Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but I was eager to rewatch it, this time with some subtitles, to see if I would get a better a grip on the story. Well, to be honest, I pretty much ended up with the same feelings though. The first time around, since I kept hearing some really good things about this movie, I had some really high expectations and it did turn out to be Laika’s most ambitious and most gorgeous movie so far. Indeed, the damned thing looked really amazing and only therefore it is worth watching this flick and, right now, you can only wonder if Laika will manage to top this with their future productions. And, yet, somehow, I have to admit that I was not completely sold by the whole thing. I guess it had to with the story which was quite original and full of magic but, in my opinion, it was in fact a rather simple story but told in a rather convoluted way. Eventually, even though this constant use of magic stuff might sound interesting, in my opinion, it made the whole thing actually really random. For example, what was the point of the origami thing, except that it looked really awesome? What was Kubo’s mother problem? Was she brain damaged? How come she seemed to be fine when she was a monkey? Why could they find/detect Kubo only at night? Basically, pretty much anything could happen at any moment for any reason. As a result, it drastically lowered the stakes and also the impact of what actually happened to the characters. Still, this Japanese feudal world was really cool and, in spite of its flaws, it was still the most interesting tale delivered by Laika so far. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow me away, it was still an impressive animated feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I already saw this movie but since it was since such a long time ago, I was quite eager to check it out again, especially since it has such a stellar reputation. Well, I’m glad I checked it out again because I didn’t remember much about it. Still, even though I really liked the damned thing, I’m not so sure if I would really consider it a masterpiece though. First of all, this movie has been since then criticized because there was no major black characters involved but that’s not what bothered me. Indeed, if the FBI agents would have been black, there is no way that they could have done their work or if the local black people would have been more active in this investigation, they would have been probably killed by the Klu Klux Klan and, above all, the whole thing would have been rather unrealistic. Eventually, what didn’t really work for me was that the fact that their investigation was actually slightly disappointing. I mean, seriously, for most of the duration, their investigation went nowhere, they had no clues whatsoever, nobody wanted to cooperate, and the only way they could manage to crack this case was apparently to have Gene Hackman seduce the deputy’s wife. However, what really worked with this movie was that Alan Parker really managed to create such a vivid time and place. Basically, the deep south in the 60’s was pretty much a wasted land where black people were poor and terrorized for their sheer existence. However, the white folks were not much better and it seems that the only way they could find to cope with their miserable existence was to torment a whole group of people just because of the color of their skin. I’m writing in the past tense but it is actually still pretty much going on nowadays, especially this culture based on hatred. Anyway, to conclude, even though not everything really worked in this movie, it was still quite fascinating to behold and it is definitely worth a look. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Liam Neeson, I thought I might as well check it out, especially since it was available on Netflix. Well, eventually, I was surprised by how underwhelming the damned thing actually turned out to be. Sure, as expected, Liam Neeson delivered his usual tough guy act but, in fact, the other characters managed to be even less compelling. However, the main issue I had was mostly with the story though. Seriously, the damned thing was just rather boring and what was the deal with this title? Sure, it was a pretty cool title but what did it actually have to do with the plot? To make things worse, I thought the whole thing was rather lazy. For example, you never get a clear explanation about why these 2 guys were targeting drug dealers or, to be more specific, women linked to drug dealers. Furthermore, how come nobody seemed to be aware of these murders? Indeed, when Matt Scudder got involved, they had already killed a couple of women in a gruesome way which should have been all over the news but neither Scudder or anyone else seemed to notice that something had been going on for a while already. Anyway, to conclude, even though the directing was not bad, I thought it was still rather weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

It’s another movie that I wanted to watch for many years and since it had a solid reputation, I had some rather high expectations. Well, even if I did like it, to be honest, it turned out to be actually slightly disappointing. I mean, sure, the animation was really neat, even 10 years after this movie was released, and Shane Acker managed to create a rather fascinatin utopian future. Eventually, the material was quite spellbinding and they could have delivered an interesting thoughtful metaphysical SF feature. Unfortunately, after all, most of the duration  was dealing with some huge battles involving the characters and some elaborate monsters. Indeed, from the very first moment, I was wondering what 9 and his ‘siblings’ were thinking and feeling but, very soon, came the first robot-beast and, then, they never stopped to develop the characters who were constantly in survival mode which was eventually rather boring. For example, even though ‘Blade Runner’ had a few action scenes, it was above all fascinating because it was mostly dealing with the existential anxiety experienced by the replicants. With these weird dolls, there were even more possibilities, especially since there were no humans left to guide them but Shane Acker had decided instead to focus on some well made but seriously generic action scenes which was too bad. Anyway, to conclude, even if it could have been so much better, I still think it was an original animated feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.