Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even though I wasn’t expecting much from this flick, since I'm a big fan of Clint Eastwood, I still wanted to watch this flick. To be honest, it is nothing mind-blowing whatsoever and it is definitely one of his weaker efforts. I mean, it seems that, at that time, Clint Eastwood was still practicing his director skills (it was his 4th directing effort) and it is how the movie felt to me. It was also as if Eastwood wanted to prove the whole world and himself that he could pulled off all those climbing scenes (as a matter of fact, Eastwood did all of his own stunts and some of them were indeed pretty impressive.). Even though I was glad for him that he could pull it off, it wasn’t really interesting or entertaining to watch. Still, I make it sound as if it was a bad or boring flick but it was actually not bad at all. I mean, as usual, Clint Eastwood was quite awesome and delivered a good performance and the only issue was really that the plot was just some action movie routine and it was nothing really original. Still, even though it is not one of Eastwood's masterpieces, I think it is rather entertaining and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Clint Eastwood’s work as a director.

Since I have never heard of this flick before, I had really no idea what to expect but since there was a pretty nice cast, I thought I should give it a try (there was also something quite mesmerizing about the title). Eventually, I thought it was surprisingly good and I actually really enjoyed this movie. Indeed, in my opinion, it displays one of the best performances delivered by John Travolta since 'Pulp Fiction’, maybe his best one (alright, he was pretty good in ‘Face/Off’ as well…) . Indeed, he portrayed here a rather eccentric and enigmatic man and he did a great job. Furthermore, I thought that Scarlett Johansson was pretty good as well and they both had some good chemistry here. Furthermore, the movie was quite well directed and first time director Shainee Gabel managed to create a nice mood. Eventually, my only point of critic would be that the story was not always compelling and, I have to admit it, it wasn’t really original either. Eventually, the whole thing tended to drag along a little bit for its own good. Still, in my opinion, it is a well made drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in John Travolta’s work.

Honestly, I have absolutely no idea why but I was really intrigued by this movie and I was quite eager to check it out. I don’t know, I guess I was titillated by the trailer which made me believe it would be some kind of teen version of 'Fatal Attraction'.... Obviously, it never reached the level of this classic. I mean, obviously the directing was very average and the acting was even more abysmal. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for Erika Christensen, an interesting actress who never really managed to breakthrough, but here, she was seriously underwhelming and not really convincing as a pycho stalker. Above all, the plot was pure thriller routine and I thought the ending was just dowright laughable. Like most of the US thrillers, they wrapped up the whole thing with some really idiotic twist and, in this case, it was really tedious. I mean, somehow, I still believe that the whole thing had some potential but the makers obviously didn’t have any ambition to make something remarkable so the end-result was just terribly underwhelming. To conclude, it was a very average thriller and I don’t see any reasons why you should watch it.

I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since Ewan McGregor and Mickey Rourke were both in it, I thought I should give it a try. Eventually, I thought the whole thing was rather underwhelming. I mean, back then, Alex Pettyfer was just a kid and not yet the young actor with the worst reputation in Hollywood. Still, he was definitely charismatic, already back in those days. Concerning the movie itself, it was obviously meant to be a teen version of James Bond and it was, at the time, the most expensive British independent film ever made. I’m pretty sure the makers hoped to start a new franchise but I have to say I was rather bored by the whole thing. Concerning Mickey Rourke, I’m glad he recently managed to make a come-back but, in this flick, he was actually rather obnoxious and, concerning McGregor, he just had a really tiny part and he was there for maybe 10 minutes only so that was rather disappointing. To conclude, even though the whole thing actually had some potential, it is was eventually rather disappointing and I don’t think it is really worth a look, only maybe if you are younger than 13 years old.

Since I kept hearing good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. Eventually, I thought it was a really fun and entertaining comedy. Indeed, Seth Rogen and his buddies were really hilarious and I was completely able to relate with them. On the other hand, I was not so wild about Katherine Heigl. The point is that, everytime I see her in a movie, I think she looks nice and all but that's it and I'd rather have a funny actress instead. Anyway, the story was pretty good with some awesome funny scenes in between but there was one thing that really bothered me though. Honestly, when you think about it for a few minutes, it is actually quite unbelievable and unrealistic that such a girl would end up with Seth Rogen. I mean, yeah sure, it is very sweet but not really realistic in my opinion. Actually, it is something inherent to most of the movies involving Judd Apatow, they involve some nerds and gigs as main character, which is quite refreshing, but it is also pretty obvious that those movies are some nerd wet dreams involving them with some hot chicks completely out of their league. To conclude, I don’t it is a masterpiece but it is an enjoyable and entertaining flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I've got a problem with this flick. Indeed, back then, a colleague of mine gave me a copy of this flick and warned me that the quality was very bad but since I thought it would be completely terrible, I didn't really mind. Eventually, surprisingly, the movie was not half bad as I expected and I wonder if I should re-watch it with a better quality some day. Anyway, of course, it remains a really standard biographical drama about a rap singer but it was rather well made and thanks to Jim Sheridan’s directing, there was a realistic grittiness to the whole thing. Concerning 50 Cent, he got a lot of bad talk about his acting debut but personally, I thought it was really difficult to judge him. I mean, he basically plays himself so was he really acting? Still, I don’t agree with all the negative reactions and I thought he actually gave a decent performance. To conclude, of course, it remains an unoriginal, predictable and pretty average flick but is it worthy a rewatch since the first time my version was quite lousy? I guess not... and it is probably not really worth a look at all, except maybe if you are a fan of 50 Cent.

I remember it very well, before this movie was released, there was a huge buzz about it. It happens sometimes, you know, that even before anyone has seen a single frame, a movie already manages to build up some buzz and, in this case, with such a great cast (Sean Penn, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Patricia Clarkson, James Gandolfini, Jackie Earle Haley), it was quite understandable. Eventually, in spite of these good promises, when it was released, it got some pretty tepid reviews and it turned out to be a flop. Still, with a cast like this, I still wanted to check it out. And indeed, it turned out to be a rather underwhelming feature. I mean, all those great actors gave some decent performances, especially Sean Penn who was really impressive as usual. Furthermore, the material was very good and you could feel that there was a very good movie there, hidden somewhere. Unfortunately, the whole thing was somehow a mess, I think it was poorly written and I didn't really care about the story or any of the characters involved. Anyway, to conclude, it is not a bad movie, some elements were actually pretty decent but, in spite of its great potential, it remained pretty average and rather disappointing.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick since I’m not really familiar with Sylvia Plath’s work but I thought I should check it out anyway. Honestly, I think that Gwyneth Paltrow is actually a rather underrated actress and,here, she worked with another very good actor, Daniel Craig (before his James Bond fame) and they both delivered some prettty awesome performances. Futhermore, I thought the material was quite fascinating but, unfortunately, it didn't translate well on the big white screen. Indeed, I think it is always quite tricky to deal with poetry in the movies but it is not a impossible task (see 'Dead man' for example). In this movie, they made some choices and, as a result, there is barely no poetry and at the end of the movie, you wonder what Sylvia Plath's work must sound like. Therefore, the whole thing never really reaches its potential and it is a shame but the relationship between Plath and her husband was quite fascinating to behold thank to the lead actors. To conclude, even though it is a flawed and disappointing flick, there were still many interesting things about it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Sylvia Plath.

Since I kept hearing some amazing things about this movie (Roger Ebert for example really loved this flick) and since I really enjoyed the previous movies directed by Jim Sheridan, I was really eager to check it out and I had some rather huge expectations. Unfortunately, I have to admit it, I thought it was slightly underwhelming. I mean, sure, it was pretty good but, honestly, I didn’t get what was so amazing about the whole thing and I thought it was just too standard and predictable. Like I said before, it wasn’t a bad movie, far from it, I still enjoyed it, since it was very well directed and since all the actors involved gave some very realistic and emotional perfomances. Indeed, Paddy Considine, an actor I started to really appreciate only recently, was really good in this and Samantha Morton, another really underrated actress, provided a solid performance as well and, together, they made a very interesting, glamor-free and realistic couple. Still, in spite those strong elements, I had a hard time to really care about the whole thing. To conclude, it may not be great but it is still a very well made drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you enjoyed Sheridan's previous work.