Reviews by johanlefourbe

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.

I don’t know if you have noticed it but I’m a not huge fan of Jackie Chan. The funny thing is that I have actually seen virtually all his US productions which are probably his worst work. With this in mind, I thought this movie would be completely terrible (it also has a genuine rather lousy reputation) but, to be honest, I ended up being relatively positively surprised. I mean, obviously, to have the movie somewhat focusing on Passepartout instead of Phileas Fogg was a rather weird and misguided choice and the whole thing was obviously nothing great but, still, I thought it was not too bad at all and, in fact, much more entertaining than most of the movies I have seen starring Jackie Chan. Eventually, it was another massive commercial flop for Disney who hasn’t been able to make a really profitable familly feature for at least a couple of decades. Lukily for them, they still own Marvel and even Star Wars, so they are pretty much safe financially. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I thought it was rather enjoyable for what it is and I think it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of Steve Martin. Indeed, basically, I keep trying with this actor but most of his movies are just so average and there are only a few exceptions. This time, 7 years after ‘Housesitter’, he was working again with Goldie Hawn and, I have to admit it, I thought it was not bad at all and I would go as far as saying that it is actually one of his best movies. So, with this in mind, they was a possibility that this comedy could be fairly entertaining. Well, it wasn’t, I’m afraid. Indeed, the whole thing was just very predictable, very average and not really funny. Even the always dependable John Cleese couldn't save this from being a bore to watch. Apparently, it was a remake of comedy from the 70’s starring Jack Lemmon and since this original version was hardly a classic, you might wonder if a modern remake was really necessary. To conclude, I have seen worse (for example, ‘Bringing Down the House’ also starring Steve Martin is pretty abysmal, but it was still a rather weak comedy and I don’t think it is really worth a look, expect maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Steve Martin or Goldie Hawn.

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. Well, even though I really loved this flick the first time around, to be honest, I wasn't really impressed with this rewatch though. I mean, I still think it is a decent watch but I don't think it it is actually one of Spike Lee's best movies. At least, Denzel Washington gave here one of his very few really dark performances and he was just awesome. Not only the guy is immensely charismatic but he definitely has some talent and, as displayed here, he actually has some range as well and it is a real shame he doesn't take more risks and always ends up playing basically some variation of the same character over and over again. I was also impressed by Ray Allen who was, at the time, a major NBA player and it was nice to see that, not only he could play some ball but he could also stand on his own against one of the finest thespians. However, if I thought at first that the story was really strong, I wasn't really impressed this time around. First of all, to be honest, the concept of a convict being allowed one week of freedom so he could convince his son to join a specific college was rather far-fetched. However, the biggest issue was there was a bunch of half-baked sub-plots that didn't really work, especially the one involving Milla Jovovich playing a prostitue. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Spike Lee's work.