Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I kept hearing some great things about this flick and I was really eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I actually ended up with some mixed feelings. I mean, I'm a sucker for romantic comedies and this movie was probably one of the best movies in this genre that I have seen a very long time. Indeed, the movie was really well directed and written and it featured two really strong performances by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. Unfortunately, in my opinion, there were a few things that did prevent this movie to reach total awesomness. First of all, the way they went constantly back and forth to tell the story didn't really work for me. In my opinion, it was in fact an unoriginal and uninteresting gimmick which didn't add much to the story. Furthermore, I thought that Zooey Deschanel's character was in fact an obnoxious bitch and I wish this character would have been slightly more balanced. Still, even though I wasn’t completely sold by the whole thing, the story was so much better, realistic and entertaining than 99.9 % of all the romantic features produced by Hollywood, I really enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look.

Even though I didn't have some really high expectations before watching this flick, the damned thing actually still managed to disappoint me. Indeed, it was a really average B feature which borrowed pretty much everything from tons of other movies such as 'Star Wars', the 'Alien' franchise and even 'Titanic'. The cast was full of B actors (Treat Williams, Famke Janssen, Wes Studi, Jason Flemyng, Cliff Curtis, Djimon Hounsou) and they all gave some very poor performances, except maybe Famke Janssen who was at least bareable. On top of that, the plot was not really entertaining and the special effects looked very cheap and were not really convincing at all. By now, I have seen many movies directed by Stephen Sommers ('G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra', 'Van Helsing', 'The Mummy Returns’, 'The Mummy', 'The Jungle Book') but even though none of them was really amazing, this movie was probably the worst one he has directed so far. It is possible, if you are into this genre, that you may end up enjoying it more than I did but I highly doubt it though. Anyway, to conclude, it was an unoriginal and boring B production and it is not really worth a look.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by André Téchiné, I thought I might as well check it out. Basically, back in the 80's and the 90's, André Téchiné was one of the most highly regarded movie directors in France. Actually, he may still be highly regarded nowadays in France but since I haven't been living there for almost a decade, I'm not really up to date. Anyway, the guy knows how to direct some fine pictures and this flick was a good example. Indeed, it was dealing with some rather sensitive subjects like homosexuality, bisexuality, open relationships and AIDS but never in a tacky way and the end-result was just way more interesting than what you get in most of your standard Hollywood features. Furthemore, all the characters involved were complex, 3 dimensional and realistic and all the actors gave some solid performances. However, I wish they did develop more the two female characters and some of the scenes were rather awkward (the dance scenes, the 'fight' scene, and the voice-over in general). Still, in spite of its flaws, the whole thing was pretty neat and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but since I always had a weak spot for Jack Nicholson, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest,  I have to admit that I was slightly sketpical regarding this movie since it was already the fourth version of the novel written by James M. Cain. Fortunately, the only other version I have seen before was the impressive 'Ossessione'. This time around, the leads were played by Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange and I must say that they both delivered some strong performances. However, whereas 'Ossessione' was a model of simplicity and efficiency and started a whole new cinematic trend called 'neo-realism', this time, it seemed that they couldn't manage to get the tone right. Indeed, they kept switching genre all the time from thriller to drama and then to romance and eroticism. So, the whole thing seemed rather unfocused and it didn't help that the end was rather lame and disappointing. Still, I just love the material and it remains a fascinating story about lust and guilt. To conclude, even though it wasn’t really a masterpiece, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Nowadays, I have Netflix and Popcorn and not only I have since then an endless selection or movies to choose from but, as a result, I have become slightly more picky regarding the movies I watch. Before, I used to watch pretty much anything as long as it was starring one or two actors I was interested in and, as a result, I would sometimes end up watching some rather obscure features. Still, even though I didn't hear much about this movie, it seemed to be rather interesting so I decided to check it out. And it ended up being a very nice surprise. First of all, the music was just awesome. Indeed, I really love this kind of music, this good old Blues and the movie displayed pretty well how it has influenced the other major music styles that came afterwards, such as Rock'n Roll for example. There was also a pretty cast involved and they all gave some decent perfomances, even Beyoncé Knowles (still, she should try to play something else than a singer). The main issue with this flick was that they were actually too many characters, as a result, they kept bringing those awesome legends on the screen but there was barely enough time to develop their own story. Still, I really liked this movie, it is a underrated gem and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in music history.

I know, this movie doesn't have a really good reputation but I don’t think it is actually bad at all. Indeed, by now, I have watched it a couple of times, and each time, I actually enjoyed the damned ting. Usually, sequels tend to be really disappointing but not this time, at least, that's my opinion. I'm well aware of the fact that the critics were rather lukewarm when it was released but, I thought it was actually a decent watch. When I was a kid, I really liked this flick and I saw it again after all these years and, maybe there was some nostalgia involved but I still believe it is actually a decent flick. The very neat cast come back and it was a blessing since they all delivered the goods once again. The tone and the look were about the same which was a good thing and they added some pretty neat ideas (the new baby, the summer camp, the psycho nanny). Once again, I have to admit it, the story was not really strong and there were some slow moments like when Fester decided he wouldn’t see his familly anymore. Still, I think it is a funny and rather original mainstream feature and it is definily worth a look, especially if you like the genre.