Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even though I wasn’t really sure about this movie, since I have a weak spot for Edward Zwick’s work, I was quite eager to check it out, especially since this movie was his directing debut. Well, even though it wasn’t really grounbreaking I thought it was not bad at all. Still, there were a few things that did bother me. First of all, the music was just really weak. Basically, it was one of these cheesy soundtracks typical of the 80's and it was borderline cringe-inducing. Furthemore, the dialogues felt a little bit overwritten and the whole thing was rather predictable. And, yet, there was still some good stuff in this movie. Indeed, I really liked the characters. They were really three dimensional and, for once,  they had also a believable life and some genuine behavior. Finally, even though they never were some amazing actors, Demi Moore and Rob Lowe were a great couple in this movie and they had some great chemistry together. Almost 30 years later, they came up with a remake with a black cast and I should watch it at some point since it is available on Netflix. Anyway coming back to our main feature, to conclude, it is definitely not a masterpiece but I think it is still worth a look, especially if you are looking for a realistic romantic movie.

Obviously, since the reviews for this movie were just terrible, I had some really low expectations concerning the damned thing. In spite its really lame reputation, I still wanted to check it out since I loved the cartoon when I was a child (in fact, I even saw the very first episode of ‘Dragon Ball’ when it was aired on the French television). Well, even though many people complained about Michael Bay for virtually raping their childhood with the ‘Transformers’ franchise, compared to what they did with this movie, you could say that Bay didn’t do so bar after all. Indeed, in this case, the whole thing was just plain bad. In fact, I have to admit that the story was actually rather faithfull to the cartoon but the dialogues were ridiculous and the special effects were just pathetic. One of the worst thing was the fact at the movie started like an average standard high-school comedy?!? Seriously, how did they come up with this idea? That was just so lame. To conclude, even though I do believe that they were some decent ideas here and there, the end-result was still pretty boring, ugly and not entertaining whatsoever so the whole thing is definitely not worth a look whatsoever. 

To be honest, I really wonder how I ended up watching this flick. I  mean, I do remember that I saw it when it was on TV but why did I choose it? I guess it sounded intriguing so I decided to give it a try. And how on Earth did Victoria Abril ended up playing in a Icelandic movie?!?  Eventually, it didn't really matter since I rather enjoyed this movie which displayed some colorful and interesting characters. I thought it gave also an interesting view on the life in Iceland even if  it may not have been accurate at all. Eventually, I think the whole thing was slightly too quirky for my taste but I thought most of it worked fairly well nonetheless. Since then, Baltasar Kormákur has actually developed a decent career, splitting his time between some rather obscure indie productions in Island but also in the US and some actually fairly decent action flicks made in Hollywood (‘Contraband’, ‘2 Guns’ and ‘Everest’ which was easily the most interesting one of this bunch). To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I remember it very well, in the mid-90’s, Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg started the Dogme movement. Right from the start, I thought it was quite a fascinating concept and I tried to watch most of these movies when they were released in the movie theater at the time. Anyway, from all these experimental features, this one was maybe the most original one. Indeed, most of the Dogme features were some rather heavy dramas but this one was something completely different. This time, they apparently decided to make a romantic comedy, therefore mixing the  the Dogme rules with a typical formula used by most of the romantic-comedies. Eventually, even though it seemed to be a rather unlikely mix, I thought that the end result was actually rather satisfying. I mean, obviously, like any other romantic-comedy, it was fairly generic, preventing the whole thing from being really amazing, but there was definitely a refreshing feeling to it (at least, it was not as depressing as ‘Festen’ was) and I just really enjoyed it. To conclude, even though it is probably not a masterpiece, it is still a really original romantic-comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I remember it very well, since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out.  The other reason was probably the fact I really enjoyed the remake directed by Christopher Nolan so I was rather curious about this original version. Eventually,  I'm not sure which version I prefer between this movie and the US remake. Indeed, even though the plot was obviously similar, the style between those two movies was completely different and, as a result, both movies were really enjoyable to watch which is something really rare. Anyway, I thought it is a rather fascinating story, the directing was decent and Stellan Skarsgard, for once playing the lead, gave a solid performance. Furthermore, I thought it was pretty nice to see Stellan Skarsgard in a Scandinavian feature for once.  Concerning the director Erik [Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see], this movie got him noticed internationally and he went to make his following directing effort in the US, ‘Prozac Nation’ starring Christina Ricci. Unfortunately, it was shelved  for many years and barely noticed when it was finally released so Skjoldbjærg went back to Norway. Coming back to our main feature, to conclude, even though it is probably not a masterpiece, it is still a really solid thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

At some point, Lukas Moodysson was supposed to become one of the best directors from Europe, even one of the best directors in the world, especially after the amazing ‘Lilja 4-ever’ but , apparently, something went wrong and we don’t hear much from him anymore. What happened was basically ‘Ett hål i mitt hjärta’. I mean, I did hear some rather bad things about this movie but I didn’t expect it to be so awful and it is not very often that I came across such a career-destroying disaster of a movie. Anyway, before this amazing piece of garbage, Moodysson started his career with this charming little teenage drama. To be honest,  I wasn't completely blown away like I expected to be especially considering its impressive reputation,  but it was still a very good flick. Indeed, even though I felt it was slightly too generic and predictable, it was still a touching story and all the young actors were all very convincing. To conclude, even though I don’t think it was really a masterpiece, it was really a decent directing debut, it was a solid teenage drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Lukas Modysson's work. 

Back then, there was a lot of hype surrounding the Dogme and this was the second movie featuring those rules. I was personally completely blown away by 'Festen' directed by Thomas Vinterberg which was the first movie featuring the Dogme rules so I was really eager to watch this second movie. Eventually, to be honest, I ended up with some mixed feelings. Indeed, the main issue here is that the whole thing seemed actually rather pointless to me. I mean, why do they in fact choose this way of life? Basically, you have a bunch of elitists who decided to act as mentally retarded people, that's it and the only reason I could come up with is that thanks to them Lars Von Trier could make this movie, that's all. Sure, I understand it worked as a critic towards our modern society but I still think it was far-fetched to believe that a group of people would choose to live like this. But even though it was flawed, I thought this flick was still really interesting. Indeed, as usual, this director manipulates the viewer and he manages to make this flick still rather fascinating. Eventually, even though it was not as amazing as 'Festen', it is still a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Lars von Trier's work.