Reviews by johanlefourbe

Nowadays, DreamWorks is, after Pixar which is the undisputed Champion, the world leader in CGI animated pictures. However, at first they also made some hand-drawn animated features but, except for ‘The Prince of Egypt’, they all pretty much flopped. This feature was the last one they made in this style and they never looked back ever since. Honestly, I think it’s a shame that they dropped this animation technique and it is even more disheartening concerning Disney which had almost 80 years of legacy in this style. Anyway, even though this movie barely made any money, I don’t think it was that bad at all. Indeed, the animation was pretty nice and the story was quite entertaining. I thought it was quite neat to have a story about Sinbad and, apparently, they were planning to release 6 sequels, each movie featuring one of the 7 voyages of Sinbad, but since ‘The Road to El Dorado’ was already a disappointment at the box-office, they scratched this idea even before starting production. It shows how confident they were with the material. Anyway, in this genre, the classic tale, it never reaches the level of some classics made by Disney. To conclude, it is one of the many hand-drawn animated features that crashed and burned at the box-office while the CGI animated movies were emerging at a high velocity, but I think it is still worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since both Benicio Del Toro and Christopher Walken were involved, I thought I should give it a try. Unfortunately, even those two great guys couldn't save this tedious affair. I mean, they were both pretty good, as usual, especially Del Toro, but the story was just terribly underwhelming. I guess you could blame Alicia Silverstone who played one of her awful obnoxious girls. Back in those days, after the success of 'Clueless', Silverstone was hailed as the next 'It' girl and she even signed a $10,000,000 3-movie deal with Sony. Why on Earth they would think it was a good plan is really beyond me... Anyway, everything she did after 'Clueless', including this movie and 'Batman & Robin', pretty much flopped so she lost her status pretty quickly. Honestly, even though she wasn't really good in this, the worst was definitely the plot though. The amazing thing though is that each time Benicio Del Toro was on the screen, he managed to lift up the tedious material and there was something really interesting about the character he created. It is such a shame that, to the contrary to Christopher Walken who is basically a workaholic and would show up in basically anything, Del Toro doesn't make so many movies and even though he is always good, those movies are very often disappointing, pretty much like this one. To conclude, it is a rather weak feature and I don't think it is really worth a look.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I have it on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. Well, first of all, even though Ron Howard doesn’t really have a good reputation, I still have a weak spot for his movies. Eventually, in my opinion, this movie is a typical Ron Howard feature in the sense that it was quite entertaining, rather well made, but there was definitely something missing to make it really remarkable. Indeed, the set-up was pretty intriguing but the end-result was still rather bland. Back in those days, Mel Gibson was definitely on the A list and made more waves with his movies than with the antics in his private life. Rene Russo was also a very popular actress back then but, nowadays, she is pretty much retired which is too bad in my opinion. Like most of Howard’s features, there was a lot of good stuff here and, in my opinion, it was better than many average thrillers, but there was also an obvious refusal to be edgy in any way and the whole thing remained just way too conventional for my taste. Above all, I think that the main character should been more a cold-hearted rich SOB instead of one of these typical boring heroes played by Mel Gibson. Still, even though I tend to be rather critical about thrillers, I mostly enjoyed this one and I liked how they managed to build up the tension so it is definitely worth, especially if you like the genre.

As you may have noticed, I often watch some pretty obscure movies. For example, that time, I bought a DVD of ‘What’s eating Gilbert Grape’ for 5 euro or something and it was a double-feature including this movie as well. Honestly, I wasn’t really keen to watch this but since I had the movie basically for free, I thought I might as well give it a try. Anyway, if I recall correctly, back in those days, Tara Reid’s career was not yet a big joke and Kip Pardue seemed to have a bright future as well. Fast-forward 10 years later, and Kip Pardue seems to have more or less disappeared and Tara Reid’s last project was ‘Sharknado’. Anyway, the whole thing was pretty weak, basically, a very cheap and underwhelming thriller. Basically, it is rather minimalistic flick with only 2 characters stuck on an island which is actually a rather intriguing premise but it could have worked only with some decent actors which was obviously not the case here. Indeed, Reid and Pardue try really hard and gave their best to convince us that they had what it takes but the end-result was pretty pathetic, I’m afraid. To be honest, they shouldn’t be the only one to blame since the whole thing was rather poorly written. To conclude, it was rather a waste of time and I don’t think it is worth a look, even if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but, since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. Surprisingly, from all the movies DiCaprio and Scorsese made together, for some reason, it was the only one I didn't see in the movie theater when it was released. Anyway, personally, I always had a rather conflicted relationship with this flick. Indeed, on one hand, it is absolutely a solid feature and, finally, after being snubbed for so many years by the Academy, Scorsese finally received some recognition. But, on the other hand, honestly, was it really his best movie? Even though it was really well made, even though there was a great cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga, Ray Winstone, Alec Baldwin) and even though it was absolutely entertaining, in my opinion, it never came near the level of his real masterpieces such as 'Taxi Driver', 'Raging Bull' or 'Goodfellas'. Furthermore, one thing that really bothered at the time was that this flick was merely a remake and the fact that I was a huge fan of the original Asian version probably didn’t help. Well, I'm glad I rewatched this movie after all these years though. Indeed, I have to admit that it is probably Scorsese’s most accessible movie and the damned thing is just so entertaining. Back then, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon were also at the top of their game and they were both really charismatic but also super convincing. The only thing that still did bother me was the fact that it was just too convoluted that Vera Farmiga's character would get romantically involved with the two characters. Anyway, to conclude, even though I still don't think it is the best movie ever delivered by Martin Scorsese, it have to admit that it is actually a really good movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Scorsese’s work.

Even though there was a pretty good buzz about this flick, it wasn't really successful when it was released but I think it's too bad. Since then, Ryan Reynold has been showing up in some commercial features which all pretty much flopped ('Turbo', 'R.I.P.D.', 'The Change-Up', 'Green Lantern') so I wonder how his career will further go. Anyway, this movie is probably his best I have seen so far. Indeed, the premise was really intriguing and it was really surprising how minimalistic the whole thing was. Indeed, for 90 minutes, you just have Ryan Reynolds stuck in a coffin and there is no flashback, no images of the outside world but it was terribly efficient. This way, you are really able to share the claustrophobia and I can't imagine how terrible it must have been for Reynolds (apparently, they shot the whole thing in just 14 days but still). Eventually, the whole concept was quite bold but, unfortunately, rather limiting. I mean, what can you do with a guy in a coffin for 90 minutes? Therefore, they threw in a whole bunch of stuff in this box to occupy the running time and, even though it was efficient, it didn't always add up. Still, the tension was pretty high towards the end and the ending was pretty crushing. To conclude, even though it wasn't really amazing, it remains a very interesting thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I had been a while since I saw this flick so I thought it was time for a re-watch this time with my daughter. If I recall correctly, I saw this one in the theaters when it was released with my wife and step-kids but I’m not completely sure. Anyway, since ‘Ice Age’ was a surprise success, commercially and critically, it was not really surprising that they came up with a sequel. Eventually, this 2nd installment was not bad, providing the same nice looking animation but the plot was this time definitely weaker. I mean, it was a nice touch to add a new mammoth but the opossums were not really interesting and then whole thing about the mammoth who thinks she is an opossum was just terribly underwhelming. Eventually, it is above all Scrat, the awesome saber-toothed squirrel, who basically saved the day. Indeed, Scrat fortunately came very often with some unrelated scenes to the plot and all those scenes were constantly hilarious. Basically, this little fellow managed to make this movie rather enjoyable but without him, the whole thing would have been honestly pretty tedious. To conclude, even though it was rather disappointing, it remains a decent animated flick and it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I always had a weak spot for Costa-Gavras and it has been many years since I wanted to watch his magnum opus. And boy, I wasn't disappointed! Indeed, it is simply an amazing political thriller, easily one of the best I have ever seen (I still think that 'La battaglia di Algeri' is better though). To be honest, it is rather slow paced but the directing was nothing short of amazing. Personally, I always dread it when US thrillers tend to loose focus and throw some random and tedious action scenes but it never happened here. Costa-Gavras keeps instead a realistic approach, almost clinical, and the thing was so sharp, there was not even room for any sub-plots or romantic angles. The only thing which could resemble a romantic angle was the wife mourning her dead husband but even this was quite realistic. Still, the whole process remained fascinating, it played like a spellbinding thriller and it was quite chilling to discover that basically the very same events actually took place in Greece just a few years before this movie was released. Eventually, towards the end, when you think that, surprisingly, everything will end well, that justice will prevail, there is this shattering epilogue making the whole message even more resounding. Not only it is an entertaining feature but it is actually one of very few movies which are important historically and you ought to yourself to check it out. To conclude, I thought it was just brilliant and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I really didn’t like ’Space Jam’ much but, I have to admit, it was actually pretty successful so, unsurprisingly, 7 years later they came up with another movie mixing living action and those awesome Looney Tuned and guess what? It was even worse! The main issue with ‘Space Jam’ is that it shamelessly combined the most popular sport man at that time, Michael Jordan, with the Looney Tunes when those had nothing to do with each other. So, this mix was kind of stupid but, at least, it was a good marketing stunt and the movie made some bucks. This time, they followed more the true spirit of the Looney Tunes (apparently, Joe Dante really hated ‘Space Jam’) but, somehow, the end-result was even more underwhelming. I don’t know, maybe it is because Brendan Fraser and Jenna Elfman didn’t have enough star power or maybe it is because the story was just plain tedious. Anyway, the extreme failure of this film discouraged Warner Bros. from making any other installment and they even cancelled the release of the newer Looney Tunes shorts that Warner Bros. Animation completed, and canceled those in production. For Joe Dante, this failure was a huge blow and we don’t hear much from him nowadays. To conclude, I really didn’t like this movie at all and I don’t think it is really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

Nowadays, Antoine Fuqua has built up a decent career, above all as an action movie director, and this movie was his directing debut. The other intriguing element is that this movie was also Chow Yun-Fat’s debut in America. Pretty much like his colleagues like Jackie Chan or Jet Li, Chow Yun-Fat tried his luck in the US and since then has built up a pretty decent career but, to be honest, pretty much like Li or Chan, I don’t really care much about his US productions and this movie was not an exception. I mean, it looked ok and Yun-Fat was pretty bad-ass as usual but I seriously had a hard time to care about the whole thing. I don’t know, apparently, the studio was not really happy with the version delivered by Fuqua so all the romantic elements between Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino were removed, along with most of the characters' motivations (in this case, there was therefore not much left to tell…). Concerning Mira Sorvino, she looked as charming as usual but she didn’t have much to do in this flick and I really wonder how the whole thing would have turned out if they had kept the romantic angle. Anyway, to conclude, even though I have seen much worse, it remains a rather weak action flick and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.