Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since it was the very last movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio which I hadn’t see yet, of course, I was really eager to check it out. It is probably one of his most obscure features and it took me quite a while to get my hands on it. As a matter of fact, Rimbaud was supposed to be played by River Phoenix but he tragically died just before production started and was therefore replaced by DiCaprio but I thought he was a perfect choice. And so was David Thewlis. Still, I wasn’t sure about their performances. I mean, there were some good bits but it was also quite frequently rather over the top. Also, the fact that they mixed an American actor, an English actor and some French actors to all portray some French people was rather odd and didn’t work very well. Still, the main subject, the stormy relationship between Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlain, was quite spellbinding and I always had a weak spot for the tormented life of some messed up artists. Still, as usual, like most of the movies dealing with poetry, it focuses mostly on their romantic and sex life and, even though you seem them writing a lot (at least, Rimbaud. As a matter of fact, I don’t remember seeing Verlaine writing a single word) , you don’t hear much poetry which was too bad. Still, it must be the most risky part by Leonardo DiCaprio and even though he didn’t quite nailed it, it was still an interesting and courageous attempt. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I actually liked this flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Basically, it is one of those movies I have been hearing about for years and I was definitely eager to finally check it out. Eventually, it turned out to be a really solid thriller and probably the most convincing movie dealing with hacking that I have seen so far. You see, I have been working in the ICT branch for many years and even though I’m not a expert (the cause of so much frustrations for my dear colleagues…), it is always pretty neat to see a movie about this subject but it is always disappointing how ridiculous and unconvincing all the computer stuff turn out to be portrayed. This flick was however an exception. Indeed, even though I have no clue if what the main character did was actually possible, it seemed possible and what he did with his computer usually made sense. The other thing I enjoyed is the way those two high-school kids were portrayed and both Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy provided some decent performances. Unfortunately, even though the whole thing was really entertaining, it was still a little too far-fetched for my taste and there were still some major plot-holes. Still, for a thriller dealing with computers, it was pretty good, I really enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I’m a huge fan of David Lean’s work, of course, I had to see this flick at some point and since it is considered as one of his best movies, I had some rather great expectations (pun intended). Eventually, even though I did like it, I can’t say I was really blown away by the whole thing. I don’t know, maybe it has to with the fact that I never really loved those Charles Dickens’ movie adaptations. Maybe I should try the books instead, if I recall correctly , the late Roger Ebert was a massive fan of these books. Anyway, it remains a pretty good flick though. Indeed, the cinematography was really nice, something expected from a David Lean production, and the acting was really solid as well. Another interesting element in the movie was that it featured Alec Guinness' first major screen role and it was also the first film he made with Lean (they would make eventually 6 movies together). Also, the fact that I first watched first Alfonso Cuaron’s version might I have influenced my views on this much older version. Still, even though this movie didn’t really quite blow me away, it remains a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much and, indeed, the whole thing was terribly underwhelming. To start with, Rob Minkoff who once did direct ‘The Lion King’, one of the most successful and heralded animated features ever made, had ever since a rather mixed track record and this might be his weakest directing effort so far. I mean, it is pretty obvious that Patrick Dempsey is trying very hard to breakthrough on the silver screen but with such pathetic attempts, it won’t happen anytime soon, I’m afraid. Indeed, Dempsey tried to portray a mental patient and even though it wasn’t supposed to be taken seriously, it wasn’t funny either and, frankly, it was one hell of a weak performance. The rest of the cast was slightly better but there were just too many characters and they were all rather poorly developed. Finally, the plot was just a bore involving an overly complicated heist involving several burglar teams. Even though the makers try to make you guess who’s who and who’s doing what, after a while and many idiotic twists, you simply don’t care about what is actually going on and how it will all end up. To conclude, I think my rating might be really generous, it is just a really weak action-comedy and it is not worth a look, even if you like the genre.

As may you have noticed, I’m not a huge fan of costume dramas. Indeed, I always have a hard time to care about the love life of the Victorian upper-class. I mean, come on, ‘I’m filthy rich, I don’t do anything to make a living but it’s so hard to end up with the person you really love…’ just stop whining already. On the other hand, I always had a weak spot for Oscar Wilde because the guy was so witty and I always enjoy the way he took every opportunity to show how vain his contemporaries were. Here, you had Rupert Everett who was simply born to play in Wilde’s stories and the guy was just on top of his game at the time. I always had a weak spot for this actor ever since I saw him in ‘Dellamorte Dellamore’ and his was a riot in this movie. The rest of the cast was pretty spot on as well (Colin Firth, Frances O'Connor, Reese Witherspoon, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson) so I really had a good time watching this. Alright, I have to admit, the plot was terribly light and fluffy especially coming from Oscar Wilde but the actors were good enough to make me forget the weaknesses concerning the storyline. To conclude, even though it is nothing amazing whatsoever, it is actually a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I have never really paid attention to the current worldwide crisis (thankfully, I always managed to keep my jobs) so I never really dug into it but since this movie had some pretty good ratings, I was definitely eager to see what was actually going on. And boy, that was such a depressing movie... I mean, they threw in from time to time an upbeat tune but there was no way they could remove the general sour taste giving by this. To be honest, I'm totally a left-wing guy, it came with my upbringing, and this movie shows how nasty and unhealthy capitalism can be in general. From an ideological point of view, I still believe that left-wing ideas such as socialism, government control and regulation, social welfare would be a better option but it is unfortunately not in our human nature, I'm afraid. Like they said in this movie, if most of the people get the opportunity to get a massive amount of money with a minimum risk for themselves, they will almost always go for it. I have to admit it, the whole thing was quite reminiscent of Michael Moore's style in the sense that many people get ridiculed during the interviews, the editing was massive and there was a fair amount of manipulation. Still, the message remains strong and, like I said before, terribly depressing, but it is and remains a really impressive documentary and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but since it was such a long time ago, I was quite eager to check it out again. First of all, I always had a weak spot for Spike Lee's work and I'm so glad he made recently a nice come-back with 'BlacKkKlansman'. However, during the previous 10 years, Lee really struggled and this movie was his last commercial and critical success.  Indeed, first of all, there was a really nice cast involved (Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe, Chiwetel Ejiofor) and they all delivered some solid performances. Then, I always had a weak spot for heist movies and when they are well made like this one, they are pretty much irresistible and really entertaining. In fact, to be honest, the whole thing didn't feel like a Spike Lee feature but it was nice to see him trying something more commercial for once and it was pretty neat that I actually nailed it. Concerning the plot, well, there was a big twist but even though it seemed clever the first time I saw this movie, it didn't have such an impact the second time around so I guess it is not a movie that might require multiple re-watches. Anyway, to conclude, even if it might not be anything really groundbreaking, I really liked this 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 Gwyneth Paltrow, I thought I might as well give it a try. First of all, the rest of the cast was also actually pretty neat (Christina Applegate, Mark Ruffalo, Candice Bergen, Kelly Preston, Rob Lowe, Mike Myers, Stacey Dash), so who knows? Even though the whole thing looked pretty lame, maybe it could turn out to be a nice surprise. Unfortunately, it turned out to be pretty underwhelming. Indeed, the main topic was not really intriguing but, to make things worse, they handled it the cheesiest way possible with a terrible cringe-inducing end-result. I have to admit it though, Gwyneth Paltrow was quite charming as usual and the always dependable Mark Ruffalo (one of the most interesting and underrated actors of this generation) could do no wrong even with such tedious material. Apparently, the whole thing was a flop when it was released and I can’t say I’m surprised or that it deserved better. Eventually, almost 10 years later, Gwyneth Paltrow and Mark Ruffalo ended up making another movie together, ‘Thanks for Sharing’, which I haven’t seen yet but I sincerely hope that it is a little bit better than this, it shouldn’t be hard though. To conclude, even though I have seen worse, it remains a very weak comedy and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

Following the success of ‘Scream’, the studios felt right away that there was a new hype to be taken advantage off so they quickly made as many slasher flicks involving teenagers as possible back in those days. This movie was one of the most famous ones and, unsurprisingly, it was written by Kevin Williamson, yeah, the same guy who wrote ‘Scream’. This time again, you had a cast filled with young and upcoming actors (Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinze Jr., Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, Anne Heche) and, actually, it would be pretty funny to re-watch this nowadays, just to check how they looked like back in those days. On the other hand, since I didn’t really care about the whole thing the first time around, it might not be such a great idea after all. Indeed, I really enjoyed ‘Scream’ (I didn’t care much for the sequels though) because it was indeed quite exciting, really entertaining and it had a really nice and refreshnig angle on the horror genre. This movie, on the other hand, was just as formulaic as you can get. I mean, it was rather well made and watchable, I guess, but the plot was terribly pedestrian and I was frankly bored during the whole thing. To conclude, I thought it was pretty average and I don’t think it is really worth a look, expect maybe if you are a huge fan of the genre.

A few months back, I saw ‘No Strings Attached’ and I thought it was terribly underwhelming so I wasn’t expecting much from another recent romantic-comedy with a very similar plot. Surprisingly, it turned out to be much better and I actually enjoyed most of it. The first improvement was that instead of Ashton Kutcher, you had here Justin Timberlake who was not just another pretty face, but was actually pretty funny and, above all, he managed to give his character some interesting layers. I wouldn’t try to compare Mila Kunis with Natalie Portman (who did her best with the terrible ‘No Strings Attached’) but Kunis was pretty good too and, together, they definitely had some nice chemistry. So, the whole thing was not bad at all and it didn’t need much to completely convince me. Still, even though the makers tried to make you believe that they were poking fun at the genre, it was actually pretty fake, as the whole thing remained terribly safe and completely within the boundaries of the genre. They even threw in some poorly developed sub-plot about Alzheimer in the mix (if I recall correctly, the poor Richard Jenkins who deserves much better played a very similar role in ‘Dear John’). Still, even though it was not really amazing, it is and remains a pretty decent romantic-comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.