Reviews by johanlefourbe

It is another movie I really wanted to watch for at least a decade, probably even longer. After waiting for so long , I wish I could say it was worth the wait but the whole thing was just terrible. In fact, I have to admit that I remember quite well when it was released and that it was really trashed by the critics. Anyway, basically, the whole thing was some kind of weird supposedly quirky indie comedy but it was never entertaining or intriguing to watch. Obviously, it was filled up with some rather weird characters but none of them had something really interesting to tell. I mean, right from the start, the concept of this girl with some huge thumbs going hitchhiking for years was seriously misguided and completely underwhelming. At least, back in those days, Uma Thurman really looked quite stunning and she was probably one of the most promising actresses at work at the time but this movie would be one of the first really bad move she made, something that would keep occurring in her career time and time again (see also ‘Batman & Robin’, ‘The Avengers’, ‘My Super Ex-Girlfriend’, ‘The Accidental Husband’, …). Anyway, to conclude, it was pretty bad, easily the worst movie ever directed by Gus Van Sant and I don’t think it is worth a look at all.        

Following ‘Sous le sable’, François Ozon’s first critical success, the French director came up with this flick which was definitely bigger and more ambitious than his previous projects. Indeed, for this movie, Ozon managed to have an impressive all-star cast with some of the most famous French actresses (Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Béart, Ludivine Sagnier, Virginie Ledoyen, Danielle Darrieux). Well, eventually, even though it was a decent watch and it was indeed pretty neat to see all these great actresses working together, I can’t say it really blew me away. Basically, the main issue I had is that even though the available acting talent was quite amazing, the material was terribly light and, therefore, it slightly felt like  a missed opportunity. Of course, you might argue that Steven Soderbergh basically did the same thing with ‘Ocean’s eleven’ and you would be right but ‘Ocean’s eleven’ was in fact just another blockbuster, without any pretension, and I thought it was just more fun than this flick. To conclude,  even though I didn’t really connect with the whole thing, it was still not bad at all and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies. 

In 2015, Jaco van Dormael made a come-back after 6 long years with ‘Le tout nouveau testament’ and, even though it has a rather lame  title, it was still nominated for the Golden Globe for the Best Motion Picture Foreign Language. Anyway, anything from this director is usually worth a look. In fact, I remember very well when this 2^nd directing effort was released. Indeed, it is nowadays pretty much forgotten but back then, it was a big critical success at the Cannes Film Festival. Following all this praise, I was really eager to check it out and I even saw it in the movie theater when it was released, if I recall it correctly. Eventually, even though it was definitely a decent watch, I can’t say I was completely blown away by the whole thing. Basically, it is about a character with Down's syndrome played by someone with Down's syndrome and while this concept was really interesting, it still felt slightly gimmicky for me. Still, there is no denying that the whole thing was really original and very well made. To conclude, even though it didn’t complete convince me, it was still pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

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.