Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out again. To be honest, I wonder why I thought it would be a good idea to watch it again since I didn't like it at all the first time around. And, indeed, the damned thing turned out to be just as lame as I remembered. Sure, 

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since I always had a weak spot for Barbet Schroeder's work and since this movie was available on Netflix, I was quite eager to check it out. First of all, I have always been wondering how the Germans of my age or younger are able to deal with the traumatic past of their country and, since this movie was exactly dealing with this subject, it was really intriguing to me. Furthermore, I really enjoyed the sweet and gentle relationship involving this young man and older woman and the 2 actors involved gave some solid performances. Still, it wasn't completely flawless though. Indeed, the first thing that bothered me was the fact that Martha was speaking English with such a very obvious German accent so it seemed rather unbelievable that all these other German characters wouldn't figure out right away that she was either German or at least that she spoke the language fluently. Concerning the directing, it was decent enough but one of the final scenes taking place in a supposedly amazing club in Ibiza was just downright pathetic and so poorly put together. Seriously, pretty much nothing worked in this scene but, fortunately, it didn't have a huge impact on the rest of the movie. Anyway, even though it was nothing really amazing, it was still pretty good and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Barbet Schroeder's work.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Jason Bateman, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though it turned out to be a decent watch, to be honest, it was anything really amazing though. First of all, I don't think I really cared about the whole concept. I mean, spelling bees competitions seem to be rather tedious and the idea of having a 40 year old guy joining such a competition after finding a loophole didn't make it really more entertaining, I'm afraid. Furthermore, his friendship with one of these kids was generic and the reason why he actually did all this was actually seriously predictable. Indeed, through the whole thing, he was keeping it as some kind of huge secret but it was actually fairly easy to figure it out. At least, Bateman obviously had a blast with this character and, since he was also directing, he had a lot of freedom so he was definitely fun but, unfortunately, this movie didn't have much else to offer. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn't really impress me, it was still a solid directing debut for Jason Bateman and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since there was a really cool cast involved, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, To be honest, I didn't expect that I would enjoy it so much and I'm surprised it didn't get more attention when it was released. Indeed, the damned thing was just hilarious and easily one of the funniest movies I have seen in a very long time. For once, most of the jokes worked but Goldberg and Rogen went way beyond that and delivered something meta and, in the process, not only they did make fun of themselves but also of the whole concept that movie stars might be more interesting or worthy than any regular person. In fact, they are all egoistical and egomaniac cowards and, even though they played some exaggerated versions of themselves, I couldn't help thinking that they are probably not really much better in real life so their approach definitely showed some guts (OK, Michael Cera is probably not a major drug addict but you get what I mean). Eventually, my rating might have been even higher but a few details slightly didn't really work for me. First of all, why the Apocalypse? It felt rather random to me. Then, the lack of women involved seemed also like a missed opportunity. Indeed, I was glad that they managed to bring back Emma Watson but she was gone within 5 minutes and her connection with this gang was just too thin in the first place. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was probably not a masterpiece, I really enjoyed the damned thing which was seriously entertaining and it is definitely worth a look.

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this movie, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though it was indeed pretty good, to be honest, somehow, it still slightly rubbed me the wrong way. First of all, I don't know, it seems that, by now, I have seen too movies dealing with a character with a terrible handicap and, yet, the guy still turned out to be terribly smart, witty and inspirational. Wouldn't it be refreshing to see someone in this situation understandingly dreading his life and acting like a major douchebag with other people? The other thing was that I wasn't really convinced about this whole sex-surrogate concept. I mean, even though they explained that she was something completely different, eventually, to me, she still seemed to be a prostitute providing some special skills to her profession. In this case, it wasn't helped by the fact that her husband didn't have a regular job and, therefore, pretty much lived like a pimp. Finally, it might seem to be a ridiculous detail but I don't believe that any woman could get an orgasm just like that without some major work from her or his side. Still, I had never seen a movie dealing with this subject before so it was really interesting and John Hawkes and Helen Hunt both gave some really solid performances. Anyway, to conclude,  even though it didn't completely work for me, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look.

Even though this movie was directed by M. Night Shyamalan, since it was very well received when it was released, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though it was indeed better than 'The Visit' and all the garbage Shyamalan had delivered through the years, to be honest, I still thought it was actually rather disappointing. I mean, it was not bad and there were definitely some good ideas but it was still rather weak in my opinion. First of all, the biggest mistake they made was to add a supernatural angle. With 'Unbreakable', still easily Shyamalan's best movie so far, even though it was dealing with some super-heroes, the approach was actually rather realistic which made the whole thing so interesting to behold. With this movie, it was the other way around, it started fairly realistically but became more and more preposterous by the minute. Then, even though they kept talking about Kevin having 23 or even 24 personalities, you get to see mostly only 3 of them which was also rather disappointing. Finally, the last thing that bothered me was the fact that the 3 young girls were actually rather sexualized. Indeed, one of them spent most of the movie wearing only her bra, the other one wearing only her underwear and the last one a very revealing tight white top. I hope it wasn't intentional but it felt rather awkward. Still, as I mentioned before, there were some good ideas, the concept was really neat and I loved the idea of a movie focusing on a character with so many different personalities. And, of course, you have to praise James McAvoy who was quite amazing and he delivered here easily one of his best performances. Obviously, as usual with this director, there was a twist but it was so poorly concealed, I already knew it months before watching this movie but, at least, it was a decent twist. Anyway, to conclude, to be honest, I don't really understand why everybody seemed to be so enthusiastic about this movie, maybe it's because we have been used to get so much crap from this director, but even though at least half of it didn't work for me, I have to admit that it is actually still worth a look.

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this movie, I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, I really liked it a lot as it turned out to be one of the best romantic-comedies I have seen in quite a while and it is easily one of the best movies delivered by Richard Curtis who has always been a master in this genre. Indeed, the characters were just lovely and so well played by a very strong cast, especially Domhnall Gleeson who gave a here a star-making performance. Unfortunately, to be honest, I have to admit that I actually didn't care much about the time travelling concept. I mean, I understand that it was pretty much the only thing that made this movie stand out from you average rom-com but what did it really add to this story? Nothing much, in my opinion. Indeed, eventually, even though the main character ends up with an amazing gift, he only used it to make some minor changes in his life so it felt rather pointless, without mentioning the major plot-holes it created or the fact that he never told the love of his life about this major trademark. Eventually, even though it felt like a rather useless but harmless gimmick, it didn't bother me and I still enjoyed so much this cute couple and, therefore, the damned thing is really worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

There is no denying that Nicolas Cage, like many other great actors I used to love, has been wasting his talent with some Direct-to-DVD garbage already for many years. Fortunately, from time to time, but unfortunately, more and more rarely, he would still be showing up in something actually decent and this movie was definitely one of these very welcome exceptions. To be honest, it was pretty much straightforward and I guess it was missing something to become truly remarkable but it was still a really solid drama.  First of all, David Gordon Green managed to deliver quite a realistic and to be honest rather depressing background for the characters. Of course, Nicolas Cage was pretty strong delivering one of his best performances in years in order to create one of his most complex characters. I don't think it was a coincidence that the main character was called Joe. Indeed, it was pretty much an average guy, neither great or awful. In fact, he seemed to be really struggling in life in general, barely keeping his head above water, only to be able to be at least functional. Suddenly, he meets this kid, also very wel played, who has been dealt only some bad cards in his life, and yet, this young boy still want to keep fighting, even if it seems to be completely hopeless. Even though Joe has been described as a role-model, in fact, I think it was actually the other way around, and it was this kid who turned out to be his role-model after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn't seem to be much, this movie actually worked for me and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Recently, I saw 'The Heat' which turned out to be terribly weak but since this movie had been rather successful at the box-office, I thought I might give Paul Feig another chance to redeem himself. Well, even though this movie was indeed an improvement, the improvement was unfortunately only minor, I'm afraid. At least, there was a nice cast involved, the concept had some potential and there were some decent jokes. And, yet, it still didn't really work. The first thing that annoyed me was that the whole thing was just a mess. Indeed, it was too long and they kept switching from ideas every 5 minutes. For example, at first, it seemed that the main character would be a really incompetent agent because of her lack of field experience but, then, she became suddenly some kind of super-spy. Then, most of the supporting characters changed side at some point or another which became really tedious very quickly. Finally, most of the jokes were rather lame and Jason Statham, who had a great opportunity here to make fun of his usual action flicks, was completely wasted with a rather boring and unfunny character. Anyway, to conclude, even though I have seen worse, I still didn't care much for the damned thing and I don't think it is really worth a look.