Reviews by johanlefourbe

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.

I always thought that Will Smith is a very interesting actor. Indeed, he always manages to pick up movies that attract the audience but which also seems challenging for him. I mean, all of his movies have something interesting, in my opinion. Anyway, this time, he tries a biographical drama and he just pulls it off brilliantly as he gave a very emotional and impressive performance. Furthermore, I thought that the movie was also very dramatic and entertaining. Still, I can't say it was great though because a few things did not work for me. For example, if the main character was so smart, how could he end up in such a stupid situation (on the street, trying to sell some medical equipment that nobody wants)?!? What bothered me even more is that everyone describes him as a hero but I think it is actually far from the truth. As he didn't pay his bills, he ended up in the streets and he basically decided to gamble his son's future with this internship. If it didn't work out, what would have happened then? His son would have ended up in the streets but, this time, for good. I don't see anything heroic about this behavior. Still, in spite these flaws, it remains a very well made drama and Will Smith gives a hell of a perfomance.

After reading a couple books written by Bukowski, I became completely hooked and he has been ever since one of my favorite authors. So, when I heard about this flick, I just had to see it and I had some rather huge expectations. Eventually, it was not bad but I thought it was rather disappointing. To start with, honestly, even though Matt Dillon was alright, he still didn't manage to convince me though. The point is that he still looked TOO good for the part and, in my opinion, the lead character should have been a real mess and a total *sshole. Furthermore, the story was not always compelling either. I mean, there were some nice bits like when the main character takes a job at taxi company and shows some insights about his intellect. I mean, right there, you can see that the guy is not dumb, you can see that he has some potential but the point is that he obviously doesn’t give a damn and would rather throw it away and get drunk the whole day. To cocnlude, even though it was rather disappointing, it was still awesome to have a glimpse of Bukowski on screen and it is definitely worth a look.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a pretty nice cast, I still wanted to check it out. Indeed, in this movie, there was a bunch of young actors (Liv Tyler, Renée Zellweger, Robin Tunney) before they reached fame so it was fun to see them at that point in their career. Liv Styler was especially really charming, it was just her 3rd movie and it’s too bad we don’t see much of her nowadays. Same thing for Renée Zellweger, she was pretty much unknown at the time and would finally breakthrough a year later with ‘Jerry Maguirre’. I have also noticed that this movie has more or less reached a cult status but, unfortunately, I thought that the whole thing was rather disappointing. Seriously, in my opinion, the plot was rather unbelievable and I didn't care at all about any of the characters involved. Indeed, I thought those were way too stereotypical for my taste so I had a hard time to care about them or what they were going through. The main issue I had eventually is that the whole thing was basically rather boring. To conclude, it is definitely not a completely worthless movie but, somehow, I don’t think it is really worth a look either.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Jodie Foster, I thought I should check it out. Indeed, even though we don't hear much about Jodie Foster nowadays, I still think she is one of the best actresses alive and I would check anything she is in it. However, this time, it was a huge letdown... I mean, like I said before, I wasn't expecting much but I thought this movie was a real bore to watch. Was it really the best script she could get?!? It is like Gerard Butler, ever since he brokethrough with ‘300’, instead of becoming a major action actor, he keeps making movies in different genres, especially some rather underwhelming rom-coms. This time, he goes for a family feature which might have been a good idea at first but when you see the end-result, you wonder if it was really worth the hassle. To be honest, it might be enjoyable for the kids but, personally, I thought the whole thing was rather tedious. Anyway, to conclude, I have seen worse movies but, still, this movie wasn't really entertaining and the whole thing is not really worth a look.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since there was a decent cast, I thought I should check it out. Indeed, the poster looked lame and the whole thing just didn’t look really promising. So, there was indeed a nice cast (James Marsden, Lena Headey, Norman Reedus, Kate Hudson, Eric Bogosian) but, above all, I was quite surprised when it turned out to be a decent thriller with a very good premise. Indeed, I really loved the concept they developped which was basically that through gossip you could deeply damage someone's life. So, unfortunately, the movie was not very well directed and the makers didn’t really know how to develop this interesting premise and instead they went for the predictable cheap thrills. That's too bad since it had such potential and it is not very often that I came across a thriller with an actually decent concept. With a skilled and ambitious director, I don’t know, someone like David Fincher for example, it could have been much better but I guess, it wasn’t meant to be. Still, in spite of its flaws, it remains a very interesting premise and an intriguing thriller so this flick is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wonder how I ended up watching this flick, I guess it was because there was a decent cast. Indeed, in my opinion, Oliver Platt can be sometime hilarious, he is definitely a really underrated actor and I guess I hoped this flick would be quite funny. Eventually, at the beginning of the movie, there was an amazing slasptick scene which I found really awesome but, unfortunately, the rest of the flick failed to deliver and the whole thing was therefore rather disappointing. I mean, it was not bad at all but I really didn't care much about the story or the characters and the whole thing was just not funny enough in my opinion. Through the years, Stanley Tucci has built up a side career as a director but he never really became a major player in that field and when you watch this movie, it is hardly surprising. At least, Tucci managed to get a pretty nice cast (Oliver Platt, Alfred Molina, Michael Emerson, Lili Taylor, Tony Shalhoub, Steve Buscemi, Richard Jenkins, Isabella Rossellini, Campbell Scott, Billy Connolly, Hope Davis and even Woody Allen). Still, even though it is absolutely nothing really amazing whatsoever, it remains a decent movie with some pretty good actors and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Oliver Platt and Stanley Tucci.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a pretty cool cast, I thought I should check it out. First of all, I have noticed that most of the movies dealing with the Irak war are usually flops (even ‘The Hurt Locker’ which was universally heralded was actually barely seen when it was released). Personally, I found those movies are actually quite interesting and this movie was not an exception. Basically, it deals with several stories (hyperlink cinema is the official term) which interact more or less which each other and the common theme is that they are all dealing with the Irak war. I thought that all the actors involved (Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Biel, 50 Cent, Christina Ricci, Chad Michael Murray) gave some strong perfomances and the directing was pretty good too. Still, it wasn’t really a strong script, it was decent at best and, at the end of the day, I was rather underwhelmed by most of the storylines. For Irwin Winkler who is mostly known as a producer, it would be his last directing effort. To conclude, even though it is flawed, it remains a well made and interesting drama and it is definitely worth a look.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast, I thought I might as well give it a try. Apparently, it is a remake of an older flick starring James Stewart and Richard Attenborough, a flick I have actually never heard of but considering the decent ratings, it seems to be pretty good. Anyway, since I haven't seen the original, I can't say if this remake is better or not but I thought it was not bad at all after all. Indeed, there was a decent cast made of B actors (Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson, Giovanni Ribisi, Miranda Otto, Hugh Laurie, Jared Padalecki) and I always had a weak spot for adventure/survival flicks. Of course, all the characters were all very stereotypical and the whole thing was rather predictable. Furthermore, to be honest, I wondered the whole time if what they said or did made sense at all but, still, even though it was nothing amazing whatsoever, I was rather entertained throughout the whole duration. To conclude, it is nothing really original but I thought it was a well made and entertaining flick so I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.