Reviews by johanlefourbe

Ever since I watched 'Silver Linings Playbook', I have become a fan of Bradley Cooper so I was really eager to watch something else starring this guy. Even though his choices are sometimes rather dubious, his work is really diverse and he should be praised for that ('Silver Linings Playbook', 'Limitless', 'The A-Team', 'The Hangover', 'Valentine's Day' and this movie as well). Anyway, Cooper was definitely one of the strong aspects in this movie. I also liked the visual style (some scenes looked just downright impressive) even though there was a little bit of CGI overkill which made the whole thing looking fake at some moments. Only recently, I finally saw 'Hellraiser' and you can easily recognize Clive Barker's narrative style which is basically a horror story involving a parallel universe. To be honest, even though the story was intriguing, it never really grabbed me though (I even had my doubts concerning 'Hellraiser' which is supposed to be a major classic). Furthermore, I thought that Vinnie Jones was rather miscast. Indeed, one of his trademarks are his hilarious one-liners so, to give him a speechless character was just a waste and I think another actor would have been more appropriate. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing amazing, it  was still a decent horror flick and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Angelina Jolie is easily the biggest female movie star right now. Even though my wife can’t stand her, I think she is quite intriguing. Indeed, even though some of her choices are rather dubious, her work is actually pretty diverse. For example, this movie is the only romantic-comedy she has made so far, but she has made some thrillers, action flicks, biopics, dramas, animation, video-game adaptations, …. Unfortunately, this rom-com turned out o be rather lame and I wish she made another one but a good one this time. I mean, she and Edward Burns were incredibly charming but they were basically lost in one of the most underwhelming romantic plots I have ever seen. It is like Jolie’s haircut. I mean, it was a bold choice and it is good that she tried something new but it looked pretty terrible. Eventually, it was a flop at the box-office and Angelina Jolie was even nominated for the Raspberry Awards (a little bit harsh in my opinion, the movie itself was lame but she did what she could with the material) but it didn’t stop her star to rise even higher. 3 years later, she would be cast in ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ (she wasn’t even the first choice and she actually replaced Nicole Kidman), she met a guy called Brad Pitt and the rest is now history. To conclude, even though it was not really awful, I didn’t like this rom-com and I don’t think it is really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

By now, I can tell you, I'm not a fan of Jackie Chan. I mean, I have tried to watch his movies but I find them usually terribly underwhelming. On the other hand, I watched almost all his US productions and almost none of his Hong Kong work so maybe I just missed the good stuff. Anyway, this movie is probably the worst Jackie Chan feature I have seen so far. I mean, there were a couple of nice stunts, I'll give you that, but the fight scenes were not really entertaining. Above all, the humor (the most difficult aspect to swallow in Chan's work) was just abysmal. Especially everything involving Watson, his British sidekick, who was supposed to be some kind of Mr Bean figure was really cringe-inducing. Finally, even worse than the humor, the romance involving Jackie Chan and Claire Forlani was probably one of the worst romantic angles I have ever seen. I mean, there was no chemistry at all between them and Chan might be a great stunt man but his acting skills are way too limited for this. I know, you might argue that I shouldn't take such a movie so seriously but it doesn't change the fact that I was bored to death during the whole thing. To conclude, I thought it was pretty bad and I don't think it is worth a look, even if you like the genre.

It is one movie I was really eager to watch for a very long time. Indeed, even though he is pretty much overlooked as a director nowadays, I always had a weak spot for John Dhal’s work (even though I didn’t care much for ‘The Last Seduction’ but I definitely have to re-watch it at some point). Unfortunately, it was not really good and I thought it was actually really disappointing. Indeed, the whole thing was basically some rehash of other better thrillers such as ‘Duel’ (its biggest influence) or ‘The Hitcher’. Of course, with Paul Walker and Steve Zahn in the cast, I should have known better and lower my expectations. Considering Leelee Sobiesky, she was one of the most promising actress at the end of the 90’s but this movie is a perfect example of the direction her career was taking and, nowadays, she is involved in some even more forgettable features. To be honest, it wasn’t really an awful movie, the whole thing was actually well made with a decent mood, but I was expecting more and it was just way too bland for my taste so it was definitely a let down. To conclude, I thought the whole thing was really disappointing and I don’t think it is really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

I saw it again recently (I actually even bought the DVD when vacationing in France) and I thought it was actually better than I expected. In fact, I'm not even sure if I have seen it in the theater when it was released. Anyway, even though it was a success at the box-office, it tends to be overlooked which is actually not really surprising. Indeed, this movie was the beginning of the end of the Disney Golden Age and it followed up such massive success like 'The Lion King', 'Aladdin', 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'The Little Mermaid'. Of course, compared to those, it wasn't so successful but, as a stand-alone, I believe it is actually pretty good. First of all, the animation was, as usual, really stunning and I think it is a really gorgeous animated feature. The soundtrack was also really nice but I think they should have dropped the songs but I'll come back to this later on. Finally, Pocahontas, the character, is one of the best female characters created by Disney, at least, that's my opinion. Indeed, she looked stunning, there was something rather mesmerizing about her and, for once, she really looked like a woman and not some little girl like Ariel for example. Finally, I really enjoyed the sad and melancholic tone, which was fitting since it was dealing with some doomed love story pretty much like 'Romeo and Juliet'. Unfortunately, the whole thing was still rather flawed though. In my opinion, the main issue was that the guys at Disney tried, for once, to make a grown-up tale, hence Pocahontas's look, and I think it was an awesome idea, to make something a little bit deeper, a little bit darker, than their usual kiddy stuff but, unfortunately, they chickened out. Indeed, they threw in some supposedly funny animal sidekicks (one of their awful trademarks) and a few unwelcome songs so the tone was really uneven. As a result, the whole thing was too dark and serious for the kids and still too frivolous for the adults so it never really found its audience. After this flick, it pretty much all went downhill for Disney and it took them some time to finally get their sh*t back together. Still, to conclude, in my opinion, I believe this flick is actually quite underrated 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 there was a nice cast, I thought I should check it out. Basically, it is a mix of neo-noir and hyperlink (you know, when you have multiple characters with separate story-lines which usually come together at the end). To be honest, I'm getting a little bit tired of those movies with a rather short running time (this one was just about 90 minutes) with way too many characters and sub-plots. I mean, I have seen many of those lately and those are just frustrating and they are starting to seriously get on my nerves. In this case, most of the characters were actually interesting but you barely spend enough time with any of them to get really acquainted or even care about them. Still, there was indeed a massive cast (Danny Aiello, Jeff Daniels, Teri Hatcher, Paul Mazursky, James Spader, Eric Stoltz, Charlize Theron, Keith Carradine, Louise Fletcher). It was above all really nice to see Charlize Theron in her acting debut. Indeed, not only she looked really stunning (she still does almost 20 years later) but she gave a decent performance, even though her character was rather underwritten just like all the characters in this convoluted story. To conclude, even though the whole thing didn't really work, there was some interesting stuff in here and I still think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since I’m a huge fan of Al Pacino, I still wanted to check it out. Basically, it is one of his most obscure movies and it was barely seen when it was released. In my opinion, the main attraction was to see Al Pacino playing a totally different character than his usual tough guys. Indeed, his character is this time some kind of has-been, a loser. Pacino was really convincing and quite spellbinding showing some impressive acting range and the depth of his skills. Unfortunately, the movie was not really great whatsoever. I mean, it was definitely intriguing but not much more than that. Both Kim Basinger and Téa Leoni both gave some interesting performances but their characters were rather underwritten in my opinion. Basically, it was an interesting movie thanks to Pacino’s impressive performance but that was basically the only interesting thing this movie really had to offer. Still, to conclude, even though the movie itself was rather underwhelming, I still think it is worth a look, especially you are interested in Pacino’s work.

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since there was a pretty good cast, I thought I should give it a try. Personally, I really have a weak spot Aaron Eckhart and even though he makes some dubious choices sometimes, I think he is really talented and easily one of the most underrated actors at work nowadays. In this movie, Eckhart was again quite amazing. I mean, not only was he quite hilarious but he managed to built up a convincing character with the whole package (beer bully, greasy hair but also speech patterns and some impressive body language). Basically, the guy was just a looser, the complete opposite of Harvey Dent and that’s what acting should be about, about someone disappearing behind a character. Such a shame that, at the end, they just dropped the whole thing and made Eckhart becoming the usual hunk destroying all his good work, that was definitely disappointing . Unfortunately, the rest of the movie was not really good. In my opinion, the main issue is that there were too many characters and too my sub-plots to deal within a rather short running time (about 85 mins). For example, Logan Lorman’s character was also pretty cool but his part was seriously underwritten (why does he want to hang out with Aaron Eckhart? where are his parents? what’s the deal with this guy?!?). But you could say the same thing about his gay brother or Jessica Alba’s part which were even more underwritten. As a result, many characters (his wife, the news anchor guy sleeping with his wife, his in-laws,…) were rather annoying which could have been improved if they had been a little bit more developed. Still, Eckhart was really impressive, often very funny and some scenes worked very well. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it remains a decent comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but, since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. Well, I have to admit that I didn't remember it at all and, to be honest, I'm pretty sure I will forget most about it within a few days. First of all, I was rather surprised that, even though it is considered a musical, there were actually very little songs included but I guess it was a good thing since I'm not a huge fan of the genre (it did include though 'Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend', easily one of Marilyn Monroe’s most famous songs). Concerning Monroe, I think I finally figured out what is my grip with her. First of all, I have to admit it, she was really gorgeous at the time, no doubt about it, and she had indeed tons of charisma. However, in too many movies like this one, she was stuck playing such seemingly empty-headed blondes and I wish she got to play something else at some point. I mean, it was obvious that Jane Russel was actually playing the main character and, above all, her character was more complex and was not only characterized by the way she was chasing men because they were rich. Above all, just like 'How to Marry a Millionaire' which I saw not so long ago, the damned thing was just way too shallow for my taste. Sure, you might argue that it was the whole point but, at the end of the day, it did feel more silly than really entertaining to me. Anyway, to conclude, even though I didn't really care for the damned thing, I have to admit that it was a decent musical comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Even though I have seen this movie years ago, somehow, I still can remember it as if it was yesterday. Indeed, I was invited at a (girl)-friend's house and she had rented two movies, 'Lost Highway' and this flick. She was a huge fan of 'Lost...' whereas I always thought it was a rather underwhelming mind-f*ck so we had those very long conversations about this flick... Anyway, after 'Lost Highway', we ended up watching this movie. I'm pretty sure she didn't know if it was any good beforehand and just picked it up because Klaus Kinski was in it. Kinski remains one of the most intriguing actors the world, even though I have barely seen any movies starring the guy (only 5) and most of his work was actually garbage. Anyway, this movie was one of the last he made and it wasn't really good, I'm afraid. I mean, Kinski was, as usual, pretty creepy and his charisma remains indisputable but everything else in this movie was just terribly weak. The plot, the directing, the other actors,... everything was just terribly underwhelming and without Klaus Kinski, it would have probably ended up as one of the worst movies I have seen. To conclude, I think I'm being rather generous here, it is a very weak thriller and I don't think it is really worth a look, even if you are a fan of Klaus Kinski.