Reviews by johanlefourbe

Honestly, I didn’t expect much from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Indeed, not only this movie has a really poor rating, I also read that, apparently, of all the movies he has made so far, Casey Affleck is the most ashamed about this one. I can see why... The funny thing is that I don’t think Affleck was actually so bad in this movie and his performance didn't bother me so much. Indeed, the rest of the cast (Wes Bentley, Eliza Dushku and Luke Wilson) who seemed at least promising were even worse than him. Seriously, they were are all really terrible and the worst performance was probably the one delivered by Luke Wilson... I know, I make it sound as if it was awful and it was indeed pretty weak but the funny thing is that the concept behind the movie was actually pretty decent but it was unfortunately really poorly developed. It didn’t help that the whole thing looked really cheap as well. Anyway, to conclude, the acting was way below average and the whole thing seemed to be a missed opportunity so I can't possibly recommend this movie. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting much from this flick, especially since it had a rather poor rating on Imdb, but since I always had a weak spot for Donald Sutherland, I thought I might as well give it a try. Eventually, even though I usually don’t care much about the genre (in my opinion, ‘The Exorcist’ is in fact one of the most overrated movies ever made), I thought that this movie was actually fairly entertaining and it was above all rather well directed. Unfortunately, I was not really convinced by the rather far-fetched twist at the end but it is unfortunately inherent to the genre, I’m afraid. Furthermore, the inclusion of the modern story didn’t add much and could have been easily completely removed if you ask me. Still, it was really neat to see again the lovely Rachel Hurd-Wood. Indeed, it was her 2^nd movie after ‘Peter Pan’ but, unfortunately, the movies she made afterwards became more and more obscure and it seems she never managed to really breakthrough in spite of her interesting potential. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, even though it was not very original, I thought it was rather well done and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like this genre.

For some reasons, I actually ended up watching this flick in the movie theater when it was released. I guess there wasn’t much else to see it at the time and I probably thought it could be a decent watch for my step-son. First of all, I never understood what happened with this franchise. Indeed, when the 1^st installment was released, it was a huge success and, pretty much like everyone else, I though it would be the 3^rd huge fantasy franchise, next to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Harry Potter’. However, ‘Prince Caspian’ didn’t do as well as expected and this movie would be their final attempt. Eventually, this movie was even less successful and it was pretty much the end of this franchise. Anyway, in spite of all this, I thought it was rather well made with some decent action scenes. Still, to really enjoy it, you shouldn't analyse too much the story or the characters involved since it remains all rather shallow. To conclude, even though it was not challenging at all, I thought it was still fairly entertaining and I think it is worth a look, especially if you have enjoyed the previous installments in this franchise. 

I wasn’t  really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Michael Caine, I thought I might as well check it out. Apparently, Roger Ebert really despised the whole thing in one of his earliest reviews but I didn’t think it was bad at all. Basically, it is one of theses typical war features dealing with a whole bunch of characters, each of them with their own separate sub-plot. So, obviously, it was nothing really original, that’s for sure, but there was a really neat cast involved (Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier, Christopher Plummer, Ian McShane, Michael Redgrave, Robert Shaw) and I really enjoyed the historical details provided in this movie. Still, even though the plane fights were well made, they still became kind of boring after a while. The other issues is that there were just too many character involved and, as a result, none of them was properly developed. Seriously, sometimes, some of these characters would be gone and you would eventually never found out exactly what happened to them. To conclude, even though it didn’t really blow me away, I thought it was still a decent watch and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

There was a point, during the mid-2000’s, that Judd Apatow’s comedies were pretty much ruling the box-office and, 10 years later, he is still doing some decent business, even if he is so dominating anymore. Anyway, this movie seemed to be his first box-office plot but since that I have a weak spot for Owen Wilson, I still wanted to check it out. I didn’t know this but this was in fact the very last movie written by John Hughes before he died in 2009 but the script was so modified that he requested to have his name removed and to be credited as someone else. Anyway, after all, I thought it was actually not bad at all. Indeed, Owen Wilson gave his typical performance but he was quite entertaining and those 3 kids were actually pretty great but, unfortunately,  the story didn't really work out fine. Indeed, to make fun of homeless people was something rather tricky and the whole thing felt sometimes rather misguided and not really funny. It's too bad because it had some potential. Still, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was still a decent comedy and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Amanda Peet, I thought I might as well check it out. By the way, what happened with this actress? Even though she keeps working, we don’t hear much from her anymore but it is probably due to the fact she has reached her 40’s which means pretty much the end for most of the actresses. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I have to admit it, I was actually positively surprised. Indeed, in my opinion, Amanda Peet and Dermot Mulroney were both pretty good and they had some great chemistry together. Concerning the story itself, it was not bad but I was definitely not the best I have seen in this genre. I mean, most of it worked fine but they still used the usual gimmicks and clichés inherent to this genre preventing the whole thing from becoming really remarkable. In this case, they really pushed it even further as not one character was terminally ill but both of them. Still, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.