Reviews by johanlefourbe

Since I really enjoyed a lot ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, the latest directing effort by Wes Anderson, I was really eager to check his previous movie who was also very well received at the time. Well, I was once again really impressed. A last, it seems that Anderson finally got it. Indeed, ever since I have seen ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ in the movie theater when it was released, I thought that he was a really interesting director who had a very distinctive visual style and who could create some really nice daft characters. Unfortunately, I always had a hard time to care about his stories which were always ok but never really fascinating. With this movie, he finally nailed it and managed to give something visually really neat, some hilarious eccentric characters and, at last, a really entertaining tale. Indeed, it was actually a very sweet teenage love story and I had a blast with those scouts (my step-son has been a scout for many years so the whole thing was kind of surreal for me). Finally, the last masterstroke was to have Bruce Willis in one of his best performances from the last 10 years. Indeed, he played again a cop (seriously, a genius move) but an old one who doesn’t seem to have seen a lot of action during the last 20 maybe even 30 years. Edward Norton was pretty awesome as well. To conclude, it is a really good flick, it really deserves its reputation and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Wes Anderson’s work.

I already saw this movie so many times but since it was a while back and since I'm planning to watch 'Clerks 3' pretty soon on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out again. First of all, the DVD I have is so old and the quality is just so awful so maybe I should check if I could find a Blu-Ray version. Anyway, after all these years, I still think it is one of the greatest movies ever made. By now, I must have seen it at least 30 times which is more than any other movie and, in fact, I was even one of the happy few who managed to watch it in the theater when it was released. Back then, I must have been around 14-15 years old and I was just blown away by the whole thing. Indeed, I thought that the dialogues, the characters, the situations were just really genuine, very often so hilarious and I never saw anything like that before. A year later, I would buy the VHS for my sister (with whom I saw the movie the 1st time around) and she really screamed of happiness. After that, it is one movie I would show every time I would meet someone really cool and 99% of the time, they would just love it (one notable exception was my wife though… Well, nobody is perfect, I guess). Perhaps, I’m too generous and, maybe, it is not that great but this flick had just a huge impact on me and, therefore, I still believe it is one of the best movies ever made. The other thing I loved about this flick is that it displayed that, if you want to, you can simply grab a cheap camera, invite a couple of friends and shoot your own movie and this process looked fascinating (Eventually, I did end up shooting my own movie (twice!), it wasn't really a success but it was definitely a great experience and this movie was definitely an inspiration). Anyway, to conclude, this movie is one major milestone in my movie-watching history and I will cherish it forever.

It is once again a rather obscure French movie which not much people have seen here in Listal. Even though Bertrand Tavernier is pretty much unknown here in Listal, he is actually one of the best French directors from the last 40 years and I always had a weak spot for his work so I was quite eager to check this movie. It is one of the very few movies directed by Tavernier which was in English and the whole thing was rather odd compared to his usual work. Indeed, basically, it is a very minimalistic SF feature dealing with TV reality which would be created eventually 20 years later. To be honest, it wasn’t entirely successful as the whole thing was a little too dry and the concept couldn’t have been therefore a little bit more developed but I still think it was pretty good. The casting was also quite interesting. Indeed, Romy Schneider was one of the most popular actress in Europe at the time (she would die 3 years later) and Harvey Keitel had fallen from grace in the US after being fired from ‘Apocalypse Now’ and he would spend a good chunk of the 80’s making such obscure European features. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, it remains a decent feature and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Bertrand Tavernier’s work.

Honestly, I had some rather mixed feelings about the whole thing. First of all, with a running time of 3 hours, it was just way too long for its own good. I mean, it was a nice touch that you were allowed to follow this championship through different races, allowing different drivers to win and, as a result, there was quite some suspense about who might become the champion after all. Still, the main issue is that Formula one is, in my opinion, actually one of the most boring sports out there. I remember, I had an Italian friend who used to say that there are only 2 interesting events during a Formula one race : the start up and when there is a car crash. The rest is just cars driving around and around endlessly (and I’m from Le Mans where they do this for 24 hours so I know what I’m talking about). This movie is a fine example of this theory. Indeed, Frankenheimer can direct action scenes and the races were pretty exciting but it got pretty repetitive after a while and, therefore, there were 2 major accidents plus some minor ones to spice up the proceedings. It was also an interesting approach to develop the life of the drivers between the races but, unfortunately, their life was pretty much reduced to a soap opera which was rather underwhelming. To conclude, I think I’m being rather generous with my rating but I think it might still be a worth a look, especially if you are fan of this sport.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since it is one of the famous Disney Classics, I was still eager to check it out. In fact, I thought I already saw it but I confused it with ‘The Three Caballeros’ released around the same time. Both movies have many similarities as they don’t have one storyline but are composed of sketches all dealing with South American (Apparently, those movies were created by Disney in order to improve the US relations with South American countries during World War II). I know, it doesn’t sound really fun and, indeed, it wasn’t and we are far from the impressive productions of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’, ‘Pinocchio’ or ‘Bambi’. I was also surprised about how short the whole thing was! Indeed, with a running time of just above 40 minutes, it is the shortest movie produced by Disney and it can hardly be called a full length feature. At least, it introduced José Carioca who was a pretty neat character but he never managed to reach the same status as Donald or Mickey. Anyway, to conclude, it is a rather weak feature and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except if you are a die-hard Disney fan.

It is once again a rather obscure French movie which not much people have seen here in Listal (I was the very first user who rated this movie and, right now, only 4 users have rated it and I’m pretty sure that 2 of those are actually fake). Even though Bertrand Tavernier is pretty much unknown here in Listal, he is actually one of the best French directors from the last 40 years and I always had a weak spot for his work so I was quite eager to check this movie. This flick is not one of his most famous ones, he would next make ‘L.627’ which is by far his best movie in my opinion, but it was still a pretty good feature. Basically, it is a simple but sweet film about the relationship between a father (played by Dirk Bogarde in his final acting role) and his daughter (played by Jane Birkin). So, like I said before, it is nothing really ground-breaking, but it was never meant to be and I really enjoyed the performances and, of course, the as usual very solid directing by Tavernier. To conclude, I thought it was pretty good and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

Like the other movies directed by Lars von Trier, as usual, I had a rather hard time to connect with it as the narrative structure was really obscure which made for a quite mesmerizing but also rather frustrating viewing. Basically, what did he try to achieve with this tale? Difficult to say… Roger Ebert had an interesting theory that the film was about the severe pains ending in death inflected by Nazism, which is represented by the train, and the moral culpability of Americans and others who turned up too late to save the victims of these trains and the camps where they delivered their doomed human cargo. Personally, I thought that Katharina Hartmann maybe represented Germany, a beautiful attractive woman haunted and wounded by her past who ‘s not able to move forward. Leopold Kessler would then represent the USA, a young cute but rather clueless and naïve young man, who tries to fix things up but has actually no clue about what’s actually going on. Of course, those are just theories and I had seriously no idea what von Trier tried to achieve and, sometimes, you just have the feeling he wants to mess up with the audience, something he always do with all his movies. At least, his movie had a very interesting visual style, mostly in black and white, but sometimes with some colors here and there and he also mixed some different camera shots and techniques, creating a rather impressive visual collage. Unfortunately, even though I admired this feature, I can’t say I was really blown away. It was a little too osbcure for my taste and I really hard a hard time to care for the main character who was basically a spineless clueless wimp. Anyway, to conclude, even though I wasn’t really convinced, it remains an intriguing feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Lars von Trier’s work.

Not so long ago, I have seen ‘White Material’ also directed by Claire Denis and there is an obvious link with this movie which she was her directing debut and which she made 20 years before. Indeed, even though Denis was born in France, she actually spent the first 12 years of her life in Africa in various countries such as Cameroun, Somalia, Burkina Faso or Djibouti. Therefore, this movie was quite autobiographic and I thought it was quite mesmerizing. Still, the whole thing was obviously really personal for her and since we, the viewers, didn’t share these experiences with her, there was still some distance with the material and I never really fully connected with it. Eventually, ‘White Material’ would be even more obscure. Still, you really get a feeling of the place and Denis definitely developped some interesting dynamics and relationships between white and black folks beyond the usual stereotypes. This movie was also the opportunity to discover Isaach De Bankolé, an actor often working with Jim Jarmusch and one of the best African actors that I have ever seen. To conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, it is still a really intriguing feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Claire Denis’ work.

Honestly, when I first heard of this movie, I had some rather mixed feelings. Indeed, again another adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s book… Basically, like some other classic books like ‘Pride and Prejudice’ or ‘The Three Musketeers’, they feel compelled to bring again another version every decade (I have to admit it though, I had only seen Zeffirelli’s version so far). On the other hand, there was a really attractive cast and since the reviews were pretty good, I still wanted to check the damned thing. First of all, Mia Wasikowska was a great choice for the title role and she gave a very good performance. Michael Fassbender, easily one of the best actors of his generation, was again really impressive and with Wasikowska, they had some really good chemistry. Furthermore, the directing by Cary Fukunaga was pretty much flawless (I will definitely check his other movies when I get the opportunity) , it looked great and he managed to create a very dreary atmosphere which you should expect to get from a Gothic Romantic novel. Unfortunately, I can’t say I really cared about the story though. I mean, basically, I’m not such a huge fan of those old-fashioned doomed love story and most of the time, while watching/reading such tales, I feel like kicking the characters in their butt in order to make them stop whining all the time and to get them in the sack once and for all. Anyway, to conclude, I have to admit it, even though I didn’t really love it, it is still a decent romantic feature and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.