Reviews by johanlefourbe

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Gwyneth Paltrow, I thought I might as well give it a try. First of all, the rest of the cast was also actually pretty neat (Paul Giamatti, Scott Speedman, Maria Bello, Maya Rudolph, Angie Dickinson), so who knows? Even though the whole thing looked pretty lame, maybe it could turn out to be a nice surprise. Unfortunately, it turned out to be pretty underwhelming. Of course, karaoke is not really a spellbinding subject but the makers didn’t succeed at all in making this subject more interesting than it seemed. Eventually, it would be the only movie Gwyneth Paltrow would make with her father, Bruce Paltrow, who would die two years later after making this flick, and I guess it must have been pretty neat for the Paltrow’s to make a movie together but, unfortunately, the end-result was pretty tedious for the viewers. To conclude, I have seen worse and, somehow, I still think the whole thing had some potential, but, at the end of the day, it remains a rather weak feature and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a diehard fan of Gwyneth Paltrow.

Even though this movie was one of my top priorities in 2012, I actually missed it somehow when it was finally released in the Netherlands in August 2013. Fortunately, only a few months later, I managed to find a rather cheap DVD online (only 5 euros) so now I can say I have seen all the movies directed by Terrence Malick. To be honest, it was rather a tough watch which was expected from Malick but also, unfortunately, his least satisfying feature so far. It seems that, with each new features, he goes more and more autobiographical on us (Malick lived in France for more than a decade and was married with a French women then left her, went back to the USA and reconnected to a former high school sweetheart to whom he is still married today). So, the whole thing meant a lot to him, that’s for sure, but to the viewer, it was a rather difficult task to connect with these characters. Basically, the main character falls in love with a girl, then it goes bad, then he falls in love with another girl, then it goes bad, then he gets back with the first girl but, this time again, it ends bad as well. Throw in a couple of random scenes involving a priest very well played by Javier Bardem and then you have the whole film. Concerning Ben Affleck, you have to give the guy some credit to go from ‘Armageddon’ to this and even though he was the main character, he had a rather thankless task. I mean, during the whole thing, he is some kind of mute and emotionless statue and I kept wondering if another guy wouldn’t have been better for the job. Bardem didn’t have much to do either but his body language was much more expressive even under such limitations. Concerning Rachel McAdams, I really wonder why her character was even added. I mean, this fling just lasted about 20 minutes at most and it could have been removed without anyone noticing. Eventually, Olga Kurylenko provided the best performance in this movie, which was rather unexpected from a former Bond girl who hasn’t done anything really amazing ever since. I know, I make it sounds as if it was pretty bad but it wasn’t, it did like this film. I mean, as usual with Malick, the whole thing was a wonder to watch, especially the opening at the Mont St Michel, there were then hundreds of amazing shots, something only Malick can do and those voice-overs, another Malick trademark, were quite mesmerizing. To conclude, even though the whole thing tends to be terribly alienating, I still liked it because it is so different than any standard movie, this director has basically created his own cinematic language and therefore I still enjoyed the damned thing and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Terrence Malick’s work.

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. For example, this animated feature is a huge classic in the Netherlands, as a matter of fact, it was the Netherlands' first full-length animated film. Apparently, most of the Dutch people love it out of sheer nostalgia but the whole thing is not really good I’m afraid. I mean, honestly, the animation was really weak (don’t try to compare it to the old Disney classics….) and the story was seriously rather lame. I don’t know, even though I have been living in the Netherlands for almost a decade, I was actually born in France and when I was young, I used to watch countless times the full-length animated films starring Astérix and Lucky Luke and even though those I have grown a little bit old, they are still really awesome and much better than this bore fest. I guess that the Dutch have literally no other animated feature dealing with their culture which might explain why this movie ends up being so much loved. Anyway, in my opinion, it is a rather weak animated flick and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Since I’m still a huge fan of Robert de Niro, I really wanted to check this flick, even though I had some rather low expectations. Indeed, de Niro has been my favorite actor for ages and there was a time when I was actively hunting down his movies (by now, I have seen 67 of his movies, more than any other actor). Unfortunately, those last years, this chase has been rather thankless since de Niro has been making recently up to 4 movies a year and each movie was more forgettable than the other (with the notable exception of ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ which was really awesome and featured an awesome performance by Robert de Niro). Anyway, this movie was probably one of the most obscure flicks I have seen starring this great thespian but it was actually not bad at all, at least it was much better than all the garbage he makes nowadays. Indeed, it is basically a rather simple but decent Vietnam war drama and even though the whole thing was fairly predictable, the very good acting (also by Ed Harris, one of the most underrated actors at work nowadays) made up for a nice watch. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, it was still an efficient drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

It has been a while since I wanted to check this flick. I mean, it took Gaspar Noé 7 seven years to come up with a follow-up and it took me 4 more years to finally see it, so you can do the math. Noé must be one of the most challenging directors at work nowadays and this movie was not an exception. First of all, you can say whatever you want about the guy but, from a visual point of view, this flick was quite impressive. I mean, right from the amazing title sequence, I was sold. It seems that he simply refuses to make conventional shots and during the whole thing you wonder how he managed to do this or that. Of course, it is a little bit nauseating (something reminiscent of his previous movie ‘Irréversible’) and all those shots above buildings and walls might seem gimmicky but I liked the approach and there was something quite mesmerizing about following most of the actions above the shoulder of the main character. Indeed, the whole thing is a big trip involving lots of drugs and sex and, I have to admit it, the pacing was kind of sluggish (I also watched the longer version). Also, I found it rather disappointing that, even though the action took place in Tokyo, almost no one spoke Japanese. Eventually, like the previous movies from this director, it is a bold experiment, not entirely succesfull, but still really interesting and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Gaspar Noé’s work.

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. At first, I thought it was one of his silent features and I was quite surprised to hear some dialogs within the first 10 minutes. Apparently, this flick was not as old as I thought. Anyway, even though Alfred Hitchcock was rather dismissive about this movie (apparently, he didn’t want to make it at all but his studio more or less forced him), I actually enjoyed the damned thing. Indeed, it is a rather fun and well made thriller with some really nice mood, definitely Hitchcock’s specialty. To be honest, not all the shots and scenes were great, some of them were rather awkward and weak but there were many impressive little scenes with a great play on the shadows. Furthermore, even though most of the movie was pretty cheap-ass, taking place only in one empty house with some obscure characters (it didn’t bother me at all, in the contrary), in the last act, Hitchcock gave it all with one massive ambitious chase involving a train and a bus. Seriously, it came a bit from nowhere but it was actually pretty well done and quite impressive. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, I thought it was a pretty good thriller and it is definitely 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 since the first installment ‘Pietje Bell’ was successful, they released this sequel. Personally, I really didn’t like the first movie and this 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.

Even if her career never really took off internationally, Carice van Houten is still pretty much ruling the Dutch movie industry. Indeed, with this movie, it is already her 4th movie winning the Golden Calf of the best Dutch movie of the year (the other movies being ‘Alles is liefde’, ‘Zwartboek’ en ‘Minoes’) and she won also 4 Calves for the best Actress during her career. Anyway, how was the movie itself? For a Dutch production, it looked pretty good which was pretty nice and the story was quite intriguing, even though I always find it rather underwhelming when a story takes place in Africa but deals with white people, as if black folks were not interesting enough. On top of that, they never really managed to make Ingrid Jonker a truly compelling character. I mean, you can feel she must have been a talented troubled and fascinating woman but this movie never really sells the deal and it kept showing her only from afar, drinking a lot and being promiscuous with men. Also, the way they meet each other was quite over-dramatic, the fact that it was true or not doesn’t really matter. Still, Carice van Houten and Liam Cunningham gave some solid performances and Rutger Hauer was also pretty good even though his character was seriously limited. To conclude, I think my rating might be a little bit generous but I still liked this flick and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

When I saw the trailer for this movie, I really thought it looked lame and stupid but, somehow, I still ended up watching this. Personally, I have never been a really big fan of those comedies focusing on some moronic characters so I wasn’t sure if I was the right audience for this. And, indeed, at first, I didn’t care much about the whole thing. I mean, it is basically a succession of swearing (‘kut’ which means pretty much fuck in Dutch comes out every 30 seconds I think) and random violence involving some utterly stupid Dutch rednecks. Still, after a while, it kind of got to me and I couldn't help laughing at the preposterous scenes involving those guys. There was also a nice touch when they started to be followed by the local TV station and you got to see the people at home following their stupid adventures (I mean, you eventually wonder who is really stupid. Those 5 dudes or the people following them watching the TV show? It is one of the reason why I really resent the current wave of real TV which started as a matter of fact in the Netherlands with ‘Big Brother’). Anyway, even though it was really stupid, it was still actually rather entertaining and I guess it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.