Reviews by johanlefourbe

Ever since I heard about this movie, I thought it sounded really fascinating and I was really eager to check it out. Indeed, the title was awesome and Christina Ricci was basically at the top of her game (by the way, it’s really too bad that she has lost some much weight through the years as she looked much cuter back then). In fact, I remember watching the beginning of this movie a long time ago and, eventually, it took me a couple of years to finally watch this flick in its entirety. Anyway, basically, it is a solid dark comedy but, to be honest, not everything did really work in my opinion. At least, Christina Ricci was quite awesome here and the rest of the supporting cast was pretty good.  Lisa Kudrow was especially really hilarious as she completely stole the show every time she was on the screen. The main issue, I guess, is that all the characters were not only rather appalling (which was not a problem) but they were also not always interesting or entertaining. To conclude, even though it wasn’t exactly a home-run, it was still a decent watch, I enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I have to confess that I'm not really familiar with Humphrey Bogart. I mean, I have seen a couple of flicks but not many (After checking this out, I discovered that I did watch 9 of his movies which is not so bad after all). Anyway, this time, he was working for the 4th time with his wife, Lauren Bacall. He he was also working for the 4th time with John Huston, the director who gave his big break so I was in pretty good hands, that's for sure and I expected to have a good time. Eventually, I wasn't disappointed. Honestly, I don't think it is the best thing they made but it was still a pretty good flick though. As usual, Bogart and Bacall had some tremendous chemistry and they were quite spellbinding to watch. The directing by John Huston was also solid but I honestly didn't care much about the story though. I mean, it was definitely entertaining but it was just a little bit too pedestrian for my taste, I guess. Still, like I said before, it remains a solid and entertaining film noir and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I know, this movie has a terribly lame reputation (according to Arnold Schwarzenegger, it was even one of his worst movies) but when I was a kid, I actually really enjoyed the damned thing. Back then, I was about 12 years old and I didn't know it was a huge flop and a laughable matter and I thought it was actually quite entertaining. Eventually, 20 years later, I though it was time for a re-watch and, this time, I saw it with Nick, my step-son. Honestly, I still don't get the hatred towards this flick. Indeed, there was some cool music by Ennio Morricone, the whole thing (costumes, sets, props,...) looked pretty awesome and, even though the story was really pedestrian, it thought it was entertaining enough. Of course, something I didn't notice when I was a kid was that the acting was actually really weak, especially concerning Arnold Schwarzenegger and Brigitte Nielsen. I still think they were both pretty bad-ass though. On top of that, they were not helped either by those terribly cheesy dialogues. Still, all in all, I don't think it deserves its bad reputation, as a matter of fact, I think it is a decent fantasy feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, beforehand, I have never heard of this movie before but since it was on the list '1001 movies you must see before you die', I was definitely eager to check it out. First of all, I had to admit it, I'm not really familiar with John Wayne's work and, in my opinion, he basically always portrayed typical tough guys so I was rather surprised to see him being cast in a such a romantic feature. And the best thing is that it actually worked. Basically, it is a rather simple and very old-fashioned romantic feature. Still, the fact that it was so old-fashioned made it, at the same time, very cute and charming but also sometimes rather annoying to watch. Still, I thought it was quite enjoyable to watch and the whole thing had an extra personal dimension (indeed, my own father moved from the Netherlands to live in France and I myself moved from France to live in the Netherlands). Eventually, it remains a harmless romantic flick and I thought it was pretty good, even if it was nothing really mind-blowing. To conclude, it is a decent (meaning that it deals with decency) romantic feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

After hearing so many things about this movie, I was definitely eager to check it out. Basically, it is one of those movies which are more famous for their troubled production than for the movie itself. Indeed, not only Marilyn Monroe was reportedly impossible to handle during the shooting but all 3 major stars died soon after this movie (Clark Gable died just after filming this movie, Marilyn Monroe died a year later before completing any other project and Montgomery Clift died just a few years later). Sure, that’s all really fascinating but what about the movie itself? Well, it was an intriguing piece of work but I was not sure what to make of it. Indeed, it basically deals with some outcasts, who were in fact pretty much some losers confused with themselves and about what they should do with themselves. Seriously, it was pretty eerie when considering where those actors stood at this point in their own life. Still, even though it was sometimes quite fascinating to watch, those characters were also, at some point, pretty pathetic and annoying (especially Marilyn Monroe's character). Still, in spite of its flaws, it remains a rather spellbinding movie to watch, especially if you are interested in the actors involved.