Reviews by johanlefourbe

Honestly, it is quite an obscure feature and I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Michael Caton-Jones’s work, I thought I might as well give it a try. Eventually, I was really impressed by the whole thing. Indeed, it is basically a very good and heartbreaking picture and easily the best movie ever directed by Caton-Jones . Basically, it can be compared to ‘Hotel Rwanda’ since they both deal with the same subject but even though this movie didn’t get much love, I thought it was almost as good. The only minor issue I had is that, like many other movies taking in Africa or any third world countries, the whole thing is focusing on 2 white guys instead of the Rwandese characters. It is a very typical gimmick that usually really annoys me but, here, it was actually working fine here. Eventually, only a year later, Michael Caton-Jones will make something completely different, ‘Basic Instinct 2’ which would turn out to be one of the most misguided and disappointing sequel ever made. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I thought it was a really strong historical drama and it is definitely worth a look.

I remember it quite well, when this movie was released, there was quite some buzz about it. Indeed, apparently, it was an amazing action flick so I had some rather high expectations concerning this flick but, to be honest, I wasn’t really blown away by the whole thing. I mean, sure, All 3 leads did a good job, the directing was fine and the action scenes were pretty good, so what was the problem then ? The main issue I had is that the whole thing was jsut so preposterous and senseless that I never really cared about the characters or what they were going through. I mean, basically, I was looking at the whole thing and I was thinking "Wow! That looks good!!" but that was about it, I’m afraid. Concerning Monica Bellucci, I always had a weak spot for this actress but, unfortunately, most of her US productions have been rather disappointing and her career never really took off there. Anyway, to conclude, even though I had a really hard time to understand what was supposedly so great about this flick, I have to admit that it was still fairly entertaining and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I have noticed that this movie usually gets some mixed reviews. Indeed, even though many praised Marisa Tomei for her performance, some thought she actually didn’t deserve to win an Academy Award and afterwards, for at least a decade, Tomei would have a rather unerwhelming career. Also, apparently, this movie was also praised by lawyers as being one of the most accurate movies dealing with a courtroom procedure. To be honest, when I saw it, it didn’t really strike me as something really realistic but I may have missed something here. Anyway, I thought it was not bad but it was not great either. On top of that, Joe Pesci is usually pretty awesome but, at the end of the day, he basically always plays the very same character in all his movies and this flick was definitely not an exception. Concerning Marisa Tomei, I thought she gave a decent performance as well but I have seen her giving much better perfomances later on in her career (for example, in ‘The Wrestler’, ‘Before the Devil Knows You're Dead’ or in 'In the Bedroom’). To conclude, all in all, I have to admit that the whole thing was still fairly entertaining and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Being a huge fan of Johnny Depp (even way before his antics with Captain Jake Sparrow), my expectations were huge with this movie and I have went to watch the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released. Eventually, it was probably one of the most disappointing movies I have ever seen. I mean, it was so bad, it is even the worst movie starring Johnny Depp. I mean, the guy is a great actor, no doubt, but he seems to have no talent for directing, I'm sorry. Indeed, the whole thing was just really condenscending and completely boring to watch, I couldn't believe I was witnessing such a train wreck. Depp gave himself the lead part and he was supposed to be some kind of righteous martyr but I thought it was pretty arrogant and egocentric. The great Marlon Brando shows up in a small part but didn't impress me either. In short, the story was average and the directing was just not up to it. To conclude, the whole project had some potential, it was his first directing gig and it was real mess (it wasn't even release in the US back then), since then, Johnny Depp hasn't direct anything else and maybe it is better that way.

I always liked the sound of the title of this movie. Indeed, I always thought it sounded quite catchy and, in my mind, it was the promise of a good old badass action flick. On top of that, it seemed to be a really nice idea to put together Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russel together in one action movie but, unfortunately, the result was not really convincing, I’m afraid. Indeed, even though it was still fairly watchable, it was just a really predictable and actually rather boring action feature. Apparently, the production was pretty chaotic as they started to shoot without a completed script and eventually Andrey Konchalovskiy was replaced towards the end of principal photography by Albert Magnoli. It seems that Konchalovskiy was aiming for a more serious tone resulting in a major clash with the producers. Eventually, they even struggled with the editing and the movie ended up being shipped to theaters only a week after its original release date as 'wet prints' (an industry term meaning that the movie was just barely completed before its release date). To conclude, even though the whole thing had some potential, I thought it was rather half-baked and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Honestly, it has been a while since I have seen this movie but I actually remember it very well when I saw it. Indeed, I think it was the only time in my whole life that I got some free tickets to see a specific movie and, unfortunately, it turned out to be terribly lame. Seriously, I can't believe it was so bad... I mean, I think that Catherine Deneuve is a great actress but even she couldn't save this disaster. Basically, the whole thing was supposed to be deep but it didn't make much sense whatsoever and, above all, it was just so damned boring. I couldn't believe how pointless and pretentious it was. It was quite unbelievable. Eventually, I gave it a few points because the camera shots were ok and Deneuve cannot deliver a bad performance but that's about it. The story (if there was a story at all...) was just terrible, the dialogues were ridiculous and the characters were annoying to death. To conclude, it was pretty much just some artsy garbage, it is definitely not worth a look at all and, as a matter of fact, it should be avoided, even if you are interested in French movies.

That’s another really obscure flick and, again, it is another very bad French comedy... I don’t know, They make dozen of them every year in France. Some of them work, some of them don't. This one belongs to the 2nd category. The weird thing is I'm not a big fan of French comedies at all and, yet, I still ended up watching this flick in the movie theater when it was released. My best guess is that, back in the ’93, Christian Clavier just got a massive success with ‘Les Visiteurs’ (which I, in fact, didn’t really like to start with) and, later on that same year, he was the leading man on this comedy so I thought it could be funny. Well, this was a huge mistake. Indeed, basically, it is one of those supposedly funny comedy dealing with some really unlikeable characters but the main character, played completely over-the-top by Christian Clavier, was so obnoxious, it made the whole thing just really painful to behold. Concerning Gérard Oury, after directing the amazing ‘La Grande Vadrouille’, easily my favorite French comedy, this was definitely a huge step down. Anyway, to conclude I really didn’t like this flick and it is definitely not worth a look, even if you are interested in French movies.

I already saw this movie but since it was such a long time ago, I was quite eager to check it out again. Well, I have to admit that it was actually not as bad as I remembered but, even so, it was still rather weak though. Above all, the whole concept was rather flimsy. Even worse, it seems that the makers had no real clue what it was supposed to be about. Basically, it seemed to be about a young man with no skills or experience who, by chance, discovers that he is actually pretty good at bartending so you might think that he will try to become the best bartender in the world. But, no, even though the whole thing seemed to be about how cool bartending could be, it was after all not such a worthy job and the main character was constantly shifting his goals and ambitions. As a result, he went back to school but, after 20 mins, this idea was completely dropped though. Then, he went to Jamaica but it didn't seem to be a success either so, he became some kind of toy boy but it was another failure. However, out of nowhere, he still managed to open his own bar at the end which was rather difficult to take seriously. And, yet, even if the story barely worked, thanks to Tom Cruise's charisma, it was actually still watchable but there is no doubt that it is one of his weaker movies. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Tom Cruise. 

That’s another really obscure flick. Indeed, I’m the only one who has rated it so far on this website. The weird thing is I'm not a big fan of French comedies at all and, yet, I still ended up watching this flick in the movie theater when it was released. Well, even though it wasn’t really awful, it was still really weak and, above all, not funny at all. Basically, it is one of those comedies that tries to deal with a topical subjet at the time (the war in Yugoslavia) but fails really miserably. I mean, with ‘La vita è bella’, Roberto Benigni showed us that it is possible to make a comedy about a historical tragedy but it is something really tricky and difficult and I don’t think that Gérard Jugnot has enough directing skills to make it something subtle enough. At least, it was neat to see Victoria Abril who, in spite of her Spanish background, always had a very solid career in France. Concerning Gérard Jugnot, I wasn’t a huge fan of his previous directing effort ( ‘Une époque formidable...’) but it was at least a popular success and this follow-up was a massive step down. Anyway, to conclude, I really didn’t like this flick and it is definitely not worth a look, even if you are interested in French movies.