Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. Eventually, I was really impressed by the damned thing. To be honest, I have no actual interest in mountain climbing whatsoever and I believe it is one of those hazardous hobbies which seem rather pointless to me. On top of that, since both men were there to tell this story 20 years later, then you pretty much knew beforehand how it would all end. And, yet, in spite all this, it was just fascinating and sometimes even rather excruciating to see. I mean, at first, when they went up there, it seemed really hard but still doable but, as there was still more than one hour of running time, I was pretty sure that something pretty nasty would happen at some point. And, indeed, when those climbers went down, it turned to be a real nightmare. I won’t go into details but what happened up there was just incredible and one of the greatest tales of human survival I have ever seen. The directing was also terribly effective. To conclude, it was a great documentary, probably one of the best I have seen, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.  

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out again. In fact, if I recall it correctly, I even saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released with my wife and step-kids. By now, I have seen pretty much all the animated features produced by Disney but I’m afraid this one is by far the worst thing that they have ever released. Basically, it was about some cows becoming some bounty hunters to save their farm in the Wild West but, unfortunately, it turned out to be such a misguided and completely lame concept. Apparently, this movie was stuck in development hell for many years so, at some point, they pretty much decided to release whatever they could with this material resulting in these terribly boring and rather ugly animated feature involving some really tedious characters. The saddest thing is that, at the time, because it turned out to be a major critical and commercial flop, following some other expensive flops (‘Brother Bear’, ‘Treasure Planet’, ‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire’), they decided it would be their last traditionally hand-drawn animated feature. Seriously, such an impressive legacy of 70 years didn’t deserve to end up with such a tepid production (fortunately, their eventually would revive this animation style with ‘The Princess and the Frog’). Anyway, to conclude, it was just seriously weak and I don‘t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Disney’s animated features.

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this movie and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. Anyway, even though it is probably not one of the most popular flicks directed by the Coen brothers, I still have some fond memories concerning this movie. Indeed, if I’m not mistaken, it was the first movie directed by those guys that I saw. I must have been 15 years old, I remember it very well, back then my sister was talking all the time about this movie that just came out and I really had to see it according to her. And she was right, I really enjoyed it and I was quite blown away by their directing style. Back in those days, the Coen brothers already had a faithful fan base but it’s only with ‘Fargo’ (their following directing effort) that they would finally have their first major breakthrough. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, Tim Robbins was going through an amazing winning streak at the time (‘The Player’, ‘Short Cuts’, ‘The Shawshank Redemption’) and he was pretty good here as well. However, I have to admit that the story was fairly entertaining but nothing really mind-blowing though. To conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, I think it is still a decent comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in the Coen brothers’s work.

I already saw this movie but it was ages ago and, above all, I just finished reading the book so I thought I might as well check it out again. In fact, I have to admit it, it is not really the kind of stories that would at first really attract me. However it was the very first time that Robert Redford directed and appeared on screen which made the whole thing slightly more intriguing to me. Eventually, it turned out to be pretty successful at the box-office and it was probably the most popular movie he has directed. Well, personally, I actually ended up with some mixed feelings about the damned thing. I mean, on one hand, there was a very strong cast involved (Robert Redford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam Neill, Dianne Wiest, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Cooper, Kate Bosworth) and Redford definitely managed to create a really nice mood. However, on the other hand, I’m not sure if I really cared about this story. In fact, a big difference between the book and the film adaptation was that the love story between Tom Booker and Annie MacLean was unconsummated in the movie but it was definitely not the case in the book. The end-result was therefore much more realistic but also much less passionate as well. Another issue, this time in both versions, was that it was never convincing that Tom would fall so much in love with Annie. I don’t blame Kristin Scott Thomas, she was as usual terribly charismatic but her character, especially in the movie version, was for too long such a bossy stressed out and arrogant woman. As a result, you wonder why such a laidback guy like Tom Booker would ever be so fascinated by her. Finally, the issue with this story was that it started out as the very intriguing healing of a traumatized horse and a traumatized girl by a wise horseman but it got completely undermined by this sappy and rather unconvincing love story. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick. Anyway, one of the main reasons that motivated Clint Eastwood to become a director in the first place is that there were some stories in which he really wanted to get involved but nobody would think of him since the studios would rather cast him only for another Western or some other action flicks where Eastwood would portray his usual no-nonsense tough guy. This way, by becoming a director, he was able to pick up some different projects, more intimate, showing a different facet of his talent. This movie is a perfect example. To be honest, it is not actually one of this best dramas but I thought it was pretty solid. Indeed, Eastwood gives a nice performance, like his son by the way, and I really enjoyed the sad and melancholic tone of the whole thing. The very same year, Clint Eastwood made also ‘Firefox’ which turned out to be a box-office hit, while this movie was a flop. Well, in my opinion, ‘Firefox’ was just  terrible while this movie was not bad at all. Anyway, to conclude, it won’t go down as one of Eastwood’s masterpieces but it is actually a decent watch.

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick. In fact, if I recall it correctly, I even saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released. Indeed, after I saw ‘Manhattan Murder Mystery’, I became a huge fan  of Woody Allen and I went to see every year his latest directing effort in the movie theater and I think this one would be the very last one I saw this way. Basically, at some point, it became a rather thankless job to watch his movies like this. Indeed, every since he started, Woody Allen has been making one movie every single year and, even though you might be impressed with this work ethic, I think it had quite a negative impact on the quality of his work and this movie is a perfect example.  Indeed, it was made during the period often considered as his weakest one, a period which stopped either with ‘Melinda and Melinda’ or ‘Match Point’ and it wasn’t really good, I’m afraid. I mean, even though the concept had some potential, especially with Woody Allen playing a movie director, the whole sickness angle was pretty weak.  To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was a decent watch though and I think it is worth  a look but it is definitely one of the weakest movies delivered by the great master.