Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since it had a solid reputation, I was quite eager to check it out. At least, the title sounded really neat. I have to confess, I had no idea what the whole thing was actually about and the beginning was quite confusing, at least, to me.  Furthermore, it took a while to take off. Still, it was definitely worth the wait after all. Indeed, I really enjoyed the realistic approach but, above all, I thought that the 2 characters played by Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster were just fascinating. Indeed, those 2 guys were some of the most slimy and conniving characters I have ever seen thanks to some really strong performances from Curtis and Lancaster. In fact, this movie didn’t get much love when it was released at least from the audience,   it was mostly because both actors were playing such dark characters and it was apparently too difficult to swallow for the audience at the time. In my case, I just loved how bleak the whole thing was, the dialogues were really neat and the end was like a Greek tragedy. To conclude, I thought it was pretty awesome and it it is definitely 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 John Cusack, I thought I might as well check it out. When I was watching this flick, I couldn't help thinking about 'K-Pax'. Indeed, it was once again dealing with a young boy who thinks he is an alien. By the way, even though ‘K-Pax’ is considered by many as one of the most underrated movies ever made, I thought it was a decent watch but not much more than that. Coming back to our main feature, John Cusack tried really hard and the movie was rather sweet but it was just too sentimental and not original enough for me. I mean, the whole thing was just so predictable and you had all the predicable obligatory scenes such as they don't get along with each other, but Cusack is pretty cool so eventually there is some bonding but then, there is always some mean person from the social service who comes along and they get separated but there is, of course, a happy ending after all.... Still, thanks above all to a pretty good cast (John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Sophie Okonedo, Joan Cusack, Oliver Platt), it was still fairly enjoyable to watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while ago and since I had this movie on DVD, I was really eager to check it out again. Well, by now, I have seen most of the movies directed by Steven Soderbergh and this movie still remains my favorite one from this director. To be honest, I have to admit that it wasn't really flawless. The main issue I had was with the storyline involving Erika Christensen. I mean, it was a good idea to focus on some drug addict but why did they choose some white rich girl when most of the victims of drug addiction are actually black and poor? I can imagine that, since there were already so many characters and so many subplots involved, they had to squeeze somehow a drug addict somewhere but this girl was hardly representative of your average junkie. A part from that, the rest was some really strong stuff though, especially the part involving Benicio Del Toro who finally got some recognition for his talent as he won an Academy Award for his performance. For Steven Soderbergh, even though almost all his movies have a strong concept, they sometimes end up being rather half-baked but, with this movie, he managed to keep it tight, realistic and quite fascinating until the very end. To conclude, it is a really good movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Steven Soderbergh's work. 

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. If I recall it correctly, I actually saw it in the movie theater when it was released back then when I was living in England. Anyway, it seems that nowadays pretty much everyone has forgotten that Eric Bana started his career with this little gem. I have to admit that I never heard about Mark Brandon  Read before watching this flick and I wonder how I ended up watching the damned thing but I’m really glad I did. Indeed, the whole thing was really brutal but I think it was one of the best portraits of a criminal I have ever seen. Above all, Eric Bana was barely recognizable here but he gave a great performance. Following the critical success of this movie, Bana became overnight a hot property but after a succession of under-performing high-profile projects (‘Hulk’, ‘Troy’, ‘Munich’), he lost his status fairly quickly afterwards. Concerning Andrew Dominik, this was a really promising directing debut and and it would take him 7 long years to come up with a new directing effort which would be the also critically heralded but barely seen ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I thought it was a fascinating movie and it is easily one of the one of the best Australian movies I have seen. 

I already saw this movie, I have even seen it in the movie theater when it was released, but, since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. Actually, I remember very well the 1st time I saw this movie. Indeed, back then, I was living in England and, I think after seeing the trailer, I thought it could be a cool movie. Eventually, it turned out to be even better that I expected and I was really blown away by the damned thing. Basically, it was one of the strongest directorial debuts I have seen and, from this point on, I became a huge fan of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's work. In fact, even though Inarritu became one of the most interesting directors at work nowadays and even though he kept making some great movies, this movie is still my favorite one. Indeed, the story was just spellbinding, the acting was pretty good (Gael Garcia Bernal was just starting as an actor back then) and of course, the directing was quite impressive. Indeed, for a directorial début, Inarritu displayed some amazing confidence. Concerning the 3 tales displayed, the 1st one was the best and, as far as I was concerned, they could have focused the whole  movie on this part. Back then, the 2nd one seemed to be the least effective but, after rewatching after all these years, I really liked the contrast it gave. Indeed, it was focusing on the rich people living in Mexico city while the 1st part was focusing on the less fortunate citizens of this city. When they crashed their cars, you realize that they actually live side by side even if they seem to live in some completely different world. Back in those days, there was not yet this overdose of hyperlink features and, at the time, I thought  it was just an amazing gimmick. Anyway, to conclude, I think it is really a masterpiece and it is probably one of my favorite movies. 

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.