johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies ... my own version (2000's) list
Notes: I have actually a rather conflicted relationship with this flick. Indeed, on one hand, it is absolutely a solid feature and, finally, after being snubbed for so many years by the Academy, Scorsese finally received some recognition. But, on the other hand, honestly, is it his best movie? Even though it was really well made, even though there was a great cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga, Ray Winstone, Alec Baldwin) and even though it was absolutely entertaining, in my opinion, it never came near the level of his real masterpieces such as 'Taxi Driver', 'Raging Bull' or 'Goodfellas'. Furthermore, whereas those movies were truly groundbreaking, this flick was merely a remake and, in my opinion, the original Asian version was actually better. To be honest, it gets on my nerves how much credit this movie gets but, still, compared to the average garbage you get nowadays coming from Hollywood, if you donāt compare it to the rest of Scorseseās work, if you donāt compare it to the superior original version, it is actually a rather spellbinding thriller.
4 years, 3 months ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of The Old Man & the Gun
“To be honest, I had actually no idea what this movie was about but since I have a weak spot for Robert Redford and since it might be his last leading part, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even if it was maybe nothing really original, it was still a really entertaining story. In fact, y” read more
4 years, 3 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies ... my own version (1970's) list
Notes: Sidney Lumet had a rather productive career managing to direct more than 40 movies, some major classics, some major bombs and a whole bunch of really obscure features. However, there is no doubts that this movie definitely belongs to his masterpieces. To be honest, I still think that 'Dog Day Afternoon', which Lumet made 2 years later also with Al Pacino, is superior but it is still a fine picture. To start up, it is rather fascinating story, albeit depressing, but still very interesting. It is basically what happens when you give an average guy a gun and some power, there is a fair chance that they will abuse it. In my opinion, the greatest asset in this movie is Frank Serpico himself. Indeed, he is such an interesting character, even if you would remove the whole corruption story, the guy would still be interesting and it is obviously thanks to a great performance by Al Pacino. Like Robert de Niro, I have been following Pacino for almost 25 years and, honestly, most of his recent work is just not worth your time and it is in fact much more rewarding to watch such old classics like this one.
4 years, 3 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies Chosen By Johanlefourbe list
Notes: I have actually a rather conflicted relationship with this flick. Indeed, on one hand, it is absolutely a solid feature and, finally, after being snubbed for so many years by the Academy, Scorsese finally received some recognition. But, on the other hand, honestly, is it his best movie? Even though it was really well made, even though there was a great cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga, Ray Winstone, Alec Baldwin) and even though it was absolutely entertaining, in my opinion, it never came near the level of his real masterpieces such as 'Taxi Driver', 'Raging Bull' or 'Goodfellas'. Furthermore, whereas those movies were truly groundbreaking, this flick was merely a remake and, in my opinion, the original Asian version was actually better. To be honest, it gets on my nerves how much credit this movie gets but, still, compared to the average garbage you get nowadays coming from Hollywood, if you donāt compare it to the rest of Scorseseās work, if you donāt compare it to the superior original version, it is actually a rather spellbinding thriller.
4 years, 3 months ago
johanlefourbe added 5 items to their collection
4 years, 3 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies Chosen By Johanlefourbe list
Notes: Sidney Lumet had a rather productive career managing to direct more than 40 movies, some major classics, some major bombs and a whole bunch of really obscure features. However, there is no doubts that this movie definitely belongs to his masterpieces. To be honest, I still think that 'Dog Day Afternoon', which Lumet made 2 years later also with Al Pacino, is superior but it is still a fine picture. To start up, it is rather fascinating story, albeit depressing, but still very interesting. It is basically what happens when you give an average guy a gun and some power, there is a fair chance that they will abuse it. In my opinion, the greatest asset in this movie is Frank Serpico himself. Indeed, he is such an interesting character, even if you would remove the whole corruption story, the guy would still be interesting and it is obviously thanks to a great performance by Al Pacino. Like Robert de Niro, I have been following Pacino for almost 25 years and, honestly, most of his recent work is just not worth your time and it is in fact much more rewarding to watch such old classics like this one.
4 years, 3 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies ... my own version (2000's) list
Notes: I do remember quite well when it came out. Indeed, back then, āBeing John Malkovichā had become a big cult-classic but, to be honest, even though I did like how wild and original it was, it didnāt completely convince me. However, with this follow-up, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman really managed to blow me away. Indeed, it was once again a really wild and surrealist tale but, in contrary to āBeing John Malkovichā, it managed to keep my attention until the very end. Seriously, I donāt think I haver seen a movie managing so well to mix fiction and reality. You could say that the makers already tried something similar with āBeing John Malkovichā but it worked much better here and the end-result was just spellbinding. For example, I just loved how Charlie Kaufman created a fictitious twin brother who also got credited for writing this movie. I know a lot of people trash Nicolas Cage and it is true that most of his recent movies were completely worthless but, back in those days, he gave a hell of a double performance for this movie.
4 years, 3 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies Chosen By Johanlefourbe list
Notes: I do remember quite well when it came out. Indeed, back then, āBeing John Malkovichā had become a big cult-classic but, to be honest, even though I did like how wild and original it was, it didnāt completely convince me. However, with this follow-up, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman really managed to blow me away. Indeed, it was once again a really wild and surrealist tale but, in contrary to āBeing John Malkovichā, it managed to keep my attention until the very end. Seriously, I donāt think I haver seen a movie managing so well to mix fiction and reality. You could say that the makers already tried something similar with āBeing John Malkovichā but it worked much better here and the end-result was just spellbinding. For example, I just loved how Charlie Kaufman created a fictitious twin brother who also got credited for writing this movie. I know a lot of people trash Nicolas Cage and it is true that most of his recent movies were completely worthless but, back in those days, he gave a hell of a double performance for this movie.
4 years, 3 months ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Cold Comes the Night
“I wasnāt really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Bryan Cranston and Alice Eve, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, the beginning was pretty weak. Indeed, it wasnāt really convincing that the social services would remove her kid only bec” read more
4 years, 3 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies ... my own version (2010's) list
Notes: Since I kept hearing some really good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out and, boy, I wasnāt disappointed. First of all, contrary to some other similar documentaries dealing with some lost music artists like āAnvil: The Story of Anvilā or āThe Devil and Daniel Johnstonā, Rodriguezā music was actually pretty good and some of his songs have some mesmerizing quality ('Crucify your mind' totally gave me the goosebumps). So, that was a already good start but the best part was this incredible tale about this artist who never had any mainstream success at all anywhere in the world but, somehow, became a huge icon in South African as big as Elvis Presley or the Beatles. I was glad I didnāt know much about the guy or this movie beforehand (like the majority of the rest of the world) because this movie had some major twists. I think I shouldnāt talk much about it because I donāt want to spoil it but the last 30 minutes were pretty messianic. This tale ends up on a really inspiring note and this Rodriguez guy turned out to be one of the most intriguing music artists I have ever heard of.
4 years, 3 months ago