Reviews by johanlefourbe

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.

For about 20 years already, I have been following closely Woody Allen’s career (I think I have seen about 30 of his movies by now) but even though I used to be a hardcore fan, I have nowadays some rather mixed feelings about his work. The point is that even though he is considered a Art-house king, he is in fact actually a real factory. Indeed, every single year, he comes up with a new movie, like a metronome, and with such productivity, as a result, most of those movies have become disposable (and I’m being nice). However, at least once a decade, he makes one film which gets some amazing reviews and this movie was a great success financially (it was Woody Allen's first film to gross over $100 million worldwide) and critically (among other things, it earned 4 Academy award nomination and Allen got his 4th oscar out of it). With this in mind, I was rather hopeful and, indeed, it was pretty good and quite enjoyable but, honestly, it was far from being a masterpiece. The point is that, maybe for the US audience who have never been to Paris, it was amazing to see this city from such a romantic point of view, but for a French guy like me, it was like watching a very long commercial. Same thing about seeing all those great artists. It was a fun gimmick but since none of them was properly developed, it was nothing really interesting. As a matter of fact, I prefer the present day story about the misguided relationship between Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams (both really good here). Furthermore, the conclusion was seriously generic. Still, somehow, it was a nice watch, I had a fairly good time watching this and I guess it is worth a look but don’t expect anything really amazing.

I already saw this movie but, since it was a while back, I was quite eager to watch it again. First of all, I have to admit I actually have a weak spot for ‘Lords of Dogtown’ which I saw before this documentary but I have noticed that it didn’t get much love and the biggest argument was mostly that the original documentary ‘Dogtown and Z-Boys’ was much better so I had to check it out at some point. Well, I wasn’t disappointed, that’s for sure. In fact, after rewatching the damned thing, I'm pretty sure it's one of my favorite documentaries, no less than that. Indeed, it is such a fascinating and thrilling feature showing the genuine birth of a phenomenon which is still going strong nowadays. Of course, like any kid growing up in the 90's, I had a skateboard at some point but, unfortunately, my skills were just seriously limited and I always admired the guys (and girls) who did manage to do something neat with these damned boards. On top of that, this movie also offered some awesome photos and footage and this flick is therefore a must see for anyone more or less interested in skateboarding. The only issue I might have is that it was directed by Stacy Peralta, himself one of the original Z-Boys. Sure, on one hand, it was actually a pretty cool fact and the guy definitely knew what he was talking about but, on the other hand, you wonder if an outsider wouldn’t have been more objective about the whole thing. Eventually, even after watching this flick, even if it has a rather lousy reputation, I still think ‘Lords of Dogtown’ is a decent fictionalized version though. Anyway, to conclude, it was definitely an entertaining and actually quite inspiring documentary and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by the subject.  

I’m not sure if Eric Rohmer (who passed away just a couple of years ago) was really well known abroad, but in France, he was always considered a major director. To be honest, I don’t think I’m really an expert in his work but I have still managed to watch a third of all his movies. Anyway, this flick is probably my favorite so far. Indeed, basically, it is a rather typical romantic tale, almost a soap opera, but the characters were very well written and actually quite fascinating to behold. I also enjoyed a lot the understated directing style by Rhomer who gave a lot of room to the actors to give life to their characters and the absence of additional background music was a nice touch as you have to make up your mind on your own about what you should feel or think. This movie was starring Amanda Langlet who was just 16 years old at the time and she would work again with Eric Rohmer in ‘Conte d’été’ which was the very first movie directed by Rohmer that I saw. ‘Conte d’été’  was a great introduction to Rohmer’s work and it was just really neat to see again this very charming actress.To conclude, I thought it was  a really a good flick, probably my favorite movie directed by Eric Rohmer and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies. 

With Jackie Chan, I always keep trying to watch his movies but, honestly, it has become a rather thankless task. By now, I have seen pretty much all his US productions (I think I’m only missing ‘The Tuxedo’) and except for the ‘Shanghai Noon’ franchise which was not bad, those movies were pretty much worthless. So, since it was, this time, a Hong-Kong feature, apparently with Jackie Chan's Hollywood breakthrough performance, I hoped I would enjoy it more than the rest but, to be honest, I was again rather disappointed. Sure, there were some insane stunts, some pretty cool fights, but the rest was just cringe-inducing. It seems that the general agreement is that, when watching a movie starring Jackie Chan, you should focus on his artistic work as a stuntman and skilled fighter but those scenes represent only a tiny bit of the running time so what are you supposed to do in the meantime? Wait patiently, grab a sandwich or maybe go to the bathroom? As you can see, I’m not a huge fan of the genre so maybe I should forget it and watch something else entirely. Anyway, to conclude, I didn’t like it much and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except if you love Jackie Chan’s work.

Back in 2003, Scarlett Johansson had her breakthrough performance with ‘Lost in Translation’ (which I actually found slightly underwhelming but I should give it another shot though) but she is also showed up in this flick which seems to be rather forgotten nowadays. Personally, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this movie but I was positively surprised. The first thing I enjoyed is that the makers didn’t make it ambiguous like ‘The Last King of Scotland’ which was very manipulative in making the viewers believe that it was a true story which it wasn’t (I’m still pissed off about this in fact). Indeed, right from the start, it was obvious the whole thing was a big fantasy about what might have or not have happened when Vermeer painted his most famous painting. As a result, you get a very interesting study about class struggle, about the artistic process and about a possible romance which was never consumed. So, there was some good stuff, the movie also looked really good but it was missing something to become really remarkable. I don’t know, maybe the whole thing was a little too dry for my taste. Still, even though it might not be a masterpiece, it is still a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I always had a weak spot for Scandinave movies and Susanne Bier must be one of the best Danish directors at work nowadays so I was definitely eager to check this movie, especially since it won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year. Eventually, Bier delivered once again a very strong drama and probaby one of her best movies so far. Once again, her directing was quite beautiful and she managed to get some very good performances from her cast, especially from those two boys who were both quite impressive. Indeed, the relationship between those teenagers was the best thing in this flick, how they were both messed up for some reasons, how they bond with each other and how they got into some massive trouble together. To be honest, the other storylines didn’t work very well though. For example, as it was justly pointed out by Roger Ebert, the whole African section, which was solid on its own with some rather unsettling and heartbreaking moments, didn’t fit very well with the rest. That’s the whole issue, it was actually too good to be a side-plot, they could have developed a whole story around this Swedish doctor working in Africa. Still, even though it wasn’t flawless, I really enjoyed this flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

After hearing so many great things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. Indeed, with this movie, Denzel Washington managed to win the Academy award for the Best Actor in a Leading Role which was the crowning of a stellar career. With this in mind, I thought it would be a great movie and I had some rather huge expectations. Unfortunately, I thought the whole thing was slightly underwhelming. I mean, it is a solid flick, no doubt about it, and Denzel Washington, who was finally playing something else than his usual righteous guys, was just terrific. The mood was also very well done and they even managed to shot on location in some of the most infamous neighborhoods of Los Angeles. So, what was my problem with this flick? The main issue was with the timeline which was rather unbelievable in my opinion. Indeed, you are supposed to believe that everything that happens is supposed to take place in one single day. I mean, seriously?!? If it would have been spread other 3 days or a whole week, it would have been fine but to put all this in one day was just rather preposterous. To make things worse and even more gimmicky, all this happened in the very first day of the rookie cop played by Ethan Hawke. Again, seriously?!? I’m pretty sure that most cops won’t see so much action in her first 10 years in the police force so that was also rather unbelievable. To conclude, even though I think it is seriously overrated, it remains a decent watch and it is still definitely worth a look, if only to see Denzel Washington’s amazing performance.

It is again one of those movies that I wanted to see for many years for some rather obscure reasons. I guess it had to with the fact that Mike Figgis had released before ‘Leaving Las Vegas’ which was a terrific movie and by far his best directing effort. Eventually, I thought it was a decent flick with a very nice mood and some decent performances by a nice cast (Wesley Snipes, Nastassja Kinski, Kyle MacLachlan, Ming-Na Wen, Robert Downey Jr., Thomas Haden Church, Saffron Burrows). Indeed, there was a time when Wesley Snipes was actually a dramatic actor, and not a bad one, and it is a pity he decided to focus on his underwhelming action flicks (most of them turned out to be direct-to-DVD releases eventually). Coming back to our main feature, I really liked the chemistry he had with Nastassja Kinski but the rest of the movie was not really strong I’m afraid. For example, there was a strong performance by Robert Downey Jr. (who was a total mess at the time by way) but it felt rather like a distraction. To conclude, even though it is far from being a strong feature, I still think it is a decent drama and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Mike Figgis’ work.

Since it was at least a decade since I saw this flick for the last time, I thought it was definitely time for a re-watch. Honestly, I always had some rather mixed feelings about this one. First of all, I have to make myself clear : it is a really good movie but I don't think it is flawless though. Obviously, as usual with Kubrick, the directing was absolutely amazing and the acting was completely off the charts. However, the combining of the 2 parts (the training and the actual war) just didn't really work for me. I mean, the first part was just amazing, on the same level of some of the best work provided by this great master but the second part was decent but honestly rather underwhelming, especially after the emotional roller-coaster provided by the boot camp. Basically, it is a random succession of war scenes with no real plot (there are even two scenes involving Vietnamese prostitutes) but, in just an hour, you don’t really get the time to involve yourself in the conflict and, compared to ‘Platoon’ which spends its whole running time in Vietnam, this part was never really spellbinding in my opinion. Still, it remains a really good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Stanley Kubrick’s work.