Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, it is quite an obscure flick, I was the 2nd listal who rated it and nowadays, not even 10 users have apparently seen it, even including the fake ratings. Still, even though it was quite obscure, since there was a very interesting cast (Sophia Loren, Mira Sorvino, Deborah Kara Unger, Pete Postlethwaite, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Malcolm McDowell, Gérard Depardieu,...), I was quite eager to check it out. In fact, I discovered this much later but the director Edoardo Ponti was in fact Sophia Loren’s son. Anyway, even though the whole thing had some potential and in spite of this interesting cast, the movie still failed to impress me. I mean, the acting and the directing were all pretty good but the different stories were not spellbinding enough. Eventually, I think I watched the damned thing above all because I had a weak spot for Mira Sorvino had the time and I thought she did a decent job in this movie but, to be honest, it has been a while that Sorvino has made anything really impressive. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it was a decent drama and I think it is worth a look though.

Since this movie won the prestigious Golden Palm at Cannes film festival, I was really eager to check it out. As expected, it was really a depressing movie and I’m not sure if I will re-watch it any time soon but, to be honest, I don't really mind. Obviously, if you're looking for a feel-good entertaining movie, you should look somewhere else though. Indeed, there is no doubt that that this story was quite heartbreaking. Of course, it was a drama but, as a matter of fact, I thought it actually felt almost like a thriller sometimes as I was really wondering most of the time what was going to happen next. The directing was not flashy at all, it was in fact very sober but it was probably the best way to handle this subject. After this movie, Cristian Mungiu went to direct some other movies which were also very well received but I haven’t seen them to be honest and, at the time, there was some claim about a New Romanian Cinema but, to be honest, we don’t hear much from this anymore. To conclude, it was a pretty tough watch but I still think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you don’t mind feeling quite depressed after a watching a movie.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since there was an interesting cast, I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, even though it was nothing really amazing, I have to admit it, for its genre, it was not bad after all. Sure, it uses the very old gimmick of turning a supposedly ugly chick into some amazing hot girl which was hardly original but I thought it was rather well made and fairly entertaining. On top of that, I have seen a few movies with Freddy Prinze Jr. (as a matter of fact, I have seen most of his movies) and I ‘m pretty sure this movie was the least bad of them, at least, it was fairly entertaining. Above all, as I mentioned before, there was a very nice cast (Freddie Prinze Jr. , Rachael Leigh Cook, Matthew Lillard, Paul Walker, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe Kevin Pollak, Anna Paquin, Kieran Culkin, Elden Henson, Usher, Lil' Kim, Gabrielle Union, Clea DuVall,...) and only for this, I think it is worth watching the damned thing. To conclude, I thought it was a decent watch and if you don't expect anything fancy or original but if you like teen romantic comedies, you may end up enjoying this.

Soon, we will get 2 adaptations of the very famous book written by Rudyard Kipling, one directed by Jon Favreau and one directed by Andy Serkis (it will be his directing debut). I always wonder why they often release two movies back-to-back like this about the same story and, usually, it is not good for the business. Anyway, 20 years ago, Disney already came up with another live adaptation of this tale and, to be honest, I wonder how I ended up watching it. I think I watched it mostly because Lena Headey was involved. Obviously, it never really reaches the quality of the animated version but it was still not bad at all and I thought it was definitely a nice try. Indeed, Jason Scott Lee was an interesting choice for the lead character and he gave a decent performance and the directing was rather competent. It is interesting to point out that, just like the famous animated version, this live adaptation didn’t really follow the original story written by Kipling and it would be neat to have something more faithful in the future (maybe from one of those 2 movies coming up?). Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was still a decent family feature and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Drew Barrymore, I thought I might as well check I out. Eventually, to be honest, I wasn't really impressed by the whole thing. I mean, there was definitely some potential about the whole thing but the makers couldn’t make up their mind if they wanted to make something sexually titillating about an underage characters played by an underage actress but they still kept it politically correct which was understandable but also rather disappointing. On top of that, even though it was nice to see Drew Barrymore trying something new, I thought she was far from being really convincing in this role. However, she was not the only one to blame, the story was rather predictable and the directing was pretty damned average. Eventually, even though this flick was rather lame, they still come up with 3 sequels (starring such cuties like Alyssa Milano and Jaime Pressly) and considering the very low ratings of these sequels, I don’t think I will watch them any time soon. To conclude, I thought it was pretty weak and I think you should watch it only if you're a big Drew Barrymore fan.

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since there was a very nice cast, I thought I should check it out. It is always rather surprising to watch such an obscure movie with such an impressive cast (Aaron Eckhart, Ian McKellen, Brittany Murphy, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, William Hurt, Alan Cumming, Vera Farmiga,...). I mean, what went wrong here? What did they see in this movie which was seen by virtually no one when it was released? All this makes for a rather weird experience and this feeling was enhanced by a plot about several level of realities so it was a rather weird but still intriguing viewing. Still, to be honest, the whole thing was not entirely successful though. Indeed, it was once again one of those movies with way too many characters so many of them were rather poorly developed and some aspects of the story didn’t make much sense. Still, I think it was rather well made and the acting was definitely pretty good. To conclude, in spite of its flaw, it remains a really interesting reflection about fiction against reality and madness against sanity, I actually enjoyed it and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I have always been a huge fan of Charles Chaplin, of course, I was really to check this flick. On top of that , this high-profile biopic was directed by Richard Attenborough who, in the same genre, managed to deliver something pretty impressive with ‘Gandhi’ released exactly 10 years earlier. Eventually, even though I had some rather high expectations, it was a decent flick but not much more than that, I’m afraid. Indeed, Chaplin was a fascinating genius but also a complex man (for example, the guy had an obvious weak spot for younger girls and kept getting married with slightly underaged women) and the movie never really managed to go deeper into this guy, to really show what was going on with him. Therefore, what you get was a by-the-numbers biopic and I couldn’t help thinking that this great artist should have deserved something more inspired and inspiring. Still, there is no doubt that Robert Downey Jr. gave a really impressive perfomance and he makes it worth to watch the damned thing just only for him. To conclude, even though the movie is far from perfect, I still liked it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Charles Chaplin.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but, somehow, I still ended up watching it. For many years now, I have kept watching movies starring Steve Martin (I have seen about 25 of them by now) but, pretty much like Eddie Murphy, most of his movies turned out to be rather lame and uninteresting. Eventually, this flick was no exception and I would go as far as saying it is even actually one of the worst he made so far. Indeed, it was just really tedious, misguided, and kind of offensing when you think about it. Above all, it was just not funny at all. Later on, I discovered to my surprise that it was actually fairly successful (On a budget of $35 million, the film became a surprise hit. It earned $132 million in the United States and an international gross of $32 million, bringing its worldwide gross to $164 million). Concerning Queen Latifah, I have to admit that a huge weak spot for her, in fact, I think she is quite gorgeous but, to be honest, she basically always plays the same part over and over again and she never really impressed me in any of her movies. To conclude, I thought the whole thing was rather embarrassing to behold and you should pretty much avoid it.

It is quite an obscure flick but since there was a decent cast, I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, I was actually positively surprised and I though it was pretty good. Indeed, it deals with depression, a subject which is not very often developed in movies and it is a subject I find really interesting. On top of that, the directing was competent and all the actors involved (especially Emile Hirsch and Sigourney Weaver) delivered some solid performances. The story was rather depressing but it is not something I mind, if the movie is interesting enough. Back then, when it was released, it was barely seen and it actually got some rather mixed reviews but even though I have to argue that it was maybe a little too quirky for its own good, I thought it was a decent character study. Concerning Emile Hirsch, this movie was once again a showcase of his talent and it is a real pity that after his amazing turn in ‘Into the Wild’, it pretty much downwards with his once promising career. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was not a masterpiece whatsoever, I thought it was still a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.