Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I have it on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. First of all, if you are not French or Belgian, I don't expect that you have either heard about Jan Kounen, the director of this movie, or about 'Blueberry', the comic book which has inspired this movie. Personally, I have read many of these awesome comic books drawn by the legendary Jean Giraud also known as Moebius. Therefore, since I really loved those, I was obviously really interested in this flick. When I was a teenager, back in France, I also saw Jan Kounen's directing debut 'Dobermann' and since it was a pretty cool flick, I was wondering what he will do next. Apparently, after 'Dobermann', Kounen actually stopped making movies and went to South America to discover mescaline with some shaman. So, instead of making a straightforward adaptation, Kounen chose to make a rather peculiar Western mixed with his shamanic experiences with Vincent Cassel playing once again the main character. Of course, the end result was rather disconcerting and most of the viewers didn't care for it. I have to admit it, I wasn't completely convinced myself but, at least, the Shaman stuff was visually pretty neat. In fact, these scenes turned out to be the most interesting thing about this movie which otherwise was just a rather generic Western with a rather miscast Vincent Cassel, a usually decent actor who gave here a rare poor performance. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, only for its wild ending, I still think is worth a look but it is rather likely that a more faithful adaptation would have been more interesting. 

By now, I have seen almost all the movies starring Eddie Murphy and, honestly, he must have had one of the most disappointing careers in Hollywood ever. Back then, in the 80’s, he was one of the biggest stars and a huge box-office draw. Than, in the 90’s, his movies started to get pretty lame but were still successful but since the 2000’s, all his movies are totally lame and usually flop terribly at the box-office. There are some exceptions though and I thought that this movie was one of them. Indeed, I heard some good things about it, even my wife told me it was actually pretty good. Unfortunately, I thought it was yet another disappointing feature starring Murphy. Indeed, even though the whole thing had some potential, I thought it was actually barely entertaining and not really funny. Indeed, Eddie Murphy plays this arrogant womanizer and I thought he was more painfully obnoxious than hilariously funny. One of the few things I enjoyed about this flick was to see a young and charming Halle Berry at the beginning of her career but that’s about it. To be honest, it was not really awful. Indeed, at least, the premise had some potential, especially compared to his moronic recent work but I really had a hard time to care about the whole thing. To conclude, it is a rather average comedy and it is not really worth a look, except maybe if you are die-hard fan of Eddie Murphy.

Even though I’m not a huge fan of Noah Baumbach’s work, I still enjoyed his previous movies so I was really eager to check this flick as well. Apparently, Baumbach has become some kind of specialist on neurotic characters and Roger Greenberg was probably his worst creation so far. To start with, I can understand that many people wouldn’t care for this character. Indeed, like most mental patients, he is a terrible egomaniac wrapped up in his messed up world completely incapable of any form of compassion. Actually, Greenberg reminded me of 2 persons. First of all, he reminded me of Daniel Johnston, a (supposedly) talented song-writer who messed up a couple of record deals and ended up a couple of times in a mental institution. The second person I was reminded of was actually myself. Indeed, his obsessive and erratic behavior was highly recognizable and confrontational for me and there were a couple of times I thought I was hearing myself talking… I don’t think I’m so messed up though. I mean, I have a steady job, a wife and kids but I think I do manage to make the people around me often completely crazy. So, I thought that the main character was really interesting and Ben Stiller really impressed me as he easily gave here one of his best performances. Greta Gerwig was also really good, she gave a very subtle performance and I’m really curious to see her again in something else. Eventually, two characters felt flawed, really real, and were much more interesting than the usual stereotypes provided by Hollywood. Still, I can’t say the whole thing was mind-blowing though. Indeed, to be honest, it is not really funny and, basically, you spend almost 2 hours with a really unlikeable guy and it can be tiresome. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, it was pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for romantic comedies, I still wanted to check it out. I have to admit with such a title, the whole thing looked pretty lame but, to my surprise, it was actually a really decent effort. I mean, it was not really original but I thought it was rather entertaining and the characters where actually pretty well written and a little more than the usual stereotypes. The other interesting aspect about this movie is that it starred 3 up-and-coming actors who were all rather disappointing in the following 8 years. Indeed, Kate Bosworth was the one with the highest profile at that time. She was supposed to become one of the biggest female stars but then 2 years later, she showed up in the underperforming ‘Superman Returns’ and her career has since never recovered from that blow. Than, you have Topher Grace. I always had a weak spot for this guy who I find 100’s times more intriguing than Ashton Kutcher. It was only his 3rd movie and he also had a promising career but since then he still hasn’t breakthrough and was even partially blamed for the disappointing ‘Spider-Man 3’. Then, you have Josh Duhamel. It was his acting debut but since then, except for showing up as one of the many underwhelming characters in the ‘Transformers’ franchise, he hasn’t done much either. So, one of the appeal of this feature is to see those 3 emerging young actors who managed to make their characters compelling enough. To conclude, even though it is nothing really original, it is actually a decent romantic comedy and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but I thought it could be a decent action flick. At first, it might sound like yet another sequel or spin-off to ‘The Fast and the Furious’ franchise, especially since Dwayne Johnson was playing the main character but, eventually, it didn’t have anything to do with the rejuvenated franchise. Surprisingly, Georges Tillman Jr., the director, made this movie as an homage to the action films from the 70’ s but, personally, I thought it was more a throwback to those 80’s revenge action flicks starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone or one of those guys. The problem is that, nowadays, successful commercial features are either book adaptations with an already established fan base, super-hero flicks, or yet another sequel to a well known franchise. Anyway, basically nobody is really looking for such action movies, except if they include a dozen of action veterans. So, personally, I wasn’t blown away by the whole thing but I think it was still a decent action flick. Indeed, I enjoyed the slick directing by Georges Tillman Jr., for someone who made only dramas so far, he shows a flair for the action scenes. Dwayne Johnson was not bad, and looked pretty menacing but he basically looked pissed off during the whole thing and it became a little bit ridiculous after a while. Furthermore, there were many characters, many sub-plots and it is was probably too much to handle for this action flick. The most striking sub-plot was the one involving a contract killer. Indeed, this story was intriguing but it was either too weird or too underdeveloped to become really compelling. Finally, the whole thing about the tough guy seeking revenge has already been done to death and the makers didn’t add anything really new or interesting to the formula. Still, it remains a rather entertaining feature and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I’m a huge fan of Kate Winslet, I was really eager to check this flick. Eventually, it is one of those movies which shows Kate Winslet prominently on all the promotional material when in fact, she is not even the main character. However, in this case, it didn’t really matter since it was a very good movie. To be honest, I wasn’t really familiar with Iris Muroch, I haven’t read any of her books (I know I should read more books, shame on me…). It is even more scandalous since I have a College Master in English Language, Civilization and Literature… Anyway, apparently, she was one of the most renown British writers. This movie combines her young years where she was a fierce and proud student, discovering herself, love and many other things and her late years when she was victim of Alzheimer’s disease. So, there is the constant back and forth between those two periods of her life and this juxtaposition was quite fascinating to behold. As usual, Kate Winslet was really good but I was above all impressed by Judi Dench. Such a fine actress and she gave here one of the best performances. It reminded me one of another great movie dealing with the same subject, ‘Away for her’. In this case, the study on this terrible disease was even more heartbreaking since they were dealing with such a brilliant mind. To conclude, it is a very strong drama with some great actors and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick, it seemed really obscure, but since I have a weak spot for Rob Cohen’s movies, I still wanted to check it out. Rob Cohen is above all famous for his blockbusters such as ‘xXx’ or ‘The Fast and the Furious’, he had also his shares of terrible turkeys like ‘Stealth’ or ‘The Skulls’. Anyway, it was rather surprising to discover that his directing debut was a rather subtle coming-of-age story. I mean, it was not entirely successful, indeed, the whole thing was just too episodic with few continuity between each scenes. Furthermore, the bombastic uplifting music was pretty cheesy. Still, the characters were rather touching and it was rather entertaining. It was also nice to see Karen Allen, such a charming actress, who would eventually breakthrough a year later with ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’. Honestly, contrary most of the movies made by Cohen, this one really had some potential but just fell short of being really compelling. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it remains a decent directing debut and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see something else directed by Rob Cohen.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since a colleague of mine had the DVD, I thought I should give it a try. At first, I thought it was some kind of a remake of an old French TV show but, in fact, this Vidocq figure was actually a real and rather colorful guy. Indeed, he was sent to jail but managed to escape several times and later on in his life, he proposed to the police to work for them and became one of the most famous and successful police officer ever. Apparently, he has even created the first private detective agency ever. It seems that the producers first wanted to make an origin story (à la ‘Batman Begins’) but unfortunately because of some rights issue, they couldn’t do it so they settled for another story. This movie was also the directing debut of the now infamous Pitof. Pitof was originally a special effects wizard who eventually became notorious for directing the dreadful ‘Catwoman’. I know, like anyone else, I thought that ‘Catwoman’ was awful but this directing debut was actually pretty good. I mean, I have to admit, the story was pretty generic but I thought it was entertaining enough but there was a really solid cast (who else than Gérard Depardieu could portray such an historical French figure like Vidocq?) and, above all, I thought it was visually really impressive, especially for a French production. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, I think it is an entertaining and visually really appealing flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Richard Gere, I still wanted to check it out. Unfortunately, the whole thing turned out to be a rather weak thriller. First of all, it is pretty obvious that Gere made this movie with a personal agenda. Indeed, almost everybody knows that Richard Gere is a persistent advocate for human rights in Tibet and strongly supports the Tibetan Independence Movement. So, it is pretty obvious that this movie is some kind of anti-China propaganda but it doesn’t mean that the whole thing should be bad, at least, that’s my opinion. Unfortunately, they combined the propaganda stuff with some pretty lame Hollywood thriller theatrics. I mean, you have the very nasty Chinese government officials, the White western hero, and the cute Chinese lawyer… To be honest, if you shut your brain down, the whole thing remains watchable but I think I’m being pretty generous with my rating here. One neat thing though was to see Bai Ling when she used to look ‘normal’ before she became this ridiculous circus act. I mean, she even actually seemed to be a decent actress. Anyway, to conclude, it is a really poor thriller and I’m afraid it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

Since I have a weak spot for Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro, I was really eager to check this flick. The other thing that intrigued me was it was Susanne Bier’s first English language feature. All right, I have to admit it, it has been a while since Halle Berry has done anything really interesting (except for ‘Cloud Atlas’) and Del Toro who remains a really impressive actor doesn’t make much movies nowadays and he doesn’t pick up the best ones in my opinion. Eventually, like most of Bier’s work, it was a really strong drama, even if it was still rather flawed. Indeed, the story was really striking about this drug addict losing his only friend and this woman losing the love of her life and the way they stick together to cope with this situation. I’m a real fan of Susanne Bier’s directing and she did a pretty good job here once again, I really loved the focus she put on the characters. The acting was also pretty solid, above all Benicio Del Toro was, as usual, really impressive. Unfortunately, Susanne Bier made the same mistake she did with ‘Brothers’. Indeed, here, you have the same pattern about a character who seems to be lost forever but, miraculously, after some tragic events, he becomes someone great, almost perfect. And the fact that he later has a relapse felt also really plot-driven. Concerning Halle Berry, her character’s behavior was even more erratic, changing every 5 minutes, and just when Del Toro starts to loose it, very conveniently, she gets her sh*t back together in order to save the day. So, the whole thing feels rather contrived at times but there is no denying that the story, the characters and the actors were all compelling to watch. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is a pretty good drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.