Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I kept hearing many good things about this flick, I really wanted to check it out.  First of all, in my opinion, Kristin Scott Thomas must be one of the most underrated actresses at work nowadays and one thing that always impressed me is how she managed to have 2 successful careers, 1 in English speaking movies and another one in French movies. Anyway, I always had a weak spot for this actress and, for this movie, she gave by far her best performance. A part from that, the directing was decent and the story was also quite fascinating. Eventually, I have to admit that the ending, when you learn what she actually did, was slightly underwhelming. Indeed, every thing this woman did was in fact quite understandable and the fact that she was completely crushed through the rest of her life was also convincing but what I didn’t get is why she refused to tell what actually happened to her family? In my opinion, it felt rather gimmicky as it was a rather artificial way to create some tension and drama. Still, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was a really strong drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Not so long ago, I watched ‘License to Wed’, also starring Mandy Moore (in fact, both movies were actually released the same year as well). Anyway, just like ‘License to Wed’, I can't say I enjoyed this flick at all. In fact, the main reason I actually wanted to check this flick in the first place was because I have a weak spot for Diane Keaton but it turned out to be a really lame movie.  I know, it is a comedy and it was supposed to be funny and all but I thought the whole thing was rather annoying. In fact, I’m going to make another link with ‘License to Wed’. Indeed, in both movies, they make the same mistake which was to make the character played by their biggest star (in this case, Diane Keaton and Robin Williams in ‘License to Wed’) really obnoxious. As a result, they really messed up this character who was not funny at all but rather cringe-inducing to behold and the whole thing was therefore completely hopeless and not entertaining whatsoever. To conclude, I really didn’t like this movie at all, it was just really weak and I don’t think it is worth a look. 

Obviously, I had some really low expectations concerning this flick but, somehow, I still ended up watching the damned thing. Oh my God... Indeed, I didn't expect much and I thought it would be bad but it was really worse than I expected. I mean, I’m definitely not a huge fan of Adam Sandler ans he can be sometimes pretty obnoxious but compared to Rob Schneider, he is actually pretty amazing. Surprisingly, I have seen more than 20 movies starring this actor (I never expected to reach such a high figure) but, fortunately, in most of them,  he wasn’t playing the lead. Anyway, beyond the fact that Schneider was never really funny,  the whole concept was just plain stupid to start with and the jokes were just terribly moronic. Of course, I’m well aware that it was stupid on the purpose but it just didn’t work for me at all. Eventually, since this movie was still fairly successful at the box-office, they came up with a sequel which was apparently even more abysmal (I haven’t seen it yet but I’m not sure if I should waste my time with it). Anyway, coming back to our main feature, it was just a bad movie and you should really avoid it.

To be honest, sometimes, I tend to watch some really obscure features and I wonder how or why I actually ended up watching this flick. Basically, it is one of those old horror movies with Christopher Lee and, as a bonus, there was also Donald Sutherland in one of his very first roles. On top of that, it was also some anthology of small horror stories and, usually, I’m not a huge fan of this genre because you usually ended with several half-baked small tales instead of a fully fledged one but it actually worked fairly well here. Sure, none of these tales was really amazing but I thought that they were all entertaining enough and I was never bored during the whole duration. To be honest, I'm not a huge expert on this genre but I found it was not bad at all and I thought it was funny and scary at the same time. Of course, it wasn’t really hilarious or completely frightening but I thought it worked pretty well. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing,  I thought it was a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in this 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, the main reason I wanted to check it out is because Billy Bob Thornton was involved. Indeed, I really like this actor and in this movie, he has some pretty  good moments but this movie didn’t have much else to offer, I’m afraid. Indeed, even though it wasn’t completely lame, the story was really nothing great at all and I found it quite unbelievable that a girl like Amanda (played by the lovely Jacinda Barrett) would fall in love so easily with Roger (played by the really uncharismatic Jon Heder). To conclude, even though I have seen worse, it was a really rather average flick and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of the genre. 

Since it is a rather obscure feature, I wasn’ t really sure what to expect from the damned thing but since I have weak spot for James McAvoy and Romola Garai,  I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, I thought the whole thing was actually very good as it was just very well acted and well written. Finally, there was a realistic movie about people with a handicap ... Indeed, for example, I always had a hard time with 'Rain man'. I mean sure, this classic might be mostly entertaining, I’ll give you that, but, in my opinion, it gives also a rather unrealistic view on someone who has to live with a handicap. Here, they didn’t sugarcoat the whole thing so it became pretty bleak but since the characters were quite charismatic, it was still really entertaining to watch. The weird thing about this flick  is that it was the 3^rd movie directed by Damien O'Donnell (after ‘East Is East’ and ‘Heartlands’) and even though he delivered by far his best movie so far, he never actually directed another movie again which is too bad. Anyway, to conclude, it is sometimes funny and sometimes heartbreaking, I really liked the damned thing 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 Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer, I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, even though it didn’t really get much love when it was released, I have to admit it, I thought it was actually not bad at all. I mean, sure, as it was pointed out by many people, it's a little bit like 'Jaws' but instead of sharks, you have some lions but I thought it was actually fairly entertaining. Indeed, even though the whole thing was not really original and rather predictable, it was still in fact well made and Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer both delivered some decent performances here. There is also the issue that it was supposedly based on some real events but so many elements were made up (for example, the character played by Douglas has never actually existed), that the tale did lose some of its impact. Anyway, to conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, I thought it was a decent watch and I think it is definitely worth a look though, especially if you like the genre.