Reviews by johanlefourbe

I have always been intrigued by Terry Gilliam’s work, even though not all his movies have convinced me though and since this movie was Terry Gilliam's first official directing credit, I was really eager to check it out. Indeed, up to that point, Gilliam was working as a member of the Monty Python, it was his first stand-alone feature and that was pretty obvious. I mean, you can see that even though he was already a visionary, especially concerning the visual style and his trademark dark humor, Gilliam was still searching himself and, on top of that, as usual, he didn't have really a big budget at his disposal and many of the scenes were shot in a single take, as there was not enough time or money to afford multiple tries.  Still, even though it didn’t really blow me away, it remains a decent watch but, at the end of the day, it is nothing really amazing in my opinion, above all compared to what he has done later on in his career. To conclude, even though this movie didn’t get much love when it was released, it was pretty awesome to see this wizard finally working on his own and, therefore, this movie is definitely worth a look.

The 70’s are usually considered the Golden Age of American cinema and, at the time, the studios were willing to give a lot of money and some amazing amount of freedom to directors such as Francis Ford Coppola to do whatever they wanted. Well, Michael Cimino managed to single-handedly halt this blessed period with ‘Heaven’s Gate’ which turned out to be a disaster, financially and critically. His career would never recover and since then the American movie production has been ruled by blockbusters and it won’t change anytime soon. It is a real shame because the movie he made before, the movie he should be remembered for, was an amazing piece of work. Indeed, it is easily belongs to the best movies about the Vietnam war like ‘Apocalypse Now’, ‘Platoon’ and ‘Full Metal Jacket’. Basically, even though the scope and amount of details were quite impressive, Cimino managed to keep an amazing rhythm. After re-watching it again after so many years, I was impressed about its perfect flow, how it takes the time to show the life of these young men living a simple but happy and carefree life. Then, they were thrown in an alien land and basically go through hell. Obviously, the Russian roulette scenes have become really iconic and you can literally see Christopher Walken’s character mentally melting down in front of you. To conclude, it is a great movie, a classic, and a must see for any decent movie lover.

Even though this movie is pretty much forgotten, the subject sounded quite intriguing so I was really eager to check it out. Indeed, when this movie was released, it didn’t get much love and it was a flop at the box-office but it is hardly surprising that an historical drama wouldn’t manage to attract an audience which is obsessed with brainless super-hero blockbusters. Personally, I always had a weak spot for such realistic historical features, especially when they are dealing with politics which is a fascinating subject in my opinion, and I thought that it was a really interesting story. Obviously, since it is a historical and political thriller involving Kevin Costner during the Kennedy administration, there seemed to be an obvious connection with ‘JFK’, the great flick directed by Oliver Stone, but the tone was completely different.  Indeed, even though I thoroughly enjoy it, it is really sober and straightforward, maybe too straightforward to become truly remarkable. Still, it shows that when Kevin Costner is given the right material, he can be really good and I thought he was really compelling to watch, just like the rest  of the cast. To conclude, even though it is a rather obscure feature, I thought it was a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but, somehow, I still ended up watching it. Well, it wasn’t really good, I’m afraid. Indeed, it begins with a really awkward introduction about two step-sisters who don't like each other but have to go to Paris for no obvious reasons. Then, there is another weak section in the French capital city but since the movie is called ‘Monte Carlo’, you know they won’t spend much time there. And, indeed, they end up in Monte Carlo and they get involved in a rather tedious mistaken identity plot. Seriously, it must be one of the most underwhelming gimmicks I know and they certainly didn’t make it more interesting than usual. At least, I finally got to see Selena Gomez in a movie and, I must admit it, she was quite charming and this movie was something really safe and clean which must have pleased her young fans. Well, I’m not one of them and I really had a hard time to care about the whole thing. Apparently, they spent only four days filming in Paris and two weeks filming in Monaco and the rest of the filming took place in Hungary which makes it sound pretty cheap. Anyway, to conclude, I thought it was pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

I can’t believe I haven’t seen any movies directed by Akira Kurosawa for such a long time. A few years ago, I was doing a good job and ended up watching 13 of his movies but, by now, it has been almost 10 years since I saw another one of his movies. It is a real shame but maybe I will pick it up again later on. Anyway, this flick is probably one of his most famous ones and therefore I was really eager to check it out. Indeed, it was a huge inspiration for Georges Lucas before creating ‘Star Wars’ as R2-D2 and C-3PO were pretty much copied on Tahei and Matashichi. Apparently, Kurosawa wanted this time to make something more commercial and accessible after making some artistic features like ‘Rashomon’, and indeed, in box-office terms, it was one of his most successful films at the time. Personally, I thought it was pretty good and quite entertaining but it wasn’t one of his best movies in my opinion. To conclude, even though it didn’t really blow me away, it still remains a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Kurosawa’s work.

Bille August is one of the few directors who have managed to win twice the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival (the other directors are Francis Ford Coppola, Alf Sjöberg, Emir Kusturica, Shôhei Imamura, the Dardenne Brothers and Michael Haneke). Therefore, I was really eager to check his two movies which won the big prize (‘Den goda viljan’ and ‘Pelle erobreren’) but, somehow, it never happened and, instead, I have watched a whole bunch of movies he made afterwards. To be honest, after these two prestigious wins, August didn’t get much success afterwards and this flick is a perfect example. Basically, it started out as an interesting thriller with a very nice mood but the plot became increasingly murky and far-fetched and therefore, the end-result was rather underwhelming. Still, it wasn’t bad at all, it really had some potential, there were some strong performances and there was something exotic to me about the locations (Greenland and Denmark). At the time, Julia Ormond , a really charming actress, had a couple of years at the top but her status was already declining and, a couple of years later, she would show up in some even more obscure movies.  To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I think it is still worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I’m a huge fan of Paul Newman, I was really eager to check this flick. I remember when I saw ‘A Streetcar named Desire’, I was quite blown away, and this movie is also a very successful adaptation of a play written by Tennessee Williams, even though, apparently, it wasn’t really faithful which was a disappointment for Paul Newman and Williams really disliked it (the biggest change their made was to remove all trace of homosexuality). Personally, I thought it was pretty good but I wasn’t completely convinced by the whole thing. I mean, I was really impressed by Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor who were both at the top of their game at the time (the fact that they were some of the most beautiful human-beings that ever lived was also quite fascinating). The first issue is that the other characters were hardly interesting, except maybe Big Daddy. Even though it didn’t bother me at all with ‘A Streetcar named Desire’, there was nothing much going on actually and what you have left is all these characters endlessly talking and, without Newman and Taylor, I'm afraid it would have been rather tedious to watch. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it remains a solid classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

There was a time when the box-office was ruled by movie stars. During the last decade, there were however only 3 stars who were still a guarantee of box-office success (Johnny Depp, Will Smith and Adam Sandler) but those days are gone as well. Indeed, in 2013 and 2014, all their movies flopped (‘Transcendence’, ‘The Lone Ranger’, ‘After Earth’, ‘Blended’, ‘That’s my boy’). Anyway, 10 years ago, Will Smith was pretty much the box-office king and pretty much everything he touched became gold at the time. Can you imagine if he would release a romantic-comedy today? I’m pretty sure it would be a flop. Back then, it was pretty successful though and I thought it was not bad at all. Indeed, one thing I have always enjoyed with Will Smith is the way he tackles some mainstream genres (here, the rom-com) but manages to give it an interesting twist. I mean, this movie is actually nothing amazing whatsoever, it remains way too faithful to the formula, but I actually liked the concept and Will Smith was really charismatic. Back in those days, Kevin James was not yet another annoying Sandler’s sidekick and he was actually bearable here. To conclude, even though it didn’t grow very well, I thought it was a decent romantic-comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I have always been a fan of Harrison Ford but, honestly, like some older actors like Robert de Niro and Al Pacino his career has become pretty pathetic lately. At least, de Niro is pretty honest about it and it is understandable that an actor when he has reached 70 years old doesn’t feel the need anymore to play some amazingly demanding parts but is it really necessary to spoil a whole legacy of great movies in the process? Anyway, this movie managed to get his weakest reviews so far (even ‘Paranoia’, arguably the biggest flop released in 2013, has a better rating in Imdb) so I wasn’t expecting much. Eventually, I have seen worse and it is not an awful flick but it was still a terribly weak and misguided action-comedy. It actually had some potential but satire is one of the most difficult genres and it works only if the makers are willing to go all the way. In this case, since it remains a mainstream feature, it was reduced to a couple of jokes and some funny oneliners but that was about it, I’m afraid. To conclude, I’m afraid it deserves its poor reputation and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Like many tother things, I have always been fascinated by deejaying, especially Hip-Hop, so I was really eager to check it out. If I’m not mistaken, I saw it in France when my brother or my brother-in-law brought this dvd. I have noticed that nowadays that most of the deejays don’t use vinyls anymore but some modern cd players which look rather pratical but call me old-fashioned but they definitely don’t have the same style and charisma. Futhermore, it seems that the art of deejaying is not so popular as it used to be. Anyway, back to our main feature, basically, it is a pretty straightforward history of the Art of Hip-Hop deejaying and I thought it was a really neat to see all those famous djs (Afrika Bambaataa, Grand Master Flash, DJ Qbert, DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, Mix Master Mike, DJ Premier) and it gave the whole thing a really genuine feeling. The main issue I had is that the directing was not really inspired. I mean, it was quite interesting but it was purely informative and it was pretty much like watching National Geographic. On top of that, I already knew about 80% of what said so that didn’t help either. To conclude, even though it wasn’t really an amazing flick, it was still a really solid and interesting documentary and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by the subject.