Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this movie especially since I didn’t care at all for the previous instalment at all. Well, maybe because I had such low expectations about the damned thing but I thought it was not so bad after all. First of all, many complained about the fact that many characters were not included this time around but I think it worked better this way. Indeed, the previous movie was just so random as they kept juggling between too many storylines which were all rather underwhelming. Above all, I was actually positively surprised about what they did with Steve Stifler. Indeed, even though Stifler was supposed to be hilarious in the previous movies, I thought this guy was just seriously obnoxious and not really funny at all. Well, in this movie, they finally develop a little bit more this character beyond his obnoxious behaviour and the end-result was actually not bad at all. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie was above all focusing on Jim and Michelle and while it was watchable, it was not much more than that. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing amazing, I thought it was a decent sequel and quite an improvement on the previous instalment. 

Since it was the last movie directed by Mike Leigh, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, I have to admit I have never been a huge fan of Turner’s work. I mean, his paintings are decent but they are simply not among my favorites. Still, the guy was one of the most important British painters ever so it was pretty neat to see a movie about his life. However, even thought you spend about 140 mins with this character, you don’t learn much about the guy after all. Furthermore, as usual with this director, there was no plot whatsoever which wasn’t a problem but, with no real story, no character analysis, there was not much to hang on to, I’m afraid. Still, I really liked the damned thing anyway. Indeed, first of all, it was easily the most beautiful  movie delivered by Leigh so far. Furthermore, Timothy Spall delivered a really strong performance as well. Eventually, you still get a nice glimpse on this fascinating man and while watching the damned thing, I started to get much more respect for his work. To conclude, even though I wasn’t completely blown away by the whole thing, I thought it was still a decent watch and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Mike Leigh’s work or in Turner himself. 

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. Basically, it was one of those many ambitious projects directed by Oliver Stone which didn't end up doing very well critically and/or commercially. Well, even if it was maybe nothing really groundbreaking, I thought it was actually pretty good. Of course, since I'm European, I have a totally different perspective on (American) football and there is a fair chance that someone more familiar with this sport wouldn’t like this movie at all. Anyway, I thought the whole thing was fairly entertaining and, at least, you can’t deny the fact that there was an impressive cast involved (Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, James Woods, Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J, Matthew Modine, Lauren Holly, Aaron Eckhart, Elizabeth Berkley, Charlton Heston). It was especially nice to see Pacino playing something else than his usual gangsters and it was apparently one of the reasons he took the job. Eventually, the main critic I would have is that the whole thing was not really nice and not really nasty either towards this sport and, therefore, the various storylines never really reached their full potential. On top of that, the fact that there were so many characters with each his/her own subplot didn’t help either as they were all interesting but also all rather half-baked. Anyway, to conclude, even though this movie is usually considered as a minor effort, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Oliver Stone’s work. 

To be honest, it has been a while since I have this flick but since I didn’t like it much the first time around, I don’t think I will waste my time a 2nd time with this movie. First of all, I have to admit it, even though it seemed to be really lame, eventually, ‘American Pie’ turned out to be not bad at all. Obviously, since the movie was a big success, they had to come up with a sequel but it barely worked for me. I mean, since all the characters were now in college, there was actually some potential to push the envelop even further but I thought they failed miserably. I don’t know what bothered me the most, the fact that the whole thing was completely random or the fact that all these sub-plots were just seriously underwhelming. I thought they also completely ruined the Nadia character in this movie. I mean, her character was completely unbelievable in the 1st movie but it was even worse this time and she was completely wasted here. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, I thought it was pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except if you are a die-hard fan of the genre.

I already saw this flick but since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. In fact, I actually saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released. Anyway, even though it was nothing amazing, I always had a weak spot for this flick and it is definitely one of my guilty pleasures. Basically, it is a solid action flick with two really charismatic actors, no more, no less. Back then, Michael Bay didn't have a virtually unlimited budget so there was still more or less a raw feeling to the proceedings. This movie was also a milestone for many people involved. Indeed, not only it was Bay's directing debut and the start of his collaboration with Jerry Bruckheimer which would last 8 years and 4 more movies but it was also, for Will Smith, his first genuine starring role and his first opportunity to really break his 'Fresh Prince' image. Not only was it a personal success for him but nobody was expecting that he would become the King of the box-office for the next 13 following years. Anyway, to conclude, even though it is nothing really groundbreaking, it was still a decent action flick and it is in fact better than most of the movies that Michael Bay has made afterwards.

I already saw this movie but since it was such a long time ago, I thought I might as well check it out again. Well, after watching all these terribly underwhelming transformers sequels, this movie turned out to be actually better than I remembered. Basically, the point is that, so far, all the movies directed by Michael Bay had somehow more or less some redeeming features. With this flick, you had to dig really deep to find something valuable though. At least, I have to admit that Will Smith and Martin Lawrence still had a pretty good chemistry together and the action scenes were decent enough. Still, some of these action scenes were just too long and the final one in Cuba was just rather ridiculous and such an overkill, even for Michael Bay. For the rest, it was just a just a very long, often preposterous and actually sometimes rather boring action flick which was too bad because the 1st installment was actually pretty good. It is interesting to note that it was the last time Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer would work together and since it was their weakest effort so far, it seemed appropriate that they decided to end their partnership. To conclude, I didn’t care much for the damned thing and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of the genre. 

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. Well, even though this movie seems to be rather forgotten nowadays, it was actually a big critical success when it was released and both Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt ended up winning the Best Actor and Best Actress Academy awards. With this in mind, I had some rather high expectations but, to be honest, I didn’t really see what was so amazing about this movie and this rewatch didn’t change my mind, I’m afraid. At least, this time around, I have to admit that I was really impressed by Jack Nicholson who probably gave here one of his best performances. In fact, Helen Hunt who I find usually rather boring was also very good in this flick. On top of that, for some various reasons, I have always been interested in psychological disorders and I’m always eager to check movies dealing with this fascinating subject. However, to be honest, I still had a rather hard time to really care about the damned thing. What still bothered me was the evolution of Melvin’s relationships with other people, especially with Carole. Indeed, the bottom line was that Melvin was simply not a nice guy, mostly because he was plagued by OCD, but that’s basically who he was. However, in this movie, it was only when Melvin started to act completely out of character that other people started to care for him but I believe that they should have befriended him for who he actually was and not for who they expected him to be. With Carol, I think it was even worse. I mean, at first, they couldn’t stand each other but, from the moment that he helped her out with her sick kid and gave her a few romantic compliments, she suddenly fell head over heels for him?!? This turn of events was just too drastic for me. On top of that, if you would believe this movie, the only way Melvin could ever be loved would be if he would act like a completely different guy which is not really the best foundation for any healthy relationship. Anyway, to conclude, even though this movie didn’t really work for me, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, even if I believe it is in fact rather overrated.