Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. The first time I came across this movie, I saw its trailer in a theater and it was intriguing but I could hardly make out what it was about. Flash-forward 2 years later and completely out-of-the-blue, this flick showed up in the IMDb top 250. At this point, I made a note for myself that I should definitely check this out and guess what? A couple of weeks later, it was broadcasted on TV. First of all, one of the great pleasures when watching a movie is to discover a new director. Up to that point, I had seen nothing directed by Denis Villeneuve but he really impressed me here and, since then, he obviously turned out to be one of the most exciting directors at work nowadays. Basically, it is a really slow burning drama but it was very effective and the ending was just heart-breaking. Still, I thought it was a little bit frustrating that they never named in which country the whole thing took place and it bugged me so much, I had to stop half way through it to look it up on the internet (as a matter of fact, I even did it again when I rewatched the damned thing). And, indeed, it takes place in an unnamed Middle-Eastern country based on Lebanon. There were also some refugees whose nationality was never specified. Even though I consider myself an history buff, I was sometimes confused, and if you don’t have any knowledge of this region history, I’m pretty sure you’ll be confused as well. Anyway, it didn’t change the fact that it was a fascinating drama with some shades of thriller elements. The cast was also really good and, like I said before, the ending was completely heartbreaking hitting me like a truck on full speed. Usually, I’m annoyed to death by the typical twist ending provided by your average Hollywood thriller. It is a useless gimmick but, in this movie, it was really good and appropriate. Even the random chronology which is so much overused nowadays worked really well here. This movie was also a terrible reminder of all the atrocities which have been taken place in the last 50 years in the Middle East. Anyway, to conclude, it was a very good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I have always been a die-hard fan of Rober De Niro and it has always been a hobby of mine to track down all his movies (by now, I have seen about 66 of them). Unfortunately, lately, it has become a rather thankless task. Indeed, for the last 10, even maybe 20 years, most of his movies have been at best decent, but most of the time pretty average and even occasionally pure garbage. Anyway, this feature belongs to the few decent movies he has made more or less recently but, still, it is hardly something you could call a masterpiece. The point is that you have here two of the greatest actors in one movie (Robert De Niro and Philip Seymour Hoffman) and they both gave some solid performances, above all Philip Seymour Hoffman who was back then criminally underrated, so it was a blast to see them working together. Unfortunately, the story itself was so pedestrian, so generic, so predictable it was just entertaining enough but there was a terrible lack of ambition in this department. Basically, you have two fine actors lost in an average comedy. At least, it was not as depressing as ‘Righteous Kill’ which finally united Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in one of the most dreary and underwhelming cop thrillers ever made…. To conclude, even though it was nothing really remarkable, it still remains a decent comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I had actually already seen this flick and, if I recall it correctly, I saw it about 10 years ago when I was living in England. Back then, I wasn’t really familiar with Terrence Malick and I watched this flick because it was considered as a masterpiece. Nowadays, I have seen most of the movies directed by Malick and I thought it was time to revisit his directing debut. Unfortunately, even this second time around, I wasn’t exactly blown away by the whole thing. The main issue I had back then and still have is that the characters are rather aimless, emotionless and filled with a guastly void. As a result, I had a hard time to connect with them and their boredom was actually highly contagious. Still, like all the work done by Terrence Malick, there is something quite fascinating about this flick. Indeed, I love the way he always challenges the typical narrative conventions and the photography was just superb with some amazing shots. Furthermore, even though I had a hard time to care about the characters, I don’t think Martin Sheen or Sissy Spacek should be blamed since they both gave some very good performances. Anyway, to conclude, personally, even though I tend to connect more with Malick’s later work, it is still an intriguing feature, a classic, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

The Rock has done it again! After gaving some new life in such franchises like 'Journey to...' and 'The Fast and The Furious', this time he gave some needed boost to the moribund G.I. Joe brand. Personally, I wasn't exactly dying to watch this flick but me and Nick (my step-son) saw the (underwhelming) 1st installment 4 years ago in the theater so he really wanted to see this sequel. We were planning to see it last year but, as you probably know, it was pushed back for 9 months allegedly to add some Channing Tatum moments since he recently became a box-office darling. Honestly, after watching this flick, you wonder what happened during those reshoots. Indeed, I could spot one or two probably added scenes but his screentime was 15 minutes and I'm being really generous. So, that was rather weird that the only familiar face in the G.I. Joe team was gone almost right away. And concerning Bruce Willis, the end-result was not really impressive either... Indeed, he shows up towards the end for half an hour maybe and gave one of his least convincing performances. On the bright side, Dwayne Johnson has never been better than playing such bad-ass characters and there were some (very few) impressive action scenes. A part from that, the plot was pretty weak and I can't say I really cared about the whole thing. Honestly, I would have a hard time choosing which one was the worst between the first installment and this sequel. It was that underwhelming... To conclude, it is rather surprising that they even bothered making this sequel since nobody cared for the previous entry, I thought the whole thing was pretty weak and I don't think it is really worth a look, even if you really like the genre.

Honestly, I had never heard of this movie but since there was a nice cast, I thought I should check it out. Apparently, Kevin Bacon, like many other actors before him, felt the urge to direct his own movie (his first and last one so far). Contrary to some of his colleagues, his movie was barely noticed when released but, personally, I don't think it was bad at all. Like I said, there was a very interesting cast (Kyra Sedgwick, Kevin Bacon, Matt Dillon, Oliver Platt, Campbell Scott, Marisa Tomei, Sandra Bullock) and they all delivered some solid performances, especially Kyra Sedgwick who happens to be Kevin Bacon's wife in real life. Until I watched this flick, I don't think I had seen anything with her but she was pretty good here, definitely. Furthermore, the story was really intriguing, even if it was not really amazing whatsoever. The main flaw was that Kevin Bacon made a difficult gamble by choosing a pretty twisted and, frankly, rather unlikeable woman as a main character. As a result, even though the drama displayed was striking, it was also somewhat unpleasant since you never really care for this woman and her shenanigans. Still, for a directing debut, it was not bad at all and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Kevin Bacon.

I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for romantic movies, I thought I should give it a try. Unfortunately, the whole thing was just terribly weak with an never-ending idiotic plot. I find it really hilarious when other viewers argue that this movie is dealing with true love. Give me a break... It deals with some of the oldest Hollywood romantic clichés, not true love. Furthermore, it provides some broad caricature of Italian people with the usual magnificent landscapes. It was also quite infuriating to see Gael García Bernal wasting his time playing such a douche. Bernal is one of those actors that blew me away at the beginning of his career but never really fulfilled those expectations. One of the other hand, I really enjoyed Vanessa Redgrave. Indeed, she rose above the inane material and gave a really convincing and heartfelt performance. Such a great actress, I must see more movies starring her. To be honest, the whole thing was not really that bad. Like I said before, it looked all really good, Amanda Seyfried looked really charming and it seems that she good be a pretty good actress if she was given the right story. To conclude, I guess I'm just too cynical for this kind of movies, anyway, I didn't like it much and I don't think it is really worth a look.

By now, I have seen almost all the movies starring Eddie Murphy (I think I miss only 4 movies). The weird thing is that I'm not even a huge fan of this guy but his movies very often come up on the various Dutch channels so I always end up checking them, out of sheer curiosity of boredom. Nowadays, he shows up in the most inane features and his career doesn't have much credibility. Another of his specialty are sequels. Indeed, apparently, if the paycheck is good, he will always shows up in a sequel. Most of them are worthless but they are a few exceptions (As a matter of fact, I prefer 'Beverly Hills Cop II' to the classic 1st installment) and this movie is one of them. I mean, it is not as good as '48 hrs', the very first movie starring Eddie Murphy, but it thought it was a decent action comedy, the typically buddy cop feature with the seasoned police officer and the clueless civilian. To be honest, it didn't add much to the formulas to become really interesting but I thought it was entertaining enough. After that, Murphy's 2nd sequel would be 'Beverly Hills Cop II' which I enjoyed but his other sequels were all really forgettable. At this point, even his regular features are pretty pathetic... To conclude, even though it was nothing amazing, it is actually a decent flick starring Eddie Murphy and therefore alone, it is absolutely worth a look.

Before it was released, there was somewhat some buzz about this flick but who could blame the mainstream audience? Indeed, Paul Bettany looked pretty awesome on the poster with his wings and his weapons. Eventually, it was a flop and after watching it, I can't say it didn't deserve this faith. Basically, the whole thing was a terrible mess pathetically trying to mix some religious stuff within an action movie. Seriously, the whole thing had some potential and it could have bee pretty bad-ass but, unfortunately, the end-result was just terribly underwhelming. Furthermore, I think I have never seen such a religion themed feature showing such a lack of spirituality. Compared to this, 'The Da Vinci Code' was a real epiphany. And what the hell happened to Paul Bettany?!? At the beginning of the 2000's, he emerged as one of the most talented actors of his generation but if you move forward 10 years later, he hasn't done anything remotely amazing, expect maybe snitching Jennifer Connelly. The best is that Paul Bettany would work again with director Scott Stewart 2 years later for 'Priest' which was equally disappointing. To conclude, even though I have seen worse movies, it is still pretty damned average and not really worth a look.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a vey nice cast, I still wanted to check it out. Basically, it was a decent story but, like I said before, the main attraction was the cast (Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Crudup, Liv Tyler, Jennifer Connelly). Back then, they were all very young, their stars were rising and it was pretty neat to see them together, plus, they all gave some decent performances. The best was obviously Joaquin Phoenix. Such a talented actor and I’m really glad is back from his fake retirement. On the other hand, his character was the most developed so he definitely had more to chew on than his colleagues. Still, even though the story was intriguing, it was still nothing really amazing. In fact, it was pretty much like the title. In my opinion, it is a pretty lame title and during the whole thing I couldn’t help thinking ‘Who care about those f*cking Abbotts?!?’. Like I said before, the cast was really good but they deserved a better story all together in my opinion. Still, I thought it was a decent drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I have actually seen this movie but it was already more than 10 years ago when it was released. Back then, there was huge buzz about this flick. Indeed, at that time, it seemed like a good idea to let Tim Burton direct a remake. Fast-forward 10 years later and nowadays we can’t wait to see him finally developing an original idea…. Anyway, a remake had been in development for almost 15 years involving various directors such as Sam Raimi, Oliver Stone, Phillip Noyce, Chuck Russell, Chris Columbus, Roland Emmerich, Michael Bay, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, and the Hughes brothers. So, the expectations were pretty high and most of us thought Tim Burton would deliver the goods. Unfortunately, the whole thing was terribly disappointing, probably the worst thing made by Burton so far. I would go even further by saying that it was worse than any movie made in this franchise which is quite shocking when you think that this new version had a budget 20 times bigger than the classic 1st installment. After re-watching it, it was even more obvious to see what they messed up. First of all, it was quite honorable that they tried to create a really different story but, in the process, they removed most of the coolest elements from the original version such as Taylor wandering on this strange planet, the fact that humans seem to be some wild animals unable to speak and, of course, they completely butchered the legendary ending. I mean, the whole thing looked pretty awesome, above all the make-up and costumes but it is as if they didn’t bother to build up a solid story. Furthermore, the acting was way below average. Back then, Mark Wahlberg was a rising star and it seemed to be a smart move to show up in such a blockbuster but he gave here probably his worst performance I have seen so far. To be honest, the rest of the cast was not much better and even Tim Roth, who looked just awesome, eventually really got on my nerves with his over-the-top psychotic monkey act. Anyway, to conclude, the whole thing was really disappointing, I’m probably being too generous with my rating, but somehow, it is still worth a look just to see those awesome monkeys.