Reviews by johanlefourbe

Like many other viewers, I was really impressed by ‘Narc’, a criminally underrated and underseen cop flick, and I was really eager to watch Joe Carnahan’s following directing effort. At first, it was supposed to be ‘Mission Impossible III’ but it seems that he and Tom Cruise didn’t get along very well so he left the project. Eventually, he made this flick which had some pretty good buzz before its release. Eventually, I thought it was not bad and quite entertaining but, honestly, still fairly disappointing. On the positive side, I thought the directing was really solid, they were was a really cool massive cast (Ryan Reynolds, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck, Peter Berg, Martin Henderson, Common, Andy Garcia, Alicia Keys, Taraji P. Henson, Chris Pine, Kevin Durand, Joel Edgerton, Jason Bateman, Matthew Fox) and the whole thing was rather fun to watch. Unfortunately, I thought the plot was pretty weak and it felt really shallow. I couldn’t help thinking while watching this that the writer(s) seriously watched too much ‘Pulp Fiction’ and/or ‘Snatch’ and obviously tried to emulate the kinetic style of those classics. The point is that even though these movies seemed to be messy, they were actually the opposite as they were carefully crafted and, at the end, they completely made sense. This movie, on the other hand, was just style with no substance whatsoever and I didn’t care for the story or any of the characters involved. Still, even though I thought the whole thing was rather disappointing, it still remains a fun flick and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I’m a huge fan of ‘Akira’ (the comic-books and the movie), of course, I had to see this flick at some point. Unfortunately, I can’t say it was as awesome as ‘Akira’. I mean, visually, it was really impressive. It is pretty obvious that Otomo took advantage of his huge reputation in Japan and made one hell of an animated feature. Indeed, the hand-drawn animation was quite marvelous with tons of meticulous little details. But, it didn’t stop there, no, no, Otomo has also added some CGI and the combination of both techniques was quite seamless and really impressive. So, on the visual side, I was quite satisfied but, unfortunately, I can’t say that the plot was that good. Indeed, this time, Otomo decided to take the action in 1860’s Britain but, seriously, why?!? I mean, there was something really fascinating about his take of post-apocalyptic Tokyo but his vision of 19th century England was honestly rather dull. This period of time has been depicted so many times before by other authors and movie directors much more familiar with this age and it frankly felt that Otomo just took his stuff and just put it randomly in another place and another time,. Furthermore, I didn’t care much about the story which was honestly rather boring and I couldn’t believe that he ended up the whole thing again with some huge mayhem… I mean, the ending was really mind-blowing and unforgettable in ‘Akira’ but to see yet again the same thing happening in this follow-up felt just really redundant. To conclude, this flick is definitely no masterpiece but since it is visually really amazing, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Even though I'm a huge fan of Charlie Chaplin (I basically grew up with the guy), I must confess, I have always been kind of oblivious about Buster Keaton. Indeed, so far I only saw 'The General' which didn't really blow me away (but I definitely need to re-watch it though). Anyway, this was my second movie starring Keaton and I really enjoyed it. Basically, the plot was some kind of typical 'Romeo and Juliet' tale and it was a good excuse to get some funny jokes and spectacular stunts. And that's also probably the reason I still prefer Chaplin to Keaton. Indeed, even though Chaplin's work was also constantly hilarious, there was also this amazing poetic tone and/or some really deep thoughtfulness and I kind of missed that in Keaton's movies. I mean, don't misunderstand me, it was a really funny flick and I was laughing my ass off more than once and some of the physical stunts were just amazing and became deservedly quite legendary but I think that it was basically the whole point of this production, to make us laugh and surprise the audience but it stopped there and it didn't go the extra mile like the movies of Chaplin. Still, it is a great classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

By now, I have seen almost all the movies directed by Marc Forster and he is definitely a hell of a director. Unfortunately, his career took a huge blow with 'Quantum of Solace' and even though I don't think this movie was that bad, he received much of the blame. Anyway, I hope he will recover soon and deliver once again some other great gems. Unfortunately, it seems that we will have to wait for a little bit longer since his following feature was once again rather disappointing. I mean, this true story was quite amazing but even though the material was really interesting, the whole thing never really worked and I never felt really involved during this movie. Let's take the intro for example. Basically, you get to see Sam Childers getting out of prison, then he gets back on the drugs and the booze, robs some drug dealers, almost stabs a man to death, cleans up his act, goes to church, some guys shows up there, talks about Africa and off he goes to fulfill his mission. And all of this took just about 30 minutes. That was serioulsy a awful lot to digest in such a short time. Unfortunately, even when the guy got to Sudan, the whole thing was still not really convincing. Basically, it became one of those movies such as 'Blood Diamond', 'Shooting Dogs' or 'Cry Freedom' where the action is focused on one single white man who seems to solve all the problem of the poor helpless African people. I know that most of those stories are actually true but I'm sure that there are 1000s of inspiring stories about African people rising up and helping their own kind. Above all, I was missing some depth concerning the main character and there was not much ambiguity about him but just the usual stereotypes going with this genre. Eventually, especially coming from a director like Forster who already tackled some pretty sensitive subjects in the past, the whole thing felt rather uninspired. To conclude, it remains a hell of a story and I still think is worth a look but the whole endeavor felt like a missed opportunity.

Honestly, I have never heard of this movie before but since I'm a huge fan of Peter O'Toole, I still wanted to check it out. On the other hand, I can't say I knew much Richard Burton and I was more acquainted with his tumultuous relationship with Elizabeth Taylor than his work. Anyway, these two guys were just amazing in this movie. Indeed, they provided such great performances, it was just quite impressive. This movie was actually an adaptation of a play written by a French dude called Jean Anouilh who wrote many plays such as 'Antigone'. Apparently, Anouilh didn't care much about historical accuracy but he sure was able to write some fascinating characters. Indeed, the king and his best 'friend' were some of the most spellbinding fictional creatures I have ever encountered. I mean, they were smart, ambitious, arrogant, fun, reprehensible, friends, enemies and many other things. This story was also filled with some homo-erotic tones, just to add even more ambiguity to the whole thing. It is quite remarkable that even though the movie lasts about 150 minutes and even though you basically just have those two men talking to each other, it was really spellbinding to watch. To conclude, I really loved this movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I didn't expect much from this movie and, indeed, it was nothing really amazing. At first, it seemed that it was going to be some kind of juvenile Fight Club but, no, after introducing this concept (not really interesting if you ask me), they just dropped it within 5 minutes without coming back to it at any moment. Why would they show this to us if they decide to go towards a completely different direction?!? Anyway, after that, the rest of the movie was just a MMA version of The Karate Kid. Indeed, they faithfully followed the genre with the mentor, the douchebag, the love interest (who, of course, used to date the douchebag), of course the training montage with some inspirational music and the final showdown. I must admit it, it was actually well made but so unoriginal, so predictable, I really had a hard time to care about the whole thing. At the end, there was even this tournament, when the two guys were supposed to fight it off in the final but, no, instead they end up fighting on the parking lot... The makers probably thought it was a neat way to go against expectations but it wasn't. I mean, why should we bother at all with this tournament if they eventually will fight on some random parking lot?!? The other thing that annoyed me was the usual message you get in those movies that the main character shouldn't fight... I always find it some hypocritical BS... I mean, if you watch this kind of movies, of course you want to see them fight, of course you want to see them kick some ass and because it's a movie, nobody is actually getting hurt, so in this case, violence is fine as it is pure and simply entertaining so just cut the crap... To end on a positive note, Djimon Hounsou was dependable as usual and Cam Gigandet had a nice charisma but both characters were reduced to some disappointing stereotypes. To conclude, if you love this genre, you will probably like this movie but I thought it was pretty average and it is eventually not really worth a look.

Since I'm a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock, of course, I was really eager to check this out. At first, I was wondering where the whole thing was getting to (I never read beforehand what a movie is about) and, during the first scenes, I thought it would be some kind of farce. Eventually, I understood that the hotel sequence was actually there only to establish all those peculiar characters. Indeed, the real action was to take place later on, on the train. There, it became one of those spellbinding thrillers that only Hitchcock could make back then more than 70 years ago. It was just fascinating to see this woman getting back to her seat and asking where was this old lady who simply vanished. I mean, this has been copied so many times through the years, it was just pretty neat to see Hitchcock's own version. Another fascinating aspect was the total lack of music. Indeed, music is usually a key element in your typical thriller and it constantly underlines the action, telling when you should pay attention, when you should be scared and it is usually quite effective but also really intrusive. Here, since there is no music queue, you are left alone wondering which emotions you should feel and I thought it was a great approach. To conclude, even though it might not be one of his many masterpieces, it still is a very good thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

For many years, I have been defending Nicolas Cage, arguing that he was actually a very good actor. However, every movie coming out starring this guy is a new blow to his career and he makes it really hard to take his side... Only in 2011, he has made 'Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance', 'Trespass, 'Seeking Justice', 'Drive Angry' and this movie. So far, I have seen only this movie and 'Ghost Rider' and both are now on my top 10 worst movies of 2011 and I'm not really optimistic about the other three... Anyway, this time, Cage went for a medieval tale and the end-result was just pretty pathetic. Indeed, the story was just really pedestrian, the acting was not convincing and the special effects looked pretty cheap. Another laughable element were the dialogues. Indeed, half of them were modern and the other half was more faithful to the time period... At least, we have to give Nicolas Cage some credit for trying something else but I wish he paid more attention about the projects he took (Only in 2013, he might release no less than 8 movies so it doesn't sound really promising...). To conclude, it was just really weak movie and it is not really worth a look.

This movie had a huge impact concerning my relationship with this director. Indeed, before, David Lynch used to be one of my favorite directors and I basically worshiped the guy. However, this movie changed everything. Indeed, I saw this movie in the theater when it was released and I had some huge expectations but, unfortunately, it turned out to be one of the most disappointing movies I have ever seen. I mean, it was not bad, in the contrary, the first half was just amazing, I was completely wrapped up in this spellbinding world and this 1st half was possibly the best thriller I had ever seen. But suddenly, the thunder struck and I landed into a completely different movie. My first reaction was 'WTF!?!'. I was honestly never able to enjoy the 2nd half of this movie and I have seen this movie at least 3 times already. Seriously, I always have a blast when I read or hear the wild 'theories' the fans built up about this flick... I don't want to be mean but I think it is rather pathetic. In my opinion, there is absolutely no meaning in this succession of weird nonsensical scenes. It is just being weird for the sake of being weird and let's pretend it is actually Art. This flick made me so pissed off because it actually had so much potential. Indeed, the directing was amazing, it looked really gorgeous and the cast gave some really solid performances (Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, Robert Blake, Balthazar Getty, Gary Busey, Giovanni Ribisi, Richard Pryor, Jack Nance, Marilyn Manson). Like I said before, it could have been the best thriller ever made but, at the end, it is just a decent weird mind-f*ck, not much more, I'm afraid. To conclude, even though it is full of garbage, there is still too much greatness in this movie so it is still worth a look, especially if you are interested in David Lynch's work.