Reviews by johanlefourbe

What an intriguing picture... It is rather weird when you think that this movie was a big box-office success and one of the highest grossing pictures coming out that year. Can you imagine if they would release today a movie with a similar story? I have to admit that I'm not a religious person, I don't even believe in God so it was rather difficult for me to understand why such an attractive bright young woman would choose such a way of life and the fact that the makers didn't provide much of an explanation didn't help either. Anyway, the beginning was some kind of combination of a military bootcamp and a jail and it was only after the 1st hour that I finally got caught up by the whole thing. Indeed, the interesting thing about this picture was the inner struggle which any nun must be going through during her whole life. Indeed, this way of life is completely dehumanizing and deprives you of ALL your feelings but a non is and remains a human being and she must consequently fight against her nature through her whole life. And we are not talking about carnal desire here, just the fact of being proud after doing something good is already a sin and has to be punished. So, I thought it was quite fascinating and Audrey Hepburn gave a really strong performance, probably her best I have seen so far. The weakest point with this picture was that I never really understood her motivation. I mean, if she just wanted to help sick people, she simply could have become a nurse instead of a nun. Anyway, it was still a very interesting movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you interested in Audrey Hepburn's work.

To be honest, before watching the damned thing, I wasn't expecting much, especially since one of my listal friends warned me that it was a big piece of sh*t. Well, with such low expectations, I must admit that it wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be. Of course, it was still a really weak comedy with a moronic plot but I have seen worse. First of all, you had a really neat cast (John Goodman, John Hurt, Peter O'Toole) and you have to give some credit to John Goodman who managed to make his character somewhat likeable. The main issue with this flick was that it is based on a really stupid idea which was 'what would happen if an obnoxious American would become the new king of England?'. Seriously, this concept didn't sound funny even on paper and, indeed, it wasn't. Even the whole clash between the American and British culture wasn't entertaining at all. Still, thanks to the actors involved, the whole thing remained somehow watchable. Anyway,to conclude, it did seem to be awfull and, even if it was not so bad after all, it was still really average and it is not really worth a look, I'm afraid.

I remember it very well, when this movie was released, in the Netherlands, it turned to be pretty successful and that's the main reason why I wanted to check it out. Basically, back then, they made a big fuss because Rutger Hauer, the most famous Dutch actor ever, was finally starring again in a Dutch production after several decades but, honestly, he was in the movie for maybe 10 minutes so you shouldn't watch this flick because of him. Anyway, concerning the movie itself, I thought it was not bad but, to be honest, it wasn’t really great either. I mean, I did enjoy the directing and the actors did a decent job but some parts of the story felt overly dramatic to my taste. I don't know, maybe there was something missing in the story to make it truly compelling to watch which is something I unfortunately come across too often when watching Dutch movies. On one hand, they don't always lack the ambition but, on the other hand, they are very often way too bland to become truly remarkable. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, it was a decent drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies.

Since I'm a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock, I really had to watch this flick at some point. Eventually, I wasn't disappointed, that's for sure. Basically, it turned out to be one of his best and I absolutely loved the damned thing ('Vertigo' still remains my all-time favorite though). It was basically one of those typical Hitchcock thrillers during which an ordinary guy gets involved in some kind of conspiracy with some rather extraordinary circumstances. Nowadays, we live in an age where our heros are either some tough guys with no wit or sense of humor or some super-heros with super powers and, as a result, are pretty much invincible but I think that Hitchcock’s approach was so much more interesting because you could really identify with this poor fellow who tried to get through this ordeal in one piece. I mean, of course, Cary Grant was really charismatic, witty and clever but he was definitely not a spy and he constantly had to use his brain to get out of trouble. So, the acting was really good, the directing was just awesome and the whole thing was just completely entertaining from the beginning until the end. To conclude, it is a great classic, I loved it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Hitchcock's work.

Even before watching this flick, I was actually really intrigued by the whole concept. On top of that, it was pretty neat to finally see Bruce Willis turning up in a SF flick so I was quite eager to check out the damned thing. Of course, since it was a Hollywood production, I wasn't expecting anything mind-blowing but, eventually, it was still pretty entertaining after all. First of all, there was a nice cast (Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, James Cromwell, Ving Rhames). However, to be honest, even though Bruce Willis was decent enough, I don't think he added much to the whole thing and any other star could have done the job. Anyway, I still really enjoyed the concept, even if it seemed rather unbelievable that 98% of the world population could afford such a device which seemed to be rather pricy. At least, it did provide some food for thought. Unfortunately, instead of developing the implications of such a world, the makers got stuck between some endless talks explaining what was going and some even less interesting generic action scenes. Still, even though it turned out to be nothing really mind-blowing, it was a well made and entertaining SF flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I thought I should check it out. As a matter of fact, it was only afterwards that I read that it was dealing with an actual Chinese historical figure. I´m rather clueless about Chinese history (like most Westerners, I guess) and I wonder if for the Chinese people those movies are more enjoyable since it deals with their history and culture. Anyway, I thought it was pretty good with some awesome fights scenes. Usually, with martial-arts movies, you have a wise hero who doesn´t want to fight and you have to wait forever until he finally breaks his vows and goes to fight because the bad guy managed to force him somehow. Here, it was actually the other way around, you start with a fearless figther who seems unbeatable, fights against anyone who dare challenging him and as a result, becomes rather ruthless, selfish and arrogant. But of course, something happens, he gets wise and stop fighting, at least for a while. Anyway, I did enjoy this flick but I can´t say I was really blown away. I guess it was because I´m not such a huge fan of the genre. Indeed, in my opinion,  martial-arts fights are pretty neat to watch but they are also rather repetitive. Anyway, it was still a very well made flick, it was quite entertaining and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.