Reviews by johanlefourbe

A few months back, I saw ‘No Strings Attached’ and I thought it was terribly underwhelming so I wasn’t expecting much from another recent romantic-comedy with a very similar plot. Surprisingly, it turned out to be much better and I actually enjoyed most of it. The first improvement was that instead of Ashton Kutcher, you had here Justin Timberlake who was not just another pretty face, but was actually pretty funny and, above all, he managed to give his character some interesting layers. I wouldn’t try to compare Mila Kunis with Natalie Portman (who did her best with the terrible ‘No Strings Attached’) but Kunis was pretty good too and, together, they definitely had some nice chemistry. So, the whole thing was not bad at all and it didn’t need much to completely convince me. Still, even though the makers tried to make you believe that they were poking fun at the genre, it was actually pretty fake, as the whole thing remained terribly safe and completely within the boundaries of the genre. They even threw in some poorly developed sub-plot about Alzheimer in the mix (if I recall correctly, the poor Richard Jenkins who deserves much better played a very similar role in ‘Dear John’). Still, even though it was not really amazing, it is and remains a pretty decent romantic-comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, when I was a child, I never read a book written by Dr. Seuss. I know they are pretty popular and for many years, they have been trying to adapt them to the silver screen, usually with some rather mixed results. I will warn you, this movie is not an exception, even though, I have to admit it, it wasn't that bad at all. Indeed, the animation looked pretty gorgeous but, unfortunately, I thought that the story was terribly childish. Of course, since it has been adapted from a children book, it is hardly surprising, but, still, I thought there was a really limited target audience for this flick and I definitely didn't belong to this group. Right from the start, you had this terribly annoying music scene, and they kept throwing those from time to time which just aggravated me. Even as a child, I always dreaded those songs in any animated features and, in my opinion, there are only a few animated movies with some really nice musical sequence. Also, I thought the whole thing was actually poorly structured. Indeed, you start with Ted’s story but, at some point, you switched to the Once-ler’s story which was much more interesting in my opinion so, as a result, I had a hard time to care about Ted and his quest to win the girl of his dreams. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it remains a visually really appealing animated feature and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you have some young children to entertain.

I remember, when this movie was released in the Netherlands, it was pretty successful at the box-office and they quickly made ‘Het schnitzelparadijs’ (also quite successful) but somehow they stopped making those movies about the Arab minority in the Netherlands. Apparently, this flick attracted the Arab youth which was/is barely represented in any form of Dutch entertainment. Anyway, it took me a while to see this flick but I finally managed to see it and I wasn’t disappointed. I mean, there were probably too many characters so not all of them were properly developed and there were still too many stereotypes for my taste (after all, it is a comedy, what was I expecting?). Still, even though I was expecting a gross comedy about a cultural clash, I was actually impressed about how subtle the whole thing actually was. Indeed, there were some laughs, but also some rather serious moments and I thought they were rather well handled. I also felt that the makers tried to give a 3 dimensional representation of the situation in the Netherlands and, even though they only partially succeeded, it was a nice try and very often, they did hit the right note. To conclude, even though it is actually nothing really amazing, it remains a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies.

To be honest, I didn’t expect much from this flick (it was even nominated for the Worst Picture award at the Razzi’s, something I completely forgot before watching this) but since I have a weak spot for Gerard Butler and Jennifer Anniston, I thought I might as well give it a try. Ever since his breakthrough with ‘300’, Gerard Butler has been switching between action features (which were usually quite decent) and romantic-comedies (which were always underwhelming). This movie was not the exception I’m afraid. Indeed, it starts with this terrible and unnecessary flash-forward and then it follows with another completely tedious chase during some parade. Basically, after 10 minutes, I already had enough of the damned thing. Then, it got slightly better, but just slightly since the story was completely tedious and the jokes were just inane. Personally, I do think that Butler had a couple of nice one-liners but Jennifer Anniston basically gave the same performance she has been given ever since she played Rachel in ‘Friends’. I mean, she does look good, maybe me too good and she seems rather talented but will she ever take any chance and try anything different? It is getting rather obnoxious at that point. Anyway, to conclude, it is just a really weak romantic-comedy and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

Basically, it is once again one of those really obscure French movies which almost no one has seen here on Listal. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but I was eventually positively surprised. Indeed, it is a rather straightforward police feature but I liked the tone which was pretty dark and realistic. Above all, the main attraction was to see Alain Chabat and Patrick Timsit both playing against type. Indeed, in France, they are both pretty famous but not with such serious material, no, they are actually some major comic actors but they did a really good job here, they were really convincing and they had a pretty good chemistry. To be honest, before watching this flick, I had no idea that ‘cousin’ meant snitch in French (as you may not know, French is my native language…), anyway, you learn new things every day. So, the story is above all about this police officer and his informer and while it was believable and interesting, it was still a little bit limited and predictable preventing the whole thing from becoming really exceptional. Still, all in all, I really enjoyed this flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Personally, I never understood what was the fuss about this flick but since it has always been so popular (it is even in the Imdb top 250), I thought I should give it another shot. First of all, it was just really fun to see it again after such a long time, to see both Matt Damon and Ben Affleck when they were still fresh and young and so eager to break through. Still, I’m afraid my opinion remained the same and, personally, I think it is one really overrated feature. Basically, it is just a really standard inspirational drama, no more no less, and it is pretty much the most straightforward movie ever directed by Gus Van Sant (unsurprisingly, it has been his most successful movie at the box-office so far). Take for example Robin Williams, the guy won an Academy award for his performance when, in fact, even though he did a decent job, it was just the typical gimmick he gives in his dramas. Concerning Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, they were actually pretty good and I liked how conflicted Will Hunting was but it wasn’t enough to make this movie really brilliant. I mean, I have to admit, it remains a well made drama but the whole thing was just way too predictable and pedestrian for my taste. To conclude, even though it is not bad at all and actually highly watchable, I think it is pretty damned overrated but it is still worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since it had been a while since I watched a movie directed by John Frankenheimer, I thought I might as well give it a try. Eventually, it turned out to be one hell of an underwhelming cop feature. Apparently, Don Johnson was almost done with ‘Miami Vice’ at the time, he was therefore pretty popular and he did a decent job, even though his character was terribly stereotypical. Above all, I thought that the whole thing was just really poorly written and quite boring. For example, Penelope Ann Miller randomly shows up to play a love interest, to show some skin and then completely disappears for the rest of the movie. Then, there is this whole white supremacist conspiracy which never seemed really convincing. Also, I didn’t really understand why a cop from L.A. would follow a suspect throughout several states. I mean, isn’t it a little bit out of his jurisdiction? Finally, you had this ending where you discover that the suspect who he just killed was not the killer he was looking for after all. That was actually quite funny and I wonder how it would go from there. Fat chance though since the movie was supposed to end in the next 10 minutes, they simply brought up his brother showing up right on the spot confessing the whole thing. Seriously, this must be one of the most half-baked twist I have ever seen. To conclude, I have seen worse but it remains one very weak action flick and it is not really worth a look, I’m afraid.

Claude Chabrol tends to be rather overlooked but he was actually part of the French wave, just like the giants Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut, and even though he never had the same amount of success abroad, he was quite heralded in France during a career which went over more than 6 decades and he made more than 50 movies in the process. To be honest, I haven’t seen many of his movies (at least, not enough I believe) but this flick is one of the best so far. Once again, it stars Isabelle Huppert in the lead part, they would make many more movies together, and she was quite brilliant as usual. The plot is a little bit similar to ‘Vera Drake’, a more recent feature directed by another great master, Mike Leigh, in the sense that it deals with a woman who performs unlawful abortions. The big difference though is that Vera Drake was actually a kind woman who wanted to help other women in need, here the main character, Marie-Louise Girard (a woman who actually did exist for real), actually did the same thing above all for the money and she didn’t care much for those women or the women’s rights in general. Personally, I have always been rather fascinated by dark and ambiguous characters and, therefore, this movie was pretty spellbinding to watch. To conclude, even though this flick is rather obscure, it is actually really good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

I wasn't expecting much from this flick but I didn't expect it to be so bad that it would become the worst movie released in 2011 (at least, among the ones I have seen so far). I mean, I always had a weak spot for romantic-comedies but this one was so cheesy, it was quite embarrassing to behold. Right from the start, with the ‘Once upon a time…’ text, I knew it would be quite terrible and, indeed, it never got better. Not so long ago, Mandy Moore made another rom-com about marriage called ‘Licence to Wed’ and I thought it was quite terrible but this was even worse, way worse. None of the characters were interesting, the plot was just inane and there was barely any redeeming feature about the whole thing. I have to admit it, the guy from ‘Twilight’, Kellan Lutz, actually tried to portray a nice guy but he was just terribly bland, just like the rest. The story also didn’t make much sense. I mean, at some point, it was pretty obvious that the main character should let it go but, no, instead, she makes her father make a fake suicide attempt and, magically, her parents get back together! To conclude, it is a really weak romantic-comedy and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

I always had a weak spot for both Nicole Kidman and Alec Kidman so I was quite eager to check this flick, even though I wasn’t expecting much, to be honest. Back in those days, Nicole Kidman was mostly known as ‘Mrs Tom Cruise’ and she was still struggling to be taken seriously as an actress (it will start to change 2 years later with ‘To die for’). For Alec Baldwin, the situation was not much better and he was also struggling to become a bonafide leading man. To round up the cast, you had Bill Pullman and (a very young) Gwyneth Paltrow. Eventually, for both Kidman and Baldwin, this movie wouldn’t really improve much their career, I’m afraid. Indeed, basically, it is a rather basic and underwhelming thriller which tries to create a tense mood with some spooky music. Basically, no substance whatsoever and all atmosphere. Of course, since you are dealing with an Hollywood production here, you have a series of idiotic twists towards the end (something I always rather dread) so I really had a hard time to care about the whole thing. To conclude, even though I have seen worse, it still remains a rather underwhelming thriller and I don’t think it is really worth a look, even if you like the genre.