Reviews by johanlefourbe

Basically, it is one of these movies I wanted to see for years. Indeed, the title sounded really cool, I always had a weak spot for Robert Redford and with Sydney Pollack, they made a really strong team. Eventually, I thought it was pretty good but, honestly, I was expecting more from this flick and it didn't live up to my expectations. Still, it remains a very well made and solid thriller but, in my opinion, the plot was not really strong. I mean, it was a decent story but nothing actually really mind-blowing. The set-up was pretty cool as it was involving an analyst, instead of the usual trained spies but, unfortunately, since this analyst was played by Robert Redford, he was still pretty bad-ass and resourceful (He even managed to get Faye Dunaway in the sack which would have made James Bond proud). Still, it was entertaining, Robert Redford remains a very dependable actor and he delivered a good performance, as usual. Eventually, the best thing about this flick was Max von Sydow who was a very cool bad guy. To conclude, even though it is not a masterpiece, it is a typical but entertaining 70's thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Claire Danes, I was still eager to check it out. Unfortunately, this flick is not among her best work... Indeed, according to Imdb, it is actually even her worst movie so far. To be honest, even though it didn’t think it was indeed anything really amazing, I thought it was still mildly entertaining. Basically, it is a rather standard undercover cop movie involving young folks (à la '21 Jumpstreet') but there was absolutely nothing remotely original or really interesting about it. Basically, the concept was decent, the young actors were pretty good but the story was just terribly generic and underwhelming. Apparently, it was another failed attempt to adapt a fairly successful TV show and the whole thing was a flop at the box-office. Still, above all thanks to the charismatic cast, it was still quite watchable but I don’t think I will re-watch it anytime soon. To conclude, there is a good chance that my rating might be too generous on this one but I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you are interested in Claire Danes' work.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. Well, after all these years, I wasn’t disappointed, that’s for sure, and it is definitely one of these movies which actually still deserve their terrific reputation. Indeed, it is easily one of the best movies starring Al Pacino, the guy was really on fire back in those days, and he gave here one of his best performances. On top of that, it was a fascinating true story and it kept me mesmerized until the end (the story did work better the first time around though). Indeed, the main character, Sonny Wortzik, is such a deeply flawed but still charismatic guy, he was probably one of the most intriguing characters I have ever seen. Furthermore, in another movie, they would have probably given some flashbacks to show how the characters were before the robbery but, in this movie, you only get to see what happened back then and this approach turned out to be really efficient. I mean, did we really need to see Sonny and Sal before? Actually not really. This way, you have to make up your own mind about who they might be with what they do and what they say in front of you, instead of the movie spoon feeding you some scenes with all the answers. Finally, it is quite a dark and messed up tale and it was impressive how they managed to not sugarcoat the whole thing in any way. Sidney Lumet, who passed away in 2011, has made some great and not so great movies during his stellar career but this flick is definitely one of his best. Anyway, to conclude, it is just a great classic and definitely a must see for any decent movie lover. 

As you may have noticed, I’m quite obsessive concerning my movie watching and I would watch sometimes the most obscure flicks just because one actor I admire has a tiny bit part in it. Well, this movie is a perfect example. Indeed, I tend to watch anything starring Christopher Walken, even his weirdest movies, and that’s how I basically ended up watching this flick. Unfortunately, I have read somewhere that Walken never says no to any movie and that's quite obvious here... Honestly, it was a terribly misguided flick and those bears were just so annoying, I was just bored throughout the whole thing. Apparently, like ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘The Haunted Mansion’, this movie was based on some attraction at Disneyland which must be of the lamest ideas to make a movie and, obviously, it was a flop when it was released. At least, it was as usual a pleasure to see Mr Walken at work but even him couldn't save this terrible mess. You could argue that I didn’t belong to the target audience but I seriously doubt that many children would enjoy this flick but I might be mistaken. To conclude, I thought it was pretty bad and you should probably avoid it. 

Even before watching this flick, you know it would be impossible to be better or even as good as the original movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock so the whole endeavor was rather foolish. So, was it better than the original version? Of course not! Was it then a total worthless movie ? As a matter of fact, not completely... First of all, it remains a really entertaining plot, the movie was rather well directed and there was a nice tense mood. Furthermore, Michael Douglas was a perfect choice and provided one of his dependable performances. It was rather difficult to imagine Viggo Mortensen (before he reached fame with the LOTR trilogy) as a back-stabbing playboy but Gwyneth Paltrow was also a very good choice. Eventually, did this movie add anything interesting to the original version? Not really. I mean, even though the running time was similar, they added and removed a few scenes here and there but none of these modifications felt necessary or represented any kind of improvement. Still, I thought it was fairly entertaining and I have seen much worse remake seen then. To conclude, it is a totally unnecessary remake but it was still rather well made and I think it is actually worth a look. 

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin, I thought I might as well give it a try. Unfortunately, the whole thing turned out to be rather underwhelming. Indeed, basically, it is a very conventional thriller with a rather idiotic plot and I really had a hard time to care about the whole thing. Eventually, the biggest fun with this flick was with the cast which brought you back to a different era. Indeed, back then, Demi Moore was still on the A list and still looked like her own age, Alec Baldwin was not a funny guy but still quite struggling to achieve a macho leading man status (a status he eventually never reached) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was still a teenager and nobody expected him at the time to become one of the most inspiring actors of his generation. But the movie itself was terribly forgettable and since the concept was rather misguided from the start, I’m not sure if there was any potential to be something more interesting. To conclude, even though it is not really a bad movie, it is still pretty damned average and I don’t think really worth a look. 

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Kurt Russell, I thought I might as well give it a try. Eventually, I was actually positively surprised and I though it was not bad at all. I mean, obviously, it was a rather standard police story dealing with dirty cops and corruption which took place at the time of the Rodney King trial verdict. Still, somehow, I thought that the story was quite entertaining and above all, I thought it was a very well made flick. Especially with Kurt Russell, one of the most underrated actors at work nowadays, you can never go wrong. Honestly, I didn’t expect such a gritty cop drama from Ron Shelton who has specialized himself with sports features such as ‘Bull Durham’, ‘White Men Can’t Jump’, ‘Cobb’ or ‘Tin Cup’. A year later, he would release the rather abysmal ‘Hollywood Homicide’, probably the worst movie starring Harrison Ford released in the 2000’s, and since then Shelton hasn’t made any another movies. To conclude, even though it was nothing groundbreaking whatsoever, I thought it was a decent flick and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Basically, it is one of these movies I really wanted to see for years. Indeed, I thought that 'Dangerous Liaisons' was an awesome flick and I was quite curious to see this other version. Furthermore, Milos Forman is a very good director and I try to watch all his movies. At the time, while ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ was a huge success, this movie was released later on but received some rather mixed reviews and quickly disappeared at the box-office. Eventually, it was not bad at all but even though the movie looked amazing (set-dressing, clothes,...) and the story was still quite mesmerizing, the whole thing didn't really convince me. To start with, even though Colin Firth and Annette Bening are both some very good actors, I didn’t believe they were the best choices to play these characters, especially Firth looked way to nice to portray such a major *sshole. Eventually, Milos Forman made a nice come-back 7 years later with the really impressive ‘The People vs. Larry Flint’ (at least, I thought it was really good). Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it remains a well made and intriguing flick and I think it is still worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I remember when I watched Edward Burns’ directing debut "The Brothers McMullen", I was quite impressed and since then I try to catch up all his movies whenever I get the opportunity. Unfortunately, I must admit it, none of the other flicks he directed did reach that level and this movie was not an exception. Apparently, like all the movies directed by Edward Burns, it was really obscure and it was barely seen when it was released. Basically, it is very well written, that's for sure and I liked the way the characters were really 3 dimensional but, unfortunately, I wasn't really fascinated by the whole story. Furthermore, it didn't help that, even though the performances were good, I didn't care much for most of the cast (John Leguizamo, Matthew Lillard, Jay Mohr). Still, I really love the way Edward Burns create his characters, he gives them some real depth which is always interesting in his work, it is just too bad that he doesn’t manage to build a more interesting story around them. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, it was far from being a bad movie and it think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Edward Burns’ work. 

Since I kept hearing good things about this flick, I was really eager to watch it. Furthermore, I was really curious to see a movie directed by the great Tommy Lee Jones. Eventually, I thought it was pretty good but, somehow, I wasn't really blown away by the whole thing. Obviously, the whole cast gave some impressive perfomances, the movie was very well directed and the story was good enough but that was probably the main issue for me. Indeed, somehow it seemed that they tried to make it all sound very deep and thoughtfull but eventually, I wasn’t really convinced. Basically, even though I was intrigued by all that was going on, I was never really fascinated by the characters and what they were going through and , eventually, I couldn’t make up my mind if I found the main character’s quest to be pointless, pathetic, poetic or inspiring. Maybe I wasn’t in the right mood and a re-watch might change my opinion though. Still, even though it didn’t turn out to be as good as I hoped, it was still a solid drama and it is definitely worth a look especially if you are interested to see Tommy Lee Jones working for the first time as a director.