Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even if the critics were really bad and it was a huge flop, I was still rather curious to check if it was as bad as everyone seems to think. First of all, we have to consider the fact that Hollywood is suffering from a terible lack of inspiration. Indeed, 80-90% of the production these days consists of remakes, reboots and book or TV show adapations. In this case, we are dealing with a TV show adaptation and the end result is terribly disappointing. It is too bad actually and I have to admit that the whole thing actually had some potential. Indeed, I thought it was a good idea to move the whole thing in the present day and there was a great cast (Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine, Jason Schwartzman, Kristin Chenoweth, Steve Carell) and I thought that Nicole Kidman was a perfect choice for the main part and with Will Ferrell, it could have been a great mix. However, they came up with some rather convoluted story about a TV show and an actress portraying a witch, when in fact she is actually a real witch... When you read it like this, it sounds pretty bad and it was indeed pretty bad... They tried to make it clever but it just didn't work. I used to watch the TV show when I was a kid and honestly I never really liked it but it was way better than this adaptation. To conclude, it was a flop and it was deserved, it is not really worth a look, even if you are a fan of the show it is based on.

Even though I didn't have some high expectations concerning this flick, I didn't expect it to be so disappointing... Indeed, it is easily one of the weakest romantic comedies I have seen for a while. First of all, I have nothing against Amy Adams. She is really charming but she always plays the most annoying female characters and this movie was not exception. Matthew Goode was a little bit better but the whole thing was still far from being impressive. In fact, Goode himself later on went on record saying he reckoned that the film was one of the year's worst. And I would have to agree with him... The whole thing just follows the rules of the formulas without adding anything new or interesting to it so I was rather bored. I was honestly wondering why they were actually attracted together and from the moment they loose the car, there is actually no reason for Declan to go futher along with Anna on her journey. Finally, the whole thing is just filled with terrible clichés and stereotypes about Ireland and I really wonder what the Irish people would make of this. To conclude, it is not really bad but it is just terribly weak and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

I didn't know what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Neil Jordan and Jodie Foster, I thought I should check it out. Eventally, I thought it was an interesting flick. Indeed, it takes a very old formula (the vigilante) but they gave their own flavor to the whole thing which was rather intriguing. Indeed, most of the movies in this genre focus on the violence and the actions scenes whereas here, they focused more on the characters. Jodie Foster was at some point one of the best actresses and managed to win 2 academy awards during her prestigious career and I still think she is a terrific actress but it has a been a while since she really impressed me. Anyway, she gave here a solid performance, I eventually cared about the character she had created and I believed that she would be capable of her actions in this movie. It was a three dimensional character and it made this flick stand out from the rest of its kind. Unfortunaly for Foster and Neil Jordan who both did a good job here, the story was pretty standard and predictable. It still follows the basic rules of the vigilante genre and I thought it was rather disappointing. Still, it remains a very well made flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

You probably wonder why I chose to watch this flick and you would be right to wonder... Basically, I have actually never seen the TV-show (or maybe a very short little bit...) and it didn't seem to be my kind of humor at all. I guess the main reason I wanted to check this movie were the cameo appearances by Paul Rudd, Dwayne Johnson and Dannny DeVito which is actually a pretty lame reason to watch a movie (trust me... don't do this, EVER!). Anyway, the whole thing was basically a long succession of tasteless stupid jokes. You either like it or you don't. Obviously, I don't but I have to admit that there were here and there some funny stuff, this team was actually pretty good and they do have a terrific timing (I mean, the beginning is rather priceless... One of the cops is obviously having a dream and when he wakes up, he is actually driving a police car and the conversation following is quite hilarious : 'Dude, I just had the weirdest dream!' 'Dude, do you realise you're actually driving?' and a car accident follows...). To conclude, if you like the TV-show, you'll probably like this flick but if you don't like this kind of humor, it is definitely not worth a look.

A long time ago, when it came out, I went to see the 3rd and last installment of this serie, it was pretty popular and I was wondering what was the fuss about. At the end of the movie, I was still wondering... I just didn't like it at all and it took me 15 years to see the 1st movie and its sequel. I still wanted to see them because I thought they may be better than the last movie. Eventually, I was rather disappointed. The problem is that I don't like spoofs expect for a few of them (yes, I do think that the first 'Scary movie' was actually pretty good). This genre is based on the most preposterous and stupid jokes you can think of and you either like it or you don't. I'm afraid I belong to the second group. Was this sequel better or worse than the first movie? I'm not sure and I don't think I really care. To conclude, even though there were here and there a few nice jokes, I didn't like it and I don't think it is really worth a look but if you are a fan of this genre, there is a good chance you'll end up enjoying it more than I did.

Since this flick is on the list '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die', I was definitely eager to check it out. I have already seen two other versions of this story ('Ossessione' (1943), 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' (1981)) and this version is the best one I have seen so far (still have to see the very first one 'Le dernier tournant' (1939)), on the other hand, I'm pretty much done with this story... Indeed, even though you didn't have the explosive sex scenes from the Jack Nicholson-Jessica Lange version, John Garfiel and Lana Turner had together some very nice chemistry and they made one of the best doomed couple I have ever seen. Basically, they were not really good, they were not really bad either, they were both continuously fighting the feelings they had but they couldn't get rid off each other. Even though it was already the 3rd time around I watched this story, it was just spellbinding and it is definitely one of the best film noir I have seen so far. It tends to drag a little bit towards the end but it might have to do with the fact that I already knew the whole thing by heart at this point. To conclude, it is a classic, a great film noir and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn't expecting much from this flick but I thought it could be nice to watch it my step-son, Nick, who was about 11 years old back then. In France, Astérix was and still is pretty huge and when I was a kid, I watched many of those Astérix cartoons, especially 'Astérix et Cléopatra' which I have seen probably 100 times. In the Animation world dominated mostly by the Americans (Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks,...) and a little by the Japansese, it is nice to see that the Europeans still try to compete. It is however rather disappointing that the end-result is pretty weak. Indeed, I didn't really like this flick. I mean, the animation is obviously improved compared to what they did 40 years ago, even though it doesn't reach the work of Pixar or Miyazaki. The main issue I have was that the whole thing was not really fun at all. I mean, I have read the comic book a couple of times (I may still have them somewhere) and it was pretty good and entertaining but this adapation was pretty weak. To conclude, it is a rather forgettable animated feature and it is not really worth a look.

Since I really enjoyed Bill Paxton's directing debut, 'Frailty', I was really eager to check his following directing effort, especially since it had a nice rating on IMDb (7.3). Eventually, it turned out to be a decent sport flick but not much more than that, I'm afraid. Indeed, in my opinion, the first half was rather tedious as they spent the whole thing showing how both Francis Ouimet and Harry Vardon had to fight their way into the segregated world of Golf. It wasn't really original or interesting and they really pushed it by making Ouimet's father against his passion until the very last minute. Like I said, it was rather boring and not really interesting but then, the second half which focused on this legendary game was, fortunately, really thrilling to watch. Another thing that bothered me was the stupid poster they chose for this movie... Indeed, you get to see Ouimet carried out by his fans, cheering and all, so even before watching the damned thing, you pretty much already know that he won't be stopped, that he won't quite golf and that he will eventually win the damned trophy. Seriously, it competely spoiled the end and made the first half even more useless that it already was. To conclude, even though it may not be as interesting as Paxton's directing debut, it was still a well made and entertaining sport flick and I think it is worth a look though, especially if you like the genre.

I have heard many good things about Kim Ki-duk's work and since this movie was considered his best one, I was definitely eager to check it out. Eventually, I thought it was rather disappointing. As a matter of fact, it was probably one of the most frustrating movies I have ever seen. Indeed, I thought it was frustrating, not because it was bad but because it had such a huge potential but it didn't deliver the goods at the end. I mean, the whole thing really looked gorgeous and I was amazed by the directing from the beginning until the end but, personally, I thought the story was disappointing. I mean, I'm not even sure you can really call it a story, it is actually more the development of some kind of philosophy (buddhism, if I'm correct). I don't know, maybe I'm too dumb for this kind of movies but I thought the whole thing was going nowhere and it was going nowhere very slowly. Still, I can't dismiss it completely as there is something really spellbinding about it, especially visually speaking. Eventually, by now, I have seen 3 other movies directed by Ki-duk Kim and they all gave me the same unsatisfying feeling (except maybe for 'Bin-jip' which I enjoyed a little bit more than the rest). To conclude, I didn't really enjoy it but it is still definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Even though I'm not a huge fan of musicals, since I kept hearing interesting things about this flick, I thought I should check it out. This movie is based on a play which was hugely successful (it ran for more than 5000 performances on Broadway, won several Tony awards and even the Pulitzer Prize) but this movie was a flop which is not really surprising. I mean, I liked a few songs, the intro was especially awesome, but I didn't care for most of them and there were almost wall-to-wall songs. Furthermore, since there were so many songs, there was barely any time to develop the characters so I didn't care much about them. Still, it remains an interesting musical and I liked the fact that it dealt, for a change, with misfits (artists, musicians, the homeless, junkies, the HIV infected, the homosexuals,...). For Chris Columbus, who just directed the first 2 Harry Potter installments, it was something drastically different and you wonder if another director wouldn't have done a better job (other directors such as Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, Sam Mendes, Rob Marshall and Baz Luhrmann were rumored to be possible choices for the job). Eventually, I thought the whole thing was not dark enough as, for example, the characters looked way too good to be drug addicts and/or infected by HIV. To conclude, the movie didn't really live up to the play but I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you like the genre.