Reviews by johanlefourbe

I remember, before this movie was released, there was quite some buzz about it. Indeed, 12 years after 'Speed', Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves were finally reunited and, personally, I thought it was quite interesting that they decided to do something completely different this time, a romantic drama with some paranormal plot. Eventually, I thought it was actually very well shot with some decent performances. In my opinion, the main issue was with this plot as it made this movie really special but it was also its curse. Indeed, on one hand, the story was actually rather spellbinding but, on the other hand, it was so full of non-sense and plot holes that, as a result, the whole thing was eventually rather underwhelming. I guess the viewers who really loved this movie just discarded those issues but it was really obvious to me. I mean, if you watch some fantasy or science-fiction, everything makes sense according to the physical rules of this world (at least, it usually does) whereas, here, it took place in in our time but it barely made sense. Still, in spite of its flaws, it remains a well made paranormal drama and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

In my opinion, Paul Newman was one of the best actors ever and I haven't seen actually enough movie with him so every time I get the chance, I check them out. This time, for his final lead part, he was working with Linda Fiorentino who was one of the most interesting actresses during the 90's but unfortunately, in the 2000's, she kind of disappeared. So, I was rather curious to see those two working together but, eventually, the end result was rather underwhelming. I mean, Paul Newman was just awesome, as usual, and it was pretty neat to have this master robber ending up in a retirement home. At the time, Newman was already 75 years old and a little bit too old to play this kind of characters but to have the action taking place in this environment worked fine. Still, even though, Paul Newman did his best, the plot was just pure routine so it wasn’t really exciting or entertaining enough, in my opinion. In the mean time, Paul Newman passed away and Linda Fiorentino seems to have retired which is all pretty sad. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it remains a decent heist comedy and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are a fan of Paul Newman.

From the 30's to the end of the 60's, Marcel Carné was one of the most prolific French directors and he made some of the finest French pictures ever (‘Drole de drame’, ‘Le quai des brumes’, ‘Hotel du Nord’, ‘Le jour se lève’, ‘Les enfants du paradis’). He made this movie later on during his career and it doesn't belong to his most famous work but I thought it was still pretty good. Indeed, it is an adaptation of a French classic novel which was written by Emile Zola (I think I have read it when I was younger but I'm not completely sure) and it stars Simone Signoret who gave here a very good performance. It is a rather basic story about lust and adultery (in the same genre, I prefer ‘Ossessione’ directed by Luchino Visconti) and, honestly, it was nothing really mind-blowing but thanks to the always amazing directing by Carné and thanks to Simone Signoret (one of the most highly regarded French actress back then), the whole thing remained rather spellbinding to watch. To conclude, even though it is not a masterpiece, I still think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

When I first heard about this flick, I thought it would be really lame and exploitative but since I kept hearing good things about it, I thought I should check it out. Eventually, I found it quite difficult to rate this movie. First of all, compare to 'American Pie', it is actually a rather innocent flick and there was even some kind of sweetness about it. Furthermore, the lead character was played by Emile Hirsch who was then rather unknown but who would turn out to be one of the best actors of his generation. However, in spite of all these good intentions. you shouldn't be fooled by it, it is and remains a rather standard sex teen comedy and there were some gratuitous scenes which didn't add much to the plot. Furthermore, even though Elisha Cuthbert was indeed pretty cute, she wasn’t really convincing as a supposedly porn-star. At the end of the day, Timothy Olyphant was the best thing in this movie since he managed to bring some edginess to a rather small character. To conclude, even though it is nothing mind-blowing whatsoever, it is not bad at all and rather entertaining and I still think is worth a look, especially if you like this kind of comedies.

I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since there was an interesting cast. I thought I should check it out. Eventually, it was pretty average... I mean, to be honest, I'm not a big fan of Christmas movies but, seriously, it must be one of the lamest I have seen. Maybe Vince Vaughn hoped to reach the same success as Will Ferrell had with ‘Elf’ and the fact that the movie was directed by David Dobkin who had just recently a massive success with ‘Wedding Crashers’ seemed also attractive for Vince Vaughn (it would be the 3rd movie they make together). The point is that those Christmas comedies are always misguided and even if this movie might not be the worst one eventually (‘Surviving Christmas’ starring Ben Affleck is pretty horrendous), it was still pretty terrible. The worst thing is that there was indeed a very nice cast (Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Kevin Spacey, Elizabeth Banks) and you wonder what they saw in this script or maybe there was a juicy paycheck at the end, at least I hope so. Anyway, to conclude, it is actually not really a bad movie but the whole thing was just not really funny or entertaining at all and, ultimately, it is not worth a look in my opinion.

I have never heard of this flick before but since there was a rather impressive cast I was rather eager to watch it. And, indeed, the cast (Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Justin Timberlake, LL Cool J) was pretty cool and the actors gave some decent performance. Furthermore, at least, at first, the movie had a nice atmosphere but, unfortunately, the story was rather messy and after a while, I kind of lost interest in the whole thing. Unsurprisingly, after some poor test screenings, the film was released direct-to-DVD . Apparently, this movie was another failed attempt Justin Timberlake’s career as a leading man (as a matter of fact, it was even his first ‘real’ acting part). Eventually, almost 10 years later, it seems that Timberlake has developped as solid career as a supporting actor in some interesting movies like ‘Alpha Dog’, ‘Black Snake Moan’, ‘The Social Network’ or ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ but everytime he gets the lead like for ‘Friends with Benefits’, ‘In Time’ or ‘Runner Runner’, it turns out to be a flop. Anyway, the whole thing turned out to be rather disappointing but it's too bad because it actually had some potential but, eventually, it is not really worth a look.

Jennifer Aniston must be one of the most frustrating actress I know. I mean, she is quite charming and she seems to be rather talented but, honestly, she always plays the same role in the same average and predictable romantic comedies and, at this point, it is getting pretty tiresome. She made this flick right in the middle of her career in ‘Friends’, it was actually one of her very first movies, apparently, it was her first lead part and it is actually a fine example about why her career has become so disappointing. Indeed, it is basically one of those romantic-comedies with a high concept, the plot didn't make much sense and it was not really entertaining whatsoever. At least, Kevin Bacon stole the show as usual but even him didn't succeed in making this movie more watchable. At the end of the day, it is a really uninspired and predictable rom-com which tried to surf on Jennifer Aniston’s new fame with ‘Friends’ (that’s probably the reason why her character felt so similar to Rachel Green). To conclude, it is not really a bad movie, but it's pretty average and it is not really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Jennifer Aniston.

Catherine Hardwicke was, at first, a production designer for almost 20 years and, way before directing 'Twilight', she started her directing career with this rather amazing flick. In my opinion, 'Twilight 'was not that bad after all, at least it was way better than the terribly underwhelming sequels and with its $400 million global success, it made her the most commercially successful woman film director ever at the time. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, it was a really heartbreaking story and I thought it was actually rather frightening when you have kids of your own. Indeed, your teenage kids don’t need much to go down this terrible path and there is not much you can do to really prevent it, except hoping that they will use their good sense before doing something really stupid. Eventually, this movie was very well directed (which is even more impressive when you think that it was a directing debut) and the performances by all the actors were very impressive. I really liked the raw feeling of the whole thing and how realistic it looked, apparently, Nikki Reed wrote this movie with Hardwicke and she displayed some talent in this area but her acting career has been rather underwhelming afterwards. Anyway, to conclude, if you don't mind getting depressed when watching a movie, it is actually really good and it is definitely worth a look.

Years after years, Ken Loach came with his movies to the Cannes Film festival and, this time, he finally received the coveted Golden Palm thanks to this flick. Did it deserve it? It is difficult to tell since I have not seen all the movies in competition for that particular year but what I do know is that it was a damned fine movie. Indeed, as usual with Ken Loach, the directing was sober and completely efficient and the actors all delivered some very good performances. Furthermore, I always had a weak spot for movies dealing with politics so I thought that the story was rather spellbinding. It was also a very nice touch to have Ken Loach directing a period piece for once and it was even more interesting that he managed to keep his social-political vision. On the downside, you could argue that Ken Loach’s views were obviously biased in the favor of the Irish Republicans but he definitely had some good arguments and he developed a very strong and heartfelt drama. To conclude, I thought it was a very good flick and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Ken Loach's work.