Reviews by johanlefourbe

Honestly, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since the buzz around it was rather intriguing, I was quite eager to check it out. Apparently, many viewers were bothered that the whole thing was basically a remake of ‘Rear Window’ (a movie I finally watched in the mean time) but I didn’t really mind. Anyway, the story wasn't bad and I thought that Shia Labeouf was pretty good. Basically, LaBeouf was hand-picked by Steven Spielberg himself since he was impressed by his performance in ‘Holes’. This movie, in turn, convinced Spielberg that LaBeouf could handle the action starring roles in ‘Transformers’ and ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’. Fast forward 7 years later, and Shia LaBeouf has now gone from box-office darling to weird insecure nutjob (some might even call him an attention whore). Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I thought that the concept was great as it was a real interesting idea to have your main character being a teenager under house-arrest. Unfortunately, the end was a real let down and it pretty much ruined the movie for me. Still, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I think it was quite enjoyable and it is definitely worth a look.

The late Roger Ebert was my all-time favorite movie critic and 95% of the time, I agreed with him or I was able see from where he was coming from but, sometimes, for some of his reviews, we really had some different opinions. This movie is pretty good example. I mean, I really wanted to like this movie but I wasn’t able to connect with this flick at all. Indeed, back in the 90’s, there was this fad of making some modern adaptations of some plays written by Shakespeare (see also ‘Romeo + Juliet’ or ‘Hamlet’ from 2000) and, to be honest, I never cared for this phenomenom and since none of these movies became really succesfull, I guess I wasn’t the only one to feel that way. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, the whole thing just seemed way too convoluted and, in my opinion, the dialogs and the situations just didn't fit the setting at all. At least, I have to admit that Josh Harnett gave a pretty good performance but, a part from that, there was nothing much interesting to see here. To conclude, even though the whole thing had some potential, I didn’t really like it and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

It was a while since I saw this movie so I thought I should give it another shot. Well, I can't say I really enjoyed those 'Rush Hour' movies, that's for sure. I mean, I have to admit it, the first one was not bad but it was still definitely nothing great either. Eventually, since the first movie had some success, they basically repeated exactly the same formula without adding anything original at all. Even though it was rather predictable, they moved the action this time to Hong-Kong, which was actually a good idea, but, for some reasons, only half of it was shot there and, then, they moved back to the US which was rather disappointing. The other thing that bothered me was the fact that there was absolutely no consistency whatsoever concerning the Chinese characters. Indeed, sometimes, they would speak Chinese together (which made more sense) but, then, for some reasons, they would suddenly speak English to one another for no reason. At least, they finally added some nice ladies to the story (Roselyn Sanchez and Ziyi Zhang) and they were both quite charming but their characters were both seriously underwhelming. Eventually, aside from the boring story, I thought that there was also barely any chemistry between Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker this time around and I'm really amazed that this movie was such a box-office success when it was released. 

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I have it on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. To be honest, even though the title and the concept were pretty awesome, eventually, the movie didn't really fulfill my expectations. I remember it very well, before this flick was released, there was a big buzz about it and some major controversy, mostly about the title. Indeed, many found it inappropriate to have the ‘P’ word in the title but I thought it was genius and a rather impressive marketing stunt. However, as usual with Kevin Smith, the whole thing turned out to be quite harmless. I mean, I have to admit that it was funny, entertaining and all but I wish it had been edgier. Above all, up until they start to shoot their porn flick, the damned thing was actually pitch-perfect and very often quite hilarious. Unfortunaly, it seems that Kevin Smith pretty much chickened out concerning the shooting of the porn flick as it turned out to be terribly tame and, above all, not really entertaining.  Anyway, apparently, Smith was really disappointed that this movie did underperform at the box-office and he thought, especially with Seth Rogen involved, that he would have had some commercial success but it wasn’t meant to be. Personally, I thought it was quite understandable. I mean, on one hand, many people would obviously avoid a movie with such a title and subject, whereas the audience who might be interested didn’t care much for it since it was so tame. Still, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was a nice ride and it is definitely some compulsory viewing for any decent Kevin Smith fan.

Like many other actors, Forest Whitaker decided to direct some movies as well but, unlike some of them who managed to have a pretty good career in this field, his work as a director has been rather weak so far. Indeed, his directing debut, ‘Waiting to Exhale’ was nothing really amazing but, at least, there was some potential whereas this 2nd directing effort was seriously underwhelming. First of all, I have to confess, I really like Sandra Bullock. Indeed, she is a very nice actrice and she is always cute and charming and all but, unfortunately, she always shows up in the same old romantic movies and this movie was not an exception. On top of that, the introduction was seriously awful. Indeed, I don’t think they could have found a worst way to introduce the main character and her situation and, even though the whole thing got better afterwards, it never really recovered from the damage done. Concerning Sandra Bullock, she would finally got some major recognition 10 years later with ‘The Blind Side’, a seriously overrated movie in my opinion, but I have to admit that she really impressed me in Gravity’. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I have seen worse but I still don’t think it is really worth a look, except if you are a huge fan of Sandra Bullock.

Since I kept hearing some good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out but, eventually, it turned out to be even better than I expectecd. To be honest, it must be one of the most depressing movies I have ever seen but it was still very good anyway. Indeed, the directing by Anton Corbijn was kind of mesmerizing which is even more impressive when you take into account that it was his directing debut and the main actor (Sam Riley) provided a great performance as well. It’s interesting that, for both of them, Corbijn and Riley, I had some great expectations after such an impressing debut but, unfortunately, their career didn’t really deliver the goods after that. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, the whole thing was very efficient in providing the feeling of that period and a feeling of the punk movement. You could also almost feel Ian Curtis's malaise. The best thing about this flick is that I didn’t really like Joy Division’s music, to be honest, but this biopic was still quite mesmerizing nonetheless. To conclude, I thought it was a really impressive picture and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Joy Division.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a really interesting director (Zhang Yimou) and a pretty cool cast (Chow Yun-fat, Gong Li), I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, I was actually really positively surprised by this movie and it was much better than I expected. Apparently, most of the critics thought it was decent feature but still a lesser effort compared to Zhang Yimou’s previous prestigious work. The fact that I haven’t seen most of Yimou’s older work (except for his directing debut ‘Hong gao liang’ and ‘Qiu Ju da guan si’ ) maybe made that I was more able to enjoy this movie for what it was. I mean, first of all, the whole thing looked really gorgeous. Furthermore, I'm a big fan of Gong Li and I thought she was awesome in this movie but the rest of the cast did a fine joob as well. Finally, even though I have to admit that it was very often quite over the top, I thought that the story was actually rather fascinating. To conclude, I really liked this movie a lot and it is definitely worth a look, especially if are interested in Asian movies.

Honestly, I didn't expect much from this flick and, indeed, I thought it was rather underwhelming... Obviously, the story was really weak and predictable but, at least, I knew this even before watching the damned thing. However, what was more surprising was the fact that Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan were both neither really good or charming, at least, that’s my opinion. Indeed, I thought that there was not much chemistry between them which is kind of weird because, a few years later, they eventually got married in real life. On top of that, what was even more most surprising and disappointing for me was that the dance sequences were not even really impressing. At least, I thought I would be blown away by the dance sequences but it never happened during the whole thing. In fact, I saw the sequel before watching this first installment and even though the story was just as lame, at least, some of the dance scenes were quite amazing. To conclude, it is a very average and boring flick, I didn't like it at all so it is not really worth a look, only maybe for a very young audience or if you are die-hard fan of this genre.

First of all, I never really understood the appeal and popularity of those ‘Rush Hour'movies. Indeed, I don't think Chris Tucker was really that funny and honestly, I have never been impressed by Jackie Chan. Eventually, 6 years later, they finally came up with a 3rd installment and, indeed, nobody really cared anymore since this flick was pretty much a flop at the box-office. Personally, I think it did deserve such a fate since it was easily the worst movie of the trilogy and even the fact that it took place in France didn't help much. Basically, it is just a rather average flick and all of the thing about the Asian and black buddy cops was never really funny in the first place. At least, I have to admit it, there was a surprising cameo by Roman Polanski but it was really a minor pleasure. Apparently, they might make a 4th installment which is rather depressing but if they wake up, they might just drop the whole thing. Anyway, to conclude, I think I’m being rather generous with my rating, the whole thing was just really underwhelming and I don’t think it is worth a look, except maybe if you are die-hard fan of this franchise.