Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I’m a big fan of Gus van Sant, I was quite eager to check this flick. Indeed, even though his most recent movies have all been rather disappointing (‘The Sea of Trees’, ‘Promised Land’, ‘Restless’), I still think that Gus Van Sant is a very interesting director. In fact, I have noticed that he usually alternates mainstream and experimental projects and this flick definitely belonged to the second group. Basically, you either enjoy those movies or you don’t since they are really slow paced and without a real plot. Well, I do enjoy those flicks. In this case, the first shot really reminded me of Hitchcock with this ominous music and, when I learned about the story, the reference was then quite obvious. Basically, this movie was a mix of, indeed, Hitchcock, 'Crime & Punishment' and some teenage skaters. I thought the whole thing was really beautifully shot and I really enjoyed the performances by the non-professional cast. Still, I have to admit that the end was not really great though but it really fit the rest of the movie in my opinion. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was maybe nothing really groundbreaking, I thought it was pretty good and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Gus Van Sant's work.

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 became 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 really obscure features. This movie was a perfect example and the only reason I watched it was because it was featuring Catherine Zeta-Jones . Indeed, I always had a weak spot for this actress, I actually thinks she is quite charming but she didn't make so many movies back then and most of them were seriously quite forgettable. Unfortunately, this flick was not an exception. I mean, I'm a really a sucker for this kind of romantic-comedies, especially when they are dealing with an older woman falling in love with a younger man (it has probably to do with the fact that my wife is 11 years older than me). Unfortunately, it took forever to take off, with some awkward and pathetic 'funny' scenes. Eventually, when they finally get together, the whole thing started to got better and there were even some nice and touching scenes. But then again, they had to break up for some really bogus reasons which was just so annoying. Towards the end, they did try to recover the damage done but I wasn't really convinced. To conclude, it was a very average romantic-comedy and it is not really worth a look.

To be honest, I really had no idea what to expect from the damned thing but since I always had a weak spot for Robert Redford, I was quite eager to check it out. Basically, way before ‘Top Gun’, they actually made this vintage flick about the aviation. Well, even though this movie was never as famous as the classic action flick starring Tom Cruise, in fact, I thought it was actually much better. Indeed, first of all, I really liked the way they gave us a good look at the USA during the 20's. Obviously, Robert Redford was, as usual, very charming and the guy gave another solid performance. In fact, I believe that most actors would have been rather ridiculous in this role. Concerning the story, I have to admit that it was nothing really original but I thought it was entertaining enough. What I really enjoyed is that they managed to show how those guys were daring and courageous but also at the same time rather ridiculous and childhish. To conclude, even though I don’t think it was anything really amazing, I thought it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre of if you are interested in Robert Redford’s work. 

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this movie but since there was really interesting cast involved (Anton Yelchin, Diane Lane, Donald Sutherland, Chris Evans, Kristen Stewart, Paz de la Huerta), I was quite eager to check it out. Basically, it was a typical quirky indie comedy but they tried eventually  to become more serious and, at some point, it became more a drama. Anyway, the plot was not really mindblowing and there was a collection of weird and excentric characters. Some of them were really neat, like Anton Yelchin and Donald Sutherland but I wasn't so convinced by Diane Lane. I mean, she was charming as usual but even though she started as a junkie, whithin 10 minutes, she became a standard mother and her drug past was never to be noticed in her performance ever again. In my opinion, one of the main issue with this flick was that there were way too many characters and most of them were actually barely developped. For example, Chris Evans was pretty interesting but we never really learned anything about his character. It's too bad since Yelchin and Sutherland were very good and the story had some potential. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is worth a look especially if you like this genre.