Reviews by johanlefourbe

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.

Recently, every evening, Nick, my step-son, asked me when we will watch the Planet of Apes again. He is pretty hooked and, especially this time, I was sharing his enthusiasm. Indeed, at the end of the previous installment, Charlton Heston himself launched a doomsday bomb destroying Earth. Heston thought he managed to put an end to the sequels but the producers obviously outsmarted him. So, how did they do it? Time travel of course! Indeed, if Taylor and Brent managed to go in the future, why not send a few apes back in time? It was a pretty neat idea and something really different from the two previous installments even if you miss the whole Ape civilization that way. Unfortunately, the whole concept was not very well developed. Indeed, when the apes are welcomed in the 'old' Earth, we get a few scenes about them going shopping, to some parties, watching TV and even going to a boxing game because it is obviously what would most impact them. I thought it was really trivial and I didn't care much on this focus on consumerism. Furthermore, the whole theory developed by the bad buy didn't make much sense. Basically, something will happen in a very far future, changing the natural order but how killing those 2 and 1/2 apes would change anything? Finally, I thought the pace was pretty sluggish. Indeed, even though it is rather short, nothing much really happen. Still, I thought it was a decent SF feature, better than its predecessor, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Ever since ‘Toy Story’ became a critical and financial success, CGI animation has been an ever expanding market. Nowadays, you have two giants, ‘Pixar’ and ‘Dreamworks’, but behind those two , you can find a multitude of smaller studios trying their hands at this popular genre. One of them is Sony Pictures Animation. Their business is actually pretty healthy, although it is rather disappointing that their most successful feature happens to be so far ‘The Smurfs’. Anyway, this flick was their first feature film and I thought it was a flop but, in fact, it was actually quite successful even though not at the level of such a mega success like ‘Shrek’ for example. Anyway, I thought it was not bad at all, especially for a first production. Indeed, I really liked the animation and the characters were cecent. Unfortunately, the story was barely original. I mean, at this point, I had rather enough of those features with speaking animals. Some like ‘Finding Nemo’ were great, some were pretty good like ‘Madagascar’ but most of them are terribly generic and this one was not an exception. Still, I think it remains a decent animated feature and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Mike Leigh is one of the most highly regarded British directors of the last 20 years and he has made many fine pictures such as ‘Naked’, ‘All or Nothing’ or ‘Vera Drake’. All these movies were socially focused but there was one small exception and it is this flick. Indeed, it was this time a costume drama and probably the most obscure movie Leigh has made so far, at least among the ones I have seen. However, even though it was not well known, it was highly recommended by Roger Ebert who even chose it as one of the best movies released in 1999, so I was really eager to check it out. Unfortunately, I thought the whole thing was fairly disappointing. I mean, it looked good, the directing was decent and all the actors gave some pretty good performances but I seriously had a hard time caring about the story. Basically, it is a Victorian tale about some real figures involved in the theater world in England back in those days. I don’t know, maybe if you are more acquainted with the people involved or their work which I was really oblivious of, it might be a really enjoyable flick but , personally, I thought it was pretty tedious. Still, it remains a very well made and very well acted piece and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To start with, I was pleasantly surprised by the first installment. Indeed, it was actually better than I remembered. Unfortunately, this sequel was quite a step-down. First of all, surprisingly, when you would expect the opposite since the first movie was a success, the budget was even smaller this time and, as a result, they used some masks instead of the awesome make-up for many of those apes. Furthermore, the writing was pretty messed up. Indeed, for some reasons, you start with Charlton Eston and end with him as well but for no particular reason, and this time, the main character was played by another actor, some Heston look-a-like. Why? Furthermore, the beginning was just way too similar to the first movie but, at least, it was pretty neat to get back to this world and get more acquainted with this ape culture/civilization. Than, you had the terribly underwhelming last 30 minutes involving this weird new generation of human-beings… I mean, the whole point of those movies are those apes, not the humans, but even so, if they wanted to put the focus on the humans, develop the ones we already know (Taylor and the savage humans) but don’t bring a new main character and a whole new sort of human beings. I must admit though, the ending was pretty cool. I mean, it was a total mess but to see Charlton Heston launching the nuke and blowing literally everyone to pieces was still pretty neat. To conclude, it was a really disappointing sequel, I’m actually really generous with my rating but I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you like the genre.

Out of the 5 Superman movies they made so far, it is easily the worst one. Yeah, in my opinion, it is even worse than ‘Superman IV’ which is usually even more hated but this 2nd sequel was pure garbage. This time, Richard Lester was back in the director’s chair but even it did a decent job with the 1st sequel, taking over when Richard Donner was fired, he did really mess it up this time. Apparently, someone thought it was a good idea to turn the whole thing into some kind of comedy and threw in Richard Pryor into the mix. I mean, to get an idea, it is as if they would have cast Eddie Murphy in ‘The Dark Knight’ to add a few more laughs. Sounds quite dreadful, doesn’t it? Ok, I have to admit it, Superman had never been a really serious affair in the first place but with this movie, it reached some new level of silliness and boredom. I have nothing against Richard Pryor, I haven’t seen enough of his movies to judge him, but it was pretty obvious he got himself involved in this for a fat big paycheck. At least, they tried to bring another bad guy than the always dependable Lex Luthor (Luthor would be eventually the villain in all the 4 over Superman installments. Talking about a lack of inspiration…) but that’s the only positive thing I can find here. To conclude, it was pretty bad and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.