Reviews by johanlefourbe

I had seriously no idea what this movie was about but since there was a nice cast, I thought I should give it a shot. To be honest, even though I'm French, I never cared about wine and barely drank it through my life but it was definitely a great story. Too bad the movie itself was not that great. The main issue was that there were just too many characters and too many sub-plots. For example, there was a completely unnecessary love-triangle involving Chris Pine, Freddy Rodriguez and Rachael Taylor. Not only was it really underwhelming but what the hell was that all about? She first sleeps with Rodriguez but then move on with Pine without a shred of explanation. And there was a whole bunch of other things for which I didn't care much either. Still, there was a very nice cast indeed, especially Alan Rickman who was just awesome. Man, I'm glad for him that he reached a wider audience thanks to the Harry Potter franchise but it was just awesome to see him doing something else for once and I can't wait to see him in some other features not involving some wizard teenagers. Coming back to our main subject, it remains a very nice story with some interesting characters and, with a better script, it could have been great. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I enjoyed most of this movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in wine.

After hearing all the awful stuff about Miley Cyrus, I thought I might as well check out one of her movies. Well, it was not really good, I'm afraid. Since she is very young, I will give her the benefit of the doubt but she is definitely not a natural talent. On the other hand, who could blame her with such an uninspiring story? I mean, since it was written by Nicholas Sparks and produced by Disney, I shouldn't have expected anything really edgy. Still, I thought it was pretty neat to see Liam Hemsworth, Chris' little brother, and the guy definitely had some charisma and some decent acting skills. I wonder if they will make one day a bad-ass action flick starring those two brothers... That would be awesome! It is also always a pleasure to see Greg Kinnear who remains a very nice actor and he did what he could with this material. Obviously, I wasn't the target audience so it is not really surprising that I didn't care at all for the whole thing but I guess it must be a decent watch for Miley's fans. To conclude, even though it was nothing really terrible, it was still pretty damned average and I don't think it is really worth a look.

Actually, I would really like to re-watch this movie at some point. Indeed, if I recall it correctly, I saw it 20 years ago when it was released in the theater but never re-watched it ever since. Personally, I have always been fascinated by movies dealing with mental illness (not surprisingly 'The Silver Linings Playbood' ended up being my favorite movie in 2012) and it is very rare to find a Hollywood feature which actually deals properly with the subject. I mean, even a massive classic like 'One Flew Over the Cuckoos's Nest' was crammed with some stereotypes so those movies are usually rather disappointing and this one is a perfect example. To be fair, it is not actually that bad at all. Indeed, Richard Gere, an actor who can be sometimes pretty awful but sometimes also pretty intriguing, was very well cast here and I really liked how intense his performance was. It would have been great if they just focused on him and his disease but, unfortunately, they felt compelled to add a completely underwhelming romantic sub-plot. I mean, I have nothing against Lena Olin, she was really charming and all, but this movie shouldn't have been a love story, it should have been about this man fighting against his demons. Still, if only for Gere's performance, it actually remains a decent feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by this subject.

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since there were a couple of interesting actors involved, I thought I should give it a try. Eventually, while writing this review, I still have a hard time to make up my mind about this movie. First of all, I thought the beginning was pretty messy. I mean, during the first 20 minutes, I really had a hard time figuring out who was who and what the f*ck was going on. Furthermore, the whole thing was just way too long for its own good. I mean, they could have cut maybe 30 minutes and I could spot 3 different moments when the story should have stopped instead of moving on. Finally, the whole thing looked terribly cheap and even though it is now 10 years old, it actually seemed to be 20 years old to me but that was also its charm. Still, there was some good stuff as well. I mean, I really loved the cast ( Guy Pearce, Rachel Griffiths, Joel Edgerton) and they all delivered some pretty good performances. Furthermore, I thought that those 3 brothers were really awesome, I liked the fact that they were all competent, without the usual loser, and they were just really charismatic and often really funny. They just deserved a better script I guess. Anyway, to conclude, even though the whole thing was rather half-baked, I still enjoyed most of it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

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.