Reviews by johanlefourbe

After hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I was definitely eager to check it out. Indeed, it was pretty successful when it was released and it has been ever since considered as a classic thriller from the 90’s. Furthermore, since it was directed by Curtis Hanson (‘L.A. Confidential’), I was quite sure it would be at least a pretty decent thriller. Unfortunately, I thought that the whole thing was rather underwhelming. Personally, I don’t think that Rebecca De Mornay should be blamed as she gave a decent performance and she tried her best to make something from this material (eventually, this movie will probably be the one everyone will remember her for). I don’t know, I still have a hard time to understand why everybody back in the 90’s thought it was so frightening. In my opinion, it was just a rather weak thriller with a typically convoluted plot with some terrible twist(s) at the end. I know, I might be asking too much from this genre but I thought this movie was actually hardly entertaining and a major disappointment. To conclude, I thought it was pretty damned average and I don’t think it is really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

After 7 seven long years, Spike Jonze finally came up with a new directing effort and I was definitely eager to check it out. When I bought the DVD in France with its cute poster and since it was an adaptation of a children book, I thought it would be nice to watch it with my 7 year-old daughter. Wisely, I decided to check it out first on my own and within 5 minutes, I realized it was definitely nothing for her and that was the first failure of this movie in my opinion. I mean, it was way too dark and gloomy for the kids and since it really looked like a family feature, I really wonder who was actually the target audience in the end. I don't mean that it was a bad movie, not at all. It was actually pretty good and visually really interesting but from a sweet children book (which I haven't read though), they basically made a rather dark tale about a psychotic young boy who meets some rather psychotic monsters. Basically, it is a pretty tough sale. Apparently, Jonze started filming in 2005 and only released the whole thing in 2009 so the production was pretty hazardous (Apparently, it was terribly difficult to manage to create those wild things) and I did appreciate the work provided and its originality but it never really managed to convince me. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you are interested in Spike Jonze's work.

Almost 10 years after 'Crimson Tide', Tony Scott and Denzel Washington were reunited again and it seemed they had a pretty good time since they rapidly made 3 other movies together. From all the movies starring Denzel Washington, it is pretty much the only one which managed to reach cult-status. Seriously, I don’t know how many times I met someone who were claiming that this was one of the best movies ever made. And indeed, the directing was really dynamic and efficient, something expected from a seasoned action movie director like Tony Scoot and Denzel Washington gave a very strong performance as usual. Still, even though I thought the whole thing was pretty entertaining, I also thought that the story was nothing really amazing and actually rather predictable. I guess, it depends what you expect from your typical action flick. If you just need some impressive and cool action scenes and a really bad-ass main character, than you will love this flick. However, if you also require a certain amount of depth in the characters and/or in the story (like I do), you won’t be really impressed. Still, even though I don’t think it is anything really amazing, it remains a really solid and very well made action flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

What was the point of remaking EXACTLY the same movie (it is said that the house even has the same dimensions) ? Who cares when it is directed by the great Haneke?!? Since I am a huge fan of the original version (as a matter of fact, it is one of my all-time favorite movies), of course, I was really eager to check it out. Eventually, I liked this remake a lot. Of course, I have to admit it, it was rather pointless to make the same movie again (I really wonder why Haneke thought it was a good idea) but it remains a great story and I loved it almost as much as the amazing original version. The tone was identical, visually, it was really similar (I still don't think it was really shot-by-shot the same though) and the acting was really strong. That's probably one of the few issues here compared to the original. Indeed, for this US version, they decided to bring some (relatively) big name actors and while Tim Roth was a very good choice, I'm not so sure about Naomi Watts. I mean, she delivered a very good performance but I think someone more plain looking would have been more appropriate, plus the fact that she keeps making some remakes wasn't in her favor (see also 'The Ring', 'King Kong' and 'Down'). The other thing that bothered me was that Michael Pitt and Brady Courbet who both did a pretty good job, looked too similar. It would have worked better with a young Brad Pitt or a young Leonardo DiCaprio for the role of Paul. Of course, those were small details and the main issue is that the whole thing remains pointless since the original worked fine as a stand alone. To conclude, in spite of all this, I think it is actually a very good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Michael Haneke's work.

I already saw this movie but, since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. The first time around, if I recall it correctly, I saw this movie at my aunt's house when I was on holiday in France. My wife was pretty sick (food poisoning or something like that) and while she was recovering, I ended up watching a whole bunch of DVDs my aunt owned. Well, I’m glad I gave this movie a second chance after all these years. Indeed, it is actually a rather complex story and, sometimes, I was slightly struggling to keep track of everything that was told by the characters. For example, they kept mentioning Agustina’s sister but she actually never showed up and had eventually very little impact on the story after all. Anyway, even if this tale might have been slightly too convoluted (which is actually hardly surprising since it was coming from Almodovar), there is no doubt that the characters, almost all women, were really strong though. Their bond was also quite beautiful to behold. Eventually, for Penélope Cruz, who never looked more gorgeous, it was definitely a high point in her career and it was nice to see her providing such a good performance in a very good movie like this one (Did she ever make one really good US production? I highly doubt it). Still even though Cruz got most of the attention when this movie was released, the rest of the cast was fine as well. At the end of the day, I have to admit that I still struggle with Almodovar’s style of overstuffing his movies with so many far-fetched storylines and eccentric characters but this one definitely grew me on me though. Anyway, to conclude, I’m glad I rewatched this movie since I was much more able to enjoy it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Almodovar’s work.

Ever since I saw ‘Manhattan Murder Mystery’ back then in the theater (almost 20 years ago… Dear, I feel old now…), I have been faithfully following Woody Allen through the years. Back then, I was a huge fan but, to be honest, even though I watch all his movies when I get the opportunity, I don’t care much about them anymore. The problem is that, nowadays, for every decent movie he makes, Allen has to make 4 very weak features. And the worst thing is that the ‘good’ movies are never really that amazing either. Take ‘Match Point’ for example. After it was released, there was a pretty good buzz about it so I was definitely eager to check it out. Eventually, I thought it was indeed pretty good but, honestly, nothing really amazing. The fact that I had some food poisoning or something like that maybe didn’t help so I might give it a 2nd chance at some point but, still, I‘m not really optimistic. The point is that the directing was indeed solid, there was a cool cast (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode, Brian Cox, Ewen Bremner, James Nesbitt, Toby Kebbell) and I liked how all the characters were pretty much despicable. Still, there was something missing in the story to make it for me truly remarkable. To conclude, even though I was a little bit disappointed, it still remains a solid flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Woody Allen’s work.

D.W. Griffith is nowadays considered the first great movie director and even though I'm really curious to check his work, I also have some mixed feelings about the guy, even before I have watched anything he made yet. Indeed, his great masterpiece 'The Birth of Nation' is highly controversial but, still, considering myself a great movie buff, I couldn't avoid his work for much longer so I decided to check this flick. Eventually, I thought it was pretty good but there were many elements, inherent to the era that bothered me. I mean, the main character is an Asian man called 'The Yellow Man' and he was played by a white guy. I'm really sensitive to this kind of things and it was pretty offensive. Of course, I know, it was a common thing back in those days but, still, I couldn't help thinking that with an Asian actor, the whole thing would have been greatly improved. Still, it remains a solid drama, very dark and gloomy, and from a visual point of view, it was quite amazing. Indeed, without any dialog, Griffith still managed to drag you into this dark tale and it was quite fascinating. You can see that everything was shot on stage but the details were great and created an immersive atmosphere. Finally, it displayed one of the most striking death scenes I have ever seen (this girl, Lillian Gish, sure could act). To conclude, even though it is pretty dated, it still remains a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

While watching this movie, I was wondering what pushed Ron Howard, a famous TV actor at the time, to drop completely from acting to become a director. I mean, it is not uncommon that actors decide to become some legit directors as well (Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Ben Affleck,...) but I have never seen another guy seemingly completely dropping off from acting like that. Anyway, since it was Howard's directing debut, I was really eager to check it out. To be honest, the beginning was pretty weak but, after a while, it started to grow on me. Indeed, the whole thing is basically a very long car chase with many cars stolen and destroyed in the process and some scenes were really preposterous and actually pretty hilarious. Unfortunately, the whole concept grew thin pretty quickly and I was rather bored during most of the duration. Of course, since it is a Roger Corman production, you shouldn't expect much production value and instead, you get one of his typical B features. To conclude, even though it was nothing really awful, I don't think it is really worth a look, expect if you want to see how it all started for Ron Howard, at least when you are dealing with his directing career.

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, I saw this movie at my aunt's when I was on holiday in France. My wife was pretty sick (food poisoning or something like that) and while she was recovering, I ended up watching a whole bunch of dvds my aunt owned. Anyway, the director Jean Becker could be actually considered as some kind of French Terrence Malick. Indeed, after making a few movies in 60's, he stopped for 17 years, made one movie ('L'été meurtrier'), stopped again for 12 years, made another movie ('Élisa') and since 1999, he has been pretty productive, directing no less than 7 features in the process. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, it was not bad. The other day, I was thinking that WWII basically represents for France about the same thing as the Vietnam war represents for the USA. Indeed, it was the last war which took place in France and it has greatly traumatized the country. As a result, just like the Vietnam war for the American directors, WWII has always been an everending source of inspiration for the French film makers and you end up with many movies varying in quality and genres. So, this movie deals with WWII and it is honestly a small, rather simple story and even though, it was alright, it was nothing really amazing and it was rather forgettable. To conclude, I still think it is a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Personally, I never had some high expectations concerning this flick and when it turned out to be a huge flop with some pretty negative reviews, I pretty much lost all hope. To my surprise, I actually enjoyed most of it and when I was just starting to think that Johnny Depp was slowly becoming the most overrated actor in the world, he reminded me why once I used to love his work so much. Indeed, even though you could argue that he used pretty much the same gimmick as he did with 'Pirates of the Carribean', I thought that Johnny Depp was quite hilarious and with Armie Hammer, they made a great couple composed of a crazy Indian and an incompetent lawyer who doesn't want to shoot anyone. Unfortunately, all the rest of the movie, especially the plot was quite underwhelming, expect for a few decent action scenes. Indeed, it was all rather pedestrian with the evil railroad tycoon, the outlaws disguised as Indians, the two brothers loving the same wife,... Furthermore, they really messed up the tone. Indeed, even though it was marketed as a Disney family feature, it was actually quite violent (there was even a guy eating someone else's heart for God sake!) but it was also too goofy and shallow to be taken really seriously. To conclude, of course, it was nothing amazing, but I think it was actually quite entertaining and it is worth a look. Hopefully, since it is yet another flop for Johnny Depp, maybe he will start again to be considered a box-office poison and maybe he will go back to some smaller and, above all, more interesting projects.