Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I didn’t expect much from the damned thing but since I have a weak spot for Camilla Belle, I thought I might as well check it out. In fact, only a week before watching this movie, I saw 'The Return' starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and, at the time, I was just amazed how uneventful and simply boring the whole thing was. Well, while watching this horror flick, I actually had pretty much exactly the same feeling. Indeed, the directing was not bad and Camilla Belle gave a decent performance but what a bore... I mean, during literally the whole duration, you get to see Camilla Belle picking up the phone and asking 'Who's there?' and that was pretty much it. Of course, at the end, there was a confrontation with the serial killer but it was some really generic stuff. And before that, there was really nothing going on at all. In fact, it was rather surprising that they didn't explain anything about the killer but it made the whole thing even more frustrating to watch. Anyway, to conclude, at least I  have to admit that the title didn't lie but it was still a really boring horror flick and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

Even though I have never heard of this movie before, since there was an interesting cast involved (David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Garry Shandling, Justin Bartha, Eva Mendes, Ellen Barkin), I thought I should give it a try. Eventually, I was rather pleasantly surprised as it turned out to be one of the best romantic comedies I have seen for a while. Indeed, all the 4 main actors delivered some good performances and, above all, I thought that their characters were really well written as they were flawed, 3 dimensional and just plain interesting to follow. Unfortunlately, I was however not so convinced by some of the supporting characters (the editor played by Ellen Barkin, the musician, Goren) but it wasn't a big deal. Eventually, what turned to be really disappointing was actually the ending taking place in the theater. Indeed, whereas most of the movie was believable, spot-on and intriguing to watch, this scene was just so tacky, completely over-the-top and unrealistic. It's too bad since the rest of the movie was actually pretty good. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of these flaws, there were many things to enjoy in this movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in some grown-up romantic movie.

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. First of all, even though it was pretty neat that this movie was broadcast on one of our Dutch channels, for some reasons, they went for an English dubbed version and it really sucked (a few years later, they would also show the sequel, ‘Day Watch’, and this time around, it would be in Russian….). Anyway, to be honest, it was one of the most messy and chaotic movies I have seen for a long time. As a result, the whole thing was sometimes rather confusing and I'm not sure if I understood the whole story but I guess it was also the charm of this feature. Still,  it was a visually fascinating flick with some impressive special effects. Furthermore, I enjoyed also that the movie was taking place in Moscow without any Hollywood stars which was just quite refreshing. As said before, in my opinion, the plot was a mess but they did develop some interesting mythology. Still, there was such a focus on the visuals that the plot didn't get much attention and the characters could have been also more develop. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, it was an original, intriguing and entertaining fantastic flick and it is definitely worth a look.

Basically, there was a time when I would go to a video game shop (which is now closed) and I would buy there on a regular basis 5 DVDs for 5 euros and, sometimes, since I would be missing 1 DVD, I would pick up pretty much anything at random just to reach 5 movies. Anyway, following this amazing process, I ended up watching some rather obscure movies and this one was definitely one of them. Since there was a rather interesting cast involved, I thought it could be interesting. Basically, the whole thing was some kind of vanity project for Luke Wilson who has always been in the shadow of his brother Owen. Anyway, Luke Wilson was the writer, the director and also the lead actor in this comedy and even though the whole thing had some potential, I thought it was rather disappointing. I mean, at first, the story was rather intriguing but pretty quickly, it was rather obvious he tried to emulate some similar quirky indie comedies, especially the ones directed by Wes Anderson, but the whole thing was eventually not really funny or entertaining. To conclude, I have seen worse movies but it still remain a rather weak indie comedy and it is not really worth a look, except maybe if you are die-hard fan of Luke Wilson.

Even though Sarah Michelle Gellar has reached some major success with 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer', she actually never really managed to break through on the silver screen. One of her very few success would be 'The Grudge' (which was actually rather disappointing in my opinion) and, afterwards, they quickly made another horror flick starring her obviously to make some easy money. I mean, the directing was not bad but the tension came mostly from the music which is a rather cheap gimmick. Furthermore, I have nothing against Sarah Michelle Gellar, I have to admit it, she is quite charming but she is honestly a rather poor actress and she didn't convince me here. Above all, I thought the whole thing was just so uneventful. Seriously, for most of the duration, nothing much was actually really happening and I was rather bored. Of course, at the end, they gave some really far-fetched explanation and you're basically supposed to buy it without any question. To conclude, I believe I'm actually generous with my rating as it was a rather lazy and boring horror flick and it is not really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Sarah Michelle Gellar.

I always had a weak spot for U-Boot movies and it was the main reason I wanted to check this flick. I guess this flick went below the radar (pun intended...) because there were no major stars involved but I thought it was not bad at all. As a matter of fact, it was actually written by Darren Aronofsky and he was even supposed to direct it but he decided to do 'Requiem for a Dream' instead, so it was definitely a promising movie. And indeed, there were a lot of things to enjoy here. The mood was pretty good and I thought it was fairly well directed. I mean, after 'Das Boot' is practically impossible to add anything new to the genre but I thought they did a good job here. So, they gave this movie an interesting mysterious atmosphere but, unfortunately, they didn't really develop it very well. Of course, at the end, they manage to tie the loose ends but it was not really satisfactory. Also the fact that all the characters didn't have much personality and were only some stererotypes didn't help much. Still, it was a well made and spooky feature and I was entertained throughout the whole thing. To conclude, even though it never reached its full potential, it was a decent U-Boot flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.