Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even though Martin Scorsese is mostly known for his fictional work, he has also directed many documentaries and this one is one of the most intriguing. Indeed, Scorsese is also a massive movie buff with an incredible knowledge about movie history and, this time, he had decided to share his love of classic Italian movies. To be honest, even though it was absolutely an interesting watch, I actually had some rather mixed feelings concerning this flick. Like I said before, it was indeed very interesting to learn some trivia about those great classics but, on the other hand, I found it also rather frustrating to watch. I mean, Scorsese goes so much into details when talking about theses flicks that as a result, when it was dealing with movies that I saw, I found it completely fascinating but when it was dealing with movies I haven't seen, I found it actually rather annoying and I really wanted to turn the damned thing off and watch the real thing instead. Eventually, to really appreciate this documentary, you should first watch all or most of the movies involved. Still, in spite of this flaw, if you are interested in Italian movies, it is absolutely worth a look.

Nowadays, this flick is pretty much forgotten but it is actually a pretty good comedy. The first striking thing about this movie is that it is dominated by some famous offsprings. Indeed, the director Jake Kasdan is the son of Lawrence Kasdan who, among other things, wrote ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, Colin Hanks is Tom Hanks’ son and Schuyler Fisk is Sissy Spacek’s daughter. Concerning Colin Hanks, it is actually the only movie he made in which he really displayed some potential but 10 years later, he is still standing in the shadow of his father. Anyway, I really liked this flick. I mean, of course, the story was nothing really original but the dialogs were really funny and most of the characters were quite hilarious. Indeed, Jack Black has never become a really amazing lead actor because his acting range is just too limited but with such supporting characters, he is the perfect guy and I thought he was really funny in this. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, I thought it was a really fun comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

This movie is nowadays pretty much forgotten and, apparently, it is very difficult to get your hands on it (Supposedly, it is not even available on dvd and it can’t be downloaded either). Basically, for most of the people who like this flick, there is a great deal of nostalgia involved. Even myself, I did like it but I saw it when I was very young and if I re-watched it nowadays, I might think it is actually pretty lame. Anyway, the title is pretty awesome (‘Great! My parents are divorcing!’) and, back in those days, there was this wave of divorces, so the movie was actually quite topical. Somehow, since I was of the same age as the protagonists, I was able to identify with what they were going through and back then, I thought it was pretty neat and I’m pretty sure that for most of the French kids who watched it back then, this movie had quite an impact. Obviously, divorces are nowadays rather common (it is actually the other way around, the nuclear family has become the norm) and, of course, since it is a family feature, the whole thing remains rather harmless and quite forgettable. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, as a time capsule, I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Since I'm a huge fan of the Dardenne brothers, I really had to watch this flick. To be honest, I was slightly disappointed by their previous movie, ‘Le Silence de Lorna’, but this time, they blew me away again. Indeed, within the first minutes, I was completely fascinated by the tragedy lived by this troubled young boy. Basically, you witness this 11 years old boy mentally melting down in front of you and it was just heartbreaking to behold. On one hand, he is a resourceful kid who knows what he wants and how to defend himself but, on a psychological level, he is a total mess but, considering the circumstances, it is not really surprising. Of course, it is really shocking to see his father discarding him like an old sock. Would it be too much to ask him to spend some time with his own boy once in a while? Unfortunately, I’m afraid many men and women do make this kind of decisions and the Dardenne brothers are not shy to throw these facts right in your face. At the center of this tragedy, you have this young boy played by an unknown called Thomas Doret and it must have been one of the best child performances I have ever seen. Completely amazing and mesmerizing to watch. The only weakness with this flick is the character played by Cécile De France. I mean, I don’t think the actress should be blamed but you never really get the chance to understand her motivations concerning why she decides to take care of this boy. Still, in spite of these minor flaws, it is a very good drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in the Dardenne brothers’ work.

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 features (Apparently, it was one of his first talkies) and, honestly, I had a hard time to care about the whole thing. Indeed, since he could finally use some dialogs, he had some very talkative characters. This movie with a very lame title was adapted from a rather successful play and it mostly took place in one place. There were indeed some funny bits but, eventually, even if Hitchcock was a master of thriller, comedy was definitely not his cup of tea, that's pretty obvious. I’m calling it a comedy because the beginning was pretty funny but, apparently, it is actually a drama and, indeed, the ending was pretty depressing and somber (they don’t have any money, the son is shot and the daughter is pregnant out of wedlock and let down by the baby’s father). Eventually, the tone was really all over the place and it wasn’t really a good flick, I'm afraid. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it remains an intriguing picture and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Alfred Hitchcock’s work.

It seems that Aardman can’t manage to catch a break. Indeed, except for Wallace & Gromit, their other productions don’t seem to be really successful and this flick was unfortunately not an exception. Still, since I have always been a fan of their work, above all of their stop-motion features, I was really eager to check it out. Eventually, I thought it was actually rather disappointing. Of course, the animation was, as usual, amazing, no doubt about it, but I had a hard time to care about the story and the characters. I don’t know, it definitely had some potential but I thought that it was nothing really mind-blowing. I have to admit it, I have seen it in Dutch so it might be more fun in the original English so I will see the original version in the near future to make up my mind for good but I doubt the story would become suddenly great. Indeed, the Queen Victoria was a rather weak villain and it seems that they can’t move on from Wallace & Gromit. Indeed, the Captain was again another clueless loser, pretty much like Wallace and the Ape, who was pretty awesome, was another mute animal much more intelligent than the average ape, pretty much like Gromit. Still, even though it was slightly disappointing, I still think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Basically, it is one of those massively successful French comedies (in this case, I haven’t seen the original) and instead of releasing the French version with some subtitles or dubbing it in English, they prefer to remake the whole thing with some English speaking actors. Still, for once this remake was actually pretty successful, my wife really loved it for example. In my opinion, it is a rather standard Chris Columbus vehicle, in the sense that it was rather entertaining but there was a terrible lack of ambition to make something truly remarkable. Obviously the main attraction was the cast here. Indeed, back in those days, Hugh Grant was at the height of his career and even though it might seem odd to cast a British actor, it actually worked pretty well. To make this couple even more compelling to watch, they cast Julianne Moore, one of the best actress of her generation, she basically can do anything. Together, they had some pretty good chemistry but the concept was just too thin and the plot was rather lazy in my opinion so I couldn’t really share my wife’s enthusiasm about this flick. Still, even though it is nothing really amazing, it remains a decent comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since it is such a classic, I thought it was finally to time to check it out. Eventually, it is quite a weird flick, some very old documentary (about 90 years old) dealing with some even older superstitions mainly involving witchcraft in the Middle-Ages. It is rather funny that it is considered a horror flick when it is supposed to be a documentary. I mean, there were some rather eerie stuff, I’ll give you that but it doesn’t really qualify as ‘horror’, at least, that’s my opinion. Honestly, the whole thing feels pretty dated nowadays and you might wonder if it was really scientifically accurate. Still, even though the educational aspect might be questionable, it was still an interesting watch and it has definitely some historically value. It is also striking that the makers were rather dismissive towards the Middle-Ages beliefs but the way they put ‘hysteria’ on some vastly varied mental diseases was quite priceless (of course, in the 20’s, psychology was a rather new science). To conclude, I’m not really sure if it is really a great flick but it remains a very intriguing watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see something really different.

With ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, even though almost no one saw it when it was released, we pretty much all agreed afterwards that it was a great flick. The next time around, Frank Darabont made ‘The Green Mile’, another Stephen King tale, and this time, not only it was a critical success but also a smash hit at the box-office. So, you would think that at this point Darabont's career would be launch for good but, then, he made this flick starring Jim Carrey. Once again, it was barely seen when released but, this time, it didn’t get much love from the critics either. I mean, there was a (rather small) club of people like Roger Ebert who really liked it but the majority didn’t care much for the whole thing. To be honest, it is not a bad movie at all, the directing is solid, Jim Carrey is always compelling in more dramatic roles and you could feel that there was some ambition behind this project. Still, somehow, the story was not really fascinating, the characters were too bland and I had a hard time to care about the whole thing. To conclude, even though it is a failure, it remains an intriguing picture and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Frank Darabont’s work.

I always had a weak spot for ‘Madagascar’. Indeed, it always stood in the shadow of ‘Shrek’ among Dreamworks catalog but I always thought it was a really cool flick. Still, even though I liked this movie, I never believed that the concept would work very well with some sequels (I mean, how many times can they get to Madagascar?) and, indeed, the first sequel was rather disappointing. So, when I heard they were making yet another sequel, my eyes were rolling, it really seemed that they really tried to milk dry the whole thing and I had some really low expectation. Somehow, it was still successful at the box-office (with those very expensive 3D tickets, it is actually rather difficult to say) and I thought I should check it out. Eventually, I must admit it, it was actually not bad at all and even an improvement on the previous installment. Of course, it wasn't great either, the movie didn’t have anything to do with Madagascar anymore, there were way too many characters but, somehow, most of it was actually quite enjoyable. Indeed, they really went over the top this time and, as a result, the whole thing was quite messed up but in a really positive way. There were many times when I thought ‘WTF?!?’ while watching this and I wonder if kids really enjoyed this daft flick but it was definitely quite daring. To conclude, in spite of my low expectations, it is actually a rather weird and fun animated feature and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.