Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I had it on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again.  Well, first of all, I have to point out that I’m a huge fan of Pink Floyd, it is easily one of my favorite bands, and The Wall was one of their best albums so, obviously, I always had a weak spot for this movie. On the other hand, I have to admit that, if you are not into their music, there is a fair chance that this flick will be rather boring for you. Indeed, if you take the scenes one by one, there was some strong stuff.  I think my favorite parts about the young boy growing up without his father and the animated scenes were also pretty neat. Unfortunately to be honest, the way the scenes were all put together, it was quite a mess, I’m afraid. At best, it could be seen as a very long video clip or as some kind of dark feverish dream. It is interesting to note that, even though this movie has become a major cult-classic especially among the fans of Pink Floyd, all the members of Pink Floyd and Alan Parker all thought that this movie was actually rather disappointing. Anyway, even though it might not be a masterpiece, I still think it is worth a look and if you are fan of Pink Floyd like me, it is pretty much a must-see.

Following the masssive critical and commercial success of ‘Life of Pi’, many, including myself, were expecting a lot from Ang Lee’s next directing effort. This time, he was going for something even more experimental, a movie shot with 120 frame rate, the highest frame rate ever used in a movie (to give an idea, the previous record holder was ‘The Hobbit’ with 48 fps and a standard film has 24 fps). Unfortunately, when this movie was released, it didn’t get much love and the whole thing was pretty much considered as a failed experiment. Still, since I always had a weak spot for Ang Lee’s work, I still wanted to check it out. Well, eventually, I thought it was rather difficult to judge this movie. First of all, I have to admit it, I didn’t manage to watch this movie in its intented version, I actually saw it at home on a regular TV so the whole technical aspect was lost on me, I’m afraid. On the other hand, I’m not sure if this story really needed such a high-tech treatment. I mean, for such a huge epic blockbusters like ‘The Hobbit’ or ‘Avatar’, the material definitely could use some visual innovation but this was just a rather low-key drama. Eventually, except for the half-time show which must have been  interesting in this format, the rest of the movie was above all about the characters in some conversations involving usually only 2 or 3 people and I didn’t see how this format could have been an improvement. Anyway, as pointed out by many other viewers, the biggest issue with this movie was above all that the story was nothing really amazing. I mean, it was not bad and the cast was actually decent but it didn’t tell anything really fascinating or groundbreaking. To conclude, like everyone else, I think the whole thing was a rather failed experiment but I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Ang Lee’s work. 

To be honest, since most of the movies involving Robert De Niro and John Travolta nowadays are some direct-to-dvd releases, it didn’t expect much from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for these two actors, I thought I might still check it out. Well, eventually, the damned thing turned out to be seriously underwhelming, I’m afraid. To begin with, it seemed at first like a poor choice to have a highly recognizable American actor like Travolta to play a Serbian soldier but I have to admit that he actually pulled it off. In fact, surprisingly, it was actually De Niro who seemed miscast in this movie. Indeed, he might have been more convincing maybe 20 years ago but, for this movie, I never believed he was some kind of bad-ass veteran soldier. For this part, someone like Clint Eastwood would have worked much better. Eventually, De Niro was not even the biggest problem with this movie. Indeed, the biggest issue was that the whole thing was just some rather tedious cat-and-mouse game between these 2 characters. Seriously, it was never really entertaining and interesting whatsoever. To conclude, even though the concept had some potential, the whole thing was pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie and the main reason I wanted to check it out was because it was included last year in the ’1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’. To be honest, it seemed to be one of these really obscure entries that they add every year just so the list might seem edgy but, usually, those movies are removed directly the year after. Furthermore, I had the feeling that this movie was somewhat surfing on the current hype around the transgender topic. Still, it was quite an intriguing feature nonetheless.  Indeed, it was definitely a really raw and realistic look on the life of some transgender prostitutes working in Hollywood and you definitely get another view on the American dream. Furthermore, the two main characters, Alexandra and Sin-Dee Rella (yeah, seriously) were at first rather annoying but, slowly, I actually started to care for them and I came to the conclusion that even though life doesn’t seem to have much to offer for them, they still have some inner strength and even sometimes a wicked sense of humor. While watching this movie, I was also thinking that if a transgender man and woman is not well off and doesn’t have the full support of their family, do they really have another option than the prostitution sector? I mean, to change sex is a really expensive process and most employer would’t hire them for a regular job. Anyway, to conclude, even though I don’t think it was really a masterpiece, it was still a decent watch and I think it is definitely worth a look. 

Since I really loved the first season of ‘True Detective’ and ‘Beasts of No Nation’ as well, I was quite eager to check Cary Joji Fukunaga’s  directing debut. To be honest, I thought it was rather tricky to judge this movie. Indeed, a couple of years ago, I saw ‘La jaula de oro’ which basically had more or less the same plot and, even though ‘La jaula de oro’ is not as well known as ‘Sin nombre’, I thought it was actually slightly better. On the other hand, it is rather unfair since ‘Sin nombre’ was actually released 4 years before ‘La jaula de oro’, and, it is pretty much like saying that a remake is better than the original just because I saw the remake first. Anyway, in spite of all this, it was another very strong movie from Fukunaga. Indeed, pretty much like with ‘Beasts of No Nation’, they went for a hyper-realistic approach and the whole thing was quite heartbreaking but still spellbinding to watch. Eventually, it gives a clear view on how desperate the people south of the border have become and, after watching this movie, there is a good change that you might understand the horrors they have to face during their journey to get to the US. To conclude, I thought it was a very good drama about a very topical subject and it is definitely worth a look.