Reviews by johanlefourbe

Obviously, I didn’t expect much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Marisa Tomei and Heather Graham, I thought I might as well give it a try. Eventually, even though the whole concept sounded really misguided, in fact, I think it could have  been actually something interesting. Indeed, I have to admit it, I did actually enjoy the way it all started, how the guy got involved in the porn industry by accident but then, unfortunately, the premise became eventually really idiotic and, as a result, the whole thing turned out to be terribly disappointing. Indeed, even though it was supposed to be cute and quirky, it was actually rather stupid. Concerning Marisa Tomei, it was basically one of those many misguided projects she was involved after winning her Academy Award and those movies have always prevented her from being taken seriously as an actress. Concerning Heather Graham, even though she was and still is quite charming to behold, I have to admit that most of her movies have always been rather underwhelming so I don’t think that this movie had much impact on her status. Anyway, to conclude, it was just a rather lame supposedly quirky romantic-comedy and I don’t think it is worth a look.

Since I kept hearing some great things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. On top of that, I really liked a lot ‘Twelve monkeys’, it is easily my favorite movie directed by Terry Gilliam,  so I was really curious about this short feature because Gillian was inspired by this short. Eventually, the whole thing just really blew me away. Seriously, by now, I have seen more than 5000 movies and it is very rare that a movie brings up something really new or groundbreaking. Well, this flick was definitely an exception and it is certainly one of the most original movies I have ever seen. Indeed, basically, it was made only with some still shot photography and even though it might sound tedious, I thought it made the whole thing in fact mesmerizing to behold. If you truly love movies and if you think of movies as a work of Art, you should check this one out. To conclude, I was really impressed by this flick, I thought it was just very inspiring and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in experimental movies or if you want to see something really different. 

To be honest, it is a rather obscure flick so I wasn’t really sure what to expect from it but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Indeed, I really like John Malkovitch and he is pretty good in this movie but I was above all really impressed by Emily Blunt. Indeed, she was just so charming as usual and she pretty much stole the show every time she was on the screen. By now, I have seen ¾ of her movies and even though she seems really talented and she is always interesting to watch, unfortunately, she tends to pick up some rather weak projects and this movie was a perfect example. Because of all this, during the last 10 years, she always seemed to be on the verge on a major breakthrough but it never really happened in the end. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, it was not bad at all but the main issue I had is that I was never really convinced by Colin Hanks who seems to miss his father’s charisma. On top of that, the story was just not really interesting. Anyway, to conclude, I actually think that this movie had some potential, it just failed to really impress but I still think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.  

During the last few days,  I have been watching the ‘Before’ trilogy directed by Richard Linklater, I really love the damned thing and it must be some of his best work. Eventually, even though he spent most of his career releasing some indie features, he did flirt a couple of time with the mainstream and this production was one of those few mainstream features he has made so far. To be honest, I have actually never seen the original version so I have absolutely no idea if this remake was faithful or not but I really have my doubts that it really required to be remade at all. Anyway, all in all, I thought it was actually a decent watch. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for Billy Bob Thornton and the guy was pretty funny here. I have to admit that, back in those days, he was pretty much doing his ‘Bad Santa’ character  again and again and it was getting a little bit repetitive. A a part from that, this movie was not bad but not great either and the plot was really generic and fairly predictable. To conclude, even though the whole thing was fairly average, I still think it was not bad but don’t expect much before watching the damned thing. 

I actually already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I had this movie on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. From the very beginning, 'Chinatown' was in fact supposed to be a trilogy but since the production on this sequel was rather difficult and since it turned out to be pretty much a flop when it was released, I guess we'll never see this 3rd and final installment. Well, I really loved 'Chinatown' and even though this sequel never reached the level of its predecessor, I thought it was still an interesting movie. Indeed, even though Jack Nicholson was obviously not as good as Roman Polanski as a director, I thought he was still competent enough. The biggest issue, in my opinion, was that the story didn't work so well. I mean, it didn't help that 'Chinatown' had one of the best screenplays ever written but, even though they came up with another similar tale about money, power and murder, I was never really convinced by the damned thing. Among other things, I think it was a mistake to keep referring to what happened in 'Chinatown'. Furthermore, this time around, instead of one femme fatale, they gave us two femmes fatales but neither Madeleine Stowe or Meg Tilly managed to reach the level of the mesmerizing Faye Dunaway, especially Stowe who gave here one of her weakest performances. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it was a decent neo-noir feature and I believe it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Jessica Biel, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, by now, I have seen more than half of the movies starring Freddy Prinze Jr., and, honestly, none of them were really worth my time. The fact that his career is pretty much going nowhere nowadays shows how underwhelming the guy was and still is. Anyway, this flick was definitely not an exception. I mean, Freddy Prinze Jr. and Jessica Biel were both really likable and rather charming but there was nothing original or interesting at all about the story. Basically, it was just a boring and predictable romantic-comedy, it followed all the rules set for this genre and, as a result, it was just tedious to watch. Honestly, I do think Freddy Prinze Jr. might have had some potential but he should have take more risks from time to time (Even Jessica Biel who's nothing exceptional showed up in 'The Rules of Attraction' and 'The Illusionist'). Anyway, to conclude, I have seen worse movies but it remains a really average flick, even for its genre, and it is not really worth a look whatsoever.

To be honest, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this flick but I still ended up watching the damned thing. Basically, there was a time when I would go to a video game shop (which is now closed) and I would buy there on a regular basis 5 DVDs for 5 euros and, sometimes, since I would be missing 1 DVD, I would pick up pretty much anything at random just to reach 5 movies. Anyway, following this amazing process, I ended up watching some rather obscure movies and this one was definitely one of them. Anyway, for this movie, they basically provided not one but maybe 3 different story lines and, unfortunately, none of them was properly developed. I mean, sure, the mood was not bad, I’ll give you that, but, still, I thought it was a boring mess. Concerning Jean Reno, I always had some mixed feelings about this actor and, here, even though he did some have charisma, he didn’t manage to make it really entertaining. To conclude, even though I have seen worse, the whole thing was pretty weak, I don’t think it is really worth a look and you should better pass on this one.