Reviews by johanlefourbe

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.

I didn’t expect much from this flick but since Nick, my step-son, does have a weak spot for Jackie Chan, I thought we should check it out. Personally, I should probably give up on the guy already but, somehow, I keep on trying. On the other hand, this flick is apparently not one of his better Hong-Kong productions so maybe I should keep looking. Somehow, it is not surprising that I didn't like it but it was sill terribly underwhelming. The first issue I had was that the whole thing was dubbed in English instead of the original language. That was so terribly annoying. Furthermore, as usual with Jackie Chan's work, the acting was pretty weak. To be honest, the story did have some potential but I thought that the tone was way off so it was really difficult to get into the story. Of course, the action scenes were pretty neat but there were not many of them and they didn't manage to make me forget how underwhelming the rest was. Furthermore, at the end, there was this massive car chase involving a huge truck and even though it was spectacular, it didn’t have anything to do with the rest and it felt seriously random. To conclude, I thought the whole thing was pretty boring and I don't think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of 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. So far, it is his oldest movie I have seen. At first, I was rather worried since the copy looked awful and the beginning was pretty shabby. However, even though it is indeed very old (almost 80 years old!), it was actually quite watchable. Apparently, it was Hitchcock’s very first thriller and already back then, the guy knew what he was doing. Indeed, the first thing I enjoyed is how he managed to substitute the dialogs with some other tricks to still communicate with the viewer and tell his story. Then, there was this striking switch between some thriller elements and some very broad comedy. Finally, and probably the best thing about this flick is how he managed to keep in you in the dark for a very long time about this mysterious lodger. Sometimes, he was way too obvious to be the killer and but at some other moments, you start wondering if he might be indeed the culprit. As a matter of fact, Hitchcock wanted a more ambiguous ending which would have made the whole thing even more interesting but it was still an entertaining thriller nonetheless. To conclude, even though it might not be a real masterpiece, it still remain a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Alfred Hitchcock’s work.

Since I kept hearing good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. Honestly, it is a rather difficult task to review an anthology like this one. I mean, when it is composed of 3 or 5 segments, you can more or less take them one by one. However, how can you judge a movie as a whole when it is composed of 20 short-stories?!? Anyway, to start with, I did like the whole thing. I mean, not everything was great (I didn’t care much about the segment by Christopher Doyle), some were really good (Bruno Podalydes, Walter Salles, Tom Tykwer, Oliver Schmitz) and there was even a vampire story (Vincenzo Natali). It was just fun to see the name of the directors at the beginning of each segment and to discover what they would come up with. Eventually, the best ones, in my opinion, were the stories which really used Paris as a location and, in the process, giving the feeling of this famous place. Personally, since I’m French and have been there many times, this city doesn’t have such a romantic aura like it has for many foreigners (as a matter of fact, I find it rather huge and dreary and I would find it difficult to live there) but it was still pretty neat to see all those filmmakers giving their vision on the French capital and many of them really nailed it. Anyway, to conclude, even though I don’t think it was really amazing, it was still a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Rosario Dawson, I thought I might as well give it a try. And, indeed, the whole thing turned out to be pretty lame. I mean, the talking animals were not that bad and it was actually a rather fun voice-over cast (Nick Nolte, Adam Sandler, Sylvester Stallone, Cher, Judd Apatow , Jon Favreau, Faizon Love, Maya Rudolph) but what was really tedious is the way they tried to make them advise the main character about his love life… That was seriously tedious. At one point, Kevin James went out with the gorilla and that was really whack but it worked actually better than the whole romantic angle which was just so pedestrian and uninteresting. Concerning Kevin James, I’m glad for him that he finally managed to become a leading man but he has to start picking up some better material to convince me some day. Rosario Dawson did what she could but she had a very thankless job and was completely wasted here. To conclude, I have seen worse, but it still remain a rather lame comedy and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

Following the massive success of ’Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain’, Audrey Tautou became suddenly one of the hottest French actress and it didn’t take long before her career was launched abroad. Eventually, this would be her first English-speaking role. Later on, she would be cast in ‘The Da Vinci code’ and that would be pretty much the end of her international career (Marion Cotillard would turn out to be much successful internationally). Anyway, this movie was definitely marketed with Audrey Tautou (she is the only actor on the poster and her name is displayed prominently) but, in fact, she wasn’t the main character. No, the main character was played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, a complete unknown at the time, and the guy was just brilliant. Concerning Tautou, honestly, I thought she was rather miscast. I mean, she wasn’t really bad at all but, at the time, she was one of the most famous French actresses and, here, she was supposed to be portraying a Turkish woman. Of course, that’s the whole point of acting, I’m well aware of that, but I thought that it was terribly distracting. A part from that, it was a solid drama, very topical with some very efficient directing by Stephen Frears who produces his best work when working on socially conscious drama’s like this one. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was a very good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.