Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I have it on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. I remember it very well, the first time around, since I am a huge fan of ‘Cidade de Deus’, I had some really high expectations with Fernando Meirelles's directing follow up. It was, this time, an international production, a spy thriller written by John Le Carré, and he had also a top cast at his disposal. On top of that, even though it didn’t become an instant classic like his previous feature, it was still critically heralded and Rachel Weisz even won an Academy award for her performance. Well, in spite of all this hype, to be honest, I was slightly disappointed and, after rewatching the damned thing, I still ended up with the same feeling. I mean, I really loved Meirelles's visually style and all the actors involved did deliver some solid performances but, eventually, even though the plot was entertaining, I was hoping for more. At the end of the day, it was a decent but still rather generic conspiracy plot, nothing much more than that I’m afraid and I don't think I really cared much about the combination with this love story. Furthemore, it is always rather disappointing when a story like this one takes place in Africa and there were still barely any African characters involved at all. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was not as great as I expected, it is still a solid thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Finally, the last movie of this franchise first cycle. Actually, watching those movies went much faster than I expected. Indeed, Nick, my step-son, was completely hooked after the 1st classic installment and so we have been watching all those movies in just a couple of weeks. First of all, you must admit, those guys were pretty productive. Indeed, they managed to make 5 installments in just 6 years. Honestly, I thought the quality would drastically drop following those multiple sequels but I was actually positively surprised, even by this 5th installment. Of course, the whole thing looked pretty cheesy and the characters were rather stereotypical. I mean, there was no much nuances so you had some good men, some bad men, some good apes and some bad apes and not much in between (you could even argue that this flick was actually kind of racist towards gorillas). Still, as usual, they developed some intriguing ideas as you keep following the evolution of this ape civilization. Actually, it is rather funny that ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ (which I haven’t seen yet) was conceived as a prequel since the last 3 movies already functioned as prequels developing the birth and development of those Apes. Anyway, I will find out soon enough. To conclude, even though it was not really mind-blowing whatsoever, it was still a decent sequel and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I have a weak spot for Sydney Pollack’s work and since I’m a huge fan of Paul Newman, I was really eager to check this flick. And, indeed, I thought it was pretty good. It is basically a decent journalistic thriller, quite reminiscent of ‘All The President’s men’, even though it never reaches the same level as this classic. As usual, Pollack delivered some solid directing and Paul Newman was just awesome, absolutely one of my favorite actors and I can’t believe I have seen only 15 of his movies. Sally Field (who was recently nominated at the Academy Awards for ‘Lincoln’) was also pretty good but the love affair between those two was definitely the weakest point in this flick. I mean, it was not that bad, but it was definitely a step down from the gritty realism provided by ‘All The President’s Men’ and a step forward romantic fantasy. Eventually, it all depends which one of those two genres you’d rather have. Still, even though it was nothing ground-breaking, it was still a solid and really entertaining thriller. To conclude, I really enjoyed this flicks and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Somewhere, in the mid- 90’s, Nicolas Cage thought he should become an action star and even though his first attempt was actually pretty decent (‘The Rock’) , the rest has been going from average to downright terrible. This flick is a pretty good example of those tepid features he made in the last 20 years. Apparently, this time, it was a remake from a rather obscure 70’s flick. To be honest, I haven’t seen this movie but it didn’t look great whatsoever but who knows? I might be mistaken… Basically, it is one of those tedious action movies which tries to make you forget that the plot is really abysmal by throwing at you some ‘bad-ass’ action scenes. The only issue is that even though those action scenes were not bad, they were not really impressive enough. Still, I must admit, the cast was pretty neat (Nicolas Cage, Giovanni Ribisi, Angelina Jolie, Scott Caan, Delroy Lindo, Timothy Olyphant, Robert Duvall, Christopher Eccleston, Vinnie Jones). At the end of day, since it is a Jerry Bruckheimer production, I shouldn’t be surprised by the shallowness of the whole endeavor. Concerning Nicolas Cage, he has been focusing on those average action flicks lately and his career is slowly but surely losing any credibility. For example, more than 10 years later, he would be reunited with the same director, Dominic Sena, for the even more dreadful ‘Season of the Witch’… To conclude, even though I have seen worse, especially starring Nicolas Cage, it still remains a rather average flick and it is not really worth a look, even if you love the genre.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but I still wanted to give it a try, especially since I enjoyed a lot Billy Bob Thornton's previous directing effort 'Sling Blade'. Indeed, before making 'Sling Blade', Billy Bob Thornton was a rather struggling actor and basically launched his career by starring in his own movie. It is a rather unusual move but it has been done by some other actors such as Gary Sinise, Sam Neill and even Vin Diesel. I must say I was really amazed by Thornton’s directing debut and I was really intrigued to see his directing follow-up. It was, this time, a much more ambitious project, a romantic Western from a book written by Cormac McCarthy ('No Country for Old Men' and 'The Road') and starring Matt Damon who was, back then, a new rising star. Unfortunately, even though Roger Ebert was really enthusiastic, calling it an 'elegiac Western', I thought it was pretty disappointing. I mean, the directing was solid, with some beautiful landscapes, and the music was really nice too but the story was rather tedious (can you believe that the original cut was 220 minutes?!?). Furthermore, even though Matt Damon is a fine actor, I thought that the Boston native was hardly convincing as a Texan cowboy. I mean, the whole thing was not bad, it definitely had some potential, but Thornton never managed to make it really spellbinding. Anyway, to conclude, even though this flick was rather disappointing, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you like the genre.

I'm a huge fan of animated features but it is sometimes rather frustrating that most of those features lack any sort of ambition and we usually end up with some children orientated flicks. Disney is the biggest culprit here. I mean, on the technical side, they have perfected their style and, after 60 years, the result is quite mind-blowing. Unfortunately, their stories are very often really tedious to watch with the usual talking animals. However, there are some brilliant minds in the animation world who did manage to break the old mold and this flick is a perfect example. Indeed, it is a really amazing Science-Fiction feature creating a fascinating but also at times quite distressing world. First of all, I really loved the animation. It had a very distinctive peculiar style but I thought it was quite beautiful. Furthermore, the combination with the mesmerizing music was just amazing, especially during the first minutes. The only low point would be the lack of plot or narrative structure. Indeed, there was no much of story and you jump randomly from one event to another without much continuity. I also found it disappointing that they decided to spend more time with the humans than with the Draags which were much more interesting in my opinion. Still, to conclude, it is a very good animated feature, one of the most original one ever made, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since there was a nice open-ending in the previous installment, it was pretty obvious where this sequel would go. And, indeed, it takes place 20 years later, Cesar (the same Cesar who will show up in 'Rise...'?) is now a grown ape and apes have become slaves like predicted in the previous movie. Honestly, it was pretty lame that the whole thing exactly happened like they were told. I mean, at this point, the humans knew what would happen but, still, they didn't change their plan. Still, in spite of its flaws, it was the best sequel (that I have seen so far). Indeed, you witness here the birth of Evil which was rather intriguing. Indeed, even though Cesar is the main character, he was not exactly a good guy and that was pretty cool. It was rather weird though to see Cesar making a speech at the end about the apes ruling the world and, suddenly, he adds, more or less out of the blue, that the humans will be treated mercifully. Apparently, the second part of the speech was added after the film's completion because the original ending was deemed too bleak. Another thing that bothered me a little bit is that every sequel is shorter than the previous one, this one barely lasted 80 minutes and, as a result,the characters were barely developed. Apparently, the whole thing was originally much more violent so they cut many scenes. Still, in spite of its flaws, it was a decent sequel 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. To be honest, the first time around, I thought that it was one hell of a overhyped movie. Don't misunderstand me, I thought it was a decent fantastic thriller but not nearly as good as many viewers seemed to think. The point is that there was an interesting time-traveling concept behind the whole thing but that was exactly the issue here. When most of the fans would argue that this concept was really awesome, to me, it barely made sense with some huge plot holes. However, the second time around, I have to admit that the concept was actually more interesting than I remembered and it was actually neat that the final solution was for the main character to actually give up on the love of his life. I was actually more bothered by the first scenes involving Evan as a young kid and as a teenager as these scenes were terribly clunky. However, it did start to work much better as soon as Ashton Kutcher got involved. Indeed, it was quite interesting to see Kutcher in something different than his usual comedies and he did a really decent job. Seriously, it remains by far his best movie and it is actually rather surprising that he never tried something else in this genre since it might be the only well regarded picture he has made so far but that's his loss, I guess. Concerning Amy Smart, I think it was the first movie I saw with her and I thought she was quite charming but her career never really took off and she always remained a B star. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it is actually an entertaining mind-f*ck and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of musicals but, still, I try to remain open-minded and, like any other genre, if you watch the very best of them, there is a good chance they will be something you like about them. So, indeed, I thought it was pretty good, even if I wasn't completely blown away. Basically, it was Bob Fosse's 2nd directing effort and it was probably his most successful movie, at least critically. Fosse himself was actually quite a phenomenon. Indeed, he was an actor, a dancer, a choreographer, a musical director, a screenwriter and a film director. He won an unprecedented eight Tony Awards for choreography and was nominated for an Academy Award four times, winning for his direction of 'Cabaret' (beating Francis Ford Coppola for 'The Godfather' no less). If you ask me Coppola should have won the oscar back then but still the directing was pretty solid. Honestly, I never cared much about Liza Minelli but she was pretty good. Above all, the thing I enjoyed the most was how dark and gloomy the whole thing was. Indeed, most musicals are really joyful which tends to get on my nerves but this one was actually really sad and I really liked this approach. However, I still have a hard time when once a while the actors stopped the flow of the story just to sing or dance along but without this, it wouldn't be a musical but something entirely different. Still, to conclude, it must one of the best musicals I have ever seen and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

When I was a teenager, one of my best buddies loved 'Different Seasons' which was his favorite Stephen King's book. Did I read it actually? I'm not sure... Anyway, 'Different Seasons' is a collection of four Stephen King novellas with a focus on a realistic drama than the usual horror fiction for which King is famous. Out of those four stories, three have been adapted in movies and two of them became some bonafide classic ('The Shawshank Redemption' and 'Stand by Me'). This movie was the last one they made and the least known but I thought it was not bad at all. The main character was played by Brad Renfro, a talented but troubled actor who died very young (If I remembered correctly, he died around the same time as Heath Ledger). Against him, you have Ian McKellen before he reached worldwide fame with the 'X-Men' and 'The Lord of the Rings' franchise. McKellen was, as usual, excellent, Renfro was also pretty good and the story was really interesting but, as usual with Stephen King, the whole thing became rather preposterous at some point. For Bryan Singer, this feature was rather a step down after the amazing 'Usual Suspects' but that could be said about his whole career. To conclude, in spite of it flaws, it is actually a decent Stephen King adaptation and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.