Reviews by johanlefourbe

Honestly, beforehand, I had never heard of this movie but since I have a weak spot for François Truffaut, I still wanted to check it out. Apparently, it is one of his more obscure movies which he made after ‘Les deux anglaises et le continent’ which was pretty good and before ‘La nuit américaine’ which was one of his most heralded movies. So, it is not one of his well know movies and, honestly, it is was not really good, I’m afraid. I mean, it is pretty obvious that, this time, Truffaut didn’t intend to make something really deep but was trying to make a light and frivolous picture. Still, I seriously had a hard time to care about the whole thing. Indeed, even though Bernadette Lafont was quite plucky, I thought she and/or her character was rather annoying. The other characters were not really likeable either but it was made on purpose this time but, still, since I didn’t care about the characters and what they were going through, the whole thing was rather tedious to watch. Still, it was not really bad, there was an interesting sarcastic tone and Truffaut remains a really good director, that’s for sure. To conclude, even though it is definitely a minor effort, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you are interested in François Truffaut’s work.

When I was a kid, I used to watch the TV show and since I was just about 13-14 years old, I didn’t mind the cheesiness and how preposterous the whole thing was and I honestly thought it was pretty good. However, I got older and the idea of making a feature film adaptation sounded quite terrible and when I heard they were making a parody, my expectations were even lower. However, it was a surprise success and I mostly heard good things about this flick and since Nick, my step-son, bought me the DVD for my birthday, I was really eager to check this flick. Eventually, I thought it was pretty good. Indeed, like I said before, the original concept (to infiltrate some cops in a high-school) was actually kind of stupid so the makers actually decided to focus on all those stereotypes and make fun of them and it worked. I have seen other flicks going the same road like ‘The Green Hornet’ which was not bad but still pretty disappointing and ‘Starsky and Hutch’ which was downright awful. Here, they managed to have the right tone and the whole thing was really funny. A couple of neat examples : the cops take some drugs at school with some hilarious effects, the cops throw a house party with drugs, alcohol, again with some hilarious effects and, of course, the awesome cameo by Johnny Depp which was just the cherry on top of the cake. For Channing Tatum, I finally got the feeling that this guy could be the real thing instead of just another dumb pretty face. Of course, some of the jokes didn’t work really well and the whole thing remains pretty dumb but it was supposed to be that way so it is far from being a masterpiece but for a TV show adaptation, it was still pretty damned entertaining. To conclude, if you want to see a buddy cop flick which doesn’t take itself too seriously, you will definitely enjoy this one and I think it is definitely worth a look.

I remember it very well, when I was a kid, the poster for this movie used to really terrify me. Eventually, I finally saw it, twenty years later. Even though it is considered a massive horror classic, I wasn't sure what to expect, especially since I discovered last week that Roger Ebert really hated this flick. Well, for this time, I have to say I didn't agree with good old Roger. Indeed, I thought it was pretty good and Clive Barker managed to create a really unsettling but fascinating world. Indeed, thanks to some pretty impressive special effects, those cenobites looked pretty badass and this concept of extreme pleasure and pain was really interesting, even though it didn't seem that the characters experienced much pleasure or maybe it was some kind of masochist notion, the more pain you get inflected, the more pleasure you get? Unfortunately, they didn't develop this much. Furthermore, except when the cenobites were present, the rest of the movie was not really impressive. Indeed, the directing was average, the acting was really weak and the story didn't make much sense. Still, it remains a really striking nightmarish world and I enjoyed most of it. To conclude, even though it is not really amazing, it is and remains a true horror classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Before watching 'Inglourious Basterds', I was really excited because I thought that Tarantino could make something awesome out of this material but, eventually, even though I liked it, it was far from being the masterpiece I heard about. This time, I was equally excited by the idea of Quentin Tarantino tackling this material but I was also more cautious. Eventually, even though I had a good time, pretty much like 'Inglourious Basterd', there were many things I enjoyed but also many things that just puzzled me and, at the end of the day, I can't say that it was really so amazing. Let's start with the good stuff. The first half was really good. Indeed, it was sharp, focused and really really fun with some great dialogues. Furthermore, there was a great cast and they delivered some strong performances. Many people actually criticized Tarantino for constantly using the word 'nigger' and being disrespectful about the sensitive subject of slavery but I thought he handled it actually really well, probably better than the Nazis in 'Inglourious Basterds'. Indeed, the living conditions of the slaves were displayed as really horrible and the slave owners were displayed as stupid morons looking also quite terrible as well. It was just a really f*cked up business and Tarantino didn't sugarcoat the whole thing, that's for sure. So, what went wrong? From the moment that DiCaprio showed up on the screen, the whole thing lost some momentum. Don't get me wrong, DiCaprio was terrific but from this point, you get some very long dialogues involving DiCaprio, Waltz, Foxx and even Samuel L. Jackson who also gave one of his best performances. The problem was that all those actors were just amazing and Django pretty much get upstaged, sitting quiet in a corner while the other actors were really stealing the show. I don't know, the whole thing with the slave deals was also seriously quite murky (let's sell it! What?! You're trying to fool me?!? Let's sell it anyway!) and, precisely like in 'Inglourious Basterds', after this long talk, the whole thing was concluded with a huge shoot-out.... How disappointing... But it didn't stop there, no, Django was sent away and came back again for yet another bloodbath! Why?!? What's the point of this second bloodbath?!? In my opinion, the main issue with this 2nd half is that you had 4 fascinating characters (Django, Dr Schultz, Calvin, Stephen) and you could have made one brilliant movie about each one of them but to put them all together in one single room was just too much to handle for this movie. Eventually, the only solution Tarantino found was to kill all of them, except obviously Django, but it was a rather weak way to solve this predicament. Still, like I said before, the whole thing was still pretty good though and I had a good time watching this. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was for me actually slightly disappointing, it is still a solid Western and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Tarantino's work.

Like everyone else, I'm not a huge fan of Brett Ratner's work. I mean, his movies are sometimes not bad actually but they are usually terribly generic. This movie is a pretty good example but since there was a nice cast, I still wanted to check it out. Honestly, I have to admit, even though this movie was nothing amazing, I still think it was rather entertaining. Indeed, the cast was really nice (Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek, Woody Harrelson, Don Cheadle, Naomie Harris, Chris Penn) and since I always had a weak spot for heist movies, I thought the whole thing was rather entertaining and the characters were actually pretty funny. Unfortunately, like most movies directed by Ratner, the whole thing still feels pretty lazy and remains rather shallow. It is like the casting, even though all the actors involved were pretty good, I still feel like the casting was not really original. I mean, Pierce Brosnan as the suave thief, Salma Hayek as the femme fatale and Woody Harrelson as the corruptable cop, there is nothing here which was really surprising. Since it is supposed to be a fun heist movie without much substance, I think it reached its goals without going beyond which should be asking too much from a director like Brett Ratner. Still, to conclude, I still think it is a rather fun caper feature and it is worth a look but don't expect too much from it.

Since I have a weak spot for Denzel Washington, I was really eager to check this movie. Furthermore, I have always been intrigued by South African history which is really controversial, sad and quite shocking. This movie deals with one of the most famous figures involved in the fight for equal rights. This man was called Steve Biko, very well portrayed by Denzel Washington who was not yet a huge star at this time. He gave one of typical performances, you know, the righteous guy, but he does it really well and Biko was a really intriguing guy. Unfortunately, he wasn’t even the main character, the main character was Donald Woods, played by Kevin Kline. Of course, I know it is a true story based on Woods’ books but I always find it disappointing when a movie focus on African people but still manages to put a white guy as the main character (‘Blood Diamond’, ‘Shooting Dogs, ‘Machine Gun Preacher’,…). Especially in this case, even though Biko is actually the historical figure, we still spend here a good chunk of the movie with Donald Woods, trying to escape from South Africa. As if his faith was more tragic or interesting than the black people living in South Africa. So, it is not really a perfect tale but like I said before, Steve Biko was a fascinating man and this subject remains really compelling. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it is a pretty good historical drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Just before breaking through with ‘El laberinto del fauno’, Guillermo Del Toro made this comic-book adaptation. Since Del Toro was not yet widely well known, when it was released, it was only a modest success but it is has nowadays reached a cult status. To be honest, I’m not really familiar with this comic-book character but I must admit it, he is definitely a really cool and bad-ass fellow and Ron Perlman was perfect for this part. His background was also pretty interesting and I also enjoyed the other characters like Liz Sherman and Abe Sapien. Furthermore, it was visually quite appealing and there were plenty of impressive action scenes. Still, even though I enjoyed most of it, I still don’t think the whole thing was really amazing. I mean, the story was not bad but nothing really impressive but, above all, I didn’t care much about the tone. Indeed, the whole thing was constantly tongue-in-cheeck, after a while, it really wore me down and I think I would have enjoyed it more if the whole thing would have been darker. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is a decent comic-book feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Del Toro’s work.

I came across this documentary while watching a talk-show where a Dutch actress was mentioning some very interesting movies and this movie was one of those she chose to talk about. Eventually, it is a very peculiar and interesting documentary dealing with a rather unsettling subject. The interesting approach is that the makers used their own footage but also had unlimited access to the Friedmans own home videos which is really surprising that the Friedmans would allow this, especially considering the controversial nature of this documentary. The other interesting thing is how neutral they managed to keep the whole thing. Eventually, it is some pretty heavy stuff since you see this family basically melting down and you are never sure if they actually deserve it or not. It works also as a cautionary tale. I mean, can you imagine how many unaware kids get back home and tell their parents ‘My teacher told me to touch his penis’ when, in fact, nothing happened but the kid is just pissed off with the guy. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t take such accusations seriously but such false accusations can and have ruined many innocent lives before. I mean, there is today such an hysteria, such an obsession about pedophilia and people seem to forget that it has always been there ever since men has discovered they could have sex. It used to be taboo and nobody would talk about it but nowadays, it is everywhere and people are scared to leave their kids with their teacher, with their sport instructors, with their neighbors, even with their own kin and I’m not so sure if it is really an improvement. Anyway, let’s get back to this movie. Even though I think it was pretty good, I still think there was still one major flaw though. Indeed, even though we are never sure if Arnold Friedman did molest those children or not, the fact remains that the guy is a pedophile since he had this huge stash of pedophile magazines hidden in his house. Surprisingly, it is actually never mentioned by his sons and wife during the whole thing and instead they keep focusing on the molesting charges, which were false according to them. I mean, if I would discover that my dad would have such magazines in his house, I would probably drop him and never see him again for the rest of my life. So, maybe the guy was innocent from touching those kids, but he sure was a sick pervert and that aspect was really undermined during the whole thing. Still, it remains a very distressing documentary and it is definitely worth a look, if you are up to it because it is honestly rather depressing.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but, at least, I thought it would be a decent action flick. Back then, there was some tough competition at the box-office with similar movies like ‘The Expendables’ and ‘The A-team’ and this flick was eventually a flop making its title even more relevant. Honestly, I’m afraid it actually deserved this faith. Indeed, after 10 minutes, I was already seriously bored by the whole thing and it never got better, I'm afraid. I mean, the first (action) scene was just terrible (They are on top of a hill and they have 8 minutes to go down, kill a whole bunch of henchmen, put 25 kids on a bus but their leader still has even the time to make some small talk with the evil drug leader/terrorist before the whole thing was blown to pieces). Not only was it really ridiculous but, above all, it was just plain tedious. And the rest of the movie was not much better as it was basically a succession of generic preposterous action scenes. Furthermore, some of the actors were not bad (Chris Evans, Idris Elba and, above all, Jason Patric who was pretty good as the bad guy) but some others were really not convincing (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Columbus Short). On the other hand, maybe they shouldn’t be blamed since the dialogues were laughable and the characters were not interesting whatsoever. To conclude, even though it was watchable, it remains a really average action flick and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

If you are not from the Netherlands or Belgium, you have probably never heard of this TV show but it was very popular in the Netherlands. Basically, it is a show mixing 'Sex and the City' and 'The Real housewife of Beverly hills' and, it might surprise you but I actually enjoyed this show, at least, during the first 3 seasons. Then, they killed off my favorite character and, as usual, the whole thing lost its edge and I just dropped it. Of course, they had to make a movie about this and, of course, it was a huge success. I must admit, it was not bad at all. Obviously, it reflected the same lack of quality that you had during the last seasons and there was not much of a plot but a combination of half-baked sub-plots. Still, I thought it was pretty neat to see all these characters again and some of those stories worked pretty well. Still, the whole thing felt like a huge lazy cash-grab like most of the successful Dutch movies. Anyway, to conclude, even though it is definitely nothing amazing, I thought it was mildly entertaining and it is actually worth a look, especially if you enjoyed this show like I did.