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johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Gus Van Sant's work list
Cast : Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, Jack Black
What was it about?
About John Callahan who became a paralyzed after a car accident at age 21, and turned to drawing as a form of therapy.
My two cents:
After the huge critical failure of 'The Sea of Trees' (It is even considered by many as his worst movie so far), Gus Van Sant here made a nice come-back with and this flick was easily his best movie since 'Milk' released already 10 years ago. Still, even though it was indeed an entertaining biopic, it was nothing really amazing, to be honest. I mean, even though Van Sant went for a chaotic and random structure, the whole thing was actually fairly generic and predictable after all. Still, I had never heard of John Callahan before watching this movie, the guy was really interesting and I really appreciate the fact that they kept displaying his work through the whole duration. Eventually, I think I enjoyed mostly the cast involved. Indeed, once again, Joaquin Phoenix completely nailed it and displayed again that he is easily one of the best actors of his generation. On top of that, the rest of the cast was also strong even if their characters were unfortunately barely developed. I was above all impressed by Jonah Hill who I didn't recognize at all and it was only by the sound of his voice that I was able to spot him. Anyway, even though it was nothing ground-breaking, it was still a decent biopic and it is definitely worth a look.
My rating: 07/10
Check the full review7 years, 4 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Robert Rodriguez's work list
Cast : Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Jackie Earle Haley
What was it about?
A deactivated female cyborg is revived, but cannot remember anything of her past life and goes on a quest to find out who she is.
My two cents:
For how long have I been waiting to see this movie? 10 years? 15 years? Indeed, when I was kid, I bought the comic-books with my brother, I really loved them, and when I heard that James Cameron would adapt them, it sounded really awesome. However, somehow, the guy got completely obsessed with 'Avatar' and it seemed that this project would be stuck in production hell forever. Fortunately, Robert Rodriguez came on board and even if he wouldn't have been my first choice as a director, I still wanted to check the damned thing, in spite of the negative hype it received even before it was released. Well, eventually, I have to admit it, it didn't turn out to be a masterpiece, but it was far from being a failure either and I enjoyed most of it. Indeed, even though it felt rather derivative by now, the world created was interesting enough and visually quite impressive but I wouldn't expect less from Cameron. Above all, they completely nailed the main character. Indeed, Alita was just as fascinating as she was in the comic-book. Not only the way she looked worked very well (the controversy about her big eyes turned out to be completely unjustified after all) but, above all, she was just so charismatic, complex, and completely faithfull to the comic-book. Concerning the story itself, it's a shame that they tried to adapt the first 4 comic-books as it turned out to be just too much material for 2 hours of running time. Still, in spite of it flaws, I think it was a rather faithtfull adaptation and it is definitely worth a look.
My rating: 07/10
Check the full review
7 years, 4 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Ridley Scott's work list
Cast : Mark Wahlberg, Christopher Plummer, Michelle Williams, Timothy Hutton, Romain Duris
What was it about?
story of the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother to convince his billionaire grandfather John Paul Getty to pay the ransom.
My two cents:
With this movie, Ridley Scott pulled off the marketing stunt of the year. Indeed, just about a month before this movie was released, he decided to reshoot all the scenes involving Kevin Spacey and replace him with Christopher Plummer. And, indeed, the whole thing looked great and it felt like Plummer had been involved from the very beginning. And, yet, if you put this stunt aside, was it really a great movie? Not really, I'm afraid. Basically, it was a typical effort from this director. I mean, it looked great, the material had a lot of potential but it still felt either rushed or lazy. For example, during the introduction, you get to meet John Paul Getty II and his happy family but, then, within a few minutes, he became a drug-addict living in Morocco. This character was just so poorly handled, without mentioning the fact that the guy was apparently actually much more involved in the negotiations with the kidnappers. Then, they made the mistake of focusing on one of the kidnappers. It was obviously made up but, above all, completely uninteresting. Another mystery was Mark Wahlberg's character. Seriously, what was the point of this character? At what point was he actually really helpful? I mean, to make us believe that he was the one who gave a heartfelt speech to John Paul Getty who would finally change his mind was just really ludicrous. Anyway, I think I'm being rather generous with my rating here but it was an interesting story and Ridley Scott knows how to direct a good looking picture but there is no doubt that it could have been so much better.
My rating: 07/10
Check the full review7 years, 4 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Steven Spielberg's work list
Cast : Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance, Hannah John-Kamen, Letitia Wright
What was it about?
When the creator of a virtual reality world called the OASIS dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune.
My two cents:
Well, to be honest, I have to admit that I was actually quite positively surprised and, as far as I’m concerned, it was Spielberg’s most enjoyable movie in years. Indeed, first of all, the damned thing was visually really impressive and I wish I actually saw it in the movie theater when it was released (at least, I did see it on Blu-ray). I was also surprised that most of the movie was actually CGI animated but, in this genre, it is easily one of the most satisfying movies I have seen so far. Indeed, the story was quite entertaining and while watching the damned thing, I was thinking that ‘Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets’ could have been also a box-office hit if Luc Besson didn’t write such a half-baked plot. On the downside, it’s too bad the whole thing was too long though. I mean, with 140 mins, it wasn’t exactly a very long movie but they could or should have removed 30 mins as the whole thing especially lost some steam during the 3rd act. Furthermore, even though the potential was pretty much limitless with this concept, they didn’t take much risks after all and, like pretty much everything else directed by Spielberg, it was too light-hearted and sentimental for my taste. Anyway, even though it was maybe not a masterpiece, it was still a really fun and gorgeous blockbuster.
My rating: 7/10
Check the full review7 years, 4 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Martin Scorsese's work list
Cast : Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Anna Paquin, Jesse Plemons, Harvey Keitel
What was it about?
A mob hitman recalls his possible involvement with the slaying of Jimmy Hoffa.
My two cents:
Of course, this combo Scorsese-De Niro-Pacino sounded like movie heaven and when the critics turned out to be wild enthusiast, my expectations went sky high. Well, I find it rather difficult to judge this movie after all and, to be honest, I wasn’t really blown like I was expecting to be. First of all, even though the CGI deaging of the main cast had pretty much doubled the costs of the production and had been widely praised, I didn’t feel it was really convincing. Seriously, I was constantly wondering what age their characters were supposed to be and it was pretty obvious through the whole duration that all the actors (Robert de Niro (75), Al Pacino (78) and Joe Pesci (75)) were so much older than their respective characters. Even if ‘Gemini Man’ was a major flop and a rather average action flick, at least, the 20 year old version of Will Smith was just mindblowing to behold. Concerning the character themselves, I thought that Russell Bufalino was actually the most interesting one. Indeed, if Al Pacino delivered a solid performance, to be honest, Jimmy Hoffa felt rather clueless or at least really reckless considering the way he handled the threats from the mob. Concerning Frank Sheeran, De Niro was fine as well but I was missing some kind of drive behind his actions. Still, even if this story might seem to be pretty basic, it was not a simple movie, especially due to the fact that it was Scorsese’s longest movie so far and I think I would need to rewatch it at some point to make up my mind for good about the damned thing.
My rating: 07/10
Check the full review7 years, 4 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Clint Eastwood's work list
Cast : Judy Greer, Jenna Fischer
What was it about?
American soldiers discover a terrorist plot on a Paris-bound train.
My two cents:
After 'American Sniper' and 'Sully', Eastwood decided for the 3rd time in a row to tell another true tale about some other American heroes but, unfortunately, it turned out to be so terribly weak and not much better than the garbage you can see on the Lifetime channel. Then, the actual guys who were involved during these events actually played themselves which wasn't a bad idea and I don't think they did such a terribly bad job but the whole thing started to become rather abysmal at this point. Basically, they gave us a whole bunch of meaningless scenes with no entertaining or informative value and it seems, since the tragic event in the train would last only 15 mins, that they had to fill in the running time with something. The worst part was definitely when these guys went backpacking in Europe. Seriously, it felt like watching 'The Real World' from MTV or some other crappy reality TV program. At least, the scenes in the train did work but everything else was just so tedious and rather poorly put together.
My rating: 5/10
Check the full review7 years, 4 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...7 years, 4 months ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Cool World
“I already saw this movie but since it was a few years ago, i thought I might as well give it a 2nd chance. The first time around, even though this movie had a rather lame reputation, I always wanted to see it ever since it was released (it basically took me 25 years to finally see this movie). Wel” read more
7 years, 4 months ago
johanlefourbe added 9 items to their collection
7 years, 4 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...7 years, 4 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...7 years, 4 months ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
“Just a couple of days ago, I saw 'Kicking and Screaming', Noah Baumbach's directing debut, so I thought it would be pretty neat to see his last movie as well. First of all, it is always nice to see Adam Sandler trying something else and I wish the guy would drop his usual moronic comedies, especiall” read more
7 years, 4 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to Top 10 best movies 2017 list
Notes: It was another great feature coming from Pixar and it shows that they should clearly focus more on some original material instead of constantly releasing some sequels or prequels. Anyway, as usual with these guys, the animation was just gorgeous but, above all, the story was just fascinating showing that Pixar is still so much ahead of their competition. Indeed, another company, like Disney for example, would have focused only on the Mexican culture in great details but would have also delivered a rather generic plot ('Moana' was a perfect example) but Pixar went way beyond that and the end-result was actually so deep. Of course, to dare talking like that about the dead in a family feature was already an impressive move but the struggle of the main character who was supposed to choose between his passion and his family was also just quite fascinating. Indeed, on one hand, I was rooting for Miguel to follow his dream but, on the other hand, his family was not the usual bad guys and they clearly cared for him and each other. Indeed, what's the point of becoming a super-star if you are going to leave everyone behind? And, of course, the ending was really strong and actually quite heartbreaking.7 years, 4 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...7 years, 4 months ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Hoosiers (1986)
“Since this movie has a pretty good reputation, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though it was indeed pretty good, to be honest, I was actually slightly disappointed. I mean, sure, it was well made with a solid performance by Gene Hackman and it was certainly quite entertaining but it wa” read more
7 years, 4 months ago
