Reviews by johanlefourbe

When I was a kid, I used to watch it with my dad and I thought it was totally awesome. Later on, I used to underestimate this flick, thinking it was just a decent action movie but not much more than that. Yesterday, I watched it again with Nick, my step-son, and I finally understood why I loved it so much back then and why it is considered as one of the best action movies ever made. Of course, the whole thing is full of clichés and stereotypes but those are so perfectly executed, as a result, I was on the edge of my seat throughout the whole duration. Furthermore, there are loads of awesome and impressive action scenes but this movie had so much more to offer and it is the reason why it is still so enjoyable even 25 years later. In my opinion, the best thing about this movie is actually John McClane. Indeed, action movie heroes are always some kind of super guy and I always find it rather tedious to watch. McClane is different though : he sweats, bleeds, laughs, cries, and you really have the feeling that he is going to die every 2 minutes and even though he manages to survive, he sure would rather be somewhere else. All this makes the whole thing just really compelling to watch. For Bruce Willis, it was a star making performance and he became a huge superstar afterwards. Of course, we shouldn’t forget to credit Alan Rickman who, in his acting debut, managed to create one of the most bad-ass bad guy ever. To conclude, I really loved this flick, it is one of the best action movies ever made, it completely deserves its reputation and it is absolutely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

The interesting thing with Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams is that they both broke-through at the same time (2002-2004) and they were both quickly hailed as the next best thing. Eventually, 10 years later, even though they both have some decent careers, I don'think that either of them ever  really full-filled those expectations. This movie is in fact a perfect example. Indeed, it was a very ambitious project which was rather interesting but the end result was nothing amazing and it quickly disappeared at the box-office. As a matter of fact, I have to admit it, it was in fact far from being a bad movie. Indeed, the whole concept was intriguing, the directing was solid and both actors gave some good performances (which was pretty amazing considering how preposterous the premise was) and they had some nice chemistry. The main issue was that, like I mentioned before, the plot was just preposterous and during the whole thing you are confronted with some elements which just didn't hold up. Basically, even before watching this movie, the whole concept really sounded fishy and, at the end, in spite of their effort and the sweetness provided by Bana and McAdams, I was still not convinced at all. Still, even though it was nothing really mind-blowing, thanks to the actors involved, it remains an intriguing romance and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since this movie was released, it has gained a pretty decent cult-classic status so I was rather eager to check it out. Personally, I was above all interested by this movie because it was one of the first movies starring Jack Nicholson. Back then, Nicholson was pretty much unknown and would have his breakthrough only 10 years later starring in 'Easy Rider'. Eventually, he had a rather small part in this movie so that was a little disappointment for me. The movie itself was not bad but it was nothing really amazing though. I mean, it is an interesting dark comedy and I can imagine that 50 years ago, the audience was rather shocked or impressed by this but, nowadays, it just looks realy cheesy. Still, as a time capsule, it is definitely interesting and those cheap-ass cheesy special effects were absolutely priceless. I guess, it also depends what kind of humor you dig and there is a chance you might end up enjoying it more than I did. Still, even though I'm not a huge fan, it remains a weird and decent dark comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I kept hearing some good things about this franchise, I was really eager to check them out. Above all, after watching the dismal version starring Steve Martin, I was really wondering if it was any good. Eventually, I wasn't disappointed. Indeed, Peter Sellers is really amazing in this flick and he gave her one of the best comic performances I have ever seen. What's amazing in this performance is that, even though Clouseau was really clumsy and clueless, Sellers never pushed the boundary too far and, as a result, the character always remained believable and compelling to watch. The best thing is that Clouseau was actually just a small part but he completely upstaged the other characters which was something I have rarely seen before. Unfortunately, even though Clouseau was pretty awesome, the rest of the characters were barely interesting and entertaining and the same goes concerning the story itself. Basically, while watching this flick, you just keep waiting Sellers to pop back during some rather boring stretches but it was definitely worth the wait. Anyway, to conclude, in my opinion, without Sellers, it would have been a rather dull picture but thanks to him, it was really enjoyable and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

For a couple of years, I have been following Neil Labute and even though he is not one of the best directors I have encountered, his work is definitely interesting and he was the main reason why I wanted to check this flick. Well, this movie is a fine example of why I like Labute's work. Honestly, beforehand, I wasn't expecting much from it. It seemed to be another obscure movie starring the rather bland Gwyneth Paltrow. Eventually, I thought it was actually pretty good. Above all, I really enjoyed the directing by LaBute who manages to create an intriguing mood. I also liked the fact that it was dealing with some intelligent and articulate characters. Eventually, there were less successful to combine the romance aspect with the thriller elements and, as a result, the whole thing was rather uneven. Still, I think they managed pretty well to combine the modern and older story and I thought the cast gave some pretty solid performances (Gwyneth Paltrow, Aaron Eckhart, Jeremy Northam, Jennifer Ehle, Lena Headey, Tom Hollander). Anyway, to conclude, even though it is nothing mind-blowing, I enjoyed it and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Neil LaBute's work.

Even though it is widely unknown, Danny DeVito has actually built up a decent career as a director. He usually made comedies except for ‘Hoffa’ and this flick which belongs to the family genre. Even though this movie is usually appreciated if only considering the ratings on IMDB and Listal, I thought it was a rather tedious watch but I’m not sure that DeVito should be blamed though. I guess I’m not really a fan of Roald Dhal stories. I mean, aside from ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ which I found indeed fantastic, I didn’t like much the movies adapted from his work. This time, I really didn’t care much about the story, the characters and what they were going through. Above all, I thought that they were all rather annoying, even the title character. Furthermore, like many family feature, I found it rather condescending towards children which is something I always dread. I guess, there is a good chance that young children would actually enjoy it and, in this sense, I have to admit that it is rather successful since its target audience is reached. Still, to conclude, personally, I didn’t like it and I don’t think it is really worth a look, expect maybe if you are between 6 and 12 years old.

I wasn’t expecting much from this flick since the ratings were really low but since there was a nice cast, I thought I should give it a try anyway. Indeed, it turned out to be a really average flick but, above all, I thought it was really weird. Basically, you had Dan Aykroyd portraying a very old man (nice make-up though), John Candy portraying various parts including a mute woman, a hip-hop band including the late Tupac Shakur, 2 horrible grown-up babies wearing only diapers (you have to see this to understand this concept…) and a really weird story. Well, I don’t know what they were smoking when they wrote this movie but the end-result was really a total mess. Obviously, they hoped it would be funny but even though I was really wondering what was going on, I never thought it was actually funny or entertaining, I thought it was just plain strange. It’s too bad because with such a cast (Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Demi Moore), it could or should have been pretty cool. To conclude, even though we should give Dan Aykroyd some credit for trying out some directing (it was eventually his only directing credit), the end result was terribly disappointing and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

Even though we don’t hear much from him anymore, I always had a weak spot for Neil Jordan’s work so I was definitely eager to check this flick. Back in the 90’s, he made one of the most interesting vampire flicks, ‘Interview with the Vampire’ but many forget that he also made a werewolves feature just at the beginning of his career. I must admit that the whole thing was pretty mesmerizing to behold. Indeed, it really looked awesome and, at times, it was pretty weird and creepy but it fit really well the fairy tale style. The special effects were also pretty impressive, with no CGI back then, everything was handmade, increasing the general creepy feeling. The other interesting thing was the multiple layers of story telling (up to 3 levels) , up to a point that you didn’t really know what you should think (is it a dream? Is it a fairy tale?). There was also this constant sexual tensions and innuendos which made you even more uncomfortable since the main character was just 12 years old. All those elements were pretty fascinating and my only complaint would be that the pacing was rather sluggish. Still, it remains a very interesting and entertaining werewolve feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since my wife had a weak spot for this movie, I thought I should check it out anyway. This movie was directed by Jerry Zucker. Yeah, the same guy who made some incredibly successful comedies such as ‘Airplane’ with David Zucker and Jim Abrahams . However, in contrary to his partners, Jerry Zucker decided at some point to expand his career towards other genres and actually had some success with ‘Ghost’. After this, he tried once again something else, a medieval romantic tale. Unfortunately, this time, the end result was pretty disappointing and it was a flop. I mean, Sean Connery and Julia Ormond were perfectly cast and delivered some solid performances but I thought that Richard Gere was pretty terrible here and, even if he looked the part, his acting was just terribly wooden. Furthermore, I thought that the story was just too pedestrian and generic and the makers really didn’t make an effort to add much to this ancient tale. To conclude, I have seen worse movies and I can see why some people might actually enjoy it, but I personally think it was actually pretty average and I don’t think it is really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

Beforehand, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick and when I discovered that it was produced by Happy Madison (Adam Sandler’s producing company), I was expecting it to be even worse. Eventually, I have to admit that the beginning was actually pretty good with some hilarious jokes. Unfortunately, it just lasted about 20 minutes and the rest of the movie was just rather painful and embarrassing to watch. It’s too bad because the whole thing actually had some potential, it started pretty good and there was a decent cast as well (Steve Zahn, Jonah Hill, Justin Long, Robert Patrick). Unfortunately, it is basically one of those comedies which keeps throwing some stupid jokes at you every 10 seconds. Unfortunately, from those 10 jokes maybe only one was actually funny so, as a result, the whole thing was rather tedious to watch. Finally, I always find it rather disappointing when filmmakers rely on stupidity to make you laugh rather than showing us something insightful. Anyway, to conclude, even though the concept was kind of cool and even though the first 20 minutes were pretty funny, it was still a very average comedy after all and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.