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johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies Chosen By Johanlefourbe list
Notes: It was the first movie I saw directed by Robert Bresson and, as I expected, his work turned out to be quite challenging. Indeed, Iām not surprised that Andrei Tarkovsky was a huge fan of Bressonās work and, to be honest, just like with Tarkovskyās work, I did struggle to feel a connection with this movie. Indeed, even though the main character keeps telling us his feelings and thoughts mostly when writing in his diary, I was never really sure what I should think regarding the events displayed in this movie. I mean, you could argue that they tried to display the contradictions between what this community was expecting from their new priest and what he was expected to do according to his religious dogma. However, this theory completely clashed with the fact that the main character was heavily ill through most of the duration and, as result, the whole thing was rather murky, at least, to me. Still, Bresson had such a raw and realistic directing style, it made the whole thing rather ostentatious but also quite spellbinding to behold. It is also interesting to note that Bresson used to make takes after takes so that the actors would basically forget that they were acting but, to be honest, even if the performances were intriguing, I didnāt think that they were super realistic. Still, Claude Laydu, in his first acting part, was actually really good.3 years, 8 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies ... my own version (1980's) list
Notes: To be honest, it has been ages since I have seen this movie and maybe I should re-watch it at some point. In fact, I still remember very well the first time I saw the damned thing. In fact, at the time, I had never heard of this flick before and it is my brother-in-law who brought it to our attention saying that it had a very notorious reputation, that it was one of the scariest movies ever made. So, we sat there with the 3 of us (my sister, her boyfriend and myself), expecting something really horrible to happen but, to be honest, we didnāt care much for the whole thing. I mean, sure, it was well made and Michael Rooker gave a really solid performance but, in my opinion, the movie didnāt have much else to offer. Basically, it is a decent serial-killer flick and the only original thing was that the guy didnāt get caught at the end. Apparently, that was something that deeply shocked the viewers at the time, that someone so evil would get away with doing something so terrible but, to be honest, I thought this approach was clever but not much more than that, Iām afraid. 3 years, 8 months ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Final Score
“To be honest, I wasnāt expecting much from the damned thing but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, even though Pierce Brosnan (who was the main reason why I started to watch this movie) was displayed prominently on most of the promotional ” read more
3 years, 8 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies Chosen By Johanlefourbe list
Notes: To be honest, it has been ages since I have seen this movie and maybe I should re-watch it at some point. In fact, I still remember very well the first time I saw the damned thing. In fact, at the time, I had never heard of this flick before and it is my brother-in-law who brought it to our attention saying that it had a very notorious reputation, that it was one of the scariest movies ever made. So, we sat there with the 3 of us (my sister, her boyfriend and myself), expecting something really horrible to happen but, to be honest, we didnāt care much for the whole thing. I mean, sure, it was well made and Michael Rooker gave a really solid performance but, in my opinion, the movie didnāt have much else to offer. Basically, it is a decent serial-killer flick and the only original thing was that the guy didnāt get caught at the end. Apparently, that was something that deeply shocked the viewers at the time, that someone so evil would get away with doing something so terrible but, to be honest, I thought this approach was clever but not much more than that, Iām afraid. 3 years, 8 months ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Hands of Stone
“I wasnāt really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that I knew pretty much nothing about Roberto Duran before watching this flick and, only therefore, it was pretty neat to discover t” read more
3 years, 8 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies ... my own version (1960's) list
Notes: To be honest, it has been a while since I saw this movie and maybe I should re-watch it at some point. Basically, I bumped into this movie in a DVD shop, if I recall it correctly, and since I have always been a fan of Luchino Viscontiās work, I thought I might as well check it out. Indeed, I always thought that there was something fascinating in his work, more than with any other Italian director, even Fellini. This movie was apparently acclaimed when it was released but, to be honest, I had actually a hard time to connect with the damned thing. Basically, it is a very long bleak tale about a rather decadent German family in the 30ās and I'm afraid it was not really fun to spend so much time with such despicable characters. I mean, sure, Iām well aware that it was never supposed to be āfunā but I just didnāt care much for these characters and what they were going through. I donāt know, to be honest, sometimes, it felt like watching āCaligulaā but, this time, dealing with some Germans instead of some Romans. I know, it might sound weird to compare an acclaimed movie like this one to some notorious garbage like āCaligulaā and thatās why I should probably re-watch it at some point.3 years, 8 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to Ronny's Dutch Film Club list
chosen by Johan
Notes: To be honest, I have to admit that I was slightly worried that Paul Verhoeven would come up with something rather sleazy. Well, eventually, the Dutch master didnāt disappoint, at least, not me as it turned out to be a massive Verhoeven festival. Indeed, he went pretty much all the way with some over-the-top hallucinations, violence, blood, full frontal nudity and some good old sex. Seriously, even if probably not everything did work, the whole thing was still seriously intense. Eventually, he gave us all the various ways anyone at the time might approach religion (as a real vocation, as a capitalist enterprise, as a powerful political weapon, as a simple way to get fed or a way to escape a toxic household). What I enjoyed the most was how ambiguous Benedetta was until the very end. Indeed, was she some kind of con artist? A complete lunatic? Another sexually frustrated nun? An actual prophet who could communicate with God, somehow? Or maybe it was a combination of all this all together. Well, you wonāt get any easy answer which was the movieās biggest strength but also its weakness. Indeed, at the end, all the other charactersās thoughts, feelings and motivations were pretty clear but Benedetta remained an impenetrable wall which was slightly frustrating and, yet, it made her rather fascinating. I also think that the whole lesbian relationship was not very well linked with her religious āawakeningā. The best thing that I can think of was that, by being touched by Bartolomeaās love, she was then more able to get in touch with God? Or maybe, after all these years of sexual abstinence, it pretty much blew up her fragile mind? Still, the damned thing was quite a roller coaster.
(Oct. 2021)3 years, 8 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies ... my own version (1960's) list
Notes: I heard of Andy Warhol's experimental movies but I thought I might as well check this one out. First of all, let's be obvious, would anyone really care about it if it would have been directed by another really obscure artist? I seriously doubt it but I have to admit that it was still an interesting watch though. First of all, it did help that I did read 'A Clockwork Orange' and saw Kubrick's version a couple of times, otherwise, I would have been completely unable to follow the damned thing. Concerning the directing, was it really artistic or just really amateurish? Again, it is hard to tell but it is something that might be said about all the Art work delivered by Warhol. And, yet, there was still something quite mesmerising about the damned thing and, somehow, he did manage to display the nihilism and the oppressive feeling from this classic book. Still, I'm glad that it was fairly short as it became increasingly random and chaotic towards the end. 3 years, 8 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies Chosen By Johanlefourbe list
Notes: To be honest, it has been a while since I saw this movie and maybe I should re-watch it at some point. Basically, I bumped into this movie in a DVD shop, if I recall it correctly, and since I have always been a fan of Luchino Viscontiās work, I thought I might as well check it out. Indeed, I always thought that there was something fascinating in his work, more than with any other Italian director, even Fellini. This movie was apparently acclaimed when it was released but, to be honest, I had actually a hard time to connect with the damned thing. Basically, it is a very long bleak tale about a rather decadent German family in the 30ās and I'm afraid it was not really fun to spend so much time with such despicable characters. I mean, sure, Iām well aware that it was never supposed to be āfunā but I just didnāt care much for these characters and what they were going through. I donāt know, to be honest, sometimes, it felt like watching āCaligulaā but, this time, dealing with some Germans instead of some Romans. I know, it might sound weird to compare an acclaimed movie like this one to some notorious garbage like āCaligulaā and thatās why I should probably re-watch it at some point.3 years, 8 months ago
