Reviews by johanlefourbe

Bille August is one of the few directors who managed to win two Golden Palms at the Cannes Film festival and what is even more impressive is that he managed to win them back-to-back so I became really interested in his work. The funny thing is that, by now, I have managed to watch 5 movies directed by this guy but still not his Golden Palm wins (‘Den goda viljan’ and ‘Pelle erobreren’). What’s even more saddening is that his subsequent movies were unfortunately not really impressive and this flick is a pretty good example. I have to admit, it wasn’t a complete failure as it did feature some good performances by Connie Nielsen and Aidan Quinn, the directing was decent was the story was interesting as well. However, in my opinion, August didn’t seem to manage to keep the whole thing focused and it tends to get rather convoluted at some points. Also, it didn't help that they went often for the cheap thrills instead of focusing on what's going on with the characters. To conclude, even though it was rather flawed, it was actually far from being a bad movie and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Bille August’s work.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I’m a huge fan of Orson Welles’ work, I was definitely eager to check I tout. After directing ‘Citizen Kane’, considered by many as the best movie ever made, at only 26 years old, he went to direct ‘The Magnificent Ambersons’, another massive feature, another classic, but the production was a nightmare and we never got to see the movie meant by Welles. He then took a 4 years break and came up with this flick, something much more modest, at least in terms of production, and it must be one of the least known movies directed by the great master. Indeed, it is basically a rather standard spy thriller but it seems that Welles just couldn't direct a bad movie, even with a rather pedestrian plot like this one. Indeed, even though the story was rather routine, the performances were very good, the directing was, as expected, quite awesome and, as a result, the whole thing was rather spellbinding to watch. To conclude, to be honest, it is never comes near the other masterpieces directed by Welles, but it is still an interesting picture and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in his work.

This is the last movie directed by the late Anthony Minghella and since I enjoyed most of his movies, I really wanted to check it out. Honestly, I find it rather difficult to judge this flick. I mean, I did like it but I’m not sure if it was actually really good. In my opinion, the main issue was that the story didn't work out very well, it was rather convoluted and far-fetched. Still, somehow, there was something spellbinding about the whole thing. To start with, there was an impressive cast (Jude Law, Robin Wright, Juliette Binoche, Vera Farmiga) and the characters were rather intriguing, even though their actions were rather bewildering sometimes. But still, thanks to the good performances and the decent directing, there was an interesting mood so I still enjoyed this movie and I was rather hooked. I don’t know, maybe I was in the right mood and if I re-watch it I would be amazed about how preposterous the whole thing actually is. Anyway, to conclude, even though the whole thing was really deeply flawed, I actually liked this flick and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Anthony Minghella’s work.

I did watch this movie way before Lindsay Lohan became such a mess (she might have been in trouble already but nothing compared to what’s going on nowadays) and, even before that, back in those days, she still had the potential to become a huge star (maybe not a great actress but that’s another matter altogether). Anyway, I didn’t expect much from this flick but I thought Lohan was alright (at least, she still looked healthy here) but the movie itself was quite boring. I mean, they took the old Herbie concept (which wasn't great in the first place already, if you ask me) but they didn't add anything new to the mix. I have to admit it though, I'm probably not the best person to review this flick though since I don’t belong to the target audience and I did like those old Herbie movies when I was a kid. Still, I don’t think it was a great idea to mix this teen-star with this weird car, I mean, during the whole thing, you wonder what’s the movie actually about, about her or about the car? Anyway, I guess it is actually a decent movie if you are younger than 13 years old but otherwise it will probably bore you to tears.

Hilary Swank is a peculiar actress. From time to time, she picks up an amazing role but the rest of time, she just chooses some forgettable flicks but she still managed to get 2 Academy awards in the process. Unfortunately, this movie won't get her an award this time. Actually, I'm not so sure what to think about about this movie. On one hand, it is a rather well made horror-thriller, I enjoyed the mood and I was rather jumpy during the whole thing. Idris Elba was also pretty convincing and gave a good performance. However, on the other hand, I thought the movie was not very well written (She was first a missionary but then, within a few years, she managed to become a college teacher with enough money to buy some fancy equipment and to make some expansive field trips...) and the dialogues  were sometimes rather ridiculous. It also bothered me that Swank looked way too good for the part, always wearing some tights pants with a small top or a nice dress and they always managed to get her butt in the foreground. I mean, come on, she was supposed to be a scientist, not some kind of bimbo! Anyway, in spite of these flaws,  it is still failry entertaining and I thought it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

On the cover of the DVD, they wrote 'with Academy award winners Timothy Hutton and Mira Sorvino'. Well, indeed, a long time ago, they did win these prestigious awards and they both had a promising career. However, they eventually left the A list at some point and it is not with such flicks that they will come back anytime soon. In fact, I have to admit that Sorvino was actually not bad in this movie and she even provided a decent perfomance (same for Mario van Peebles). However, I wasn't not really convinced by Timothy Hutton. In fact, I'm not sure if he really gave a bad performance or maybe it was just that his character was such an annoying pathetic whining loser. Seriously, with such a character, it made it almost impossible to care for the whole thing. It was basically a rather typical quirky indie feature which tried to be deep and thoughtful but it failed pretty bad, I'm afraid. The main character was indeed a real pain in the ass, he threw his life away and messed up his wife and child in the process to reach his goal to write a play. And of course, at the end, the play came out and it became a success...The funny thing was that they did show a bit of the play and it did sound actually pretty good. Anyway, even if the whole thing did have some potential, the end result was rather underwhelming. To conclude, it is not very bad actually but it was still not really worth a look.

Honestly, beforehand, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Denzel Washington, I thought I should check it out. Indeed, nowadays, it is a rather forgotten movie but it's a shame since it is actually a really impressive drama. Denzel Washington who was at the beginning of his illustrious career, had actually a small part but his character was very important . Basically, it is a very good court drama which deals with some very sensitive issues, like racial murder and I thought that it went pretty deep into the human psychology. I don’t know, there is always some added tension when a court drama deals with soldiers and this movie was not an exception. On top of that, there were some impressive performances and the whole thing was just spellbinding to watch. Eventually, 15 years later, Denzel Washington would make another movie with Norman Jewison, ‘The Hurricane’ and even though it was indeed a pretty good flick, I enjoyed this one even more. To conclude, even though it is now pretty much forgotten, it is actually really good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

When I watched this movie, I really had no idea it would be Joaquin Phoenix's last movie. However, fortunately, in the mean time, he is back from this BS retirement thing. Anyway, I thought it was a pretty good flick like all other movies directed by James Gray, except he didn’t wait 7 long years to make it (it was released only a year after his previous directing effort ‘We Own the Night’). To start with, this movie had a rather amazing mood (even though, I have to admit it, the whole thing was actually rather depressing) and it was really well shot, something I always enjoy in James Gray’s work. As usual, Joaquin Phoenix delivered an amazing performance and even Gwyneth Paltrow showed that she could be a terrific actress, in spite of what most of us might think. Still, I thought that the story was actually nothing really original, and there was something slightly annoying about these characters but it was definitely an intriguing approach and they gave an interesting turn to the triangle romantic dilemma. To conclude, it is a rather grim romantic drama and many viewers won't appreciate it but I thought it was pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in James Gray’s work.