creating a pretty lethal combination. I mean, Kassovitz+Cassel+Reno, marketing-wise, it was very smart and, even if the movie would have sucked, it still would have made some money. Eventually, it was very well received and a huge box-office success. Personally, I thought it was rather overrated. I mean, it was an entertaining thriller with a very nice mood . Furthermore, Vincent Cassel and Jean Reno delivered some good performances and they had some great chemistry. Still, at the end of the day, it is pretty much like most American thrillers, they built up the tension pretty nicely, but the twist at the end was pretty far-fetched and rather underwhelming. To conclude, even though I don’t think it is really great, it remains an entertaining thriller 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 I'm a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock, I was really eager to check it out. Basically, it is one of his very old silent features and, honestly, I had a hard time to care about the whole thing. I mean, the whole thing was rather oddly constructed. At first, it seemed to be a tale about loyalty and honor but, at the end of the day, it is pretty much 4 segments glued to one and another without much cohesion. The first part, which was the best, reminded me somehow of what Harry Potter could have been if they removed all the magic elements. Then , the main character got married with a gold-digger. Then, he got to France (!) where he became a ballroom dancer for hire and, in the last part, he went back home from Marseilles, apparently starving and delirious. It was rather funny to see the same actor from ‘The Lodger’, another old feature directed by Hitchcock but the whole thing was just terribly messy and rather misogynic (indeed, the guy keeps getting screwed by different women during the whole story and they were all pretty devilish). To conclude, even though it was not really bad, it remains a rather odd picture but I guess it is still worth a look, especially if you are interested in Alfred Hitchcock’s work.

Since I’m a huge fan of Meryl Streep, I was really eager to check this flick. First of all, when you read the plot, it does sound a little bit like the material they would use for a real-life TV feature but the execution was quite impressive. Indeed, it was directed by Mick Nichols, who was coming back from a 8 years break, and he really managed to mix the raw daily routine of these characters with a nail-biting conspiracy thriller. With this movie, Meryl Streep got her 5th nomination at the Academy awards (for a total of 17 nominations!) and, as usual, she was quite amazing. To complete the cast, you had the always dependable Kurt Russell and Cher, who was launching at the time her acting career and who would become a major actress in the 80’s, even winning an Academy award for her performance in ‘Moonstruck’. The problem with Cher is that her public image is so obnoxious, you tend to dismiss her work when she made some pretty good movies in which she was half-decent. Coming back to our main feature, even though I’m not a huge fan of real-life tales, I thought that this story was quite spellbinding. To conclude, even though nowadays this movie is pretty much forgotten, it is actually really good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Meryl Streep’s work.

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Renée Zellweger, I thought I should check it out. Basically, it is one really obscure movie she made just a few years after breaking through with 'Jerry Maguire'. Well, eventually, it turned out to be a decent feature with an intriguing religious background but, somehow, it never became really amazing though. I mean, it did feature some pretty good performances by Renée Zellweger and Christopher Eccleston (easily one of the most underrated actors at work nowadays) but the whole thing was just too one-sided to be really satisfying. Basically, Zellweger's character was too nice to be true and her family was just too stubborn as well. At the end of the day, it was just a drama about a modern woman stuck into a traditional community and the whole thing was fairly predictable. Coming back to Zellweger, what happened to her actually? At some point, she was definitely on the A list but ever since 'Cinderella Man' flopped, she hasn't done anything really worthwhile. Anyway, to conclude, even though it wasn't really great, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Renée Zellweger's work.

Honestly, I’m rather surprised that so few people have rated this movie. I mean, don’t misunderstand me, I don’t care much about this flick but I always thought it was very much loved. Anyway, my wife is a die-hard fan so she bought the dvd box and, obviously, I had to watch the whole trilogy with her. At first, I wasn’t really thriller by the idea and I thought it would be completely awful but, to be honest, the first installment was not bad at all. I mean, I wasn’t blown away either but I could see its appeal and why it was so popular. Above all, Romy Schneider was terribly charming in this and without her, I‘m afraid the whole thing would have been terribly boring to watch. Eventually, even though this first installment was not bad, the sequels were really underwhelming and, apparently, they were even planning to make a 4rth movie but Romy Schneider refused to play the title character any longer. Good for her! To conclude, obviously I wasn’t the target audience for this movie but, I have to admit it, it was not bad at all and I guess it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a nice cast, I was quite eager to check it out. First of all, I have never read anything written by Leo Tolstoy but it was quite interesting to learn a little bit more about his life, at least the end of it. Apparently, in his lifetime, he was a already an international superstar and his life oddly resembled the everyday routine of some of our popular pop-stars, with the paparazzi constantly around and his entourage constantly manipulating the poor fellow. A part from that, it also reminded me of another movie starring James McAvoy, ‘The last king of Scotland’, in the sense that even though McAvoy was the main character, the main point of interest was a real life figure and he just happened to be around. Honestly, I don’t really like this gimmick (in ‘The last king of Scotland’, it was even worse since his character didn’t really exist at all). Of course, I understand that his character more or less represents the viewer but, in the process, you spend a lot of time with the wrong character in my opinion. Still, the cast (Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer, Paul Giamatti, James McAvoy) was really good but I just had a rather hard time to really care about the whole thing. To conclude, I do have a weak spot for real life stories dealing with renown artists and even though this one was not really amazing, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Like many other actors, Andy Garcia decided he should direct his own movie and, apparently, it was a labor of love that took him 16 years to make. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really good, I’m afraid. I mean, it wasn’t really bad either, but it was such an ambitious project that could have worked only with a seasoned director, at least, that’s my opinion. Basically, it is a love letter about Cuba before the revolution and, even though it looked really good, it wasn't really impressive. For example, Andy Garcia put too many dance scenes. A couple of them at the beginning would have been enough to establish the scenery but, instead, they pop-up rather randomly every 5 minutes. Then, there was Bill Murray who was being… himself pretty much, portraying an enigmatic character who supposedly seemed to be here to lighten up the proceedings but he didn’t really fit in the movie. Finally, there was a rather half-baked romance involving the main character (also played by Garcia) and the wife of his deceased brother. It gave the feeling that all the political and family drama was not enough so they had to add an obligatory romance. To conclude, even though the whole thing was too long and a failure, I still think it was pretty neat that Andy Garcia managed to make this homage to the old Cuba and I think it is worth a look.

15 years ago, I saw ‘Festen’ in the theater and, instantly, it became one of my favorite movies. I have re-watched it recently and it is still an amazing picture. Ever since, I have tried to follow Thomas Vinterberg’s career but he hasn’t been really productive and his other movies have been pretty obscure. This recent effort is a pretty good example. Even though I loved ‘Festen’, it was a very tough watch, one of the most heartbreaking movies I have ever seen and this flick was also pretty bleak and quite relentless in his portray of human misery. Basically, it starts with two very young boys neglected by their alcoholic mother and, on top of that, they had to take care of their baby brother. Eventually, it goes all very sour, becoming a huge traumatic experience for those boys and the rest of the movie displayed how messed up they have become, each in their own way. Honestly, the whole thing was really depressing and it didn’t work out as well as ‘Festen’ which was better constructed in my opinion. Still, Vinterberg remains a skilled director and the actors were really good as well. To conclude, even though it wasn’t really amazing, it remains a solid drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.