Reviews by johanlefourbe

For years, I heard some great things about this movie and since it was apparently one of  the best Dutch movies ever made, I was really dying to see the damned thing. So, I have been waiting all those years and even though I have been living in the Netherlands for almost 10 years, for some weird reasons, it was never on TV whereas the disappointing American remake had been broadcast at least 3 times already... Anyway, I wasn't disappointed. Indeed, to be honest, it might not be my favorite Dutch movie but it is definitely in the Top 3, only behind 'Turks Fruit' and 'Simon'. Basically, it is one of the best thrillers I have ever seen. I mean, if Hitchcock was still alive, he would basically make such movies. In this genre, it was so original and it pretty much ignored most of the usual annoying stereotypes that you get in your basic US thriller. Indeed, even though thrillers can be entertaining, they usually end up being rather underwhelming because they always display some unnecessary shootings, chases, explosions and stupid twists. Not here though. In this movie, they gave us a fascinating character study of two obsessed men chasing some ideals and it was just spellbinding to watch. To conclude, it really deserves its stellar reputation, it was really awesome and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies.

Most of the time, it is actually pretty obvious when a movie will or should get a sequel. However, ‘Ghost Rider’ was definitely not one of those cases though... I mean, the first installment was literally trashed by the critics and it was not what you could call a  huge box-office success. Yet, to my surprise, they decided to make a sequel and even though there were some positive buzz, I wasn't really optimistic. And, indeed, it turned out to be another flop. Basically, everything about it (the cheap-ass Eastern Europe location, the script, the action scenes, Christopher Lambert,...) made it look like a straight-to-DVD job except for 2 redeeming features : Nicolas Cage and the Ghost Rider himself. Indeed, in his human form, Cage gave one of his typical weird hysterical performances and it was much appreciated but, unfortunately, since 80% of the dialogues were totally lame, it was only sporadically good. On the other hand, the Ghost Rider was indeed pretty awesome and  there was a lot of potential with such a character. Unfortnately, with this character, it is pretty much like the Hulk, basically, it is all about a guy who doesn't want to transform when the viewers don't want to watch anything else which is just rather frustrating. Anyway, to conclude, I don't think this movie was really better or worse than the first movie, it was just slightly different and I don’t think that it is really worth a look. 

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but Nick (my step-son) is a fan and I bought him the DVD so I thought I should give it a try anyway. Eventually, not only was it the shortest (only 75 minutes) but also, unfortunately, the weakest installment of the franchise. One issue was that, this time, they didn't have such fine actors like Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen to increase the acting value. They did bring a few new actors though but their characters were poorly developped and they didn't have much to do. Furthermore, the whole Lycan plot has already been done before and it felt really redundant. Still, like all the Underworld flicks, I can't completely dimissed it because they once again brought some interesting ideas. Indeed, I think it was a good move to add the humans to the conflict but the funny thing was that the humans were barely involved at all in the plot (except for one cop) and it was basically Vampires vs Lycans all over again. And I did like the idea that Selene was frozen for 12 years but here again, they barely developed it (By the way, when and how did she get pregnant? Is it possible for a vampire to bare a child? so many plot holes...). To conclude, it was basically another forgettable vampire/werelwolves action flick and, in my opinion, it is not really worth a look.

Even though I had some rather low expectations since I never really enjoyed any movie starring Adam Sandler, I thought I could give it a try anyway. First of all, I have to admit that I have never seen the original version (I have seen 'Mean Machine' though) but I hope it is better than this flick. It's not that it was awful and/or annoying like so many other movies starring Sandler, it's just that it was rather boring and not really funny. The only really funny thing was that they expected us to believe that Adam Sandler could have been at some point a professional (American) football player... Even Chris Rock who can be quite hilarious didn't make me laugh at all. So, the whole thing was not really funny and rather tedious. Fortunately, exactly like in 'Mean Machine', the game at the end of the movie was quite uplifting and entertaining but it was not enough to make me forget the rest of the movie. Another redeeming feature was Courtney Cox and I must admit that she looked really stunning but she was there only during the first 10 minutes. Anyway, to conclude, I have seen worse movies starring Adam Sandler but it doesn't mean that this flick was really good and, eventually, I don’t think it is really worth a look.

For several reasons, I was really eager to check this Star Trek flick. First of all, it was the first feature completely focusing on the Next Generation crew. Second, since we were now finally in the 90's, I was expecting some beter special effects. Finally, it is considered as many as the best Star Trek movie ever made. Well, eventually, even though I did enjoy this movie, to be honest, I wasn't really blown away. Still, I have to admit it, visually, it was definitely the best Star Trek movie so far, I especially enjoyed the introduction and the look of the Borgs. Furthermore, Patrick Stewart is really a fine actor, he gave a solid performance and the rest of the crew was pretty good too (even though Data was getting on my nerves on a regular basis). Unfortunately, the story was rather confusing. I mean, it was a good story but I was sometimes barely able to follow what was going on. Basically, the Borgs attacked the earth, Picard destroyed their Cube but the Borgs managed to send a Sphere to the Earth. Then, they got back in time to prevent the humans from getting the first contact with alien forms and Picard and Co followed them back in time to stop them. So, I did get this basic plotline but there were so many sub-plots and I was  often pretty much lost. Apparently, this movie was a follow-up to some episode of the Next Generation TV-show and since I haven't seen this show... Anyway, even though it didn’t completely work for me, it was still a decent Star Trek installment and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.