Reviews by johanlefourbe

I have always been a fan of Robert De Niro but, let's be honest, the last 20 years of his career have been filled with crap. This movie was one of the few exceptions as it was very well very received upon its release though. Frankly, it didn't blow me away the first time I watched it maybe 10 years ago but since it has a decent reputation, I thought I should give it a 2nd shot. Honestly, I ended up with the same feeling. I mean, the directing was gritty and effective, there was a nice competent cast (Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgård, Sean Bean, Michael Lonsdale, Jonathan Pryce) and there was some impressive action scenes, especially those famous car chases which were really awesome. Still, I don't think it was that amazing though. I mean, even though it was definitely entertaining, at the end of the day, the story was just one those generic and convoluted thriller plots with the usual back-stabbing and 'surprising' twists. It seems that this flick basically gets extra points for its great car chases. I mean, I do agree, those scenes were really impressive but were they enough to make it a great movie? I don't think so. Still, there are many things to enjoy here and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

It is probably one of the first Dutch movies I saw with my wife and since it was a while back, I thought it was time for a re-watch. Even though it is far from being a masterpiece, it is still a very solid flick and one of better the Dutch productions I have seen through the years. First of all, it is a very strong story, adapted from a Dutch best-seller (which I haven't read though) and I also enjoyed the structure which was really efficient. Indeed, lately, I have become extremely annoyed when a movie goes back and forth in time for no real reasons but, here, it worked very well. First of all, without some fake heavy make-up, Peter Paul Muller really looked younger in the flashbacks and this gimmick really enhanced the story-telling. Furthermore, there was a really strong cast (Peter Paul Muller, Carice van Houten, Halina Reijn, Jan Decleir, Frank Lammers, Jeroen Willems). Still, it was not exactly mind-blowing though. Indeed, like most Dutch movies, the directing was not really impressive, it was better than most but still not up to the level of any American, French or British productions. Furthermore, the story was really good but it felt as if the makers couldn't really handle it, awkwardly switching tone between thriller, drama and comedy. Still, it remains a pretty good flick, I really liked it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies.

Since I'm a huge fan of Reggae music (I consider myself the expert on this website), I definitely had to watch this flick. To be honest, I have never been really a fan of his work, in my opinion, Marley has always been the big tree hiding the rest of the forest, but I always had a huge respect for his legacy and he definitely made some monsters tunes. Anyway, it was a great flick, absolutely. Even though I already knew about 90% of what was told, it was just great to have the whole story told, to see all those places where he has been and to meet all these people with whom he was involved with. And what a life... Like so many other immortal figures like Bruce Lee, Kurt Cobain or Jimi Hendrix, he left right in the middle of his fame but this movie succeeded in giving most of the details of his journey from a small village in Jamaica to become a world super-star, passing by the ghettos of Trenchtown in Kingston. You could argue that they didn't criticize the guy much but that's not what this movie was about. Even though he was a person who was rejected as a mixed-blood, as a rastafari, he still became an idol for everyone living in this small island (even still today) but also for many people around the globe. To conclude, I thought it was a really good documentary and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Reggae music.

When this movie came out, I was just a kid and, I remember it very well, it was just huge. Back then, it was a real event and it was just everywhere. I mean, you had the hit song, the awesome logo, all the merchandise, there was even two different cartoon shows if I recall it correctly. Basically, it was inevitable, except maybe if you lived in a dark cave, and I really loved the whole phenomenon. I thought it was just awesome, to see those funny guys with their weird gadgets and those ghosts were still kind of spooky (give me a break… I was maybe 5 years back in those days). Anyway, after all those years, I thought it was time to re-watch it, this time, with Nick, my step-son. Filled up with all these childhood memories, I had some pretty huge expectations but, to be honest, I was rather disappointed. I mean, Nick really loved it and we subsequently watched the sequel later on but I personally had a rather hard time to care about the damned thing. I mean, I still could see that the whole thing was quite original and I was fairly entertained throughout the beginning until the end but I also thought that it was actually pretty cheesy. When I was a kid, I thought the whole thing was just awesome and fascinating but, as a grown-up, I thought it was at best amusing but I never thought it was really hilarious whatsoever. To conclude, even though it is and remains a classic, I’m afraid I have outgrown this flick but it is still definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

By now, it is pretty obvious that Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the best actors ever. Indeed, he has recently won his 3rd Academy award for the Best actor for his awesome performance in ‘Lincoln’. However, I often wonder if the people raving about him have actually seen his older movies. Anyway, Day-Lewis basically gave here his breakthrough performance and even though this movie is nowadays pretty much forgotten, it is actually really good. The awesome thing, which was also pointed out by the great late Roger Ebert, is that the same year Daniel Day-Lewis also showed up in ‘A Room with a View’, another heralded movie released in 1985. The most striking thing is that those two roles were completely different (a street punk in 80’s UK and a repressed snobbish fellow in turn-of-the-twentieth-century England) and it was really something to see a complete unknown bursting into the scene with such a wide range, becoming right away a major player. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, it was actually supposed to be made for TV but was eventually released theatrically and became Stephen Frears’ first international success. Indeed, I thought it was a very interesting drama, dealing with various social issues but it was also an original and refreshing romance taking place in 80’s UK when Thatcher was Prime Minister, a rather grim and not really economic flourishing time. To conclude, I really liked this flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

It is once again one of those really obscure French movies. I don't know why exactly but I have always been attracted by this flick and I was really eager to check it out. On the other hand, when this movie was released (already 20 years ago! Oh my God.... I feel old...), Vincent Perez and Sophie Marceau were some very popular actors in France and even though they might not have been the best, they were among the most charismatic thespians so to make a romantic feature starring the both of them sounded great on paper. Unfortunately, I thought that the end-result was terribly underwhelming. I mean, Perez and Marceau were indeed really charismatic and did have a pretty good chemistry but the story was just terribly tedious. It is basically one of those romances when a man and a woman are obviously made for each other but one of them find a lame excuse so they can't be together, of course, until the end. I find this gimmick so damned frustrating and, in this movie, it is one of the worse examples I have ever seen. I mean, they keep throwing some pompous dialogs, some pseudo-psychological babble throughout the whole thing trying to convince you that this is what romance is actually about. Well, I didn't buy it and I thought it was quite unbearable to behold. To conclude, even though the leads were terribly cute, it remains one really tedious romantic feature and it is not really worth a look, even if you are interested in French movies.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick. Indeed, the poster for this movie has been widely known as the worst movie poster ever made (just check this beauty in its full glory here underneath). Still, since there was a pretty impressive cast of B actors (Hayden Christensen, Matt Dillon, Idris Elba, Jay Hernandez, Zoe Saldana, Paul Walker, even Chris Brown!), I thought I should give it a try. Surprisingly, even though the whole thing was still rather underwhelming, it was actually not bad at all. It definitely had some potential and it could have been an awesome darker and tougher version of 'Ocean's eleven'. Personally, I really enjoyed the two heists which were pretty spectacular and after the 2nd heist, there was a really impressive chase with Chris Brown. It did really look as if he did the stunts himself but even if he did not, it was then very smartly filmed and edited. Too bad that the shaky-cam in this sequence was terribly nauseating, some of the worse I have ever seen. Unfortunately, except for those two pretty cool scenes, the movie didn't have much else to offer. Indeed, the actors did their best to give some life to their characters but since there were so many of them, they were all poorly developed and the sub-plots involving them were even worse. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its ugly ass poster, this movie actually had some potential, but at the end of the day, it still remains a rather average heist flick and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

Even though her situation doesn’t seem to be as bad as Lindsay Lohan’s, Amanda Bynes is not doing so well lately. Back in 2010, she announced her retirement but even though she has retracted her statement, we don’t hear much from her anymore, except for her multiple encounters with the police (what’s wrong with those girls anyway ?!? Back in those days, I sure enjoyed to party and all but it never got a so much out of control like them…). It is a real shame and, pretty much like Lohan, a few years back, she was doing great and was one really promising actress. Back then, she made this movie on the height of her popularity but , to be honest, I didn’t really like it much. Basically, it is one of those movies I watched with my step-daughter when she was about 12 years old and, of course, she loved it but I personally had a hard time to care about the whole thing. I mean, Amanda Bynes was actually quite charming and did a pretty good job but I still think that the story was kind of lame in my opinion. It was pretty funny though to see Channing Tatum years before he became a super-star. At the end of the day, it is a movie made with a specific target audience in mind and since I don’t belong to the target audience, it is not surprising that I didn’t like it much. To conclude, personally, I didn’t like it and it don’t think it is really worth a look but if you are young girl between 10-14 years old, there is a good chance you will actually like it.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a pretty good cast, I thought I should check it out. Honestly, I really had a hard time to eventually judge this movie. To start with, during the whole thing, the makers try to convince you that it is a very original high-school comedy but it was, in fact, actually pretty generic. I thought also that the main character was pretty uneven. I mean, Charlie Bartlett was an appealing character and I liked how this outsider tried to be nice and decent towards everybody even the suicidal kid, the retarded giant in the bus or even with the guy bullying him. Unfortunately, they didn't think it was enough so they threw in the whole psychiatrist/dealer thing and that didn't work very well. Personally, I wish they spent more time with the other characters such as the principal played by Robert Downey Jr. or the girlfriend played by Kat Dennings. Even some smaller characters were quite interesting but they were unfortunately barely developed. Still, even though I was struggling to make up my mind about the whole thing, I still liked it though. I mean, to have Robert Downey Jr. portray a high-school principal was just brilliant and therefore, it gets an extra point. To conclude, even though it is actually pretty generic, I actually liked it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Even though I had never heard of this flick before, since there was a pretty good cast, I thought I should give it a try. Not to be confused with the movie with the same title released in 2007 and directed by Danny Boyle, it is a really impressive and engrossing WII drama covering several decades and focusing on 3 different generations of one Jew family during these tumultuous times. Heading the cast, you have the marvelous Ralph Fiennes who portrayed 3 men, albeit from the same family, but all really different with their own characteristics and I thought he was just brilliant, probably one of his best work. The rest of the cast was also pretty solid as well (Rosemary Harris, Rachel Weisz, Jennifer Ehle, Deborah Kara Unger, Molly Parker, Mark Strong). Furthermore, the directing by István Szabó was quite impressive. To be honest, I wasn’t familiar at all with this director but he apparently had a prolific career lasting over 50 decades and making more than 30 movies in the process, the most famous one being ‘Mephisto’ which is also another massive and really impressive epic drama during WWII (If you haven’ t seen it, I highly recommend it as well, it is indeed really good). Eventually, I thought that the story was quite fascinating. Indeed, I always had a weak spot with those huge epic family stories intermingled with historical events and this one was just really good. To conclude, even though it is rather obscure, it is actually a very good epic WII drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.