Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but I always had a weak spot for William Friedkin’s work (to be honest, it has been a while since I saw one of his movies and it has been a couple of decades since he did anything really brilliant). Furthermore, a movie starring Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones, two really badass actors, was also really appealing to me. To round up the cast, you also had Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley so this flick really had a great potential. The fact that it was barely seen when it was released was not a really good omen though. Eventually, it was a rather entertaining court thriller with a military background but not much more than that, I’m afraid. I don’t know, the plot was a little too pedestrian and predictable to become truly remarkable. Of course, the fact that they ended up the whole thing with a twist was also rather underwhelming. It felt as if they knew beforehand that the story was not really strong and focused more on the great actors and some solid directing. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, it still remain a decent flick and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since it is such a classic, I thought it was finally to time to check it out. Honestly, I had a rather hard time to make up my mind about this flick. First of all, is it really a horror feature? Sometimes, I thought it was actually pretty funny above all because of the mannered acting of those silent movies. I mean, with a Charles Chaplin movie, it works like a charm but with a horror flick like this one, it makes you chuckle quite often. Also, even though at first I was quite happy with the awesome classic music, it was actually rather distracting because, since it wasn’t especially composed for this movie, it often didn’t fit at all the action. Still, the production value was quite impressive, especially for a movie almost reaching 90 years old, and there was definitely something dark and ominous about the whole thing, especially the awesome bal masqué with the Phantom disguised as the Red Death. And, of course, you have Lon Chaney. Man, this guy was impressive, playing one hell of a psycho, and to think he designed himself his own make-up was even more astonishing (apparently, it is something he took care of in all his movies). To conclude, even though I wasn’t really blown away by the whole thing, it remains a really intriguing feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Ben Stiller has been for a while one of the most successful comic actors during the last 20 years but, as a director, he has been struggling somehow. His directing debut ‘Reality Bites’ was barely seen when it was released (since then it has become more or less a cult-status. You should check it out) and his sophomore directing effort was seriously a flop. Personally, I thought that this flick was pretty good. Indeed, something I always enjoyed and admired with Jim Carrey is that, from time to time, he chooses to move away from his usual hysterical funny parts and tries something drastically different. Here, he remains a funny guy but displays a rather dark and ominous personality which I found quite intriguing. Maybe the audience at the time were put off by seeing Carrey playing the bad guy? I don’t know, the whole concept was not bad but not particularly amazing and Matthew Broderick remains one of the most underwhelming lead actors I have ever seen. Eventually, Ben Stiller would be more successful as a director 5 years later with ‘Zoolander’ (a movie I found personally truly appalling). To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it remains, in my opinion, a pretty good dark comedy and it is actually definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

10 years ago, the Netherlands were going through some dark times as both Pim Fortuyn (an infamous politician) and Theo van Gogh (the director of this movie) were both killed. van Gogh (who has indeed related to the painter, he is the grand-son of the painter’s brother) was pretty controversial in his opinions and I never really got the chance to get to know him since he was killed in the first few years that I was living in the Netherlands. Anyway, this movie was probably the most famous one he made (in fact, his movies were never really financially successful as a matter of fact). I thought it was pretty good, better than the average Dutch productions anyway. Indeed, it is a rather meta feature about an interview between a soap star (played by Katja Schuurman who was also a soap star at the time) and a journalist who would rather be somewhere else. So, obviously, it is a rather limited set-up and to make it really work, you would need some really great actors (no offense with Schuurman, she did a decent job but she doesn’t have the shoulders to carry something like this). To conclude, it remains an intriguing flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies.

Back in those days, Dwayne Johnson (who was still mostly known as ‘The Rock’) was just starting as an action movie star and this was the 3rd movie for which he had the lead. Therefore, it was a really straightforward action flick, even more than ‘The Rundown’ which has since then become more or less a cult classic. Honestly, even though Dwayne Johnson is really charismatic and quite believable with such characters, the plot was not really good I’m afraid. Basically, even though it is based on an intriguing story about some (in)famous sheriff, the whole thing was terribly far-fetched and nonsensical. The BS started from the moment he became his own lawyer and managed to get acquitted with an heartfelt speech. Seriously?!! But it doesn’t stop here… Then, he becomes sheriff without much experience, hire Johnny Knoxville, of all people, as his deputy(!) and, finally, it ends with a huge non-stop shoot-out that we have seen millions time before. So, like I said before, it is a good old fashioned action flick, no more, no less, and since I don’t care much for the genre, I didn’t care much for this movie and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you’re really fond of that stuff.

Since I had this movie already like for ages (seriously, I think I bought the dvd at least 2 years ago), I thought it was finally time to check it out. Basically, it is a pretty obscure movie dealing with the war in Yugoslavia and even though it was intriguing, it didn’t completely worked very well. For instance, the intro with Nastassja Kinski (who gets second billing but was in the movie only for the first 5 minutes) was really weak, some old scene with a guy probably working with some government agency and his wife whining about it. Then, she gets killed and, out of nowhere, you get Dennis Quaid rushing to the mosque nearby and killing a whole bunch of Muslims at random. It was really unexpected and quite brutal and I was really wondering what would happen next. Unfortunately, the whole thing was rather poorly told and you had to guess a lot since many things remained untold. Eventually, for no real reason, you get an American involved in a historical set which had nothing to do with the USA which is a gimmick I always find rather underwhelming. To conclude, even though it is rather flawed, it remains a rather raw and ruthless depiction of the nastiest European war since WWII and I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested by the subject.

Since I kept hearing good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. When it was done, I discovered that Mike Mills was the same guy who directed ‘Thumbsucker’, another movie I saw a few months ago, and it figures. Indeed, both movies were well directed, Mills managed to create a nice mood and I liked the attention he gave to his characters but, in both movies, there was a little bit too much to tell. I mean, not only the main character learns that his father is gay, but soon after his father gets cancer and dies. It would be enough for one movie, but it doesn’t stop here, as Oliver, the main character, also falls in love afterwards. And there were also some flashbacks about his youth and also some running jokes involving his father’s dog. I mean, I did like the whole thing but it would have worked better by either focusing on the girlfriend or on the father. Still, it remains a charming love story and the actors were great. Ewan McGregor remains one of the best actors of his generation and Christopher Plummer completely deserved the Academy award for his performance. To conclude, even though it didn’t completely work out, it remains a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn’t really expecting much from this flick but since there was a nice cast, I still wanted to check it out. The main issue with this flick is that it sounded and really looked like a female version of ‘Dead Poets Society’ and I think that’s the main reason why it was not very well received. Eventually, I thought it was actually not bad at all, even better than ‘Dead Poets Society’ which is one of the most overrated movies in my opinion. Indeed, there was a pretty good cast (Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ginnifer Goodwin, Marcia Gay Harden) and they delivered some solid performances. Above all, I thought it was much more subtle than the terribly stereotypical ‘Dead Poets Society’ and it was much more subtle in the way that the characters handled this way of learning. Concerning Julia Roberts, she was not bad, she gave her best shot, but, honestly, it is rather difficult to take her seriously as a teacher. I mean, she has always been a charming actress but I always thought she was rather limited as an actress since, in every movie, she basically plays a variation of the same character. Still, even though it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was a decent inspirational drama and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Following his tremendous success with the LOTR trilogy, Peter Jackson joined the club of the very few directors (including James Cameron, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan) who can do whatever they want and spend as much money as they please. For Jackson, it was the opportunity to fulfill his lifelong dream of remaking 'King Kong'. And that was probably the main issue with this movie. I mean, except for Peter Jackson, were there really so many people expecting a new 3 hour long version of this story? I'm not so sure and eventually, in spite of the huge buzz around this movie, it wasn't really a huge success. Personally, I thought it was pretty good and, above all, it looked really awesome with some pretty amazing set pieces but that's something we have been accustomed to with Peter Jackson. I have re-watched it recently and, honestly, I have to admit it, I wasn’t really blown away. I mean, it remains a huge spectacle, that’s for sure, but Peter Jackson has some serious editing issues. It worked fine with the LOTR but with 'The Hobbit', he is showing no restraints and this movie had some problems as well. I mean, one hour to get to see Kong, one hour on Skull island (the best section) and one hour back in New York, it wasn’t really effective. Especially in the first part, he introduces way too many characters with their own sub-plots while they could have been removed easily. Finally, Jack Black was seriously miscast here as he gave one of his usual goofy performances. Anyway, to conclude,, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent blockbuster and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Peter Jackson’s work.

Not so long ago, I saw the 4th installment of this franchise. I had some rather low expectations but I heard here and there that it was actually pretty good so I thought I should give it a try. Eventually, I thought it was terribly disappointing and, in my opinion, it was really not worth re-launching this franchise 10 years later. Personally, I really loved the first installment, it is a genuine classic, but all the sequels were disappointing. The point is that the ideas developed in ‘Scream’ were quite intriguing but there was no way it would work with some sequels. The first issue was to let the main cast survive all along. It kills a lot of the momentum. Then, you have the twist(s) which was pretty cool the first time around but those became really predictable and above all really ridiculous. The 3rd installment has the worst reputation but, personally, I think it was actually a slight improvement on this 2nd movie which was, in my opinion, really abysmal. Indeed, what a stupid flick… Apparently, it is actually a decent sequel so maybe my rating might be a little bit harsh but, in my opinion, it was a huge step-back from the awesome first installment. To conclude, I thought it was pretty bad and I don’t think it is worth a look.