Reviews by johanlefourbe

After hearing so many bad things about ‘Twilight’, obviously, I had some really low expectations towards the damned thing but, surprisingly, I thought it was actually not bad at all. Sure, it was still nothing really amazing but I honestly think it was a decent watch. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about this sequel. Indeed, while the first installment did develop some neat ideas, this sequel was just boring and not interesting at all. I mean, I still didn’t hate the damned thing and I don't think it is as bad as many people say but I can't say I enjoyed it either. The main issue, in m opinion, is that there was seriously nothing much going on during the whole thing. Indeed, I think that the relationship between Bella and Edward was, at first, rather interesting but, from this movie, they decided to focus on this romantic triangle involving Jacob as well which was just a terrible idea. The main problem with this idea is not only it was rather tedious but, above all, it goes on and on, and ends up eventually nowhere. To conclude, even though it is not as bad as everyone seems to think, it is still pretty damned average and not really worth a look.

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick and the main reason I wanted to check it out was because there were a couple of decent actors involved. Apparently, it is some kind of Australian cult-classic and it made a clean sweep with the Australian Film Institute awards (the local Oscars) in 2004 winning in all 13 film categories. Well, I have to admit it, I was so surprised by this flick. Indeed, who would have thought that Sam Worthington could act so well ?!? While watching this flick, he was actually reminding me of Russell Crowe, another Australian actor who can display, at the same time, some masculinity and some sensitivity as well. Concerning Abbie Cornish who played the main character here, she was also quite impressive. Eventually, there was not much going on story-wise but of course, it was not the point here. In my opinion, it was more about the mood which was just mesmerizing thanks to some really solid directing. To conclude, even though it is a rather obscure feature, I was really impressed by the damned thing and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I don’t know if you have noticed but I tend to be rather random with my movies and I very often end up watching some really obscure features just because there was 1 or 2 interesting actors involved. This movie was a perfect example and the main reason I watched it was because the lovely Emmy Rossum was involved. By the way, what happened to her? Indeed, after showing up 2004 in both ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ and ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, she was supposed to become the next best thing but, in the following 5 years, she did only ‘Poseidon’ and ‘Dragonball Evolution’ which were both some massive critical flops and her career never seemed to really recover. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I can't say I was blown away by the whole thing. I mean, it was a decent watch and the cast and especially Jason Isaacs was not bad at all but the movie took really forever to take off. I have to admit it that Sofia Milos looked really gorgeous in this movie though and I might end up watching ‘CSI: Miami’ just for her. Anyway to conclude, it was not bad at all and if you like romantic comedies, you may end up enjoying it even more than I did.

Even though I should re-watch ‘Halloween’ at some point, to be honest, I wasn’t exactly blown away by the whole thing. I mean, I respect this movie for the impact it had on the horror genre and I thought it was decent but, in my opinion, it didn't grow old very well. With this in mind, I wasn't expecting much from this 6th sequel and there were basically two things that appeal to me about this feature. First of all, I liked the idea that Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) would have a new confrontation against Michael Myers once again 20 years later, even though it would be rather improbable when you think about it. The second thing which I found intriguing was that the cast was actually pretty interesting for a horror film like this one (Jamie Lee Curtis, Josh Hartnett, Michelle Williams, LL Cool J, Janet Leigh, Joseph Gordon-Levitt). However, the whole thing was still rather disappointing. I mean, the story was really standard and it was neither really scary or entertaining, in my opinion. Eventually, 4 years later, they would make one final installment, also starring Jamie Lee Curtis, but it seemed to be even worse. Anyway, to conclude, I was rather bored by the whole thing and I don't think it is really worth a look, expect maybe if you are die-hard fan of this franchise.

I don’t know if you have noticed but I tend to be rather random with my movies and I very often end up watching some really obscure features just because there was 1 or 2 interesting actors involved. This movie was a perfect example and I was rather curious to watch it only because Tobey Maguire and Benicio del Toro were involved. Unfortunately, the end-result turned out to be rather disappointing. I mean, I don’t think we should blame either Maguire or Del Toro, they both tried very hard, but the material was just really weak and there was no way they could save this movie. Seriously, the directing was borderline amateurish, the story was just average and even the characters were not interesting whatsoever. Coming back to Tobey Maguire, the very same year, he would have his breakthrough with ‘The Ice Storm’ but we don’t hear much from him anymore which is too bad because I always thought he was a decent actor. Anyway, to conclude, even though I have seen worse, I think I have been rather generous with my rating here, the whole thing was pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Simon Pegg, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, the first issue I had with this movie is that Thandie Newton was in fact completely miscast in my opinion. I mean, it is not that she was bad but, in fact, she is so gorgeous that I had a hard time to believe that anyone, especially someone looking like Simon Pegg, would actually drop her on the altar.  I mean, right away, that was something really difficult to admit. Still, I really like Simon Pegg and, as usual, he was quite funny here but, without him, I’m not sure I would have cared at all for this rather pedestrian story. It is interesting to note that this movie was actually David Schwimmer’s directing debut. Eventually, a few years later, he would release a follow-up called ‘Trust’ which was something completely different, a really strong and rather heartbreaking drama. Anyway, to conclude,  in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent comedy and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I remember quite well when this movie was released. Indeed, there was a pretty good buzz about it, especially because H. R Giger was involved in the design of the monster in this movie. Eventually, it took me many years to finally watch the damned thing but, unfortunately, it turned out to be a huge disappointment. It’s too bad because this concept was not bad at all, some kind of erotic SF thriller and there was a very nice cast involved (Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger, Natasha Henstridge, Michelle Williams). Unfortunately, the whole thing was just really poorly developed, I wasn't really convinced by the story at all and even the special effects turned out to be rather underwhelming. Concerning the lovely Natasha Henstridge, I guess it seemed to be a smart move at first to make her acting debut in such a high-profile science-fiction production and I have to admit that she was perfectly cast here but I’m afraid she was never taken seriously during her career afterwards.  To conclude, I was seriously disappointed by the whole thing,  it is basically an average B science-fiction flick and it is not really worth a look in my opinion. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but since I have always had a weak spot for Emily Blunt, I thought I might as well check it out. Indeed, it was Blunt’s 2^nd movie, she was just about 20 years but she already displayed some skills here. Indeed, I really liked the damned thing and, above all, I thought that the story was quite spellbinding. I mean,  the whole thing was in fact nothing really original and it was fairly predictable but it was well made and it worked very well for me. Eventually, there were in my opinion 2 things that prevented the whole thing to become really amazing. First of all, Emily Blunt did such a fine job in creating this spoiled bitch that it became rather difficult to actually root her and to root for the new relationship between the 2 girls. Even more problematic was the whole sub-plot involving the brother. Indeed, even though this character was also very well played by Paddy Considine and while it was interesting, it didn’t fit very well with this love story. Anyway, to conclude, even though I don’t think it is really a masterpiece, it was still a very nice watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Emily Blunt’s work. 

Obviously, since I kept hearing so many bad things about this flick, I didn’t expect much from it  but, I have to admit it, I was still curious and I was really wondering if it was really so terrible. Eventually, I just have to agree, the whole thing is pretty much awful. In fact, I was actually sometimes smiling but not because it was funny but more because it was so bad. I mean, even though I was never a huge fan of Austin Powers, somehow, this character worked while this character Guru Pitka was never entertaining whatsoever. Eventually, I felt pretty bad for Justin Timberlake  who was really the only redeeming feature in this mess. Indeed, once again, Timberlake actually gave a pretty good performance which was quite remarkable since the material was just so abysmal. Unfortunately, this movie itself was some total garbage and, since then, the career of Mike Myers has still not recovered from the blow. Indeed, during the next 8 years, he only showed up for a small cameo in ‘Inglourious Basterds’ and he did one last installment for the Shrek franchise which is definitely not much. To conclude, it is just a very lame comedy, possibly one of the worst I have ever seen, and I would really advise you to avoid it.

To be honest, since I'm not a big fan of musicals,  I wasn’t really sure about what to expect fromt this flick but it had a solid reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, I really had a good time and I thought it was quite entertaining. Gene Kelly is definitely an amazing dancer (I always thought he was much more interesting than Fred Astaire) and there were indeed some impressive dancing numbers, probably the best I have ever seen in fact. Back then, there was a big controversy because ‘An American in Paris’ managed to sweep the Oscars while 'Singin in the rain' was snobbed when it was in fact considered a much superior movie by many. In fact, later on, I did watch [Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see]and, in my opinion,  I thought that the dancing scenes were actually much more impressive in this movie. Unfortunately, I really had a hard time to care for the story which was rather weak but I guess it is rather inherent to the genre. Anyway, to conclude, even though I wasn’t completely blown away by the whole thing,  it is still a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.