Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, even though I have seen almost all the movies directed by Mel Brooks (I think I’m missing only 3 of them by now), I'm afraid I have never been a really huge fan of his work. Anyway, since this movie is a huge classic, I was really eager to check it out. Following its reputation, I really expected the whole thing to be seriously hilarious but, to be honest, eventually, I thought it was indeed pretty funny but not much more than I’m afraid. For me, the best example is the scene around the fire where you get to see all these cowboys farting. Well, in my opinion, this scene was fairly amusing but also rather stupid as well and it shows the level of the humor displayed in this movie. It’s such a shame that Richard Pryor wasn't allowed to  play Bart as he was supposed to be as the whole thing would have been much more interesting, at least, for me.  Eventually, I thought that 'The Producers' was much better but it was still a decent watch though. To conclude, even though I wasn't really blown away like I expected to be, it is still a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like Mel Brooks’s work. 

To be honest, I really had no idea what to expect from this flick and it seemed to be another really obscure French movie but since I always had a weak for Gérard Depardieu, I thought I might as well check it out. At first, the story seemed to be really lame. Indeed, I really don’t like this kind of folk music so, at first, I really had a hard time to care about the main character and what he was going through. However, thanks to some really solid performances by Gérard Depardieu and Cécile De France, it was still quite intriguing to behold. Still, there were too many elements in the story that were not really well developed and it left me slightly frustrated. Eventually, with some rather lame material, they still managed to provide some interesting characters and I have to admit that I actually enjoyed most of this movie. Concerning the lovely Cécile De France, except for a couple of US productions (‘Around the World in 80 Days’, ‘Hereafter’), she never really managed to breakthrough outside France which is too bad because she is quite talented. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn’t completely work for me, it was still a decent watch it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but, since I have a weak spot for John C. Reilly and Maggie Gyllenhaal, I thought that I might as well check it out. In fact, I didn't even know this before watching the damned thing but it is actually a remake and, as my fellow listal users have pointed out (see underneath), as usual, the original version seems to be much better. Anyway, in my opinion, I thought this remake  had some potential and the beginning was really promising. Above all, I really liked John C. Reilly's performance. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for this actor and, in my opinion, he actually gave here some of his best work. Unfortunately, like so many other thrillers, there were just way too many twists and I’m afraid it did ruin the movie for me. As usual with this genre, they did manage to build up something interesting but they apparently didn't know how to provide a satisfying ending. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see John C. Reilly in one of his best performances. 

To be honest, I had seriously no idea what to expect from this movie but since it won the Golden Calf for the best Dutch movie of the year, I was quite eager to check it out. With the Golden Calfs, the winners are usually some big box-office success (such as ‘Alles is liefde’, ‘Zwartboek’, ‘De Tweeling’ or ‘Minoes’) or something really obscure that almost no one saw when it was released. Well, this movie definitely belonged to the 2^nd group, that’s for sure, but I thought it was still a decent watch. Indeed, it was probably one of the most minimalist movies I have ever seen as there were basically only 2 characters, they did almost nothing during the whole movie and from the beginning until the end, you learn almost nothing about them. I know, it doesn't sound really interesting and that's right, in a sense, the movie is not really interesting but I still enjoyed it. Indeed, the 2 actors involved were pretty good and I really liked the subtle directing. To conclude, even though it was nothing really ground-breaking, I thought it was still an interesting original drama and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Phillip Noyce’s work, I thought I might as well check it out. I didn’t know this before watching this flick but, apparently, the main character was based on Zatoichi, the famous blind Japanese samurai. More than a decade later, the great Takeshi Kitano would make also a really neat movie about this character. Well, at the end of the day, I wasn’t exactly blown away by this modern American version but I thought it was still a decent watch. Indeed, basically, it is one of those typical cheesy action movies that Rutger Hauer used to make at the end of the 80’s. Indeed, back in those days, Hauer used to be king of the B movie and I thought he was actually pretty good in this movie. Apparently, they were even planning a sequel but since this movie didn’t do as well as expected at the box-office, this sequel was cancelled. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was still fairly entertaining and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since my wife and I really loved the previous installments, of course, we were really eager to watch this conclusion and, once again, I had some rather high expectations. To be honest, I thought that the 2nd sequel was slightly disappointing but I really had to see this conclusion if only to get a glimpse of Lisbeth Salander who is, in my opinion, one of the most fascinating characters in recent movie history. Eventually, it was still unfortunately not as good as the 1st movie but it remained still pretty damned entertaining. Indeed, pretty much like in the 2nd installment, the story was still too far-fetched for my taste. On top of that, eventually, you barely get to see this time anything really involving Noomi Rapace (indeed, 3/4 of the movie she is in a hospital and then in jail). Still, in spite of its flaws, it remains a fascinating trilogy and Lisbeth Salander was just mesmerizing, from the beginning until the very end.  To conclude, even though I’m not sure this movie was a real masterpiece like the 1st installment was, it was still a fine sequel and a very neat conclusion to this awesome franchise and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.