Reviews by johanlefourbe

It has been a while when I watched this flick but I really liked it back then when I was a teenager (by the way, in France, the title was 'Rasta Rocket' which was for once, a pretty decent title). To be honest, I had never heard of the Jamaican bobsled team but I really had a lot of fun watching this. Indeed, I thought it was a very entertaining flick and I always had fond memories of it. Of course, it remains a rather straightforward sport comedy with some really underwhelming and unnecessary villains (as a matter of fact, those Jamaican fellows were met with open arms by the international Bobsledding teams). It could have been pretty awesome to see a movie where nobody has any bad intention and only want to help out the underdog but the makers weren't that ambitious. There is also a good chance that, now I'm a grown-up, I would be bothered by all the stereotypes about Jamaican people but, back then, it didn't bother me and, if I recall correctly, it was rather harmless. It was one of the last movies starring John Candy who was not bad but I think he was upstaged by the guys playing the Jamaican team, those guys were just quite hilarious. To conclude, even though it is nothing amazing, I still think it is a decent comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but since I'm a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock, I thought I should give it a try. It is the oldest movie made by Hitchcock I have seen so far but it wasn't really good, I'm afraid. To be honest, I didn't really follow the whole thing (I saw it without subtitles) but, even so, the story was not really interesting and I didn't care much about the characters involved. Indeed, none of them was really likeable or intriguing enough. Still, even though we were far from Hitchcock's best work, there were some pretty nice scenes, especially the auctioning scene worked pretty well. The actors were also pretty good and there were some very nice monologues. Still, this movie has an interesting value. Indeed, whereas a director like Orson Welles started his career right away with 'Citizen Kane', arguably one of the best movies ever made, it took Alfred Hitchcock longer, between 10 and 15 years, to finally get there. Basically, he was making often 2 movies a year back in those days and not all of them were that good but his journey was really interesting. To conclude, even though it is not a really good flick, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Hitchcock's work.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Alan Parker’s work, I thought I should give it a try. Right after becoming successful as a singer, Madonna tried her chance as an actress as well. Unfortunately, most of her movies were flopped and her performances were usually ridiculed. There were however a (very) few exceptions and this movie was definitely one of them. Basically, it is one of those adaptations of a successful musical written by Tim Rice. Some people are huge fans of those but, personally, I don't really care about them but I try to keep an open mind and watch some of them from time to time. To be honest, I think it is rather weird to make a musical about such a real historical figure and, to be honest, I really wonder what was so fascinating about Eva Peron. I mean, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, those were and was some fascinating historical figures. On the other hand, she was pretty glamorous and her life, I have to admit, was an interesting rag-to-riches tale. Furthermore, I really have a hard time to care about those wall-to-wall singing musicals but this one was very well made and I thought that Madonna did indeed a decent job in the lead performance. To conclude, even though I don’t think it is anything really amazing, I still think it is a rather decent musical and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I kept coming across this movie so I became really curious about it. Wow... I wasn't disappointed! Indeed, I tend to be rather critical about action movies but this one was really impressive. Basically, the beginning scenes were some kind of very dark and gloomy version of 'The Shawshank Redemption' and it was pretty amazing, easily one of the best depictions of jail life I have seen. If you expect some Hollywood glitter and glamour, you can just forget about it. So, right from the start, it was pretty spellbinding. Then, those guys eventually ends up in a train and you think it might loose some steam but, again, it was really spellbinding to watch, even if the scene with the helicopter was pretty far-fetched (I don't think that a jail warden would come himself on this mad train). To be honest, I never really cared for Eric Roberts but I was very good in this but Jon Voight is the one who really blew me away. Indeed, what a performance! He totally looked the part, the body language, the speech patterns, it was just completely convincing. I always thought that Voight had something interesting but he gave here easily one of his best performances. To conclude, it was a very impressive action flick, I really loved it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Even though he started to direct movies from the beginning of the 70's, Curtis Hanson had his real breakthrough only in 97 with 'L.A. Confidential'. His following movies were also pretty successful except for the last 2, 'Lucky You' and 'Chasing Mavericks'. As a matter of fact, he dropped from the shooting of 'Chasing Mavericks' in the last weeks for health reasons. Since I wondered what the hell was going on with him, I looked it up and discovered that he actually retired due to Alzheimers (!). That was rather unexpected and pretty sad to hear. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, even though it was not as impressive or ground-breaking as 'L.A. Confidential', it was still a really enjoyable and better than average romantic-comedy. Even though the structure was rather conventional, the characters were very well written and Toni Collette and Cameron Diaz both gave some very strong performances. To conclude, even though it was nothing really mind-blowing, I still really enjoyed this flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Like everyone else, I think that Heath Ledger was a very talented actor but, honestly, not everything he did was completely awesome. For example, this movie gets a lot for credit but, honestly, I don't think it is that great. Indeed, I don't know how many times I came across someone arguing that it is one of the best High-School comedies ever made. Personally, I think it was a decent entry in this genre, sure, but I seriously failed to see what was so great about it. Of course, there was a nice cast ( Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gabrielle Union) and it was definitely entertaining but there was honestly nothing mind-blowing about the whole thing. In my opinion, it is a movie which pretends to be edgy when, in fact, it never really challenges the basic rules in this genre and the characters all remain fairly stereotypical. I mean, there is nothing wrong with that and, like I said, it remains a decent feature but, personally, I always expect something more, something really outstanding to consider a movie as a great one and this flick was never truly remarkable. To conclude, even though I tend to think it is a little bit overrated, it remains a decent High-School comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie but since it was one of the few movies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger which I haven't seen yet so I thought I should give it a try. Basically, this movie represented the beginning of the end for Kirk Douglas (who was already more than 60 years old at the time) and the beginning of the beginning for Schwarzenegger. Basically, it is a Western spoof but even though I enjoyed the fact that it didn't sink too low, it was still not really funny, I'm afraid. It is the like the running joke with Douglas' horse. At first, it was pretty funny but it got old pretty quickly. At some point, I thought the whole thing really looked like the Road Runner cartoon and, indeed, this movie was indeed some kind of live-action version of the famous 'Looney Tunes' cartoon which is, you have to admit it, a rather odd idea. Back in those days, Schwarzenegger with his thick accent, was far from being a great actor (his acting skills are still very limited) but a few years later, he would finally breakthrough with 'Conan the Barbarian', a movie focusing on his impressive muscular stature with a rather silent character, a perfect combination for the Austrian Oak. Sadly, it is the only Western starring Kirk Douglas that I have seen so far and I really need to watch another one soon since he is considered one of the greatest icons in this genre. To conclude, even though the whole thing was rather harmless, it was still a pretty weak Western comedy and it is not really worth a look.

After getting some major acclaim as a writer with ‘Taxi Driver’, Paul Schrader decided to become a film director as well but even though he has made some interesting flicks, none of them became truly memorable, except maybe for ‘American Gigolo’ but I don’t think it was that amazing. This movie is a perfect example of Schrader’s work as it is pretty obscure nowadays, rather intriguing but ultimately rather underwhelming. It also features two actors who were really promising back in those days, Nastassja Kinski and Malcolm McDowell. Unfortunately, their career was eventually rather disappointing but I still have a weak spot for them. Anyway, back to our main feature, it is a really loose remake of the movie of the same title made in 1942, exactly 40 years before. To make a movie about people transforming in cats is definitely tricky since the whole thing can become campy pretty quickly. Personally, I did enjoy the mood and Nastassja Kinski and Malcolm McDowell were both really charismatic but the plot was unfortunately rather weak and, of course, really preposterous. To conclude, even though the whole thing was rather flawed, I thought it was still a decent erotic thriller and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie but since there was a pretty nice cast, I thought I should give it a try. Unfortunately, it wasn't really good, I'm afraid. Not so long ago, I bumped into this list on the internet about the directors who should retire instead of further damaging their career. After watching this movie, it became pretty obvious to me that James L. Brooks would definitely represent a valid candidate for this list. I mean, the guy is not really productive, he made only 6 movies over 30 years, but when the end-result is so underwhelming, you really wonder if he should even bother. The sad thing is that there was indeed a nice cast (Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, Jack Nicholson) and they did what they could with the material but the whole thing was just poorly written. Basically, there is a love triangle at the center but the characters were also involved in sports and corporate business but all those elements were really poorly developed. You even wonder why Jack Nicholson showed up at all (in his last part, hopefully, he won't end his career like this) for a character who was completely underwritten. To be honest, the whole thing did have some potential but it wasn't meant to be, I guess. To conclude, even though it wasn't awful, it was still a pretty weak romantic-comedy and I don't think it is really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Neil Jordan’s work, I thought I should give it a try. I’m pretty sure it is one of his more obscure movies, especially among his Hollywood features and it wasn’t really good, I’m afraid. I mean, it was watchable and, as usual, Jordan managed to create an intriguing mood and atmosphere but, at some point, the plot just became way too preposterous to hold my interest. It is something quite common with thrillers, at least the ones with some potential : the set-up is pretty intriguing but, at some point, the makers believe that they have to provide a closure and that’s when usually the whole thing falls flat. Indeed, since they built up something rather incredible, they come up with some inane twist that wrap up the whole thing within 10 minutes which is something I always find terribly underwhelming. This movie is definitely one of those. Still, Annette Bening gave, as usual, a very solid performance and it was rather interesting to see Robert Downey Jr. who was still very much struggling with his substance issue back in those days (as a matter of fact, it was the last movie he completed before going to jail for a year on drug charges). To conclude, even though the whole thing was rather disappointing, I still think it remains an intriguing thriller and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.