Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I kept hearing good things about this movie, I was really eager to check it out. Since it was directed by Mike Leigh, one of the most heralded British directors, I was pretty sure I was in good hands. And, I wasn't disappointed. Indeed, it is a striking study about abortion in 1950s England with a fascinating central character, Vera Drake. Until then, Imelda Staunton was known for playing supporting characters but I never suspected that she could blow me away like this. It was a really terrific performance and, in my opinion, she deserved the Best Leading Actress Academy Award which was eventually won by Hilary Swank for her performance in 'Million Dollar Baby'. The most fascinating thing is that even if you are pro-choice like me, you're never sure if you should be supportive with Vera Drake. Indeed, what she did was not only illegal, it was also terribly dangerous, she was really clueless and killed many women with her 'procedures'. In the other hand, those women made her choice and they would have done it anyway, maybe with someone worse. At least, she really wanted to help them. Eventually, it is some good evidence that it is better to legalize abortion, otherwise, you'll always have some women who would find a way to terminate their pregnancy, sometimes with some terrible results. To conclude, it is a fascinating picture, one of Mike Leih's best and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Leigh's work.

Watching this movie was definitely not a high priority but since there was not much else to see in the movie theater, I thought I should give it a try. Eventually, it was a nice attempt to create a spin-off around the Bourne franchise but the end result was still rather disappointing. Indeed, they made several mistakes but the most obvious one was that the story was just way too weak. I mean, basically, the whole thing was just about some spy looking for his meds, that's it. It was pretty obvious that they wanted to create the same structure (top spy on the run while his agency tries to terminate him) without exactly copying the plot of the previous movies and that's why they added those meds but I thought it was a terrible plot device. Still, it was far from being a bad movie. Indeed, it was actuallty fairly entertaining and I really liked the way they tried to tie in both stories. However, during the 2nd half, they never mentioned Jason Bourne anymore so that was another wasted opportunity. Still, I thought that Edward Norton was pretty badass, at least, in the beginning, but then, basically, he spent the whole movie looking serious and giving orders. Can you believe that 10 years ago, after 'American History X' and 'Fight Club', he was hailed as the best actor of his generation? There is not much left of these promises, I'm afraid. Concerning Rachel Weisz, she tried very hard to give her character some substance but her part was rather thankless since she was there only to make sure that Aaron Cross didn't wander all alone during the whole thing. What is left is Jeremy Renner and I must admit that he gave a terrific performance. Not only was he charismatic but he managed to replace Matt Damon without being a copycat and he succeeded in creating his own genuine character. Without him, the whole thing would have been pretty terrible. To conclude, even though it was not really succesfull, it was still an interesting attempt to develop this franchise and I still think it is worth a look, especially if you enjoyed the previous trilogy.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I had it on DVD, I thought I might as well check it out again. It is actually pretty obscure and it actually took me a while to finally get my hands on it. However, it is rather unfortunate that it ended up being one of Martin Scorses's least interesting movies. Indeed, after making his directing debut, Scorsese did struggle to make something else afterwards and, after 5 long years, he finally managed to deliver this flick. Well, basically, it was a typical exploitation feature from the 70's produced by Roger Corman, and as a result, the story was nothing really amazing but it was inherent to the genre, I'm afraid. I mean, it is not that it was really bad but you could feel that Scorsese was still searching himself. Still, there were here and there some very nice scenes and Barbara Hershey gave a very refreshing performance with her contagious smile. It is said that after watching this, John Cassavetes told Scorsese that he was way too talented to waste his talent with this kind of movies. Well, a year later, Scorsese would direct 'Mean Streets' and the rest is just history. Anyway, to conclude, even it was obviously a minor effort for this great master, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Martin Scorsese's work.

Since it is a huge cult-classic, I was really curious to check this flick. Unfortunately, I thought it was pretty bad. Ok, I'm maybe too harsh on this one but since I didn't like it at all, there is fat chance I will check it again just to make sure it was as bad as I thought it was. It was even more disappointing as I really enjoyed Ben Stiller's previous directing efforts (the completely forgotten 'Reality Bites' and the really underrated 'The Cable Guy'). I'm completely aware that Derek Zoolander, the main character, is moronic on purpose but I thought he was way more annoying than funny. I have never really enjoyed this kind of humor so I guess I'm not the targeted audience. Ok, I have to admit, there were here and there so funny bits and there was a huge cast with many cameos but it was never enough to make me forget the rest of the movie which was not entertaining at all, at least, in my opinion. I don't know, I'm more interested in some good old comedy by Woody Allen where the characters are smart and articulated instead of such 'modern' farce filled with incredibly stupid and annoying characters. To conclude, it is a really moronic and boring flick and I don't think it is worth a look at all, but I may be in the minority in this case.

Following the amazing 'Elephant' which I really loved, I was definitely eager to check Gus van Sant next directing effort. It is made in the same style but it was this time poorly received, by viewers and critics alike (just check the ratings in Imdb and Listal). Personally, even though it was definitely not as good as 'Elephant', I thought it was a solid feature. I just really dig this directing style which make the whole thing quite spellbinding to watch. I guess the issue, this time, was that Van Sant delt with a very famous public figure. I mean, with 'Elephant', we don't know exactly what happened with those guys so it gave a lot of liberty and slack to Van Sant to create his own story with some tremendous results. With this movie dealing with Kurt Cobain, virtually everybody had a meaning about what happened and most of the viewers didn't like his approach at all. I even came across a comment on Youtube about the fact that Kurt Cobain was left-handed, not right-handed as portrayed in the movie. And this was the top comment! I mean, if die-hard fans are going to bitch about such details, I think this movie was just doomed from the start. Anyway, even though I enjoyed Nirvana's music, I was able to watch the movie without checking every single detail because the purpose, in my opinion, was to give a certain feeling, not some biographical details. To conclude, even though it is nothing really mind-blowing, I thought it was an interesting flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Gus Van Sant's work.

Honestly, I never heard of this movie before but since there was a nice cast, I thought I should check it out anyway. I realised afterwards that it was a remake of a very old obscure Alfred Hitchcock feature from 1928. Anyway, the cast was pretty neat and Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas were, as usual, both fine. Above all,  I was actualy pleasantly surprised by Jessica Biel. Indeed, at first, I thought it wouldn't work with her but she eventually delivered a solid performance. Concerning Ben Barnes, I won't blame him too much but his character was just terribly spineless. Eventually, the whole thing was not bad but they never really managed to get the tone right. Indeed, it seemed that it was supposed to be a comedy but it wasn't really funny and even pretty dark sometimes. So, they switched constantly between some frivolous scenes and more dramatic moments without any warning. Furthermore, I thought that the characters were not developed enough. Indeed, the mother was way too mean and Biel's character was just way too nice, it would have been more interesting if the characters would have been more balanced. Still, I can't completely dismissed this flick and I do believe that the whole thing actually had some potential. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, thanks to the actors involved, it was a decent watch and I think it is worth a look.

Before watching this flick, I had some rather high expectations. I mean, with such a cast (Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Anjelica Huston) and such a prestigious director (John Huston), I was expecting something rather brilliant, I mean, even Roger Ebert was really enthousiast about it. Unfortunately, I didn't really like it. I mean, the cast was really good, especially Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner but I didn't like much the tone of the whole thing. It tries to be a dark comedy and mixes some romantic comedy elements with traditional maffia stuff but I thought the whole thing was rather uneven. Above all, I never really laughed during the whole duration and it is never a good sign when you are watching a comedy. Don't misunderstand me, it is not bad at all, Nicholson and Turner were both very good and perfectly cast and there were numerous interesting supporting characters but I just didn't care much about the plot. Still, in spite of its flaws, it remains a decent comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn't expecting much from this flick but Nick, my step-son, is a huge fan of zombie movies, especially the recent ones and the movie was on TV, so I thought we should check it out. Oh boy... It is hard to believe they managed to make 4 movies out of this franchise. I mean, I have to admit it, I thought that the first installment was actually decent but none of the sequels did add anything much interesting to the whole concept and with this 3rd sequel, it was getting a little bit tiresome. Furthermore, even though I never paid attention to this with the previous movies, I thought that the acting was really weak and the dialoges were just pathetic. Also, it was a real rip-off of various other movies, especially 'The Matrix'. Indeed, the action scenes were virtually identical with some bullet time effect and the guy playing Wesker gave a terrible imitation of Agent Smith. Still, like all Resident Evil flicks, there were a few interesting elements like the fact that the action took place in Tokyo but it was unfortunately quickly moved to Los Angeles which was rather disappointing. To conclude, I'm getting more and more bored by this franchise, I didn't like this sequel which was the weakest of them all and I don't think it is really worth a look. And guess what? A fifth installment will be released in 2012...

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.