Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but I have to admit that I was rather curious to see what Edward Norton would do with his 2^nd directorial effort and, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned out to be a decent neo-film noir but, to be honest, not much more than that. Still, Norton did get many things right though. Indeed, the mood was nice, the soundtrack was spot-on and it was definitely a bold move to have Bruce Willis playing the coolest character around and still get rid off him within the first 10 mins. The main issue was basically with the story. Indeed, like any film noir, it was fairly convoluted (seriously, even after 2.5 hrs, I still didn’t figure out the names of most of the characters involved) but I’m pretty sure they could have ended up with a similar result in 90 mins. Something that bothered me was also the fact that Lionel and his colleagues had no clue what was going on with their boss but I don’t think it really made much sense. Indeed, Moses Randolph (based on a guy who really did exist called Robert Moses who actually pretty much did everything depicted in this movie) was such a major figure in New York back in those days, his reputation should have preceded him, especially for such a team of seasoned private detectives. Concerning the cast, there was something slightly gimmicky about Edward Norton playing some guy with Tourette syndrome but that’s something Norton could pretty much do in his sleep and he was definitely convincing. Furthermore, discretion and subtlety are pretty much some required qualities for any half-decent gumshoe but it is also pretty much impossible for someone with this affliction and this clash was pretty neat. However, it happened too often that, during, some crucial moments, the whole Tourette thing was suddenly massively toned down or even completely disappeared, depending on the needs of the plot. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

After watching ‘Ivan’s Childhood’, I was quite eager to further discover Andrei Tarkovsky and this movie was the obvious next step in this journey. Well, if Tarkovsky might be the most difficult director I know, this might be his most inscrutable directing effort so far (on the other hand, I have seen only 3 of his movies and I’m slightly worried about what will happen with the rest of his work). It’s rather funny, afterwards, I checked IMDb to get some insights about this really opaque movie and, very often, you would get many fans telling you that it is the greatest Soviet epic ever made but none of them explained what was actually so great about the damned thing. At least, it was definitely a step up from ‘Ivan’s Childhood’ and there is no doubt that Tarkovsky became really ambitious with this following directorial effort. On the other hand, if I thought that ‘Ivan’s Childhood’ was not really straightforward, this movie was even more complicated and, to be honest, it was pretty much impossible to follow. Seriously, for 3 hours long, I was watching my screen, scratching my head, wondering what the hell was going on. Eventually, it was only about 12 hours after I watched this movie that I finally got some kind of revelation. Seriously, it is something I experienced only with this director. Basically, beyond giving a rather ghastly look on medieval Russia, Tarkovsky gave us the most deglamourized biopic you will ever see. Indeed, Andrey Rublev was very often not even the main character during the events that took place. In my opinion, this approach was to show that, even the greatest artists, after all, are just as human as everyone else. Like the rest of us, they are some mere spectators during all the tragic events during their lifetime, drifting into the chaos that life can be for each and everyone of us. Concerning the (completely random) episode with the guy with this hot balloon during the prologue or the impressive sub-plot about this kid building up a bell while having no actual knowledge about it, I think it was to display that, even though we are all humans, we should still strive to reach the impossible, which is basically what all Art is, because it is during such moments that we are the closest to actual divinity. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was extremely tough on me but even if it was rather frustrating, it is still definitely worth a look, you really have to dig this genre though. 

To be honest, since I didn’t care much about ‘Annabelle’, I didn’t have some huge expectations regarding this prequel but I thought I might as well check it out anyway. Well, even if it was maybe nothing really mind-blowing, at least, it was definitely an improvement on its predecessor. First of all, I think it was a sound decision to not rely too much on the doll this time around. Then, it was also a good idea to involve a whole bunch of young kids as well. As a result, most of the duration was about watching these young girls wandering at night in some creepy old house which wasn’t really original at all but, at least, it was effective. By the way, I discovered that the girl who played Janice, Talitha Bateman, was actually 16 years old when she shot this movie which was just really surprising since she seemed to be so much younger. Anyway, of course, the whole point of this movie was to show where the hell the Annabelle doll was coming from but, in this area, it turned out to be only hardly satisfying though. Basically, the explanation they came up with was that the Mullins kept praying to whoever or whatever was listening so they could get in touch with their deceased daughter but, instead, they ended up with some demon haunting their house. The problem with this explanation was that it was just too random and, on top of that, what was the actual connection with the freaking doll?!? Seriously, they could have removed it and it wouldn’t have had any impact on the whole tale. Anyway, to conclude, even though the damned thing was rather generic, they still managed to make most of a seriously limited concept and I think it is actually worth a look, at least, if you really like the genre. 

To be honest, I’m rather clueless about [Link removed - login to see]’s work so I was really eager to check his directorial debut. First of all, I was lucky enough to find a Blue-ray box-set with 5 of his movies for a fairly cheap price and, with this first movie, I was really amazed by the impressive quality of the restoration done. Seriously, the damned thing really looked amazing, especially the opening scene. Concerning the movie itself, even though it is usually considered as Tarkovsky’s most accessible movie above all because it was the shortest one he made, to be honest, I still struggled to connect with this movie. Still, it was interesting that the directing was so different from what he did for ‘Stalker’ (the only movie I saw before from this director). Indeed, there were some scenes in this movie which were actually quite lyrical, even surreal sometimes. Still, what was the damned thing all about? Was the main goal to show WWII from the Soviets point of view? In this case, it wasn’t really convincing since Ivan had contact with only a handful of soldiers but it was probably not what Tarkovsky was aiming for. This movie was probably more about the depiction of the impact warfare might have on such a young child like Ivan. Indeed, it was rather striking how, at same time, it gave him a sense of purpose in this completely chaotic world but also constantly traumatized him even more. In a similar fashion, even though the ‘grown-up’ soldiers found Ivan’s involvement regrettable, you can sense that they actually liked to have him around as a simple distraction or because it was probably more satisfying or even soothing to take care of a young child instead of killing a bunch of random unknow guys and not getting yourself killed in the process. Anyway, to conclude, even if I might be too stupid to really get this filmmaker, the damned thing was still intriguing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I heard some pretty good things about this flick and since it was available on Netflix, I was quite eager to check it out. It was also the first movie I saw directed by Robert Bresson and, as I expected, his work turned out to be quite challenging. Indeed, I’m not surprised that Andrei Tarkovsky was a huge fan of Bresson’s work and, to be honest, just like with Tarkovsky’s work, I did struggle to feel a connection with this movie. Indeed, even though the main character keeps telling us his feelings and thoughts mostly when writing in his diary, I was never really sure what I should think regarding the events displayed in this movie. I mean, you could argue that they tried to display the contradictions between what this community was expecting from their new priest and what he was expected to do according to his religious dogma. However, this theory completely clashed with the fact that the main character was heavily ill through most of the duration and, as result, the whole thing was rather murky, at least, to me. Still, Bresson had such a raw and realistic directing style, it made the whole thing rather ostentatious but also quite spellbinding to behold. It is also interesting to note that Bresson used to make takes after takes so that the actors would basically forget that they were acting but, to be honest, even if the performances were intriguing, I didn’t think that they were super realistic. Still, Claude Laydu, in his first acting part, was actually really good. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow me away, it was still a really interesting watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from the damned thing but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, even though Pierce Brosnan (who was the main reason why I started to watch this movie) was displayed prominently on most of the promotional material, the guy actually showed up only for 10 mins. Concerning the movie itself, well, it turned out to be basically ’Die Hard in a Football Stadium’ but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Eventually, what was more problematic was not the fact that the story was really generic but the fact that the directing was just so clunky and barely efficient. Indeed, right from the start, the intro telling some details about a revolution taking place in some obscure (and fictional) region in Russia was not only not convincing whatsoever but, above all, completely unnecessary. Seriously, can you imagine ’Die Hard’ starting up with a scene telling us in details Hans Gruber’s political agenda? Another even bigger issue was the fighting scenes which were obviously the main draw for this movie. Indeed, they were rather poorly shot with some annoying quick cuts mixed up with some shaky cam. At least, Alexandra Dinu was pretty badass and actually seriously convincing in spite of her rather small silhouette. And I have to admit that, with each movie, [Link removed - login to see] keeps impressing me. Indeed, even if the material was actually rather weak, Bautista went actually beyond beating everyone’s ass, he was actually really acting and was actually quite convincing during the more quiet and dramatic scenes. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of Bautista’s decent efforts, the whole thing was rather weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that I knew pretty much nothing about Roberto Duran before watching this flick and, only therefore, it was pretty neat to discover this incredible athlete. On the other hand, as a result, I probably gave this movie more credit than it actually deserved. Indeed, even though it was dealing with a strong story, I have to admit that it wasn’t really a strong movie, even far from it, I’m afraid. The main issue was that the whole thing was just too random without properly digging into some of the interesting ideas displayed. The best example would be when Sugar Ray Leonard was rematching his first match against Roberto Duran with his wife. Indeed, this scene was not bad at all as he was arguing that Duran psychologically f*cked him up on purpose to throw off his game. However, while this argument might have had some merit, it did actually vastly contradict everything displayed before or after in this movie. Indeed, Duran was displayed as a hot head who very often lacked discipline and such a complex strategy was never discussed with his coach, Ray Arcel, who was the one who constantly arguing that Duran should exactly focus on this aspect. By the way, it was a relief to see De Niro in something half decent for once but, in fact I was actually above all impressed by Edgar Ramirez who was actually really good here giving, in my opinion, the best performance of his career. Anyway, to conclude, even if one of the greatest boxers of all the time probably deserved a better movie, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, at least, if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I have to admit that I hadn’t been really impressed by ‘Life in a Day’ but since this sequel was once again directed by Kevin Macdonald and since it was available for free on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though I didn't  have some huge expectations, I have to admit that I was actually positively surprised by this sequel and, in my opinion, they really improved the formula. Sure, even if the makers will try forever to convince you that there is something massively artistic about this endeavour, it remains after all a bunch of home-videos all put together but the reason why I still think it was quite enjoyable this time around was the fact that the editing was so tight and so much more effective. Of course, the end-result might feel jarring and even slightly exhausting with this rapid-fire of images coming your way but, as a result, they never lingered too long on a single segment. Another benefit was that, this time around, they seriously cut down on the sanctimonious speeches gave by some random people telling their own version of the meaning life, something that terribly bogged down the previous version. I was also surprised that the Corona pandemic didn‘t have a bigger impact since July 25^th 2020 was right in the middle of this tragedy. Sure, at least 50% of the footage had some link one way or another with the pandemic but, with this movie, it seemed that half of the world population just kept on going with their lives without much obstacle. However, this hindsight turned out to be quite interesting. Another thing that surprised me was the fact that there were not more people returning from the previous movie. Indeed, I did count only 2 but one of these tales was actually quite powerful and even rather heart-breaking. Anyway, to conclude, even if this concept is still flawed, I have to admit that I actually enjoyed it this time around and, if they come up with a 3^rd instalment in 10 years, I will definitely check it out.