Reviews by johanlefourbe

Ever since the huge success of the 'Harry Potter' movies, the major studios have tried to adapt many more Young Adult books hoping they will find their new cashcow. Well, in this genre, I think I have never seen a movie which was so similar to Harry Potter. Indeed, they hired the same director (Chris Columbus),  the young hero had some parental issues, he had 2 friends (a boy and a girl) and they all went to a paranormal school... Fortunately, they did switch the wizards and witches for the Greek gods, otherwise, it would have been pretty much a straight remake. Anyway, even though the whole thing had some potential, it still felt rather half-baked. Above all, while most of the Harry Potter movies lasted at least 150 mins, this one was not even 2 hours which was just way too short to deliver something that would really work. I mean, first, they had to introduce Percy in our world, then he had to discover his actual background, then he had to go to his 'special' school and finally he had to solve some quest. Seriously, that was just way too much to handle and everyhing felt really rushed. Still, if you don't analyze it too much, it was not bad, the second half was fairly entertaining (I especially enjoyed the casino thing) and Logan Lerman was quite charismatic. To conclude, it was nothing really mind-blowing whatsoever but it was still rather well made and fairly entertaining and I guess it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I have never heard of this flick before but since it won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival, I thought I should check it out. Well, eventually, even though it was a decent watch, to be honest, I still had a hard time to really care about the damned thing. I mean, it wasn't bad at all but the damned thing was just so sad and depressing. Basically, it was taking place somewhere in Mongolia where there was no running water, electrity (pretty much how it used to be in West-Europa 200 years ago). But, apparently, it wasn’t enough hardship so the main character broke her back, her husband was handicapped and even though she loved her husband, she had to divorce him to marry someone else who would provide for the whole family... Seriously, even if I have seen my share of dark movies, it was still really gloomy and the ending was even more heartbreaking... Fortunately, the directing and acting were not bad and, above all, this movie gave an interesting look on a foreign culture which I didn't know before. Still, I can't say that this movie was really entertaining. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn’t really sold by this flick,  it was still an interesting movie and it is worth a look, especially if you want to see something really different.

A movie starring both Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman is an event not to be missed and I'm so glad I finally managed to watch this flick. I was expecting something pretty good and I wasn't disappointed, in fact, it was even better than I thought it would be. Indeed, Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman were both really good here and when there was this big confrontation, it was like witnessing some kind of awesome cinematic Clash of the Titans. They were both so into their characters, it was just amazing. Concerning Amy Adams, to be honest, at the time, I wasn’t really a fan of her work because she used to play some really obnoxious characters but, fortunately, she toned down her usual hysteria and she wasn't bad at all. A part from that, I thought it was a rather fascinating and relevant story, even if it took place almost 40 years ago. During this movie, even though it might not be the point at all, I was reminded about our attitude towards children and, pretty often, if you get close to a child, it will be judged as inappropriate by many people. Furthermore, it was dealing with many interesting subjects such as religion, pride, ambition, guilt and, of course, doubt. To conclude, the actors were awesome, the story was spellbinding and it was definitely worth a look.

Since I'm a huge fan of Jeff Bridges and since virtually everybody was really enthusiast about this flick, I had some rather huge expectations towards the damned thing. Well, to be honest, I was in fact rather disappointed. I mean, I did like it but , basically, it was just way too similar to 'The Wrestler' and I thought it was not intense enough. Furthermore, I wasn't really convinced by the relationship between Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal which felt rather plot-driven than anything else. Still, I liked this movie above all thanks to the acting. Indeed, you had here a pretty good supporting cast (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall) and they all gave some decent performances and, of course, Jeff Bridges was, as usual, quite awesome. Indeed, I totally believed in his character and it was as if Bridges had been an alcoholic country singer his  whole life. Furthermore, even though the guy was obviously a rather pathetic loser, Bridges still managed to make him charismatic enough (but not too much) so we would still care for him throughout the whole movie. To conclude, even though it was a rather weak story in my opinion, Jeff Bridges was so good, he made it really spellbinding to watch and, eventually, the whole thing is still worth a look.

Since this movie had a rather bad reputation, I wasn't expecting much from the damned thing. Well, probably because I had some rather low expectations, I thought it was not so bad at all after all. To be honest, it’s a shame that they still tried to get the smallest budget possible and, as a result, the whole thing still looked really cheesy. Furthermore, the whole thing felt long and slow when in fact the movie lasted only a little more than 90 minutes. Still, there were many things I enjoyed. For example, it was interesting that, this time around, this sequel started right after the previous movie which was a nice approach. Furthermore, there were more things I enjoyed like seeing the Klingons finally in action, to see the Enterprise being destroyed which was rather unexpected and, of course, the return of Spock which was rather expected. Above all, I have to admit that, after watching the first 3 movies in this franchise, I'm finally starting to care about  these characters and, each time, they bring a new story instead of repeating the same pattern with each sequels which is a good thing. To conclude, even though it might not be not one of the most beloved Star Trek installments,  I thought it was not bad and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.