Reviews by johanlefourbe

Honestly, with Joel Schumacher, you never really know what you’ll get, a decent flick or something really terrible, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie. On top of that, I'm not a big fan of musicals so I was not really the best audience for a movie like this one. However, I thought it was actually not bad at all, quite gorgeous to look at and there were some nice songs. It was also fun to see Gerard Butler before he reached fame with ‘300’ and I thought he was actually quite convincing. Eventually, the big revelation in this movie was the charming and really talented Emmy Rossum who was just 16 years old when she made this movie. After watching this, I expected a lot from her but, unfortunately, 10 years later, we don’t hear much about her anymore which is quite a shame (on the other hand, if you pick up movies like ‘Dragonball Evolution’ and ‘Poseidon’, you can expect your career to take a dive). Coming back to our main feature, the main issue I had was with the story which I didn't find really compelling enough. I know, it is not the point here but without an interesting story, I get bored even when watching a musical. Still, in spite of its flaws, it is actually a decent flick and it is definitely worth a look especially if you are a fan of the genre. 

Honestly, Kim Ki-Duk must be the most frustrating director I know. I mean, the guy has a pretty good reputation and I keep watching his flicks (I have seen 4 of them by now) but, eventually, none of them succeeded in really blowing me away (I have to admit it, ‘Bin-jip’ was pretty good though). I can see that his movies are highly artistic and profound but I can't say I enjoy them. Among his work, this flick is so far the one that impressed me the least. I mean, it was actually not bad, the story was kind of interesting but sometimes rather plain boring. On top of that, the male lead character was such a despicable guy, in my opinion, it made the whole thing rather painful to watch and therefore, I had a rather hard time to care about the whole thing. The point is that with Kim Ki-Duk’s work, there is always a high level of philosophical sub-text which I always had a hard time to digest even with a movie like ‘Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom’ which is considered a masterpiece, and this time, it was even more difficult than usual to swallow. To conclude, even though I didn’t care much for it, it is definitely not a bad movie but it remains an acquired taste in my opinion. 

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from the flick (with such a lame title, how could it be any good?!?) but since it was directed by the late Sidney Lumet, I thought I should give it a try. Even though Sidney Lumet had made maybe 4 or 5 real classics, he has also directed some really weak movies as well (‘The Wiz’ might be the worst in my opinion) and I have noticed that many consider this erotic thriller as being his very worst directing effort. Eventually, in spite of my poor expectations, I thought it was not bad at all. I mean, obviously, it was nothing amazing but, in this genre (the slimy erotic thriller) which has never been oscar worthy, I thought it was actually fairly entertaining. As usual, Rebecca de Mornay couldn’t really act and and she was still surfing on her new found fame she reached with ‘The Hand That Rocks the Cradle’ but I thought she actually had some great chemistry with Don Johnson and the story was pretty far-fetched but entertaining enough. Anyway, to conclude, it was nothing original whatsoever but I think it is a rather well made thriller and it is actually worth a look, at least, if you really like the genre.

After ‘Monster’ and winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Charlize Theron’s profile got pretty serious and since then, she has tried to reach that level again with some rather mixed results (on the other hand, if you compare her career with Hilary Swank's , one of the most disappointing actresses out there, she didn’t do so bad after all). Anyway, this time again, she goes for a feature which was obviously aiming for the Academy Awards but, when this movie came out, it was fairly unnoticed. Personally, I think it's pity since it was actually a pretty good flick. I mean, to be honest, it was not a very original story but I thought it was still a very well made and strong drama. Once again, Charlize Theron provided a very good perfomance as a white trash woman (since 'Monster', it seems that it has become some kind of speciality for her) and she was surrounded by a very good supporting cast. To conclude, even though it is pretty much forgotten nowadays, I think it is actually a really good drama and, in my opinion, it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I kept hearing so many good things about this flick, I was really curious to check it out. In the fact, the whole project sounded rather unlikely as it was written by Nick Cave (best known as the frontman of the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) and directed by John Hillcoat, a rather unknown director at the time who shot music videos for several bands including Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. Eventually, I wasn't disappointed. Basically, I thought it was a really gorgeous 'Western' (this term actually doesn't fit since this story took place in Australia but whatever...) and all the actors involved (Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Emily Watson, John Hurt, David Wenham ) gave some really amazing performances. I must say it was a really raw and bleak movie filled with hopelessness but it didn't bother me, in the contrary. Following this critical success, John Hillcoat has become quite a popular director and his following features (‘Lawless’, ‘The Road’) managed to get some pretty good reviews as well, even though I was personally slightly disappointed by ‘The Road’.  To conclude, I think it completely deserves its reputation, it is indeed a rather fascinating picture and it is definitely worth a look.

You can say whatever you want but this is one bad-ass poster and only therefore I was quite eager to check this flick. Basically, it is one of those cheesy monster movies that they used to make in the 80's and even though it was not a big hit during its theatrical run, it became a runaway smash in the home video market, and ultimately tripled its original box office gross with VHS sales and rentals. Personally, I have to say it was quite well done and the whole thing was pretty entertaining. In my opinion, Kevin Bacon has always been really underrated and here he was pretty good as usual. My main complaint would be the that this flick didn't surprise me whatsoever. That's too bad and I wished they pushed the envelop a little bit instead of pretty much following the formula. After watching this flick, Nick, my step-son, who has always been a huge fan of monster movies, has kept bugging me to watch the numerous sequels (there are 3 of them) but I’m not really interested in these direct-to-DVD features which seem pretty lame. Still, even though it is nothing really amazing in my opinion, it remains a very well made and entertaining flick and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but, since I have a weak spot for Ashley Judd and Jim Carrey, I thought I should check this one out. First of all, you shouldn't watch it just for Jim Carrey since he just has a cameo, nothing more. Honestly, I wonder why he decided to show up in this flick and it was actually rather distracting to see him for no obvious reasons. Concerning the movie itself, I thought it was a rather well made drama but it didn't add much to this genre and there was nothing original about it. Furthermore, the story was alright but definitely not mind-blowing whatsoever and after watching many dramas with a similar plot before, I was rather underwhelmed by the whole thing. I mean, they tried very hard to make it all sound inspiring and uplifting but it didn't really work for me but maybe I was not the right audience for this. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, it remains a well made drama, the actors involved did a good job and it think it is still worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Personally, I have never been a huge fan of the Harry Potter franchise but my wife and kids really loved them so we ended up watching the last 4 installments in the movie theater at the time. In my opinion, this 6th installment might have been the most disappointing Harry Potter flick. I mean, like the previous installments, it was really well done and spectacular with some awesome action scenes but the story was rather underwhelming. Thanks to Alfonso Cuaron, they really improved the concept and the 4th installment was the best one, in my opinion, but after that, they never tried to push it even further. In my opinion, the biggest mistake was to bring back David Yates as a director. It's not that he did a really bad job with the previous installment, it's just that it would have been more interesting to have someone else trying to add something new  to this formula.  I mean, I have to admit it, it was not bad at all and it has always been neat to see the evolution of these characters but I can't say that the whole thing was spellbinding whatsoever and the end was just a really cold shower. Honestly, you spend more than 2 hours to get this conclusion?!? Also, what hell happened to Cho?!? I mean, Harry Potter's first crush was never really convincing but they did spend 2 entire movies developing this crush but, for this movie, she was completely dropped out for an even more underwhelming love story. Still, even though I don’t think it was anything mind-blowing whatsoever, it remains an entertaining blockbuster and it is worth a look, especially if you have followed the previous adventures involving Harry Potter and his buddies.