Reviews by johanlefourbe

Last year, I have watched all the Star Trek movies and, this year, I have decided to do the same thing with the Planet of the Apes franchise. I’m pretty sure I saw this flick when I was a kid but it was definitely a very long time ago and I had forgotten most of it. What a grand Science-Fiction tale! I actually had a hard time convincing Nick, my step-son, to watch it with me but within 5 minutes, he was completely hooked which is always a good sign. Indeed, I thought it was much better than I remembered. First of all, I really enjoyed how they took their time at the beginning for the viewers and the characters to get acquainted with this strange world. Eventually, after waiting for 30 minutes, you finally see those apes and it was basically a huge slap in my face. In my memories, I thought they looked really cheesy but I was wrong, they looked just awesome. The way they managed to allow the simian characters to have some specific facial characteristics and being able to show their emotions was just mind-blowing. Especially considering that the make-up is now already 45 years old! Furthermore, when the apes show up, it was like a nightmare (‘Where did I land?!? Is it real?’). They further developped some very interesting idea about the future, science-fiction in general, parallel realities and many other things. The only major flaw in my opinion was how clueless Taylor actually is. I mean, how many clues does he actually need ? I mean, the vegetation, the horses, the language, the alphabet and many other things in this planet are exactly the same as on Earth but, still, he doesn’t get it. Anyway, with the ending, it then completely made sense. And what an ending! Definitely one of the famous ever put on the silver screen and it was indeed downright awesome and shattering. To conclude, it is a indeed a classic, a very good SF flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

There was a time when Joe Carnahan was hailed as the next best thing in Hollywood. Indeed, many people were impressed by this flick, his 2nd directing effort, especially Tom Cruise who took on the role of executive producer, and made sure the movie got a wider release than originally planned. He also convinced Carnahan to take the director's chair for Cruise's then upcoming ‘Mission: Impossible III’. Of course, as you probably already know, eventually he didn’t direct ‘Mission: Impossible III’ and, as a matter of fact, we are still waiting to see something great coming from him as none of his following feature was really amazing (‘Smokin’ Aces’ , ‘The A-Team’, ‘The Grey’). Anyway, I really loved his 2nd feature film which became eventually his breakthrough. Indeed, it might not be really original but the gritty look was quite awesome. Ray Liotta and above all Jason Patric gave also some of their best performances in this flick. Above all, the introduction was just mind-blowing. Indeed, without any delay, you are totally immersed in this bleak world with this undercover cop and it was just spellbinding with one hell of chase if I remember correctly. I have to admit, later on, the plot becomes rather pedestrian but the actors were great and the directing was just top-notch. To conclude, in my opinion, it is a very good cop thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I was seriously disappointed by this flick. I wasn’t really impressed by ‘Step Brothers’, the last movie directed by Adam McKay and starring Will Ferrell, but it wasn’t surprising since the whole idea was really lame to start with. However, the whole concept this time sounded really cool. I mean, a buddy cop movie with two losers police officers portrayed by Will Ferrell and Mark Walhberg sounded really good. Furthermore, there was a really nice supporting cast (Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, Ray Stevenson, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Steve Coogan) so I was pretty confident it would be, at least, a fun action comedy. Unfortunately, I didn’t like it much. I mean, most of the jokes were not funny and they were terribly repetitive. Furthermore, many moments which seemed funny in the trailer were wasted here because of some sloppy editing. For example, in the trailer, when Walhberg discovers that Eva Mendes is Ferrell’s wife, it was hilarious, but in the movie, it had no punch whatsoever and the fact that they kept joking about it during the rest of the movie was just really obnoxious. Eventually, I think I smiled a couple of times at most, there was no laugh-out-loud moments at all and I was frankly rather bored during the whole thing. To conclude, even if this flick had some huge potential, it was actually rather disappointing and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

I’m a huge fan of Marlon Brando. He was one of the best actors that ever lived but, still, after ‘Apocalypse now’, he didn’t do anything really amazing and all his movies were, at best, watchable but pretty often pure garbage, I’m afraid. This movie is supposed to be the exception though. Indeed, many viewers, including Roger Ebert himself, thought it was one fine feature and a great come-back for this thespian. However, I tend to respectfully disagree. I mean, Brando was indeed pretty good but the movie was rather lame if you ask me. Basically, it is one of those typical comedies where Matthew Broderick plays a clueless and spineless guy. It is rather funny that the guy got his breakthrough by portraying the coolest high-school teenager that ever lived (Ferris Bueller) but then spent the rest of his career playing the complete opposite. Roger Ebert was in awe of Brando’s talent when watching this flick but, even though I thought indeed that Marlon Brando was pretty good, I wouldn’t expect less, in my opinion, the whole plot and the movie itself was not really funny and just barely entertaining. To conclude, in my opinion, it was another disappointing modern feature starring the great Marlon Brando, it is not really worth a look, even if you are a fan of his work like I do.

I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for romantic-comedies, I thought I should check it out anyway. Basically, it follows the same template provided by ‘Love Actually’ (several small romantic plots are intermingled together) and the main attraction was the massive cast, one of the biggest ensemble of Hollywood stars put together. Unfortunately, except for this cast, this movie didn’t have much to offer, I’m afraid. To start with, even though ‘Love Actually’ was a decent rom-com, I wasn’t exactly a fan of this concept. Indeed, in my opinion, instead of getting one or two fully-fledged stories, you usually end up with 6 or more half-baked romantic tales, so I don’t find it really rewarding, at least that’s my opinion. With this movie, it was even worse because absolutely none of the sub-plots were either really interesting, entertaining or charming enough. Some actors managed to give a decent performance even if the material was rather abysmal (Shirley MacLaine being the best one) and some were just plain terrible (Taylor Swift being the worst of all by far). At the end of the day, the whole thing was just made to put together as many stars as possible without making sure that they had a proper script to start with. Basically, the whole thing was just a marketing stunt and the worst part is that it actually worked since it was rather successful when it was released. To conclude, I have seen worse movies but it still remain a really average romantic-comedy and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

Event though I left France almost 10 years ago, I still try to watch a French movie once in a while especially the ones who have won the César (French Oscars) for the best movie. First of all, who’s this guy, Abdellatif Kechiche ? He came out of nowhere and won back to back twice the César for the best French film. This movie was his second win but, honestly, even though I liked it, I can’t say it really blew me away. First of all, I found it rather weird that the main character suddenly completely out-of-the-blue decides to built a restaurant. Not only it sounded like a daft plan (he was more than 60 years old and without funds) but there was no transition with what happened before at all. Still, he managed somehow to built his restaurant (with what money?). Eventually, what really bothered me was the 3rd act. Basically, the whole third act was a very long (30-45 mins) and agonizing ending. Indeed, the main character decides to throw a party at his new restaurant inviting the local authorities in order to get all the authorizations and funds to launch his restaurant. However, just when the main dish (couscous) is meant to be served, one of his son takes off with the car. Of course, it was pretty obvious that there was still a main ingredient in the car… So, for the rest of the movie, you see the family working in the restaurant and the customers getting more and more restless which was just really mean in my opinion. But it doesn’t stop there… Indeed, the main character also takes off on his bike to find his missing son or the missing ingredient or whatever. However, during his trip, his bike is stolen by some little punks and, until the very end, you see the poor old fellow running after them. And, at the very end, you see him lying on the floor in the street, probably meeting his death… In my opinion, this 3rd pact was just really mean spirited, nasty and rather unnecessary. Still, I really liked this movie. Indeed, the directing which was reminiscent of Ken Loach or the Dardennes brothers, was really nice and felt like a documentary. The acting was also excellent, probably done by some unprofessional. I really wonder if the dialogues were scripted or improvised because they felt so natural. It is a rather long feature but I really enjoyed how they took their time to develop the conversations instead of rushing them. To conclude, even though I don’t think it was really great, there were definitely some glimpses of greatness in it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Back in the 80’s, not only Lawrence Kasdan had some major success as a screenwriter (he wrote ’The Empire Strikes back’ , ’Return of the Jedi’ and ’Raiders of the Lost Ark’ , not too shabby, ain’t it?), he developed also a solid career as a director and all his movies were acclaimed efforts (’Body Heat’, ‘The Big Chill’ , ‘Silverado’ , ‘The Accidental Tourist’) . However, in the 90’s, his directing efforts were not that impressive and, in my opinion, it all started to go wrong with this flick. I know, it has nowadays more or less reached a cult status but I thought it was not really good at all. I mean, the whole thing had some potential, there was a pretty cool cast (Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman River Phoenix, William Hurt, Keanu Reeves) but I just didn’t dig the tone at all. Basically, it is some king of farce with some really stupid and obnoxious characters and I thought it was a really bad approach to the material. Kevin Kline gave one of his typical hysterical comedic performance (since he has a mustache, there is no doubt about it…) and expect for ‘A Fish Called Wanda’, I never cared for these comedies and I always find annoying to death in those. To conclude, even though, it is not really a bad flick (13 years later, Kasdan would make ‘ Dreamcatcher’ which is 10 times worse), it is a really average comedy and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

At first, I thought I already saw this flick but it wasn’t the case and that was already the first issue with this movie. Indeed, even if Michael J. Fox is a really charismatic actor, he always plays the same character, some kind of variation around Marty McFly and, as a result, all his movies look more or less alike, at least, that’s my opinion. This time, it was some kind of comedy taking place in the corporate world and there was also some mistaken identity involved. I know, since it is a comedy, I shouldn’t take it seriously but, man, the whole thing was so preposterous, it was like watching a fantasy feature. Of course, it was rather harmless but, unfortunately, not really funny either and the whole thing was pretty tedious to watch. Concerning Helen Slater who broke through a couple of years before with the dreadful ‘Supergirl’, just like Michael J. Fox, she was just really charming to look at but, come on, she was just 24 years old back then and to make her a high-executive was just ridiculous. In my opinion, such movies show a total lack of ambition, they could try to make it a little bit darker, a little bit smarter (every time they start to explain something, they shut down the dialogs, tune up the upbeat music, and what is the left is the ecstatic look on the people face listening to our hero…) but instead you get this formulaic bore. To conclude, even though I have seen worse, it remains a really average comedy and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

For many years, Duncan Jones was mostly know as David Bowie's son with a really weird name but it seems that he has managed to find his own voice. Basically, in just two movies, he has succeeded in becoming one of the frontrunners in the Science-Fiction field. Personally, I wasn't exactly blown away by 'Source Code' but it was a really intriguing and entertaining flick but his directing debut was really impressive. I must admit, the whole thing was rather slow and frankly quite depressing but also so fascinating. Indeed, it was visually really impressive and Sam Rockwell gave, once again, a terrific performance. It is quite incredible that this guy, after making more than 50 feature movies, still doesn't get enough regognition for his tremendous talent. The rest of the cast was just a voice-over provided by Kevin Spacey. Honestly, I thought this GERTY would turn out to be, at some point, some kind of HAL 9000 but even though he/it had a really chilly voice, he wasn't really a threat and, eventually, didn't do much. Maybe they could have developped the robot which should follow the orders but decide to make his own decisions but it is never clear what does actually motivate his actions. Still, it is a very cerebral and quite spellbinding Science-Fiction feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.