Reviews by johanlefourbe

Eventually, even though Tobe Hooper achieved some major success with 'The Texas Chainsaw massacre', his following features never had much critical or financial success. The only exception would be this feature but many argue that this movie actually belongs to Spielberg (He produced it, wrote the damned thing and some says that he even cast the film, directed the actors, and designed every single storyboard). But, anyway, how was this movie eventually? Well, it was not bad at all but, to be honest, I can't say I was really blown away by the whole thing. Of course, the special effects were quite impressive, even more when you think that it was made 30 years ago. However, if some scenes did work pretty well, some others didn't and the whole thing was not really well written in my opinion. I mean, I'm not an expert whatsoever but I really wonder if Spielberg did any research on poltergeists before writing this flick. Above all, even though the whole thing was fairly entertaining, it was never really scary and it was probably what I was missing the most. Still, in spite of its flaws, it remains a classic, it is one of the few horror flicks with a decent budget and it is definitely worth a look.

At some point, I found a cheap dvd for this movie so I thought I might as well check it out. This movie was Amy Heckerling’s 2nd directing effort, following her successful debut with 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' so there was definitely some potential for something really neat. Well, basically, it turned out to be some kind of parody of those gangsters flicks from the 30's and 40's. Unfortunately, even though it seemed to be an interesting idea and even though there was a nice cast involved, I didn't like the damned thing much. First of all, I have never been a big fan of parodies in general and this one, except for a few nice ideas, wasn't really funny at all. There was one thing that I enjoyed though and it was Mickael Keaton's performance. I was rather surprised when I discovered that it was only his 3rd movie. Indeed, the guy was really funny and charismatic and he channeled a little bit the same energy he would eventually give for Beetlejuice, another part he would land a few years later. Anyway, to conclude, I have seen worse parodies but this one was still rather tedious, in spite of Keaton's effort, and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you really like the genre.

It has been a while since I wanted to check this flick and I was really glad when I finally had the opportunity. Unfortunately,  to be honest, the whole thing turned out to actually slightly disappointing. Still, it doesn't mean the movie wasn't any good. Indeed, they gave us a pretty good cast, I really liked the directing, the set-dressing and the costumes and they managed very well to give a genuine feeling of this time period. Furthermore, I really enjoyed the flashback involving George Reeves and this movie featured one of the best performances by Ben Affleck. Unfortunately, the detective story didn't work very well and the sub-plot involving the detective’s son and ex-wife was actually even worse. It is pretty obvious that the whole thing was inspired by 'Chinatown' but, unfortunately, it never reached the level of this classic. To put it simply, the story was never really fascinating as it was only the story of an actor who got famous but didn't enjoy what he did, nothing less but nothing more than that either. Still, in spite of its flaws, it was a very well made neo-noir flick 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 Winona Ryder, I thought I should check it out. By the way, what the hell happened to her?!? During the 90's, she was one of the most popular actresses at work but, suddenly, her career went downhill and she has been rather struggling ever since. Well, with such flicks, I can't say I'm really surprised... I mean, it was basically one of those quirky comedies with some rather excentric characters but the whole thing didn't work very well. I mean, there was an interesting cast (David Arquette, Josh Charles, Joseph Fiennes, Lukas Haas, Tom Hollander, Juliette Lewis, Julianna Margulies, Tim Blake Nelson, Alessandro Nivola, Chris Penn, Winona Ryder, Robin Tunney, Wilmer Valderrama) and the concept definitely had some potential. However, even though some scenes were quite funny, they tried too much to be quirky and the whole thing ended  up being actually more annoying and stupid than anything else. It was the same thing with the main character, he was just a whining obnoxious guy and he actually got on my nerves throughout the whole thing. Anyway, to conclude, even thought the damned thing could have been a decent watch, it turned out to be a disappointing indie comedy and it is not really worth a look.