Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since there was a stellar cast involved, I was really eager to check it out. Indeed, if I recall it correctly, I bumped into this movie in a cheap DVD bin in some department store and, even though I had never heard of it before, when I saw all these big names, I bought it right away. Indeed, it might not be a great movie, there was a great cast involved (Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, Chazz Palminteri, Garry Shandling, Anna Paquin, Meg Ryan) and they all delivered some solid performances. It was especially nice to see Meg Ryan playing against type for once and I think she delivered here one of her last decent performances. Concerning the story, it was pretty obvious that it was an adaptation from a play since it was taking place mostly in one location and its episodic nature was also an element obviously lifted from a play. Still, in spite of these limitations, I thought it was quite entertaining.  To conclude, even though it is quite obscure, I thought it was decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

It has been a while since I have seen this flick and maybe I should give it a second chance at some point. Basically, it is one of those rather obscure French features but, in fact, it was a big critical success at the Cannes Film Festival when it was released so I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, even though the whole thing had definitely some potential, I thought it was incredibly frustrating to watch and I really hard a hard time to care for the damned thing. Indeed, it was impossible for me to connect with the characters and I thought that their behavior was sometimes borderline infuriating. I don’t know, maybe I was just too young at the time to really appreciate it. For Bruno Dumont, it was another critical success after his debut ‘La vie de Jésus’ (which was better in my opinion) and, after that, I kind of lost track of his director but none of his following movies seemed to be really impressive but I have to admit that I haven’t seen them yet, to be honest. Anyway, to conclude, even though I usually like this kind of movies, I didn’t really connect with this one but I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, it has been ages since I have seen this flick. Still, I remember it pretty well when it was released in France. Indeed, it is nowadays pretty much forgotten but, back then, there was quite some buzz about this movie in my homeland before its release. Basically, it was another prestigious and ambitious costume drama from the guy who delivered ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ a few years before. In fact, it was even the most expensive French movie ever made up to that point (for 26 millions euro, it was still pretty cheap compared to any US blockbuster) and the expectations were pretty high. Eventually, even though it was a box-office success, it turned out to be a decent costume drama but not really much more than that, I’m afraid. Maybe we could blame the young and rather inexperienced Olivier Martinez who was just starting his career at the time. Eventually, Martinez wouldn’t stay much longer in France and he would be one of the very few French actors who spent most of his career with some international productions. Unfortunately, he would be mostly remembered for his high profile relationships with various celebrities (Halle Berry, Kylie Minogue, Mira Sorvino, Juliette Binoche, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley,…). Anyway, to conclude, even though it never reached its full potential, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I have never been a huge fan of this movie. I mean, sure, it is quite cute but it is just way too childish for my taste. On top of that, even though the animation was technically not bad, it is pretty much one of the ugliest, or at least, one of the least visually appealing animated features delivered by Disney. Basically, back then, they were constantly looking for some cheap methods to make those movies at the lowest cost possible and I believe that it is with this movie that they pretty much reached rock bottom, artistically speaking. On top of that, even though the story was rather silly and aimed at the very young children, the tone was sometimes actually rather ominous and even sinister and this mix always felt rather awkward to me. At least, there were were some memorable scenes like the take off with Orville the albatross or pretty much anything involving Evinrude the dragonfly. I also think that Medusa turned out to be one of the best Disney villains, even if she was pretty much a cheap copy of Cruella de Vil. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since my wife was really eager to watch it, I thought I might as well check it out.  Well, I didn't care much for it, I'm afraid. Basically,  like many other commercial movies from the Netherlands, it shamelessly copied some other international productions and, in this case, it was some kind of mix between 'Bridget Jones's diary' and 'Notting  Hill'. However, I have to admit that it wasn't necessarily a bad idea though. Indeed, there was one thing that worked really well with  this movie though and it was definitely Lies Visschedijk. Indeed, she was perfectly cast here, she was really charming, funny, and her performance was just pitch perfect. Unfortunately, as far as I was concerned, it was pretty much the only thing that really worked though. The first issue I had is that the tone was really unclear as it was awkwardly switching back and forth between drama and comedy. To mix those genres  is not exactly impossible but it is really difficult and it didn’t work very well here. Furthermore, except for the title character, none of the other characters were properly developed. For example, they hired Dan Karaty (a very famous American choreographer in the Netherlands) to play basically  some version of himself which was great on paper but it turned out to be rather underwhelming. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it might be worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Even though it is probably not considered as one of the greatest classics produced by Disney, I have to admit that I always had a weak spot for this movie. Basically, the whole concept was to take a very ancient tale (in this case, the legend of King Arthur) and turn it into some rather daft comedy and, somehow, it worked surprisingly well, at least, as far as I'm concerned. Indeed, there were many hilarious moments involving Merlin, Archimedes and even some poor wolf who strongly reminded me of Wile E. Coyote. Obviously, I have to admit it, it felt sometimes pretty random as there was no real plot here but a succession of loosely linked episodes and it prevented the whole thing from becoming really remarkable but I still think it was quite entertaining anyway. Eventually, 10 years later, they would follow pretty much the same approach with 'Robin Hood', except that they would go even further by turning all the characters into some animals which wasn't a really a good idea, I'm afraid, but it was still fairly enjoyable. Anyway, to conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, I really liked this movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Wow, this is a rather weird and obscure movie and I wonder how I actually ended up watching the damned thing.  I mean, the movie itself is rather mediocre, some kind of misguided romantic comedy version of  ‘Witness’ but what was mostly interesting about this flick was in fact the people involved. First of all, even though I didn’t notice it while watching the damned thing, it was actually directed by Leonard Nimoy, Spock himself. Indeed, at some point, the guy tried to direct as well but he never became really successful in this area, I’m afraid, and this would be his last directing effort. Concerning Patricia Arquette, this movie was the next one she made after her breakthrough performance in ‘True Romance’ and it was quite a step-down for her. To complete the cast, you had an even younger Joseph Gordon-Levitt in his first starring role in a theatrically released film. It’s quite impressive to think that the guy has already been around for more than 20 years and he has definitely become one of the most interesting actors of his generation. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, even though I have seen worse, I didn’t care much for the whole thing and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

Basically, it is one of those rather obscure French features that actually no else but me on Listal has seen apparently (in fact, not even 70 people has rated it on IMDb which is one of the lowest figures I have ever encountered). Anyway, if I recall it correctly, I even saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released. Basically, back in those days, I was still living in France and every evening I would watch this great talk-show called ‘Nulle part ailleurs’. Of course, you might wonder what it has all to do with this flick. Well, Jackie Berroyer was an humorist involved in this show and, thanks to this very successful TV show, he got noticed by the mainstream audience resulting in this movie. Well, since I thought that the guy was quite hilarious, I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, even though it was nothing really amazing, I thought that it was still quite entertaining and even though Berroyer didn’t really need to stretch his acting talent (he basically played himself), it was some perfect material for him and he was really funny.  To conclude, even though it is a really obscure flick, I thought it was a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies. 

Wow, this movie turned out to be a massive disappointment... I mean, I don't believe that the first installment was a real masterpiece but, in my opinion, it was very effective and I thought it was quite enjoyable. On the other hand, this sequel (or in fact,  prequel because most of the action was taking place actually before) was a big step down. Basically, they used again the same gimmick and even though it worked fine the first time around, here, it felt really redundant and I pretty much knew beforehand what to expect. The only interesting thing that they added was those security camera's and it somewhat did expand the experience but it wasn’t enough to make the whole thing really entertaining. I don't know, I think I read somewhere that many viewers thought it was scarier than the previous movie but I certainly don't agree. In fact, it was even slower  and, during the first hour, nothing happened at all which resulted in a terribly sluggish and boring built-up. Then, at last, during the last 20 minutes, something finally  happened but, once again, I thought it was rather underwhelming. On top of that, the fans argued that it was a great addition to this 'mythology', explaining a great deal what happened previously, well, I didn't get that at all and, to make things worse, after the 'attack', everything even seemed to go back to normal for a while, which didn't make any sense at all. Anyway, to conclude, I really didn’t care for the whole thing at all and I don't think it is really worth a look.