Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie, in fact, I even saw it in the movie theatre when it was released, but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, I was expecting more from this flick. Indeed, nowadays, Johnny Depp keeps releasing some flops but, at the time, he was at the height of his popularity, making one hit after the other and many of his movies were very well received. So, when I heard that he was making a movie with Michael Mann, I thought it would be really amazing. At the time, when I first saw it, since I was a big fan of Michael Mann and of Johnny Depp, I think I had a very ‘groupie’ reaction and did end up overestimate the actual end-result in the process. So, it was a good thing to watch it again with slightly less worshipping of Mann and Depp going on and, indeed, it wasn’t so great after all. On the other hand, even if it didn’t turn to be such a masterpiece, I have to admit that it was still a good flick though. Indeed, the directing was solid and I didn’t really mind the fact that it was shot digitally but you wonder if the movie wouldn’t have looked better with some good old 35mm film. Furthermore, there was an impressive cast involved but the story was somehow a little bit underwhelming. In my opinion, they never really managed to make Dillinger really fascinating and even though you spend more than 2 hours with the guy, you still don’t learn much about him after all. Anyway, to conclude, my rating was actually a little bit too generous the first time around but it was still a very enjoyable and entertaining picture and anything directed by Michael Mann is always worth a look.

In fact, I already saw this movie many times, I even saw it in the movie theater when it was released, but my girlfriend was quite eager to see it so I watched it again with her. It was such a great pleasure to watch this movie again though. Indeed, even if it is not my favorite from Pixar (‘Wall-E’ remains my favorite so far), it is still a great picture though. To be honest, I hope Pixar will make more masterpieces in the future but their more features (‘Brave’, ‘Cars 2, ‘Monsters University’, The Good Dinosaur’, ‘Finding Dory’, ‘Onward’, …) were very often rather disappointing. Not this one though. Above all, they gave us probably the best introduction I have ever seen in an animated picture. Indeed, the first ten minutes were among the most mind-blowing animated moments I have ever experienced in my life. This heartbreaking introduction was actually the best part in this feature. So daring, so emotional, only Pixar could pull something like that. After that, I have to admit it, the movie did have a hard time trying to live up to this heartbreaking start-up and it was pretty tricky to start up with the very best they had to offer but, still, I think the end-result was really impressive. Of course, the animation was just gorgeous but, above all, it is really amazing how they managed to create such a touching and entertaining story starring a grumpy old guy, a fat Asian kid, a talking dog and a weird bird. No offense but I'm still waiting from something that great ever coming from DreamWorks. Anyway, to conclude, I think it is a great achievement, one of the best animated features ever made, it is definitely worth a look and a must-see if you like the genre.

Since this movie had a really good reputation and since it won the Academy Award for the Best Documentary, I was quite eager to check it out. Even though I already knew what to expect, it though it was still a really heartbreaking movie. Above all, what affected me the most was to see the guy who trained Flipper and originated the whole dolphin industry, trying to make amends, seriously, that was just really sad. On the other hand, it was also pointed out, in the West, we slaughter cows and the East, well, they eat dolphins but I don’t think it is really the same after all. I mean, imagine if you would put hundreds of cows in a field and that they would be surrounded by hunters who would shot all of them on the spot. Furthermore, there is also the fact that this movie has been pretty much banned and censored in Japan showing that there must have been some elements of truth in it. On top of that, even if you put aside the controversial message, the whole thing also worked as a rather spellbinding thriller. To conclude, I thought it was a very powerful picture and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by this subject. 

Most of us seem to have forgotten it but Billy Bob Thornton actually had his breakthrough as a writer-director and not as an actor. Indeed, since Thornton was struggling as an actor, he decided to write and direct his own movie resulting in the impressive ‘Sling Blade’ (he even won an Academy Award for the Best Screenplay for this moie). As a result, many expected him to have an interesting career as a director but his follow-up , the really ambitious ‘All the Pretty Horses’, was butchered in post-production and turned out to be a critical failure. Well, this movie was Thornton’s  3^rd directing effort and, to be honest, I wasn't expecting much before watching the damned thing. Eventually, even though this movie was obviously much less ambitious than Thornton’s previous directing projects,  I thought it was actually not bad after all. I mean, sure, the story didn't really work but some of the dialogues were just hilarious. On top of that, even though the characters were all rather obnoxious, after a while, I couldn’t help thinking that they were endearing which was quite an achievement. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was actually a decent comedy and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre