Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I’m still a huge fan of Robert de Niro, I really wanted to check this flick, even though I wasn’t sure what to expect. Indeed, de Niro has been my favorite actor for ages and there was a time when I was actively hunting down his movies (by now, I have seen 67 of his movies, more than any other actor). Unfortunately, those last years, this chase has been rather thankless since de Niro has been making recently up to 4 movies a year and each movie was more forgettable than the other (with the notable exception of ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ which was really awesome and featured a great performance by Robert de Niro). Anyway, this movie was his acting debut so I was really eager to check it out. Indeed, before ‘Main Streets’ and making all these great movies with Martin Scorsese, Robert de Niro first started with Brian De Palma and they made 3 movies together. Anyway, how was the damned thing eventually? Basically, it is one of those experimental 60’s features. Honestly, it was rather messy and random with no real plot and even though it was an interesting watch, it was still nothing really remarkable. Still, even though without De Palma and de Niro’s involvement nobody would actually be interested in this flick, I still think it is worth a look though.

Back in the 90's, I was a huge fan of Ken Loach and, nowadays, I still try to watch his movies whenever I got the chance. This movie is probably not one of his most heralded pictures but it is actually one of his very best, at least in my opinion. Following Ken Loach’s tradition and directing style, it is a really realistic and grim drama taking place in Scotland and if your familiar with his work, you could argue that Loach had already been there, done that and bought the T-shirt at least 20 times before. First of all, I just find this style quite fascinating, almost documentary-like, and the big difference with his other movies is that the characters were just fascinating to be behold. The young boy playing the main character was just really amazing, such a terrific performance, and I was wondering if he was still in the game. And he is, without noticing it, I have actually seen him recently in ‘The Disappearance of Alice Creed’ (a weaker movie but also a very solid performance by this young man). I’ll give you that, the whole thing is rather dreary and depressing (compared to this, ‘Trainspotting’ is actually quite fun) but Ken Loach doesn’t want to make any concession and I admire him for that. To conclude, it is a terrific British social drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but, since it was a while back and sind it is a classic, I thought I might as well check it out again. In fact, somehow, it took me many years to watch this classic and, considering its impressive reputation, I had some rather high expectations. Eventually, even though I did enjoy it the first time around I watched it, I can’t say I was really blown away by the whole thing though. Well, while rewatching it, I was surprised by how little I actually remembered it which is usually not a good sign, especially when you are dealing with a huge classic like this one. Eventually, it is a fun flick, no doubt about it, but, to be honest, except for a couple of good jokes, I never thought it was hilarious. It is like John Belushi, a guy who has become a legend since then when, in fact, he made only 7 movies before dying and only 2 of them (‘Animal House’ and this movie included) were actually really successful. Well, I don't think that ‘Animal House’ was really that great either so I don’t really get all the fuss about this guy. At least, I have to admit that the legendary soundtrack is indeed quite awesome and I really loved these cameos from all these great artists (James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles). Eventually, in my opinion, even though this movie tries to be wild and all, basically, it is pure and simply a musical with some pretty cool music and some rather chaotic scenes but not much more than that, I’m afraid. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn’t really blow me away, it is still a pretty good flick though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I have always been fascinated by poker. Eventually, I played the game for a while with some colleagues and I loved it even more. Unfortunately, my learning curve was pretty limited so I quit after 6 months (I still managed to win once with a mythical Royal Flush, something that never happen to most of the poker players during their entire life). With this in mind, I was of course really eager to check this movie. Eventually, many elements were done right but they still messed up the tone and the romance was hardly interesting. Indeed, I thought that the tone was just way too light and Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore were just way too soft for this. I mean, you have here a story about a talented player who’s still a complete loser because he is a compulsive gambler and doesn’t know when to stop but the makers kept throwing some goofy scenes trying to convince us that it was not so bad after all. Still, Robert Duvall was, as usual, pretty terrific and I liked the dynamic between the father and son, even though the animosity from Bana towards Duvall was rather exagerated in my opinion. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it remains rather entertaining and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in poker.

George Clooney is what you could call a late-bloomer. Indeed, even though he is nowadays one of the biggest movie stars in the world, he was already in his 30’s when he got his breakthrough with ‘E.R.’ Then, pretty much like his best buddy Brad Pitt, even though he moved on pretty quickly to the silver screen, it took him some time to find his game and I think the ball really started to roll with him with ‘Out of Sight’ back in 1998. Before that, he made some commercial but rather uninteresting flicks (the worst one being bviously ‘Batman & Robin’) and this movie was definitely one of those. I mean, it wasn't really awful whatsoever, it is a watchable romance involving two of the most charming actors in Hollywood, Clooney himself and Michelle Pfeiffer, and they definitely had some good chemistry. Unfortunately, there was a terrible lack of ambition here, the whole thing felt rather pedestrian and predictable and George Clooney would make some much more remarkable features in the years following. It did make sense though that he would chose such a project at this point in his career. Indeed, it was one of his first starring roles and his status as an heartthrob in ‘E.R.’ would guarantee that his fans would eat up a romantic feature like this one. To conclude, even though it is nothing amazing, it remains a decent romance and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

By now, I have seen almost 5000 movies and I’m more or less aware of 4000 more so I think I have a pretty good knowledge about movies. However, I don’t know everything and when one of my colleagues recommended me this flick, I honestly drew a blank. Then, I checked it out on IDMb and I did actually came across this flick a couple of times before and I always wondered about its very high rating (8.0). Anyway, at some point, I finally ended up watching the damned thing and, well, I was pretty much blown away, that’s for sure. Of course, the whole thing looked pretty cheap and the acting felt, at first, rather amateurish but I just loved the concept. I mean, basically, you had a room filled with some intellectuals, discussing a huge ‘what if…’ and it was just fascinating to behold. The whole thing was actually pretty ambiguous but it was exactly why I really liked it. The way, at the end, the main character tied up the whole thing by telling his friends it was just a story was just brilliant. I mean, you could feel the relief from all his friends ‘Ok, we can all go back to our life now, everything is back to normal’ but what if he actually lied so they could actually sleep at night? It was a perfect ending and it is too bad that, after that, they felt compelled to add an extra scene giving some ‘proof’ that everything was supposedly true which pretty much ruined most of the ambiguity. They also went too far by making the main character proclaiming that he was Jesus himself, he already met Buddha which was already enough for me. Anyway, in spite of these few flaws, it was a spellbinding feature, really simple but so brilliant and it is definitely worth a look.

As you may have noticed, I’m not a huge fan of action flicks. I mean, I have nothing against those but if they are only going to show some massive set-pieces with some huge explosions, gun fighting, car chasing, I get pretty bored rather quickly. However, some of them tries to go a little further and I can definitely appreciate those. This movie is one fine example. I mean, it is far from being one of the best in this genre but it sure went an extra mile on several levels. First of all, the cast was just awesome (Nicolas Cage, John Cusack , John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames, Dave Chappelle, Colm Meaney, Danny Trejo, Monica Potter). I mean, if you cast John Malkovich in an action flick as the bad guy, you get a few extra points right of the gate. Also, back in those days, Nicolas Cage was just starting in the action business, he was not yet a total joke, and I sure could appreciate his over-the-top performance (just check the hairdo, that’s definitely something!). Of course, the plot and the action scenes were completely preposterous but damned, that was actually quite fun to behold. To conclude, it is actually a pretty decent action flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Somehow, I managed to watch this movie only 15 years after its original release. It is not that I was actually avoiding it but I wasn't actually chasing it either. Anyway, after all these years, it was finally time to watch this classic to check what was all the fuss about. Well, I didn’t like it much. I mean, I could see the appeal, I might have enjoyed it more when I was a kid but, honestly, I wasn’t really impressed. To start with, Macauley Culkin who became a huge star thanks to this flick was not bad but I wasn’t really blown away by his acting skills and, to be honest, I thought he was actually often rather obnoxious. Then, I don’t know, I had also had a hard time with the whole concept. I mean, basically, during the whole thing you see this little boy pretty much torturing those two chumps and you are supposed to be cheering in the process. Maybe I put too much thought in it but I thought it was rather joyless. Still, to conclude, even though it didn’t really amaze me, it remains a rather entertaining family feature and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

It’s only after writing his review that I discovered that Roger Ebert picked up this movie as one of the best released in 2011. Well, as usual, good Old Roger was right… Indeed, it was a terrific drama and something awful to watch for any parent. Indeed, my step-daughter is now 26 years old but I remember all those years worrying when she was younger spending hours on MSN chatting with some people she barely knew. Her sister is now 14 years old and I guess I would have to go soon through this phase again… And guess who directed this amazing flick? David Schwimmer, of all people!!! Basically, it was a masterful psychological study of a father and a daughter after she had been assaulted by a pedophile. The really amazing thing about this flick was how heartfelt the characters were developed. The whole process went into details and seemed pretty realistic on how a teenager could fall for this and her reactions afterwards were quite striking as well. At some point, I was worried that the father will go full vigilante on us but it was not that kind of movie, fortunately. Still, even though the speech at the end was perfectly delivered by Clive Owen, the timing was a little too perfect and I’m afraid not many fathers would manage to tell their feelings so eloquently to their damaged daughters. To conclude, even though it is a very tough watch, it is actually a terrific drama and it is definitely worth a look.

When I first heard about this movie, I thought it sounded pretty lame. I mean, come on! The real-life experiences of Channing Tatum who used to be a male stripper… On the other hand, Steven Soderbergh used to be (he is officially retired so I will talk in the past tense) quite experimental so who knows? The fact that it was actually rather well received intrigued me even more so I was actually quite eager to check it out. Eventually, from a rather lame concept, it turned out to be a pretty decent flick. Personally, right from the first scene with Channing Tatum, I was already sold. I mean, the tone was just awesome and the guy was really good in this. After watching this and ’21 Jumpstreet’, two movies I was expecting nothing from, I must admit that Tatum is actually pretty talented and could go very far if he doesn’t focus too much on some random generic action flicks. This movie was also part of the renaissance involving Matthew McConaughey and he was indeed very good in this, even though his character could have been move developed. And that was the first issue with this flick, except for Magic Mike, the rest of the characters were poorly developed and I seriously didn’t care at all about the sister. The other issue I had is that even though the scene I mentioned before was awesome, the rest of the story was actually rather pedestrian. I mean, they have a lots of fun but then, they get into trouble involving drugs and stuff and, suddenly, Magic Mike realizes he might better do something else more rewarding with his life. It was honestly rather predictable. Still, all in all, considering the material, they managed to make an entertaining flick and it is actually worth a look.