Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, this movie was the only one directed by Stanley Kubrick with which I didn't have much a connection. I mean, I did like it but it didn't blow me away like the rest of his movies. On the other hand, I saw it only once and it was 15 years ago. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to watch it again recently and, this time, I understood why it was regarded as one of his best movies. It was the only comedy made by the great master and, as expected from the best director ever, it ended up being one of the best comedies ever made. Indeed, there were so many hysterical and hilarious scenes, I couldn't pick just one. Furthermore, everybody remembers Peter Sellers who was indeed excellent but the rest of the cast was also pretty awesome (George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens). Above all, I enjoyed the fact that it was very timely, especially when it was made and it was also very smart compared to all the stupid comedies they make nowadays. For example, everything happening in the plane was really accurate and made the whole thing even more surreal. Personally, I won't give it a higher rating because I don't think it was such a masterpiece as it was quite funny but not really hilarious. Still, it is one of the best comedies I have seen and it is definitely worth, especially if you are interested in Stanley Kubrick's work.

Even though the title was really lame, since I have a weak spot for John Travolta, I thought I should check it out anyway. My wife is even a huge fan of his so it was definitely a must watch for us. Anyway, I thought it was a decent thriller. It was above all interesting to see Vince Vaughn playing the bad guy, something he also did in the remake of 'Psycho' a few years before. Nowadays, he only does (very average) comedies but back then, Mr Vaughn was trying some other genres as well with various results. Eventually, I thought he was allright and, with John Travolta, they both gave some decent performances. So, the whole thing was pretty entertaining but it was still nothing mind-blowing though. The main issue is that the plot was just way too pedestrian, it just follows the rules of the formula without any anything original to it. Of course, there was an obligatory far-fetched twist at the end with a useless action scene and even if it should come over as a surprise, it is unfortunately always expected within your average American thriller. Still, to conclude, I thought it was a well made and rather entertaining thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I had some rather low expectations concerning this flick but since there was a rather nice cast, I thought I should give it a try anyway. Honestly, it started out pretty bad. I mean, the first 10 minutes where just a confusing mess. Basically, instead of introducing properly the main character, they just threw as many information as possible and moved on with the main plot. Anyway, as soon as she got to the boarding school, the whole thing got slightly better. At least, it moved on more smoothly following the rules of the genre. Of course, it was still some average stuff and I was rather bored during the whole thing but it could have been interesting if they made the main character a really terribly egoistical bitch or if they made the plot more depressing. At the end of the day, the tone might have been nice for the young teenage girls but it was way too fluffy for me. Fortunately, there was a pretty cool cast (Emma Roberts, Juno Temple, Aidan Quinn, Natasha Richardson, Alex Petyffer, Nick Frost) so the whole thing remained bareable. To conclude, even though it was not a total disaster, it was still pretty damned average and it is not really worth a look.

Honestly, I have never heard of this movie before but since   I have a weak spot for Robert Duvall, I thought I should give it a try anyway. It seems that Robert Duvall is a huge football (soccer in the US) fan, that's why he was interested in  this project in the first place. Anyway, I thought it was a decent and entertaining sport flick, no more, no less.  It follows faithfully the traditional formula and, unfortunaly, they didn't add anything new or original, preventing the whole thing from being more spellbinding to watch. Still, there were enough uplifting moments and Robert Duvall was, once again, pretty awesome in one of his typical no non-sense performances. To conclude, it is a well made and entertaining sport feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. (it is the only movie I'm the only one to have see here in listal, rather weird actually...).

I'm a huge Michael Caine fan and since the ratings concerning this flick were pretty good here on Listal and on IMDB, I was definitely eager to check it out. Eventually, even though the whole thing was rather intriguing, I can't say I was really blown away. First of all, there were 2 small things that bothered me. First, the music was terribly annoying and distracting. You know, it was one of those awful 80's soundtracks with some awful keyboards... Secondly, I thought that Julie Walters looked way too old for the part. I mean, she was supposed to be 26 but looked 36, eventually she was in fact 33 years old when she made this movie. But those were small critics. What really bothered me was the way Julie Walters started as an ignorant working class girl and ended up as someone completely different, some educated and articulated young woman. It was displayed as if the working class was kind of stupid and worthless and as if educated people are way smarter and interesting. It felt rather awkward and rather bothered me. Furthermore, like Roger Ebert pointed out, it is one of those movies when they are constantly claiming that they are reading tons of books but you don't feel that anything is actually really happening. Still, I can't dismiss this flick. Indeed, Michael Caine was really great, completely spellbinding to watch and gave one of his best performances (As a matter of fact, it is his favourite film of his own, and the performance he's the most proud of). Anyway, to conclude, even though the whole thing was rather disapppointing, it remains an interesting movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are a fan of his work.

I have noticed that this movie doesn't get much love here on Listal and on IMDB but, personally, I thought it was really good. First of all, it was the official coronation of Georges Clooney who finally got his academy award and I think he really deserved the damned thing but I think that the rest of the cast was really good too (Christopher Plummer, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, Matt Damon, Amanda Peet). Basically, it is one of those hyperlink plots where several stories are more or less intertwined together. You might think it is a tired gimmick by now but I have definitely a weak spot for this kind of stories, especially when they are well written like this one. Furthermore, it deals with politics which I found a fascinating subject and I'm a real sucker for movies dealing with this subject. So, they put all those elements together and it just worked very well and I thought that the whole thing was pretty spellbinding to watch. To conclude, even though it might be not very original, I thought it was a very well made and entertaining flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Even though I had some rather low expectations concerning this flick, since there was a nice cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Unfortunately, the whole thing turned out to be pretty disappointing. First of all, I have seen none of those Barbershop flicks and after seeing this spin-off, I don't really feel up to it... I mean, there was indeed a nice cast (Queen Latifah, Alicia Silverstone, Andie MacDowell, Alfre Woodard, Mena Suvari, Kimora Lee, Kevin Bacon, Djimon Hounsou) but except for Queen Latifah and Djimon Hounsou, all the actors involved were way over the top and it was just plain annoying. For example, I'm still not sure what to make of Kevin Bacon's performance. On one hand, it was pretty impressive because he was barely recognizable, he looked so different, he talked and moved like a totally different person but, on the other hand, it felt really forced so I still have to figure this one out. Anyway, above all, I thought the plot was awfully pedestrian and just plain boring. Queen Latifah was, as usual, very charismatic, she tried very hard and carried the whole thing on her shoulders but it wasn't enough to make this flick entertaining to me. To conclude, I thought it was pretty tedious and it is not really worth a look.

Since I have a weak spot for D.J. Caruso's work, I was definitely eager to check this flick. Eventually, it was one of the most frustrating movies I have ever seen.. Indeed, I was pissed off during most of its duration. Why? Because the whole thing really had some potential but the end result was rather laughable. I mean, before this, Caruso had made 'The Salton Sea', a flawed but interesting debut, and with this second feature, he shows again that he is a very talented director. Furthermore, there was an awesome cast (Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke, Kiefer Sutherland, Gena Rowlands, Olivier Martinez, Tchéky Karyo, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Paul Dano, Justin Chatwin) and they all gave some solid performances. So, what went wrong then? The issue was the story itself. Basically, half of it was rather interesting and entertaining but the other half was honestly total garbage. Indeed, the whole thing was just very convoluted with some really annoying twists. It never stops to amaze me that almost every single US thrillers have to end with one of multiple improbable twists and you always get these remarks from some viewers 'I didn't see it coming!'. Of course, you didn't, but it doesn't mean it is any good, it was just made for this effect and it is completely preposterous. To conclude, even though the whole thing had some potential, I thought it was rather disappointing and it don't think it is really worth a look.

I wasn't really planning to see this flick but Linsey, my step-daughter, came home with a pirated version of this movie that just came out so I thought I should give it a try anyway. Well, the lack of inspiration in Hollywood has become pretty obvious since, after the sequels, prequels, reboots, remakes, book adaptations, comic-books, tv-shows, the only thing left seems to be a board game.... Anyway, honestly, I thought the whole thing was pretty boring. Indeed, the introduction was really tiresome and tideous and then the rest was just a mix of various movies going from the obvious 'Transformers', 'Independence Day', 'Predator' and even 'Titanic'. I felt pretty bad for Taylor Kitsch who was supposed to be the next big star but since this movie was rather underwhelming and 'John Carter' was a huge flop, I wonder what will happen to him after this debacle. And I felt even worse for Liam Neeson... Such a good actor and such a waste of talent. I know, I shouldn't take this movie seriously, it was supposed to be a dumb movie and it was dumb with some decent special effects but the whole thing was seriously barely entertaining. To conclude, even though it was technically rather well made, the whole thing was just tedious to watch and it is not really worth a look.

Raoul Ruiz is not really well known here in listal but he is actually a quite interesting director. He actually died just last year but he had a productive career, directing more than 100 movies. Even though he was Chilean, most of those movies were made in France as he fled his homecountry from Pinochet's dictatoship. Anyway, I heard a lot about the guy so I was really intrigued by his work and when I finally got the opportunity to get acquainted, I was rather thrilled. This time around, he worked with a pretty good cast (Catherine Deneuve, Michel Piccoli , Melvil Poupaud, Bernadette Lafont, Mathieu Amalric) and, I, above all, enjoyed Catherine Deneuve who is still one of the best actress at work nowadays. The story was pretty weird and sometimes pretty hard to follow but it was obviously not the point here. Indeed, the whole thing was more about the symbolims, some kind of meta-narration, if you see what I mean (I'm not even sure I understand what I'm saying...). Anyway, evn though I don't think I got the whole thing, I still enjoyed it because a challenging complicated smart movie is always better than a dumbed down blockbuster. To conclude, I thought it was pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.