Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Curtis Hanson and Michael Apted, I thought I might as well check it out. For Curtis Hanson, this movie was a rather sad way to end an otherwise solid career. Indeed, Hanson actually didn’t manage to finish this movie for health reasons (Michael Apted had to take over and finish the damned thing) and the guy eventually even passed away a few years later. To make things worse, this final directing effort turned out to be a flop at the box-office. Well, I always had a weak spot for movies dealing with surfing and this one was probably one of the most convincing one I have seen. Indeed, it went fairly deep into explaining what you would need to learn to become really good at this sport. Indeed, you need skills but also some major physical and mental strength to become really successful. So, everything dealing with the surfing was actually quite interesting and pretty neat but, unfortunately, pretty much everything else was rather underwhelming though. I won’t blame Jonny Weston who was quite charismatic or even Gerard Butler who was not bad at all but there were just too many damned sub-plots. I mean, if they would have picked one (for example, the relationship between Jay and Kim), it could have worked fine but, instead, they kept constantly switching between various uninteresting little stories which had nothing do with surfing and which dragged down the whole thing. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really interested in this movie but since it had been added in the ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ list, I thought I might as well check it out. At first, the whole thing seemed to be a rather misguided passion project of Hugh Jackman (it took the guy apparently about 10 years to get this movie made) but, surprisingly, it turned out to be a success at the box-office which was something really unexpected from an original musical like this one. Well, it took me a while to get into this flick and, during the first scenes, I was pretty sure it wouldn’t work for me since I’m not a huge fan of such musicals. And, yet, I have to admit that it slowly won me over. Indeed, Hugh Jackman was basically born to play this part and some of the tunes were pretty catchy and managed to enhance a story which was obviously pretty basic. However, if Zac Efron and Zendaya made for a really charismatic couple, this sub-plot didn’t really work though. In fact, why did they put some focus on this character? I mean, the guy didn’t have such a huge impact on Barnum’s career after all and it seemed rather odd that his only ‘regular’ employee should get more attention while all the ‘freaks’ working for him were barely developed at all. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really ground-breaking, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you really like the genre. 

I already saw this movie not so long ago but since it was so challenging, I thought I might as well check it out again, especially since I bought a really cool Tarkovsky Blu-Ray box-set. Obviously, since I’m such a major movie buff, I had to watch a movie directed by Andrei Tarkovsky at some point, especially since the guy has such a stellar reputation. Well, according to IMDb, it is his best movie, so I guess it was a good place to start. However, to be honest, even though I expected it, it still turned out to be a really difficult movie. I mean, basically, it is about three guys wandering for almost 3 hours in a place called the ‘Zone’ and, even though it does sound like a science-fiction feature, there was nothing really futuristic about this place. Of course, the fans of this movie in particular and in Tarkovsky in general would argue that this movie went just way beyond being a simple SF feature and they would be right. However, I’m afraid I was not smart enough to understand most of the symbolism, philosophical and metaphysical elements developed in this flick and I still think that the damned thing was pretty damned long and slow. Still, even if it was minimalistic, it was very often beautiful to look at and the damned thing was quite mesmerizing. Indeed, in spite of the lack of plot or character development, the whole thing is such an interesting maelstrom of ideas, theories and assumptions. Anyway, to conclude, it was probably one of the most difficult movies I have ever seen and even if I probably didn’t get half of it, I still think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you want to see something really challenging. 

To be honest, I really had no idea what to expect from this flick but since it had won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, I was really eager to check it out. Well, with a running time of more than 3 hours, it was definitely a challenging watch and the fact that basically nothing much happened through the whole thing didn’t help either. At least, Nuri Bilge Ceylan did deliver a beautiful movie to look at but since the characters didn’t go really anywhere, it did become rather monotonous fairly quickly. So, what did the guy try to achieve with this rather overlong flick? In my opinion, it was some kind of character study dealing with emptiness and boredom. Indeed, at first, the main character seemed to be a soft-spoken educated and sophisticated man. However, it became obvious pretty quickly that the guy was terribly self-absorbed and had no connection with his community but not much more with his sister and his wife. I mean, most of the dialogues involved some seemingly intellectual conversations but, at the end of the day, it was only some platitudes and I’m not surprised that the director had been inspired by Russian literature. Of course, you could blame the main character but, in my opinion, his sister and his wife were not really much better. Indeed, they were both complaining about how boring and empty their life had become, mostly blaming the main character for it, but it was rather dubious that their lives had been so difficult and, above all, they were not willing to do anything to really improve their situation. Concerning the main character, he spent most of his time trying to convince everyone around him of how important he was when, in fact, the only thing he did was basically aimlessly wandering around. Still, 3 hours was quite a long time to spend with some characters who were neither really likeable and/or interesting after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if it is not an easy movie, it was still a decent watch though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I’m not really sure if we really needed yet another movie about this tormented artist but since I always had a weak spot for Julian Schnabel’s work, I was really eager to check it out. Well, after Jean-Michel Basquiat, Reinaldo Arenas and Jean-Dominique Bauby, Schnabel, himself a famous painter, focused once again on another artist, the big difference was that, this time, it was easily one of the most famous artists that ever lived. And, that was probably the biggest obstacle that this movie had to face. Indeed, what can you say about the guy that hasn’t been said so many times before? In my opinion, by focusing mostly on his mental state which was a pretty neat approach, Schnabel did partially succeed but not completely though. Basically, according to the makers, Van Gogh was constantly overwhelmed by the beauty in our world but this process was so intense that he became some kind of Icarus who got too close and basically completely burned his soul. As a result, it was also really difficult for him to connect with other people, in fact, there were probably just a handful of people with whom he really managed to develop a lasting and meaningful relationship. So, eventually, even though the guy was probably one of the greatest geniuses that ever lived, he led a terribly tormented and lonely life but, even though I liked the impressionist approach chosen by Julian Schnabel, it was nothing really groundbreaking. At least, I really liked the fact that they did show the painting process which is something actually really rare in this kind of biopics and this process was quite fascinating to behold. Anyway, to conclude, even though I don’t think it turned out to be the ultimate biopic about this great painter, it was still pretty good though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.