Reviews by johanlefourbe

If I'm not mistaken, it is the last movie directed by François Truffaut that I have seen (I realize now I really have to check his other movies...). Coincidentally, this movie was Truffaut's last one and he died a year later of a brain humor. Such a great loss for the film world as he was definitely one of the best French directors that even lived. Anyway, even though his last directing effort was not one of his best, I still think it was pretty good. Indeed, it is an entertaining black and white detective feature which was obviously a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock's work. Truffaut was an expert on Hitchcock and a great admirer of his work throughout his career so it was actually interesting that he would end his career with a movie inspired by his mentor. So, I really enjoyed the directing and the cast was pretty good as well (Fanny Ardant, Jean-Louis Trintignant). I have to admit it, if you compare this to the great thrillers made by Hitchcock, it is not that amazig but I thought it was entertaining enough. To conclude, it is a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Oh dear... I really really didn't like this flick... Event though I didn't have some high expectations, I still ended up being a disappointment. Of course, I'm aware of the fact this genre, the huge insects horror flick, shouldn't be taken too seriously but it doesn't change the fact that the whole thing still should be entertaining. To be honest, I have to admit that the spiders did look good but that's about the only positive thing I could find about this movie. Indeed, the plot was really stupid, the characters were really obnoxious and I was really bored during the whole thing. Another funny thing was to see a rather young Scarlett Johansson who was about 18 years old when she made this movie and thank God, she managed to pick up some better movies later on otherwise her career would have been doomed. I guess if you love this genre, you'd probably end up enjoying it more than I did but I thought it was really lame and really didn't add anything new or interesting to this tired formula. To conclude, I thought it was pretty bad and I don't think it is really worth a look, whatsoever.

Why did I re-watch this garbage?!? Basically, it has been a while since I saw this flick and I always wondered if my rating was actually maybe a little bit too harsh. Well, it wasn't... Apparently, it is a remake of one of the few movies directed by Francois Truffaut which I haven't see yet called 'La sirène du Mississipi', a movie which couldn't possibly be as bad as this remake. Basically, it is one of the most pathetic erotic thrillers I have ever seen. I mean, I have never been a fan of Antonio Banderas but even though he was not really good in this, at least, he really tried hard and he wasn't as pathetic as Angelina Jolie. I'll give you that, she really looked gorgeous but she gave here one of her worst performances ever. She was simply not convincing at all. Concerning Thomas Jane, he was quite pathetic as well. The story was just very long and tedious, with a lot of boring twists but they still managed to randomly throw in a very steamy sex scene so if you are interested to see Jolie almost completely naked, than you should check it out then. Even this scene was weak and reminded me of those late cheap erotic TV movies they show very late in the evening, even the music matched the description. To conclude, this movie is just pretty bad and I don't think it is really worth a look whatsoever.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but, somehow, I still ended up watching it. Eventually, I have to admit, it was actually not bad at all. At least, it was much better than 'The Son of No one', another flick directed by Dito Montiel also starring Channing Tatum, which was really disappointing in spite of the impressive cast involved. Basically, it is a really standard fight movie which faithfully follows the formula and even though it was nothing really amazing, they managed to add enough interesting elements to make it quite appealing. For example, I really liked how the illegal underground fights really looked messy. Furthermore, I thought the two main characters, the fighter (played by Channing Tatum) and his manager (Terrence Howard) were actually well written and quite compelling to behold. Tatum actually delivered a solid performance and Howard was really good as well, in a performance which reminded me of his work in 'Hustle & Flow'. Unfortunately, the story remained really pedestrian, the ending was completely predictable and I couldn't care less about the little romantic sub-plot. Still, all in all, it remains a decent action flick and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since there was a really good cast, I was really eager to check it out and I definitely had some pretty high expectations. Unfortunately, I thought it was one of the most misguided book adaptations I have ever seen. Indeed, this book was the debut novel by Isabel Allende and, eventually, this novel was critically acclaimed around the world, and catapulted Allende to literary stardom. However, like I said before, this adaptation was not really satisfying. Indeed, even though the plot takes place in Chile, the director, Bille August was Danish, and except for Antonio Banderas, the cast was composed of American, English and Germans actors to portray Latin American characters. I mean, the cast was pretty impressive (Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, Winona Ryder, Antonio Banderas, Vanessa Redgrave, Armin Mueller-Stahl) but they should have chosen some maybe less known actors but at least coming from Latin America. Anyway, this movie was eventually a flop and I can't say it deserved better. Still, the story really had some potential and I always had a weak spot for those movies describing a familly through four generations. To conclude, even though the whole thing is rather half-baked, I still think it is a decent drama and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I have a weak spot for Jim Sheridan's work and all the actors involved, I was really eager to check this flick. However, I was wondering if it was really a good idea to make an American version of the terrific Danish original version. I mean, if you are not going to improve the whole thing, or add anything really interesting to it, what's the point of remaking it? Eventually, I thought this version was pretty good, even though the Danish movie still remains better. I mean, with Sheridan's version, some things did work, some others didn't. For example, the directing was pretty solid, it remained a really strong drama and it was still a very compelling story. Furthermore, the casting of the two brothers was just brilliant. Not only Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal really looked like brothers but they both delivered some very solid performances (I don't know why some people criticized Tobey Maguirre for being too soft to portray a marine. I thought he was quite brilliant). On the other hand, I wasn't really convinced by Natalie Portman. I mean, don't get me wrong, she is a terrific actress but I don't think she was the right choice for the part. I mean, when I look at her, I seriously can't believe that she is a mother of 2 children and I think it would have worked better with an older actress, at least 7 or 8 years older than her. Furthermore, the original story was based on two streams : Sam's war experience and trauma and the new relationship between Tommy and Grace. Well, this second part was pure and simply completely removed and I think that's a shame because it made the whole thing much more complex and compelling to watch. To conclude, I still think it is a pretty good drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre, but I can't shake the idea that is a useless remake.

Since I have a weak spot for John Carpenter's work, I was really eager to check it out. Basically, it is Carpenter's most (and only?) mainstream feature and I thought it was rather disappointing. I mean, it was rather fun and entertaining but if you compare it to his other movies such as 'The Thing', 'Escape from New York', 'The Fog', 'Halloween' and 'Assault on Precinct 13', it is just nothing really amazing. Not only was it Carpenter's first mainstream feature, it was also his first comedy. I mean, it was fun and the special effects were quite good but the whole thing was still pretty shallow. I don't know, I have never been a fan of Chevy Chase, on the other hand I have seen only 8 of his movies and maybe I missed the best ones, but I seriously don't find him really funny. Still, they had some fun with the whole concept and it was quite well done visually speaking. Personally, I do prefer 'Hollow man', the dark version made by Paul Verhoeven, another critically panned movie dealing with the same subject but I'm always attracted the dark side, I guess. Anyway, even though it is not one of Carpenter's best, it remains an entertaining flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, before watching this flick, I wasn’t expecting much but since there was a nice cast, I thought I should give it a try anyway. First of all, how could they pick up such a lame title?!? I mean, when you read this title, do you really feel like watching the actual movie? I don’t think so… I mean, they could have called it ‘Divine Secrets’, that would have been good enough. Ok, but what about the movie itself? It wasn’t bad at all actually. I mean, it is rather unoriginal and quite predicable but the cast was indeed a real treat (Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, James Garner, Ashley Judd, Maggie Smith). Even though some of those characters were a little bit too over-the-top, they managed to deliver some solid performances and made the whole thing entertaining, redeeming its super lame title. This feature was Callie Khouri’s directing debut and for a first directing gig, it was all right. Before that Khouri became famous for writing ‘Thelma & Louise’ , a decent but rather over-rated flick in my book, a movie which is supposed to be a beacon of feminism, something I found really questionable but that’s another debate alltogether. Anyway, if you manage to go beyond the weird title, it is actually a rather well made and entertaining drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

It has been a while since I saw this flick and I thought it was time for a re-watch this time with Nick, my step-son. The first thing that really stroke me was the opening scene. Indeed, you have this chick completely drugged out, half naked, jumping from a building and compared to the action movies we see nowadays where blood and nudity is toned down to get a wider rating, I thought it was rather bleak. It was actually quite common back in those days but it was quite obvious that this genre has really evolved since then. My wife was not so pleased and gave me one of those looks ‘how dare you show this depraved garbage to my precious little son?!?’ but, well, the rest of the movie was actually rather harmless. Anyway, I thought it was definitely an entertaining action flick, even though the plot was nothing really original in my opinion. What made this movie better than the rest was the really solid directing by Richard Donner who provided some pretty cool action scenes and the great chemistry between Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Personally, I never believed in the fact that Gibson was mad or depressed and even though the story was really fun and entertaining, it still is and remains a rather shallow story and I never thought there were really something urgent at stake like in ‘Die Hard’ for example. Still, it is absolutely one of the better action movies ever made, it is completely entertaining from the beginning until the end and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.