Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since this movie is quite a classic, obviously, I was really eager to check it out and I had some rather high expectations. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for Yul Brynner and even more for Steve McQueen. James Coburn and Charles Bronson were also some fine actors so with such a cast, I really had to see this flick at some point. Eventually, it was pretty good but I still think the original directed by Akira Kurosawa (the amazing 'Seven samurai') was actually better. It didn’t help that I saw 'Seven samurai' before so the whole thing didn’t feel really ‘fresh’. Still, it was definitely entertaining and it was above all rather fun to see Steve McQueen, originally just a supporting part, trying to upstage Yul Brynner who was at the time a bigger star. Anyway, in 2016, Antoine Fuqua  would come back with a remake and even though the cast sounds pretty bad-ass (Chris Pratt, Denzel Washington, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ethan Hawke, Cam Gigandet, Peter Sarsgaard), I can’t help thinking that the whole thing is rather misguided but we’ll see. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, even though it didn’t really blow me away, it is still a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I have always been a fan of Louis Malle, of course, I was really eager to check this flick. One of Louis Malle's most heralded movies must be 'Au revoir les enfants' but even though  it is a great flick, I actually preferred this other movie he made also about WWII. Basically, it is another classic French movie but, in my opinion, it was actually much more original and quite spellbinding to behold. Indeed, like the Vietnam war for American directors, the WWII has always been an endless source of inspiration for the French directors. So, by now, I have seen my share of French movies dealing with the subject and it is very rare to see a director trying a really different approach about this material but it was definitely the case here. Indeed, instead of telling the usual story of a heroic resistance fighter, they decided this time to focus on a rather despicable young man who was pretty much anything but a hero. As a result, you  get a rather dark tale which was just quite fascinating. To conclude, I really loved this movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. In fact, I remember it very well when I first saw this movie. I actually had the pleasure to  see it in the movie theater when it was released and, back then, I have to admit that I was seriously blown away by the whole thing. Indeed, I thought it was such a great movie. Seriously, it is not very often that I came across such a movie which really deserved all the praises it received and what I enjoyed the most was the tone. Basically, even though there was a lot of bleakness in this story, it was often quite hilarious as well and the balance between bliss and despair was rather pitch perfect. The other thing I loved about this movie is that all the characters were just fascinating to behold, even if Annette Bening’s character could have been more developed but it was fortunately not a major issue. Concerning Sam Mendes, he delivered here one of the very best directing debuts which was quite awesome but it had its downside as well since, like Orson Welles with ‘Citizen Kane’, he might never be able to reach such heights in his career ever again. It's such a pity that this movie's legacy will be forever tainted by Kevin Spacey's personal downfall. Anyway, to conclude, it is still after all these years one of my favorite movies, it is a great classic and it is definitely worth a look.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but my step-daughter actually bought this movie on DVD so I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, it was not a very good movie, in fact, I might even be one of the weakest romantic-comedies I have ever seen. Basically, the main issue, in my opinion, was that the girl was not really sassy, she was in fact just f*cking irritating. I mean, I’m not sure who should be blamed, Elisha Cuthbert or the guy who wrote the script but it was almost impossible to really care about this girl and what she was going through.  I have to admit it though, towards the end, the whole thing got slightly better but the damage was already done. By now, I still haven’t watch the original Korean version and, apparently, it is pretty amazing but, after watching this terribly underwhelming US remake, I find it hard to believe that something great could come up out of such an underwhelming tale but  I will definitely check it out at some point. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, I think I’m being really generous with my rating here,  it is a very average flick and I don’t it is really worth a look.

After all these years, I still think this movie is actually rather overrated. In fact, I even saw it twice in the movie theater when it was released. The first time, I was completely blown away and I thought it was great. But the second time, I could step back and pay more attention to the small details. I won't deny it, the visuals and the mood were quite impressive and it remains an entertaining feature but, in my opinion, the story is actually rather shallow. I mean, it is basically a typical story about an omnipotent serial-killer who knows everything, even the future apparently and the guy seemed also to have a massive budget at his disposal. Personally, I always had some issue with this genre because it is always really preposterous and this movie was not an exception, I'm afraid, and the amount of plot holes was just massive. On top of that, when you think about it, there was in fact barely any investigation whatsoever, the two cops were just some puppets at the mercy of a thankless plot which made the whole thing even more tedious for me. Eventually, it is just nicely done but, at the end of the day, not really deep whatsoever. To conclude, even though it is considered a major masterpiece, I believe it is a well made but still rather generic psychopath thriller and it must be one of the most overrated movies ever made.