Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even though I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick, I was still intrigued above all because of its impressive cast. Indeed, just check this out : Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Stanley Tucci, Calista Flockhart, Anna Friel, Christian Bale, Dominic West, David Strathairn, Sophie Marceau, Sam Rockwell! I mean, you might wonder how they managed to get all this star power on this project but nevermind. On top of that, they all gave some very good performances and the movie really looked gorgeous. However, I must admit it, even though I had a lot of respect for the all work involved, I thought that the story was not really spellbinding whatsoever and I got bored from time to time. I mean, I haven’t read the play (even though I have studied English at College level for 4 years without ever reading Shakespeare ) but, apparently, it was rather faithfull to the original play. I don’t know, even though the plot is quite whimsical, pretty chaotic, it was therefore also rather silly and I had a rather hard time to care about the whole thing. Still, even though it was not really amazing, it remains an intriguing play adaptation and it is worth a look, especially if you are into Shakespeare.

At only 23 years old, John Singleton directed the amazing 'Boyz n hood' and many of us, including Roger Ebert, thought he would become one of the most important movie directors. Eventually, even though some of his following movies were not bad at all, none of them were great whatsoever. This movie is a good example. Indeed, it is just another average sequel for an average action movie. The directing is actually pretty decent and they changed the scenery to Florida but still, in my opinion, it was not really worse but it was also not better than 'The Fast and The Furious' and it was just as underwhelming. Ok, so you've got some pimped rides and some hot chicks but where is the goddamned plot?!? Oops, we forgot to add a plot but who cares? This time, Paul Walker has to carry the whole thing without Vin Diesel and it definitely shows on the screen. On the other hand, you have Tyrese Gibson and Eva Mender who were not bad, I guess. For the franchise, it was a step down from the previous installment and you would have though they have would have been done after the even less appealing following sequel but, surprise, the 4th installment was a huge success, basically re-launching the whole damned thing, and they are just done with the 8th movie by now. Go figure... Anyway, in my opinion, it was an average flick but you may end up enjoying it more than I did if you loved the first movie.

Oh dear… I keep trying with Eddie Murphy. I mean, I watch one flick after another (by now, I have seen everything he has done except for his last movie ‘A Thousand Words. Can you believe this?!? I really have no life…) but, honestly, most of them are just terribly disappointing and this movie was not an exception. I mean, what could be worse than a movie starring Eddie Murphy?!? A sequel starring Eddie Murphy, of course! I mean, I already didn't really enjoy the first flick (as a matter of fact, I slightly preferred ‘Doctor Dolittle’) and this sequel was not really better or worse. It was just a lame story with some even more lame jokes and the whole thing was just a poor excuse to have Eddie Murphy portray the whole Klump family again. At the time, Murphy’s movies were already getting weak but they made some bucks at the box-office so, from this perspective, it was not really surprising that they decided to make a sequel. At least, we got to see Janet Jackson, a star who never made many movies but that was a rather small compensation. To conclude, honestly, it is not really a very bad movie but it is not really worth a look either in my opinion.

A little bit like with Eddie Murphy, I keep trying with Steve Martin, I watch one flick after another but, honestly, most of them are just terribly disappointing (still, his career is not as messed up as Eddie Murphy’s, I’ll give him that). Since this movie was directed by John Landis, the guy behind ‘Animal House’, ‘The Blues Brothers’, ‘An American Werewolf in London’ and ‘Trading Places’, I thought it should be at least a decent watch but I was eventually rather disappointed by the whole thing. Indeed, first of all, there was Martin Short in it so that was already a major letdown. I mean, the guys basically always plays the same character in all his movies and I always find him obnoxious and just plain unfunny. Furthermore, even though one of the major appeal, at least to me, was to have Steve Martin and Chevy Chase in the same movie, at the end of the day, Chevy Chase didn’t have much to do here, in my opinion. Eventually, the main issue was that the plot was just lame and not really funny or entertaining. To conclude, even though I thought it could be a nice comedy, I thought it was terribly disappointing and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Since I'm a huge fan of Charles Chaplin, I really had to see this flick. It was the final film that he produced in America before moving to Europe after being accused of being communist and many consider it as his last masterpiece and therefore I was really eager to check it out. There was also a huge fuss about the fact that Buster Keaton and Charles Chaplin were finally both on screen but, honestly, even though they were pretty good together, Keaton had a rather small part. Anyway, in my opinion, this movie was not as great as his previous work. Here, Chaplin has got older and his movie doesn't have the energy of his earlier flicks and it tends to be more dramatic and contemplative but it was not necessarily a bad thing. I don't know, I basically grew up watching his funny movies with the Tramp and I really had a hard time switching from genre with him. On the other hand, the more I think about this movie, the more I believe that the whole thing was actually really subtle and thoughtful so I think I will have to re-watch someday to make up my mind for good. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn't really blow me away, I really enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Chaplin's work.

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.