Reviews by johanlefourbe

I had no idea what to expect from this movie but since it was directed by Norman Jewison and since I have a weak spot for Danny DeVito, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, it is always a treat to see DeVito playing the lead. Considering the movie itself, it was basically some kind of light version of 'Wall Street' and, in my opinion, Danny DeVito was just terrific in this movie. Indeed, the guy was just really funny and ruthless but he still managed to make his character also charismatic which was definitely an achievement. Unfortunately, they watered down the whole concept by adding some dreadful sugercoated music, a lame romance and a phony happy ending. Furthermore, even though Penelope Ann Miller was quite charming, I don't think she had the acting chops to pull this off. In my opinion, they should have chosen a smarter and tougher actress. Eventually, it was too bad because if they had gone all the way and made instead a really cynical black comedy, it could have been really awesome. Anyway, in spite of its flaws and thanks to a really strong DeVito, it was still a decent watch and  it is definitely worth a look.

First of all, I'm really surprised that this movie has such a low rating here on Listal. Indeed, I was actually quite blown away by the damned thing as it was easily the best gangster movie I have seen in many years. I have to admit that I was not really familiar with this Italian crime syndicate, the camorra, but it seemed pretty realistic to me. The biggest difference with such classics like 'Goodfellas' or 'Scarface' was the directing style. Even 'Cidade de Deus' which was rather rauw was still very stylish in its directing compared to this movie. Here, they chose a very realistic documentary approach and it worked very well. The other big difference with those pictures was that there was absolutely no glamor in this life style, none of the characters seemed to be rich, or had a nice car or a big house. It was actually quite depressing and hopeless and the only reason I could think why they would 'choose' this way of life was because there was literally nothing else to do for them. There was also no lead character but several story lines which were all really dreadfull and heartbreaking to watch. It was an interesting approach but not all the stories were easy to follow and you only got to know a little bit of each character. Still, it was a very well made and fascinating movie and it is definitely worth a look.

I already saw this movie (I even saw it in the movie theater when it was released) but since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. First of all, I have to admit that, even if I know more or less the rules of baseball, since I'm European, I'm not really familiar with this sport. However, it didn't really matter since this movie was dealing with the business side and, in fact, this story line could have been applied to many other sports. Indeed, they developed here a very interesting theory that sports managers overpay their stars and neglect underrated players who could play for less than half the same price and still are just as effective. So, in Oakland, they bought some undervalued players solely based on their statistics. Unfortunately, they spent very little time actually explaining how it all worked and I wish they did spend more time to explain the whole concept. Honestly, after that, it basically followed the usual pattern of any sport movie (they kept losing and losing and suddenly they kept winning and winning...). Something surprising was that the great Philip Seymour Hoffman showed up in a very thankless role. As usual, he completely disappeared behind his character but he had almost nothing to do during the whole thing except grumbling against this new strategy. On top of that, the real Art Howe was actually supporting the Moneyball concept from the beginning. You had also Jonah Hill who gave a solid performance but I wish they developed his character a little bit more. I mean, he was a geek who could manage statistics pretty well but, aside from that, you pretty much learned nothing about him. What was left was Brad Pitt who basically carried the movie on his shoulders and he did it very well. Indeed, there were so many layers with his character, it was just fascinating to watch. This visionary manager who couldn't stand to lose (the reason why he probably didn't make it as a player) was definitely one of the most convincing performances by Pitt. Anyway, to conclude, it was a very interesting and entertaining sport flick which showed a different side of this world, and, even though I wasn't completely blown away, I really enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look.

Since 'Nosfertatu' was released in 1922, vampires have always been an endless source of inspiration for movie makers and 90 years later they still come up with some original ideas about the subject which is rather impressive. This movie was a good example. Indeed, the approach was quite original. This time around, it took place in the future and almost everyone had become a vampire so they were dominating our Society and, for once, they didn't have to hide. The humans were actually the one hiding since they were hunted for their blood. Another interesting thing was the shortage of blood which made you wonder how those vampires would survive in the future. All those aspects were really interesting and I really enjoyed the directing and the set dressing which provided a nice vision of this futuristic vampiric world. However, I still can't say that I was blown away by the whole thing. I mean, the main cast (Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill, Willem Dafoe) was pretty good but their characters were not developped enough and they were rather stereotypical (the sensitive doctor vampire, the gready businessman vampire, the hotshot redneck,...). Furthermore, instead of developing the implications of such a world, they decided to throw some well-made but rather pedestrian and boring action scenes. To conclude, even though it was not a masterpiece whatsoever, I have to admit that it was still an original, entertaining and well-made vampire flick and it is definitely worth a look.