Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I have it on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. First of all, since I loved Richard Shepard’s previous directing effort (the criminally underrated ‘The Matador’), I was really eager to check what he would do next. Eventually, to be honest, I had some rather mixed feelings about the whole thing. I mean, on one hand, I thought it was actually pretty good and there is no doubt that the story was quite fascinating. On top of that, it had been a while since I had seen Richard Gere pulling out such a good performance. The directing was also decent and it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole duration. On the other hand, I still can't stop thinking that it could have been much better than this. Indeed, it is actually quite an incredible story but they didn't manage to create an incredible movie, merely a good one. Indeed, during the end-credits, they displayed some of the actual details of the actual story and you really wonder if what they added or changed was actually an improvement. Above all, it was definitely a mistake to have Simon Hunt have some personal agenda involved in this manhunt. Furthermore, to try to make us believe that these journalists would manage to catch this war criminal on their own was rather ridiculous. Anyway, to conclude, In spite of its flaws, I still enjoyed the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look.

Honestly, before watching this flick, I have never heard of it before but one of my colleagues at the time gave me the DVD so I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of those Samurai action movies but I have to admit that this one was actually pretty good and it was definitely a really entertaining feature. Indeed, the whole thing looked quite gorgeous and the action scenes were very nicely done. To be honest, I still don't think it is actually a great picture as the story didn’t provide anything really original or groundbreaking and the whole thing was fairly predictable. The characters were also barely developed. But of course, such movies are not about the plot, it is all about the ass-kicking and the ass-kicking was definitely impressive and, as a result, it was definitely a cool flick to behold. Apparently, they came up with a sequel later on and I haven’t seen it but, to be honest, I’m not sure I would really need to spend much more time with these characters. Anyway, to conclude, I thought it was pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since it is a rather obscure feature, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Sigourney Weaver, I thought I might as well give it a try. Eventually, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie and, in my opinion, it is definitely one of the best movies I have seen dealing with autism. Indeed, it is a dear subject to me, as my step-son is autist and most of the movies about the subject don't deal correctly with this handicap (for example, I barely can stand ‘Rain man’ as it is a fairly entertaining feature but it really focuses on the usual stereotypes about the subject which really annoyed me). Anyway, this movie really succeeded in portraying correctly an autist person and I was really impressed by Sigourney Weaver who pulls out an amazing performance. Unfortunately, the other sub-plots in the story were not very well developped (in fact, they could have been pretty much removed if you ask me), but in spite of its flaws, I still found the whole movie very interesting. To conclude, even though it wasn’t really a masterpiece, I really liked this movie a lot and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by this subject.

I wasn’t expecting much from this flick and, honestly, I thought it would be rather lame but, surprisingly, I thought it was actually not bad at all after all. Back in those days, following the success of ‘American Pie’, they were still trying to sell us Jason Biggs as a lead actor which obviously didn’t work after all but, eventually, this movie was maybe the only one starring this rather underwhelming actor which turn out to be actually watchable. Of course, the plot was nothing really remarkable but, still, I thought it was actually quite entertaining and there were definitely some really funny bits here and there. Above all, I thought that Jack Black was just hilarious thoughout the whole thing. Indeed, as usual, he basically stole the show everytime he was on the screen and I actually miss the days when the guy was not so famous and when he was playing those wacky supporting characters. Even Steve Zahn who I found rather rather annoying did a pretty good work here and, with Jack Black, they made for a nice duo. To conclude, even though it was nothing amazing whatsoever, I though it was a decent comedy and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Michael Caine, I thought I might as well give it a try. To be honest, it is basically one of his many obscure flicks (the guy has made about 120 movies over 7 decades already) but I was actually positively surprised by this feature. Indeed, Michael Caine is definitely an amazing and usually underrated actor and this movie was basically a good old spy flick and Caine gave a really solid performance. On top of that, the directing was decent and the story was really entertaining. In fact, I discovered later on that it was an adaptation of a book written by Frederick Forsyth and the guy also wrote ‘The Day of the Jackal’ which turned out to be one of the best thrillers I have ever seen. To be honest, this movie never reaches the level of awesomness displayed by ‘The Day of the Jackal’ but it was still a fairly realistic thriller and it was definitely entertaining. To conclude, even though it is not really a masterpiece, it is still a really solid thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

For me, Sean Connery will always remain the ultimate and best James Bond ever. I mean, sure, Daniel Craig is a very good actor (actually better than Connery) but his version of Mr Bond would never beat the original one, at least, that's my opinion. Anyway, all in all, thanks to this movie, it was definitely quite awesome to see Sean Connery back in his iconic role. Obviously, the story, which has always been a weak point in this franchise, was not really impressive. Indeed, even though there were plenty of entertaining scenes, it was also a little bit too long and tended to drag sometimes. Above all, it was a real pity that it had to be a remake, especially of 'Thunderball' which was absolutely not one of the best James Bond installments. Apparently, Kevin McClory, the producer of this movie, was also producer and co-writer of 'Thunderball'. Later, he would win a legal battle against Ian Fleming to make his own Bond movie and the settlement stipulated that it had to be a remake of 'Thunderball'. Still, above all thanks to Sean Connery, I enjoyed most of it and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick. I mean, on one hand, the whole thing definitely had some potential but, on the other hand, it seemed also like a rather pathetic attempt to make some quick money from a famous brand like Hannibal Lecter. Eventually, even though it was definitely not a masterpiece, I have to admit it that, to my surprise, it was much better than I expected. Indeed, I thought that Gaspard Ulliel was a very interesting choice to play the infamous killer and the guy gave a decent performance. It was the same thing with Gong Li, she is such a a fascinating actress and she really raised the level of the whole thing. Furthermore, I thought that the directing was pretty good and the story was actually rather entertaining. Eventually, the main issue is that, this time, Lecter was the main character so they didn’t really dare to show him solely as a total psycho so, therefore, there was this awkward attempt to make the viewers sympathize with what he was going through but it wasn’t the best approach, I’m afraid. Anyway, to conclude, I still think it is actually a decent prequel and it is definitely worth a look especially if you loved the previous movies about Hannibal Lecter.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but since Roger Ebert really loved it (he even chose it as one of the best movies of 1986), I was really eager to check it out. Eventually, I thought it was pretty good, even though, to be honest, I wasn't as enthousiast as Roger Ebert. Something I quite enjoyed was the fact that Dennis Quaid was trying something else with this flick and he definitely provided a good and refreshing performance. At the time, Ellen Barkin was more of less specialized in this kind of sexy femmes fatales and I thought she had some great chemistry with Dennis Quaid. On top of that, the directing was pretty solid, above all, the mood was very well done and New Orleans was in fact an actual protagonist in this story. Eventually, to be honest, I didn't think the story was really amazing, it was a little bit too pedestrian and predictable for my taste but it was still entertaining enough. To conclude, even though I don’t think it was really a masterpiece, it was still a really solid film noir and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.