Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even though I have never been a fan of Roald Dahl’s book adaptations, since this movie was a classic and arguably the best of these adaptations, I was really eager to check it out. First of all, I have to admit it, it is a pretty cool story, absolutely, I even think I read the book when I was a kid but, still, I wasn’t really blown away by this movie and I would say that I preferred Tim Burton’s version. Indeed, I forgot that it was a musical version and all those songs were pretty boring to me. Then, I’m sorry, but I wasn’t really impressed by Wonka’s factory. I mean, 40 years later, the scale was not really impressive and it didn’t look delicious (apparently, 1/3 of the set was actually eatable, even the chocolate river so they did actually try). Another thing that bothered me was that maybe half of the movie was about looking for those damned golden tickets and the rest of the movie felt pretty rushed. Finally, Gene Wilder gave a really good performance but I felt they only scratched the surface about this mysterious Willy Wonka figure and it would have been nice to learn a little more about him. Still, for a 40 years old feature, it still stand out from the other productions from that time, it remains a nice watch and it is definitely worth a look.

In my opinion, it is pure and simply the worst movie made by Pixar so far (though I'm not a huge fan of 'A Bug's Life' either) and that's why it is rather dubious that they decided to make a sequel for this. Eventually, even though this sequel was even more poorly received, I enjoyed it slightly more than this first installment and, apparently, Disney/Pixar decided that they wouldn't stop here and produced the spin-off 'Planes'. Anyway, even though I didn't like much this movie (if I'm not mistaken, it is actually the only Pixar feature that I haven't seen in the theater), it doesn't mean it was actually bad whatsoever. Indeed, Pixar hasn't made a real stinker yet (though it has been a while since they have done something truly amazing). In this case, the animation was still really gorgeous and the whole thing was still mildly entertaining. The point is that, this time, it was clearly aimed towards very young children and the rest of us didn't really care about the whole thing. Still, it has more charm and wit than many other animated features you can find on the market nowadays and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Mike Figgis' work and since there was a pretty good cast, I thought I might as well give it a try. Eventually, even though I didn’t have some really huge expectations, it actually turned out to be a rather dreadful movie. I mean, it started like a rather decent atmospheric thriller, not very original but there was some potential, but pretty quickly, it became quite obvious that the whole thing was actually going nowhere. For once, it didn't care much for the build-up and, of course, like 90% of any US thrillers, the conclusion was completely underwhelming. Eventually, even though there was indeed an intriguing cast (Dennis Quaid, Sharon Stone, Stephen Dorff, Juliette Lewis, Kristen Stewart, Christopher Plummer), they didn't manage to make this movie more entertaining. This flick was basically another addition to the already disappointing career of Sharon Stone, who was once a promising actress after 'Basic Instinct' but who has mostly made underwhelming features ever since. To conclude, even though my rating might be a little bit harsh, I just really didn't like this flick at all and I don't think it is worth a look.

The first Pink Panther remake was quite terrible and it was rather surprising that they decided to go for a sequel since the first installment was a complete disaster, at least critically. At least, they couldn’t make a worst movie, it seemed rather unlikely and, indeed, it wasn't worse but it wasn't really better either, I’m afraid. Indeed, even though Steve Martin is a huge fan of Peter Sellers, he completely messed up his performance as Inspecteur Jacques Clouseau, once again, and, this time again, the whole plot was just a terrible bore. To cover up all these weaknesses, they brought a massive supporting cast (Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Andy Garcia , Alfred Molina, Aishwarya Rai, John Cleese, Lily Tomlin, Jeremy Irons, Johnny Hallyday) but every single one of them was really wasted and none of their characters was either interesting or entertaining. Not so long ago, I finally saw the original version and, even though I wasn’t completely blown away, I was indeed impressed by Peter Sellers who gave one of the best comic performances I have ever seen. It was pretty obvious from the start that Steve Martin wouldn't manage to top such a performance but I didn’t expect him to deliver such a tedious job. To conclude, I thought it was pretty bad and I don’t think it is worth a look at all, especially if you are a fan of the original Pink Panther.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Lena Headey, I thought I might as well give it a try. Eventually, I must admit it, it wasn’t bad at all. Indeed, it features some of the most amazing air combat fights I have seen, the only critic I would have is that the music was pretty flat in those moments. Also, I thought that the Red Baron was quite an intriguing character and I liked the way he was displayed as some kind of melancholic gentle noble knight. Still, it was still not nothing great though. Indeed, even though Lena Headey was really charming as usual, the obligatory romance added almost nothing and it could have been removed but, I guess, they cannot make those movies without a standard love sub-plot. A part from that, the makers were pretty successful in showing that chivalry was really important back in those days, ‘La Grande Illusion’ already did that a long time ago and way better than here though, but then, it seemed that they couldn’t make up their minds and towards the end, they decided to show that the war was a great butchery so that was rather uneven. Still, in spite of these flaws, it was fairly entertaining and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. Well, many people seems to think that it is one hell of a movie and, after rewatching the damned thing, I have to admit that it was actually pretty damned entertaining. Basically, you had here two of the best actors at the time, Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey, with some interesting characters and they both gave some really solid performances. The main issue was that even though the concept had some potential, the makers had to somehow turn a hostage negotiator into a hostage taker and the end-result was rather preposterous, I'm afraid. It's too bad because both actors were pretty strong and made half of the story quite believable. Unfortunately, everything else was just the typical gimmicks you usually get in such basic conspiracy thrillers. On top of that, the damned thing was just too long. I mean, it was nice that they didn't bring Kevin Spacey right away but such stories never need a running time of 150 mins. Anyway, to conclude, even though I don’t think it is that great, it is still an entertaining thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of the Beatles at all (I think that the Rolling Stones are way more interesting) but since it seemed to be an intriguing movie, I still wanted to check it out. First of all, while watching this, I couldn’t help thinking about the fact that Aaron Taylor-Johnson hooked up with the director of this movie, Sam Taylor-Johnson, when he was just 19 years old and she was already 43 years old. I know, it has absolutely nothing to do with the movie itself but their relationship eventually got more publicity than the movie itself. Anyway, in spite of all this, it was indeed an interesting watch. Basically, it focuses on the teenage years of John Lennon and his rather tumultuous relationship with his mom who was quite cheerful but dumped him when he was a kid, and with his aunt who took care of him but was cold and distant and didn’t care at all about him becoming a musician. Once again, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who was as I mentioned earlier just 19 years old, gave a very strong performance and he is definitely one of the most interesting actors of his generation. I also enjoyed Kristin Scott Thomas’ performance and she must be one of the most underrated actress at work nowadays. Still, every time you see John Lennon meeting Paul McCartney or George Harrison, you really wonder what happened between them but this movie didn’t go there and it was a little bit frustrating. All in all, I thought it was a nice look on the earlier years of John Lennon and it is worth a look, especially if you are a fan of his work.

Since Nick, my step-son, loved the first installment, of course, we had to watch this sequel. Honestly, even though I didn’t expect much from ‘New Kids Turbo’, it was much better than I thought it would be and it was miles better than the horrible ‘Flodder’, a huge Dutch classic with some gross humor as well. Well, this sequel didn’t disappoint me. I mean, even though it didn’t improve the formula, it still delivered and it was pretty nice to see again those stupid characters. This time, they even added a sub-plot about some zombies. Somehow, even though the movie was pretty short (not even 80 minutes), they ended up with 2 storylines, a rivalry with a village nearby and those zombies I mentioned before and you wonder if it might have better worked if they did focus on one of those 2 stories. Obviously, the makers didn’t care much about this and the whole thing remained a succession of swearing and random violence but it was, most of the time, actually quite entertaining. I also liked this touch that when they go to Friesland to face those zombies, they changed the directing style to some grindhouse visuals which displays that those guys are actually quite knowledgeable about movies and, even though they portray some of the most stupid characters I have ever seen, they themselves might not be stupid at all. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, it remains a decent sequel and it is worth a look, especially if you enjoyed the first installment.

Even though I didn’t expect much from this flick, since I really loved the older Conan movies as a kid, I still wanted to check this one out. To be honest, it was not that bad after all. Indeed, Marcus Nispel has become a remake expert and it was already his 3rd one (after ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and ‘Friday the 13th’) but I have to admit it, the whole thing looked pretty good. Then, the biggest obstacle was to replace Arnold Schwarzenegger and, honestly, I thought that Jason Momoa did a decent job. Unfortunately, the 2nd half was really weak and I was seriously almost falling asleep. Indeed, Conan keeps meeting his nemesis but, instead of finishing it, they kept postponing their final showdown. I mean, the main character even gets to his stronghold with his sidekick, battles a huge monster, to finally discover that the guy has already left the place… Before that, the movie was not really great either but it faithfully followed the formula and Conan was definitely a merciless warrior but they just couldn’t keep up and messed up the 2nd half. Eventually, it became another failed attempt to revive an old franchise and, now, since good old Arnold is back in the game, they are talking about bringing an new installment with the original Conan this time. Anyway, even though it was better than I expected, it was still really average and I don’t think it is really worth, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of the genre.