Reviews by johanlefourbe

How did I end up watching this flick?!? If I recall correctly, one of my colleagues had the DVD so I thought I might as well check it out. Of course, with a director like Albert Puyn and some lead actors like Christophe Lambert and Ice-T, you know pretty much from the start that you shouldn’t expect much. And, indeed, it was a very cheap B feature but, still, even though it was not really good whatsoever, there was something rather appealing about the whole thing. I don’t know, even though it was nothing really original, I still had a weak spot about this concept of all those bad boys locked in a jail with a bunch of weapons and, of course, the last one standing gets the prize. Actually, some people compared his role to what he did in ‘Highlander’, Lambert’s most famous feature, since he was once again a killer who tries to eliminate his opponents to get the ultimate prize. Maybe that’s why I (almost) enjoyed this flick since I always had a weak spot for ‘Highlander’. To conclude, even though it was not as lame as I thought it would be, it was still pretty average and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a huge fan of the genre.

Since I didn’t like much the first installment, I didn’t expect much from this sequel but since it was on TV, I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, I have to admit, it was not worse than the first movie, but it wasn’t better either, that’s for sure. Of course, this time, the victims were girls instead of boys and there you had the first issue. Indeed, how do you attract some girls to a remote and lugubrious Slovakian village? By promising a spa and a lame festival! I mean, come on, doesn't it sound exciting and irresistible to you?! Well, not me… At least, in the first installment, even though the execution was terribly lame and underwhelming, the whole concept of some horny boys being lured by the idea of some huge sexual orgy was actually rather believable. However, this time around, the whole spa thingy was kind of hard to swallow though. Still, there were a few good ideas like, for example, showing the whole process from the other point of view, from the perpetrators’ side. Unfortunately, even this idea was poorly developed and, in my opinion, they should have dropped the whole story of those girls ‘going to the spa’ and focus on those two buddies going for some hunting trip. So, I didn’t like this flick so much and, personally, I think that the whole Hostel franchise was a huge step down for Eli Roth who actually impressed me with his directing debut ‘Cabin Fever’. Anyway, after 6 long years, Roth finally made a come-back with a follow-up feature called ‘The Green Inferno’ and I wonder if it will be any good. To conclude, I didn’t care much for this sequel at all and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a huge fan of the genre.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since there was a decent cast, I thought I might as well give it a try. In the beginning, during the 1st 10 minutes, I thought it would be yet another middle-of-the-road underwhelming (American) football feature but it turned out to be something actually quite different and it was a very nice surprise. Indeed, slowly, the whole thing became more a satire about the subject pointing how ridiculous and misguided the whole high-school football mania can be. It was really intriguing and I really appreciated the fact that they didn’t make it a parody but instead, you had some rather level-headed characters. For example, it was just pretty awesome to have the main character saying that he didn’t give a f*ck about football and couldn’t wait the end of the season. I also loved the way how all the players despised the legendary dictatorial coach brilliantly played by Jon Voight. So, there was some very good stuff here but, somehow, it still failed to be really compelling. Indeed, the whole thing was still not dark enough in my opinion and they should have gone all the way and completely break down the house. Furthermore, I’m not sure if James Van Der Beek with his baby face was the best choice for this part. I mean, he keeps telling us in the movie that he shouldn’t be the nice guy all the time and, indeed, it was a rather bland main character. Still, in spite its flaws, it is actually a rather original football feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of costumes dramas. Indeed, even though they can be entertaining, I always have a hard time to care about all those white rich people whining about they so-called difficult life. I mean, when they are complaining about the fact that they can’t marry the woman/man/dog/whatever they love, most of the common folks were starving and working for hours to make sure the privileged one could sustain their life style. Still, I have to admit, some movies in this genre are really good and this flick is one fine example. Not surprisingly, it was directed by James Ivory, the grand-master of the genre. Apparently, he seems to be more or less retired nowadays but back then, he was at the top of his game. Indeed, the story was for once intriguing and the directing by Ivory was just really solid just as usual. Eventually, the main attraction was to see Helena Bonham Carter and Daniel Day-Lewis in their breakthrough performances. Above all, I was once again really impressed by Day-Lewis. Indeed, if you are familiar with his work, you’ll notice that what he has created here (a repressed, snobbish Edwardian upperclassman) was really different than his other characters but it was still completely convincing and just impressive to behold. To conclude, even though I don’t really care about this genre, I actually liked this movie a lot and it is definitely worth a look.

With ‘The Hurt Locker’, Kathryn Bigelow has made one of the most impressive come-backs in motion picture history. Indeed, after ‘Point Break’ became a cult classic, she struggled almost 20 years and made only 1 other feature in the 90’s. As a matter of fact, even though this movie was a flop when it was released, I actually liked it and, in my opinion, it is actually superior to ‘Point Break’. Actually, if you check this movie on the internet, you will notice that it shows up very often in lists and articles about the great cult classics that you haven’t seen and I think it does fit this movie. Indeed, many people who saw it actually loved it and even though I wouldn’t go as far as saying that it was amazing, I definitely enjoyed most of it. Indeed, Bigelow managed to create a fascinating futuristic world and the first 30 minutes were just downright amazing and strongly reminded me of the awesomness displayed in ‘Blade Runner’. The other masterstroke was to have Ralph Fiennes play the lead. Indeed, Fiennes is probably one of the best actors nowadays and it was great to see him doing some SF for a change. Unfortunately, the plot was nothing really amazing and it was rather pedestrian in my opinion so the whole thing never became really exceptional but there was definitely something quite spellbinding about it. To conclude, even though it never really fulfilled its potential, it still remains an intriguing SF feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

After hearing here and there some good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. Basically, if the Dardennes brothers would remake ‘The Godfather’, it would probably look like this. Indeed, it was a really intriguing crime feature involving the ‘hormone maffia’ in Belgium and it was really interesting to see those mobs figures involved with farmers, cattle and vets instead of the usual urban areas. So, the directing was really sober and efficient but, above all, the breakthrough performance by Matthias Schoenaerts was just really amazing. Indeed, once again, you have here an actor who completely disappear behind his character who physically looked damaged but even more so psychologically and through fate, he also became an enhanced and crazed beast like his own cattle. Unfortunately, like many movies I have seen recently, even though this set-up was really compelling, they added way to many characters and way too many sub-plots. Many of those were rather half-baked and unnecessary (for example, what was this all about Diederik being gay? I mean, you either develop this or you’d better completely drop it if you ask me). Still, in spite of its flaws, it remains a pretty good crime drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see a good Belgian movie not directed by the Dardennes brothers for once.

I had seriously no idea what this movie was about but since there was a nice cast, I thought I should give it a shot. To be honest, even though I'm French, I never cared about wine and barely drank it through my life but it was definitely a great story. Too bad the movie itself was not that great. The main issue was that there were just too many characters and too many sub-plots. For example, there was a completely unnecessary love-triangle involving Chris Pine, Freddy Rodriguez and Rachael Taylor. Not only was it really underwhelming but what the hell was that all about? She first sleeps with Rodriguez but then move on with Pine without a shred of explanation. And there was a whole bunch of other things for which I didn't care much either. Still, there was a very nice cast indeed, especially Alan Rickman who was just awesome. Man, I'm glad for him that he reached a wider audience thanks to the Harry Potter franchise but it was just awesome to see him doing something else for once and I can't wait to see him in some other features not involving some wizard teenagers. Coming back to our main subject, it remains a very nice story with some interesting characters and, with a better script, it could have been great. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I enjoyed most of this movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in wine.

After hearing all the awful stuff about Miley Cyrus, I thought I might as well check out one of her movies. Well, it was not really good, I'm afraid. Since she is very young, I will give her the benefit of the doubt but she is definitely not a natural talent. On the other hand, who could blame her with such an uninspiring story? I mean, since it was written by Nicholas Sparks and produced by Disney, I shouldn't have expected anything really edgy. Still, I thought it was pretty neat to see Liam Hemsworth, Chris' little brother, and the guy definitely had some charisma and some decent acting skills. I wonder if they will make one day a bad-ass action flick starring those two brothers... That would be awesome! It is also always a pleasure to see Greg Kinnear who remains a very nice actor and he did what he could with this material. Obviously, I wasn't the target audience so it is not really surprising that I didn't care at all for the whole thing but I guess it must be a decent watch for Miley's fans. To conclude, even though it was nothing really terrible, it was still pretty damned average and I don't think it is really worth a look.

Actually, I would really like to re-watch this movie at some point. Indeed, if I recall it correctly, I saw it 20 years ago when it was released in the theater but never re-watched it ever since. Personally, I have always been fascinated by movies dealing with mental illness (not surprisingly 'The Silver Linings Playbood' ended up being my favorite movie in 2012) and it is very rare to find a Hollywood feature which actually deals properly with the subject. I mean, even a massive classic like 'One Flew Over the Cuckoos's Nest' was crammed with some stereotypes so those movies are usually rather disappointing and this one is a perfect example. To be fair, it is not actually that bad at all. Indeed, Richard Gere, an actor who can be sometimes pretty awful but sometimes also pretty intriguing, was very well cast here and I really liked how intense his performance was. It would have been great if they just focused on him and his disease but, unfortunately, they felt compelled to add a completely underwhelming romantic sub-plot. I mean, I have nothing against Lena Olin, she was really charming and all, but this movie shouldn't have been a love story, it should have been about this man fighting against his demons. Still, if only for Gere's performance, it actually remains a decent feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by this subject.

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since there were a couple of interesting actors involved, I thought I should give it a try. Eventually, while writing this review, I still have a hard time to make up my mind about this movie. First of all, I thought the beginning was pretty messy. I mean, during the first 20 minutes, I really had a hard time figuring out who was who and what the f*ck was going on. Furthermore, the whole thing was just way too long for its own good. I mean, they could have cut maybe 30 minutes and I could spot 3 different moments when the story should have stopped instead of moving on. Finally, the whole thing looked terribly cheap and even though it is now 10 years old, it actually seemed to be 20 years old to me but that was also its charm. Still, there was some good stuff as well. I mean, I really loved the cast ( Guy Pearce, Rachel Griffiths, Joel Edgerton) and they all delivered some pretty good performances. Furthermore, I thought that those 3 brothers were really awesome, I liked the fact that they were all competent, without the usual loser, and they were just really charismatic and often really funny. They just deserved a better script I guess. Anyway, to conclude, even though the whole thing was rather half-baked, I still enjoyed most of it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.