Reviews by johanlefourbe

Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but since I'm a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock, I was really eager to check it out. So far, it is his oldest movie I have seen. At first, I was rather worried since the copy looked awful and the beginning was pretty shabby. However, even though it is indeed very old (almost 80 years old!), it was actually quite watchable. Apparently, it was Hitchcock’s very first thriller and already back then, the guy knew what he was doing. Indeed, the first thing I enjoyed is how he managed to substitute the dialogs with some other tricks to still communicate with the viewer and tell his story. Then, there was this striking switch between some thriller elements and some very broad comedy. Finally, and probably the best thing about this flick is how he managed to keep in you in the dark for a very long time about this mysterious lodger. Sometimes, he was way too obvious to be the killer and but at some other moments, you start wondering if he might be indeed the culprit. As a matter of fact, Hitchcock wanted a more ambiguous ending which would have made the whole thing even more interesting but it was still an entertaining thriller nonetheless. To conclude, even though it might not be a real masterpiece, it still remain a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Alfred Hitchcock’s work.

Since I kept hearing good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. Honestly, it is a rather difficult task to review an anthology like this one. I mean, when it is composed of 3 or 5 segments, you can more or less take them one by one. However, how can you judge a movie as a whole when it is composed of 20 short-stories?!? Anyway, to start with, I did like the whole thing. I mean, not everything was great (I didn’t care much about the segment by Christopher Doyle), some were really good (Bruno Podalydes, Walter Salles, Tom Tykwer, Oliver Schmitz) and there was even a vampire story (Vincenzo Natali). It was just fun to see the name of the directors at the beginning of each segment and to discover what they would come up with. Eventually, the best ones, in my opinion, were the stories which really used Paris as a location and, in the process, giving the feeling of this famous place. Personally, since I’m French and have been there many times, this city doesn’t have such a romantic aura like it has for many foreigners (as a matter of fact, I find it rather huge and dreary and I would find it difficult to live there) but it was still pretty neat to see all those filmmakers giving their vision on the French capital and many of them really nailed it. Anyway, to conclude, even though I don’t think it was really amazing, it was still a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Rosario Dawson, I thought I might as well give it a try. And, indeed, the whole thing turned out to be pretty lame. I mean, the talking animals were not that bad and it was actually a rather fun voice-over cast (Nick Nolte, Adam Sandler, Sylvester Stallone, Cher, Judd Apatow , Jon Favreau, Faizon Love, Maya Rudolph) but what was really tedious is the way they tried to make them advise the main character about his love life… That was seriously tedious. At one point, Kevin James went out with the gorilla and that was really whack but it worked actually better than the whole romantic angle which was just so pedestrian and uninteresting. Concerning Kevin James, I’m glad for him that he finally managed to become a leading man but he has to start picking up some better material to convince me some day. Rosario Dawson did what she could but she had a very thankless job and was completely wasted here. To conclude, I have seen worse, but it still remain a rather lame comedy and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

Following the massive success of ’Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain’, Audrey Tautou became suddenly one of the hottest French actress and it didn’t take long before her career was launched abroad. Eventually, this would be her first English-speaking role. Later on, she would be cast in ‘The Da Vinci code’ and that would be pretty much the end of her international career (Marion Cotillard would turn out to be much successful internationally). Anyway, this movie was definitely marketed with Audrey Tautou (she is the only actor on the poster and her name is displayed prominently) but, in fact, she wasn’t the main character. No, the main character was played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, a complete unknown at the time, and the guy was just brilliant. Concerning Tautou, honestly, I thought she was rather miscast. I mean, she wasn’t really bad at all but, at the time, she was one of the most famous French actresses and, here, she was supposed to be portraying a Turkish woman. Of course, that’s the whole point of acting, I’m well aware of that, but I thought that it was terribly distracting. A part from that, it was a solid drama, very topical with some very efficient directing by Stephen Frears who produces his best work when working on socially conscious drama’s like this one. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was a very good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Even though I wasn’t expecting much from this flick, since I have a weak spot for John Travolta and Robin Williams, I thought I might as well give it a try. Unfortunately, it turned out to be as lame as it seemed. Honestly, I do think that the whole thing actually had some potential and I could have been much better than this. Indeed, the two big stars play some best friends and business partners who have known each other for maybe 30 years. What a nice and intriguing concept full of opportunities! Surprisingly, they didn’t develop this at all and, instead, we get stuck with a tedious plot involving two kids. Not only was it terribly unoriginal but the jokes were quite terrible, the worse one being the whole scene when Robin Williams is dressed as a puppet and John Travolta is controlling him with another gadget suit (If you read this and haven’t seen the film, you have probably no idea what the hell I’m talking about. Trust me… It was as stupid as I made it sound). Robin Williams played his character with his usual hysterical gimmicks and John Travolta was a little bit better but with such horrendous material, they were pretty much wasting their time. To conclude, I have seen worse, but it still remain a rather lousy comedy and it is not really worth a look, I’m afraid.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out again. First of all, I have to admit that I have never been acquainted with Dr. Seuss’ books, even as a child, so I didn’t have any preconceived ideas about how the whole thing should be or should look like. However, even though I thought the first time I watched this movie that the production design was pretty cool, while rewatching it, I thought it was actually visually quite awful this time around. Seriously, in spite of all the obvious hard work done, in my opinion, the Whoville and its inhabitants just looked terrible. As a result, as far as I was concerned, it felt like I was watching some kind of weird unpleasant feverish nightmare which was obviously not what they intended and I couldn't agree more with the Grinch that it all looked so annoying. For a while, I actually thought that this movie would be just terrible to watch and much worse than I remembered but, fortunately, Jim Carrey really saved the whole thing from becoming a total disaster. Indeed, back in those days, Carrey was probably the most famous comedian actor at work and he completely deserved this status. Anyway, he was just completely whack in this part, improvising his lines with some hilarious effects and throwing in some nice physical comedy even behind such heavy make-up. By the way, even his make-up (something apparently Carrey hated and drove him mad while shooting this movie) was quite awesome while all the other characters, except the dog, just looked terrible. Anyway, to conclude, even though most of this movie is borderline unwatchable, I think you could say it has still become a Christmas classic and, thanks to Jim Carrey, it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Ever since I moved to the Netherlands, I have watched many Dutch movies but, after almost 10 years, honestly, I came to the conclusion that the Dutch movie industry is not really interesting and rather limited. I mean, there are some good Dutch productions but not many I’m afraid and the thing that disappoints me the most is the lack of ambition with those flicks. Still, some of them are actually pretty popular and those are the family productions. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have really to do with their quality but more with the fact that, except for the animated features, the other foreign movie are always released in the original language which is a good thing but for young kids, it means that they can’t watch any foreign movies until they actually can read the subtitles. In this context, the Dutch family features do some good business at the box-office and that’s why this movie was quite successful, they eventually even released a sequel. Personally, I really didn’t like this flick and the sequel was just as tedious to watch. I mean, my kids did like it but like I said before, it is not as if they have been able to watch all the family classics at that point. To conclude, even though the whole thing was pretty harmless, it was still pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

6 long years after the dreadful ‘Looney Tunes: Back in Action’, Joe Dante was finally coming back with a follow-up and it was this time in his best genre, fantastic-horror, so I was really eager to check it out. The fact that it was barely noticed when it was released was not really a good omen but it wasn’t bad at all after all. Basically, it is a rather simple and harmless horror flick, no more and no less. The first issue is that the whole thing was just an endless build-up and there were only 3 characters who weren’t really that interesting. I have to admit, during the climax, it started to take off a little bit but there was a seriously lack of ambition and it never became really remarkable. Somehow, it is a throwback to those movies from the 80’s, like ‘Super 8’ which wasn’t great either, but at least, in ‘Super 8’, there were some massive set-pieces with impressive special effects and the teenage characters were quite compelling to watch. Not here, I’m afraid. Still, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was entertaining enough and I guess it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Even though it took the makers of the Simpsons almost a full decade to finally come up with a full length feature, Trey Parker and Matt Stone were much quicker to release a South Park movie and they released it when the show was at the heights of its popularity. First of all, I have to admit that I never really cared about ‘South Park’ the TV show. I mean, when it started, I heard about the whole buzz and of course, I had to check it out but I wasn’t really impressed. Indeed, I did like the minimalist style of the animation but I didn’t care much about the humor. It is not that I found it offending (it is but it is also the whole point) but, except for Cartman who is always constantly hilarious, I don’t think it was really funny. Basically, you have a bunch of kids swearing all the time and doing some gross stuff and, in my opinion, it grows thin pretty quickly. Personally, I think that The Simpsons are 100 times better but that’s me. So, with this in mind, I was frankly not expecting much with this full length feature but, to my surprise, I actually really enjoyed it. Indeed, they kept the swearing and gross factor but I thought that the satire was actually really good and the plot was actually decent and rather smart which was really unexpected. Anyway, to conclude, even though I don’t care about the TV show at all, I actually liked this flick which says at a lot and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I’m a huge fan of Al Pacino, I was really eager to check it out. Basically, it is one of his more obscure movies he made until his impressive comeback with ‘Scarface’ before disappearing again for almost a decade. Seriously, the damned thing was not really good. First of all, there was this awful cheesy 80’s soundtrack which kind of bothered me. Then, and above all, they tried to mix some playwriting with some atomic family issues and this combination was pretty awkward. I mean, for example, all the dialogues involving the kids were just way too sophisticated and sounded really phony. Eventually, what remains was a solid performance by Al Pacino, as usual, and without him, the whole thing would have pretty much fallen apart. Still, the whole thing had some potential and it did remind me of Woody Allen’s work with all these neurotic characters. The main issue, I guess, is that the tone was always uneven, awkwardly balancing between drama and comedy and I never had the feeling that the makers were taking the characters seriously. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I guess it is still worth a look though but only if you are interested in Al Pacino’s work.