Reviews by johanlefourbe

Before becoming a hot-shot in Hollywood, Nicolas Winding Refn had been active as a movie director already for 15 years and I really wonder how many 'Drive' fans actually have seen his previous movies. Anyway, since I hadn't seen any of his movies, I was really curious to see this flick. Unfortunately, I thought the whole thing was rather disappointing. Indeed, it has been a while since I saw such an event-less feature (the last one was probably 'When a stranger calls' a few months ago). Basically, it started as some kind of weird Viking Fight Club but, then, as soon as the main character escaped, nothing much really happened. The worst was probably the boat trip which lasted maybe 20 minutes but felt more like 3 hours. There were about 120 lines of dialogue and the main character didn't say a word during the whole thing but I was fine with that. I would have even dropped the annoying sidekick kid and made the other characters always misinterpreting his thoughts and actions. Still, I cannot dismiss this movie. Indeed, it was visually impressive with a great mood and some solid directing and even though it was awfully slow, it was still rather spellbinding above all thanks to Mads Mikkelsen who gave here another electrifying performance. Basically, it was an ambitious but flawed project, some people even compared it to Terrence Mallick's work but it never reached this level. I also discovered that Nicolas Winding Refn conceived the film as some sort of acid trip which was not really surprising. What was rather surprising for me to find out was the fact that it is currently Nicolas Winding Refn's favorite of his own films. Anyway, even though it was terribly slow and sometimes boring to death, it remains an interesting flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Winding Refn's work.

Since I'm a huge fan of Robert De Niro, I definitely had to check this movie at some point. It is one of his more obscure movies and it it is pretty much forgotten nowadays but it is still much better than all the garbage he makes nowadays. Honestly, I must admit I didn't follow the whole thing since it was a little bit confusing and I watched it on the BBC without subtitles (or maybe I'm just too stupid...). Still, I thought it was a pretty good flick. I mean, even though the story might not be really original or mind-blowing, I thought that Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall both gave some very good performances, something usual with those guys. Together, they carried the whole thing on their shoulders and made the whole thing rather spellbinding to watch. I'm afraid that without them, this movie would have been rather tedious and dreary to watch. To conclude, I thought it was a nice flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you have a weak spot for those two actors.

I don't know abroad, but in France, it is a classic and it was a huge success back then when it was released. Anyway, since I hadn't see it for years, it was definitely time for a re-watch. And I wasn't disappointed. It is such a bold and inspiring picture, I thought it was pretty amazing. Of course, there is no way to know how accurate the whole thing is but I thought it was very believable. Also, they didn't make any concession such as making the characters talk French or English, there wasn't even any subtitles but I thought it made the whole thing even more spellbinding to watch. The scene which personally really blew me away was the one when the guy sees how to make fire. The look on his face, the impact of this event, it was just amazing. In those few minutes, they managed to give the very essence of being human (the consciousness, the thinking process). Just amazing. Of course, the whole thing is not completely flawless. For example, to add something to the thin story, they had to throw in a romantic plot which was nicely handled but it was not as believable as the rest. Furthermore, the main character made too many huge jumps into evolution in just a couple of days. Still, it is an unique movie, a very good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in this time period.

Before making all those big blockbusters and, in the process, very often pushing the envelope visually speaking, Robert Zemeckis made this rather modest comedy (as a matter of fact, it was his second directing feature). Many consider this flick an underrated and forgotten gem and even though I thought it was a decent effort, I can't say I was really blown away by the whole thing though. I mean, first of all, I have to admit there were many things to enjoy. Indeed, I really liked this idea of a 3rd rate user cars lot with some 3rd rather sellers and it was also nice to see Kurt Russell doing something else than his usual tough guys and he definitely gave a very good performances. So, I enjoyed most of it but it's too bad they didn't dare to make it even darker, even more cynical than what they made here. I mean, the whole thing honestly still remain rather harmless and, therefore, never reached its potential. Furthermore, the focus was gone towards the end when they unleashed a rather big boring action scene. Still, in spite of its flaws, it remains a wild and entertaining comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Heather Graham, I thought I should give it a try anyway. First of all, even though Heather Graham was prominently displayed on every poster, in fact, she was not even the main character and she didn't have much to do during the whole thing so that was a first disappointment. Anyway it was basically a really weak comedy produced by the Farrelly brothers and it displayed their usual tasteless and gross kind of humor, except that this time it was even less funny than usual. I'm actually being quite generous with my rating here but I actually liked the concept (a couple are in love but they discover they are actually brother and sister) and it could have been turned into a really sinister drama or an hilarious comedy. There were also here and there were some (very few) funny scenes especially thanks to Orlando Jones, Richard Jenkins and Sally Field. But still, most of the movie was just really pathetic, embarrassing and not funny at all. Anyway, to conclude, I have seen worse than this movie but it was still a very average comedy and I don't think it is worth a look at all.

Honestly, I wasn't really interested by this flick but since a colleague had the dvd, I thought I should give it try anyway. First of all, I have to say I have always been rather skeptical concerning Luc Besson. In France, he was very popular as a director following multiple success such as 'Nikita' (which was great) and 'Le Grand Bleu' and 'Léon' (which both were terribly overrated). Concerning his work as a producer/writer, the end-results were even more mitigated so I wasn't exactly thrilled by this flick at first. Eventually, it was not bad at all. Indeed, I really liked the concept of this man-dog used to protect his master. The action scenes were really neat and Bob Hoskins (who has recenly retired due to Parkinson's disease) was really hilarious and total badass. Jet Li was pretty good as well and, as always, really impressive during the fight scenes, too bad though that Morgan Freeman was rather underused. Unfortunately, as usual with Besson, the whole thing started with an interesting concept but it was not well developed and the whole thing fell into boring sentimentality after a while. Still, it remains a well made and entertaining action flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

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...).