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johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2020) list
Notes: Since Iām a huge fan of āFreaksā, it was really neat to see another movie directed by Tod Browning. This movie had even more in common with Browningās classic since it was mostly taking place within a circus and focusing on a (supposedly) armless man. There was also something quite fascinating regarding this movie and it could have been a real masterpiece but Iām afraid it was slightly ruined by a really annoying soundtrack. Thatās the issue with such vintage movies which are now in the public domain, people can do whatever they want and then put them online. Anyway, it was quite a strange movie with a rather half-baked story but with some fascinating characters. The best one was obviously the character played by Lon Chaney. Iām well aware of Chaneyās legendary status but I have to admit that Iām not familiar with his work but, after watching him for 5 mins in this movie, I understood right away why he was, and still is, so highly regarded. I mean, it was such a complex character and, obviously, some scenes didnāt make much sense physically speaking and, yet, Chaney always nailed it. The other strong character was the one played by a very young Joan Crawford. Iām not sure if Crawford herself was great but there was something really intriguing about this woman who was completely frightened by the idea of being touched by a man. Itās too bad that this phobia seemed to be solved too easily so they could wrap everything up at the end. Anyway, the damned thing was actually quite spellbinding.5 years ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Green Book
“Since this movie had won the Best Picture Academy Award, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, Iām surprised the damned thing reserved so much praise. I mean, sure, it was a decent watch but not really much more than that, in my opinion. As pointed out by many people before me, it” read more
5 years ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2020) list
Notes: Well, itās the 3rd movie I watched directed by Sergei Eisenstein and it was probably the most difficult one I have seen so far. While watching this movie, I tried to remember what I did learn at school about the 1917 October Revolution but it was more than 20 years ago and this movie certainly didnāt give any background information. Eventually, the end-result was some kind of endless feverish dream dealing with the uprising that took place at the time in Russia. Seriously, the damned thing was quite relentless and I donāt think they took a minute to breath and provide the viewers with the opportunity to absorb what they just watched. By now, I got pretty much used to the fact such Soviet propaganda movies actually never focused on the characters individually but, still, it was interesting that Lenin was mentioned only a couple of times (Vasili Nikandrov was a stunning look-a-like though). For Trotsky, the situation was even worse as, even though he did show up a couple of times, his name was never mentioned and, in fact, Eisenstein had to remove most of the footage dealing with him which shows how things can change in only 10 years. Eventually, what impressed me the most with this movie was the frenetic editing. Eisensteinās idea was to edit together some shots of various things which apparently had nothing to do with each other to create an intellectual comparisons between them which was quite intriguing.5 years ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of I'll Be Home for Christmas
“To be honest, I wasnāt expecting much from this flick but since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, I have to admit that Iām not a huge fan of Christmas movies but, even though this movie was not the worst one I have seen in this genre, it still had” read more
5 years ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2020) list
Notes: It is considered as the first ātalkingā movie so it was pretty huge when it was released at the time. Well, I was rather surprised by how little dialogue was actually involved in the damned thing after all and they still used intertitles for most of the duration. Basically, the sound was mostly used for the songs performed by Al Jolson. The songs were actually all pretty good by the way. And, yet, during these songs, Jolson did improvise some dialogues and it was basically the first time ever that you had some audible dialogue. Well, I thought that even when you watch this movie almost 100 years later, the effect was still really neat. Concerning the movie itself, well, to be honest, the story is not really strong and you might wonder why it has been remade twice already (the Neil Diamond version has especially a really lame reputation). There was also the issue that Al Jolson was in his 40ās and at least 20 years too old to play this character, even if he was a great performer (it's quite incredible that they made exactly the same mistake with the Neil Diamond remake). There was also the fact that he kept performing with some blackface and, even though it was apparently a common practice at the time, it is still really unsettling to watch it nowadays. The weird thing, at least to me, was that Jolson didnāt sound like a black guy at all when he was singing so I didnāt really see the point of this make-up.5 years ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Bad Moms
“I wasnāt sure what to expect but since this movie had been a success at the box-office and since it seemed to be a decent comedy, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I was surprised by how lame it actually turned out to be. Seriously, right from the very first scene, I was ” read more
5 years ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2020) list
Notes: I haven't seen this one yet...5 years ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Saving Mr. Banks
“To be honest, I have never been a huge fan of āMary Poppinsā (since I have Disney+, I should re-watch it at some point though) but since I have a weak spot for Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks, I was quite eager to check this movie. Well, even though it was a decent watch and easily better than most ” read more
5 years ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2020) list
Notes: I always felt bad that discovered Buster Keaton so late. Well, it took me even longer to see my first movie starring Harold Lloyd but, at least, it was definitely worth the wait, thatās for sure. First of all, I saw a restored version on YouTube and I must say I was amazed by its pristine quality which you wouldnāt expect from a silent movie already almost 100 years old. Concerning the movie itself, it was apparently Harold Lloydās favorite among all his films so I got lucky to discover his work with, allegedly, one of his best movies. Sure, like most silent comedies, the whole thing was rather random but I thought the story was actually fairly well developed. Above all, the damned thing was just so entertaining. Seriously, I canāt remember the last time I saw such a hilarious silent movie. Basically, the whole thing is an endless succession of very clever gags and I was amazed that so many of them worked so well. In fact, there were so many, I donāt think I could pick up any of them as a favorite and, maybe, thatās a downside, but I think it was more a luxury problem.5 years ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Mary Magdalene
“I wasnāt really sure what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, this movie was one of the victims in the Weinstein debacle as it was supposed to be released just around the time the scandal broke do” read more
5 years ago
