Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even though it is a rather obscure feature, since there was a pretty good cast involved, I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, I thought it was pretty good and it reminded me of 'Munich', another vintage spy feature involving the Mossad. Indeed, the story was really strong, at least, most of it, and there was a nice cast (Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, Ciarán Hinds, Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas, Sam Worthington) but it never reached the level of 'Munich', in my opinion, one of the best spy features ever made and probably the most underrated movie directed by Steven Spielberg. The main issue I had is that while the section of the movie taking place in Berlin in the 60's was pretty much flawless, the section taking place in Israel in the 90's didn't work out very well. First of all, I think it was a mistake to get rid off of David so quickly. Not only his impact in the present was rather insignificant but it also diminished the impact of his younger character as well. Furthermore, the way they ended up the whole thing was really preposterous and rather underwhelming (Ok, they find Vogel again, why not? But do they really think we are going to believe that they would send Helen Mirren who might just be a little too old to be a field agent? On top of that, the numerous twists that followed were pretty much laughable). Still, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it was an intriguing story and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I’m not sure what to make of this movie. I mean, with only the name and the poster, I already knew before even watching it that it would be a really preposterous thriller. Still, there was something quite appealing about the concept. Indeed, how can you build up a thriller when you character is stuck on a ledge during the whole duration? Well, their answer was to have a standard heist accross the street but, when I think about it, it was actually more or less cheating as you got basically two stories to compensate the fact that the main character couldn't do much, except looking at his feet and shouting to the crowd. Honestly, did they really need him up there to pull up the heist? I highly doubt it. Still, the cast was decent, except for Elizabeth Banks who was rather miscast. I mean, I always had a weak spot for Banks, she is really charming but that might have been the issue, she still looked too damned nice to be a tough cop negotiator and her performance was rather weak. Still, I have to admit it, it was actually quite fun to see all these completely non-sensical scenes coming one after the other and, each time, I was wondering what kind of weird decisions they would take to move on the plot. To conclude, my rating might be too generous here but I thought it was a mildly entertaining flick and I guess it might be worth a look but don’t expect anything really amazing.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Sigourney Weaver, I thought I might as well give it a try. Eventually, I thought it was a rather tedious vampire comedy. Indeed, Amy Heckerling, whose last hit was already 20 years ago with ‘Clueless’ also starring Alicia Silverstone, tried to give a new modern twist to our familiar vampire legends but it was basically a huge failure. Indeed, basically, the whole thing was a long succession of tedious jokes. I mean, I understand that she tried to switch the gothic and gloomy mood usually displayed to a rather frivolous and whimsical setting and while the idea was not half-bad, the execution was rather disappointing. Seriously, who cares that vampires are not very good at handling smartphones and computers? Of course, it is pretty stupid that when you go out in a restaurant or in a bar that everyone is busy on their smartphone instead of talking to each other but what has it do with vampirism and the fact of being immortal? At least, Krysten Ritter was quite charming and Sigourney Weaver had some fun with her role but they could have dropped Alicia Silverstone who is one really underwhelming actress in my opinion. To conclude, I have seen worse but it still remains a really average flick and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Recently, Kathryn Bigelow has made one of the most impressive come-backs with ‘The Hurt Locker’ and ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ but her career was not in a really great shape before that. Indeed, 6 years before ‘The Hurt Locker’ was released, she made this flick which was pretty much a flop at the box-office. Personally, I always had a weak spot for thrillers involving submarines and this one was actually rather well made and fairly entertaining. Still, pretty much like ‘The Hunt for Red October’, I was really annoyed by the fact that some American and English actors portrayed those Soviet soldiers and officers. Of course, I understand that it would be difficult to attract a mainstream audience with a movie starring some unknown Russian actors speaking Russian all the time but it would definitely make it more convincing. At least, I have to admit it, Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson gave as usual some solid performances. Concerning the plot, like I said before, it was fairly entertaining but you can feel that they made up a lot of stuff just to increase the dramatic impact. Still, to conclude, I thought it was a decent feature and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Ever since I have been living in the Netherlands, I have tried to watch a lot of Dutch movies and I was especially intrigued by this one since it won the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film. The funny thing is while it received international acclaim, it was actually snubbed in its home country as ‘Zusje’ eventually won the Golden Calf of the Best Dutch movie of the year (in my opinion, ‘Zusje’ was indeed a superior movie). With this in mind, I had some rather high expectations but, eventually, even though I did enjoy it, I can’t say I was really amazed by the whole thing. The point is that it is definitely above your average Dutch production  but somehow I had a rather hard time to connect with the plot and the characters. Basically, you have a succession of rather colorful characters, always gravitating around Antonia, the main character, and I guess the makers tried to show their whimsical way of life but I had a rather hard time to care about what they were going through. For Marleen Goris, the director of this movie, it was the start of an international career, even though none of her following movies were really successful. To conclude, even though I was slightly disappointed, it remains an intriguing feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies. 

After hearing many good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, it was an intriguing and gloomy drama about some meth-cooking hillbillies and even though I enjoyed most of it, I can’t say I was really blown away by the whole thing. First of all, the directing was pretty strong and you basically ended up in a rather strange world completely alien to me and maybe that was one of the reasons why I had a hard time to connect with this flick. I mean, usually, the whole point of making or dealing drugs is the easy cash but, here, they all lived in the dirt with some run-down houses and some cheap-ass trucks. That didn’t really make sense to me. Furthermore, I had a hard time to care about the story. I mean, I obviously understood the motivations of the main character thanks to a breakthrough performance by Jennifer Lawrence but when you finally get to know what is actually going on, you wonder why her ‘community’ didn’t want to help her out . The way they finally decide to show her the body and cut the arms(!) in front of her was really not necessary. It was pretty obvious that she and her family didn’t have anything to do with what her dad did so how hard would it have been to get the body at night and dump it on the side of a road to be found by the law enforcement the next day? Again, maybe it has to do with my ignorance of this very peculiar side of America, maybe it did actually make sense. Still, there was something quite spellbinding about the whole thing and I was also really impressed by John Hawkes who completely disappeared behind his character. To conclude, even though I wasn’t entirely convinced, it remains a strong feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Following their relative success with the remake of ‘Sabrina’, Sydney Pollack and Harrison Ford decided to work again on this movie. Eventually, it was rather poorly received and was barely noticed when it was released. Personally, I don’t think it was bad at all actually and, at least, it had much more potential than the sappy ‘Sabrina’. Indeed, basically, it is based on a really far-fetched but intriguing story and the makers only partially managed to sell it to the audience( if you see the poor ratings, I’m actually one of the very few who thought it was actually intriguing). At least, I wasn’t the only one who was mildly positive about the whole thing and Roger Ebert agreed that there were many good things about this flick. Personally, I thought that the story was interesting, the characters involved were rather well written and there was something quite compelling about what they were going through. Unfortunately, it seems that the makers didn’t really know what to do with the tricky set-up and, as a result, they gave us a rather underwhelming sub-plot involving Harrison Ford chasing some suspect, as if that it was really necessary. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is a decent drama and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Continuing with my quest to watch all the Muppet movies this year, it was time to watch this 4th installment. Honestly, even though it has some decent ratings, I wasn’t expecting much. Indeed, by now, I have seen so many adaptations of Charles Dickens’ timeless tale, a story I never really loved, and therefore, I didn’t think this one would be much better. Eventually, I was actually positively surprised and I would go as far as saying that it is so far my favorite movie starring the Muppets. Indeed, this time, they really went all the way concerning the production value and the whole thing looked pretty amazing. Furthermore, I really enjoyed the mix of this rather gloomy tale with their typical cheerful jokes (above all, Gonzo and Rizzo were some great narrators). Also, this time, instead of putting as many Muppets as possible on every single screen, those characterds were very well used and there was a very good balance. Finally, the masterstroke was to have Michael Caine to play Ebezener Scrooge and, as usual, he delivered a very solid performance. The only issue I might have is that I have seen this story too many times by now to really care about it but it was still one of the best adaptations I have seen. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I really enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Nowadays, M. Night Shyamalan has become the laughing stock of the film community but there was a time when he was considered one of the most promising directors in the world. Some people would argue that it started to go wrong already with this flick but I don’t agree, in my opinion, it started to turn sour with ‘Lady in the water’(still his worst movie in my opinion) whereas this movie was well received and a success at the box-office. At the time, Mel Gibson was still a bankable actor and it would be his last hit before he focused on his directing projects and on ruining his public image. Anyway, I thought it was a fairly entertaining story, there is no denying that Shyamalan knows how to direct a thriller and there was a very strong cast (Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin). The biggest issue was eventually the ending. I mean, it was all very nice and efficient, especially in delivering an ominous mood but they had to provide an interesting climax at some point, not necessarily an explanation (see ‘Inception’ or anything directed by David Lynch), but you need to manage to end your tale in a satisfactory way and that’s where Shyamalan fails every time, even with ‘The Sixth Sense’ which I consider one of the most overrated movies ever made. This time again, the ending was quite ridiculous, borderline laughable, and above all, it was yet again a twist ending. It was already the 3rd time in a row that Shyamalan used this trick and his audience was already getting quite fed up with this gimmick. Still, in spite of this underwhelming ending, the rest of the movie is actually pretty good and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this this movie but since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. On top of that, my wife always had a weak spot for such thrillers dealing with serial killers so we ended up watching it together. Well, it was obviously a ‘Seven’ knock-off but I thought it was actually fairly entertaining though and, if they would have spent a little bit more time on the script, it could have been really good. Anyway, one of the first pleasures with this flick was to see a younger Angelina Jolie before she became a huge star but, to be honest, she actually nailed only half of her scenes. Apparently, at the time, they didn’t trust her enough to carry a thriller like this one on her own so top-billing was given to Denzel Washington and the guy was as usual quite convincing and seriously charismatic. Concerning the rest of the cast, Queen Latifah was not bad but it was rather weird how they kept involving a nurse into this police investigation, Michael Rooker played his usual creepy cop who was obviously a major decoy and Ed O’Neill was completely wasted here. As usual with this kind of movies, it all ended with some rather convoluted twist with a completely random character as the serial killer which is such a dumb way to end up a movie supposedly dealing with some super smart people. Eventually, 10 years later, Jolie and Noyce would work again together with ‘Salt’ which, as far as I was concerned, turned out to be vastly disappointing but, this time, Angelina Jolie didn’t need any partner anymore as her status grew up exponentially in the meantime. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really amazing, it turned out to be a decent thriller and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.