Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I have actually no idea why exactly but, for some reasons, I was really eager to watch this flick and it took me many years to finally see the damned thing. I guess, I wanted to check it out mostly because it was directed by Terry Jones, one of the guys involved in the Monty Python. The fact that Tim Robbins was playing the lead definitely made the whole thing even more interesting (by the way, what happened to this guy? I mean, seriously, when was the last time he showed up in something really amazing?). Anyway, even though this movie turned out to be a decent watch, I thought it was actually rather underwhelming after all. I mean, I really loved the concept, it was a great idea but, unfortunately, I thought it was rather poorly developed. On top of that , the directing was just not great at all and the whole thing was just rather slow. Anyway, to conclude, I didn't hate it like Roger Ebert did so I can't say it was great but I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you are a fan of the Monty Python’s work. 

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Kate Beckinsale, I thought I might as well give it at try. Eventually, I have to admit that I was at first actually rather positively surprised. Indeed, the beginning was not bad all and the end result was watchable but, at the end of the day, there was absolutely nothing original in this movie. I guess, the thing that annoyed me the most was how lazy the whole thing was. Seriously, after watching so many similar movies through the years,  it is just rather difficult for me to get entertained by such a generic slasher flick like this one. Indeed, they should really offer something new otherwise the whole thing is just rather pointless, in my opinion.  Concerning Kate Beckinsale , it was a typical effort for her and I’m afraid she never managed to become something else than a pretty face. As usual with this kind of flicks, they came  up eventually with a seemingly even more underwhelming sequel, as always released directly to DVD and starring no one from the original cast. To conclude, even though I have seen worse, it is a just a really average flick and I don’think it is really worth a look.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but, somehow, I still ended up watching the damned thing. I mean, seriously, what could be more underwhelming than a movie starring Ashton Kutcher, except maybe a movie starring both Ashton Kutcher and James Van Der Beek? At least, I hadve to admit it,  it was kind of sweet to see Ashton Kutcher trying to do something completely different but, a part from that, there was absolutely nothing original in this movie. At the end of the day, you wonder who, among all these young at least at the time promising actors (James Van Der Beek, Rachael Leigh Cook, Ashton Kutcher, Usher), thought that to show up in a Western was actually a good move for their career. Indeed, in the last 30 years, only a handful of movies in this genre have been successfully critically and even less have been succesful at the box-office. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, even though I have seen worse, the whole thing was still really boring and I thought it was completely generic and forgettable. To conclude, it was a really average flick, I cannot really recommend it and you should probably avoid it.

Since I keep hearing many good things about this flick, I was really curious to check it out. Eventually, I wasn't disappointed and I was seriously blown away by the whole thing. Indeed, the whole thing was just spellbinding to watch and it is definitely one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. Basically, it is a really amazing movie describing the harsh realities in America involving the life in the ghetto and what is at stake for the boys who get a shot at becoming a professional sportsman. At first, it seemed to be pretty straightforward and predictable but, then, what makes this movie really work is that the director followed these boys for 5 years and, as a result, you get really close to them and it became some kind of social drama of epic proportions.  Somehow, this movie reminded me of ‘Boyhood’ which was a fictional feature directed by Richard Linklater which was also shot over 12 years following a boy from age 6 until he reached 18 years old. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, it is a great movie, a real classic and 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. Anyway, following this amazing process, I ended up watching some rather obscure movies and this one was definitely one of them. Anyway, since this flick had a rather lame reputation, I wasn’t expecting much from the damned thing and, indeed, I can't say I really enjoyed it much. First of all, I have noticed that, nowadays, Diane Keaton keeps showing up other and other again as the same annoying character in all her last movies. Concerning Katie Holmes, if you can forget the whole Tom Cruise thing, she used to be a very promising actress but here, she was even worse than Keaton. In fact, it was the first movie she made after marrying Cruise and she actually turned down the opportunity to reprise her role as Rachel Dawes in ‘ The Dark Knight’to star in this film. Seriously, it must be one of the most misguided career choices ever made by an actor. Anyway, it was a very average flick and it is definitely not worth a look.

To be honest, since I had never heard of this movie before, I had no idea what I should expect but since I had a weak spot for Mira Nair’s work, I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, I I really loved the damned thing and it turned out to be one of these great underrated obscure features that no one has ever heard about. I mean, sure, the whole thing was well directed and acted but, above all, I thought it was just a really fascinating story. Indeed, in my case,  it touched me personally as my father left the Netherlands to live in France and I left myself France to live in the Netherlands so I was definitely able to relate with what the main character was going through. I have also to point out that I was quite impressed by Kal Penn who had built so far a career in (fairly underwhelming) comedies. Concerning Tabu and Irrfan Khan, I have to admit that I didn’t know them at the time but they were really good as well in this flick. To conclude, even though it is quite obscure, it is in fact a very good movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Mira Nair’s work.

To be honest, I really wonder how I actually ended up watching this flick. I guess the main reason was because we used to own some horses at some point and I thought my wife would be interested in the damned thing. Basically, it was based on the book of the same title which was and still a massive best-seller but, to be honest, I usually don’t care at all about movies dealing with animals. So, with this in mind, I wasn't really expecting much before watching this flick but, I have to admit it, I was actually positively surprised by the damned thing. Indeed, even though the story was rather straightforward, I thought the whole thing was actually rather well done and its cuteness, something that should have already annoyed me, was actually quite appealing. For example, to hear the thoughts of the horse should have been really lame but, somehow, it didn’t really bother me. For what its worth, it is probably of the best movies I have seen in this genre. To conclude, obviously,  it was still nothing great but I thought it was quite enjoyable and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in horses. 

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. Indeed, I had really never heard of this movie before so I wasn't sure what to expect from the damned thing. Eventually, the whole thing actually had some potential and it could have been a hilarious parody of all this boring sport movies. This time, they decided to focus on bowls, a sport coming from England which was basically some kind of weird version of pétanque, the French national sport. And, indeed, I did laugh a lot at the beginning but, unfortunately, it didn’t last long enough and,  after a while, the whole thing was another succession of the usual cliches you get with this genre. To conclude, it's really too bad because I really believed it actually had some potential but, eventually, it was pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth  a look.