Reviews by johanlefourbe

By now, I have seen about 2/3 of the movies directed by Spike Lee and even though I used to be a huge fan of his work in the 90’s, it has been a while since he made something that really impressed me (for example, the recent ‘Oldboy’ remake was rather pathetic). Still, I always had a weak spot for Spike Lee's movies, there was a time when he was one of the best American directors and this movie was and still is definitely his masterpiece. To be honest, it has been a while since I saw it and I should definitely re-watch it at some point but the damned thing definitely had a massive impact on me. Indeed, even though it is a rather simple story, there were so many layers, I thought it was just fascinating and I think it is one of the strongest socially conscious movies I have ever seen. Pretty much like Roger Ebert, I'm really amazed that such an important movie was at the time not even nominated for the Best Picture Academy award. Anyway, I think it is a great classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Spike Lee’s work. 

To be honest, even though I have seen almost all the movies directed by Mel Brooks (I think I’m missing only 3 of them by now), I'm afraid I have never been a really huge fan of his work. Anyway, since this movie is a huge classic, I was really eager to check it out. Following its reputation, I really expected the whole thing to be seriously hilarious but, to be honest, eventually, I thought it was indeed pretty funny but not much more than I’m afraid. For me, the best example is the scene around the fire where you get to see all these cowboys farting. Well, in my opinion, this scene was fairly amusing but also rather stupid as well and it shows the level of the humor displayed in this movie. It’s such a shame that Richard Pryor wasn't allowed to  play Bart as he was supposed to be as the whole thing would have been much more interesting, at least, for me.  Eventually, I thought that 'The Producers' was much better but it was still a decent watch though. To conclude, even though I wasn't really blown away like I expected to be, it is still a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like Mel Brooks’s work. 

To be honest, I really had no idea what to expect from this flick and it seemed to be another really obscure French movie but since I always had a weak for Gérard Depardieu, I thought I might as well check it out. At first, the story seemed to be really lame. Indeed, I really don’t like this kind of folk music so, at first, I really had a hard time to care about the main character and what he was going through. However, thanks to some really solid performances by Gérard Depardieu and Cécile De France, it was still quite intriguing to behold. Still, there were too many elements in the story that were not really well developed and it left me slightly frustrated. Eventually, with some rather lame material, they still managed to provide some interesting characters and I have to admit that I actually enjoyed most of this movie. Concerning the lovely Cécile De France, except for a couple of US productions (‘Around the World in 80 Days’, ‘Hereafter’), she never really managed to breakthrough outside France which is too bad because she is quite talented. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn’t completely work for me, it was still a decent watch it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but, since I have a weak spot for John C. Reilly and Maggie Gyllenhaal, I thought that I might as well check it out. In fact, I didn't even know this before watching the damned thing but it is actually a remake and, as my fellow listal users have pointed out (see underneath), as usual, the original version seems to be much better. Anyway, in my opinion, I thought this remake  had some potential and the beginning was really promising. Above all, I really liked John C. Reilly's performance. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for this actor and, in my opinion, he actually gave here some of his best work. Unfortunately, like so many other thrillers, there were just way too many twists and I’m afraid it did ruin the movie for me. As usual with this genre, they did manage to build up something interesting but they apparently didn't know how to provide a satisfying ending. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see John C. Reilly in one of his best performances.