Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I have this movie on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. First of all, Paul Schrader, who got his breakthrough after writing ‘Taxi Driver’ and also ‘Raging Bull, allegedly two of the best movies directed by Martin Scorsese, had a rather convoluted career as a director but I have always been intrigued by his work. Even though ‘American Gigolo’ might be his most famous movie, I believe that ‘Affliction’ is actually his best flick or, at least, it is his best one I have seen so far from this director. Anyway, it did reach a wide critical acclaim when it was released. Indeed, it is basically a very dark story dealing with some rather unlikable characters and, even though, the story was intriguing, the characters were above all fascinating, thanks to some solid writing by Paul Schrader himself and some impressive performances by Nick Nolte and James Coburn (they would be both nominated at the Academy awards and James Coburn would even win). Eventually, this movie was about the mental meltdown of the main character, who had been basically emotionally crippled from his childhood, and he was beautifully played by Nick Nolte who was basically born to play such guys. Anyway, to conclude, even though this movie tends to be overlooked and forgotten, it was actually really good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I have no idea how I ended up watching this flick. I think I rented it with some friends at some point. Anyway, basically, it is one of those spoofs, one of the most awful genres ever invented, but even though this one is not one of the best or one of the most known features in this style, it wasn’t really awful either. The whole issue with this genre is the dreadful duo Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Indeed, even though they wrote ‘Scary Movie’, allegedly one of the best spoofs ever made, they went to direct some of the worst movies ever made ('The Starving Games' , 'Vampires Suck', 'Disaster Movie', 'Meet the Spartans', 'Epic Movie', 'Date Movie'). Well, this movie was made just after ‘Scary Movie’ and before Friedberg and Seltzer made all these awful flicks so that it is where the movie lands quality-wise. Indeed, it is rather forgettable but not completely horrible and, at least, there was a decent cast (Chyler Leigh, Chris Evans, Jaime Pressly, Eric Christian Olsen, Mia Kirshner, Lacey Chabert, Mr. T, Molly Ringwald, Randy Quaid, Samaire Armstrong). To conclude, even though it looks and sounds awful, it is actually watchable but I still don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of the genre.

I always had a weak spot for Ashley Judd and there was a time that she was not only on the A list but she was also the unofficial Queen of the thrillers for a couple of years. It actually all started with ‘Kiss the Girls’ which was also starring Morgan Freeman. Since this thriller was quite successful, 5 years later, they decided to make another one also with Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. In my opinion, it is basically one of those really far-fetched thrillers with a rather preposterous plot but while I’m not a huge fan of the genre, I thought that this one was actually not bad at all. Indeed, there was once again some very good chemistry between Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman and the rest of the cast (Jim Caviezel, Amanda Peet, Michael Shannon) was pretty solid as well. Eventually, the whole thing was actually quite entertaining but, as usual with this kind of thrillers, the ending was really underwhelming and completely undermined the impact of this story. Indeed, it is one of those thrillers which builds up an intriguing plot but, at the end, they basically make a U-turn and tell you that everything you just saw was wrong and the seemingly smart people involved were actually fooled by some sort of mastermind. Still, in spite of this rather poor gimmick, it remains a rather entertaining flick and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Following with my plan of watching all the Muppets movies this year, I went on with this 2nd sequel and, at first, I was rather worried. Indeed, I thought the story was just way too similar to the first movie during which the muppets went to Hollywood to find fame and, this time, they were going to Broadway with basically the same purpose. Still, even though the plot was therefore rather disappointing, I still enjoyed the damned thing. Indeed, there were some really nice scenes, especially the one where they introduced the awesome Muppet Babies (their cartoon premiered two months after this film was released, some pretty smart marketing if you ask me) and, at last, Kermit and Miss Piggy finally managed to get married which was pretty cool as well. Also, at last, they finally focused on one muppet, of course it was Kermit, instead of having dozen of them at the same time and it worked better to move on the narrative. I missed some of their meta jokes (‘hey, look guys! We are in a movie!’) and the songs were still rather boring but, all in all, it was a decent watch. To conclude, even though it was once again nothing really amazing, it was still quite entertaining and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

In the ‘Rocky’ franchise, this movie usually belongs to the guilty pleasures. Indeed, the 5th installment is universally despised by most of the viewers but this 4th movie occasionally gets some love. To start with, it was the highest grossing film in the Rocky series, reaching a rather impressive $300 million worldwide gross but it doesn’t mean that it was any good, it just meant that they would make another sequel for sure. Anyway, personally, I really didn’t like this flick. Sure, compare to the following sequel, it was almost a masterpiece but I seriously got bored. Indeed, now we are far from the gritty realism of ‘Rocky’, and instead, we get once again the same old story (Rocky gets in trouble, you get a good old training montage, he gets on the ring and, of course, wins the fight against his current nemesis). By now, I was pretty much done with this formula and to see how they added some patriotism/propaganda to the whole thing made this movie even more pathetic. I understand that the fans just enjoy this for what it is, some brainless entertainment, but I just can’t share their enthusiasm.To conclude, I really didn’t like this flick and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except of course if you are a die-hard fan of this franchise.

Hilary Swank has one of the most peculiar careers in Hollywood. Indeed, she is one of the very few thespians who managed to win 2 Academy awards for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role but also she has one of the even fewer who managed to have a 100% win percentage which means that she won every time she was nominated. Alright, but what about the rest of her career? That’s the whole point, the other movies she made aside from the impressive ‘Boys don’t cry’ and ‘Million Dollar Baby’ where actually rather underwhelming and this movie was a fine example. Indeed, it was the 2nd movie she made after ‘Boys don’t cry’ and even though she should be praised for trying something really different, the end-result was not really impressive. The main issue, in my opinion, is that the makers tried to convince us that this whole (allegedly true) story was paramount in the beginning of the French revolution but I wasn’t really convinced. Basically, it wasn’t really spellbinding but it doesn’t mean that it was really a bad movie. Indeed, the costumes and sets looked gorgeous and you have to give Hilary Swank some credit for going from the gritty contemporary realism of ‘Boys don’t cry’ to a lavish historical costume drama. To conclude, even though it was rather underwhelming, I still think it remains somehow a decent period piece and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Like most of us, I was really impressed by ‘Borat’ which must be one of the funniest movies made in the last 10 years and, from then on, it seemed that Sacha Baron Cohen would become the next comedic genius. Then, he used the same trick for ‘Bruno’ and I thought it didn’t work that well this time. With this in mind, I tempered my expectations for his next feature, and this time, he made a smart move and decided to try something different , which was a more traditional comedy with a real plot and no semi-documentary shenanigans. Eventually, I thought it was not bad but nothing really amazing, I’m afraid. The point is that, even though the approach was different, the humor was still the same and I think I’m getting a little bit tired of his really crude jokes. Furthermore, the plot was not really amazing, it was basically a mix of ‘The Great Dictator’ and ‘The Emperor’s new groove’ with a rather underwhelming romance on top of that. Above all, only half of the jokes really worked, the other half was just really tedious. For example, the scene with John C. Reilly as a murderer/torturer was great and so was Cohen´s speech about ´What if America was a dictartorship?’ but the rest was hardly memorable. To conclude, even though it was only a slight improvement on ‘Bruno’, it remains a decent comedy and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since the ratings were pretty decent and since it was Chris Columbus’ directing debut, I was quite eager to check this flick. Furthermore, the title sounded pretty neat as well. Unfortunately, I thought the whole thing was rather disappointing. Indeed, in my opinion, the concept was actually really similar to ‘Home Alone’ which would be also directed by Columbus 3 years later and would turn out to be a massive box-office success. Indeed, it is rather similar in the sense that, even though it is basically about some kids involved in some seriously dangerous situations, the tone is actually really frivolous and the makers try to convince you that the whole thing is actually rather harmless, that nothing much is at stake and that the kids involved actually have the best time of their life. Well, I wasn’t really convinced. For example, at some point, one of the teenage boys flirt with a prostitute (without noticing that she is actually a hooker) and they find out that she is actually just a few years older than them and that she ran away from home. And they played this scene as if it was funny! Well, it wasn’t funny and even rather misguided. Later on, you had the young girl literally hanging from a roof, chased by some thug and, once again, I felt rather uncomfortable watching this. To conclude, even though the whole thing had some potential, it didn’t really work out for me and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

3 years ago I already saw the first installment in the movie theater and even though it did look gorgeous, I thought the plot was rather pedestrian but, for some reasons, Nick, my step-son, was really obsessing about this flick and saw it twice again in the theater, dowloaded the movie and even bought the dvd! So, of course, we had to see this sequel and, this time, his little sister came along so we had a really nice day out. Basically, it gave me the same feeling as ‘Rio’. Indeed, once again, it looked gorgeous, there was even a very nice musical number involving many of those blue birds but, still, I was rather bored by the whole thing. I mean, there were some pretty neat supporting characters (my favorite was above all the poisonous frog) but the plot was still rather weak in my opinion. I think it is above all meant for young kids but, afterwards, I found out that my daughter wasn't really able to follow the whole thing (for example, she didn’t get that Blu actually scored in his own goal. I mean, at least, she is Dutch, she is familiar with football/soccer, can you imagine all these American kids who will watch this movie and have no clue about soccer rules?). Still, even though it was nothing amazing, it remains a decent animated feature and it is worth a look, especially if you want to watch something with your kids.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since it was the first movie starring Whoppy Goldberg after her breakthrough performance in ‘The Color Purple’, I thought it could be a decent comedy and I was really eager to check Penny Marshall’s directing debut as she made some pretty strong movies at the end of the 80’s (‘Big’ and ‘Awakenings’). Unfortunately, it turned out to be one of the most unlikely spy flicks I have ever seen. I mean, it was rather fun to see them involved in some king of prehistorical MSN instant messaging and I’ll have to give her that, Whoopy Goldberg did her best to sell this concept but it just didn’t really work out. Of course, since it is an action comedy, nothing serious or dramatic happen but, therefore, you never have the feeling that anything is at stake. I mean, could you imagine if Alfred Hitchcok decided to make ‘North by Northwest’ a comedy and, on top of that, add some rather underwhelming characters and some really poor jokes? Now, you get the picture. To conclude, even though it wasn’t really awful, it was still terribly weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look.