Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I kept hearing some really good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out and I had some rather high expectations. To be honest, I actually ended up with some mixed feelings about the damned thing. I mean, sure, I thought it was pretty good and Casey Affleck gave definitely a really good performance, resulting in his breakthrough. I don’t know, maybe the issue was that my expectations were too high before watching the damned thing but, in my opinion, the story was rather far-fetched like most of the other thrillers out there. Eventually, at the end of the day, it was basically decent and fairly entertaining, absolutely, but it was nothing really ground-breaking, at least, that’s my opinion. Still, I have to admit that it was really neat to see Ben Affleck, one of the most despised actors in the world at the time, making such an impressive come-back as a director and the guy definitely displayed some skills in this area. Eventually, he made afterwards ‘The Town’ and ‘Argo’, both critically praised, so his track-record as a director is pretty impressive so far. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn’t really blow me away, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

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. Following this amazing process, I ended up watching some rather obscure movies and this one was definitely one of them. From all the movies that I saw at the time, it might have been the most obscure of the bunch (indeed, 5 years later, I’m still the only Listal members who has rated the damned thing). Anyway, even though this movie wasn’t really bad, I can't say I really enjoyed it either. I mean, it was pretty neat that Brendan Gleeson was playing the lead for once and he did try very hard to make his character compelling. Same thing for Andy Serkis, he was not bad at all either and, as a bonus, there was even Cillian Murphy in his very first part. Unfortunately, I couldn't care less about the story or the characters involved. Anyway, to conclude, all in all, I thought the whole thing was really underwhelming and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

To be honest, I had really no idea what to expect from this movie and the main reason I wanted to check it out is because I always had a weak spot for Keisha Castle-Hughes. Indeed, after the amazing ‘Whale Rider’, I tried to follow this fascinating actress even if she disappeared into obscurity very quickly after her fast rise to international stardom. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, even though it was nothing really groundbreaking, I thought it was still a nice little drama with some interesting 3 dimensional characters. Unfortunately, the only thing that didn’t really work for me was the ending which actually slightly ruined the whole thing for me. Indeed, I won’t go into too many details but I was particularly annoyed by the obligatory dramatic complications they added at the end of the movie. It's too bad because until then it was pretty good. In my opinion, it felt really forced and it was a misguided way of adding some extra dramatic climax and it was rather misguided in my opinion. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, I still think it was a decent watch and 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 Mark Wahlberg, I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, I was at first positively surprised by the damned thing. Indeed, the concept  was not bad at all  and you might think that something like this would never happen in real life but, in fact, the whole thing was inspired by the real-life story of Tim Owens who was the singer in a Judas Priest cover band and then was chosen to replace singer Rob Halford when he left Judas Priest. Seriously, that was a really dope story. Furthermore,  I thought that Mark Walhberg did a pretty good job as well in this flick. Unfortunately, in spite of its awesome material, the makers seriously messed the whole thing up, I’m afraid. Above all, the weakest point with this movie is that it didn't know which way to go and it was just seriously unfocused, especially concerning the tone. Indeed, was it supposed to be satirical or something more realistic? To conclude, even though the story was actually pretty awesome, the whole thing turned out to be rather underwhelming and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since the concept sounded pretty neat, I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, it turned out to be a very interesting satire about how our world could look like in 500 years. In my opinion, the whole concept was actually well done and this movie pretty often scored some major points. Unfortunately, the jokes were also very often seriously moronic, the tone was also from the same level and it did drag the whole thing down, I’m afraid. Indeed, it seemed that the makers couldn't avoid making a stupid movie as they were dealing with a stupid world which was too bad. Concerning Mike Judge, it is rather sad that, just like with his directing debut ‘Office Space’, this movie was very poorly released with little to no marketing at all so almost no one saw the damned thing when it was released. And yet, it still became a cult-classic somehow. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was definitely not a great movie, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Mike Judge’s work. 

Before this movie came out, there was some positive buzz about the damned thing but when it was eventually released, the reactions were rather mixed after all. Since it was directed by Michel Gondry, I still wanted to check it out and make my own opinion. Eventually, I'm not really sure what I should think about this flick. Indeed, it must be the goofiest movie I have ever seen as the concept was very nice and intriguing but, honestly, there was nothing much else going for this movie, except for this nice concept. Indeed, in my opinion, the characters were not very well developed and, honestly, while watching this flick, I never really cared for them and what they were going through. Still, it was pretty awesome to  see their remakes which were seriously pretty neat. Another thing that didn't work, in my opinion, is that they tried to make us believe that such 'remakes' would be popular and that some people would pay some money to watch those. Still, in spite of these flaws, I enjoyed this movie because it was goofy, original and harmless and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you enjoyed Michel Gondry's previous flicks.

Seriously, Nicolas Cage’s career has become so underwhelming lately that this movie doesn’t seem so bad after all. However, it still doesn’t mean that it  was any good either, far from it. Indeed, what a lame movie... In fact, Cage shouldn’t be the only one to blame. Indeed, it's actually rather difficult to choose between Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes which one of them gave the weakest performance.  At least, Eva Mendes did look lovely, as usual, but she didn’t have much else to offer. It's really too bad because the whole thing actually really had some potential. Indeed,  Ghost Rider must be one of the most interesting comic-book characters out there, some kind of mean SOB and they could have made something awesome (the recent ‘Deadpool’ displayed that you can deliver a darker comic-book adaptation with some tremendous results). Unfortunately, they really messed up this story and I was rather amazed about how underwhelming the whole thing was after all. Surprisingly, even though this movie was a critical failure and even though it wasn’t even really a box-office success, they still made a sequel 4 years later which turned out to be just as weak as this first installment. To conclude, even though I have seen worse, it was still one of the weakest super-hero features I have seen and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it won the César of the Best French movie of the year, I was really eager to check it out. To be honest, I'm usually not very interested in costume dramas but I was really surprised by this one. Indeed, it was actually very good and it’s a shame that it seems rather forgotten nowadays. Indeed, the directing was very good, something I didn’t really expect from Alain Corneau, the acting was awesome (Gérard Depardieu really blew me away) but, above all, I thought that the story was just fascinating. Indeed, in my opinion, it was a very interesting reflection about Art and the whole thing was just rather mesmerizing to behold. The younger version of Depardieu’s character was actually played by his own son Guillaume Depardieu who displayed some great potential in his acting debut. Unfortunately, this talented actor never really managed to fulfill those great expectations and he eventually died in some real tragic circumstances back in 2008. Anyway, back to our main feature, to conclude, I really liked this movie a lot and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

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. Well, anyway, I can't say I really enjoyed this flick. Basically, it is one of those supposedly quirky productions and they tried really hard to create a feel-good mood but, to be honest, I was rather bored during the whole thing. Indeed, I thought that the whole concept was actually pretty lame and I really didn't care much about this tale or the characters involved. Concerning Rhys Ifans, I have to admit it, it was pretty neat to see this interesting actor playing the lead for once but it was rather disappointing that he was just playing one of his usual weirdos. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was not one of the worst movies I have ever seen, it was still pretty damned average and I definitely cannot recommend it.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I have it on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. To be honest, while I was watching it for the second time, I was at first wondering why I thought it was some amazing the first time around. I mean, it was a well historical drama made but it didn't seem to be much better than your average sports movie as it was going for most of the usual gimmicks used in this genre. Furthermore, they struggled to properly developed the characters and it was rather disappointing that 3/4 of the debatting team was involved in such a boring love triangle. However, they did manage to show how fascinating a good debate can be and also, how important knowledge and education are, especially if you live in a world where you have to face discrimination on a regular basis. Eventually, slowly, the damned thing turned out be pretty awesome and, once again, I almost cried at the end... Seriously, even though it was rather unoriginal and gimmicky, it was still really emotional and inspiring. Anyway, to conclude, it's too bad the damned thing is such an underrated/unknown gem because it is actually a really strong drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.