Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Ray Liotta, I thought I should check it out. Eventually, it wasn't really good, I'm afraid. Basically, it is a really obscure comedy and, for once, Liotta was not playing one of his usual psychos but an insecure and sensible family man for once. Somehow, it reminded me of ‘American Beauty’ but it was then a very weak version. Indeed, the tone was never dramatic enough or funny enough to make it entertaining. At the beginning, we are introduced to 2 characters which are very awkwardly linked after the first 20 minutes. Eventually, I was above all amazed about how underwhelming some scenes were played out (one example that pops to my mind is when the main character drops a CD at his own work…). To be honest, I think the whole thing had some potential if they had made it way darker or way funnier but the way they handle it was just so , well, boring. Somehow, I still think Ray Liotta did a decent job but the rest of the cast was terribly uninspiring. To conclude, I think I’m being pretty generous with my rating here, it is a really weak comedy and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Before it was released, there was a pretty good buzz but it wasn’t really successful after all. Basically, following the success of 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'Harry Potter', they adapted as many fantasy books as possible and most of those pretty much crashed and burned at the box-office and this flick was one of them. Honestly, I thought it was actually fairly entertaining with a very good performance by Jim Carrey. Eventually, I saw it again and, this time, I was able to spot what went wrong, at least, according to me. Above all, they messed up the tone. Indeed, with this material, it should have been a really dark and gloomy tale but, in order to reach a wider audience, they toned down the whole thing. So, it was never really dark and never really funny either. Furthermore, it looked pretty impressive but also really fake (apparently, the whole thing was shoot on soundstages with green screens) and, as a result, you never feel that there was anything at stake. Apparently, they were supposed to make more movies (there are 13 books so that should have been enough material) but it seems that they eventually dropped the whole thing so we won't see Count Olaf and the Baudelaire siblings for anytime soon. To conclude, even though my rating might be generous, I still think it was a decent flick and I think it is worth a look.

Since I have always had a weak spot for Jodie Foster, I was quite eager to check this flick. To be honest, even though I’ve seen virtually everything she did in the 90’s and the 00’s, I have to admit, I’m pretty oblivious about what she did as a child or young adult. On the other hand, Foster herself admitted that her career was on the low curve at that time, a low curse which ended with ‘The Accused’ for which she won her first Academy award. Anyway, how was the damned thing? Basically, it is another adaptation of a rather weird book written by John Irving, the guy also responsible for ‘The World according to Garp’. To be honest, I’m not sure if the book is weird since I haven’t read it but this movie was definitely weird, in a rather creepy way. I mean, I didn’t care much for ‘Garp’ but even though it was already rather peculiar, I could see the point of the whole thing. Not this time though. I mean, even though the actors were trying really hard to sell this, I thought this flick was seriously unpleasant to watch. Indeed, it is basically a quirky comedy which very awkwardly handles subjects such as rape or incest basically as jokes. I mean, I don’t think I’m easily shocked but even though it was supposed to be fun, it wasn’t and, like I said before, rather unpleasant. To conclude, even though it is not really awful, it is pretty much one really misguided comedy and it is not really worth a look.

Even though it is a really obscure flick, since I have a weak spot for Mel Gibson, I thought I should check it out. Eventually, I must admit, even though it was quite intriguing, it was not really satisfying. Mel Gibson made this movie just after 'Mad Max', even before it was released, as the director heard that Gibson was so good as Max Rockatansky, he decided to chose him for his movie. Between this and 'Mad Max', it was a huge stretch and I always believed that Gibson was actually rather talented, especially considering his status of action movie star. I mean, with Bruce Willis, he is one of the few action stars with some range. For example, among their colleagues, Sylvester Stallone never managed to be taken seriously as a dramatic actor and Arnold Schwarzenegger only had a mild success in comedies. Anyway, he was pretty good in this but the directing was pretty weak, especially the cheesy over-sentimental music was quite annoying. Furthermore, I really hard a hard time to make out where the whole thing was going. Was it drama? a romance? Eventually, in the last 20 minutes, it became quite clear but, even though it was a nice touch that they took their time to develop the relationship, it was not completely convincing. I also liked the fact all the characters were really nice and decent and it's too bad they felt compelled to add a phony conflict with the sister. To conclude, even though it was rather flawed, it remains an interesting drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see something completely different starring Mel Gibson.

I already saw this movie, in fact, I even saw it in the movie theater when it was released but since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. For many viewers, this is David Lynch's best movie, his ultimate masterpiece, his magnum opus. Well, I'm glad I gave it another shot because, except for a few key scenes, I was surprised that I didn't remember much about it and I think I was more able to enjoy it this time around. Indeed, the directing was really awesome, it was Lynch's final movie before switching to digital and the acting was just so good as well with a breakthrough performance by Naomi Watts (Laura Harring did a great job as well though). Beside the mesmerizing mood, the thing I enjoyed the most was that Watts and Harring made for one of the most sensuous and intriguing couples I have ever seen. I still think that the whole set-up feels like some pervert wet dream but I can't deny that they were fascinating to behold as they had such a great chemistry together. Eventually, the first time around, just like with 'Lost Highway', I was really frustrated by the huge twist happening towards the end. Basically, they followed the same standard structure, a structure that you can spot in many other Lynch features such as 'Lost Highway' or 'Blue Velvet'. This pattern basically consits in building up a fascinating thriller during the 1st half and in the 2nd half, the plot is basically thrown away and what's left is a succession of some rather random and weird scenes. Well, I'm still not huge a fan of this approach, especially because David Lynch pulled this trick too many times in my opinion, but, after all these years, at least, I didn't bother me much with this movie. Eventually, I really wonder how this TV show would have turned out to be. Anyway, to conclude, I guess it is eventually a matter of taste, but there is no doubt that this movie is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in David Lynch's work.

Even though it is a rather obscure flick, since it sounded really intriguing, I was really eager to check it out. To start with, Ed Harris is one those criminally underrated actors, it was just great to see him playing the lead for once and he was just great, easily providing one of his best performances. Not only was he the lead, but he was also the director and it was, as a matter of fact, his directing debut. Indeed, apparently, it was a dream project for Harris who spent about 10 years to complete it. Next to him, Marcia Gay Harden did a fine job as well and she even won an Academy award for her work which was completely deserved. Eventually, I thought it was above all a fascinating story. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for those movies dealing with great artists and when they are well made like this one, it is just spellbinding. Indeed, the amazing genius goes hand by hand with some major craziness and most of those great artists were impossible to live with. So, on one hand, Pollock was pretty despicable but, on the other hand, he was also exceptionally talented and this combination made for a very intense but rewarding watching, at least, in my case. To conclude, I really loved this movie and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Before this movie was released, there was a pretty good buzz about it. Indeed, following his surprise success with 'Zombieland' (a fun but rather overrated flick in my book), Ruben Fleischer was coming with this sophomore directing effort, another comedy starring once again Jesse Eisenberg and the whole thing sounded pretty promising on paper. Eventually, it was a critical and financial flop and after watching the damned thing, I can't say I was really surprised. Indeed, even though the whole thing had indeed some potential, it was rather dumb and actually even pretty lame. I mean, the cast was pretty good (Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, Michael Peña, Fred Ward) but none of the characters was really interesting and most of their actions barely made sense. Basically, it is one hell of a stupid flick and the makers hoped that since it was stupid, it would be funny to watch but it wasn't the case, it was more cringe inducing than anything else. There were some interesting ideas and it was sometimes almost funny and I still believe that the concept was pretty cool but the whole thing was just really poorly written. To conclude, it was definitely a step down for Fleischer, but somehow, I still think it is worth a look though but don't expect anything amazing whatsoever.

To be honest, I didn't expect much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Zoe Saldana, I thought I should give it a try. First of all, the whole thing about the marching bands and drumlines is something typically American so it is rather difficult to understand their appeal when you are not from there. I remember, when I was younger, I used to get every summer to the US and, at one time, one of my buddies was really into this drumming thing, slamming some training square and he showed me some pretty insane videos with those drumming bands. It is pretty out there when you are not into it and the question is, is it actually an interesting or entertaining subject for a movie? I don't think so. I mean, to me, the whole obsessive, military-like behavior didn't make it really appealing. Still, I have to admit it, Nick Cannon was pretty charismatic but, at the end of the day, it just remains a pretty standard sport feature, except that you have a marching band instead of the usual football/basketball/baseball/whatever team and the whole thing was just too damned pedestrian and predictable. Anyway, to conclude, even though it wasn't really awful, it was still pretty weak and I don't think it is really worth a look.

For many years, I have been a huge fan of Johnny Depp but, unfortunately, he has now become one of the most overrated actors at work nowadays. Basically, he keeps showing up in some huge blockbusters which are all rather underwhelming and I terribly miss the time when he was making some smaller features and was considered a box-office poison. Anyway, back in 2004, the situation was not yet so dramatic and this movie was one of the last smaller projects involving Johnny Depp before he became the biggest movie star in the world. Anyway, when this movie was released, it was very well received so I was really eager to check it out. And, indeed, it was really good with one of those great typical excentric characters he used to play in the 90’s. Also, the other intriguing element was to witness the genesis of one of the most enduring tales ever created. Of course, they have romanticized the whole thing (there is no such thing as a 100% accurate movie based on a true story) but it was really compelling to watch. The only complain I would have is that Kate Winslet’s character and even the kids could have been more developed in my opinion. For Marc Forster, it was a very impressive 3rd directing effort and he would continue to make some pretty good flicks (‘The Kite Runner’, ‘Stranger Than Fiction’, ‘Stay’). It is actually really too bad that he still has some trouble to recover from the ‘Quantum of Solace’ debacle (‘World War Z’ should be a turning point for him, either resurrecting his career, or finishing it altogether but I’m not really optimistic, I’m afraid). To conclude, it is a very good biopic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see Johnny Depp is something worthwhile for a change.

I remember it very well, when it was released, my best buddy really wanted to check it out. To this day, I still wonder why he was so interested by this movie but, eventually, I thought it was decent but not much more than that. However, through the years, I noticed that it garnered a decent reputation so I thought I should give it a 2nd chance. However, even this time around, it still didn't impress more than back then, almost 20 years ago. I mean, it definitely had an interesting concept, to take one of the most hated profession in the world and make it truly evil was quite fun. However, I didn't care much about the moral struggle of the main character and, in my opinion, they should have pushed it up a little further in the depravity and immorality. Concerning Keanu Reeves, I always give him some slack because he tries some very different things but his acting was not always really convincing, I'm afraid. Basically, Al Pacino was the main attraction here and he obviously had a lot of fun with this role. Of course, it won't go down as one of his best movies but he was still pretty good in this and his monologue at the end was just really awesome. On the other hand, if you would compare it to his current work, this movie was almost a masterpiece. Another small thing, I was also surprised about the amount of nudity which is something you wouldn't expect from a US mainstream production like this one (not that it really bothered me). Anyway, to conclude, even though I think it is rather overrated, it is still a decent flick and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.