Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I kept hearing some good things about this flick, I thought I should give it a shot. Eventually, I thought it was a decent watch but I have to say that this is not a movie for the impatient viewers. Indeed, the story takes a while to take off but I thought it was definitely worth it. It was above all thanks to the directing which was pretty good and the mood was very well set. Even though she never really had a major breakthrough on the silver screen, I thought that this time Calista Flockhart gave a very convincing performance. So, it is a rather slow horror flick but the conclusion was quite awesome and was totally satisfying. Eventually, a few years later, Jaume Balagueró would make ‘[Rec]’, easily one of the  best found-footage flicks ever made and it was a downright international hit. However, even though I really enjoyed ‘[Rec]’, I think it’s too bad that Balagueró spent the following 10 years only making sequels for this franchise. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, even though it is actually nothing really revolutionary, it remains a very well made and entertaining horror flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Between this movie and ‘Chasing Liberty’, I’m not sure which one was actually worse. Above all, what is really amazing, is how they did come up with the idea to release two movies during the same year which were both based on such a lame concept? Anyway, obviously, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but I thought was really weak and completely underwhelming. I mean, the actors involved did what they could with this rather abysmal material but the story was just rather inane. Above all, I thought that the end was just rather worthless. Concerning Katie Holmes, only a few years later, she would get hitched with Tom Cruise and it would have an even more disastrous impact on her career than this lame movie had. Eventually, the saddest thing was that this movie would be the last directing effort delivered by Forest Whitaker. Indeed, 10 years before, he made ‘[Link removed - login to see]’, and even though it was nothing really amazing, it was still promising, especially since it was his directing debut. However, this movie was a major step-back and you might wonder if he will even consider directing another movie in the future. To conclude, I thought it was really weak, I can't recommend this flick and I don't think it is really worth a look.

Not so long ago, I saw ‘August’, Anthony Hopkins’s directing debut, and it was based on the very same story, except that Hopkins moved the setting to North Wales at the beginning of the 20th century and changed all the names. Eventually, I was able to figure out who was who but I just couldn't see what it was actually all about and what they actually wanted to achieve here. Indeed, I might sound stupid but I think it is one of the most confusing stories I have ever seen. Anyway, since  it was Louis Malle's last movie, I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, I did like it but it is definitely not for everybody. Basically, there was literally no set or decor and the only focus was on the actors and their performances. Fortunately, all the actors were very good and gave some very good performances. Eventually, I believe that this original approach helped me to appreciate more this rather convoluted story as I didn’t care much for the traditional version delivered by Hopkins. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was not an easy watch, I thought it was quite intriguing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Louis Malle’s work.

Since I kept hearing some really great things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out and I had some rather high expectations. Eventually,  the whole thing turned out  be even better than I expected which is something that very rarely happens. Obviously, it was highly controversial in France where it was banned for many years which is not surprising since this movie was shot only 3 years after the actual independence of Algeria. This civil war lasted almost a decade and was very traumatizing for France so, to get such a bleak realistic depiction of this war so soon after this conflict was ended was probably too hard to swallow for the French audience. Anyway, first of all, as a history lesson, it is pretty amazing and, in my opinion, it should be actually compulsory viewings for all teenagers. On top of that, it is not only an incredibly valuable historical feature. Indeed, as a movie, it was just fascinating to behold and I would go as far saying that it was one of the most spellbinding thrillers I have ever seen. To conclude, I think it is a great achievement and it is easily one of the best movies ever made. 

To be honest, I really had no idea what to expect from this flick and the main reason I wanted to check it out was because I have a weak spot for Sigourney Weaver and Greg Kinnear. Eventually, the story was rather generic and predictable but, fortunately, the actors involved were all pretty good. Above all, the most refreshing thing about his movie was definitely the fact that the 2 main characters were played by some ‘normal’ looking women (Amy Poehler and Tina Fey). Indeed, in most movies, you always get some impossible gorgeous looking bimbo's/super top models to play the love interest or any kind of female character. For example, the other day, I saw ‘This Means War’ and the makers tried to make us believe that someone like Reese Witherspoon would need a dating site to find a guy which was rather pathetic. Anyway, even if the cast was pretty neat, I‘m afraid I didn't really care much for the story or the characters involved. To conclude, in my opinion, those fine actresses actually deserved a better story but, still, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was a decent comedy and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, after watching the first trilogy, I really had enough with this franchise and I had absolutely no plan to watch this final installment. However, Nick, my step-son has always been a huge fan of sequels, any kind of sequels, and he was quite eager to check this flick as well so we ended up watching it together. Seriously, why on Earth did I watch this crap?!? I mean, at least, in the previous installments, there was the lovely Marion Cotillard involved, even if she was terribly underused but, for the first time, she didn’t show up at all and the last appealing thing in this whole franchise was then pretty much gone, I'm afraid. Anyway, I already hated the first movie which, for some reasons I never really understood, turned out to be a huge commercial success in France and they just kept repeating this idiotic formula other and other again. Apparently, this movie was still quite successful at the box-office but, at least, it did receive some really poor reviews. Anyway, after insulting the Germans, the Japanese and the Chinese, this time, they decide to insult the Belgians (how original...) and the end-result was once again just really pathetic. To conclude, I thought it was pretty bad and I think you should just avoid this piece of trash...

I actually saw this movie before and, to be honest, the first time around, I thought the whole thing was just terrible. Indeed, back then, I was pretty sure it was one of the worst movies I had ever seen. However, since I kept hearing that it wasn’t so bad after all, I decided to check it out again. Well, eventually, I have to admit it, it was actually slightly better than I remembered. I mean, obviously, the story was very often seriously preposterous but it's obviously something inherent to this genre and, at least, they tried to keep a scientific approach as much as possible. Back then in 1997, for some reasons, they decided to release 2 different movies dealing with volcanoes, and even though ‘Volcano’ was actually less successful at the box-office, I actually preferred ‘Volcano’. Indeed,  this other movie about the same subject was in fact even more preposterous but I thought it was actually more fun. Still, there is no doubt that both movies were actually rather lame. Anyway, to conclude, this movie was still nothing great and I don’t think it is really worth a look but if you are die-hard fan of the genre maybe you might end up actually enjoying it more than I did.

Tomorrow, I’m planning to watch ‘You don’t Nomi’, so I thought I might as well re-watch this movie, especially since it has been ages since I first saw it. Well, after all these years, even if this movie now belongs to the stuff of legend, to be honest, it is still pretty bad though. I mean, it is basically a rather lame and boring erotic B feature, no more and no less than that. Indeed, the first issue I had was that, beside the fact that the story was terribly derivative, they never really settled for a specific tone. Basically, it was never really glamourous or really gritty or really sleazy. Of course, Paul Verhoeven argued that it was supposed to be some kind of satire but, even from this angle, it was never convincing whatsoever. Then, another major issue was the main character who was just really lame. Sure, I have to admit that Elizabeth Berkley, who was only in her early 20's back then, looked really hot but her character was actually more cringe-inducing than really entertaining. Eventually, years later, Verhoeven would take the blame and said that he pushed Berkley to deliver such a ‘performance’ but I still think she never managed to make her character intriguing or entertaining whatsoever. To make things worse, all the other characters involved were not much better at all. For some reason, there was also a completely random rape scene towards the end which had really nothing to do with the rest of the movie. Anyway, for Berkley, her career was pretty much ruined from the start but, to be honest, if she had been really talented, she would have made a come-back at some point. For Verhoeven, this movie would be the beginning of the end and, nowadays, he left the US and he was back making movies in the Netherlands (where he managed to make only one movie after all). Anyway, to conclude, this flick is still a train wreck and you should watch it only if you are curious to see how bad it actually is.