Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since it was Fellini's last directing feature, I was definitely eager to check this flick. It is pretty obvious that it is not one of his many masterpieces ('8½', 'La dolce vita, 'Le notti di Cabiria' or 'La strada') but it is still really interesting. This time aroud, Roberto Benigni had the privilege to work with the great maestro for his last movie. Even though I have nothing against Benigni, I'm not a fan and I'd rather have Marcello Mastroianni who was always awesome and fascinating when working with Fellini. As usual with this director, there is not much of a plot here and the whole thing was rather difficult to follow and it is always something that prevented me from really enjoying some of his flicks, even some of his best ones. I mean, I don't always need a straightforward plot but I do need to know a little bit what the hell is going on or then I have to get a very strong emotional reaction concerning the movie itself (For example, I sure didn't understand every thing from 'Teorema' but, emotionally, it touched me deeply). In this case, I enjoyed the directing and the whole thing was watchable but it was nothing really mind-blowing, I'm afraid. Still, if you like poetic and artistic movies, it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Fellini's work.

Since I kept hearing some really good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. Eventually, I thought it was not bad but not much more than that and my wife thought it was even actually pretty bad. On the positive side, Emma Stone was really good as she gave here her breakthrough performance. I also enjoyed the dialogues, even though they felt sometimes overwritten especially when the parents were involved. The main issue was that I didn't really care much about the story. I don't know, in Europe, or at least in France where I spent all my youth, in high-school, 90% of us lost their virginity between 14 and 18 years old and nobody made a big deal out of it. I mean, some of us were pretty promiscuous but they were no gossip because nobody really cared about what the others were doing because we had to take care of our own sh*t. After reading Roger Ebert's review, I understand that the whole thing was actually rather caricatural but it still doesn't change the fact that I didn't care much about the plot at all. Furthermore, I laughed a few times (my wife didn't laugh once...) but it is not like the whole thing was really hilarious at all. Still, even though it didn't blow me away, it remains a decent comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I have never really heard of this movie before but since someone lend me a dvd, I thought I should give it a try anyway. It was made after 'La strada', my favorite movie by Fellini and before 'Le notti di Cabiria' and 'La Dolce Vita'. It is not one of the most famous movies directed by Fellini and it is one of his best but I still think it was pretty good. For this feature, he left for a while his extravagant poetic style and chose this time for the neo-realism and maybe that's why it wasn't as succesful as the other movies he made back then. There is not much of a plot here and it focus more on the characters but that's fine since those characters were pretty fascinating to watch, especially the main character perfectly portrayed by Broderick Crawford. Furthermore, even though it is a rather sober feature, the directing is, as usual with Fellini, really flawless and makes the whole thing quite spellbinding to watch. To conclude, it may not be a masterpiece but it is still a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Fellini's work.

I really didn't know what to expect from this flick since I have a weak spot for John Goodman, I thought I should give it a try anyway. Eventually, I thought it was an interesting feature about the survival wild child genre. I also liked the fact that almost all the characters were some really nice and decent people even the director of the juvenile 'prison' was not really bad. Movies can be pretty cynical and it was rather refreshing to see a flick without evil at every corner and that's too bad they felt compelled to add the 'evil' police guy who's chasing Moon throughout the whole thing. Of course, I understand that they added him to add some tension, drama and even humor but I think it would have been interesting to see a movie populated with only some nice people. The other issue I had was that the movie didn't really know what it wanted to be. I think it was supposed to be a family feature (I'm not even sure...) since the whole escape was treated like a game and when the kids were all alone in the woods, they made it seems way too neat and too easy. On the other hand, you had some really dark and realistic scenes which didn't really fit the genre (for example, in the opening scene, you had Moon carrying his dead father and burrying him...). So, it kept switching tone between family-friendly and dramatic-realistic and it felt ratheruneven. Still, in spite of its flaws, it was a nice take on the survival movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn't really planning to see this flick but since there was nothing else really interesting to watch I thought why not? The first thing I thought while watching this remake is that I suddenly realized I just love movies dealing with amnesia. Indeed, 'Memento' is my favorite movie and I really loved 'The Bourne Identity' (much more than the sequels) and, of course, the original 'Total Recall'. What made those movies fascinating, at least, to me, was that they focused more on the pyschological and emotional turmoil lived by the main character and not so much on the action scenes. In my opinion, that was the big mistake made in this version. Indeed, the action stuff was pretty cool and entertaining but you never get the opportunity to root for Doug Quaid. Colin Farrell tried really hard and I don't think he should be blamed. It is like Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel. They were both pretty badass but they didn't have anything else to offer, I'm afraid. Still, the whole thing was not a total failure. Indeed, the action scenes were pretty neat and it has been a while since I have seen such an impressive vision of the future. To conclude, I thought it was still a decent attempt and even though it was not better or even as good as the original version, it was still worth a look though, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I don't think it was that bad. Ok, now you're thinking I'm crazy but let me put some context around this statement... This flick is notoriously one of the worst sequels ever made so, beforehand, I thought it would be just awfull and since my expectations were so low, this flick had actually a shot to positevely surprise me. Does it make any sense? Anyway, of course, it is pretty average and it remains a disappointing sequel. First of all, it is obviously pretty funny that they decided to make an action flick around a huge boat which is not really a fast vehicle at all. Keanu Reeves knew that this was a stinker going nowhere so he wisely staid away of it and it was a terrible blow for Jason Patric and Jan de Bont whose careers never really recovered from this disaster. Still, I thought the whole thing was midly entertaining. I mean, Jan de Bont is a decent action movie director, Willem Dafoe is always a badass bad guy and there were some entertaining sequences and I think the original opinion is a little too harsh. Of course, it is pretty average but the genre doesn't require anything mind-blowing (As a matter of fact, Roger Ebert surprisingly gave it a 3 stars review). To conclude, it is not that bad but it is still pretty average and, eventually, not really worth a look.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a pretty nice cast, I thought I should check it out. Eventually, it was pretty average. Indeed, I thought that the directing was weak, the acting was not really convincing except for the great Liam Neeson and the story was rather boring. Basically, it is one of those action flicks which keeps telling you that violence, vengeance and all stuff are really bad but they still managed to end up with a huge shooting... Still, I can't completely dismiss the whole thing. Like I said before, the cast was pretty cool (Patrick Swayze, Liam Neeson, Adam Baldwin, Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Ben Stiller) and the story was actually interesting. Indeed, I liked the whole confrontation between the world of the Italian-American maffia and the world of the 'hillbillies' and I think, at some point, there was some potential here. Unfortunately, the end result was rather half-baked, not really an action flick, not really a serious feature either. To conclude, even if the whole endeavour had some potential, I didn't like it, I thought it was rather boring and it is not really worth a look.

I have never been a fan of spoof movies but since it is a huge classic, I thought I would definitely enjoy this one. Eventually, I thought the whole thing was pretty disappointing... Of course, there were here and there some funny jokes but I can't say I was laughing throughout the whole thing. Like another Listal users pointed out in her review, maybe back then these jokes were timely but 25 years later, most of those jokes don't really work anymore. I guess it would be the same thing when people will watch 'Shrek' 25 years later, they will miss many pop-cultural jokes that were relevant when it came out. Furthermore, I find Leslie Nielsen more annoying than funny in his iconic part. I know, that's the whole point, he is supposed to be annoying but I didn't find him really funny, just plain stupid. Eventually, I spent most of the time watching the movie decrypting the jokes to get their meaning and I got most of them but my reaction was usually 'oh yeah! that's what they meant. Pretty clever, not bad, next joke...' and, once in a while, they would be something hilarious popping up and I would be laughing but that wasn't often enough. To conclude, I know, it is a classic but I didn't like it but if you love the genre, there is a good chance you will enjoy it more than I did.

Wow.... It has been a while since I saw such a weird movie... Where should I start? Let's take the very first scene... I mean, I heard about the notorious non-simulated blowjob scene but I didn't know it was right from the start... Basically, it hit me like a train. What was this all about? On one hand, the scene was rather well made and definitely striking and the whole endeavour was absolutely bold. But, on the other hand, it was also really distracting because during the rest of the movie, I kept thinking again about what happened back then when I was supposed to focus on what was going on at that moment. A part from this, there was some kind of a plot dealing with the kidnapping of a baby but like some other directors like David Lynch, Carlos Reygadas didn't care much about the plot. What you have instead is a succession of weird scenes which goes all very slowly and I'm not sure I really understood what was going on. What was the motivation of the characters? What was the motivation of the director? I can't say I have an answer. Still, I make it sound as if it was a bad movie but it's not. Indeed, I cannot completely dismiss it. The directing, for example, was really good and the whole thing was quite mesmerizing to watch. The natural acting by the non-professional actors was also really efficient and the use of sound and music made the whole thing even more spellbinding to watch. To conclude, I don't think it was really amazing but it remains a bold movie and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in experimental movies and if you don't mind explicit sex scenes.

Samuel L. Jackson is really badass and I would watch anything starring this guy. And thank God he was there, otherwise the whole thing would have been really boring to watch. I mean, don't get me wrong, it is a decent sport flick based (how surprising!) on a real story and it was rather entertaining. But it is decent, nothing more, since it follows the usual rules of the genre without much inspiration(the coach arrives at the school, they hate him but of course, he is a freaking genius so they start to win games and eventually, they love him pretty bad...). Furthermore, I didn't really buy the whole studying thing. I mean, you need more than a few scenes showing the players with some books to convince me that this movie was not about sport but about studying. They try this way to give some extra meaning but I didn't work out very well. Still, in its genre, it is not bad and rather entertaining, just really predictable. On a sidenote, it is also interesting to notice that Channing Tatum gave his acting debut in this film. To conclude, it was allright and it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre.