Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Clive Owen, I thought I should give it a try. Indeed, back in 1998, Clive Owen got his breakthrough performance in 'Croupier' and, 5 years later, he was reunited with the same director Mike Hodges to make this flick. First of all, I really liked this title which was pretty awesome, so that was a good start. Furthermore, I really enjoyed the directing which created a nice gritty look and there was a good and effective cast (Clive Owen, Charlotte Rampling, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Malcolm McDowell). However, even though the story was entertaining enough, it was not really mind-blowing whatsoever. Basically, it was pretty much 'Unforgiven'  taking place in the UK nowadays this time. I mean, basically, I have seen this kind of stories of a gangster coming back from retirement to avenge himself too many times before and, in my opinion, they didn't add much to this formula, I’m afraid. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it remains a well made and entertaining flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I didn't expect much from the damned thing but since it was broadcasted on one of my TV channels, I thought I might as well check it out. Basically, at the beginning of the 2000's, following 'Pitch Black', 'The Fast and the Furious' and 'xXx', Vin Diesel was heralded as the next big action movie star. Well, fast-forward a decade later and we can say that Vin Diesel never really managed to reach this status after all. I mean, after a string of decent box-office successes, this movie was in fact his first flop. Basically, the whole thing tried to be some kind of throwback to those macho action movies from the 80's and I have to admit that the directing was not bad, with a rather gritty and stylish look. The action scenes were also decent but nothing really impressive though and, eventually, I can't say I really enjoyed the damned thing. I mean, Vin Diesel was quite charismatic and he had the potential to be badass but the story was just really weak and even rather boring. Furthermore, they tried to add a stupid twist at the end but it made the whole thing even more non-sensical. Basically, the plot-holes were just so huge that a train could pass through them. To conclude, it was an average action flick and I don’t think it is really worth a look, only maybe if you are a huge fan of the genre.

At some point I bought the DVD for this film but, for some reasons, I gave it to a good friend of mine at the time who obviously didn't care at all for this movie (In fact, after all these years, I'm pretty sure he never have watched the damned thing) and I really now regret this decision which seemed to be a good idea at the time. Anyway, since I heard many good things about this movie, I was really eager to check it out but, to be honest, I didn't expect it to be so good. Indeed, it was the most hilarious movie I had seen in years. In fact, I'm usually really critical about comedies but this one was just a real riot, especially the first 30 minutes. There were some familiar faces (Tom Hollander, James Gandolfini, Steve Coogan) and some people I had never seen before (Peter Capaldi, Chris Addison, Mimi Kennedy) but they were all great, especially Peter Capaldi. Usually, comedies go for the cheap jokes but, here, it was the opposite, it was very smart, very witty and so funny. Furthermore, I'm a huge fan of movies dealing with politics and it must be the best political satire I have ever seen. Basically, according to the makers, politics have nowaydays not much to do with ideologies anymore but it is all about communications, strategies and allegiances. So, the whole thing was just hilarious, very interesting to watch and it is absolutely and definitely worth a look, especially if you like some good old British sense of humor.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. Well, even though this movie doesn’t have a stellar reputation, I have to admit that I have actually a weak spot for the damned thing and I would even go further and say that it is, in my opinion, actually superior to ‘Pretty Woman’. I mean, sure, half of the movie was pretty much the usual generic and predictable stuff that we would get during the following 3 decades with every single romantic-comedy starring Julia Roberts. However, the other half was actually really solid though. Indeed, the characters were quite realistic and they were all involved in some romances that were actually believable. On top of that, for once, they didn’t have a fancy creative job and they actually worked in a pizzeria which was quite refreshing. Concerning Julia Roberts, I have to admit that she was quite charming but, above all, I thought that her character was more flawed and interesting than her usual characters. Indeed, at some point, she pointed out that, except for her pretty face, she didn’t have much else going on which was pretty much one of the deepest comments ever coming from a Julia Roberts character. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really mind-blowing, it was still a decent romantic-comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but, with such a title, it could have been pretty awesome and there was definitely some potential. Furthermore, the fact that it was based on a real life story was quite promising. First of all, Simon Pegg was a great choice for the lead and, as usual, he was quite hilarious. I also enjoyed the rest of the cast (Megan Fox, Gillian Anderson, Jeff Bridges, Kirsten Dunst), even though, in my opinion, Megan Fox was not really successful in parodying herself. Unfortunately, some of the jokes were not really funny and, above all, they watered down the whole concept with a very predictable romantic-comedy. Furthermore, the main character’s obsession towards the Megan Fox character was, in my opinion,  rather annoying and uninteresting. So, the end-result was still half-baked. I mean, this study of the media world was really interesting and to see this real-life figure losing himself in this world was pretty neat but the whole romantic angle was rather boring. To conclude, there were some funny bits and some other boring stuff but the whole thing was still fairly entertaining and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like Simon Pegg.

Since this movie has a rather lame reputation, of course, I wasn't expecting much from the damned thing but since it was James Cameron's directing debut, I still wanted to check it out. Indeed, many people might think that James Cameron started his career with 'The Terminator' but it wasn't actually his first directing effort. Indeed, his first movie was in fact this massive piece of garbage. Basically, it was some kind of very cheap and boring version of 'Jaws' except that they replaced the sharks with some flying piranhas. Actually, to be honest, they didn't even look like some piranhas but it was rather difficult to tell with such horrendous special effects. Eventually, it was actually rather funny that the special effects looked so bad as Cameron would become eventually the reference in this area. Anyway, the story was just boring, the characters were not interesting or entertaining at all and the acting was just abysmal. It is quite understandable that Cameron would like to forget this movie all together (he officially disowned the damned thing) . Anyway, after this movie, he did bless us with some outstanding movies. To conclude, it was pretty bad and not really worth a look, even if you are curious to see how James Cameron started his impressive career.