Reviews by johanlefourbe

I was after first rather apprehensive concerning this flick (Yeepie, another reboot…) but since it was actually rather well received, I became really eager to check it out. Eventually, it turned out to be a nice surprise and probably one of the most satisfying reboot ever conceived. Indeed, like anyone else, I didn't care much about the version starring Sylvester Stallone but there was definitely some potential with this character and, this time, they really nailed it. Indeed, even though the concept was similar, the approach was completely different and that was a real blessing. Indeed, they created a decent vision of the future, the main character was completely bad-ass and the plot was entertaining enough. Indeed, Judge Dredd didn’t put off his mask and you could feel that he might show some emotions at some point but, no, thank God, it never happened and that’s how it was supposed to be from the beginning. His sidekick was also pretty decent and managed to add a little bit of humanity in this endless mayhem but she wasn’t a tiresome emotional block to his feet which was nice as well. Still, even though it was really entertaining, it was still not really amazing though since the whole thing was rather repetitive and highly predictable. Furthermore, I thought it was rather disappointing that the other judges would be so easy to corrupt. To conclude, even though it might not be really a masterpiece, it remains a solid action flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Every now and then, they come up with some major ‘Jaws’ rip-off and this flick is basically the last one of those. I remember, when me and my step-son Nick saw the trailer in the theater, I knew right away that Nick would really want to watch it pretty badly. Wisely, I managed to spare the price of the movie tickets and patiently waited until it was broadcasted on TV, for free this time. Even though Nick did enjoy the whole thing, I thought it was pretty lame. I mean, to be honest, I didn’t really like much ‘Piranha 3D’ either but the makers were not some hypocrites and it was at a gory R rated flick from the beginning until the end. Here, they keep showing you some (covered) ass but there is no nudity or sex whatsoever and the goriness was terribly toned down. I mean, if you plan to make a movie in this genre, at least, don’t chicken out. The biggest difference with ‘Jaws’ is that they nowadays can use CGI to create some believable monsters but instead of using it wisely, they created the most preposterous and underwhelming action scenes you can think of. Eventually, I think that my rating is actually pretty generous, I thought it was pretty weak and I don’t think it is worth a look, except maybe if you are die-hard fan of the genre.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I have it on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. First of all, Francis Ford Coppola completely ruled the 70's. Indeed, he had made 4 movies, 'Apocalypse Now', 'The Godfather: Part II', 'The Conversation', 'The Godfather, they were all critically acclaimed and at least 3 of them are arguably some of the finest movies ever made. So, he ruled the 70's but it was as much a blessing as it was a curse. I mean, basically, for each movie he made afterwards, the audience was expecting another 'Godfather' or another 'Apocalypse now'. Well, it never happened and with each new release directed by him, his reputation continued to diminish and, nowadays, he is pretty much considered a has-been. Personally, I think it's a shame because he has actually made some decent flicks which are terribly overlooked and this movie is a perfect example. Indeed, the cinematography was really neat, there was a pretty good cast involved and they all delivered some solid performances. To be honest, even though the characters were not bad, they were basically some average guys which made them quite realistic but, as a result, they were not always really spellbinding to behold. It was the same thing with the story, on one hand, it made sense that these characters didn't do much except wandering the whole day and sometimes the whole night as well, but, on the other hand, it wasn't exactly thrilling to see them doing nothing. Anyway, I still have a weak spot for the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Coppola’s work.

Nowadays, this movie is pretty much forgotten but when it was released, it was a smash hit and it is still one of the most successful movies coming from Australia, if I’m not mistaken. Anyway, even though the whole thing was directed by Chris Noonan, apparently, this movie was a ten-year labor of love for George Miller who wrote and produced this flick. That was rather unexpected. I mean, who would have thought that the guy behind Mad Max would come up with a family feature with a talking pig as a main character? Anyway, like I said before, it was back then a box-office success and I think it really deserved all this praise. I mean, 10 years later, the Americans came up with a similar movie called ‘Charlotte’s web’ which was also an adaptation of a very popular book but guess what? It was terribly underwhelming. Not this one though. Indeed, I thought it was really cute, sweet and worked like a charm. Of course, at the end, it remains a kid feature with some talking animals but I still enjoyed it. To conclude, even though I don’t think it was really that amazing, for a family feature, it was pretty solid and definitely entertaining, especially if you want to see a quality picture with your kids.

Nowadays, Jason Statham must be the most dependable action movie star in the World. In the contrary of most of his colleagues, he never makes some dubious gambles by showing up in some lame comedies or tedious family features. On the other hand, he always plays the same character again and again and it is getting rather gimmicky at this point. This movie is a fine example and it just slightly managed to not become a really weak feature. Indeed, the first 20 minutes were just underwhelming. Then, you had a bit of Donald Sutherland who managed to do what he could with his part but he disappeared pretty quickly. Then, the mid-section was the most interesting part when you had Ben Foster becoming Jason Statham’s apprentice. In the opposite of Statham, Foster is one of the most versatile actors of his generation, his character was really intriguing and, together, they made an interesting couple. Unfortunately, the ending was filled up with some underwhelming action scenes, it was really disappointing and fairly predictable and to make things worse, they kept piling up the twists at the very end. Basically, you just have to look at the action stuff since the makers didn’t want to spend too much time developing the characters and that was rather disappointing. To conclude, even though I didn’t like it much, it still remain a decent action flick and I guess it is worth a look, at least if you love the genre.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since it was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, I thought I might as well give it a try. Unfortunately, it was just as lame as it seemed to be. Concerning Coppola, he completely ruled the 70's. Indeed, he made 4 movies, 'Apocalypse Now', 'The Godfather: Part II', 'The Conversation', 'The Godfather, they were all critically acclaimed and at least 3 of them are arguably some of the finest movies ever made. So, he ruled the 70's but it was as much a blessing as it was a curse. I mean, basically, for each movie he made afterwards, the audience was expecting another 'Godfather' or another 'Apocalypse now'. Well, it never happened and with each new release directed by him, his reputation continued to diminish and, nowadays, he is pretty much considered a has-been. Personally, I think it's a shame because he has actually made some decent flicks later on in his career but this movie is unfortunately not one of them, I’m afraid. Honestly, the whole thing actually had some potential but they completely messed up the tone. Indeed, it is basically one of those overly sentimental flicks with one of those hysterical and over-the-top performances by Robin Williams, not much more I’m afraid. To conclude, even though I have seen worse, it must be one of the weakest movies directed by Francis Ford Coppola and it is not really worth a look.

After the surprise success of ‘Babe’, it was not surprising that they decided to go forward with a sequel and, this time, George Miller himself directed the damned thing (he was the producer on the first installment). Eventually, it was pretty much a failure, barely seen by anyone and the people who saw it didn’t like it at all. One guy did love it though. Indeed, the late Roger Ebert not only liked it but actually loved the damned thing and went even on saying that it was some kind of masterpiece and even one of the best movies released in 1998. Indeed, according to Ebert, it is one of the boldest sequels ever made, some surrealistic work which was completely lost on the mainstream audience. Personally, I do agree with good Old Roger, I think it was a pretty good flick but, to call it a masterpiece, it is still giving it too much credit. In my opinion, it is one of the boldest sequels ever conceived and the makers completely stretched the material which resulted in alienating most of its audience but created wonder on Roger Ebert’s behalf and much respect from my side. To conclude, it is indeed a really weird and completely whack feature and I’m not sure if it is a nice watch for kids but it is probably one of the most misunderstood movies ever made and it is definitely worth a look.

Pretty often when people notice that I’m so crazy about movies, they ask why I never tried to work in the film industry. I actually did try, about 7 years ago. Indeed, I spent a year at the NFTA (Nederlandse Film en Televisie Academy, I think they have changed the name since then and nowadays it is called the NFA) following a training as production-assistant. It was definitely a great experience and if I didn’t try this, I would probably have spent the rest of the life wondering what would have happened if it did give it a shot. Still, even though it was really pretty neat to learn all the tricks of the game, I realized it wasn’t meant for me. Indeed, making a movie is a group effort, you have to constantly compromise with a whole bunch of people and since I’m a seriously lacking in social skills, I didn't try to further continue this career. The fact that I really didn’t connect with the other students didn’t help either. Still, during this training, I worked on 3 movies and, eventually,  this movie turned out to be the most disappointing one, I’m afraid. I mean, it wasn’t bad at all, it definitely had some potential but the whole thing was seriously pretentious. I mean, they tried to go really meta with this story but the end-result was not really impressive. Still, for a student feature, it remains intriguing and it is definitely worth a look.

It has been many years since I saw this flick and, back then, I wasn't really impressed. If I recall it correctly, I saw it as a teenager at school and I was rather disappointed because, as a kid, I grew up with Chaplin's hilarious older movies starring the Tramp so I was expecting something really funny to happen but I barely laughed during the whole thing. Back in those days, I didn't know that Chaplin had been basically thrown out from the USA because he was supposedly communist, so there was some irony which I missed concerning the fact the main character was almost facing the same faith in this feature. Eventually, I have re-watched it recently and it was actually slightly better than I remembered. Indeed, the story was still rather weak and the main character was still not really interesting whatsoever but, this time, I thought there were some hilarious scenes. Of course, if you compare this movie to Chaplin's timeless silent comedies, it is not that great or hilarious but, as a stand-alone, it remains quite funny and entertaining. To conclude, even though it is far from his best work, it remains an enjoyable comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Charles Chaplin’s work.

Honestly, when you see the kind of movies I watch, you might wonder why I waste my time with this kind of garbage. I often wonder myself… I guess, since I have a weak spot for Amy Smart, I thought I should give it a try, even thought I had some rather low expectations. This movie actually follows the same plot as ‘Zack and Miri make a porno’ but even though ‘Zack…’ was a little bit disappointing, compared to this bore-fest, it was actually a masterpiece. Basically, it is one of these comedies which pretends to be raunchy but in fact they toned down the skin as much as possible so the makers don’t get any trouble and can attract as many viewers as possible. Unfortunately, this approach is totally wrong and completely lame. I mean, it might sound weird, but the whole thing had some potential and, indeed, for most guys at that age, it is a really frustrating time and, if they had handled this material properly, it could have been actually pretty awesome. Basically, they should have made something much more daring, drop the awkward teenagers, let them shoot their porn, let them have some fun and let see how far it goes from there. But, unfortunately, the whole thing always remained in the safe zone with some tedious jokes along the way. Anyway, to conclude, it was pretty bad and it is not worth a look whatsoever, even if you like the genre.