Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since this movie was the last classic directed by [Link removed - login to see] that I haven’t seen yet so far, i was quite eager to check it out. Well, the story turned out to pretty simple after all. Indeed, Russia was invaded by the Germans, Aleksandr Nevsky managed to gather Russian fighters from all over the country and they kicked the Germans’s asses, not much more than that and, to be honest, I have to admit that I actually had a hard time to get into the damned thing after all. I don’t know, I was also dealing with some personal stuff at the time so I was probably too distracted. The tricky thing with such movies is that you might dismiss then because they might seem outdated. Sure, the battle scenes in a modern blockbuster like ’Braveheart‘ might be more impressive and/or convincing but you have to keep in mind that this movie was made decades before and it was probably a huge influence in this area. Furthermore, back then, even if Eisenstein was finally taking his distance from the Soviet propaganda, this movie was still backed and approved by the Soviet government so everything about Nevsky which might have been slightly negative or controversial was completely toned down. As a result, the main character, Aleksandr Nevsky himself, turned out to be rather flat after all, especially if you watch first ‘Ivan Groznyy‘ with Ivan IV who was so much darker, complex and, well, pretty messed-up. Still, to have the Russian master focusing for the first time on such a huge historical epic was pretty neat and the damned thing was visually quite impressive for the time period. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow away, it is still a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Sergei Eisenstein’s work. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a pretty cool cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though I always had a weak spot for Matthias Schoenaerts and [Link removed - login to see] and even though it was really cool to have these 2 actors working together, I’ll have to admit that the damned thing turned out to be rather half-baked after all. I mean, the mood was fine and the beginning was promising. Indeed, even if it was nothing original, I did like the dynamic between these two cousins. However, unfortunately, it didn’t last for long, I’m afraid. Indeed, suddenly, Joel Kinnaman’s started to act really differently and, after the first 10 mins, he became your typical incompetent egomaniacal gangster. It’s not that Kinnaman was bad, in both registers, the Swedish actor was actually fine but, unfortunately, it made his character so much less interesting to follow. Furthermore, as a result, I was then wondering what on Earth Matthias Schoenaerts’s character was then doing with him. Indeed, was he actually his right hand? I’m not so sure but, since his cousin didn’t listen at all to his advice, since he didn’t seem to enjoy this business, why did he stick around? The other thing that didn’t work at all were the flashbacks. Seriously, not only there were rather clunky but what was the added value of these scenes, especially for a movie lasting barely 80 mins? It’s too bad because Ryan Phillippe was actually pretty good and probably gave his best performance in years for this movie. Concerning [Link removed - login to see], she did look lovely but her character was even less developed than the rest and she was basically given nothing interesting to do. Anyway, to conclude, I think I was maybe to generous with my rating here but I still think it is worth a look though, if only for the fine actors involved. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the damned thing but since it did win the César of the Best French movie of the year, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have to admit that I’m usually not a huge fan of costume dramas but this one looked really good and, above all, the story was really neat. Indeed, it didn’t read the book written by Honoré de Balzac but it was certainly dealing with a fascinating time period in French history. Back then, for a rather short period of time, there was apparently some kind of complete freedom of speech which apparently didn’t lead to enlightenment but to even more disinformation. Eventually, I thought it was a great parallel with today with our influencers and fake news. Eventually, the end-result was super interesting and entertaining and I think this movie actually did have the potential to be some kind a French vintage version of ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. Unfortunately, it did fall slightly short, I’m afraid. It could have had to do with the running time even though Scorsese’s modern classic was actually even longer though. I think it had more to do with the fact that, even though this movie had a decent flow and vibe, they didn’t really manage to sustain this energy. Furthermore, even though the main character was interesting enough and [Link removed - login to see] was charismatic and his performance was pretty good, the trajectory of the main character was probably too predictable. Another issue was probably also the love triangle involving the main character which was rather underwhelming especially compared to his professional life which was much more intriguing.  Anyway, to conclude, even if it wasn't a complete home-run, it still turned out to be a really neat French costume drama and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Rosamund Pike, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I have to admit that I was really positively surprised by the damned thing. Indeed, it turned out to be a bold and dark movie dealing with something quite real, I’m afraid. As far as I was concerned, the most intriguing thing was that there was no real main character in this movie. Indeed, Marla Grayson was definitely the antagonist but there was no protagonist in this movie and I can imagine that, for many viewers, this idea that you have only bad or even seriously rotten people to behold might have been alienating but I actually really liked this approach. Still, to be honest, even though Marla was a convincing con artist, I don’t believe she could swindle so many elderlies on such a scale without anyone except this one guy trying to stop her. On the other hand, even without someone so nefarious like Marla involved, if the system is convinced that you are unfit, especially mentally, then you will have a really hard time to convince them otherwise, as perfectly displayed in this movie. Another thing that bothered me was Marla’s stubbornness to keep on going against a seemingly way too powerful opponent. Indeed, she was maybe a successful con artist but not much more than that so, the way she gambled everything, especially her life, against the Russian mafia seemed to be rather unlikely. However, how this conflict was eventually solved (Roman, the Russian gangster, was so impressed by Marla demented skills that he decided to work with her) was pretty neat and it actually did validate Marla’s seemingly reckless and misguided approach. Even the fact that she got killed at the end did work, not because she got what she deserved as many righteous viewers might think, but because she was taking so many risks antagonizing so many people in the process, I wasn’t surprised that someone really pissed off would eventually get rid of her. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was missing something to be really great, it was still a pretty good flick and I think it is definitely 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 it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Not to be confused with the classic directed by John Carpenter or the other recent remake by David Gordon Green, this is another version directed by Rob Zombie and it seems to be rather forgotten nowadays, even if it was actually fairly successful at the box-office when it was released. Well, I thought it was not bad at all. Indeed, what I really liked was the fact that Zombie took a really different approach, at least, during the first half. Indeed, for once, they focused on Michael Myers’s childhood which was a nice idea. However, it turned out to be only a very long introduction and the rest of the movie was basically a rather faithful remake of Carpenter’s classic. Eventually, the only thing that bothered me with this remake was that they made the same mistake that they already did with ‘Halloween II’ (and maybe with the other sequels but I haven’t seen those) which was to give Michael Myers some kind of super powers. Sure, at first, it was impressing that that this little boy became this huge menacing mountain but this effect unfortunately wore off rather quickly. Indeed, to reach such a muscular figure, it would mean that the character would have hit the gym almost on a daily basis which obviously didn’t fit at all his reclusive temperament. Furthermore, by making him super strong and seemingly invincible, it makes the character so much less relatable. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was probably another pointless remake, I have to admit that it turned out to be a decent watch and it is actually worth a look but probably only if you really like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation (it is included in the ‘The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made’ list selected by the New York Times, among other things), I thought I might as well check it out. Well, after watching a few rather underwhelming movies released in 1940, it was really neat to finally watch something really enjoyable. Indeed, the introduction was just amazing, arguably one of the best intro ever put on the silver screen, and from this point on, I was basically hooked. However, to be honest, everything happening afterwards turned out out to be fairly generic and predictable after all. Indeed, it seems that this movie never managed to top its amazing opening scene but, fortunately, the damned thing still worked fine though. First of all, William Wyler was such a fine director and, even if the story was rather pedestrian after all, it was rather impressive how much he managed to get from it. In fact, he was even praised by Bette Davis who was usually rather dismissive towards her directors. Concerning Bette Davis, I have to admit that I discovered her work only recently but, once again, she was quite fascinating to behold. The funny thing is that she actually plays always pretty much the same character and usually the same way in all her movies and, yet, she is always interesting to behold. Concerning the rest of the cast, James Stephenson was also really solid and I was grateful that his lawyer character didn’t fall in love with his client which is too often the case in this genre. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was maybe not a masterpiece, it was still a really solid film noir and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation and since I always had a weak spot for the Who, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I have to admit that I actually had a hard time to really care about the damned thing after all. Indeed, it was such a mess and, in fact, as far as I was concerned, it was actually borderline unwatchable. Unfortunately, when such famous bands or singers indulge themselves in making music pictures like this one, the end-result is usually quite pretentious and this movie was not an exception, I’m afraid. I was also disappointed by the fact that, even though I was expecting at least some kick-ass soundtrack by the legendary British band, except for a couple of classic songs like ‘Pinball Wizard’, the music didn’t really impress me after all. At least, there were some nice cameos by Tina Turner (before she made her come-back in the 80’s), Elton John and Eric Clapton (I have to admit that I didn’t recognize him right away). Furthermore, as pointed out by other critics such as Roger Ebert, you can't deny the fact that this project did give Ken Russell a good excuse to go really wild which he obviously did. It was also the first movie I saw starring Ann-Margret and I have to admit that she was definitely charismatic. Eventually, I can understand why she was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance, even if she was slightly too hysterical for my taste but, with a supercharged movie like this one, it’s not like she had so many choices. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t work for me, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the Who.