Reviews by johanlefourbe

Some time ago, I watched the first installment and since I enjoyed it, I was definitely eager to check this sequel. The first positive thing with this second installment is that it was in Russian, and not dubbed like the previous entry (I have absolutely no idea why they decided to broadcast this movie in English…). Furthermore, I was this time familiar with this world and the characters involved so it was not as confusing as before. Still, I can’t say it was really much better than ‘Night Watch’. I mean, it was again visually really impressive and there is definitely something really appealing about this Russian underworld but I was still missing something about the story. Especially the characters could have been more developed. It is actually pretty funny that the whole thing was back then advertised as ‘The new Fantasy trilogy not to be missed’ when, in fact, Timur Bekmambetov never got to make the third installment and probably never will. On one hand, it is rather surprising since those two movies were among the biggest successes at the Russian box-office. On the other hand, because they were so successful, Bekmambetov got the attention of Hollywood, went on directing ‘Wanted’ and seemingly dropped the whole project alltogether. I would be rather curious to see where the story would go from there but, on the other hand, there was a nice closure at the end of this second installment so there is maybe no real need to go further on. Anyway, even though I don’t think it is really amazing whatsoever, it remains a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

There was a time when Tim Robbins was one of the most exciting actors around. It started in 1990 with ‘Jacob's Ladder’ and ended in 1994 with his greatest movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. In the mean time, he managed to make ‘The Player’, ‘Bob Roberts’(his amazing and criminally underrated directing debut), ‘Short Cuts’ and ‘The Hudsucker Proxy’. All those were quite awesome and the guy was just in the zone back in those days. Unfortunately, all things have to end and this movie was definitely the beginning of the end. I mean, to be honest, it wasn’t that bad at all as it was actually a decent buddy movie, even probably one of the best movies starring Martin Lawrence who’s trying nowadays to challenge Eddie Murphy for the prize of most obnoxious actor. Of course, the whole thing is not really original, you have the white guy, the black guy and they can’t get along but, somehow, they have to spend some time together and, at the end, they become best friends. Still, even though the whole thing was not really original, both actors worked well together and I was entertained from the beginning until the end. To conclude, it is actually a decent comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Arnaud Desplechin is rather an acquired taste but I like his work, especially ‘Un conte de Noël’ which was really awesome. You know, in your typical French Drama, the average characters are always really talkative, usually with some major emotional and/or psychological issues. With Desplechin, it is entirely another kind of ball game though. Indeed, his characters are always massively neurotic and it is something that can put you off. This time, one of the main characters played by Mathieu Amalric (easily one of the best French actors at work nowadays) was actually officially insane so it made things even worse. Anyway, even though I wasn’t completely blown away by the whole thing, I still enjoyed Amalric and Emmanuelle Devos, another actress working regularly with Desplechin, and the characters were quite interesting. Personally, I would rather have such messed up and convoluted characters than the usual stereotypes that you get in your average Hollywood production but that’s me, I guess. 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.

Since I’m a huge fan of Orson Welles, I was definitely eager to check this flick. Unfortunately, I had a hard time to get into it because I was really tired and it is the kind of movies which require a lot of focus and concentration. Furthermore, I saw it on the BBC without subtitles so I’m afraid I missed half of those damned convoluted Shakespearian dialogs. Still, there were lots of things to enjoy here. First of all, it must be the gloomiest play ever written by William Shakespeare. Indeed, between the darker than dark version by Orson Welles and the gore fest by Roman Polanski, it is not what you could call a merry affair and compared to this, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ seemed like a picnic. Personally, I didn’t bother me, in the contrary, and I really enjoyed this dark tale, reinforced by the great impressionist directing by Welles. The acting was really awesome and I enjoyed the dialogs, even if I hardly could follow them. To be honest, nothing much actually happen, it is pretty much the characters talking to each other (or even on their own) from the beginning until the end and I was torn between boredom and fascination during the whole thing. To conclude, even though it is probably not one of Orson Welles most prestigious works, it still remains a solid Shakespeare adaptation and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

One of my worst habits (and I have many of those….) is to watch some really random flicks, just because one or two actors I like are starring in it. I don’t even bother to check what it is exactly about (which is actually a good thing) or to check if it is actually any good (which is actually pretty bad). Even though I sometimes end up with some nice surprises, usually I just waste my time when there are so many classics I should be watching. This movie is a perfect example. Actually, it is even worse since there was actually no one in the cast who should justify me watching this… Indeed, the actors involved (Matthew Broderick, Annabella Sciorra, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Garry Shandling) are far from being among my favorites, especially Broderick which I always find terribly bland. Anyway, watching this flick was obviously a mistake and I didn’t care much for it. Basically, it is one of those quirky indie comedy with one terrible plot and I was just bored during the whole thing. Even though Annabella Sciorra was always a charming actress, I didn’t care at all about her character of any one else involved in this tedious plot. To conclude, honestly, I have seen worse but it is still a really average comedy and it is not really worth a look I’m afraid.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. The first time I came across this movie, I saw its trailer in a theater and it was intriguing but I could hardly make out what it was about. Flash-forward 2 years later and completely out-of-the-blue, this flick showed up in the IMDb top 250. At this point, I made a note for myself that I should definitely check this out and guess what? A couple of weeks later, it was broadcasted on TV. First of all, one of the great pleasures when watching a movie is to discover a new director. Up to that point, I had seen nothing directed by Denis Villeneuve but he really impressed me here and, since then, he obviously turned out to be one of the most exciting directors at work nowadays. Basically, it is a really slow burning drama but it was very effective and the ending was just heart-breaking. Still, I thought it was a little bit frustrating that they never named in which country the whole thing took place and it bugged me so much, I had to stop half way through it to look it up on the internet (as a matter of fact, I even did it again when I rewatched the damned thing). And, indeed, it takes place in an unnamed Middle-Eastern country based on Lebanon. There were also some refugees whose nationality was never specified. Even though I consider myself an history buff, I was sometimes confused, and if you don’t have any knowledge of this region history, I’m pretty sure you’ll be confused as well. Anyway, it didn’t change the fact that it was a fascinating drama with some shades of thriller elements. The cast was also really good and, like I said before, the ending was completely heartbreaking hitting me like a truck on full speed. Usually, I’m annoyed to death by the typical twist ending provided by your average Hollywood thriller. It is a useless gimmick but, in this movie, it was really good and appropriate. Even the random chronology which is so much overused nowadays worked really well here. This movie was also a terrible reminder of all the atrocities which have been taken place in the last 50 years in the Middle East. Anyway, to conclude, it was a very good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I have always been a die-hard fan of Rober De Niro and it has always been a hobby of mine to track down all his movies (by now, I have seen about 66 of them). Unfortunately, lately, it has become a rather thankless task. Indeed, for the last 10, even maybe 20 years, most of his movies have been at best decent, but most of the time pretty average and even occasionally pure garbage. Anyway, this feature belongs to the few decent movies he has made more or less recently but, still, it is hardly something you could call a masterpiece. The point is that you have here two of the greatest actors in one movie (Robert De Niro and Philip Seymour Hoffman) and they both gave some solid performances, above all Philip Seymour Hoffman who was back then criminally underrated, so it was a blast to see them working together. Unfortunately, the story itself was so pedestrian, so generic, so predictable it was just entertaining enough but there was a terrible lack of ambition in this department. Basically, you have two fine actors lost in an average comedy. At least, it was not as depressing as ‘Righteous Kill’ which finally united Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in one of the most dreary and underwhelming cop thrillers ever made…. To conclude, even though it was nothing really remarkable, it still remains a decent comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I had actually already seen this flick and, if I recall it correctly, I saw it about 10 years ago when I was living in England. Back then, I wasn’t really familiar with Terrence Malick and I watched this flick because it was considered as a masterpiece. Nowadays, I have seen most of the movies directed by Malick and I thought it was time to revisit his directing debut. Unfortunately, even this second time around, I wasn’t exactly blown away by the whole thing. The main issue I had back then and still have is that the characters are rather aimless, emotionless and filled with a guastly void. As a result, I had a hard time to connect with them and their boredom was actually highly contagious. Still, like all the work done by Terrence Malick, there is something quite fascinating about this flick. Indeed, I love the way he always challenges the typical narrative conventions and the photography was just superb with some amazing shots. Furthermore, even though I had a hard time to care about the characters, I don’t think Martin Sheen or Sissy Spacek should be blamed since they both gave some very good performances. Anyway, to conclude, personally, even though I tend to connect more with Malick’s later work, it is still an intriguing feature, a classic, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

The Rock has done it again! After gaving some new life in such franchises like 'Journey to...' and 'The Fast and The Furious', this time he gave some needed boost to the moribund G.I. Joe brand. Personally, I wasn't exactly dying to watch this flick but me and Nick (my step-son) saw the (underwhelming) 1st installment 4 years ago in the theater so he really wanted to see this sequel. We were planning to see it last year but, as you probably know, it was pushed back for 9 months allegedly to add some Channing Tatum moments since he recently became a box-office darling. Honestly, after watching this flick, you wonder what happened during those reshoots. Indeed, I could spot one or two probably added scenes but his screentime was 15 minutes and I'm being really generous. So, that was rather weird that the only familiar face in the G.I. Joe team was gone almost right away. And concerning Bruce Willis, the end-result was not really impressive either... Indeed, he shows up towards the end for half an hour maybe and gave one of his least convincing performances. On the bright side, Dwayne Johnson has never been better than playing such bad-ass characters and there were some (very few) impressive action scenes. A part from that, the plot was pretty weak and I can't say I really cared about the whole thing. Honestly, I would have a hard time choosing which one was the worst between the first installment and this sequel. It was that underwhelming... To conclude, it is rather surprising that they even bothered making this sequel since nobody cared for the previous entry, I thought the whole thing was pretty weak and I don't think it is really worth a look, even if you really like the genre.

Honestly, I had never heard of this movie but since there was a nice cast, I thought I should check it out. Apparently, Kevin Bacon, like many other actors before him, felt the urge to direct his own movie (his first and last one so far). Contrary to some of his colleagues, his movie was barely noticed when released but, personally, I don't think it was bad at all. Like I said, there was a very interesting cast (Kyra Sedgwick, Kevin Bacon, Matt Dillon, Oliver Platt, Campbell Scott, Marisa Tomei, Sandra Bullock) and they all delivered some solid performances, especially Kyra Sedgwick who happens to be Kevin Bacon's wife in real life. Until I watched this flick, I don't think I had seen anything with her but she was pretty good here, definitely. Furthermore, the story was really intriguing, even if it was not really amazing whatsoever. The main flaw was that Kevin Bacon made a difficult gamble by choosing a pretty twisted and, frankly, rather unlikeable woman as a main character. As a result, even though the drama displayed was striking, it was also somewhat unpleasant since you never really care for this woman and her shenanigans. Still, for a directing debut, it was not bad at all and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Kevin Bacon.