Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I really enjoyed J.C. Chandor’s previous directing effort, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, first of all, to be honest, I thought the whole thing was like a very long and agonizing anti-commercial against sailing. I mean, seriously, if you ever thought of buying or renting a sail-boat and go on some adventure, you might first want to watch this movie. That’s maybe the only issue I had with this movie. Indeed, I don’t really care about sailing and watching this flick made the whole thing even less attractive to me. However, I doesn’t mean that it was a bad movie, far from it. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for such minimalist movies dealing with one character like ‘127 Hours’, ‘Buried’ or ‘Locke’ and this movie is probably one of the best in this genre. Indeed, even though we know nothing and learn nothing about the background of this lonely character, Robert Redford managed to make him really compelling to watch without any dialogues. Furthermore, it was visually impressive, it must have been terribly difficult to film but the whole thing was really spectacular and completely convincing. To conclude, even though I wasn’t completely blown away by this movie, there was still something quite mesmerizing about the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Yesterday, my daughter was really eager to see a movie and, to my surprise, she chose this one. To be honest, I didn’t know much about this flick and I first thought it was actually a drawn animated feature. I was therefore positively surprised that it was actually a stop-motion feature produced by the guys responsible for ‘Coraline’ and ‘ParaNorman’. Well, to be honest, I must admit that the whole thing was really confusing when it all started. Indeed, since the running time was fairly long for an animated feature (more than 90 minutes), it felt as if they just skipped any form of introduction and it took me seriously 20 minutes to fully grasp who was who and what the hell was going on and I can’t imagine how confusing it must have been for young kids. Anyway, when I was finally able to grasp the story, I was slightly bothered by the fact that the boxtrolls, obviously an oppressed minority, were completely helpless without the assistance of this white boy. Maybe I’m going too far in my analysis but I thought it was rather condescending that without this white boy, they would have been pretty much lost. Still, the story was actually fairly entertaining and the animation was just downright impressive. I mean, the amount of details was just amazing and I can’t imagine how much work it must have been to create all this. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was still a decent animated feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but since it was ages ago, I was really eager to check it out again. To be honest, I always had some rather mixed feelings about the damned thing but I have to admit that I always loved the introduction though. Indeed, you get to see the main character in his hotel room, preparing for his trip, sticking some huge chunk of hashish around his body and, all this time, you could hear his heart pounding so loudly. It was a simple idea but so effective and I think I had never seen anything so intense before. Then, the guy goes to the airport, through the customs with his heart still pounding louder and louder and the pressure was just huge. I thought it was just spellbinding and nerve-wrecking. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the rest of the movie didn't work so well though. Indeed, at first, it was designed as a cautionary tale about the risks of smuggling drugs from some foreign country but, instead, it turned out to be one of these movies during which Arabic people are constantly shouting and are all basically Evil. Sure, it was still a well made and quite entertaining thriller but it was quite obvious that the whole thing was just way over-the-top and obviously fairly offensive towards the Turkish people. In fact, Billy Hayes, the guy who wrote the book it was based on and who supposedly went through all this, himself admitted that what was presented in the movie was a very exaggerated version of what happened to him in prison in Istanbul. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws and even though I think it is rather overrated, it is still a decent watch 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, I was quite eager to check it out again. Anyway, even though it was released in 1969, in my opinion, it actually belongs to the great wave of amazingly inspired US movies from the 70’s. Indeed, back then, the box-office was not ruled by giant robots or super-heroes, it was ruled by such deep and dark features and this movie was a fine example. To be honest, I have never been really impressed by Jon Voight (seriously, in fact, the guy is nowadays more famous for being Angelina Jolie’s father than for his actual acting legacy) but he did make a few impressive movies and this movie is definitely one of them. And, of course, Dustin Hoffman was at the time one of the best actors in the world and he gave here one of his best performances. I still think it is a tricky movie though. I mean, both of the main characters were not exactly really like-able and you might wonder why they didn’t even at least try to have a regular job. In my opinion, it was basically displaying the destruction of the American Dream, no less than that. Indeed, they gave us this naive guy coming from Texas hoping he would make it in New York. However, instead, he did end up in the dark underworld of New York filled with misfits, filth and despair. One thing that was also interesting was that, instead of plainly stating his background, they gave us some rather fleeting bits and pieces dealing with Joe’s past showing that the guy was in fact already some damaged goods probably even before getting to New York. I also liked the look given by Dustin Hoffman during some silent scenes showing so much depth and humanity. Anyway, to conclude, it is basically a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but since it was such a long time ago and since I had it on DVD, I thought I might as well check it out again. First of all, back in the 90's, it seemed that Mathieu Kassovitz was set to become the next great French director. Indeed, back then, he made ‘La haine’ which became a huge critical success in France and, abroad, it became also a cult-classic. Unfortunately, none of his following directing efforts became really impressive (I did love ‘Assassin(s)’ but I was probably the only person on Earth who really did like it). In fact, Kassovitz got so fed up with the movie industry that he directed only 1 movie during the last 10 years and it is even doubtful that he might direct anything new in the future. Anyway, before ‘La haine’, he came up with this movie. Sure, it was maybe not masterpiece but I thought it was a fairly entertaining romantic-comedy, no more and no less than that. It was pretty obvious that Kassovitz had been inspired by Spike Lee, especially 'She's Gotta Have It' but he could have used some worse inspiration and the lack of pretension was quite refreshing, especially coming from this director. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really ground-breaking, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

I already saw this movie but since it was available on Netflix, I was quite eager to check it out again. Back then, when this movie was released, if you would ask around, many people would have told you that this was the best movie released in 2015, no less than that. With this in mind, I had some high expectations but, to be honest, I had my doubts even before watching the damned thing. Eventually, I have to admit that it was a really entertaining action flick but not much more than that, I'm afraid. Basically, the whole thing was just a very long chase scene. Sure, I’ll give you that, it was well made and quite spectacular to behold but, seriously, the movie had pretty much nothing else to offer so I kind of missed what was so amazing about it. Concerning the casting, Tom Hardy was a good choice and he did a solid job but, like everyone else, I thought he was actually upstaged by Charlize Theron who was just really intense throughout the whole thing (and, as a result, for the time being, they won’t make another movie about Max, next, they will make instead a movie focusing on Furiosa). I don’t know, it was as if Max was more mellow than actually mad. But that's the problem with the whole chase thing, some would argue that it was just very cool to have some non-stop wall-to-wall action scenes but some character development would have been more than welcome. I have to admit that the production design was pretty amazing though but it was still not enough to cover up the fact that the story was nothing really spellbinding and just too similar to the previous installments. Anyway, to conclude, I think it is actually overrated but I have to admit that it is still a very good action flick and it is definitely worth a look.

To be honest, I have never really cared about Amy Winehouse while she was still alive. I mean, she did have an interesting voice but, especially towards the end, she looked just terrible and I mostly remembered how her chaotic behavior was described in details in the media and, soon enough, she was already gone. It seemed that she reached fame and disappeared within a few years and I didn’t pay much attention to her or her legacy. With this is in mind, I thought it was still a decent documentary, even if it wasn’t groundbreaking. Basically, the most interesting part was roughly the first half, before 'Back in Black' was released, when you get to see some rather intimate footage before she became famous. There, you had more or less the possibility to get to know who she might have been at the time and you definitely get to see her great musical potential. Unfortunately, the second half, after 'Back in Black', was much less interesting as it pretty much focused on her downward spirale without giving much new insights and it felt like a very long tabloid story. Seriously, even though I never really cared for her, I already knew most of this stuff. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you're a fan of Amy Winehouse.

At last, I have seen all the movies directed by Robert Rodriguez... To be honest, it was a rather thankless task. Indeed except for 'Sin City', which is still one of my all-time favorites, all his movies have been at best decent but also rather frequently really weak. This movie is a perfect example and it could be an all-time low for Rodriguez. I have to admit it, this movie was not really worse than the first trilogy but it was certainly not an improvement. I mean, how many jokes about baby poop can you fill in one single movie? Maybe even worse were those constant word puns involving time. Concerning Jessica Alba, after all these years, she still looks stunning but no matter how sexy her outfit is, I still have my doubts about her acting skills. The only redeeming quality I could think off was to see Alexa PenaVega, all grown up after all these years, and she made a fine transition from spy kid to spy well 'adult'. It's too bad because this concept always had some potential and the fact that all the installments made some money shows that the audience was interested. However, Rodriguez never managed to properly developed this idea and, with this sequel-reboot, the end-result was rather cringe-inducing and I don't think it is worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of the genre.

I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since there was actually a decent cast, I thought I might as well give it a try. Well, within the first 5 minutes, I was already totally bored and it seemed to be a total disaster. Indeed, the whole concept was just completely stupid but above all rather annoying and not entertaining whatsoever. Eventually, at some point, its absurdity started to win me other, only slightly though. Eventually, I was above all pleasantly surprised to see Woody Allen. Indeed, it is not very often that we get to see this guy playing for another director and I thought he was quite funny, even though the material was actually abysmal. Concerning the rest of the cast, you had such names like Sigourney Weaver, John Turturro, Ryan Philippe or Alan Cumming but all their characters were so pathetic, so boring, I felt really sorry for them. Concerning Douglas McGrath, surprisingly, I have apparently watched all his directing efforts but this is by far his worst one and how he came to the idea to play the lead was beyond me. To conclude, I think I'm being really generous with my rating here, it is a really moronic comedy and it is definitely not worth a look whatsoever.