Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I had heard some rather interesting things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, as I expected, it was a pretty tough watch. Indeed, after watching virtually everything directed by David Lynch, I think I had my share of weird experimental mind-f*cks so I definitely had a hard time to connect with this picture. Still, there is no denying that there was still something quite spellbinding about the whole thing. I think my interest finally started to rise with the really strange sequence with the mo-cap artists which was really far-out and easily my favorite part. Sometimes, you did get some scenes which seemed a little bit more traditional but everything was massively chaotic and you wonder how Carax came up with all this stuff. Anyway, in the center of all this, you had Denis Lavant and you have to give some credit to this guy who portrayed all these wildly different characters (according to the end-credits, they were 11) but, somehow, he still managed to give them some depth which is even more remarkable when you think that he had no plot to hang on to. To conclude, even though it didn’t really blow me away, it was still a really intriguing flick and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in experimental movies.

Following the success of ‘The Fugitive’, they came up with this sequel and since Tommy Lee Jones’s character was so popular, they decided to focus on him this time which was an interesting choice. Obviously, this sequel never reached the level of the first installment. I mean, if you manage to make something exciting and entertaining the first time around, if the second time you pretty much do exactly the same thing, it is not really that interesting anymore. Still, I thought it was still a solid action flick. At least, at the time, Wesley Snipes was still a pretty badass action star and he was a decent choice, even though he was of course not as charismatic as Harrison Ford. Furthermore, one of the main asset of ‘The Fugitive’ is that the main character was just a regular guy and one of the most entertaining thing about this flick was to have a simple doctor being chased and managing many times to not get caught by the police. Here, you get instead a tough guy who was in fact a trained operative which was entertaining but sill a lesser choice than a common fellow like Richard Kimble. Anyway, to conclude, even though it wasn’t really a masterpiece, I still think it was a decent action flick and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I kept hearing some good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out and, eventually, I wasn't disappointed. Indeed, in my opinion, it is the best comedy since 'Borat'. To be perfectly honest, most of the time, I'm really critic about comedies. I don’t know, they are usually really stupid and actually not really that funny (the best examples would be 'The Hangover' and 'Bridesmaids' which were both supposed to be great but were eventually just decent at best). Well, this one was fricking hilarious. I mean, honestly, the concept was just really stupid and it should have been a terrible movie but, somehow, it worked really well. The masterstroke was obviously Teddy himself. Basically, all his dialogues were just spot-on and really funny and I also enjoyed a lot his relationship with Mark Wahlberg (maybe it has to do with my massive past as a weed smoker but anyway...). There were some bits here and there that didn’t really work though, especially the whole kidnapping thing involving Giovanni Ribisi which belonged more in a thriller than in a comedy and, to be honest, I thought that Mila Kunis character was slightly a bitch. Indeed, imagine you spend 28 years of your life with your best buddy but you agree at last that he has to move out so you can focus on your relationship, that’s fine, but obviously, afterwards, you would still want to hang out with him which would be quite natural but, in this case, she insists he has to drop him all together. Anyway, those were some minor flaws, I had a blast watching this and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, it has been a while since I have seen this flick but I will definitely re-watch it at some point when I have the opportunity. The sad thing with this flick is it was that the last real critical success for Spike Lee (you could also argue that ‘Inside Man’ was quite successful but it was a box-office success in my opinion) and, for the last 10 years, he has made some rather terrible bombs. Concerning Edward Norton, once hailed as the best actor of his generation, he has been making some rather disappointing movies the one after the other during the last decade and this movie was the last one he made which was really great (I don’t count ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ and ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ because they were ensemble pieces and Norton was definitely not the main actor). Coming back to our main feature, it is what you could call a character study, therefore, it is rather slow and nothing much really happened but it doesn't mean that the whole thing was anything short of spellbinding. Indeed, you get some really interesting characters thanks to a really impressive cast (Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Brian Cox, Rosario Dawson and Anna Paquin). To conclude, it has become since then a cult classic and I think it definitely deserves its status.

I always had a weak spot for Diane Lane and she was the main reason why I wanted to check this flick. To be honest, I haven't seen the original French version, ‘La femme infidèle’, directed by Claude Chabrol and even though it must have been much better, I thought that this remake was still fairly enjoyable. Indeed, the main asset was Diane Lane and I thought that she was quite stunning and she gave also a solid performance. Olivier Martinez was also an interesting choice, obvioulsy a wink to the original French version, and, together, they had some pretty good chemistry. To round up the cast, you had Richard Gere who you wouldn’t expect to be cuckold so it was once again a nice choice. So, you had all the necessary ingredients for a steamy thriller and, for the most part, it was actually quite convincing and rather entertaining, above all thanks to the charming Diane Lane who managed to make a character likeable even though she was actually a little bit of a slut. Unfortunately, the end was seriously disappointing. Indeed, it was obvious that there would be some confrontation at some point but it was so poorly done, so underwhelming, it pretty much ruined the whole thing which was too bad. Still, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is a decent flick and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but the title sounded pretty cool and I always had a weak spot for Dwayne Johnson so I thought I might as well check it out. Basically, it is a rather typical Disney production. I mean, way before Disney had some massive success with 'Pirates of the Carribean', all of those Marvel movies and soon the new Star Wars installments, they were famous for this kind of pictures. There is actually nothing wrong with them, it is some rather clean entertainment but it is so focus on their target audience, mainly kids between 8 and 13 years old, that most viewers outside this demographic group will probably be bored by the whole thing. Anyway, I thought it was pretty tedious. Indeed, they didn’t take any risks whatsoever, the whole thing was just too safe and predictable to really keep me interested. At least, Dwayne Johnson did a decent job and it was miles better than his moronic comedies like 'The Tooth Fairy' or 'The Game Plan'. I don’t know, maybe, it is really entertaining for kids but I think it is more interesting to try to provide something which the grown-ups might enjoy as well. To conclude, I have seen worse but it was still pretty average and I don't think it is really worth a look.

Since I have been living in the Netherlands, I have been watching many Dutch movies but, to be honest, the Dutch film industry is actually rather disappointing. Basically, there are two categories of movies which manage to get some success in the Netherlands : the family features and the adaptations of popular books. Well, this movie basically belongs to the 2nd group, even though eventually it got some rather poor reviews and didn't get much love even though the book was actually quite popular. Well, where should I start? There was actually an interesting cast (Bracha van Doesburgh, Thom Hoffman, Halina Reijn, Angela Schijf, Birgit Schuurman, Peter Paul Muller), even if I think that Bracha van Doesburgh was rather miscast. For such a role, you need a woman who can give the illusion that she could be attracted by danger like Michael Douglas in 'Basic Instinct' for example but, even though van Doesburgh looked really charming, I never understood why she got involved with Thom Hoffman for no apparent reason than moving on the plot. And that was the main issue with this flick, the plot. Indeed, even though it was only 90 minutes, it was still so slow. It was taking forever to move on and without the omnipresent soundtrack, I'm not sure I would have noticed that it was actually a thriller. To conclude, even though the whole thing had some potential, it was just a really weak thriller and I don' t think it is really worth a look, even if you are interested in Dutch movies.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick and, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure how it ended up in my queue. Apparently, the main reason was because I have a weak spot for Rachel Hurd-Wood. Anyway, I thought it was really weak. In fact, it seems that this flick was a huge success and Australia, it was even the top grossing Australian production released in 2010 and if you read the reviews from my fellow listal members from down under, you might believe that it is some kind of masterpiece but I really disagree. Sure, the production value was decent and the whole thing didn’t look too bad but, honestly, it felt like a rather weak pilot for a TV show mixing 'Lost' with 'The Walking Dead'. Where should I start? The acting was weak, the dialogues were rather pathetic and the characters were just a bunch of walking clichés. Concerning the story, I do admit that there was some potential but it was just rather poorly developed in my opinion. On top of that, it didn’t make much sense. Sure, it was rather refreshing that they were attacked by a foreign nation and not by the usual aliens but, in our modern age, do you think it would be possible to invade a nation over a week-end without anyone noticing that you are preparing a huge army for war? To conclude, it could have been decent but it was just pretty damned average and I don't think it is worth a look.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since Nick, my step-son, was quite eager to check it out, we did end up watching the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released. Well, it wasn't really good, I'm afraid. Apparently, Universal is or was planning a cinematic universe like Marvel did with the MCU, except that it would involve all their famous monsters. Honestly, I really wonder if it is all going to happen but apparently they are already planning a reboot of 'The Mummy' which would include Dracula to link those movies together. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I think they really chose the wrong angle though. Indeed, in this version, Dracula was actually a rather nice fellow, some kind of noble prince who just want to protect his family and his people from the evil Turks (it is actually funny to point out that Turkey didn’t even exist at the time but anyway...). While it was definitely a different approach, it would have been however much more fun to have a main character who was truly evil, a blood-thirsty monster planning to rule over the world. Unfortunately, instead, they gave us a rather underwhelming origin story which was rather tedious and, as a result, I don’t think this movie is really worth a look.

Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but I was still eager to check it out. I mean, Lindsay Lohan's career has become pretty abysmal lately and this movie was the only one who seemed to have at least some potential. Since I started to talk about Lohan, I should add that you wonder why she was there in the first place. I mean, she only had 2 or 3 scenes, her performance was rather weak and it was rather unconvincing that a pretty girl like her would hang out with a creep like Chapman for no real reason. A part from that, the whole thing was rather misguided. I mean, right from the start, they tell you at the beginning that they won't give any details about his past or his background which was a big mistake. Seriously, if you don't develop this, what have you then to tell? Nothing much, I'm afraid. Indeed, you basically follow Chapman for a couple of days, doing basically nothing, except mumbling some crazy stuff about various subjects. What remains is a rather bewildering performance by Jared Leto. Indeed, he gained 30 kilos, apparently damaging his health in the process and while there was something quite spellbinding about his performance, you wonder if it was really worth it for such an empty movie. Anyway, to conclude, I guess my rating for this movie might be a little too generous but, somehow, I still think it is worth a look.