Reviews by johanlefourbe

'Gegen die wand' must have been one of the most fascinating movies I have seen during the last 10 years and when I heard that Fatih Akin was coming back with a new directing effort and that it was another critical success, I was really eager to check it out. So, I was expecting a lot from this movie but, to be honest, I was a little bit disappointed by the whole thing. I mean, it was still a good movie, not doubt about it, with a very nice mood, some really interesting characters thanks to some solid performances and the directing was fine but I think the problem was that I never felt really dazzled by this story. I mean, most of it was actually fine but it was above all this combination of story-lines that I didn’t really work for me. Indeed, it all felt rather far-fetched. I mean, with 'Gegen die wand', the story was pretty far-out already but the big difference was that it was focusing on 2 characters while, in this case, it was much ambitious with more characters involved, more sub-plots, but, at the end of the day, I thought it was actually less efficient. To conclude, even though I was expecting more from this flick, it was still a decent watch and I think it is still definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Fatih Akin’s work. 

Even though this movie had a rather lame reputation, since I  have a weak spot for Mark Wahlberg, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I'm not really familiar with the video game it was based on but, with these modern video games, they should definitely be able to deliver something pretty cool but, unfortunately, most of the time, they messed it up pretty bad and this movie was not an exception, I’m afraid. I mean, I did like the mood, it was visually not bad at all and the Valkyr concept was interesting but there were basically 2 issues with this movie. First of all,  I thought it was seriously poorly written and, even though it was in fact a rather simple story, it was actually rather difficult to follow. Furthermore, I always thought that Mark Wahlberg had some potential, he has delivered at least 4 decent performances (‘Boogie night’, ‘Three kings’, ‘I heart Huckabees’, ‘The Departed’) but I think he actually gave here his worst performance so far. The craziest thing about this, is that, according to IMDB, Wahlberg said that his performance in this movie was his favorite one…  Anyway, to conclude, the whole thing had some potential but it turned out to seriously underwhelming and I don’t think it is worth a look. 

Even though this movie had a rather lame reputation, somehow, I still ended up watching the damned thing. Apparently, after making ‘Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls’, Jim Carrey decided he got enough of making sequels, he turned most of them down. Eventually, they all turned out to be some massive flops without him and this one was not exception. I mean, to start up, ‘Bruce Almighty’ was maybe a decent comedy but it was nothing great and it mostly worked thanks to Carrey. Therefore, without the funny guy, this project was pretty much doomed from the start. On top of that, it was incredibly expensive to make (8 years later, it is still the most expensive comedy ever made) and there would be approximately a 30 millions dollar loss after some disappointing results at the box-office. Basically, the end-result was rather boring and not really funny. Back then, Steve Carell just got his breakthrough a couple of years before with ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’ and even though the guy can be pretty funny, the whole concept was just really half-baked and they spent way too much time and money in some unnecessary special effects. To conclude, it is some very average stuff and,  in spite of Steve Carell, I’m afraid it  is not really worth a look.

Even though it is not really a famous movie, I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick so I was quite eager to check it out. In fact, I do know a few listal members who would tell you that this movie is a real masterpiece so I had some rather high expectations. Eventually, I can't say that it was really amazing after all. I mean, sure, it was not bad at all and there were some scenes that were pretty funny but I never thought it was great at any moment. First of all, I always had some major issue with Denis Leary. Indeed, I never thought he was a very good actor and I never find him really funny, ever, in this movie or another one. On the other hand, I have to admit that Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis were definitely good, I wouldn't expect less from Spacey who was still rather unknown at the time but, a year later, he would finally have his breakthrough with arguably 2 of the best thrillers ever made ('The Usual Suspects' and 'Seven'). Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, it was not bad and definitely worth a look but don't expect to see the best movie of the year before watching this.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but, somehow, I still ended up watching the damned thing. Basically, Steve Martin always reminds me of Eddie Murphy. Indeed, even if their comedies are usually rather underwhelming, their family features are actually even worse.  Indeed, those ‘Cheaper by the Dozen’ movies are so boring and even though this sequel was not worse than the previous installment, it wasn’t really an improvement either. Seriously, I can't believe I actually wasted my time watching both of them. Eventually, the weirdest thing was how much Hilary Duff changed between both movies. Indeed, even though there were only 2 years in-between, Duff still looked pretty much like Lizzie McGuire in the first movie but, in the 2^nd one, it was as if at least as if 10 years passed by which was a little bit disturbing. Anyway, when you are starting to pay attention to such trivial details, it is never a good sign.  At least, it was one of the very few watchable movies starring Carmen Electra that I have seen but that isn't much, I’m afraid. To conclude, even though I have seen worse, the whole thing was still a waste of time, it was just really average and I don’t think not it is worth a look at all.