Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. To be honest, so far, I had some rather mixed feelings about Alejandro Amenabar's work so far. Indeed, I thought that 'Abre los Ojos' was pretty good but nothing really amazing and, in my opinion, 'The Others' was well made but eventually rather underwhelming and therefore quite overrated. Later on, ‘Regression’ also turned out to be (deservedly) a critical and commercial flop. Anyway, this time, Amenabar didn't disappoint me though, in the contrary, he actually really blew me away. First of all, it might seem morbid but I always thought that euthanasia was a really interesting subject. Indeed, if we are allowed to chose what we want to do with our life, why shouldn't we have the right to choose what we want to do with our own death? So, it was definitely interesting and this movie turned out to the best one about this delicate subject, even if I have to admit that the movies dealing with this matter are actually really rare. Eventually, the directing was really solid but I was above all impressed by Javier Bardem. Indeed, a few years later, he eventually won a Oscar for 'No country for Old men' but I think this movie and his performance in this movie was actually much better. Of course, you can't really compare a banana and an apple... Anyway, it was a riveting story and Bardem gave his best performance (so far). To conclude, it was a fascinating and heartbreaking drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Spanish movies.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while ago and since I have it on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. Eventually, I thought it would be pretty good but it turned out to be even better than I expected. This movie is really heartbreaking but, in my opinion, like for example 'The Schindler's list', it should be compulsory viewing for all teenagers only in respect of its historical value. I mean, how many teenagers are actually aware of what happened? You could always argue that, right now, there is something similar happening somewhere else in the world... Anyway, I thought it was a spellbinding tragic story,  there was a pretty good cast (Don Cheadle, Nick Nolte, Sophie Okonedo, Joaquin Phoenix, Jean Reno) with, above all, an amazing perfomance by Don Cheadle. Until then Cheadle was one of the most underrated actors but thanks to his tremendous work on this movie, he finally got some recognition. Still, there were a couple of things that slightly bothered me when I was rewatching this flick. Indeed, if the directing by Terry George was usually quite effective, it was also sometimes rather heavy-handed. For example, you get to see a local explaining to a journalist the difference between a Hutu and Tutsi just to make sure the mainstream audience got a better grip on this tragedy but do you ever get to hear why the Nazis hated the Jews in a WWII drama? You also get to see a scene where the main character drives with his van on a road which is so misty that you can't see a thing but, then, within a few seconds, the heavy fog magically disappears to display hundreds of corpses. As a result, it is a spectacular but rather far-fetched scene. Anyway, to conclude, what took place in Rwanda was a real tragedy and this movie will remind you that we have all let these people down back then and if you don't mind being horrified and depressed while watching a movie, you should definitely check this one.

I already saw this movie but since it was such a long time ago, I was really eager to check it out again. I have noticed that this movie didn’t really get much love but I have such a weak spot for the damned thing. Indeed, by now, I have seen so many films with Julia Roberts  but the vast majority was not really remarkable. This movie was the exception though as, for once, she played an interesting character and she easily gave here one of her best performances. Basically, I thought that the story was riveting, the directing was very good and the whole cast was really strong. It is not very often that you come across such conflicted and 3 dimensional characters and it was really refreshing compared to the boring stereotypes provided in your usual Hollywood productions. It was again another great picture directed by Mike Nichols and I even think it might be his best movie, at least, it was better than ‘The Graduate’ which is rather overrated in my opinion (‘Angels in America’ might be his best work after all but since it is a TV mini-serie, it is something rather different). To conclude, I really loved this flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. Well, even the 2nd time around, it was still such a strong movie. Indeed, it remains quite amazing and I would go even further by saying that it is probably the last great war movie in my opinion. Yeah, it is that good. I remember, after watching it the first time around, I discussed it with my wife and she argued that the makers could have never known how the whole thing exactly happened. Personally, I think it is totally irrelevant though but, even so, I still believed that the damned thing was pretty convincing. Basically, it is a fascinating study giving us the magnitude of the sheer madness of those guys. 70 years later, it remains difficult to comprehend that literally millions of people believed this guy and his ideology. That's also the other great thing about this flick, the impressive performance given by Bruno Ganz. Indeed, up to that point, the general perception I had of Adolf Hilter was one of a barking man during his distressing speeches. Here, Ganz managed to give him another dimension. I mean, the madness, the megalomania, it is all there but, and that's the most controversial aspect of this movie, they gave him some more human features as well because, after all, he was also a human being with actual feelings (I know, it is hard to believe and/or accept...). Bruno Ganz was brilliant and he must be one of the most underrated actors ever. Anyway, to conclude, I think it is a great achievement, an incredibly valuable picture and a must see for anyone, even beyond movie buffs.

Since it was a huge critical success, I was really dying to watch this flick. Eventually, I had 2 issues with this movie. First, it was very overhyped when I watched it the first time so my expectations were too high. Second, I was expecting a fantasy picture and the fantasy is only half of the movie, the other half being a war drama. Basically, I didn't get what I expected. In spite of all this, I really liked it as there was some very good directing and a fascinating story. Some years later, I watched it again to make up my mind for good and, honestly, the second time around, it gave me about the same feeling. I mean, the directing was indeed very good, the special effects were quite awesome, the story was intriguing and entertaining enough but, honestly, I never really felt swept away by this fantasy world. In my opinion it is a very well made and interesting dark fairy tale but it is not much more than that. Sometimes, you connect with a movie and sometimes, you don’t. Apparently, this movie was not really my thing but it doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. To conclude, even though I was expecting more, it still remain a very good picture and it is definitely worth, especially if you are interested in Guillermo del Toro's work.

Nowadays, this movie is pretty much forgotten but when it was released, it gained mostly positive reviews. It was the 2nd (and so far) last directing effort by Todd Field, an obscure actor who happened to be a terrific director. Personally, I thought this movie was really good. Indeed, the actors (Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Connelly, Jackie Earle Haley, Noah Emmerich) were all really good and, above all, I thought the story was quite spellbinding. I can understand that some people were not so found of this story but I really liked it. Indeed, most of those characters were really unlikeable, like obviously the pedophile played by Jackie Earle Haley but also the adultrous couple played by Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson was also just some whining and above all terribly egoistical persons. I mean, they both have kids but there is not a single moment during the whole thing when I felt that they really cared for their offsprings. Basically, the only thing that mattered for them was their immediate short-term pleasure, that's it. I know, when you read this, I don't make it sound really appealing but I thought that those characters were really flawed, messed up and therefore really interesting, way more than the usual stereotypes you get in your typical hollywood productions. Also, the way they handled the pedophilia was also rather subtle and really interesting as well. To conclude, even though it is definitely an acquired taste, I thought it was really good and I think it is worth a look.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since it was available on Disney+, ago, I was quite eager to check it out again. I remember it very well though, back then, when it came out, it was a huge success which was quite surprising. Eventually, I didn't expect the damned thing to be so hilarious... In my opinion, it is easily one of the best comedies from the last 20 years, even probably the best one, period. The best thing about this flick was that Sacha Baron Cohen managed to create a character who was obviously rather stupid and despicable but, in a weird way, after a while you can't help feeling sympathy for him... And quite often, that was the other great asset in this movie, the 'real' people around Borat were even funnier and more despicable than Borat himself. Many people think it is a comedy based on a stupid character with some stupid jokes, but I think they are wrong, I think it is actually some very smart humor. Like the Tramp who wasn't really bright created by Charlie Chaplin, Sacha Baron Cohen has created something really intriguing here. Of course, instead of poetry, you have vulgarity but, in both cases, you are dealing with a simple minded character but it is still smart comedy, at least, that's what I think. It's too bad that Cohen's following features ('The Dictator' and 'Bruno') weren't that good though. Eventually, 14 years later, Sacha Baron Cohen would come up with a sequel which didn't make many waves and, even though I really wanted to, I didn't manage to watch the damned thing yet because I don't have Amazon Prime which is a pain in the *ss. Anyway, coming back on our main feature, to conclude, I really loved this hilarious comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

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. To be honest, it has been a while since Marc Forster has delivered something really impressive. Indeed, 'Quantum of Solace' was destroyed by the critics and mostly hated by the viewers, 'Machine Gun Preacher' was barely seen and rather disappointing, and even though 'World War Z' eventually turned out to be a box-office hit, this movie had to face some major production issues. Anyway, there was a time when everything he did was actually quite amazing and this movie was one of those. I know, a really good movie starring Will Ferrel sounds nowadays impossible and even though he had some major box-office success, none of his movies really impressed me so far. However, this flick is the one exception. Indeed, it is an interesting satire mixing Ferrel's humor with some metaphysical elements and it worked very well as the whole thing was really funny, thoughtfull and not as shallow as any other Ferrell's comedy. I have been following Marc Forster for quite a while now and it was yet another amazing feature under his résumé. Furthermore, there was a nice cast (Will Ferrel, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Queen Latifah) and they all gave some really solid performances. To conclude, I really enjoyed this flick, it is in my opinion easily the best movie starring  Will Ferrel and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are getting tired of his usual moronic comedies.

I really liked this movie but the only low point for me was that it was very over-hyped before I watched it for the first time and my expectations were kind of huge. So, it wasn't as great as I hoped but it still quite impressive. Furthermore, there was some great directing, some very good acting and a very interesting story. At some point, I watched it again to make up my mind for good but, basically, I had the same feeling as the first time around. Above all, there are indeed some visually truly amazing scenes and just for them, you should check this flick. Furthermore, I really enjoyed the acting, especially by Michael Caine who was just awesome as usual. But the rest of the cast (Clive Owen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Julianne Moore, Danny Huston) was very good as well. Basically, they followed the current trend of showing the near future without too many fancy gadgets but with more similarity to our current world. In my opinion, it worked very well and the tone was very well set. Unfortunately, even though the story was intriguing, I was still not completely blown away, especially by this rather disappointing ending. It feels as if they spent loads of time creating this fascinating vision of the future but eventually they didn't know what to do with it. Still, it is a visually impressive SF flick and it is definitely worth a look.