Reviews by johanlefourbe

Honestly, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and I actually would like to re-watch it at some point to make up my mind about the whole thing. Actually, I have noticed that even though all the movies directed by Sofia Coppola were really interesting, I actually had a a hard time to connect with them (even ‘Lost in Translation’ which was hailed as a real masterpiece was interesting but not really mind-blowing in my opinion). With her directing debut, it was pretty much the same thing. I remember it very well, the first time I watched it, I was living in England, I saw it with my roommates and while I thought it was actually pretty good, they thought it was just pretty terrible. Honestly, I couldn’t really blame them. Indeed, I really enjoyed the look and the mood of the whole thing and there was definitely something quite spellbinding about it. On the other hand, you never really get the opportunity to really know or connect with the characters and, on top of that, it felt rather pretentious. Still, even though it is not really a masterpiece and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in this director.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this but many movies starring Jackie Chan are broadcasted on the Dutch channels and my step-son Nick has a weak spot for this actor so we ended up watching it. Contrary to most of the movies with Jackie Chan, this one actually had some potential but, unfortunately, the plot was jut way too convoluted. Indeed, you basically had two story lines very awkwardly combined, a modern one (easily the weakest one) and a period piece and also a meteorite with some powers and also an immortality pill on top of that. I mean, it was nice that Jackie Chan was involved in a rather complex story for once but that was just way too much. In my opinion, they should have focused only on the period piece which wasn't really amazing but it was the only thing that really hold my attention. Seriously, the whole thing was just so messy, I could barely follow it and since I didn't really care, I didn't even really try. To conclude, it was yet another underwhelming production involving Jackie Chan and I don't think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of this actor.

I remember it very well, after this movie was released in France, it became a huge cult-classic. Sure, since then, we had ‘Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulaine’ or ‘Intouchables’ which were not only some massive success in France but also abroad but, in fact, some really typical French comedies which are quite unknown outside of France are also hugely popular in my motherland and ‘Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis’ is by now the most successful French film in France. In fact, ‘La Grande Vadrouille’ (a great classic by the way) was for a staggering 30 years the biggest success at the French box-office until ‘Titanic’ broke all the records. Anyway, for many years , everybody was talking about this flick in France and since I hadn't seen it for so many years, I was really eager to check it again. To be honest, in my mind, the whole thing was just really hilarious but, for the 2nd time around, I thought it was mildly funny but not much more than that, I'm afraid. I mean, it was pretty obvious that they were aiming towards a sarcastic black comedy but even though it was fairly entertaining, I wasn't actually really blown away. Still, to conclude, it remains a French classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Honestly, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. Anyway, it is definitely a typical Cronenberg feature and I thought it was pretty good. At the time, Cronenberg was still transitioning to some more commercial features easier to digest for the mainstream audience but there were still many of his famous trademarks that you could find in his rather gross horror features he made at the end of the 70’s. As a result, even though the whole thing was quite accessible , it was still pretty weird and sometimes a little bit hard to follow but there was definitely something quite spellbinding about the whole thing and there was no denying that it was visually quite impressive. James Woods, one of the most underrated actors that ever lived, was a perfect choice and he delivered one of his typical hysterical and over-the-top performances which fit really well in Cronenberg’s demented world. To be honest, I actually preferred ‘eXistenZ’ which Cronenberg made much later on his career as it was more compelling to watch in my opinion but I still enjoyed this one and I will definitely check it again in the future. To conclude, even though I’m not sure if it is really a masterpiece, it is still a really intriguing feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in David Cronenberg’s work.

Like most of us, following the impressive 'In Bruges', I had high hopes for Martin McDonagh's follow-up but, somehow, it didn't make much waves when it was released. Eventually, it was a decent flick with some great stuff but, unfortunately, it didn't really convince me though. In the opening scenes, you actually have two characters talking about overkill and it would actually be the best way to describe this movie. Indeed, while 'In Bruges' was dealing with about 3 characters and was therefore really focused, this movie had an all-star cast with about 10 characters at least and while it might sound great on paper, it didn't work out so well, I'm afraid. I mean, sure, some of those guys were great, especially Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson, and some bits here and there were really neat but the whole thing was actually pretty aimless, some characters could or should have been removed (why Abbie Cornish and Olga Kurylenko even bothered showing up is beyond me) and the whole plot about the dog was seriously tedious. Basically, it is a movie about nothing really in particular and you either dig the concept or you don't. Still, in spite of its flaws, it was an enjoyable feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I remember it very well when this movie was released in France, it was pretty huge. Sure, since then, we had ‘Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulaine’ or ‘Intouchables’ which were not only some massive success in France but also abroad but, in fact, some really typical French comedies which are quite unknown outside of France are also hugely popular in my motherland and ‘Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis’ is by now the most successful French film in France. In fact, ‘La Grande Vadrouille’ (a great classic by the way) was for a staggering 30 years the biggest success at the French box-office until ‘Titanic’ broke all the records. Anyway, that’s what happened with ‘Les Visiteurs’, when it was released, it was a huge success in France, everybody was talking about it so I was really curious about the damned thing so I ended up watching it in the movie theater. At the time, I was just a kid, about 13 years old, but honestly, I wasn’t really impressed. In my opinion, it was a rather cheap time-travel flick with some midldy funny jokes but not much more than that. Jean Reno (who later on developed a fairly successful career abroad) and Christian Clavier were really famous in France at the time and delivered some decent performances but I just didn’t care much about the whole thing. To conclude, even though it might be a classic in France, I think it is actually a rather lame comedy and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Honestly, I had some rather low expectations about this flick but since there was a rather intriguing cast, I thought I might as well give it a try. Eventually, it was rather surprising that it was written by 2 women and directed by one of them since the damned thing gave such a terribly weak view on female teenage sexuality. At least, 'American Pie' may not have been a masterpiece but, at least, it was fun and that was definitely not the case here. I mean, it was actually interesting that it was dealing with some rich girls in some fancy prep-school but this angle was so poorly developed, it could have taken place in a regular school, there won't have been any difference. Eventually, the most interesting aspect was to see a very young Ryan Reynolds who used to specialise in such quirky roles before trying to become a blockbuster star with some rather poor results (at least, he got to get married with Scarlet Johansson and Blake Lively before he reached 37 years old so that should be worth something). Eventually, it's not it was really bad, it's just that it was rather boring and those three girls were just so plain with nothing interesting to say or to do. Anyway, to conclude, it was just a really weak comedy and it is really not worth a look.

Back in the 90’s, I was a a huge fan of Takeshi Kitano. At some point, I thought he was so awesome, he might have been even better than Akira Kusosawa. Actually, I wasn’t the only one to think so, indeed, Kitano was definitely one of the major movie directors in the 90’s but it’s such a shame we don’t hear much from him anymore (in fact, the guy has been pretty prolific in the last decade but none of these movies have been really impressive unfortunately). Anyway, I was definitely eager to check his directing debut and it was certainly not disappointing. Indeed, the whole thing is actually the stuff of legend. In fact, someone else was supposed to direct the damned thing but the guy quit when he discovered that Kitano, who was playing the lead character, was only available during some specific time periods (the guy was at the time a massive TV star in Japan and was therefore busy with some television commitments). Kitano joked that he could direct it (having no prior directing experience), took over the director's chair after heavily rewriting the script to remove all traces of comedy. As a result, it is not his best work because he took it over right into the middle of the production but it also had many of his trademarks inherent to his work, like the violence and the poetry for example . To conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, I really enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Takeshi Kitano’s work.

There was a time when Nicolas Cage was actually quite a brilliant actor, at the beginning of the 90’s, he even got to work with David Lynch and delivered one of his typical Gonzo performances. To be honest, even though this movie won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film festival at the time, I personally had a hard time to really care about this flick. I have to admit it, I have seen it only once and it was more than a decade ago so it probably needs a re-watch, but still, I don't recall anything really amazing about it. I mean, the directing was solid and Cage and Dern both gave indeed some pretty good performances but I really didn't care much about the story. Above all, I thought that Sailor and Lula were some of the most obnoxious characters I have ever seen. I don’t know maybe I was too young at the time but I just didn’t really connect with it. In my opinion, it was a rather intriguing and weird feature directed by David Lynch but, like many of his other movies, it all felt rather pointless to me. Still, I'll give you that, this movie is 100 times better than all the garbage that Nicolas Cage has done lately and the whole thing is still definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in in David Lynch’s work.

That's it. I have seen all the movies starring Eddy Murphy. It is in fact rather surprising since I have never been a huge fan but, somehow, all his movie were broadcasted at least once on one of the Dutch channels I have. So, in the last 10 years, one by one, I have seen them all for free whenever they were passing by. Eventually , this last feature was again another rather pathetic comedy, a really typical example of what Eddy Murphy has been doing in the last 15 years. Indeed, it was based on a really weak concept similar to 'Liar Liar' or 'Yes Man' and either you have to provide some hilarious jokes (which was the case with 'Liar Liar') or you have to provide some interesting characters but there was nothing funny or interesting here. There was even a pityful attempt at spirituality but it was so half-baked, I won't even go into it in details. The big question is what will Eddie Murphy will do next? If there was ever an actor that needed a come-back, he is definitely the candidate. The point is that he definitely needs to take some risks, at least, he has to do something wildly different because everything he has been doing lately didn't work at all. To conclude, it is a really weak comedy and it is definitely not worth a look.