Reviews by johanlefourbe

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.

I have already seen this flick a few years back but I thought it was time for a rewatch with Nick, my step-son. And, once again, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Indeed, I'm a huge fan of 'Dark City' and it was pretty cool to see Alex Proyas directing a big-budget SF flick. First of all, the whole thing looked pretty awesome (it did help that I watched it on my new purchased HD TV and even newer HD recorder. Good times!). Furthermore, I thought it was a rather smart blockbuster. Obviously, it doesn't reach Bergman's level but I thought it was pretty decent for a commercial feature. Indeed, I though that there were some interesting ideas about robots and their supposedly lack of consciouness. Still, they get side-tracked pretty often by some action scenes which were pretty awesome but I was personally more intrigued by the psychological side of the story. Anyway, this movie is another piece of evidence that Will Smith knows how to pick up his projects. Indeed, even though they are usually blockbusters and makes some huge money, they are almost always interesting (ok, 'Wild Wild West' didn't work very well but everybody is entitled to make a mistake once in a while). To conclude, I thought it was a decent and entertaining SF blockbuster and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Raoul Ruiz is not really well known here in listal but he is actually a quite interesting director. He actually died in 2011 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 home-country from Pinochet's dictatorship. 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. Even though I don't think this movie was really amazing, I still think it was pretty good. Indeed, first of all, you have a very good cast (Marcello Mastroianni, Melvil Poupaud, Chiara Mastroianni, Arielle Dombasle, Smaïn) and I especially enjoyed the late Marcello Mastroianni who was definitely one of the best actors ever. I also enjoyed the story which was pretty surrealistic, a trademark in Ruiz work. Still, even though the story was all right, I missed a lot of the symbolism (I'm not smart enough, I guess...) and I thought the pacing was rather sluggish but it is inherent to the genre, I'm afraid.  To conclude, it is a pretty good surrealistic flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

When is the last time you saw a good movie starring Robert De Niro? I keep watching most of his new movies but most of it is just crap and after all this disappointment, it was time to rewatch a good old flick to redeem the guy. Among all the masterpieces De Niro and Scorsese made together, it is one of the least appreciated ones and it was a flop when it came out which is not really surprising. Indeed, it is a comedy but the whole thing is just so dark, so sardonic, it can't be compared to your average commercial comedic feature. That's probably why I enjoyed it whereas I usually don't care much about comedies. Once again, the directing was really awesome with here and there some pacing issues but nothing major and some amazing performances (Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Sandra Bernhard). It is also gives a grim and, I'm afraid, realistic view on the whole fandom/stalker concept. The great thing about this movie is that you never know if you should laugh or be afraid by the whole thing which is probably why the average audience dimissed it and it is exactly why I actually enjoyed it so much. Still, I'm not so sure about the ending. On one hand, it is really fascinating and provides a great twist to the whole thing, blaming Langford, the audience, everybody and shows how ridiculous the whole system is. On the other hand, where they make sure during the whole thing that Pupkin is displayed as a maniacal incapable moron, suddenly, with this ending, he becomes some kind of genius and a great comedian. Still, it is another great movie by the great duo Scorsese/De Niro and it is definitely 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. Eventually, even though most of his work is pretty obscure, I'm pretty sure this movie belongs to his most obscure ones. As a result, I can't say I really enjoyed this flick. I mean, the acting (above all by Bernard Gireaudeau and Elsa Zylberstein) was really good and I also enjoyed the rather surealistic directing reminiscent of Bunuel's work. Still, I thought the whole thing was pretty alienating and barely entertaining. To conclude, even though it was not entirely satisfying, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you like the genre.

Even though Hilary Swank managed to snatch 2 oscars which she both deserved, I'm afraid she has never done anything else really impressive. With this flick which she produced, it seemed that she picked up a better project, a high-profile biographical drama but it was still not really a success, I'm afraid. In fact, Swank shouldn't be blamed though as she gave a pretty good performance. Furthermore, the whole thing looked pretty good and it gave a good feeling of the time period. Still, it was not really satisfying though. I don't know, but when Mira Nair makes movies about Indian people or Indian immigrants ('Salaam Bombay!', 'Monsoon Wedding', 'The namesake'), the end result is always quite amazing but when she deals with another culture ('Vanity Fair' and this movie), the end result is usually rather disappointing. In this case, the main character was actually pretty fascinating but the whole thing was still rather bland. For example, there was something about the dialogues which were sometimes rather fluffy and some scenes which didn't work very well. The best example was the scene with the plane race when her husband tried to force an opponent to let her win. As a result, they made him look like a bad guy but the whole thing wasn't developed at all during the rest of the movie. What was the point of this scene then? It was probably supposed to tell us something about Georges Putmanbut since it didn't come again at all, it was rather pointless. Still, it remains a well made drama and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since Terry Gilliam is one of the most interesting directors alive, I was definitely eager to check this one out. It is pretty obvious that it is one of his least personal projects and that there was some major studio interfering during the production and as a result, many Gilliam fans tend to dismiss this flick. Personally, even I tend to agree that it is a minor effort, I still think it is actually pretty enjoyable. Indeed, I thought it was a real cool concept to make a movie about the Grimm Brothers, Matt Damon and Heath Ledger were great choices and delivered some solid performances and the whole thing looked pretty awesome which is always expected when watching a Gilliam's features. Of course, I have to admit, when watching this, you get the feeling that the plot is rather pedestrian and, that somewhere, there is actually a great movie hiding but I thought it was a fun movie to watch, better than your standard studio production and not as alienating as some other movies made by Gilliam such as 'Tideland'. To conclude, even though it has a bad reputation, I think it is actually pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Gilliam's work.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since there was a pretty good cast involved, I thought I should check it out anyway. And, indeed, eventually, it was just another average and rather boring romantic comedy starring Matthew McConaughey. I don't know if you have noticed but McConaughey has made a come-back recently starring in a bunch of interesting flicks ('The Lincoln Lawyer', 'Bernie', 'Killer Joe', 'Magic Mike',  'Mud', 'The Wolf of Wall Street, 'Interstellar') but, before that, he was mostly known for his fluffy romantic comedies starting with 'The Wedding Planner' back in 2001. Personally, I think the guy always had some talent but those flicks were just so lazy, so unoriginal, so uninteresting, it is a real bore to watch them, even if I do have a weak spot for the genre. Like I said before, the supporting cast was actually nice (Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Robert Forster, Anne Archer, Emma Stone) and I especially enjoyed Michael Douglas who is always so convincing when portraying a sleaze bag but the story was just inane and I never believed in the chemistry between McConaughey and Garner. To conclude, it was just another average and boring romantic comedy and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre like I do.