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johanlefourbe posted a review of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
“I already saw this movie when it was released but I was quite eager to check it out again. Well, eventually, I think it turned out to be his most challenging movie so far which was not necessarily a bad thing, in the contrary, but I wish this challenge would have been more rewarding. I mean, I reall” read more
5 years, 7 months ago
johanlefourbe voted for list
Movies the giraffe watched in 2019: July (22 movies items)5 years, 7 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Todd Phillips's work list
Cast : Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz
What was it about?
An original standalone origin story of the iconic villain not seen before on the big screen, it's a gritty character study of Arthur Fleck, a man disregarded by society, and a broader cautionary tale.
My two cents:
To be honest, even though I did like this movie, I canāt say I was completely blown away after all. To be honest, it took me a while to figure out what actually bothered with this movie which had been virtually universally loved so far. Was it the saturation? I mean, we get such an overdose of super-hero movies. Even with the Joker himself, it has been already at least the 5th iteration of this iconic character in 30 years and, even if Joaquin Phoenix was quite amazing, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger and even Mark Hamill were just as heralded as he was. Furthermore, even though they are all making a big fuss about the fact that this movie could be a revolution in this genre but, in my opinion, the story was actually rather basic and predictable. I mean, it was a decent story but this tale of a rather sad mentally ill man slowly becoming homicidal was not really original. Eventually, the genius moves from Todd Philips was not to deliver a great story but to include the Joker in the mix and to have this popular character played by one of the best actors around. Seriously, if you would remove these 2 elements, I wonder if this movie would make so many waves. And, yet, there is no denying that, once again, Joaquin Phoenix gave us here another intense and spellbinding performance. Basically, the whole thing was some kind of amazing dark one-man-show and Phoenix definitely made the most of it.
My rating: 07/10
Check the full review5 years, 7 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Terrence Malick's work list
Cast : Matthias Schoenaerts, Bruno Ganz, Michael Nyqvist
What was it about?
The Austrian Franz JƤgerstƤtter, a conscientious objector, refuses to fight for the Nazis in World War II.
My two cents:
To be honest, I did start to lose faith with Terrence Malick as his recent directorial efforts were increasingly underwhelming. However, since his last movie had received some solid reviews, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, it was his most straightforward movie in years which was really refreshing and promising. However, as usual with this director, the damned thing was still quite challenging though. Anyway, Malick might be the most spiritual director I know and it might be his most spiritual movie so far. Indeed, the whole thing was basically a reflection about the soul and, if you would follow the logic of this movie, the redemption of our soul might be actually more important than our own life. However, I'm not sure if I really agree with this assessment. Indeed, WWII was a huge waste of human life, and, in my opinion, with Franz Jagerstatter, the waste was even worse. I mean, it was completely understandable that the guy refused to fight for the Nazis and to choose to rather die than taking part in this massive senseless killing machine was not only courageous but also the only moral thing to do. However, at some point, he was provided a way out and he basically died because he refused to pledge an oath to Adolf Hitler and, in this context, his choice became more dubious, at least, for me. Indeed, if all the people who tragically died back then had been given the same choice, they might have survived after all and his stubbornness felt more selfish and arrogant than really courageous. Still, even though I had some trouble to root for the guy, as usual with Terrence Malick, even if Emmanuel Lubezki was not involved, this movie was quite beautiful to look at and the guy still makes the most poetic movies out there. To conclude, even if I wasn't really blown away, it was still a vast improvement on the previous movies delivered by Malick.
My rating: 07/10
Check the full review5 years, 7 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Jim Jarmusch's work list
Cast : Chloƫ Sevigny, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi, Bill Murray, Selena Gomez, Tom Waits, Danny Glover, RZA, Iggy Pop
What was it about?
The peaceful town of Centerville finds itself battling a zombie horde as the dead start rising from their graves.
My two cents:
Not only if it was probably Jarmuschās worse movie, it was on top of that his laziest effort so far. Basically, the main issue was probably that there was no pulse whatsoever. Of course, thatās something that you could argue about most of Jim Jarmuschās movies. The issue in this case was that he tried to deliver a comedy which was barely funny after all. I mean, at some point, when Bill Murray asks Adam Driver how he knows that everything will end badly, Driver tells him he knows it because Jim gave him the full script. And that was one of the better jokes. Futhermore, if Jarmusch probably gathered his strongest cast so far, it actually backfired. Indeed, there were basically too many characters involved and, as a result, none of them was really developed. Even worse, none of them was really interesting or entertaining. Itās such a shame because, a couple of years ago, Jarmusch managed to do something really neat with the vampire genre with āOnly Lovers Left Aliveā. However, this time, he tried to tackle the current zombie craze but, unfortunately, he did absolutely nothing interesting with an already completely overdone genre.
My rating: 05/10
Check the full review5 years, 7 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of the Farrelly Brothers' work list
Cast : Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini
What was it about?
A working-class Italian-American bouncer becomes the driver of an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s American South.
My two cents:
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 was pretty much a reversed version of āDriving Miss Daisyā, a rather weak which at least had the excuse that it had been released 30 years ago. Seriously, it is rather sad that āBlacKkKlansmanā which was also nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award was snubbed when it was not only an impressive come-back from Spike Lee but also gave a much more provocative view on the very same subject than this movie. On top of that, even though the story was rather generic and predictable, it was also rather condescending. The worst example was probably when Donald Shirley helped Tony writing these letters. Seriously, can you imagine if it would have been the other way around, with a white guy showing a black man how to write a romantic letter? It would have been a scandal. At least, there is no doubt that both Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali both delivered some solid performances but I just didnāt care much about anything else in this movie.
My rating: 06/10
Check the full review5 years, 7 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Ang Lee's work list
Cast : Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen
What was it about?
An over-the-hill hitman faces off against a younger clone of himself.
My two cents:
Even though this movie was rather poorly received by the critics and will probably end up being a box-office flop, since I'm a huge fan of Ang Lee, I was still eager to check it out though. Well, first of all, I have to admit it, the story was rather weak. Indeed, even if it might have sounded cool on paper, it didn't make much sense to send the main character's clone to kill him. Basically, it would have been much more efficient to send someone with much more experience with no connection with the victim. Then, they came up with this really bogus theory that someone with the same genetical background would end up with exactly the same set of skills and abilities which was just ridiculous. Anyway, the plot or lack of it was obviously not the selling point as the whole thing was in fact basically another experiment from Ang Lee to push the current movie technology and, this area, it was fortunately much more successful. On one hand, they managed to deliver a completely realistic and believable younger version of Will Smith and the end-result was just amazing. I also have to add that Smith did a fine job playing these two versions of himself. And, then, the other technological breakthrough was obviously the HFR shooting. Well, to be honest, it is still not really working yet but it has some potential and Ang Lee made a rather sensible choice to use it for an action flick like this one, instead than for a drama like 'Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk'. However, except for the amazing chase between the two Smith''s which was one of the best action scenes I have seen in a very long time, there wasn't so many action scenes after all. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, I still think it was an interesting experimental action flick and I believe it is worth a look but only if you would be attracted by such an experiment.
My rating: 6/10
Check the full review5 years, 7 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of M. Night Shyamalan's work list
Cast : James McAvoy, Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Sarah Paulson, Anya Taylor-Joy
What was it about?
Security guard David Dunn uses his supernatural abilities to track Kevin Wendell Crumb, a disturbed man who has twenty-four personalities.
My two cents:
To be honest, after watching the flick, I have to admit that I was actually positively surprised by the damned thing and I wonder why the reviews were so harsh. I mean, sure, it wasnāt a masterpiece whatsoever but I thought it was still a decent sequel in this franchise. Indeed, I really loved the idea of a movie reuniting David Dunn with Elijah Price and Kevin Wendell Crumb and the set-up, to have them imprisoned all together fairly early on in a psychiatric hospital/jail was really neat as well. However, it was rather odd that, even though there were only 3 characters and the running time was over 2 hours, Shyamalan didnāt really manage to develop any of them. I mean, Bruce Willis was basically sleepwalking through his whole performance but I guess you shouldnāt expect more from him nowadays. Samuel L. Jackson was simply catatonic for one hour. James McAvoy was once again quite brilliant juggling no less than 20 characters but, for some reasons, this time around, they decided to make him switch characters every 10 seconds and, as a result, he became some kind of exhausting circus act. Finally, as usual with this director, there were couple of twists at the end but, since it is his most infamous trademark, they were hardly surprising but, above all, they were rather pretentious and, eventually, hardly as fascinating as Shyamalan would like us to think. However, even though I would agree that this movie was flawed, I still believe that the concept was really neat and it turned to be a decent watch after all.
My rating: 6/10
Check the full review5 years, 7 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Michael Bayās work list
Cast : Ryan Reynolds, MĆ©lanie Laurent, Dave Franco
What was it about?
Meet a new kind of action hero. Six untraceable agents, totally off the grid. They've buried their pasts so they can change the future.
My two cents:
At least, it was refreshing to see Michael Bay finally making an action flick with no Transformers involved. On top of that, the car chase at the beginning, which lasted a whopping 20 mins, was just amazing. Seriously, it was hands down one of the best chases I have ever seen. Unfortunately, while the rest of the movie was not bad, it turned out to be too generic though. There was also too much use of flashbacks and voice-overs obviously to make the whole thing look more fancy than it actually was. Furthermore, concerning this group of lethal agents, except for Ryan Reynolds, it was pretty much a bunch of B actors. I mean, they were not bad but I wish they came up with a slightly more charismatic group. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it still turned to be a decent effort from Michael Bay, even if it is completely forgettable.
My rating: 6/10
Check the full review5 years, 7 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Danny Boyle's work list
Cast : Lily James, Ed Sheeran
What was it about?
A struggling musician realizes he's the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles.
My two cents:
Even if the concept didnāt sound really amazing, I still thought it was pretty neat that, once again, Danny Boyle was trying something completely different. Unfortunately, I was surprised by how little I actually did care about the damned thing after all and I donāt really get why it had been relatively well received when it was released. First of all, I find rather doubtful, if the Beatles would come up with their songs nowadays, that they would be so successful but it probably had to do with the fact that Iām not a huge fan of their work. However, the biggest issue was the fact that the whole thing was just so damned generic and predictable. At least, I did appreciate that they toned down Lily Jamesās natural beauty to make her look like your average next-door-girl but, in my opinion, she didnāt have much chemistry with Himesh Patel. On top of that, Patel was a rather underwhelming lead after all. Eventually, even if I have seen worse, I still think it was, so far, Danny Boyleās most disappointing directing effort.
My rating: 06/10
Check the full review5 years, 7 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of various directors' s work list
5 years, 7 months ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Central Intelligence
“I wasnāt really sure what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Dwayne Johnson, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though I think that the concept actually had some potential, the end-result was actually pretty disappointing, Iām afraid. Indeed, it could have” read more
5 years, 7 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2023) list
Notes: I haven't seen this one yet...5 years, 7 months ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Creed II
“I already saw this movie but since my wife is a big fan of the āRockyā franchise, I thought I might as well rewatch it with her. As far Iām concerned, I have to admit that I actually really liked āCreedā but this sequel, even though it was a decent watch, to be honest, wasnāt really much” read more
5 years, 7 months ago
Directors and Lenses
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2023) list
Notes: Basically, it is one of those classics I knew I should watch at some point but I kept postponing it indefinitely since I was pretty sure I would have a hard time to care for the whole thing. And, indeed, If you are a real movie buff, you have to watch this movie at some point but, man, it remains a tough watch though... I mean, I have to admit it, it was pretty impressive from a technical point of view and it has a huge historical value but it is also seriously boring and quite sickening to behold. Basically, half of the movie is about Adolf and his demented buddies making some dreadful speeches and the other half is about some endless marches involving 1000ās and 1000ās of fanatics in uniform. Like I said before, it was quite groundbreaking at the time and you can imagine that Leni Riefenstahl couldn't resist the temptation of making such a huge production with a virtually limitless budget so she did some pretty impressive stuff visually speaking making the most notorious propaganda feature ever conceived. Still, I felt pretty sick during most of the duration and even their uplifting music couldnāt cheer me up.5 years, 7 months ago
