Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie, in fact, I even saw it in the movie theater when it was released, but since it was such a long time ago, I was really eager to check it out again. In fact, I do remember quite well when it came out. Indeed, back then, ‘Being John Malkovich’ had become a big cult-classic but, to be honest, even though I did like how wild and original it was, it didn’t completely convince me. However, with this follow-up, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman really managed to blow me away. Indeed, it was once again a really wild and surrealist tale but, in contrary to ‘Being John Malkovich’, it managed to keep my attention until the very end. Seriously, I don’t think I haver seen a movie managing so well to mix fiction and reality. You could say that the makers already tried something similar with ‘Being John Malkovich’ but it worked much better here and the end-result was just spellbinding. For example, I just loved how Charlie Kaufman created a fictitious twin brother who also got credited for writing this movie. I know a lot of people trash Nicolas Cage and it is true that most of his recent movies were completely worthless but, back in those days, he gave a hell of a double performance for this movie. Anyway, to conclude, I really loved the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I kept hearing really good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. Well, first of all, I think it is important to point that, in my opinion, most movies involving kids or teenagers are usually rather uninspired and sugar-coated. In fact, there are honestly usually a waste of time, even for the children who happened to be their target audience. However, there are a few exceptions though and this movie is definitely one of them. Indeed, to start with the story was riveting but the performances (above all by Keisha Castle-Hughes which I hope to see more in the future) were all impressive. Basically, it was a very interesting movie about the clash between tradition and evolution. The best thing about this movie was that it was never condescending and the makers always managed to avoid taking up the easy way avoiding blandness and stereotypes. As a result, they delivered one of the most striking study of teenage anxiety intermingled with a fascinating view of where the Maori culture stands in our modern world. Anyway, to conclude, I really liked this movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in this subject. 

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, back in those days, Clint Eastwood’s directing career was going through a rather weak stage which started at the end of the 90’s with the underwhelming ‘Absolute Power’ and, after a long string of disappointing movies, Eastwood made a major come-back with this flick. Eventually, it seems that this movie was eclipsed by the success of ‘Million Dollar Baby’ which would be released a year later but, personally, I think it easily belongs to Clint Eastwood’s best directing efforts. It’s interesting that, while I was rewatching the damned thing, I noticed, that even if the story was decent, it was in fact nothing really amazing though. Eventually, what made this movie really fascinating was the attention they gave on the characters who were are all flawed and complex. Eventually, there were so many scenes during which I thought the characters’ actions and feelings were rather dubious and, yet, each time, I could understand why they would make such choices with sometimes some really dramatic consequences. On top of that, you had here a great director at the top of his game with a very strong cast (Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Tim Robbins, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney, Emmy Rossum). Furthermore, it was really gritty and Eastwood definitely didn’t sugar-coat the damned thing. In fact, during the opening scene, my wife was slightly pissed off because it seemed to be too hardcore for her taste (she eventually really enjoyed this movie though). Many people actually consider this movie as Eastwood’s last great masterpiece and they might actually be right. Anyway, to conclude, it is a very strong drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Clint Eastwood’s work.