Reviews by johanlefourbe

Ooooh boy, what was I thinking again?!? Why did I watch this flick?? I guess there was nothing else on TV so I ended up watching this but, still, what a waste of time... And what the hell happened to Martin Lawrence?!? Already 17 years ago, Will Smith and him both gave their breakthrough performances in 'Bad Boys' but whereas Will Smith subsequently developped a really impressive career, becoming a huge super-star in the process, it never really took off for Martin Lawrence and he keeps playing the same character in some weak comedies which get more and more moronic. Honestly, this must be his worst movie I have seen so far. I mean, it is based on a very old formula (a celebrity goes back to his home town and is confronted with his familly and his past) and not only this formula is not really interesting but the jokes were just pathetic. The best example is this scene where you have 2 dogs, a big one and a small one, having sex and, no, the whole thing is not implied, it is displayed right in front of you... Not only is it physically impossible but, above all, it wasn't funny at all. Eventually, the rest of the movie didn't rised above this level of stupidity. To conclude, it is just pretty bad and it is not worth a look whatsoever.

Way before Jake Gyllenhaal and Maggie Gyllenhaal both became some major players in Hollywood, their father Stephen Gyllenhaal had been making movies for a while now. If I'm not mistaken, it is the only one of his movies I have seen so far but, honestly, it wasn't really good. I mean, I ususally have weak spot about movies dealing with weed and there was a pretty cool cast (John Lithgow, Ryan Phillippe, Hank Azaria, Billy Bob Thornton, Kelly Lynch, Jon Bon Jovi, Judge Reinhold, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ted Danson) but, in spite of all the talent involved, the whole thing was barely funny. Basically, it is one of those comedies which tries to make you laugh with some really stupid characters. Unfortunately, I'd rather spend my time with some smart and interesting people and I found those guys usually obnoxious than funny. I don't think the actors should be blamed though, they did what they could with the material and there were indeed a couple of funny bits but, all in all, it was not really amazing, that's for sure. To conclude, it is a rather average comedy and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

It is one of the many movies I kept coming accross on this wonderful website and since everyone seemed to be really enthusiast about it, it made me really curious. And, boy, I wasn't disappointed... Indeed, it turned out to be a fascinating and really bold experimental feature challenging some of the most basic narrative rules. Contrary to most viewers, I have seen Jaco Van Dormael previous work, so I knew he was a pretty good director but I didn't expect him to make something so impressive. I really wonder how he managed to get the fundings for this flick. I mean, it really looked amazing and rather often quite expensive but it is far from being made for a mainstream audience and apparently, it was barely seen upon release. Anyway, the whole thing is a huge (almost 3 hours long) mindf*ck, dealing with life, death, love, the future, the past and many other things that went over my head. Not only was it pretty deep and weird, there was also some fun stuff with some (seemingly) random and quite often hilarious small events taking place every 5 minutes. My only complain I would have is that, since you keep jumping from one story line to another without much continuation, you had only a few minutes to get acquainted with the characters and what was going on before being moved to something drastically different, so it gets rather alienating sometimes. It didn't help either that Juno Temple and Diane Kruger, two actresses who didn't look like each other at all, portrayed the same character. Still, it remains an amazing experimental feature, something to cherish, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Nowadays, the movies based on Nicholas Parks' books (just like the books themselves) are quite popular but the opinions are quite extreme concerning those. Indeed, the fans love them but the rest of us usually are not really thrilled by those movies. Personally, except for 'The Notebook' which I really enjoyed (surprisignly, director Nick Cassavetes said that it is his worst movie so far), I can't say I really enjoyed those. Anyway, this movie was the very first of these adaptations and, I must admit, it was actually not bad at all. Indeed, Kevin Costner and Robin Wright were both terribly charismatic and had some great chemistry together. Furthermore, the great Paul Newman had a small part and delivered, as usual, a very solid performance. Unfortunately, like many Sparks stories, the whole thing was based on some very contrived romantic situation and, at the end of the day, you either buy or not. Personally, I found it really hard to swallow but what really sold the deal for me was this terribly disappointing ending. Don't misunderstand me, I don't mind at all when a story ends badly but, in this case, it just felt really manufactured and it was there only to add some drama to an already cluttered melodramatic plot. I mean, I had a hard time to care about the convoluted plot but thanks to the decent directing and the work of the actors involved, when I was finally starting to believe in and invest myself in this romance, this ending made me really feel as if the whole thing was just a waste of time. Still, even though it is really flawed, there are some good stuff here and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I thought it was rather disappointing. Indeed, even though 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' was nothing really original, I thought it was a very nice romantic-comedy and I thought it was a brilliant idea to make a spin-off about Aldous Snow. Furthermore, the story sounded really cool and had some potential to be really outrageous and hilarious. Unfortunately, like I said before, the whole thing didn't really convinced me. The point is that, even though there were definitely some funny scenes, it was never really hilarious and some of the jokes were just terrible. Take Sean Combs, for example. I thought he gave a very decent performance and he was definitely one of the highlights in this movie. However, if his jokes were at first really funny, they wore me down pretty quickly and it was basically the same for the rest of the movie. I mean, Russel Brand and Jonah Hill can be both pretty hilarious so it should have been a riot but, eventually, it was not bad but nothing really mind-blowing whatsoever. For example, not so long ago, I have seen '21 Jump Street' also starring Jonah Hill and the scene where they take some drugs was much better developped and 10 times funnier than the binch drinking/drugs taking scenes they displayed here. Still, Aldous Snow is pretty cool character and I think it is still worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Sometimes, I really wonder myself what kind of crap I watch... Basically, the main reason why I watched this movie is because I have a weak spot for Shannyn Sossamon. Eventually, she was in this movie only for one scene, maybe for only 10 minutes. Thankfully, Forest Withaker, one of the most underrated actors, had a major part so the whole thing was not a complete waste of time. Still, what a borefest... Basically, it is some kind of variation on 'Guess who's coming to dinner' but, this time, you have a clash between the African-American culture and the Mexican culture. I mean, not only it wasn't really funny but very often, it was just plain rude, rather depressing and borderline offensive. It is rather sad to see that our prejudices haven't changed much in the last 45 years since 'Guess who's coming to dinner' has been released. To be honest, there were some scenes that did work and some of the actors tried really hard to do something with their poorly written characters but the whole thing was just really misguided. To conclude, it is a very weak romantic-comedy and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since Nick, my step-son, is a huge fan of vampire movies (good or bad, it doesn't really matter to him...), I thought I should check it out with him. And, indeed, the whole thing was pretty lame. Basically, it is a very weak mix of various genres from the vampire stuff, to SF, with Western influences, some religion and there is even room for some Mad Max chases. Obviously, especially considering the short running time (not even 80 minutes), it was just way too much too handle and the whole thing was just really underwhelming. I have to admit though, it was visually interesting and there were a few good ideas but they were poorly developped and, above all, I was bored during the whole thing. And what the hell happened to Paul Bettany?!? At the beginning of the 2000's, he emegerd 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. I mean, he already played the lead for another movie directed by Scott Stewart, 'Legion', and it was already a critical and financial failure so it would have been really surprising if their second outing would have been really amazing. To conclude, it is yet another uninspiring vampire feature and it is not really worth a look, I'm afraid.

Honestly, I'm not really knowledgeable about Spanish cinema. I mean, I have seen my share of Pedro Almodovar features but I'm rather oblivious concerning the other movies made there. I have seen also a few movies directed by Bigas Luna who might not have such a prestigious international reputation like Almodovar but his work is really interesting nonetheless. His most famous movie must be 'Jamón, jamón', a rather erotic flick starring a very young Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem almost 20 years before they became an item. So, this other movie was also directed by Bigas Lunas, and even though it was not as good as 'Jamón, jamón', it was still a decent watch. It stars actually two French actors, Mathilda May and Gérard Darmon. I always had a weak spot for Darmon and Mathilda May was really charming, even though I haven't seen many movies starring her. Still, even though this story about this man obsessed with breasts was rather intriguing, I still had a hard time to get really into it and the slow pace didn't help much either. To conclude, even though the whole thing didn't really blow me away, it still remain an intriguing erotic feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Spanish movies.

Even though 'Casino Royale' and 'Skyfall' were critically and financially hugely successful, even though Daniel Craig turned out to be a terrific James Bond, this flick still remains easily my favorite James Bond installment. Indeed, in my opinion, it is the only movie which perfectly mixed all the basic elements which you can find in this old institution. However, since it was only the 3rd movie with this legendary character, the makers were still really creative and not constantly repeating themselves (which is always the case nowadays even with the recent 'Skyfall'). I mean, that's the charm and the curse of thoses movies, this familiarity, the fact that even before the movie has started, you really know 90% of what is going to happen, how it is going to happen and who is going to take care of it. In my opinion, it wasn't the case back then in 1964. Back then, they were still perfecting the formula and it will never be that good again. I mean, Sean Connery, the ultimate James Bond, was at the top of his game, the James Bond girls were mythic (it doesn't get much better than the gold painted girl and Pussy Galore), Auric Goldfinger was one of the best villains and there was a terrific title song by Shirley Basset. Above all, for once, I really enjoyed the plot, probably the best James Bond story, and the reason I didn't really enjoy the movies starring Daniel Craig since they all featured some flawed stories. So, you may wonder why my rating is not higher since I really enjoyed this flick. The point is that, even with the best James Bond movie ever, I still think that the formula is rather limited and, to be honest, I have never been really a fan of those flicks. Still, to conclude, it is a really fun and entertaining spy feature featuring the most famous spy ever, a classic, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

At last, they finally managed to really mess up a 'Die Hard' flick... Indeed, it is easily the most disappointing entry in this franchise. Even the 4rth installment was actually rather fun, especially compared to this final feature. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this but one of my best buddies is a fan of Bruce Willis and Nick, my step-son, saw recently all the previous installments so we went to see this the three of us which was pretty neat. To be honest, they were actually a couple of good ideas. Indeed, it was pretty cool to see McClane and his son in action, they made a great couple, and Jai Courtney really impressed me. Indeed, physically, he looked as if he could have been made Bruce Willis'son and he gave a decent performance against one of the biggest action stars ever. I think it was also a good idea to set the plot abroad in some kind of spy conspiracy but, unfortunately, it wasn't well developped. There were also a couple of neat action scenes but they were so preposterous, obviously made with CGI, it was even more over-the-top than the previous movie and, as a result, their impact was not really impressive. Above all, the whole thing was just really poorly written. I mean, the greatest asset in this franchise is McClane's humor and awesome oneliners but, there again, it was really disappointing and not much fun. Finally, even though the movie was rather short (not even 100 minutes), it felt much longer which is never a good sign, especially with this chase scene which really took forever to end. To conclude, even though I have seen worse movies, even though Bruce Willis remains really charismatic, it is still a rather disappointing action flick and it is not really worth a look, even if you are a fan of this franchise.