Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even though I had never heard of this movie before, since there was a nice cast involved, I thought I should check it out. Eventually, it was not bad at all. Indeed, it was dealing with one of the most important battles during the Pacific war, there was an impressive cast (Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Hal Holbrook, Toshirô Mifune, Robert Mitchum, Cliff Robertson, Robert Wagner, Pat Morita, Erik Estrada, Tom Selleck) and the directing was decent even though I'm not sure if the choice to mix the movie with some real footage was such a great idea. Still, the whole thing was not really mind-blowing. Indeed, the whole battle was quite fascinating and rather realistic but, sometimes, also rather confusing and I'm not sure I really followed the whole thing. Furthermore, there was a sub-plot involving Charlon Heston's son in love with a Japanese girl which didn't work at all. I mean, I understand that they wanted to add some romantic angle but it was poorly developped and it didn't really work well with the rest of the movie. Anyway, eventually, it was still a decent war movie dealing with an impressive battle and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, since it is a rather obscure movie, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the damned thing but since I have a weak spot for Sean Connery, I was quite  eager to check it out. In fact, this movie was John Milius’s second directing feature and he would get some success later on with 'Conan the Barbarian'. With this movie,  you could feel that, back then, Milius already had a good feeling for exotic adventure. However, the whole thing was still a rather odd mix between a cheap version of Lawrence of Arabia and a political satire featuring Theodore Roosevelt. Same thing with the casting of Sean Connery to play an Arab warlord, it was completely ridiculous but, surprisingly, thanks to his everlasting charm and some funny one-liners, he actually pulled it off. Their portraying of the Arabs was also rather dubious as they were either noble, sophisticated and charming like Sean Connery or they seemed to be rather ignorant and stupid. Of course, it was an adventure flick so you shouldn't spend too much time on such details or on the historical accuracy. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was rather flawed, it wasn't bad at all and it is worth a look, especially if you are a fan of Sean Connery's work.

This flick is a perfect example that, even if you have a rather preposterous story, you still can manage to make an entertaining and compelling movie. Indeed, the whole thing was about a average guy who decides to help escape his wrongfully accused wife. I don't know about you but when I heard this plotline, I wasn’t really impressed and I was expecting one of these dumb action flicks I have seen so many times in the past. However, it turned out to be a rather gripping thriller. I mean, of course, the story was still really far-fetched (especially when the main character went to steal money from some drug dealer and ended up in a shoot-out, that was far from believable) but the directing was really effective and Vincent Lindon gave a really solid performance and it was above all thanks to him that I really get into the story. Diane Kruger wasn't bad either but she honestly didn't have much to do during the whole thing. Eventually, I was wondering during the whole duration how this guy was going to pull it off and thanks to Lindon's down-to-earth approach, it was quite entertaining. Only 2 years later,  they would come up with an American version starring Russell Crowe which was not bad but this original version was really better. Anyway, to conclude, it was a pretty decent thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Since I kept hearing some really good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. Furthermore, since it was dealing with an alien invasion,  Nick, my step-son, was even more enthusiast than I was so we basically had to watch it as soon as possible. Eventually, it was really similar to  'Shaun of the Dead' except that ‘Shaun…’ was  an action horror comedy and this movie was combining a hood flick with an alien invasion. Anyway, the only thing they maybe were missing here was some star power. I mean, 'Shaun of the dead' was pretty awesome above all thanks to Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (who actually had a small part here as well but he was barely used). I have to admit it, the young boys involved were all pretty good and they did deliver some decent performances but, to be honest, they didn't have such a charisma. Still, I really enjoyed the damned thing. Indeed, it was very well made, clever with some funny dialogues with some awesome British humor. Of course, the whole Alien invasion had been done to death by now and they didn't actually add much to the formula and they instead followed the rules of the genre but it worked pretty well. To conclude, even if it was nothing really mind-blowing after all, I really had a good time watching this movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.