Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, to be honest, I have to admit it that it was actually not bad at all after all. Indeed, there were actually some pretty good things in this movie. Obviously, the fact that there was Christopher Walken was involved was a major improvement. Indeed, the guy is always a treat and he pretty much stole the show as usual. On top of that, the idea was not bad at all but, unfortunately, there were also some disappointing elements. First of all, I have honestly nothing against Brendan Fraser, I keep watching movies with starring the guy but he is most of the times just so bland, I think he must be one of the most underwhelming lead actors I have ever seen. Concerning Alicia Silverstone, it is actually pretty much the same problem. Basically, she became very famous following ‘Clueless’ but I never really managed to see her appeal at all but I'm not the only one since her career became really disappointing very quickly. Anyway, to conclude, even though the whole thing had some potential, it was still rather average after all but I still think it is worth a look.

It is hard to believe that, at some point, Eddie Murphy was one of the biggest stars in the world and his movies were all biggest hits at the box-office. Nowadays, he spends most of his time ruining his legacy and all his movies have been some massive flops. This movie might be the best example. I mean, first of all, I don't know who said that a man in a fat woman suit was actually funny but the guy was definitely a complete moron... Basically, the whole thing was terribly misguided right from the start and it was just sad that such a charming and talented actress like Thandie Newton would get involved in this. In my opinion, Eddie Murphy should really look for another trick than this disguises. I mean, it wasn't really funny even in 'Coming to America' back then but it is now really getting ridiculous and completely obnoxious. Eventually, he would make 2 other movies with Brian Robbins, ‘Meet Dave’ and ‘A Thousand Words’, and both movies were just pretty terrible as well, especially ‘Meet Dave’. To conclude, this movie was quite a disaster and a complete waste of time, it might be the worst movie ever made starring Murphy and you should pretty much avoid it.

Since I kept hearing some great things about this flick, I was really eager to check this flick. Eventually, I thought that this movie was totally heartbreaking but also very inspiring. If you think you have a difficult life, you should really check this movie. Indeed, it is a massive wake-up call and made me really think about my own life and how lucky I have been so far. On top of that, it also works as a really exciting thriller/sport feature. Indeed, it is not just about those guys trying to give some meaning to their life, it is also about their next big tournament and if they will win the damned thing, even if they have to face their previous coach. Obviously, since it was a massive critical success, it was nominated for the Academy Award for the Best Documentary Feature but even though it should have won in my opinion, it lost to ‘March of the Penguins’ which was maybe a huge box-office hit but I thought it was actually rather overrated. Anyway, to conclude, I thought it was an amazing feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see a really inspiring documentary.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a really nice cast, I thought I might as well give it a try. Eventually, I was amazed about how underwhelming the whole thing was. I mean, sure, the cast was pretty neat (Paul Rudd, Jessica Alba, Winona Ryder, Famke Janssen, Gretchen Mol, Justin Theroux, Liev Schreiber, Oliver Platt, ....) but it was just so lame! Indeed, the jokes were not funny and, above all, I thought that the directing was rather amateurish... It is possible that the concept had some potential but it was just so poorly developed. Seriously, I don’t think there was actually one single segment that I actually enjoyed. Surprisingly, the seemingly untalented David Wain would come only a year later with the surprisingly satisfying ‘Role Models’ so there is always some hope, I guess. On the other hand, everything else he did afterwards, always starring Paul Rudd, was terribly weak (‘Wanderlust’, ‘They Came Together’) so it seems that the guy should still look for another job after all. Anyway, to conclude, I think I might be really generous with my rating here, it was just a really weak comedy and you should pretty much just avoid this mess.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this but since I have a weak spot for Michael Douglas, I was quite eager to check this flick. Indeed, I think that he is an interesting actor and it was pretty neat to see him acting with his own father, Kirk Douglas who is also a legend in his own right, and his own son, Cameron Douglas who is right now in jail for some major drug charges (he won’t get out anytime soon apparently). Anyway, coming back out to our main feature, the story was not really good, I’m afraid. Basically, it is one of these movies which give you some clever casting but not much else. I think it’s too bad because this movie actually had some potential. Indeed, for example, if you take Cameron Douglas and his own drugs issues, the movie actually mirrored his life and it gave the whole thing some kind of meta vibe. Concerning Kirk Douglas, with all respect, he didn’t really impress me here but, on the other hand, I should focus instead on his older movies to get a better idea of his talent. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is worth a look but don’t expect anything really brilliant before watching it.

Obviously, I didn’t expect much from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Christopher Walken, I thought I might as well give it a try. So, before watching the damned thing, I knew already that it would be kind of lame but it was even worse than I expected. In my opinion, the whole concept actually had some potential but it was just really poorly developed in my opinion. It seems that the makers decided that to make a parody of sport movies dealing with ping pong was already hilarious on its own. Well, it sounded pretty stupid and they managed to give a rather stupid movie. Another issue was also to give the lead part to Dan Fogler. I mean, sure, the guy can be a decent sidekick but he definitely doesn’t have the shoulders to carry a movie like this one. I have to admit it, it was nice to have the really charming Maggie Q but neither she or Christopher Walken could save this mess. To conclude, even though I have seen worse, I thought the whole thing was rather underwhelming and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

It was nice to see Billy Crystal try something else but then that's about it. There is nothing original and it is rather predictable.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from the whole thing but I was looking for something to watch with my kids so I thought we could check this one out. Eventually, I have to admit it, they really liked it but I was rather bored during the whole thing. At least, the guinea pics were well animated and rather cute, I'll give you that, so I guess it could be appealing for young children. Unfortunately, the story was way too generic, predictable and therefore really boring. This kind of movies is actually one of the results of the current CGI modern technology. Basically, if they have the right budget, the film makers can pretty much do whatever they want visually so, for the last 10 years, we get on a regular basis such movies with CGI animated animals. This one is maybe not the worst I have seen but it was still pretty weak though. Furthermore, even though we might give some credit to Jerry Bruckheimer for trying something in the family genre, it didn't work out really well for him as this movie didn't launch a franchise as he was probably hoping for. To conclude, I wouldn't recommend this flick and you should watch it only if you have some very very young children to entertain.

It a rather obscure feature so I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the damned thing but since I always had a weak spot for Robert Redford and Willem Dafoe, I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, I have to admit it, the whole thing was rather formulaic and predictable but I still thought it was fairly enjoyable to watch. Indeed, as I mentioned before, I really like Robert Redford and Willem Dafoe and they were both pretty good in this. The directing was also all-right. Apparently, it was the directing debut of Pieter Jan Brugge, a Dutch producer who went to the same film school as me (the Nederlandse Filmacademie). Apparently, the guy managed to continue his film studies in the USA and became a fairly successful producer there (he was even nominated for an Academy Award for ‘The Insider’). It wasn’t really surprising that it was a directing debut but Brugge definitely displayed some potential and it’s too bad he didn’t direct anything else afterwards. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really ground-breaking, I thought it was a decent thriller and I think it is worth a look though, especially if you like the genre.

After all these years, it is still pretty strange that those ninja turtles are still massively popular. I mean, if you think about for just a minute, it is actually a seriously concept but, somehow, the audience really loved it and still loves it to this day. Sure, when I was a kid, I did watch the cartoon but, even though I thought it was fairly entertaining, I wasn’t really a huge fan. On the other hand, my little brother just really loved the damned thing and I’m pretty sure he saw this movie when it was released. Eventually, it took me about 20 years to finally to watch the damned thing. Eventually, to be honest, I really hard a hard time to care for the whole thing and I thought it was just seriously boring. I don’t know, maybe if I had watched it when I was 12 years old kid, I would have enjoyed it more. But unfortunately, I'm in my 30's now and I thought it was actually pretty lame. To conclude, I thought it was pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of those turtles.