Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and maybe I should re-watch it at some point. I actually saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released. Anyway, in my opinion, it is by far the least appreciated movie directed by Woody Allen. Indeed, according to IMDb, it is even considered as one of his worst movies which I find seriously hard to believe. Anyway, in spite of its really poor reputation, I actually really loved the damned thing and I would go as far as saying that it is one of my favorites delivered by this director. Above all, I thought it was just really funny. Indeed, Kenneth Brannagh did a fine job and it was pretty neat to see DiCaprio having fun with his image. Above all, I was seriously impressed by Charlize Theron. Indeed, not only did she look gorgeous back then (and she still does 20 years later), she also completely stole the show every time she was on the screen. To conclude, even though this movie didn’t get much love, back then I wasn’t yet so fed up with this director, I really liked this flick and I think it is definitely worth, especially if you are interested in Woody Allen's work.

From the 3 big horror movies that launched some major franchises in the 80’s (‘Halloween’, ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’, ‘Friday the 13th’), my favorite one has always been this movie. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I saw it almost 20 years ago, way before the rest and that I'm being nostalgic and all. I believe that, after I-don't-how-many sequels, people simply forgot that the first one was actually a pretty good movie. Indeed, the first time I watched it, I remember it as if it was yesterday, a friend of mine suggested to see it, and, to be honest, I thought it would be some serious crap. Boy, I was wrong, that’s for sure. Indeed, eventually, it turned out to be really entertaining and pretty scary. On top of that,  I usually hate it when they give such a twist at the end but this one was actually really good and it really worked very well. Eventually, it did try to watch the 2nd installment but I was so disappointed by this sequel that my original interest in this franchise completely vanished and I would never ever watch another installment, except for ‘Freddy vs Jason’ the crossover with Freddy Krueger which I saw many years later. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I really enjoyed, it is definitely worth a look and it remains a must see for any decent horror fan.

It is difficult to imagine but, for many years, Nicole Kidman was only known as being Tom Cruise’s wife. Eventually, she turned out to be one of the most praised actresses of her generation. In fact, many people forgot it but it was with this movie that Nicole Kidman finally proved that she could actually act and not only be Mrs Cruise. I remember it very well, I even saw it in the movie theatre when it was released (it reminds me that I should re-watch it at some point) and I thought it was a really cool movie. Indeed, the story was really entertaining with a lot of dark humor and Kidman finally displayed some major acting skills here. Indeed, it is pretty tricky to create a rather unlikable character who still has to be entertaining or interesting to follow, otherwise, you will lose your audience but I thought she definitely nailed it. Eventually, 4 years later, she would show up in ‘Eyes Wide Shut’, the final directing effort by the almighty Stanley Kubrick, and her acting career would be really launched for good. Anyway, to conclude, I really liked this movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Gus van Sant'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 to make up my mind for good about the damned thing. I have noticed that this movie is quite obscure and, even though it didn’t get much love when it was released but, for some reasons, I liked it a lot. It is not one of the most famous movies starring Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta (I know, the guy makes a lot of crap but if you look carefully, he did some great movies besides ‘Pulp Fiction’) but I think it actually deserves much more credit. I wonder if it was the first movie directed by Costa-Gavras that I saw but it was definitely one of the first and I really loved how politically engaged this guy was and still is. Of course, if you compare this flick to ‘Z’, his masterpiece, it was not really up to that level but I still think it was a very interesting movie about the power of the media and how they can  manipulate the news to make it more entertaining. To conclude, even though this movie is rather obscure and even though it has a rather lousy reputation,  I thought it was actually really good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.