Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since it was such a long time ago, I was quite eager to check it out again. First of all, I always had a weak spot for Spike Lee's work and I'm so glad he made recently a nice come-back with 'BlacKkKlansman'. However, during the previous 10 years, Lee really struggled and this movie was his last commercial and critical success.  Indeed, first of all, there was a really nice cast involved (Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe, Chiwetel Ejiofor) and they all delivered some solid performances. Then, I always had a weak spot for heist movies and when they are well made like this one, they are pretty much irresistible and really entertaining. In fact, to be honest, the whole thing didn't feel like a Spike Lee feature but it was nice to see him trying something more commercial for once and it was pretty neat that I actually nailed it. Concerning the plot, well, there was a big twist but even though it seemed clever the first time I saw this movie, it didn't have such an impact the second time around so I guess it is not a movie that might require multiple re-watches. Anyway, to conclude, even if it might not be anything really groundbreaking, I really liked this 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 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 (Christina Applegate, Mark Ruffalo, Candice Bergen, Kelly Preston, Rob Lowe, Mike Myers, Stacey Dash), 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. Indeed, the main topic was not really intriguing but, to make things worse, they handled it the cheesiest way possible with a terrible cringe-inducing end-result. I have to admit it though, Gwyneth Paltrow was quite charming as usual and the always dependable Mark Ruffalo (one of the most interesting and underrated actors of this generation) could do no wrong even with such tedious material. Apparently, the whole thing was a flop when it was released and I can’t say I’m surprised or that it deserved better. Eventually, almost 10 years later, Gwyneth Paltrow and Mark Ruffalo ended up making another movie together, ‘Thanks for Sharing’, which I haven’t seen yet but I sincerely hope that it is a little bit better than this, it shouldn’t be hard though. To conclude, even though I have seen worse, it remains a very weak comedy and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

Following the success of ‘Scream’, the studios felt right away that there was a new hype to be taken advantage off so they quickly made as many slasher flicks involving teenagers as possible back in those days. This movie was one of the most famous ones and, unsurprisingly, it was written by Kevin Williamson, yeah, the same guy who wrote ‘Scream’. This time again, you had a cast filled with young and upcoming actors (Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinze Jr., Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, Anne Heche) and, actually, it would be pretty funny to re-watch this nowadays, just to check how they looked like back in those days. On the other hand, since I didn’t really care about the whole thing the first time around, it might not be such a great idea after all. Indeed, I really enjoyed ‘Scream’ (I didn’t care much for the sequels though) because it was indeed quite exciting, really entertaining and it had a really nice and refreshnig angle on the horror genre. This movie, on the other hand, was just as formulaic as you can get. I mean, it was rather well made and watchable, I guess, but the plot was terribly pedestrian and I was frankly bored during the whole thing. To conclude, I thought it was pretty average and I don’t think it is really worth a look, expect maybe if you are a huge fan of the genre.

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.