Reviews by johanlefourbe

After booking some major success with 'Saw', it took about 3 years for James Wan to follow up with another flick and I was really intrigued about the damned thing. Eventually, it turned out to be a rather standard vigilante movie and, not surprisingly, an adaptation of the book called 'Death Sentence' which was a sequel to the book called 'Death Wish' which was adapted in the most famous vigilante movie ever made starring Charles Bronson. However, it seems that these movies didn't have much to do with the books, except that they were dealing with an average guy deciding to avenge his family. Anyway, I thought the whole thing was rather well made, very violent, with some decent performances by Kevin Bacon, Garrett Hedlund and John Goodman. The main issue I had was that the movie never really knew where it should stand. I mean, from time to time, they would give us some family drama scenes explaining how violence is wrong and all, but then before and after that, they would give some adrenaline fuelled scene with some catchy songs when the main character goes completely badass killing a whole bunch of bad guys. So, I though it was rather uneven and sometimes, actually rather depressing to watch. Still, it was a well made and entertaining flick and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

What a nice surprise! At first, I was really wondering what the hell was Will Smith thinking... Indeed, he wasn’t involved in any movie for the last 3 years and he seemed to be linked to at least 20 different projects and the one gig he picked up was a sequel for a 10 years old franchise that nobody was actually expecting. Fortunately, the end result turned out to be actually pretty good. At first, they gave us a slow (and rather boring) introduction during which Smith argued all the time with Tommy Lee Jones but, if it was funny with the first movie, it had become rather annoying for the 3rd time around. But fortunately, Jones disappeared pretty quickly and then the movie finally started to get interesting. Indeed, first, you had a really spectacular jump from the Empire State Building (I saw it in IMAX 3D and it was pretty awesome). And then, J met the younger version of K, portrayed by Josh Brolin who just blew me away. Not only he physically really looked like a younger Jones, but he sounded just the same. From this point, I was just sold and enjoyed the whole time travel paradox. Of course, the rest of the movie was just made of preposterous action scenes and of some weird looking aliens but it was fun and I had a good time. To conclude, even though it was nothing amazing, it was still an enjoyable blockbuster, it displayed that Will Smith still rules the box-office and it is definitely worth a look.

Since I'm a huge fan of the Dardennes brothers, I really had to watch this flick. Once again, they were dealing with some realistic characters who were involved in some rather bleak and sordid business. The directing followed their usual style by giving a lot of space to the actors, with no musical background, except for the very last shot. As a result, the whole thing was quite spellbinding to watch with some tremendous performances, above all by Jérémie Renier who was pretty amazing as a junkie. However, to be honest, I thought it was a rather surprising that they did win the award for the best screenplay at the Cannes film festival since the writing was actually the weakest point in this flick. Indeed, there was not much continuity in Lorna's character when in the fact continuity has always been a trademark of the Dardennes brothers. Basically, even though their characters go through the most excruating events, they usually remain the same no matter how good or evil they started but it wasn’t the case with Lorna. As a result, I wasn’t really convinced by her actions which felt seriously plot-driven. Furthermore, the story did lack some focus (for example, what was this all about with the pregnancy stuff?!?). Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, since this movie was yet another remake of a Japanese horror movie and since it had received such low ratings, I wasn't expecting much from the damned thing but since it was starring Shannyn Sossamon and Edward Burns, I thought I might as well give it a shot. Eventually, even though it was indeed rather weak, it was actually not so bad after all. Basically, it was some kind of combination of 'The Ring' which I love (The Japanese version) and 'Final Destination' which was not bad. Honestly, I'm not sure if I did really understand the whole cellphone thing but it didn't matter very much. Eventually, the directing and acting were average and the special effects were pretty shabby but it remained watchable with a (very) few scary moments. By the way, what the hell happened to Edward Burns?!? 20 years ago, he seemed to be a talented actor with a lot of potential but he keeps showing up in the most average flicks and I can't remember the last time I watched a good movie with this guy. Anyway, to conclude, even though I have seen worse, it was still a weak horror remake and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

Even though I did like 'Taken', I still think it was rather overrated. Still, I was rather curious to see Pierre Morel's following directing effort, even though, this time, his new flick didn't get the same positive reception. Well, to my surprise, I actually really enjoyed this movie, at least the 1st hour. I mean, the plot was rather pedestrian and even though the action scenes were decent, it was nothing I haven't seen 100 times before. In fact, the one thing I really enjoyed was Charlie Wax. Indeed, JohnTravolta was already pretty bad-ass in his previous movie ('The Taking of Pelham 123') but, here, he definitely took it to the next level. Seriously, the guy kicked some serious ass and he made me laugh so many times. Unfortunately, during the last 30 minutes, the whole thing lost some steam and it was pretty obvious that the makers got lazy as the ending was just a succession of endless and boring action scenes and some sentimental crap. It was too bad because, before that, it was a really entertaining action flick with Travolta completely stealing the show with some awesome one-liners. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, it was still a fun action flick, much better than I expected it to be, and it is definitely worth a look.