Reviews by johanlefourbe

I didn't expect much before watching this damned thing and, indeed, it turned out to be  nothing great. It's a sad thing that such a fine director like Roland Joffé would end up directing such a generic horror flick. Furthermore, I’m really getting fed up with this whole torture porn hype. Seriously, it is such a boring and uninteresting genre.... Anyway, coming back to our main feature, it was a really weak 'Saw' copycat with an omnipotent serial killer who sees and hears everything and who seems to have an illimitated budget and no day job whatsoever. To be honest, I always had a hard time to believe such a premise but, here, it was even more difficult than usual. I mean, usually, I never cared about the usual twist at the end but, this time around, I figured out right from  the start and the end-result was just rather weird. Indeed, if you are in captivity, with a strange guy, you might maybe end up having a close relationship with him, to kiss him would be already  a stretch, but do you really think that you would have sex with this guy, when you just have been tortured and when a psycho is filming the whole thing?!? I really I don't think so .... Anyway, to conclude, it was a really weak horror flick and I don’t think it is worth a look at all. 

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I thought I should check it out. First of all, to be honest, in my opinion, the concept was actually pretty lame when you think about it and the whole thing could have been pretty average (like, for example, 'Made of Honor'). Eventually, in spite this weak concept, I have to admit that they still managed to deliver a rather enjoyable comedy. Indeed, the whole thing turned to be actually quite entertaining, above all thanks to the characters which very well written and also well played by Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. I mean, during the whole thing I was expecting that something really weird or annoying would happen concerning Segel's character but, fortunately, it never happened. Indeed, these 2 guys just happened to have a great connection, even though they were quite different from each other and their relationship was just really genuine and believable. As a side note, I must say that the couple Jon Favreau-Jaime Pressly was just hilarious as well. To conclude, even though the whole concept was actually not really good at all, the characters were very well written and played that I still enjoyed the damned thing and, in my opinion, it is definitely worth a look.

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. Furthermore, ever since I saw Richard Jenkins in 'Six Feet Under', I always had a weak spot for him and it was pretty neat so him playing the lead for once. Op top of that, in the process, he even received Oscar nomination which was completely deserverd. Still, I must admit that it took me a while to get into this story though. I mean, Jenkins and all the other actors involved were really good but I didn't really care much about the story or the characters. Still, thanks to the solid acting, it still worked fine. Furthermore, even though the story was not really original, it was still an interesting reflection on the status of the immigrants in the USA and on the impact it has on an American citizen who didn't care about anything anymore.  Concerning Tom McCarthy, by now, I have seen all his directing efforts (except ‘The Cobbler’ which sounds rather dreadful) but, , to be honest, I thought they were all slightly overrated, even ‘Spotlight’ which managed at the time to win the Best Picture Academy Award. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, even though it didn’t really blow me away, it was still a decent watch, if only for Richard Jenkins’s performance and I think it is definitely worth a look.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this movie and the only reason I watched the damned thing was that I have a weak spot for Christina Ricci. Unfortunately, a part from her, the whole thing was nothing really mind-blowing, I'm afraid. Indeed, basically, it was one of those typical thrillers which builds some mystery at the beginning and, I must admit, I was rather intrigued by the whole thing. Unfortunately, as it is always the same issue with this kind of movies, at some point, sooner or later, they will have to explain what's going on and they will always come up with the most preposterous supernatural explanation. Of course, this movie was not an exception. I know, I shouldn't ask such a movie to be realistic but, at least, even if they provide the weirdest explanation, it should always be entertaining and it wasn't really the case here, that's for sure. To be honest, the directing was not bad, the acting was not bad either but I honestly couldn't care less about the story. To conclude, it was just a really average paranormal thriller and it is not really worth a look in my opinion.

We don't hear much from John Landis nowadays but, back in the 80's, he was quite a successful director and one of his biggest success was this werewolf flick which has now reached a cult status. First of all, to mix comedy and horror is a tricky challenge and most movies usually fail miserably but Landis did a good job here and sometimes you might wonder if you should be laughing or be horrified by the whole thing. Still, I must say, like most of the movies in this genre, it did take forever until the main character finally became a werewolf. But, honestly, the end result was quite impressive. Indeed, back in those days, they didn't have any CGI but only some awesome make-up and it still stands up fine 30 years later. Unfortunately, it was also an issue with this flick. Indeed, basically, the make-up was so impressive that it did upstage the whole story as a result. Furthermore, considering the story itself, sure, it was entertaining enough but it was nothing really amazing. On top of that, it was rather silly that the doctor would run her own investigation and, even though Jenny Agutter was really lovely, I thought it was rather unbelievable that a nurse would bring home a patient to have some hot sex with him. Anyway, to conclude, even though I think it is in fact slighly overrated, it remains a classic and a very entertaining werewolf flick and it is definitely worth a look.

For almost 10 years, almost every month, I went to the movie theater with Nick, my step-son. Traditionally, I have always been the one suggesting the movies that we should watch and we would take the final decision together but, for the first time, he made the suggestion and chose this movie. To be honest, I had actually not heard anything about this movie but it made the whole thing even more appealing. Unfortunately, even though I'm a sucker for this genre, it turned out to be a really weak apocalyptic thriller which didn't add anything interesting to the formula. Above all, I thought it was so sad to see Emile Hirsch in such an underwhelming feature. Seriously, what the hell happened to this guy?!? Indeed, 5 years before, he showed up in 'Into the Wild' and, even before this movie, he was easily one of the most promising actors around but, nowadays, I don't hear much from him anymore and, with such disappointing flicks, it won't get better anytime soon. Furthermore, even though Nick was rather fascinated by the aliens and their 'electric' behaviour, to be honest, I didn’t think it was anything really interesting. Anyway, to conclude, even though I was seen worse movies,  it was still a weak and boring SF flick and it is not really worth a look.