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johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Gore Verbinski's work list
Cast : Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs, Mia Goth
What was it about?
An ambitious young executive is sent to retrieve his company's CEO from an idyllic but mysterious "wellness center" at a remote location in the Swiss Alps, but soon suspects that the spa's treatments are not what they seem.
My two cents:
Well, from an aesthetic point of view, it was probably Verbinski’s most beautiful movie to look at with some really intriguing scenes and awesome camera set-up. Unfortunately, even though the story was fairly entertaining, it wasn’t really amazing though. Above all, the biggest mistake they made was that the damned thing was just too long. Indeed, 150 minutes for after all a rather basic thriller taking place in a spa was really way too much. As a result, there were a bunch of random and rather pointless scenes during which the movie was flirting with the mindf*ck genre (the best example would be when, out of nowhere, a female employee gets topless and her male co-worker starts to whack off in front of her). Unfortunately, Verbinski is no David Lynch and it was never really convincing. So, in my opinion, they could have easily removed 1 hour of running time instead of getting lost on the way and creating some massive plot-holes. Concerning Dane DeHaan, he was a fine choice but it’s too bad that there was no much consistency in his character’s behaviour. Still, in spite of its flaws, it was a decent watch, at least, visually speaking.
My rating: 06/10
Check the full review8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Michael Haneke's work list
Cast : Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Mathieu Kassovitz, Toby Jones
What was it about?
A drama about a family set in Calais with the European refugee crisis as the backdrop.
My two cents:
Well, even though it turned out to be a decent watch, it was still one of Haneke's least interesting movies. Basically, it was dealing with a rich dysfunctional family but, as usual with this director, nothing was told straightforward and instead, he would often provide some rather obscure scenes. Eventually, even though the characters were all realistic and believable, they were all fairly unlikeable and, above all, not really interesting. On top of that, Haneke tried to add in the mix various subjects like our current obsession with social media, especially among the youth, and also the dramatic situation of the illegal immigrants in Calais but I didn't really get how it was supposed to connected with this family tale. Anyway, it might seem that I didn't like this movie but I was still constantly intrigued and wondering what would happen next.
My rating: 07/10
Check the full review8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Robert Zemeckis' work list
Cast : Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard, Lizzy Caplan, Matthew Goode
What was it about?
In 1942, a Canadian intelligence officer in North Africa encounters a female French Resistance fighter on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. When they reunite in London, their relationship is tested by the pressures of war.
My two cents:
Well, to be honest, even though it was a decent watch, I actually had a hard time to really care about the damned thing. I mean, I did like the 1st act in Casablanca but it was unfortunately slightly ruined by the fact that Brad Pitt wasn't convincing at all as a French native speaker. Sure, they tried to explain his poor accent with the fact that his character was Canadian but this explanation was rather weak. I mean, a top spy, at this level of the game, should show up with an almost flawless accent. Then, the rest of the movie was not bad but still nothing really amazing. I mean, let's assume that Marianne Beauséjour was indeed a German spy, how the hell did she get her intel? Indeed, at this point, she had become a housewife, without any direct access to some sensitive information, and it was rather unlikely that Max Vartan would bring some classified files at home or discuss the details of his missions at the dinner table. Finally, even though Brad Pitt was fine as an experienced cool top spy, he wasn't really amazing as a man falling deeply in love, ready to risk everything for the love of his life. On the other hand, Marion Cotillard was once again quite impressive and she was pretty much pitch-perfect through the whole thing. Anyway, even if the whole thing didn't really work for me, it was still rather well made and fairly entertaining.
My rating: 06/10
Check the full review8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Guillermo del Toro's work list
Cast : Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer
What was it about?
At a top secret research facility in the 1960s, a lonely janitor forms a unique relationship with an amphibious creature that is being held in captivity.
My two cents:
Well, as usual with this director, even though I did admire the work done and even though it turned to be quite enjoyable, to be honest, it didn't really blow me away though. Still, you have to give del Toro some credit as he once again has delivered another visually gorgeous picture with some really solid directing and the whole cast gave some strong performances but, eventually, I'm afraid I just didn't care much about this story. Basically, it was a decent romantic fairy-tale, no doubt about it, but what bothered me the most was how predictable the whole thing turned out to be. I mean, you just need to have a glimpse of the poster and you already know what will happen during the whole duration and, if you watch the trailer, it's even worse but that's something that can be said about most trailers. At least, with 'El laberinto del fauno', another del Toro picture I have always struggled to feel some connection with, I was still wondering what would happen during the whole thing. Anyway, even though I wasn't really dazzled by the whole thing, it was still pretty good and it is definitely worth a look.
My rating: 07/10
Check the full review8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Guy Ritchie's work list
Cast : Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Djimon Hounsou, Eric Bana, Aidan Gillen, Annabelle Wallis
What was it about?
Robbed of his birthright, Arthur comes up the hard way in the back alleys of the city. But once he pulls the sword from the stone, he is forced to acknowledge his true legacy - whether he likes it or not.
My two cents:
First of all, it was such a misguided idea to make yet another movie about King Arthur. I mean, seriously, there have been already so many movies about this story and its character and, even though Ritchie did manage to recycle Sherlock Holmes (which was in fact slightly overrated), he obviously didn't succeed here in providing anything new or really interesting about this classic tale. In fact, I have to admit that the first 30 minutes were actually not bad, at least, it was better than I expected but, as soon as Arthur got his hands on Excalibur, the damned thing became increasingly boring. The biggest mistake they made, in my opinion, is that the whole thing took itself so seriously. Indeed, everytime they brought some humor, it became slightly more entertaining but all this was buried under some seriously underwhelming action scenes combined with way too many CGI. Concerning the overdose of GCI, sometimes, I did look decent but, for some other scenes, it felt like watching a video game. Regarding the cast, even though Charlie Hunnam and Jude Law were not bad, the rest was actually pretty weak, especially Astrid Bergès-Frisbey who got on my nerves through the whole thing. Eventually, it was watchable but the damned thing was still pretty much a waste of time for all the people involved.
My rating: 06/10
Check the full review8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to Almost a complete review of Oliver Stone's work list
Cast : Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Rhys Ifans, Nicolas Cage, Shailene Woodley, Tom Wilkinson, Joely Richardson, Timothy Olyphant, Ben Chaplin
What was it about?
The NSA's illegal surveillance techniques are leaked to the public by one of the agency's employees, Edward Snowden, in the form of thousands of classified documents distributed to the press.
My two cents:
Not so long ago, I already watched 'Citizenfour' and I thought it would be pretty neat to see also this dramatized version directed by Oliver Stone. By the way, isn't it a little bit crazy that all these events took place only a couple of years ago and, yet, they have already released 2 major movies about the subject? To be honest, it gives the feeling that this story might be huge right now but nobody will really care about the whole thing over a couple of decades. Furthermore, even though Edward Snowden said that his quest was not about him, by getting a movie named after him and about his life, it shows how much the guy has become worldwide famous in the process. Anyway, it was pretty neat to see this movie after the documentary as it gave some interesting background about Snowden himself and what he went through. It was also interesting to see the notorious tools used by the NSA and the CIA actually in action. Eventually, instead of the far-fetched action scenes you get in the Bourne franchise, some supposedly more realistic spy movies, they showed us what spying is really about nowadays and the impact it might have on our everyday life.
My rating: 7/10
Check the full review8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Michael Bay’s work list
Cast : Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Duhamel, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, John Goodman, Ken Watanabe, Steve Buscemi, Omar Sy
What was it about?
Autobots and Decepticons are at war, with humans on the sidelines. Optimus Prime is gone. The key to saving our future lies buried in the secrets of the past, in the hidden history of Transformers on Earth.
My two cents:
Since I have never been a fan of the Transformers franchise, I wasn’t expecting from this last instalment, especially since it was the lowest grossing film of this franchise (it still made $600 million worldwide though). Well, the whole thing turned out to be indeed pretty weak and it was easily the weakest instalment in this already seriously underwhelming franchise. In fact, I have to admit that there was some potential about showing that the Transformers have always been there in fact in the past but this idea was just so poorly developed. Basically, the whole thing was some kind of mix of ‘Prometheus’ with ‘Armageddon’ but it never worked. Seriously, it was just a overlong mess and it was in fact so convoluted that at times it barely made sense. Eventually, the whole thing was just so idiotic but also sometimes rather pretentious. Anyway, the main issue was that it was again so boring and even the special effects which used to be quite amazing 10 years ago with the first instalment didn’t really impress me anymore. To conclude, this movie is basically the poster child for major franchise saturation.
My rating: 5/10
Check the full review8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Christopher Nolan's work list
Cast : Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance
What was it about?
The film tells the story of the Dunkirk evacuation, which took place at the beginning of World War II.
My two cents:
Well, it seems to be already another box-office hit for Nolan which is even more remarkable since you wouldn't expect a movie dealing with WWII to be able to compete with your usual summer blockbusters. Still, to be honest, I don't think it will be remembered as one of his best movies. I mean, sure, I was glad that he was at last doing something else than a super-hero flick or some high-concept science-fiction thriller, but at the end of the day, even if it looked different, it was still yet another thriller, something he has been doing through his whole career. Furthermore, I have seen my share of movies dealing with this conflict and, even though it was really good, I have seen better to be honest. On top of that, I didn't care much for the mixed chronology and I didn't help that really none of the involved characters was developed at all. Still, from a technical point of view, it was really quite impressive and I have to admit that this movie was just seriously entertaining.
My rating: 08/10
Check the full review8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Danny Boyle's work list
Cast : Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Shirley Henderson, Kelly Macdonald
What was it about?
After 20 years abroad, Mark Renton returns to Scotland and reunites with his old friends Sick Boy, Spud, and Begbie.
My two cents:
Eventually, did we really need this sequel? Probably not but was it a bad movie? Certainly not either. Indeed, what made this movie still work was the fact that Danny Boyle was involved and the original cast as well. It was especially really neat to see Ewan McGregor finally working again with this director after 20 long years but the rest of the cast was fine as well. I also enjoyed the fact that they didn't give all these characters some average middle-class lifes with wife, kids and a decent job. Indeed, Spud was still a heroin addict, Simon (AKA Sick boy) kicked off the habit but was still a cocain addict, Begbie spent all these years in prison and Renton who first seemed to have turned around his life eventually didn't have much to brag about either. So, the set-up was pretty good but I'm afraid the makers still struggled to give these characters something interesting to do. Indeed, the whole thing was pretty random and they were several attempts to get them involved in some various sub-plots but these attempts were all rather all-baked. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch.
My rating: 07/10
Check the full review8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Barry Sonnenfeld's work list
Cast : Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Garner, Christopher Walken
What was it about?
A stuffy businessman finds himself trapped inside the body of his family's cat.
My two cents:
Only a couple of weeks ago, Kevin Spacey was still regarded as one of the best American actors from the last 20 years but, overnight, he turned out to be a major sexual creep and many are predicting that his career is now pretty much over. On the other hand, considering Spacey’s latest movie choices, it seems that the guy himself actually didn’t really care anymore and this movie was a perfect example. I can imagine that when Kevin Spacey read this script, he knew from the start that it was some garbage but he also knew that he would only have to show up for a couple of scenes and do some voice-over work for the cat for the rest of the movie so he basically went for the easy money. Considering the movie itself, it was just such a misguided concept. Indeed, the body-swap is an old gimmick which has never been really interesting even when it was something new and this movie certainly didn’t add anything worthwhile to this concept. Eventually, the whole thing was just so boring and it was a big waste of time.
My rating: 04/10
Check the full review8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Roman Polanski's work list
Cast : Emmanuelle Seigner, Eva Green, Vincent Perez
What was it about?
A writer goes through a tough period after the release of his latest book, as he gets involved with an admirer.
My two cents:
Unfortunately, even though it was a decent watch, I still turned out to be one of the weaker efforts from the Polish master, I'm afraid. Polanski has very often made such minimalist pictures in the past and this movie was basically focusing on only 2 characters which wasn't a bad idea but, even though the first 20 minutes were intriguing, very soon, I started to loose interest in the whole thing. Eventually, I won't blame Emmanuelle Seigner and Eva Green would did what they could but the material was just rather weak. The biggest issue was that it didn't make much sense that Delphine wouldn't drop Elle after she displayed such an annoying invasive stalking behavior. I have to admit that I didn't see the twist ending coming but it felt rather lazy and it didn't fix this tale.
My rating: 06/10
Check the full review8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to A Complete Review of Ridley Scott's work list
Cast : Katherine Waterston, James Franco, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Billy Crudup, Carmen Ejogo, Danny McBride
What was it about?
The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise. When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape.
My two cents:
Even though I wasn't really expecting a masterpiece, at least, I hoped this movie would be an improvement on 'Prometheus'. Unfortunately, I turned out to be even more underwhelming and I would go as far as saying that it is the weakest installment in this franchise (of course, without counting the 'Alien vs Predator' crap). Indeed, if one of the biggest issues with 'Prometheus' was probably the fact that it was too ambitious, this time, it was the other way around as Ridley Scott didn't even really try. Seriously, the guy came up with the most generic plot you could think of and pretty much all the new ideas introduced in the previous movie were basically thrown out of the window and the only thing that remained was the fact that David was apparently a really psychotic and megalomaniac robot. The other thing that bothered me was the fact that the crew was actually so boring and uncharismatic. Seriously, was Katherine Waterston really supposed to replace Sigourney Weaver? Eventually, I have to admit that the whole thing was still rather well made and even quite watchable but, in my opinion, Ridley Scott was basically pissing on his legacy with this rather useless sequel.
My rating: 06/10
Check the full review8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2023) list
Notes: I haven't seen this one yet...8 years, 1 month ago
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Favorite Images: Celebrities Hanging Out Together (18 person items)8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe added 1 item to Top 10 best movies 2013 list
Notes: Well, I wasn't disappointed as the whole thing turned out to be a fascinating documentary about a potential masterpiece that was actually never made. Of course, it was equally frustrating to see such a visionary director gathering all these great talents together when in fact we will never have the opportunity to see the damned thing. Still, while watching this movie, I was wondering actually how it actually all ended and, to be honest, I'm rather surprised that those guys thought that they could to go to Hollywood with their ambitious but also really insane project and expect that they would been given at least 15 millions dollars which was a huge sum at the time. Why didn't they try in Europe or why didn't they try to finance it independently? Anyway, eventually, Jodorowsky would turn to comic-books, a much more flexible Art form in which money doesn't play such a huge part like in the movie business, creating some amazing masterpieces like 'L'Incal' which is my all-time favorite comic-book. 8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Jodorowsky's Dune
“A couple of weeks ago, I was in France on holiday and my brother gave me as gift the collector's edition of this movie. Obviously, I had already heard about this movie and even my father, who's usually really hard to please, really loved the damned thing so I was really eager to check it out. Well, ” read more
8 years, 1 month ago
8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe added 5 items to Listal's 100 Films To See Before You Die (2017) list
8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe added 2 items to 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2023) list
8 years, 1 month ago
johanlefourbe posted a review of Broken City
“For the first time around, Allen Hughes was coming up with a new directing effort without his brother Albert and even though it barely got noticed when it was released, I still wanted to check it out. To be honest, even though I really loved 'Menace II Society', nothing else the Hughes brothers have” read more
8 years, 1 month ago
