Reviews by johanlefourbe

Back then, when this movie was released, there was a huge buzz about this flick and his director, Neil Marshall. Since then, and after a couple of disappointing movies ('Doomsday', 'Centurion'), we don't hear much from him but it didn't stop me from watching all his directing efforts. Personally, I really liked this movie, especially when they get stuck in the caverns. Indeed, it was really well done, you totally felt this claustrophobic feeling lived by the characters and I was definitely captivated by the movie. It was also interesting that the cast was made of unknown actresses as it made it even easier to idenfity with them. But then, suddenly, the movie completely went to completely different direction (don't worry, I won't spoil it) and I guess many viewers thought it was really awesome but, personally, I thought it was actually rather disappointing. Indeed, the material, until that point, was already fascinating and it could have been further developped but instead we got a rather standard monster slasher flick. The rest of the movie was just about people screaming, running around and getting massacred with tons of blood... It was well done but it was nothing I hadn't seen already 100 times before. Still, it remains a very well made flick, with some very good ideas and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you're into horror movies.

Since this movie has a really solid reputation, I was really eager to check it out. Eventually, I know it is a classic but, to be honest, it didn't really convince me. The main issue, I guess, is that it was pretty much a rather straightforward musical. I know, you might argue asking what’s wrong with a straightforward musical? The thing is that, by now, I have seen almost 5300 movies, I have seen all kind of movies in all kind of different genres, and I’m afraid that the musicals is the only genre I still have a really have a hard time to really care for. Eventually, for a movie in this genre to manage to really impress me, it has to be either really amazing or really original and I’m afraid it wasn’t really the case here. Indeed, sure, there were few good numbers (it was above all very neat to discover that the very cool song ‘If I Were a Rich Man’ actually came from this movie) but I was unfortunately rather bored during the whole thing. To conclude, I think the whole thing is not bad at all, it is just an acquired taste and it is still worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Sylvester Stallone, I thought I might as well give it a try. In fact, something pretty weird happened with this flick. Indeed, for some reasons, I actually really loved the intro. Basically, you get to see Stallone's back in close up and slow-motion with some really kick-ass music. The whole thing lasted maybe only 1 minute but I thought it looked just downright amazing. It's just really funny because after those 60 seconds, I barely enjoyed anything for the rest of the movie and I thought it was terribly predictable and completely forgettable. It’s too bad because the whole thing had some potential and it sounded like a perfect project for Stallone. I haven’t seen the original version starring Michael Caine, it does look awesome so I will definitely check it out at some point, but this remake was just one of those weak and underperforming action flicks that Stallone used to make before his come-back with ‘Rocky Balboa’ in 2006. To conclude, I have seen worse but I think it was still a disappointing feature and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

I don’t know if you have noticed it but I tend to watch some of the most obscure flicks and, sometimes, I even wonder how I ended up watching some of those in the first place. This movie is a perfect example. Indeed, what the hell was this? Why did I watch this movie?!? I think the only reason was probably because Judi Dench and Ian McKellen were involved but even though both are quite awesome, I don’t think it was a good reason to watch the damned thing. Anyway, I thought that the premise was not really inspiring and I thought that Richard E. Grant didn't have enough charisma to portray a convincing lead. Apparently, he was amazing in ‘Withnail & I’ so I should give him a second chance and watch this huge British classic instead. Concerning Samantha Mathis, she took the role because it was shot in England and, this way, she would avoid the press following the death of her boyfriend at the time, the late River Phoenix. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, it was just a rather predictable and forgettable romantic feature. To conclude, even though I have seen worse, I really had a hard time to care for this flick and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but, somehow, I still ended up watching the damned thing. First of all, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jason Biggs are probably two of the most uninspiring actors at work nowadays and the fact that they were united in this movie was certainly not a good sign. Eventually, I have to admit that it could have been worse and it was still slightly watchable but, still, nothing really surprising, interesting or entertaining happened during the whole thing. Concerning Jason Biggs, it was in fact the next movie he made after his breakthrough in ‘American Pie’ and, in this movie and pretty much everything else he would do afterwards, he would basically play Jim Levenstein all over again which would get old pretty quickly. Concerning Claire Forlani, I always had a weak spot for her but I have to admit that her career has always been rather disappointing and this movie is certainly a perfect example of the kind of projects she got herself involved into. To conclude, I think my rating is quite generous here and I don’t think this movie is really worth a look, except maybe you are a die-hard fan of the genre.

Obviously, since  'Nightmare on Elm street' was a success at the box-office, they quickly came up with a sequel. Since I really liked the first installment, I was quite eager to see this sequel but it turned out to be a disappointment. Apparently, it was an even bigger success at the box-office but it has been rightfully criticized ever since its release. Indeed, pretty much everything going from the acting, the directing and the story was seriously average. Above all, they drastically changed the concept with some poor results. First of all, even though the main character of the previous movie did survive, they didn't bring her back which was rather surprising and, instead, they focused on the new people living in the same house but it wasn't in fact a really bad idea. However, this time, they brought a new twist as Freddy Krueger was able to take over this boy so he could commit his murders but this idea had really nothing to do with the original concept. Above all, Krueger was this time even able to kill his victims when they weren't even sleeping at all which completely clashed with the identity of this killer. It was especially weird during the pool scene when he started to kill a whole bunch of teenagers. Anyway, to conclude,  even though it was maybe not the worst installment in this franchise, it was still pretty weak and I don't think it is really worth a look.

Of course, I wasn't expecting much before watching this flick and I pretty much got what I expected. Indeed, apparently, Jerry Bruckheimer didn’t want to only focus on some huge brainless blockbusters but, apparently, at some point, he decided he should also produce something without any explosions but still completely brainless but also slightly exploitative. I call it ‘slightly’ exploitative because even though the poster and the trailer tease you and make you believe you're going to see some hot chicks, the end result was eventually rather harmless and innocent. So, that was already disappointing but, to make things worse, the plot was just very predictable and completely forgettable. Anyway, the most interesting thing was to see, for all the girls involved, how their career eventually evolved. Piper Perabo, who was just starting at the time, was supposed to become pretty huge after this movie but it never really happened even though she recently managed to have some decent TV success with ‘Covert Affairs’. Concerning Tyra Banks, back then she thought she could become an actress which was rather pathetic and a few years later, she would launch ‘America's Next Top Model’, a dead horse she will keep beating until the end of time. Concerning Izabella Miko, she was the least known in this group and she has been involved in some rather obscure flicks ever since. Concerning Bridget Moynahan, this movie launched her career and she even flirted with the A list for a while but, recently, she hasn’t done anything really interesting. Finally, Maria Bello was easily the best actress involved, also pretty much starting up career here and she became much more interesting as the years went by. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, even though it could have been worse, I thought it was still pretty weak, my rating is probably too generous and I don’t think it is worth a look.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much with this movie but, somehow, I still ended up watching it. To my surprise, it was even worse than I thought... Apparently, Dane Cook is a famous stand-up comedian in the US, so, they thought they should take advantage of his burgeoning popularity and released some comedies with the guy. Well, that might have been a decent plan but the premise was not very interesting, Jessica Alba was not convincing at all and Dane Cook was just so damned annoying and didn't display any talent whatsoever. The main issue I had with this flick is that even though it is supposed to be edgy and raunchy, it is not, and at some point, it pathetically struggles to make the main character some nice guy after all. I mean, if you decide to go down this path, you should show some balls and go all the way instead of going all mushy on the viewers. Concerning Jessica Alba, sure, she looks fine but this movie is a fine example of how underwhelming her career has been for so many years. I have to admit it, at the end of the day, it was not a really bad movie but it is just so average and generic, you probably should just avoid it.

Honestly, I have no idea how I ended up watching this flick… Was it because Christopher Lee was involved in the damned thing? Since I’m not a huge fan of this actor, it seems rather unlikely. Maybe I wanted to see it because it was Hammer production? Anyway, the ratings were pretty solid and even Christopher Lee has been quoted as saying that it was the best film Hammer ever made, at least, among the movies he has made for them. Anyway, it was basically a very old horror flick and, to be honest, I didn’t really share Lee’s enthusiasm as it felt very dated. Still, even though I’m not a huge fan of the genre, I thought it was not bad at all and fairly entertaining. Lee in fact had only a supporting part and the lead was played by the lovely Susan Strasberg, daughter of the famous acting coach Lee Strasberg. I have seen her in a couple of movies but her career never really took off eventually. Anyway, to conclude, even though the whole thing was not really amazing, I thought it was a solid older horror feature and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.