Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of classic musicals but since this one has a really solid reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have to admit that the whole thing looked really nice and the production value was quite impressive. Judy Garland, who was only 21 years old at the time, was also at the top of her game. Indeed, she was really quite charming and, even if I didn’t care much about the songs in this movie, her voice was still quite marvellous. Unfortunately, those were pretty much the only things I did enjoy in this flick. Sure, Margaret O'Brien did give a decent performance as Tootie Smith but I still didn’t care much about her character and the rest of the characters were even more tedious, at least, to me. Above all, the story was just so flimsy and shallow. Seriously, what did really happen during this movie after all? Not much. Nobody loses his job, Nobody gets sick, nobodies dies,… I mean, the most and only dramatic event was for the family to move from St Louis to New York but even this ‘tragic’ event didn't occur after all. Sure, I’m well aware it is inherent to the genre to give 2 hours of entertainment with songs and dance with very little drama or without even a basic plot. However, in my opinion, the best movies in this genre still manage to do something original or at least interesting with this formula but it wasn't the case here. Anyway, to conclude, even if I didn’t care much about the damned thing, it is still a classic and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I have to admit that I’m not really familiar with Ramin Bahrani's work but since the guy has a decent reputation and since his last directing effort was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. This movie has been compared with 'Slumdog Millionaire' and, while the comparison is understandable (both movies deal with a poor Indian boy's rise from nothing and they have a similar chronological structure), I still think that both movies were vastly different. Indeed, 'Slumdog Millionaire' should be considered as some kind of modern fairy tale while this movie was much darker and more cynical. Well, even though I did like the realistic approach chosen by Bahrani, I still think that the opening scenes were rather misleading. Indeed, I assumed that Balram, with his wit and intelligence, would manage to find something brilliant to make a fortune but, instead, we find out that he was actually after all a simple thief who became rich only after murdering his master. Of course, it did follow the realistic approach chosen for this movie but, as a result, it was rather difficult to root for the main character. In fact, this critic could be also extended to the other characters as they were all rather common and average after all. Indeed, you might think that Ashok and his wife Pinky were better than the rest as they seemed to be gentler and more respectful towards Balram. However, they eventually represented the modern Western attitude which is to show a polite front and be always politically correct, when in fact, we are all extremely selfish and self-centred. Still, even though the whole thing might be really dark and pessimistic, I did appreciate that they didn't put any gloves on and displayed that, if you are born on the wrong side of the tracks, becoming a criminal might be eventually the only option you might have to really improve your future. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn't completely sold, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely work a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Finally…. I’m almost done with this franchise… The fact that this movie started with a completely random scene with a ‘game’ taking place for the first time outside was already not a good omen. I mean, the fact that it was outside was not a bad idea but what was rather lame and lazy was the fact that it didn’t have any link whatsoever with the rest of the movie. Anyway, as expected, Mark Hoffman unfortunately did survive after what happened to him during the previous instalment and he was still the main antagonist but, at least, he was slightly less pathetic. Still, it remains a rather weird artistical choice to have a whole franchise based on a serial killer who actually died 3 or 4 movies ago (in fact, Tobin Bell eventually showed up for only 3 mins this time around). I was also disappointed by the fact that, after 5 movies, they eventually didn’t do anything interesting with Jill Tuck. Indeed, it is one of the few things I enjoyed with this franchise, the fact that they gave this character more and more screen time with each new movie but, unfortunately, it led to nothing at all after all. I have to admit that the idea of focusing on the few people that did survive through the whole franchise had some potential but it was still poorly developed. Above all, it was a mistake to turn Dr. Gordon as yet another jigsaw’s sidekick since this gimmick had already been done with Amanda. There was also yet another cop whose name I already forgot assigned to investigate these murders but the guy was even more uncharismatic than his predecessors and he didn’t last long, I’m afraid. Anyway, to conclude, I didn’t care much for the damned thing and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of the genre. 

This is another movie that I had been chasing for so many years. Well, I wish I could say it had been worth waiting for so long but, unfortunately, the damned thing turned out to be quite terrible, even borderline unwatchable. Of course, since this movie had a really bad reputation, I can’t say I was really surprised though. Basically, imagine if Lovecraft was born 100 years later and wrote some horror story with some Nazis, add up a really esoteric soundtrack by Tangerine Dream and, surprisingly, it might actually seem appealing. However, Michael Mann had apparently no clue what the hell he was doing and it seems that he had actually regressed as a director after ‘Thief’ which had been a really promising directorial debut. Of course, you could argue that the movie had been butchered by the studio as the original cut of the film ran more than three hours but my guess was that this original cut was already a terrible mess. However, by cutting so much, the whole thing became almost incomprehensible. Indeed, as a result, even though Scott Glenn was given top-billing, he showed up only half way through and it is obvious that many scenes explaining slightly more his mysterious character were now missing. For example, it was rather bewildering to see Glaeken jumping into bed with Eva Cuza 10 secondes after he just met her. There was also the issue that, even though they did hire Wally Veevers, a legend in special effects who also worked on ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, the guy died 2 weeks into post-production so they had to finish up all the special effects without him and the end-result looked just terrible. Eventually, you might wonder if making a fantasy feature taking place during WWII was maybe not misguided but, 20 years later, Guillermo Del Toro did manage to pull it off fairly nicely with ‘El laberinto del fauno‘. Anyway, to conclude, even if I’m glad I finally watched the damned thing, it was still terribly weak and it is not worth a look, even if you are a die-hard fan of Michael Mann’s work.      

By the way, if you still want to check it out, you can use the following links here underneath: 

Part 1: [Link removed - login to see]

Part 2: [Link removed - login to see]

A movie directed by James Gray and starring Brad Pitt did sound really promising and, on top of that, I always had a weak spot for movies dealing with outer space so I was definitely eager to check the damned thing. Well, even though this movie had been fairly well received, as usual with James Gray’s movies, even though I did admire the work done, I can’t say I was really blown away though. The timing for making this movie was also rather unfortunate as there had been recently so many similar movies released such as ‘Gravity’, ‘Interstellar’, ‘The Martian’ and ‘First Man’. As a result, even though the movie was visually pretty neat, I had already seen by then a couple of movies managing to be visually just as impressive as this movie was. Eventually, without this competition, there is a fair chance that this movie would have impressed more in this area. To make things worse, they couldn’t have chosen a more generic story with this astronaut joining a seemingly impossible mission to save the world from impending doom. However, what was left and what made this movie still interesting to behold was a rather fascinating main character played by a pitch-perfect Brad Pitt. Indeed, if you would remove all the futuristic outer-space stuff, what remains is a close-up on a seemingly talented man crippled by the legacy and absence of his father. As a result, what could have been a huge bombastic space blockbuster had become a rather intimate one-man-show. The interesting thing is that even though you spend so much time with the guy, even though there is this recurring voice-over talking to us, his thoughts and feelings remained still somewhat unclear but it made the character even more interesting to behold. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn’t completely sold, thanks to a really rock-solid Brad Pitt, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a solid cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, the topic was really interesting and I did appreciate the realistic approach chosen by director by Fernando León de Aranoa (by the way, it was also the first movie I saw directed by this guy). As a result, the whole thing was pretty much the worst commercial possible for humanitarian aid jobs. Indeed, it is quite dangerous, badly paid and it seems in fact rather useless because of lack of budget and because their work is constantly hindered by some murky bureaucracy. But, once again, it all seemed rather realistic but, to be honest, it didn’t make for a really rewarding viewing experience. Indeed, most of the movie was dealing with the aid workers looking for some rope and a football/soccer ball and, while I understand that it was a way to show how frustrating their job can be or usually is, to be honest, it was hardly fascinating. There was also another thing that slightly bothered me was and it was the way they tried to make this job seemed to be kind of Rock and roll, with some fitting soundtrack. Sure, as displayed mostly by Tim Robbins’s character, you have to be Rock and roll especially if you want to make it on the long run but I don’t think there is anything Rock and roll about the job itself. Finally, it seems rather unlikely that such a young boy in the Balkans (who probably didn’t go to school for many years) could master the English language so well. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch as it gave a good view of what is the job is about and I think it is worth a a look. 

To be honest, I wonder how I actually ended up watching the damned thing. Anyway, I always had a weak spot for ‘Groundhog Day’ and it was actually fairly entertaining to see another movie recycling the very same formula. In this case, what they did was to switch the main character with a hot college girl and instead of the comedy genre, they went for a horror-comedy, which was all rather promising. On top of that, Jessica Rothe, an actress I had never noticed before, was really charismatic. However, it was the first issue they made, to still make it a comedy, and maybe it would have worked better as a full-on horror flick since ‘Groundhog Day’ already brilliantly covered most of the humour regarding this story. Another issue was that the whole serial killer angle seriously limited the whole thing and it did create some major plot-holes. I mean, why didn’t she lock herself up in Carter’s room and wait there until the end of the day? In fact, she actually did something similar, she did barricade herself in her room but, somehow, the killer still miraculously managed to get in. In my opinion, it would have been more fun if she kept getting killed completely randomly every single day. Finally, what made ‘Groundhog Day’ so great, beside the fact that it was really entertaining, was the fact that even though nothing was explained, you still understood more or less why the character kept coming back. In this movie, it was however much murkier though. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really original, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of this franchise but since all the instalments were made available by my TV provider, I thought I might as well check them out. Well, at least, I have to admit that it wasn’t much worse than the previous instalment but it wasn’t much better either. Once again, they managed to bring back John Kramer A.K.A Jigsaw with a few flashback scenes but, at least, it didn’t take half of the running time like it did with ‘Saw V’. However, Mark Hoffman remains such an underwhelming and unconvincing antagonist (and I’m afraid they didn’t manage to really kill him off at the end of this flick). On the other hand, I did like the fact that, with each new sequel, they gave more screentime to Jill Tuck and, even though Betsy Russell is not exactly a great actress, at least, she was way more charismatic than Costas Snooze Mandylor and I wish she was the one who took over Jigsaw’s work. There was another thing that really bothered me though and it was the ridiculous number of victims in the central ‘game’. Indeed, every Saw movie has some kind of game involving several players. Of course, it is always convoluted and pretty much unbelievable that someone could set this up but this movie did reach some new heights of ridiculousness by having around 15 people involved. Seriously, how can you explain that Mark Hoffman, a guy with a full time job as a police officer, would manage to build this up and kidnap a dozen of people apparently all on his own? There is also the fact that everything is supposed to be happening within a few hours. That’s probably the thing that annoys me the most, the fact that they want us to believe that Jigsaw is super smart but everything happening in this franchise is idiotically impossible. Anyway, to conclude, at least, I have to admit that it was still watchable but I’m glad I’m almost done with this franchise.

To be honest I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but it had been a while since I saw a huge bombastic action flick from Roland Emmerich and, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. I actually already saw another movie about the same battle released in 1976 but it was almost 10 years ago and I have to admit that I didn't remember much about it. Anyway, it was probably the most serious movie ever delivered by Emmerich but while it was definitely a commendable approach, the end-result was not really thrilling. Sure, it all seemed to be more or less historically accurate but, as a result, the movie was basically divided between some really impressive action scenes and some rather tedious history lessons. At least, it was nice that they didn't add any superfluous romantic subplots (which was the main reason why 'Pearl Harbor' had been at the time a major critical flop) or any other subplot for that matter. However, as a result, the whole thing felt rather dry as they only focused on the historical events and not much on the characters themselves. I mean, there was indeed a big cast (Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Luke Evans, Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas) but none of their characters was developed whatsoever. The only exception was for Ed Skrein who did manage to have slightly more screen time than the rest of his colleagues but I'm afraid he wasn't really up to the task. Indeed, ever since the guy had his breakthrough in 'Games of Thrones' (a job he actually dumped after a few episodes), I can't say he ever really impressed me and to have him carrying such a huge historical blockbuster like this one was probably asking too much. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I think it was a decent watch but, even so, it was still another rather forgettable directing effort from Emmerich.

To kick off 2021, I decided to watch this movie on Netflix since the subject seemed to be pretty interesting, even if it also seemed to be rather bleak and even depressing. Well, even if it turned out to be a solid documentary, to be honest, I didn’t feel I learned anything really new. Furthermore, I was hoping that they would tell us more about the origins of crack. How did they come up with this idea? Where did it all start? Furthermore, it seems that they tried to cover too much ground and the whole thing seemed rather scattered. Finally, I thought there were some contradictions a couple of times. For example, at some point, they were critical about the fact that the cops didn’t do anything to stop the drugs in their community but, then, 30 mins later, they were complaining that the very same communities were flooded with some special police task forces to take care of this issue. In the same fashion, they described in rather colourful details how the American Black women would do pretty much anything to get their crack doses but, later on, they complained that the same women got a bad rep about their drug usage. And, yet, there is no denying that the material was quite powerful though. Indeed, it was still quite revolting to see that the so-called ‘war on drugs’ which was a huge topic throughout the 80’s and the 90’s was actually pretty much used as a PR tool to boost the reputation of all the US presidents in power at the time. In the meantime, the US black community was completely devastated and, basically, nothing was done at the time or nowadays to help them out to recover from this disaster (except putting at least 1 million of black folks in jail) and you could say that they never really recovered from the blow. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was maybe not a masterpiece, it was still an important documentary and it is definitely worth a look.