Reviews by johanlefourbe

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.

It had been many years since I saw a movie directed by Pedro Almodovar but within a few minutes, I was completely sucked in his world. Indeed, during the first scene, you have the main character, a blind screen-writer, who manages to have sex with a total stranger who happens to be an insanely good looking blond woman. This and the voice-over set you right away in the right mood for the rest of the movie. To be honest, I have seen a whole bunch of Almodovar's features and, even though I respect his work, I have never been a huge fan. I mean, his movies are always intriguing but they never really blow me away (there are a few exceptions though like 'Hable con ella' which I found really amazing). For example, with this flick, as usual, he mixed different genres such as comedy, drama and even some Hitchcokian thriller but I was sometimes confused between the various timelines, storylines and intrigues. I even thought that the main character was faking his blindness all along but, apparently, that was not the case at all. There were also some massive ellipses which made me wondered what happened in the mean time. Still, this guy has a unique directing style and I had a good time watching this. To conclude, I thought it was pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Almodovar's work.

Honestly, I was rather disappointed. I mean, the premise was just pure gold. Indeed, two geegs portrayed by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost bump into an alien (voiced by Seth Rogen) who is just a rude SOB who likes to smoke and drink beers. If you read it like this, it all sounded great on paper but, unfortunately, the whole thing was ok but not much more than that I'm afraid. First of all, I didn't care at all about Paul's superpowers. I mean, it was the whole point of this flick : to have an extra-terrestrial being who is neither a psychotich killing machine or a nice and cutty creature who wants to help human-kind but just an average slacker who just wants to have fun and chill around. The second thing that bothered me was that there were too many boring supporting characters. I know, it is the whole point with a road trip, they meet some colorful people and hilarity should follow. Well, it wasn't always the case here. Still, Pegg, Frost and Rogen were all pretty good here so I was still entertained throughout the whole thing but it couldn't have been much better in my opinion. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it remains a decent comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Oh dear... I really wanted to like this flick... And, indeed, most of it was pretty good but, still, so far, it remains the most disappointing movie I have seen in 2013. I mean, I really liked how it started. Indeed, Blomkamp kept the same visceral visual style he used for 'District 9' and it simply looked pretty terrific. Then, I also enjoyed how they mixed all these languages and different accents, that was a nice touch which was unfortunately undone by the fact that most of the action was taking place only in Los Angeles. The actors were all pretty good, even though Alice Braga basically played the same characters she always plays in all US productions and Jodie Foster seemed to have some fun with her villainous character but she was surprisingly thrown away in the middle of the 3rd act. Eventually once again, Shartlo Copley was the one really stealing the show and I really wonder how his career will further develop. So, what went wrong then? In my opinion, the story was not really strong. I mean, this whole concept has already done before and there was this déjà vu with too many elements coming from 'District 9'. Also, some details just didn't add up. Take the exo-skeleton for example. It was supposed to be bad-ass, to explain that, even though the guy is dying, he still has some super powers to complete his mission. Honestly, it didn't add much to the story and looked pretty ridiculous. Personally, I would have simply replace it by a chip to the back of his head and some super lethal drug giving Damon the same powers. Finally, the whole focus on those med-pods was terribly limiting. Indeed, it is as if the people on Earth only cared for those when there are many other reasons than better medical care explaining why so many people risk their life to illegally cross borders. So, the whole thing did look really good, they created an interesting futuristic world and it was rather entertaining but the story was just too weak for my taste. To conclude, I still think it remains a decent SF feature and it is worth a look but don't expect anything really amazing.

Even though Mel Gibson has nowadays a rather lousy reputation, I always had a weak spot for the guy and that's why I wanted to check this one out. Honestly, even though this movie has some decent ratings here on Listal and on Imdb, I didn't care much for it. I mean, the Vietnam war has always been an incredible source of inspiration for the American directors and many classics about this conflict have been made such as 'Platoon' and 'Full Metal Jacket' but, personally, I don't really see the need to make another war movie in Vietnam because, frankly, I had my share. I'm not saying that they shouldn't make a movie about the Vietnam war, no, I'm saying that if they decide to make a feature about this subject, they should make sure that it is not something we have seen already 100 times before. That's basically the main issue here. I mean, it was well made, there was a decent cast (Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott, Chris Klein, Keri Russell, Barry Pepper) but nothing happened here really noteworthy and I thought it was simply really underwhelming. To conclude, even though it is not awfull at all, I didn't like it much and I don't think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are die-hard fan of the genre.

Basically, it is once again one of those really obscure French movies which almost no one has seen here on Listal. There was a time when I used to have this channel called TV5 which would broadcast only French speaking programs and movies. Their movie program was composed of 50% classics and 50% really obscure flicks and this movie definitely belonged to the 2nd category. Indeed, it is pretty obscure and, apparently if you consider the IMDB rating, it didn’t get much love but I thought it was pretty good. The first appealing aspect of this movie was its interesting cast (Kristin Scott Thomas, Daniel Auteuil, Ludivine Sagnier, Jean Yanne, Emmanuelle Devos). First of all, I always find it really nice to see Kristin Scott Thomas in a French movie. Indeed, this British lady who has appeared in many US productions, actually lives in France, speaks French flawlessly and has recently made a few really successful French features. Here, her sparring partner was Daniel Auteuil, one of the best French actors, so it was really neat to see them working together. To be honest, the story was nothing really mind-blowing, basically a typical convoluted French romantic feature, but I thought it was entertaining enough. To conclude, I thought it was not bad at all and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

If I recall it correctly, I ended up watching this flick because one of my colleagues had the DVD. Personally, like the most of us, I have a huge weak spot for Samuel L. Jackson. Indeed, the man is some kind of workaholic, making sometimes 5 movies a year, and you’ll never know what you’ll get with him, a blockbuster like ‘The Avengers’ or something more obscure like this movie for example. Honestly, I really had a hard time to judge this flick. Indeed, the whole thing is kind of schizophrenic a little bit. Indeed, it takes place in Liverpool, his main actors are American and Scottish (Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlyle) and the director is from Hong Kong (Ronny Yu). As a result, you end up with a rather fun movie with some serious identity issues. The plot was rather pedestrian and pretty predictable and, like I said before, the whole thing was pretty uneven, especially concerning the tone. Still, it was not bad and Rhys Ifans gave one of his typical whack performances so I wasn’t bored but it is highly forgettable. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, I thought it was a decent flick and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I'm not sure if Patrice Leconte is really famous abroad but he is highly respected in France where he has been making movies for almost 4 decades. One of the most interesting things about this director is his versatility. Indeed, he has made movies in my many different genres and, this time, he hsa made a sober drama with French superstar Johnny Hallyday. You might have never about the guy but Hallyday is pretty huge in France being the most famous French rocker for already 50 years. To be honest, to cast Hallyday was quite a stunt and he delivered a solid performance but, somehow, it was quite distracting and I still wonder if he was really the best choice. Still, he was pretty good and, as sparring partner, the great Jean Rochefort was, as usual, really good as well. Concerning the story, it was not bad and I enjoyed the sober directing provided by Patrice Leconte but, to be honest, it was nothing really mind-blowing and fairly predictable but it was intriguing enough. To conclude, I thought it was a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.