Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, 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. Well, unfortunately, it turned out to be another misguided and completely unnecessary American remake. Obviously, they had to tweak this story to make it fit the US setting and I have to admit that making the murderer a snitch to an anti-terrorist unit was not a bad idea. However, it was probably the only interesting thing they changed from the original story. Above all, it was a mistake to make the mother of the victim not only a colleage but also a very close friend of the main character. As a result, it completely messed up the fragile balance between the characters and it created an awkward triangle involving Ejiofor, Kidman and Roberts. There was no such triangle in the original version and the biggest victim was the platonic relationship involving Ejiofor and Kidman which used to be fascinating but, with this movie, it actually fell out of place. Seriously, I think that Kidman’s character could have been easily removed and it wouldn't have had such an impact on this version of the story. Another issue was that, since Jessica Cobb and Ray Kasten were such good friends, it didn’t make much sense that she didn’t tell him that, at least, she had killed Marzin. I mean, she knew how much he was hurt, how much he was obsessed by what happened to her daughter so to let him chase this for 13 years seemed rather unlikely. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was another rather half-baked American remake, I guess it is still worth a look but, eventually, you should skip it and watch instead the amazing original Argentinian version. 

To be honest, I have to admit that I wasn’t a huge fan of ‘Anchorman’ and I wasn’t surprised that this long delayed sequel didn’t get much love when it was released. The issue with this movie and its predecessor is that Ron Burgundy is such a moron. Sure, I get that is the whole point but I always find it difficult to care about comedies which are constantly making fun of stupid characters. In fact, they managed with Brick Tamland to give a character who was even more pathetic and cringe-inducing than Burgundy. At least, I really liked the way they made fun of the fact that the news back then in the 80’s but also nowadays have actually become another form of entertainment instead of a reliable source of information. To be honest, I was also not really sure what to make of the final scene. On one hand, it was completely wild with tons of cameos but, on the other hand, I wonder if it wouldn’t have been more fun to spread all these cameos throughout the whole thing instead of delivering them all at once during the last 5 minutes. Anyway, to conclude, even if I didn’t care much for the damned thing, it was not bad though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I kept hearing some really good things about this movie, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even if I really liked it, to be honest, I have to admit that it didn’t really blow me away though. The main issue, I guess, was that there were some big chunks of time during which nothing much really happened. Still, there is no doubt that Nicolas Roeg delivered here a fascinating movie above all thanks to some stellar cinematography and editing. Indeed, the whole thing started with the most nightmarish intro you could imagine. Afterwards, Venice had never look so spooky before and the damned thing was just seriously ominous and unsettling. Of course, the fact that most of the action took place abroad also increased the sense of alienation experienced by the two main characters. On top of that, Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie also gave some of their best performances and got involved in one of the most notorious sex scenes ever made. It’s interesting that many viewers consider it as one of the best horror movies when in fact it is clearly really different than your average horror flick. Eventually, I think I should rewatch this movie at some point to make up my mind for good about the damned thing. Anyway, to conclude, it was a really strong psychological thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it was pretty obvious that it was a directing debut but I don’t mean it in a negative way. Indeed, the thing I enjoyed the most about the damned thing was how it burst out of creativity and it was basically a very nice mix of a frightening reality with some maddening surrealism. However, if Boots Riley definitely displayed some potential, the whole thing still felt sometimes like a loose cannon with some rather random stuff happening every two minutes and you could feel that he could have used a filter to remove some of his ideas. For example, it was pretty cool that the main character had to use a ‘white’ voice to make more sales but I think it was a mistake to have LaKeith Stanfield being dubbed by someone else. I understand that it was another surreal gimmick but I think it would have been even weirder and effective to have Stanfield doing his best to sound like a white man with his very own voice. Furthermore, I have been working almost all my life as a helpdesk worker so it was pretty neat to see a movie focusing on this kind of job. However, telemarketing is probably the worst job you could get in this sector and, while I understand why they would fight to get some better working conditions, to be honest, wouldn’t it be a better idea to simply look for a better job? Another thing that slightly bothered me was the fact that the main character was apparently pretty bad in this job but, out of nowhere, he became somehow incredibly successful. I wish this part had been slightly more developed but it was obviously not an aspect that Boots Riley was interested in. Anyway, to conclude, even if some of the ideas didn’t completely work, the whole thing was just so original and creative and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like surrealist movies. 

Of course, since this movie has a rather lame reputation, I wasn’t expecting much but I have to admit that I was actually curious to see if it was really so bad. To be honest, I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of ‘The Blues Brothers’ but this movie is the proof that most timeless classics don’t need to get a sequel 20 or 30 years later and that these beloved movies are pretty much better left alone.  Coming back to our main feature, it is usually considered as one the most misguided sequels ever made and, after watching the damned thing, it does indeed deserves its notorious reputation, I'm afraid. Of course, the first issue was to make this sequel even after John Belushi passed away which was already such a misguided choice. Seriously, it was pretty much like when The Doors tried to go on without Jim Morrison, of course, they failed miserably and this movie was obviously doomed to fail as well without Belushi. However, it wasn’t even the only issue with this flick. Indeed, the whole thing was just so tone-deaf and so tedious to behold. At least, it was pretty nice to see so many great artists (B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Erykah Badu, Eric Clapton, Isaac Hayes,…) even if they probably should have used their talent for something more worthwhile. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was pretty much a big waste of time for me and for all the the people involved and you should probably avoid it.