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johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2023) list
Notes: To be honest, I'm not a huge of musicals but, still, I try to remain open-minded and, like any other genre, if you watch the very best of them, there is a good chance they will be something you like about them. So, indeed, I thought it was pretty good, even if I wasn't completely blown away. Basically, it was Bob Fosse's 2nd directing effort and it was probably his most successful movie, at least critically. Fosse himself was actually quite a phenomenon. Indeed, he was an actor, a dancer, a choreographer, a musical director, a screenwriter and a film director. He won an unprecedented eight Tony Awards for choreography and was nominated for an Academy Award four times, winning for his direction of 'Cabaret' (beating Francis Ford Coppola for 'The Godfather' no less). If you ask me Coppola should have won the oscar back then but still the directing was pretty solid. Honestly, I never cared much about Liza Minelli but she was pretty good. Above all, the thing I enjoyed the most was how dark and gloomy the whole thing was. Indeed, most musicals are really joyful which tends to get on my nerves but this one was actually really sad and I really liked this approach. 7 years, 5 months ago
johanlefourbe added 3 items to their collection
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7 years, 5 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to Best Directorial Debuts from 1921 until 2021 list
7 years, 5 months ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Under the Shadow
“Since this movie was recently added to the book ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’, I was really eager to check it out. To be honest, I’m pretty sure that it will be one of these movies that they add every year but which end up being removed directly the year after or at least very soon” read more
7 years, 5 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to Ronny's Dutch Film Club list
chosen by Henk
Notes: Well, even though (almost) everyone else really loved this movie, to be honest, I had actually a hard time to really get into the damned thing. I mean, I have to admit it, it was a good movie, especially thanks to a really strong performance by Daniela Vega who completely deserved the praises she has received. Still, I never really felt blown away by the whole thing. The first thing that bothered me was that the main character ended up in a situation with such extreme circumstances. Indeed, even though she could have been involved with a young boy, she was with a man at last 30 years older than her who had lived before her, as far as I could see, a very average hetero life with a wife with at least 2 kids, one older than his new lover and one around 7 years old. Then, another thing that bothered me was how the main character was presented as someone apparently flawless (in fact, she was even fantastic according to the title) while the rest of the world seemed to be ignorant, intolerant and sometimes even downright mean to her. Basically, everything was told only from her point of view which felt really limited and I think it would have been more interesting if she would have displayed some flaws.
(Sept. 2017)7 years, 5 months ago
I am Judging You By Your Coverjohanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2023) list
Notes: It was pretty neat that, after a WWII drama and a medieval epic, Tarkovsky was coming up with something completely different and again really ambitious. Anyway, as usual with this director, it turned out to be terribly challenging though but, at this point, I wouldn’t expect less from the Russian master. And, yet, even if it was pretty tough to watch, there was still something quite mesmerizing about the damned thing. In my opinion, it was some kind of reflection on the fact that we are, as a specie, terribly arrogant because we have been ruling this Earth for millenniums but, in fact, we barely know ourselves after all. As a result, we are actually rather poorly equipped if we would encounter another kind of life form in some distant future. Indeed, in the vast majority of SF films, aliens are portrayed either as some human-eating monsters or as a superior life-form who actually are very similar to us and they always fit some logical frame corresponding with how we see ourselves and how we see life in general. However, as it was displayed in this movie, we would probably encounter something completely ‘different’. In fact, the gap between what we would expect and what we would actually get would be so huge that we would probably not have the mental and psychological capabilities to handle such an encounter. At least, that’s what I got from the damned thing but maybe Tarkovsky actually meant something completely different.7 years, 5 months ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Little Tony
“Since I really loved ‘De jurk’, I was really eager to check Alex van Warmerdam’s following directing effort. Well, unfortunately, even though it was a decent watch, it still turned out to be his movie which had the least impact on me so far. As usual, there was no real plot but some rather wei” read more
7 years, 5 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to My favorite Dutch movies list
7 years, 5 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, 5 months ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of My Week with Marilyn
“Since this movie was well received when it was released, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I was surprised by how much I didn’t care for this movie after all. First of all, I have to admit that I haven’t seen yet ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’ but it was hardly a high poi” read more
7 years, 5 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, 5 months ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2023) list
Notes: Even though some people believe this movie doesn't deserve so much praise, you can't possibly deny its huge impact on motion picture history. Basically, it is one of those flicks that you could/should watch every 10 years. Indeed, the first time I watched it, I was about 16 years old and, of course, I had some huge expectations and, to be honest, I thought it was slightly disappointing. Indeed, even though I did like it, it didn't really grab me like, for example, 'Goodfellas' did. The point is that Scorsese's masterpiece is full of energy, wildly entertaining, pretty much in-your-face and really accessible for younger viewers. Coppola's masterpiece, on the other hand, is a total different kind of ball game. Indeed, it is really subtle, quiet, slow paced, really meditative and, quite frankly, it went over my head when I was younger. So, I re-watched it, 10 years later and I was really blown away by the whole thing. Indeed, this time, I was able to appreciate this masterpiece in all its perfection. Whereas 'Goodfellas' was basically shouting at me about its awesomeness, this movie was actually whispering about its greatness and I wasn't able to hear it the first time around. Basically, the story was just spellbinding, the cast was great and Coppola was absolutely at the top of his game.7 years, 5 months ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Ben-Hur
“I already saw this movie but since it was a while ago and since I had it on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. To be honest, since it is one of the longest movies in my collection, I kept delaying this rewatch for quite some time but I'm glad I finally took the time to watch again the dam” read more
7 years, 5 months ago
