Reviews by johanlefourbe

I don't why exactly but I was really eager to check this flick and eventually it took me a while to get my hands on it. It was probably the idea of watching a thriller with a confrontation between Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman that attracted me. Anyway, it was the first movie Denzel Washington and Tony Scott made together (they would make eventually 5 movies in total together) and, in my opinion, it is definitely and easily the best one. Yeah, even 'Man on Fire' which has become a cult classic is not that good in my opinion. Coming back to our main subject, it is easily one of the best submarine features I have seen. Of course, it doesn't come near 'Das Boot' which will remain the ultimate best in this genre for a very long time but it is still damned fine entertaining and this Clash of the Titans between Washington and Hackman was just awesome. Actually, it could have been pretty neat if they switched, you know, Hackman playing the righteous man and Washington playing the devious bad guy for a change but I guess it would have been too confusing for the average viewer. Still, even though the whole thing is actually rather pedestrian, it remains a very well made and really entertaining thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since it was directed by the great David Lean, I thought I should give it a chance. Honestly, I can think of a 1000’s reasons why I shouldn’t have liked this flick, it is way over-sentimental for my taste, the whole thing was far from being historically accurate and I could go on and on. Still, I really liked it. I mean, I haven’t read the book so I don’t know if it was a faithful adaptation but I really enjoyed this flick. First of all, I’m a huge fan of Julie Christie. I mean, I have seen only 10 movies with this actress and most of them were really recent but there is something really mesmerizing about her and she is pure and simply a terrific actress. Furthermore, David Lean had a great flair for those grand scale spectacles. I mean, to be honest, it never reaches the level of ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ or even ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (easily his best movie), but it was still quite impressive and simply damned entertaining. To conclude, it is one of the most ultimate romantic movies ever made, a classic, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since it is one of the last movies directed by Clint Eastwood which I hadn’t seen yet, I was obviously really eager to check it out. Obviously, it is a minor effort and when we are far from the level of his most prestigious work here but it was still fun enough in my opinion. Indeed, basically, it is one of those typical flicks that good old Clint used to make back in those days, combining some pretty preposterous action scenes with his really dry sense of humor. At first, the main character shows up as an alcoholic bump but pretty soon he gets really tough but I guess it goes with the territory. One of the interesting aspects was the relationship between Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke who was his long time partner at the time. Indeed, it was their 2nd movie together (they will make 6 together eventually) and they had some great chemistry here even if the romantic scenes at the end in the bus were not really convincing. Eventually, it is above all thanks to Eastwood’s awesome charisma that the whole thing still worked and with another actor, it would have been pretty tedious I’m afraid. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, I thought it was a decent action comedy and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Clint Eastwood’s work.

Very often, I will end up watching a very obscure flick just because there are a couple of interesting actors in it. This movie is a perfect example. I mean, before watching it, I never heard of it and I had absolutely no idea what it was actually about it but since the cast was interesting, I thought I should check it out. And indeed, there was a pretty cool cast (Richard Gere, Juliette Binoche, Max Minghella, Kate Bosworth) and they all delivered some solid performances. Basically, it is an intriguing drama about a dysfunctional family but the problem is that each family member had his/her own agenda or issue and the movie really had a hard time juggling between all these sub-plots. I mean, Kate Bosworth was barely in the movie at all and her part was pretty much reduced to a cameo and I really had a hard time figuring what the hell was going on with Binoche’s character. Indeed, her character started to behave rather heretically pretty suddenly without a shred of explanation. In my opinion, the whole thing would have worked better if they focused on one or two storylines at most. Still, there was something really intriguing about the whole thing and I did enjoy the directing style and the actors involved all did a pretty good job. To conclude, even though it was rather flawed, I still think it was a decent drama and it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Of course, I have already seen this flick but I thought it was time for a re-watch, this time, with Nick my step-son. To be honest, even though I liked the first installment, I never thought it was really amazing and this sequel is pretty much a vanity project. I mean, one of the great things about the first movie is that Rocky didn’t actually win and all those underwhelming sequels undermined the impact of this classic. However, since ‘Rocky’ was a huge financial and critical success, it wasn’t surprising that they decided to make a sequel. The other thing that bothered me with this flick is that it follows one very old and annoying gimmick that you see in many fighting movies (not necessarily about boxing). In this template, the main character can’t/doesn’t want to fight but , since it is a movie about fighting, of course, he will eventually fight so it makes the whole dilemma really pointless and rather annoying. In this case, it was even more tedious because at first Rocky himself doesn’t want to fight, but then when he changes his mind, than it is Adrian who doesn’t want him to… It is just goes on and on forever and it was not really interesting. Still, the whole thing remained rather entertaining. I mean, there is something really endearing about Rocky himself and there were some really uplifting scenes, for example, when he is running in the streets of Philadelphia. Basically, this scene is totally corny but it still works somehow. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, it still remains a decent flick though and it is definitely worth look especially if you like the genre.

I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since there was a pretty nice cast, I thought I should give it a try. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a really lame romantic-comedy. Indeed, the whole thing was just really contrived and you basically spend 2 hours waiting for one character to say that she is sorry, that's it. The other thing that really didn't work is that the same character was displayed as a terribly manipulative b*tch which made the conclusion even more dubious. While watching this I was really wondering what the hell happened to Kristen Bell? I mean, she is quite charming and seems rather talented but she is basically following the same path as Jennifer Anniston which is always playing the same character in some really tedious rom-coms (see also 'When in Rome' or 'Couples Retreat'... or maybe not). At least, Anniston had a few hits which can't be said for Kristen Bell except for 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall'. The only redeeming feature in this tedious flick was indeed the cast (Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Annable, Kristin Chenoweth, Dwayne Johnson) and it would be really neat to see Sigourney Weaver in a decent comedy instead of this garbage because she has a terrific comedic timing. To conclude, honestly, I think I'm being really generous with my rating here, it is a really average comedy and it is not really worth a look whatsoever.

I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but one of my colleagues at the time recommended it and said it was really hilarious so I thought I should give it a try. It turned out to be a huge mistake and I would be really careful in the future when this guy would recommend a movie to me… Indeed, I thought it was such a lame and stupid comedy. I know, it is supposed to be that way but it is also supposed to be funny which was not the case at all and personally, I was really bored to death during the whole thing. The main issue compared to a similar movie like ‘Road Trip’ (which I didn’t really like either but at least it was not as bad as this piece of turd) is that it is a flick made by Americans for the American audience about some terrible clichés about Europeans. Eventually, it might be funny if you are American (and pretty much ignorant…) but I don’t see the appeal if you are European (on the other hand, the guy would recommend it to me was Dutch so go figure…). The only positive thing is that even though Michelle Trachtenberg is far from being a great actress, she was quite charming and Matt Damon had some fun with his cameo but that’s the only positive things I can think of. To conclude, I really really didn’t like this flick, it is just a lame comedy and I don’t think it is worth a look whatsoever.

Even though it sounded like a rather weird movie, since I kept hearing good things about it, I really wanted to check it out. You can easily imagine that someone like Adam Sandler or the Farrelly brothers would have made another offensive and lame comedy from this subject but, fortunately, the makers chose here a different approach and the end-result was rather subtle and really interesting. Of course, the success of this movie is most of all thanks to Ryan Gosling. Indeed, he took a huge risk with this part but he completely nailed it and I was sold within the first 5 minutes. Such a sensitive, heartbreaking and really convincing performance. Surprisingly, even though I thought the main character was really compelling to watch, I had some major issues with the other characters. Which one? All of them!!! I mean, to make us believe that his brother and his sister-in-law would play along, that was fair enough, that his doctor would participate in his fantasy, that made sense as well but the whole freaking town?!? Seriously, I was slapping my face in disbelief during the whole thing. Eventually, half way through, his sister-in-law would give a nice speech explaining that they all did it because they loved him and that was actually a good explanation but the fact that that you didn’t get to know Lars and his community before the doll made it really hard to swallow. Even so, it was hard to believe that no one, really no one would tell him anything or joke about it at any moment. Eventually, there was one single scene during which his brother actually tells him the truth and that was it. Maybe I’m too cynical but I found it really frustrating and rather annoying to see all this people pretending they had an actual relationship with this doll. Still, I liked this flick, Ryan Gosling was just really good, carrying the whole thing on his shoulders and even though I don’t think the whole thing was completely successful, it is still a really intriguing indie feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte might sound like a rather odd couple and even though Julia Roberts was becoming really huge back in those days, it wasn’t one of her biggest success, that’s for sure. Apparently, Nolte was not really satisfied with this flick and even went on saying that it was the worst film he has ever appeared in. Julia Roberts didn’t have a grand time either and called Nolte the worst actor she has ever worked with. Personally, I have nothing against Roberts but it is difficult to take her seriously after making such a statement since Nick Nolte was/is actually a fine actor but who knows? Maybe he was indeed terrible in this flick. The weird thing is that I don’t think this movie was that bad at all. Basically, it is a throwback to those romantic-comedies they use to make in the 30’s and 40’s. It above all reminded me of ‘His Girl Friday’ starring the great Cary Grant. Unfortunately, even though it is rather charming and harmless, the whole thing was also rather shallow and pretty much anachronistic, I’m afraid. I mean, those comedies were huge back in those days (I’m not huge fan though) but, nowadays, it is just way too light for our cynical generation of viewers. To conclude, even though Nolte and Roberts both dreaded this flick, even though it is nothing amazing whatsoever, I still think it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

It had been a while since I have seen this flick so I thought it was time for a re-watch, this time, with Nick my step-son. Nick was hugely enthusiasm and told me to order already the 3rd installment. Of course, it is understandable as it is a very solid action flick but, personally, I still prefer the first installment which was way better than the other movies in this franchise. The point is that, back then, Jason Bourne was a really fascinating character, full of doubts, vulnerable and frankly quite a mess. In this sequel, even though Matt Damon gave again a really strong performance, I thought that Bourne lost his vulnerability and instead became one of those typical omnipotent and invincible guys that I have already seen in countless average action flicks. I mean, it is not that it is a bad movie, not at all. Indeed, even though the plot is nothing really amazing, it was still damned entertaining and there were also some really impressive action scenes, especially the car chase in Moscow which was really mind-blowing (especially compared to the incredibly tedious motor chase displayed in 'The Bourne Legacy'). Concerning the directing, there was a big fuss about Paul Greengrass but, in my opinion, his take was only slightly better than what Doug Liman did with the first movie and concerning the infamous shaky cam, it was there only a couple of times so it didn’t bother me whatsoever. To conclude, even though I think it is slightly overrated, it remains a really entertaining spy action flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.