Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie since I always had a weak spot for Lawrence Kasdan, I thought I might as well check it out. On a side note, Lawrence Kasdan will make a return at the end of 2015 with Star Wars, 30 years after 'Return of the Jedi'. Hopefully, it will better than the disappointing prequels delivered by Georges Lucas. Anyway, only is he a succesfull writer (he was also responsible for 'Raiders of the Lost Ark') , Kasdan also managed to have a decent career as a director, at least, until the mid-90’s. Indeed, back then, he released the ambitious but eventually really underwhelming ‘Wyatt Earp’ and his directing career never really recovered from the blow. 4 years later, Kasdan would come up with this flick which was barely noticed when it was released. Eventually, I must admit that I find it rather difficult to judge this movie which was kind of weird in my opinion. Basically, the makers tried very hard to make it all sound deep and thoughtful but, at the end of the day, the whole thing was actually pretty cheesy. Still, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was a decent watch and I think it is worth a look.

Obviously, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have always had a weak spot for Billy Bob Thornton and Susan Sarandon, I thought I might as well give it a try. Indeed, the title was really lame, I had heard some really harsh critics about this movie like, for example, according to Seann William Scott himself, it was, with "The Dukes of Hazzard", the worst movie he had ever made. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one and Billy Bob Thornton and Craig Gillespie both disliked the film and, for Gillespie, it was mostly due to some last-minute re-shoots done with another director (David Dobkin). However, even though it might sound really surprising, I thought that it was actually not bad at all. Of course, it is not a masterpiece at all and the whole concept was really stupid but Seann William Scott was OK and, in my opinion, Billy Bob Thornton is always quite hilarious when he is in his "Bad Santa" mode. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing whatsoever, I think it is actually a guilty pleasure, at least in my case, and it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre but don’t expect anything great beforehand.

To be honest, I wonder how actually ended up watching this flick. If I recall it correctly, I read some good things about it on our TV magazine and I thought I might as well check it out. Usually, I don’t really care about true stories but this one was just really heartbreaking and, apparently, the original event called the Sugamo child abandonment case was actually even more worse (to think that, in real life, the mother regained custody of the two daughters after 3 years in jail is also rather mind-blowing). Anyway, it was definitely a strong story and, on top of that, the directing and the acting were very good as well. Apparently, the director Hirokazu Koreeda spent a lot of time with the children to make sure that they could really express themselves freely as a genuine children without too much interaction from any adults. Indeed, in most movies, children actually act following the stereotypes grown-ups have but, here, the acting felt really natural, believable and quite spellbinding to watch. To conclude, I think it was a really shocking and fascinating drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Asian movies.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Gerard Butler and Sara Polley, I thought I might as well give it a try. Basically, there was a time when I would buy a whole bunch of really obscure movies on DVD with such deals like ‘5 dvds for 5 euro’. Well, that was one of those. Eventually, it doesn’t happen really often but, to be honest, I just didn’t really know what to think of this movie. Indeed, one one hand, it was not bad and fairly entertaining but, on the other hand, it looked pretty cheap and clumsy. Concerning Gerard Butler, he made this movie just before getting his breakthrough with ‘300’. Through the years, there has been quite a few adaptations of the ancient poem ‘Beowulf’ and I think it was a nice touch that they shot it in Iceland giving the whole thing a rather authentic look (apparently, it was a rather hellish shoot and it could be neat to watch the making-of documentary called ‘Wrath of Gods’). Anyway, to conclude, I actually think it was a decent watch but, still, I’m not sure if I should recommend it so you should watch it at your own risk.

Basically, it is another really obscure French movies that almost no one has seen here on Listal. It is one of the last movies directed by Louis Malle and since I always had a weak spot for this director, I was quite eager to chek it out. I don't know why exactly but I really liked this movie a lot. Maybe it has to do with the fact that, when I was just kid growing up in France, I saw this intriguing poster, all green with trees and leaves, only with this guy all dressed up in white in his small boat (French legend Michel Piccoli). Even the rather enigmatic title (even though I'm French, I still have actually no idea what it actually means) had something mesmerizing to it. Anyway, it's a really a laid-back movie, especially if you compare it to the super heavy dramas directed by Louis Malle such as 'Au revoir les enfants' or 'Damage'. Basically, it is a very easy movie to swallow, even relaxing, dealing with some fully-fledged but pleasant characters.To conclude, even though it wasn't really a masterpiece, I liked it a lot and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you're interested in French cinema.

I have noticed that this movie tends to be forgotten nowdadays but I think it is quite a shame because I always thought that this story was just really fascinating. To be honest, even though thrillers can be entertaining, I find that most of them are actually rather annoying because they are always based on some really far-fetched plots (and, yes, it does include such classics like ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ and ‘Seven’). I mean, sure, you could argue that since it was based on a real-life case, this tale was bound to be more realistic but the fact that it was a real story didn’t really impress me, what really impress was the fact that everything displayed was actually possible and it made for a much more spellbinding viewing. Indeed, the directing was just very good as well and Jeremy Irons gave here one of his best perfomances. Concerning Barbet Schroeder, I’m pretty sure it was the first movie directed by this guy that I had ever seen, I became an instant fan and tried to watch all his movies whenever I got the opportunity. To conclude, I really loved this thriller and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

If you are a Coen fan, you ought to see this movie. The attention to the details, the weird characters, the dark humor, the slow tempo, it has everything and it is a very typical Coen flick. For the Coen brothers, it is when they really started to get serious. Indeed, ‘Blood Simple’ and ‘Raising Arizona’ were both pretty good and they both became eventually cult-classics but they were rather modest when you consider the scale and, with this flick, you could see that the two siblings were getting quite ambitious. Basically, it is a gangster flick with a rather slow pace but it is a great mix combining the Coen brothers directing style with the gangster-prohibition genre. Personally, each time I watch this flick, I enjoy it even more but, with its rather slow pace, I still believe it is an acquired taste. The cast was also pretty terrific with an all-time best performance by Gabriel Byrne but the rest of the cast was really solid as well (Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Albert Finney, Steve Buscemi). To conclude, even though this feature seems to be a little bit forgotten, I think it is actually one of their best movies and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in the Coen brothers’ work.

It has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. First of all, to be honest, I'm not a big fan of Stephen King, neither the books or the movies. But, fortunately, a few of these adaptations turned out to be really good and this movie was definitely one of them. In fact, for Rob Reiner, it would be his 2nd acclaimed Stephen King feature following the critical success of ‘Stand by Me’ (such a shame the guy has lost his touch as he hasn't done anything remotely amazing during the last 20 years). Coming back to our main feature, the story was just quite spellbinding and Kathy Bates gave a really chilling performance. Eventually, it will be her breakthrough and she would become the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress in a horror/thriller feature. Eventually, the big difference between this story and the usual tales written by Stephen King is that most of it is actually grounded in reality which made it, at least for me, much easier to relate to and to believe in the characters and what they were going through. To conclude, it is pretty much a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Back in the 90's, I was a big fan of Takeshi Kitano and I watched all his movies. This movie was favorite one. It was funny, entertaining, weird and very poetic at the same time. A typical Kitano flick.