Reviews by johanlefourbe

You might find him terribly annoying and not funny at all but you can’t argue that Will Ferrell is one of the most successful and recognizable comedian of the last decade. Personally, I have some mixed feelings about him. Indeed, he can be sometimes downright hilarious but he keeps playing over and over the same characters and it is getting less and less entertaining and more and more obnoxious. Anyway, 2003 was his breakthrough year, as he showed up in ‘Old School’ and in this Christmas flick which were both tremendous success. Honestly, I never really cared about Christmas movies. Even though I love Christmas, the movies dealing with this celebration usually bore me to death. However, when they put a dark twist, like in this one, it can be pretty enjoyable and, indeed, I had a good time watching this movie. There was a very good cast surrounding Ferrell (especially James Caan and Zooey Deschanel) and the whole thing was really entertaining. Of course, the plot is rather idiotic and it is nothing really amazing whatsoever but they managed to make a fun movie out of this. Not only was it an important movie for Will Ferrell but also for its director, Jon Favreau. Indeed, with his 2nd directing effort, Favreau continued to display some skills and reminded us he would be a director to be reckoned with. To conclude, it is a well made and fun Christmas flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see where Will Ferrell came from.

I kept bumping in this movie so I was really curious to check what it was about. Well, it seems to be one of the most polarizing movies that came out recently and, apparently, you either love it or hate it. Personally, I’m one of the few remaining in the middle, in the sense that I thought it was pretty good but I still don’t think it was really brilliant though. Basically, it is a really weird flick with some very experimental elements. I almost went completely blank before watching this movie and it is only a few days ago that I found out that it was about a killer tire. Fortunately, I didn’t know anything else and it is the best way to watch such a flick. Indeed, there were so many ‘WTF’ moments, it was just really cool. Unfortunately, it gets a little bit repetitive pretty quickly. It is like the audience watching the show. It was at first pretty neat but it got old really fast. The point is that Dupieux had a few good ideas but he kept repeating them on and on and it would have been interesting if they went further than those few ideas. Still, they get some extra points just for the sheer originality and absurdity of the whole concept and it is rather impressive that they managed to make an enjoyable and interesting flick about a damned tire. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn't completely sold, I thought it was still pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in experimental movies.

If I remember correctly, I saw this one when it was released back then when I was living in England. Anyway, I thought it was time for a re-watch with Nick, my step-son and, this time again, I thought it was actually pretty good. I mean, if M. Night Shyamalan might be nowadays the laughing-stock of the movie community but, back in those days, he was considered one of the most promising directors. Personally, I wasn’t really impressed by ‘The Sixth sense’ which I consider one of the most overrated movies ever made, but his follow-up was really good, the best movie directed by Shyamalan so far, and as a matter of fact, the only one which I found really satisfying. The point is that way before the whole super-hero overdose, he came up with this really gritty and realistic approach on the genre and I thought it was quite fascinating to behold. Of course, the whole thing was not flawless. Indeed, as usual with Shyamalan, even though the directing was very solid, the writing was kind of weak. I mean, often he would sacrifice plausibility for thriller theatrics. For example, is it really realistic to believe that the main character would become aware of his ability only after a huge train wreck? I mean, you or your family would notice that you are never sick or injured (I mean, when I was a kid, I noticed I never got to the hospital and it remained so until I was 18 years old, and by now, I have been 3 times to a hospital. I mean, my point is that you notice and remember such things). Another point, when the main character notice a weird note on his windshield, shouldn’t he shred it? And don’t get me started with the usual Shyamalan twist... So, it is not perfect but it remains a good flick though, absolutely. I mean, I just loved this ‘super-hero’ who is actually some kind of depressed loser, so much more interesting than your usual though guys, and Bruce Willis delivered a solid performance. In fact, even though Willis was pretty good, Samuel L. Jackson was actually even better. Basically, he gives one of the best performances in his long career portraying a really fascinating character completely lost in his neurotic obsessions. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it is one of the most interesting and entertaining super-hero flick I have seen and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you have completely lost faith in M. Night Shyamalan.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out again. First of all, I have to admit I’m not one of those kids that grew up with this movie, watching it over and over again. Back then, I did watch tons of movies but not this one though. Anyway, my wife thought it was a huge gap in my cultural education and, for once, I had to agree with her and I finally managed to watch it at some point. Unfortunately, since I saw it as a grown-up, I can’t say it was really amazing. It has probably to do with the fact that I’m not a huge fan of musicals. Still, it was a good flick, that’s for sure. Indeed, Julie Andrews gave one of the most memorable acting debut and became at the time an instant star. Furthermore, there were so many iconic scenes. In fact, while I was rewatching the damned thing, I was surprised by how much much I was enjoying myself. Indeed, the beginning scenes were just really fun and even the songs were pretty good. Unfortunately, I'm afraid this feeling only did last for 30 minutes maybe. Above all, what mostly dragged the whole thing down was the fact that this movie is just way too long and the fact that everything happening is completelly random didn't help either. To be honest, I would have a hard time to believe that kids nowadays would manage to see this movie with a running time of almost 150 minutes without getting completely bored out of their minds (obviously, none of my 3 kids have watched the damned thing). Still, there is no doubt that it remains a classic, only therefore it is definitely worth a look, and, even if I'm not huge fan, it was still a decent watch. 

I had some rather low expectations about this flick but since Michael Caine and Henry Fonda were starring, I thought I should give it a try anyway. Eventually, it was even worse than I thought… Basically, it was probably the worst disaster flick I have ever seen (or maybe ‘When Time Ran Out...’ was even worse, I’m not sure…). Anyway, for more than 2 hours, you get some pathetic special effects, some laughable dialogues, some poorly sketched subplots and some completely uninteresting characters. The most annoying thing about these movies is that there was no scientific background whatsoever and it made the whole thing look even more ridiculous. I mean, you get such great actors like Fonda or Caine giving their dialogues in all seriousness whereas most of what they are telling you was just total horsesh*t. It would work much better if there was anything possible in what was happening and in what they said. Of course, what should you expect from a movie about killer bees ? Not much, of course, but it didn’t have to be that bad and it was a huge flop when it was released. Unsurprisingly, Irwin Allen (nicknamed ‘the Master of Disaster’) has directed this piece of turd and I discovered afterwards that he was also responsible for the awful ‘When Time Ran Out...’. It figures. Anyway, to conclude, this flick was a huge waste of time, I didn’t like it at all and it is definitely not worth a look, even if you like the genre.

Basically, It is once again a rather obscure French movie which not much people have seen here in Listal. Even though Bertrand Tavernier is pretty much unknown here in Listal, he is actually one of the best French directors from the last 40 years. This flick is not one of his most famous ones (it was his second directing effort) but it was pretty good and it did manage to win a few Césars (the Césars are basically the French Oscars). Basically, it deals with some rather obscure piece of French history and I think it is always nice to learn something new about history, especially when France is involved. So, the directing was really solid but, above all, it was just awesome to see 3 monsters of the French cinema put together in one movie (Philippe Noiret, Jean Rochefort, Jean-Pierre Marielle). Maybe you have never heard of them but those guys are really good and it is very often that you get see them working together like that. I have to admit that even though the plot was entertaining and interesting, it was still nothing really fascinating. Still, it remains a decent historical comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Honestly, I’m not really big on Cary Grant (9 movies seen) or Audrey Hepburn (8 movies seen) but since I kept hearing good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. Eventually, I thought it was pretty good but I can’t say I found it really amazing. The point is that the story was just way too convoluted and fluffy for my taste and I’m rather amazed that many viewers compare this movie to Hitchcock’s work. Hitchcock’s movies were sometimes complicated but they always made sense and they were terribly smart whereas this movie was honestly full of non-sense and huge plot holes. As far as I’m concerned, if the characters or the makers don’t take the story seriously, why should I? Still, I thought it was quite enjoyable. Indeed, even though her character was rather clueless, Audrey Hepburn was just really charming, as usual. Above all, I thought that Cary Grant was just awesome. I mean, he is basically one of those actors who always plays the same part in every single movie but he is always great anyway. This movie was not an exception. It was one of his last movies and he stood above all the rest of the cast and delivered the best lines. Personally, I didn’t care much about the multiple identity thing and I thought it would have been more interesting if he remained a random guy who get accidentally involved in some shady spy conspiracy but, it didn’t matter, I thought he was great anyway. To conclude, even though it didn’t really blow me away, it remains an entertaining flick, it is a classic, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Like the most of us, I do believe the fact that Heath Ledger is deceased is a terrible loss for the movie world but, honestly, by now I have seen all his movies since his breakthrough ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ (expect for ‘ I’m not there’ and ‘ Candy’) and, if you put aside ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and ‘The Dark Knight’ , there is actually not much mind-blowing in his filmography. This movie is a good example. I mean, I thought it was entertaining and I enjoyed it but it is hardly a masterpiece. Personally, I have to admit I had never heard about Ned Kelly before watching this flick. Basically he was some kind of Australian Jesse James so, only for this, it was a rather educational watch even it might not have been really historically accurate. Like I said before, it was a rather entertaining, with some solid directing and a pretty good cast (Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Naomi Watts, Joel Edgerton, Emily Browning, Rachel Griffiths). Still, compared to ‘ The Proposition’, another Australian ‘ Western’ I also recently saw, this effort is hardly original or really interesting and if you watch it , there is a good chance you’ ll forget it within the following 5 minutes. Still, even though it is nothing really amazing, I thought it was a rather well made Australian ‘ Western’ and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since it is a huge classic, I really had to see this at some point. The fact that it is Michael Caine’s favorite movie of all time made it even more attractive to me. Honestly, I have to admit I’m not really knowledgeable about Humphrey Bogart and I only saw 5 movies starring this guy before watching this flick. The first thing that really stroke me is the character portrayed by Bogart. Indeed, so far, even though I thought he was a pretty good actor, he seemed to have a rather limited range since he always played the same character over and over again, the cool no-nonsense anti-hero with the heart in the right place. Not this time though, that’s for sure. Indeed, this time, he was something completely different, some kind of pathetic paranoid back-stabbing SOB and he did it brilliantly. He definitely showed some balls to portray such a character against his usual image and at the height of his popularity. I was quite blown away by his performance and it is his best performance, at least among the movies I have seen. Walter Huston was also really awesome and, apparently, John Huston was immensely proud of the fact that his father finally won an Academy award in his own movie. So, indeed, it is a movie dealing with gold searching and they do find some gold but that was evidently not the point here. No, what makes this movie so fascinating, were the characters and their evolution, especially the evolution of the now infamous Fred C. Dobbs. I also liked the way Huston’s character always stay cool under the circumstances as you can imagine that this guy has been down this road many times before but you never get any confirmation. To conclude, it is a classic, I really enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.