Reviews by johanlefourbe

Personally, I never had some high expectations concerning this flick and when it turned out to be a huge flop with some pretty negative reviews, I pretty much lost all hope. To my surprise, I actually enjoyed most of it and when I was just starting to think that Johnny Depp was slowly becoming the most overrated actor in the world, he reminded me why once I used to love his work so much. Indeed, even though you could argue that he used pretty much the same gimmick as he did with 'Pirates of the Carribean', I thought that Johnny Depp was quite hilarious and with Armie Hammer, they made a great couple composed of a crazy Indian and an incompetent lawyer who doesn't want to shoot anyone. Unfortunately, all the rest of the movie, especially the plot was quite underwhelming, expect for a few decent action scenes. Indeed, it was all rather pedestrian with the evil railroad tycoon, the outlaws disguised as Indians, the two brothers loving the same wife,... Furthermore, they really messed up the tone. Indeed, even though it was marketed as a Disney family feature, it was actually quite violent (there was even a guy eating someone else's heart for God sake!) but it was also too goofy and shallow to be taken really seriously. To conclude, of course, it was nothing amazing, but I think it was actually quite entertaining and it is worth a look. Hopefully, since it is yet another flop for Johnny Depp, maybe he will start again to be considered a box-office poison and maybe he will go back to some smaller and, above all, more interesting projects.

If I recall correctly, I saw this movie at my aunt's when I was on holiday in France. My wife was pretty sick (food poisoning or something like that) and while she was recovering, I ended up watching a whole bunch of dvds my aunt owned. Since I kept hearing good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. However, I ended up with some rather mixed feelings. First of all, it is indeed quite an intriguing documentary. The visuals were often really amazing and it was quite fascinating to follow these penguins. Still, there was one thing that did really bother me and that was the narration (personally, I saw the original French version but I don't think the language was the issue here). Apparently, the makers thought it would be a great idea to add some pseudo poetry-philosophy to comment these events. Personally, I thought it was a terribly misguided choice and it really bothered me throughout the whole thing. Not only it wasn't educational at all but above all, it felt really pretentious. Why they didn't do something like in 'Microcosmos' (an amazing French documentary, you should check it out)? Indeed, put some music, remove the comments alltogether and let nature tell its own story. So, the narration bothered me and, quite frankly, I don't think they showed things I didn't already knew before. Still, it remains a beautiful documentary and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

If I recall correctly, I saw this movie at my aunt's when I was on holiday in France. My wife was pretty sick (food poisoning or something like that) and while she was recovering, I ended up watching a whole bunch of dvds my aunt owned. From all the movies I saw at that time, it was easily the worst one. Seriously, I really despised the whole thing. Basically, it is one of those comedies which tries to surf on one of those new hypes, in this case, the importing of young fresh brides from Eastern Europe and hilarity should follow. Well, it wasn't funny, that's for sure. I mean, I have nothing against Michel Blanc, he has been one of the most famous French comic actors for decades and he has been quite hilarious many times in the past but even he couldn't save this tedious affair. Indeed, the material was borderline offensive, the jokes were not funny and rather awful and the whole thing was, of course, completely predictable. I know, my rating might seem a little bit harsh but this flick just completely rubbed me in the wrong way and I hated much of it from the beginning until the end. To conclude, in my opinion, it is a pretty bad comedy and it is not worth a look whatsoever, even if you are interested in French movies.

Basically, it is once again one of those really obscure French movies which almost no one has seen here on Listal. If I recall correctly, I saw this movie at my aunt's when I was on holiday in France. My wife was pretty sick (food poisoning or something like that) and while she was recovering, I ended up watching a whole bunch of dvds my aunt owned. The director Jean Becker could be actually considered as some kind of French Terrence Malick. Indeed, after making a few movies in 60's, he stopped for 17 years, made one movie ('L'été meurtrier'), stopped again for 12 years, made one movie ('Élisa') and since 1999, he has been pretty productive, directing no less than 7 features in the process. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, it was not bad. I mean, there was a pretty good cast (Jacques Villeret, Jacques Gamblin, André Dussollier, Michel Serrault, Isabelle Carré, Éric Cantona) and they all delivered some solid performances. The directing was alright as well but, to be honest, I didn't care much about the story. I mean, it was entertaining enough but not much more I'm afraid. To conclude, it remains a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

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. The funny thing is that is that I recently saw the remake which was made 80 years later but both movies were actually really different as the remake mostly focused on the 3rd act of this very old silent feature. To be honest, with most silent dramas, I rather have a hard time to get into the whole thing. I mean, basically, you spend the whole duration trying to read the lips of the characters to figure what the hell they are actually talking about. Without dialogues, movies actually radically changes, in my opinion, with a greater focus on body language and weird faces. Still, with a guy like Hitchcock in the directing chair, you are bound to have some pretty nice shots and I wasn't disappointed with some really dark scenes with interesting contrast. Honestly, the story was not really strong and it only took off in the last 15 minutes but, all in all, it was interesting enough. To conclude, I still think it was a decent silent feature and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Hitchcock's work.

Back in 2009, Ryan Gosling was supposed to star in 'The Lovely Bones' but dropped out just a few days before shooting started. It seemed, at that time, like an odd move since there was a big buzz around this movie (which did flop eventually) and for a couple of years, Gosling pretty much vanished from the scene. Flashforward 2 years later and the guy made a huge come-back with this movie so, of course, I was really eager to check it out. Honestly, it is probably the darkest, the gloomiest relationship I have ever seen in a movie. I mean, especially when you are married with kids (like me), the whole thing felt way too familiar and, frankly, was really depressing to behold. I still liked it though. Indeed, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams were really impressive here, giving some of their best performances and the whole thing was really well written. I don't think I have often seen a better movie portraying the daily struggle a married couple have to face everyday (going to work, taking care of your kid(s), doing the groceries, feeling exhausted most of the time, looking and feeling like sh*t, noticing every little irritating things about your partner, the attraction and affection slowly disappearing,...). In my opinion, being a couple, it is just plain f*cking hard and this movie pretty much proved that point. To conclude, even though the whole thing was pretty confronting, I still think it is worth a look but don't expect anything cheerful.

For many people, this is the movie with which Robert Downey Jr. really made his comeback. The other interesting feature about this flick was the fact that it was Shane Black’s directing debut. Shane Black was once in the 90’s one of the most expensive screenwriters (he wrote among other things ‘Lethal Weapon’ at only 26 years old). Anyway, even though this movie was barely seen when it was released, it still managed to become a cult classic so I was really eager to check it out. Eventually, I thought it was indeed pretty good but I was still not completely blown away by the whole thing. First of all, Downey Jr. got (deservedly) a lot of credit for his performance in this picture but we shouldn’t forget Val Kilmer who was just as brilliant and, together, they made hands-down one of the best couples I have ever seen. Michelle Monaghan, in her break through performance, was really good as well. Furthermore, the dialogues were quite hilarious, something expected from Shane Black, and the intro was very strong. So, why wasn’t I completely sold? In my opinion, the story was pretty far-fetched. I mean, since it is a neo-noir, it is not surprising that the whole thing was far-fetched since a film noir is not about the plot but above all about the mood. Still, towards the end, when they started to explain the whole thing, not only was it difficult to follow but above all, I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing. Still, most of it was very entertaining and it remains a solid flick, no doubt about it. To conclude, even though I don’t think it is really that great, it remains a pretty good neo-noir feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

After watching 'Kick-ass' twice, I was still not sure what to make out of the whole thing but I still enjoyed most of it. Of course, since it quickly became a cult classic, it was pretty obvious that they would make a sequel but I was pretty sure it wouldn't be great, especially after the lukewarm reception. Eventually, it was not bad but certainly nothing brilliant. This time, they pretty much messed the tone. Indeed, at some points, it gets really serious and, a few minutes later, it becomes completely goofy. As a result, in the same movie, you have Chloe Grace Moretz who was almost playing in a drama and Jim Carrey who was completely over the top. In my opinion, they should have been dead on serious, making a really gloomy super-hero flick like 'The Dark Knight'. That would have been a nice surprise but I would have been probably the only one interested. Coming back to Jim Carrey, he did a decent job, as usual, but we barely got the time to get to know his character who was seriously underdeveloped. Moretz was really impressive and it was nice that her character was then 15 years old which felt less awkward than the 1st time around. I felt that Christopher Mintz-Plasse gave his best shot but he was never really convincing as super bad-guy. Eventually, there were some interesting ideas, there were some good laughs but the whole thing was really unbalanced. To conclude, I still think it remains a fun flick and it is worth a look, especially if you liked the previous installment but don't expect anything amazing.

There was a time when, my wife and I, would watch many series together. It was been a while now but it was pretty neat while it lasted. We mostly watched US productions but also a couple of Dutch TV shows and even though after 3 or 4 seaons, I stopped watching ‘Gooische Vrouwen’, we did watch all the episodes of ‘All Stars’. Honestly, I think that my wife enjoyed it more than I did but it was still a pretty solid and entertaining show, especially under Dutch standards. Anyway, before all this, there was actually a movie which was so successful that they decided to launch the TV show (pretty much like ‘Flodder’ which is really well known in the Netherlands when ‘Flodder’ is in fact pretty awful). Pretty much like the show, the movie was rather fun and it was nice to see that they managed to keep the same cast between the movie and the TV show with the notable exception of Danny de Munk who did just this movie. My favorite will always be Peter Paul Muller but the rest of the cast was quite nice as well (Danny de Munk, Daniel Boissevain, Thomas Acda, Isa Hoes, Ellen ten Damme, Daphne Deckers). Furthermore, the whole concept (some losers try to play some football/soccer in the week-ends but they just really suck) was quite brilliant and often hilarious. To conclude, even though it is actually nothing really mind-blowing, it remains a pretty good comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies.

Marion Cotillard is probably the most successful French actress of the last 10, probably even 20 years. Hell, I mean, even a monster like Catherine Deneuve never managed to have such a varied international career. More recently you had Audrey Tautou or Juliette Binoche who both seemed on the verge of becoming pretty big on the international scene but it never really happened. I’m not saying that Cotillard is the best French actress (still, she is definitely one of the most intriguing) but her international career is just downright impressive. She has also always been pretty prolific in France and I always wonder how many of her fans have actually seen her previous work. Anyway, this movie is one of those French movies she made before her international breakthrough with ‘La Mome’ and I thought it was not bad at all. I even think I saw it back then in the theater but I’m not completely sure. Anyway, it is a decent romance feature starring Marion Cotillard and Guillaume Canet who are also an item in real life, although they got together 4 years after making this movie. To be honest, even though the story was intriguing, it was still a rather convoluted romance and many obstables where there just to create some momemtum but the leads were really charismatic and had obviously some great chemistry. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, it remains a decent romantic feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.