Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Dick Maas, I thought I might as well check it out. You probably have never heard of Dick Maas but he is actually, after Paul Verhoeven, the most successful Dutch director, at least, according to the box-office. This movie was quite interesting since Maas was working for the first time with some US actors (William Hurt, Jennifer Tilly, Denis Leary, Michael Chiklis) even if the action was still taking place in Amsterdam. By the way, it was rather disappointing that, even though Dick Maas was/is a major Dutch director and even though the action was taking place in Amsterdam, none of the locals were speaking at all Dutch with each other. Anyway, even if the damned thing was not as disappointing as Maas’s recent output was, I didn't care much for it, I’m afraid. It’s too bad because the concept actually had some potential. Indeed, the idea of a mute girl always telling some far-fetched stories suddenly witnessing a murder was actually pretty neat. I also liked the idea that the whole thing was taking place during their first night in Amsterdam and there was a really wild and actually well-made chase towards the end. Unfortunately, not only the whole thing looked really cheap but it was above all so poorly written. First of all, William Hurt and Jennifer Tilly were both completely wasted with some rather half-baked characters. Furthermore, beyond the fact that the jokes were constantly lousy, the script was just so lazy. For example, sure, this little girl might bump into a murder in the seedy streets of Amsterdam, why not? However, it was just so far-fetched that the victim was in fact the very same guy that her father was supposed to meet a couple of hours later on. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse from this director, it was still pretty weak 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 seemed to be another critical success from Paolo Sorrentino and since it was available on Netflix, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, I have to admit that, even though I do admire Sorrentino's work, I have never been a huge fan though and, once again, I did end up with a similar feeling after watching this last directorial effort. I mean, as usual with Sorrentino, the damned thing was visually really strong, especially the opening scenes, and the guy always provides a fairly mesmerizing mood. Furthermore, I have to admit that the beginning was actually quite hilarious, even if I did have a hard time to keep track of all the characters involved and what was actually going on. Unfortunately, they didn’t keep up this energy much longer and the rest of the movie was then intriguing but, to be honest, not much more than that. There was also the issue of the main character, obviously based on Sorrentino himself. I mean, afterwards, I understand that the guy was someone who was more an observer, noticing all kinds of interesting and odd things about anyone crossing his path which eventually will be really helpful when he would become a film director at some point. However, even if I did appreciate the fact that Sorrentino made sure that this younger version of himself was not displayed as some kind of genius, it did backfire since he was really passive and not really fascinating after all. Furthermore, his aspiration of becoming a film director completely came out of the blue and I think it was the first time I saw someone dreaming of becoming a film maker who had actually watched so very few movies (a fact acknowledged by the character himself). The fact that the guy would eventually become one of the most heralded Italian directors was even more frustrating, at least, to me who has watched more than 6000 movies so far. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t completely win me over, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Paolo Sorrentino’s work.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a solid cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, first of all, it was a pretty badass title, that’s for sure, and it was also a really ambitious Western epic. Indeed, it was involving no less than 4 directors (John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, Richard Thorpe). It was also one of the very few fictional features shot in Cinerama which was a short-lived widescreen process involving a complicated three synchronized cameras and the projecting of the actual film on a huge deeply curved screen. Obviously, I didn’t see in its original format and, if you watch it nowadays, since it has been formatted so you can watch it on a regular TV, there is nothing really peculiar about it except that it was with a very widescreen aspect ratio. Anyway, from an historical point of view, this movie was still pretty neat since you get to see 60 years of the US history in a fairly accurate way. However, even if their approach was fairly neutral, the tone was just too light for me. Seriously, it was even borderline cheesy at some point. Concerning the cast, of course, there was the issue that James Stewart was at least 20 years too old to play his part and was therefore really miscast (Stewart did acknowledge this fact himself). At least, the rest of the cast was really neat and was actually pretty much spot-on (James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck, John Wayne, Karl Malden, George Peppard, Eli Wallach, Russ Tamblyn). Unfortunately, I didn’t care much for any of these characters though. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.  

Since this movie had been a huge critical bomb when it was released, I had some rather low expectations but since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. I was also intrigued by the fact that it still managed to get a rather solid rating on IMDb (6.6). Well, to be honest, I don't really get how the IMDb users could find any redeeming value in this flick. Indeed, in this case, I would have to agree with the critics as the damned thing turned out to be a massive disaster. Sure, there was nothing wrong with the fact that Colin Trevorrow wanted to direct again a small indie feature between his 2 massive Jurassic Park blockbusters. However, since 'Safety Not Guaranteed' was not bad at all, nobody would have expected his return to his indie roots to turn into such a misfire. Well, the guy should maybe stick with CGI dinosaurs instead. In fact, even if the 1^st half was slightly annoying, pretentious and, above all, not really entertaining, at least, it was rather harmless. However, at some point, Henry did get terminally ill (which is, by the way, one of the cheapest gimmicks to add some dramatic weight to your story), and, afterwards, the whole thing became completely bonkers and not in a good way, I'm afraid. Who thought it would be a great idea to mix up a rather half-baked quirky comedy with a murder plot involving a child molester? Seriously, the end-result was not only bewildering but also completely tone-deaf. The fact that I never cared about the characters obviously didn't help but the story never worked whatsoever. In fact, it was worse than that, it was really cringe-inducing and even borderline unwatchable. Anyway, to conclude, the whole thing was terribly misguided and I don't think it's worth a look whatsoever. 

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, the damned thing turned out to be pretty lame, that’s for sure. Basically, I always thought that ‘Jerry Maguirre’ was a decent flick but not much more than that and this movie was basically a very tedious ‘Jerry Maguirre’ rip-off. Concerning Vince Vaughn, sure, I will admit that the guy did deliver some fun comedies at some point in his career but it is rather sad that, almost 20 years later, he is still playing basically the same character and his shtick has become seriously stale in the meantime. Furthermore, his approach for this movie never really worked. Indeed, because of the way he played his character, I never felt any stress or pressure when, considering the circumstances, the guy should have been a nervous wreck. Concerning the jokes, well, most of them were pretty weak and, even though I saw the movie only yesterday, I can’t remember a single one which was actually really funny. I do remember that there was quite a lot of topless nudity, even a couple of penises, which basically shows how desperate the makers were to get the attention of their audience. The sub-plots involving the kids of the main character were also terribly half-baked and pathetic. Indeed, even though this movie was dealing with a workaholic who was basically never at home, at the end of the movie, he was still hailed as a great father because he had a couple of really uninspired Facetime chats with his kids. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was pretty much a waste of time for myself and all the people involved so I think you should avoid it. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Since this movie had been a huge critical and commercial flop when it was released, I had some rather low expectations but, to be honest, I thought it was not so bad after all. Still, it was definitely a good example that it is much easier to deliver a bad movie from a good story than to create a great movie from a bad story. At least, it made me quite eager to read the book it was adapted from which was apparently a huge best-seller and even won the Pulitzer prize. Indeed, the story was quite intriguing and many characters involved were really interesting and/or entertaining but, unfortunately, I’m afraid John Crowley really struggled to turn it into something cohesive for the silver screen. Indeed, I'm afraid the directing was just terribly clunky. For example, sure, the book was told in retrospective first-person narration by the main character but there was no need to go several times back-and-forth between the young and the older Theo Decker. Then, I thought it was rather ridiculous that the main character didn’t bump once but twice completely randomly with someone he knew in New York. Seriously, it is one of the biggest cities in the world, with almost 9 million inhabitants, how high are the odds that something like this might ever happen? I thought it was also rather dubious that this young kid would manage to travel by bus all the way from Las Vegas to New York on his own and with a freaking dog! Finally, for most of the duration, the painting didn’t seem to have much impact on the life of the main character (it could have easily been removed and the story would have been exactly the same) and it was only during the 3^rd act that it became something major but it should have been so all along. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was a rather weak adaptation, I still don’t think it was a total disaster though, the characters involved were just too interesting for that, but there is no doubt that it could or should have been much better. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I thought that Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis were both rather pitch-perfect and they had tons of chemistry together. Seriously, they made such a cute couple together. Furthermore, I really did appreciate that their characters were fairly complex, at least, much more than what you usually get in this genre. Of course, your first reaction might be to be really judgmental towards Harper and the choices that she made but I think it’s easy to judge her if you’re coming from a super tolerant background, like I do. Indeed, as pointed out by another character, coming-out is a complete life-altering experience for all gays and, for some of them, an extremely difficult even borderline impossible step to take, as displayed in this movie. So, it was some really strong material but, unfortunately, they tried to squeeze it in some typical ‘Meet The Parents’ comedy. Sure, I understand that they wanted to appeal to a larger audience but the jokes were hardly entertaining. Even more problematic was that this approach pretty much ruined all the supporting characters involved. That’s a tricky thing, one on hand, they wanted to have the audience having a good time watching a fairly basic Christmas comedy but, on the other hand, the two main characters were in the process pretty much dying from the inside out and combining these 2 concepts was maybe not the greatest idea in the world. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.