Reviews by johanlefourbe

When I first heard about this movie, I thought it sounded really promising so I was quite eager to check it out. Indeed, it is always intriguing when a US production hires a great actress like Juliette Binoche. Eventually she was, as usual, really good here and it was very nice to see her doing something else. I was also impressed by Emily Blunt who once again stole the show in a rather small part and it is such a shame she never really managed to become a major leading actress, at least, that’s my opinion. Concerning Steve Carell, I thought he was all right but he didn’t really impress me. Anyway, eventually, it turned out to be a decent watch but not much more than that, I’m afraid. Indeed, they basically tried to mix comedy and drama which is something really tricky and even though, it did work for some scenes, with some other scenes, this mix was rather awkward. A couple of years before, the same director made ‘Pieces of April’ and I thought it worked better. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still not bad at all is and I think it is still definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Seriously, I thought this movie was just awful. How the hell did I actually ended up watching this flick?!? Indeed, I just despised the first instalment and even though it was a massive success in France, I thought it was easily one of the most overrated movies ever produced so I should probably have avoided this sequel. The whole story is, in fact, that I was able to buy the 1st three movies on DVD and they were just 1 euro for each so I thought I might as well give this franchise a second chance. Well, the 2nd time around, I still hated the first instalment and this sequel was not really better or worse. Indeed, it was so lame... Once again, they gave us another bad story, some bad acting and some really really average action scenes...You may wonder why I watched the whole franchise if I hate it so much... Good question! Well, the point is that I'm a big fan of  Marion Cotillard and I try to see everything she is in it. By the way, she was completely under-used in all 3 movies so that was quite a waste of time. At least, with this 3rd instalment, they gave us a cameo by Sylvester Stallone but, for some reasons, he was dubbed in French so even this neat cameo was actually ruined. Anyway, to conclude, it was pretty bad and you should avoid this garbage.

Ever since I have been living in the Netherlands, I have been interested in Dutch movies. However, in my opinion, it is a rather small industry, especially if you compare it to France, and most of the Dutch movies terribly usually lack any kind of ambition so most of them turn out to be rather underwhelming. Still, from time to time, they release some really interesting features  and this movie was definitely one of them. The sad thing is that even though it was probably one of the best Dutch movies released during that particularly year, pretty much no one in the Netherlands actually saw the damned thing when it came out. Anyway, it was indeed a very realistic movie with some very good performances, especially by Frank Lammers who is definitely one of the best Dutch actors at work nowadays. Unfortunately, even though I’m nowadays fluent in Dutch, I still had a hard time to follow everything said by the actors and it prevented the whole thing from getting a (probably deserved) higher rating. Anyway, to conclude, even though it might not be a real masterpiece, I really liked this movie a lot and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies.

For some reasons, I was really eager to check this movie. I think it was mostly because Tim Robbins was involved and because the ratings were pretty good. Anyway, it had been a while since I wanted to check this flick and there is something really appealing about Isabel Coixet's work, even if she never really became a major director. Eventually, I have to admit it, I actually ended up with some mixed feelings about the damned thing. I mean, sure, I liked it and I thought it was a rather intriguing movie. Even if it took a while before taking off but it was definitely worth the wait and Tim Robbins and Sarah Polley (2 really underrated actors) were both pretty strong and they both delivered some really good performances. I also enjoyed the directing which was just very beautiful. However, like the previous movie directed by Coixet,'My Life Without Me', I thought the whole thing was just too poetic and too elaborate. I mean, no disrespect but do you really think that most people working on a oil platform would be so articulate ? Still, in spite of is flaws, I think it was a very well made drama 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 Catherine Zeta-Jones and Guy Pearce, I thought I might as well give it a try. On top of that, I am a huge fan of movies involving magicians, illusions and such tricks. For example, 'The Prestige' is definitely one of the my all-time favorite movie. So, since this movie was dealing with Harry Houdini, arguably the best or at least the most famous illusionist that ever lived, there was definitely some potential for something really neat. Unfortunately, this flick eventually failed to really impress me. I mean, I’ll give you that, the movie was well done with some nice directing and I don’t think that the actors should be blamed as they did what they could with this material but the story was not really captivating, I’m afraid. It’s just a shame that, with someone so fascinating with such a rich life, they couldn’t come up with a better tale than this one. Anyway, to conclude, even though it turned out to be a disappointment, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but since it won the Best picture Academy award back in 1955, I was quite eager to check it out. After watching the damned thing, the first thing I thought was how interesting it was that such a small and low key feature would actually win the Best picture Academy award. Indeed, do you think it would have a chance against our contemporary epics with a huge budget such as ‘Gladiator’, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, ‘Dance with the Wolves’, or ‘Titanic’? Even if  some smaller productions did win the big prize recently like ‘Spotlight’, ‘Birdman’ or ’12 Years a Slave’, they were still much more ambitious than this movie. Eventually, the fact it was so small was definitely part of its charm and why it was fairly successful commercially and critically when it was released. For Ernest Borgnine, a character actor throughout all his lengthy career, it was definitely a all-time high and he even won the Academy award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance. Anyway, I thought it was charming movie, with a a really solid Ernest Borgnine and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.