Reviews by johanlefourbe

Recently, they released ‘The Raid: Redemption’, it became quickly a huge cult classic and it was hailed as the best action flick of the last 10 years. To be honest, I haven’t seen it yet and, somehow, I’m rather skeptical and the fact that Roger Ebert didn’t like the movie at all doesn’t help either. Anyway, 10 years before ‘The Raid: Redemption’, another movie was produced and was also called the next best thing in the martial-arts movie genre and, in the contrary of ‘The Raid: Redemption’ , I did watch it. Eventually, I thought that ‘Ong-Bak' was indeed pretty impressive but, to be honest, the story was nothing really mind-blowing. Of course, the action die-hard fans would argue that it doesn’t matter, that it is only about watching some bad-ass fight scenes but I don’t agree. Action scenes are way more compelling when they are inserted into a really good story (see for example ‘The Bourne Identity’). Here, you have the very old tale of the master killer fighter who of course doesn’t want to fight (such an old and boring gimmick…) but, obviously, he will have to fight at some point and, in the mean time, the audience is getting bored senseless. Still, when Tony Jaa finally gets going and kicks some ass, it was pretty damned impressive. Indeed, without any special effects, CGI or wires, the guy displays some of the most amazing fighting skills I have ever seen. To conclude, I’m not sure if it is really a masterpiece, the story is just too weak, but if only for the fighting scenes, it is definitely worth a look.

When I heard that Sandra Bullock was cast in ‘Gravity’, I was really skeptical but, eventually, she really impressed me. It seems that at last, she has found a good balance between her trademark comedies and some more challenging roles (even though, in my opinion, ‘The Blind Side’ was vastly overrated). Anyway, more than 10 years ago, Sandra Bullock was already one of the most popular actress at work and, with this movie, she got her first successful comedy franchise. To be honest, the sequel was terribly lame but this first installment was actually pretty decent. Of course, the premise and above all the title sounded pretty lame but Bullock was as expected extremely charming and she was a perfect choice for the part. On top of that, they had Michael Caine on board who was as usual quite amazing. At the end of the day, like I said before, it is all very silly but, somehow, it still worked out pretty good and it was a rather fun movie to watch. The fact that I had some rather low expectations might have helped as well. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, it remains an entertaining comedy and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are a fan of Sandra Bullock.

Somehow, most of the movies starring Eddie Murphy are broadcasted pretty often on the various Dutch channels and after spending 10 years in the Netherlands, I have actually seen all his movies (except his last one, ‘A Thousand Words’, but I will probably watch it at some point). And for this flick, I think it must have been the 4th time it was on TV but each time, I had something better to watch. Well, eventually, I finally watched it and it was indeed pretty terrible… Apparently, Eddie Murphy had actually nothing to do with this movie at first but since the movie tested so poorly, they gave him a fat check and they randomly added a few scenes starring the new rising star. When you watch this movie, it is so obvious how they added Murphy’s character out of nowhere, it was just rather pathetic and it barely made sense. The rest of the movie is just an annoying comedy with a bunch of characters constantly shouting at each other as if it should be funny. Somehow, the only thing about this plot is that it foreshadowed the invasion of Kuwait by Irak which would take place 6 years later but I’m not sure if you should consider it a redeeming feature. To conclude, the whole thing is a boring mess and it is definitely not worth a look.

Already 5 years ago, Jaco van Dormael made a come-back with ‘Mr Nobody’ a vastly ambitious European production which was barely seen when it was released but it still managed to reach cult status, especially here on listal. 13 years before, van Dormael made the very interesting ‘Le huitième jour’, one of the very few movies dealing with Down's Syndrome and it reached some massive critical success at the Cannes Film Festival. Before all that, almost 20 years before making ‘Mr Nobody’ , van Dormael released his directing debut, a rather obscure feature which is pretty much forgotten nowadays. Since I was keeping track of this director, I was really eager to check his directing debut and I wasn't disappointed. Indeed, it is a small (especially if you compare it to the scope involved in ‘Mr Nobody’) but intriguing drama and it was nice and refreshing to watch such a feature without the usual suspects. Eventually, even though van Dormael will probably never managed to reach the same status as the Dardenne brother, I still consider him one of the best directors coming from Belgium. To conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, it remains a decent drama and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Jaco van Dormael’s work.

Even though this movie doesn't seem to have a good reputation, I still enjoyed it. The point is that my wife is 11 years older than me so I was really pleased to watch a movie which actually dealt pretty well with the subject (the fact that I have a weak spot for romantic-comedies might have helped as well). Still, I have to admit it, the whole thing was rather flawed. The first thing that bothered me is that even though there was supposedly a gap of 14 years between the characters, in real life, the gap between Uma Thurman and Bryan Greenberg was just of 8 years. I know, it is a small detail but, as a result, when watching the movie, you never get the feeling that there is such a huge age difference between those two characters which undermined the impact of the plot. Furthermore, I didn’t care much about the sub-plot involving a mistaken identity (Uma Thurman is seeing a psychiater played by Meryl Streep who happens to be the mother of her new toyboy). I mean, Meryl Streep was quite brilliant but this other plot was rather underwhelming. Finally, I was disappointed that they didn’t end up together at the end, I’m still with my wife so why couldn’t they overcome those obstables as well?. In spite of these flaws, I still liked this movie. Indeed, the actors were pretty good and, above all, this relationship was really well written and some scenes and dialogs were just pitch perfect. To conclude, even though it is nothing amazing, I think it is actually pretty good and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Back in the 80’s, Rob Reiner was one of the most successful directors at work. I mean, just check his track-record, it is quite impressive (‘This Spinal Tap’, ‘The Sure Thing’, ‘Stand by Me’, ‘The Princess Bride’, ‘When Harry Met Sally...’, ‘Misery’, ‘A Few Good Men’). But then, he made ‘North’. To be honest, I have seen this movie once and I didn’t think it was that bad after all. I mean, I thought I would watch the worst movie ever made so that’s probably why. Anyway, it was a massive flop, both financially and critically, and it seems that already 20 years later Rob Reiner has still not recovered from the damage. Anyway, this is the movie he made after the ‘North’ debacle and it was actually pretty good, even if it wasn’t really as good as what the movies he made before. Indeed, basically, it is a rather sweet romantic drama with some solid performances by Michael Douglas and Annette Bening, nothing more, nothing less. It didn't have the ambition to be anything more than this but I thought it was a nice watch. To conclude, even though it was not great whatsoever, it remains a decent romance and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Rob Reiner’s work.

It is rather surprising that, even though I am a massive movie buff and even though I have seen nearly 40 movies directed by Alfred Hitchcock (more than any other director), somehow, I still hadn’t watch this one which obviously belongs to his numerous classics. Well, even though I thoroughly enjoyed it, I must admit it, I thought I was slightly disappointing. The point is that I wanted to watch this movie for so long and so badly that I built up some massive expectations and I’m afraid it didn’t really fulfill those expectations. I mean, it is a very good thriller, no doubt about it, developping some interesting ideas around the fact we are all some peeping toms, especially us, the movie watchers. I also enjoyed the fact that the main character was pretty much an arrogant douchebag who can’t even be satisfied when the lovely Grace Kelly tells him that she loves him and wants to take care of him until the day he dies. The ending was also terrific and those last 10 minutes were completely nail-biting. Still, that’s the main issue, except for those last 10 minutes, there were a lot of unnecessary scenes distracting us from the obsessive behavior of the main character and the whole thing took forever to finally take off. Still, these are minor flaws, even though it might not be the amazing masterpiece I was expecting, it remains an amazing thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Alfred Hitchcock’s work.

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 this flick which would be incidentally the first movie starring Dr. Alex Cross. My wife always had a weak spot for thrillers involving serial killers (someone, she believes that those are actually quite realistic but that’s another discussion altogether). Personally, I’m always rather skeptical towards this genre but, I have to admit it, this movie is one of the better flicks in this genre. First of all, you have the always dependable Morgan Freeman who was still pretty much surfing on his new found fame following ‘Seven’ and he kept playing the role of the seasoned and wise police officer for many years afterwards. Still, he did a good job here, Ashley Judd was not bad either and the concept of having one of the vicrims managing to escape was pretty cool. Unfortunately, even though it was indeed a decent thriller, the whole thing was still rather preposterous but I'm afraid it's inherent to this genre. Anyway, to conclude, even though it wasn’t really amazing, it remains entertaining and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

More than 10 years before directing ‘Spider-Man’, Sam Raimi actually already directed a super-hero flick. It was actually his first studio feature and, apparently, it was far from being a really pleasant experience. I mean, it was his 4th movie and the movies he made before were more like independent productions but, suddenly, he had to make compromises with studio bosses and there were apparently some intense post-production battles. At the time, Sam Raimi was already eager to adapt a famous super-hero character, either Batman or the Shadow, but since he coulnd’t secure the rights, he decided to create his own super-hero. Personally, I thought it was a pretty neat flick and it was interesting to see a new super-hero which wasn’t an adaptation from some already existing material. Furthermore, Liam Neeson, who was still rather unknown at the time, was a really good choice for the part. Still, at the end of the day, it is a not really a great movie. Indeed, even though they went for a realistic plot, the whole thing was still rather preposterous and there were some major plot holes that didn’t really work. To conclude, in spite its flaws, it remains a decent cult classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.