Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I have been living in the Netherlands, I have always been interested in Dutch movies. It is a rather small industry, not many movies are released every year and most of the actors and actress are usually also TV host, singers and/or musical stars. At least, once a year (I should say, usually only once year), there is one Dutch movie which does very well when being released and in 2007, it was this feature. With such a cast (Thomas Acda, Carice van Houten, Wendy Van Dijk, Daan Schuurmans, Paul de Leeuw, Peter Paul Muller, Chantal Janzen, Huub Stapel), it was pretty obvious that it will attract the audience. You are probably not familiar with those names but they are all really famous in the Netherlands. And what about the movie itself ? Basically, it is just a rip-off of 'Love Actually', another hyperlink romantic comedy with some various intertwined love stories. Even though I thought the whole thing was rather entertaining, I can't say it was really mind-blowing though. I wasn't a big fan of 'Love Actually' in the first place. I mean, I have a weak spot for romantic comedies and I'm a huge fan of hyperlink movies but I don't think the two things work well together. Eventually, you just end up with many half-baked love stories and I'd rather have 3 or 4 fully developped romances instead. For this Dutch version, it is just the same results and it is even more annoying as they didn't add anything original to the concept. Still, it remains a well made and entertaining romantic comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I didn't expect much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Jennifer Lopez and Michael Apted's movies, I thought I should check this one out. Honestly, I thought it was just bad. I'm probably being too harsh on this one and it might not be as bad as I remember but I definitely won't rewatch it just to make sure. First of all, I don't think Jennifer Lopez is such a bad actress. I mean, her acting career is pretty much dead at this point but, back then, most of her movies were hit at the box-office, including this one, and she showed up in a few interesting flicks (Angel Eyes, The Cell, Out of Sight, Blood and Wine). Since Michael Apted is a solid director, I thought they would make together an interesting or at least entertaining movie. Unfortunately, it was neither interesting or entertaining. It was just another dumb thriller/action flick with a dubious message ('Vengeance is fine and killing the bad guy is even better' and all that crap...). Basically, the main attraction is to see JLo kicks some guy's ass, that's it, and this movie has absolutely nothing else to deliver. To conclude, I really didn't like it, as a matter of fact, I found it rather despicable and it is definitely not worth a look.

I wasn't expecting much from this movie but I was still curious to see this version, so I gave it a try anyway. Indeed, I'm actually a huge fan of the original version which is, in my opinion, the best movie directed by Mel Brooks and one of my favorite comedies. Well, eventually, I was actually really disappointed by this remake. First of all, it was not really a remake, it was in fact an adaptation of the broadway play which was an adaptation of the first movie. Apparently, the broadway show also produced by Mel Brooks was a huge success but this movie was a flop (just like 'Rent' which was released the same year). Personally, I thought that the songs didn't add much to the whole thing, except making the movie even longer than it needed. Furthermore, both Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick both tried very hard but they never came to the level of their predecessors, Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. Eventually, the only thing I really enjoyed was Will Ferrell who was really hilarious but that's about it, the rest was just very long and rather boring. To conclude, in my opinion, it is just another useless remake and it is not really worth a look, expect maybe if you are a die hard fan of the Broadway show.

Usually, expect for a few exceptions, I found kids flicks utterly disappointing. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of animated movies but most of them which are specifically aimed at children, even many Disney classics, are barely entertaining because, mostly, they don't take children seriously. However, like I said before, there are few exceptions and this movie is one of them. Honestly, I'm not familiar at all with the popular children's books series and I thought it would be yet another dull movie to watch with my children but I was wrong. Indeed, first of all, I really enjoyed the good old hand-drawn animation, it looked really charming and it is a real shame they dropped this technic alltogether and almost all the animated features are nowadays computer animated. Of course, the story is nothing mind-blowing but I thought it was real good, even perfect, for children between 2 and 9 years old. Since I'm not the target audience, the whole thing was not really spellbinding to watch, explaining why my rating is not entirely positive but it is a really good feature for young kids. To conclude, it is a rather forgotten animated movie but it is definitely worth a look, especially if you have young children.

I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since my wife loves movies about dancing, I thought I should check it out anyway. Furthermore, the ratings were pretty good, even Roger Ebert liked it so I thought it could be a nice surprise. Well, eventually, the whole thing turned out to be disappointing after all. Basically, it was a typical drama about an teacher/outsider who comes in a difficult school and it followed faithfully the rules of the genre but I thought it was terribly uninspired, uninspiring and rather dull to watch.  It was also pretty obvious that it was not a realistic movie and that it should be handled as some kind of fairy tale (to get the students attention, he just needed to turn up the volume or the way they danced at the end (totally choregraphed and way above their level) and how they ended up winning the trophy) but, still, I just didn't like it. On the positive side, Antonio Banderas was very well cast and did a good job and I must admit that there were here and there some nice dance scenes but it wasn't nearly enough to make the whole thing entertaining to me. To conclude, I thought it was really average and I don't think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die hard fan of the genre.

Tony Gatlif is not really famous here in Listal but he is actually a rather interesting director who often focuses on the Gypsy. This time around, he works again with Romain Duris with whom he has also made 'Gadjo Dillo' in the 90's. Duris is definitely one of my favorite French actors, a very talented and charismatic guy, it's too bad he never broketrough internationally but it seems that it is a conscious choice he made. Anyway, this flick is about a roadmovie and it basically follows the rules of the genre (the characters get to know each other and they meet some excentric characters along the way) which was a little bit disappointing. What saves this movie is the solid directing and the very stong acting by Romain Duris and Lubna Azabal. Above all, even though the story was really thin, I thought those two characters felt real, some 3 dimensional human beings and they were quite spellbinding to watch. To conclude, even though it is nothing really original, it remains a very well made roadmovie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Gatlif's work.

I remember it pretty well, when it was released, there was a huge buzz and eventually it received some great reviews. So, following this and the fact I loved Robert Altman's previous movie ('The Player'), I was really eager to watch this movie. Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed. Still, since I was 14-15 years old when I watched it the first time around, I thought it needed a rewatch. Eventually, I enjoyed it a little bit more but, to be honest, I still didn't think it was anything really mind-blowing though. Basically, it is one of those hyperlink features with various characters and storylines which are more or less intertwined together. Back then, I thought it was a boring mess which was going nowhere. Nowadays, I'm more familiar with the whole hyperlink thing and I could appreciate more what Robert Altman was trying to pull here. Unfortunately, pretty much like 'Nashville', I didn't care much about the characters or what they were going through and, as a result, it was sometimes rather tedious to watch. Still, it was very well directed, there was a massive cast (Andie MacDowell, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore, Matthew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robbins, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Lori Singer, Lyle Lovett) and they all gave some strong performances. Anyway, to conclude, even though I don't think it is an amazing masterpiece, it remains a solid feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Robert Altman's work.

Raoul Ruiz is not really well known here in listal but he is actually a quite interesting director. He actually died just last year but he had a productive career, directing more than 100 movies. Even though he was Chilean, most of those movies were made in France as he fled his homecountry from Pinochet's dictatoship. Anyway, I heard a lot about the guy so I was really intrigued by his work and when I finally got the opportunity to get acquainted, I was rather thrilled. This flick was the first one of his that I saw. Unfortunately, I thought it was pretty disappointing. I mean, it was interesting to see Laetitia Casta, the world famous model, to play in a serious drama and she did a good job, just like the rest of cast (Frédéric Diefenthal, Arielle Dombasle, John Malkovich, Charles Berling). However, I thought the story was really gloomy and above all, boring to death. I'm afraid, it was not really the best way to get to know Raoul Ruiz as he seems to be a rather talented film maker but it was just really tedious to watch and I almost fell asleep during this snooze party. To conclude, I have seen worse movies but it is still pretty damned average and it is not really worth a look, in my opinion.

I remember when this movie came out, it was a real rage. Everybody went to see it and there were those weird stories about some people who were going to see it 20 times... So, everybody went to see it ... except me. Indeed, I thought the whole thing was so overhyped, there was no way I was going to follow this crowd of sheep. Eventually, I watched it about two years later on my own terms and, to be honest, I didn't really like it. I think by now I have seen it about 3 times (it is my wife's favorite movie so no choice here...) but, even though I don't really like it, I don't hate it and I definitely can see why so many people love it though. Basically, it is a massive crowd-pleaser with broad characters, huge spectacle, not too much thinking and there is nothing wrong with that. Concerning Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, they both gave some solid performances but they did much better later on during their respective careers. On top of that, I have to admit that the directing was definitely solid with some impressive special effects and the last 60 minutes were quite amazing to behold. Eventually, the main issue I had was with the whole love story. I mean, there was definitely some chemistry between DiCaprio and Winslet but the whole thing felt terribly generic and pedestrian to me. Above all, I thought it was rather shocking to substitute one of the greatest disasters in history by some trivial love story (my point is that, when you hear the word 'Titanic', what comes to your mind first? A movie with a sappy love story or the tragedy itself? I bet the first one...). Still, I don't think it is overrated, I think it deserves all the millions it made, it remains a very well made drama, a classic, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Before becoming a hot-shot in Hollywood, Nicolas Winding Refn had been active as a movie director already for 15 years and I really wonder how many 'Drive' fans actually have seen his previous movies. Anyway, since I hadn't seen any of his movies, I was really curious to see this flick. Unfortunately, I thought the whole thing was rather disappointing. Indeed, it has been a while since I saw such an event-less feature (the last one was probably 'When a stranger calls' a few months ago). Basically, it started as some kind of weird Viking Fight Club but, then, as soon as the main character escaped, nothing much really happened. The worst was probably the boat trip which lasted maybe 20 minutes but felt more like 3 hours. There were about 120 lines of dialogue and the main character didn't say a word during the whole thing but I was fine with that. I would have even dropped the annoying sidekick kid and made the other characters always misinterpreting his thoughts and actions. Still, I cannot dismiss this movie. Indeed, it was visually impressive with a great mood and some solid directing and even though it was awfully slow, it was still rather spellbinding above all thanks to Mads Mikkelsen who gave here another electrifying performance. Basically, it was an ambitious but flawed project, some people even compared it to Terrence Mallick's work but it never reached this level. I also discovered that Nicolas Winding Refn conceived the film as some sort of acid trip which was not really surprising. What was rather surprising for me to find out was the fact that it is currently Nicolas Winding Refn's favorite of his own films. Anyway, even though it was terribly slow and sometimes boring to death, it remains an interesting flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Winding Refn's work.