Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even though I really have a weak spot for romantic movies, most of them are usually disappointing so I didn't expect much before watching this flick. Eventually, I was pleasantly surprised and I couldn't believe how intense the whole thing was sometimes. First of all, there was a nice cast and they all gave some decent performances. Above all, I really enjoyed how complex and conflicted those characters and their relationships were portrayed. Indeed, it was really refreshing and much more interesting that the stereotypes you usually get with this genre. Of course, it still followed the usual formula but they provided enough depth to make it interesting. Another issue was that there were probably too many characters and some of the sub-plots didn't work so well. Still, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this flick. One of the most daring choice they made was to make the main character played by Zach Braff such a complete dick. Of course, his feelings were understandable and he seemed to be a nice guy but come on, his girlfriend (Jacinda Barett) was pregnant but he still managed to go out with a young student (Rachel Bilson), kissed her, got back home, got busted by his girlfriend, went back to the student, had sex with her and the day after, he still came back to his girlfriend and asked her to get back together! I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was pretty obvious that he was done with his girlfriend and that he just wanted to have a quick f*ck with the student but they still tried to force them back together at the end, following the tired formula I mentioned before and it didn't really work in my opinion. Still, even though the whole thing was flawed, it was actually one of the best romantic dramas I have seen for a very long time and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since it is such a classic, I was really eager to check it out. Well, from the 4 movies involving Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, it was probably the best one they made together. To be honest, it was a rather confusing story. As a matter of fact, while working on the script, the writers William Faulkner and Leigh Brackett couldn't figure out from the novel who murdered a particular character. So they phoned Raymond Chandler, who angrily told them the answer was right there in the book and they returned to their work. Later on, Chandler soon phoned them to say that he looked at the book himself and he himself couldn't figure out who killed the character, so he left it up to them to decide. So, it was indeed a rather complicated story with some smart characters and some really juicy dialogues. Another enjoyable aspect was that, during the whole thing, Bogart didn't have to face one femme fatale but 5 of them! Of course, this flick was all about the confrontation between Bogart and Bacall and they had some tremendous chemistry. Eventually, it was one of the best film noir I have seen and the whole thing was just spellbinding to watch. To conclude, it is a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I kept hearing some good things about this movie, I was really eager to check it out. Eventually, Colin Firth would have to wait a year to finally win the Academy award for the Best Actor for 'The King's speech' but he was already nominated a year before for this movie and, to be honest, I thought he was here actually even better here. Seriously, in my opinion, the guy easily gave here the best performance of his career. Indeed, Firth was basically involved in every single scene and he was just pitch-perfect during the whole duration carrying the whole thing on his shoulders. I have to say I was rather impressed as well by Tom Ford's work especially since it was actually his directing début. The only complain I might  have was that the movie was actually too short and even if the main character was very well developed and quite fascinating, the other characters didn't get much attention and I actually wanted to learn more about them. Still, it was quite a spellbinding feature dealing with various themes such as life, death, love, homosexuality and depression. To conclude, it was a fascinating performance in a really interesting movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I really had no idea what to expect from this movie but since it did win the Golden Calf of the Best Dutch movie of the year, I was quite eager to check it out. First of all, kids movies are quite popular in the Netherlands and it is not unusual that some of these movies end up winning this prize. However, after watching so many of them, you might actually wonder if there was really nothing else better coming out that year and this movie was not an exception. I mean, I did like it, it is one of the better Dutch family features I have seen but, to be honest, the whole thing was still nothing really mind-blowing. For example, the music and the acting were still way too cheesy for my taste. At least, the story was interesting and touching and even though it would have worked better if they made the whole thing more challenging, there were many interesting things and, all in all, I enjoyed it. To conclude, even though it might not have deserved such a prestigious prize, it was still a really enjoyable family feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies.