Reviews by johanlefourbe

Well, first of all, I must be one of the very few persons on Earth who didn't think that 'Clash of the Titans' was total garbage. I mean, it was obviously nothing amazing but you have to keep in mind that it was supposed to be a mindless blockbuster and, as such, I thought it did deliver the goods. With this sequel, I pretty much ended with the same feelings  and it was neither better or worse than its predecessor. I noticed that they did their best to improve the 3D and I must admit that it was not bad but it still remains a worthless and annoying gimmick. Eventually, the thing I enjoyed the most was the confrontation involving the two real Titans, Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson. I also enjoyed how they developed the jealousy and quarrels betwen the Gods. Furthermore, the special effects were pretty impressive, even though Kronos was rather disappointing. I mean, he barely left the mountain from which he came from and compared to the Kraken, he wasn't really badass. Anyway, to conclude, I thought it was not bad and rather entertaining for a blockbuster, and if like me, you have some low expectations before watching the damned thing, you may actually end up enjoying it.

Even though it has been a while since Kenneth Branagh directed something really impressive, I still follow his work as a director. Well, it must be easily his most obscure and least accessible movie I have seen so far (as a matter of fact, it hasn't been released in the US at all, not even on DVD). Basically, it is an adaptation of the famous opera written by Mozart and I must admit that the music and songs were really awesome. However, the whole thing was still an acquired taste since there was barely 5 minutes of conventional dialogues and more than 2 hours of almost non-stop bombastic operatic singing. After a while, it thought it was rather tiresome and, honestly, I got a little bit bored. Furthermore, I'm not sure if I did get the  whole story, it probably had to do with the fact that I wasn't familiar with this operatic language but I'm pretty sure that the plot doesn't really matter with this genre. I guess I'm not a fan of opera in general and it is probably one of the reasons why I didn't really enjoy the whole thing but since I'm always interested in new experiences, I still thought it was a very intriguing watch. Anyway, to conclude, even though it did get boring from time to time, it was still an interesting experiment and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I really didn't like the first movie at all, I didn't expect much from this sequel and, indeed, it was pretty bad, I'm afraid. In fact, the main reason I watched it was because Chloe Grace Moretz was involved and I was rather curious to see her when she was much younger. Unfortunately, a part from this very small thing, there wasn't much to enjoy in this movie. Indeed, the jokes were just lame, the plot was really boring and, eventually, the actors should understand that wearing a woman costume, even a huge one, is just not funny at all! Seriously, it just looks really stupid, it is completely unconvincing and to make us believe that everyone else in the movie wouldn't discover what’s going is just  really ridiculous. Another thing that annoyed me was that, in the trailer, they displayed a scene in which the main character goes to some spa, they tease you really bad but, eventually, this scene lasted only 2 minutes maybe and I couldn't believe how tame it turned out to be. It is a good example of the rest of the movie, as they never took any risk whatsoever. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was pretty bad and it is not worth a look at all.

Even though I'm not a fan of boxing and even though this movie had some mixed reviews, I was still intrigued and eager to watch it. I remember it very well, when I was a kid, Mike Tyson was often in the news, first for his boxing achievements and then later for his antics in his private life. Well, the first thing I enjoyed with this documentary was how they displayed that Tyson was an impressive boxer. I mean, you can say whatever you want, even after what happened to him afterwards, the guy was a fearless and unforgiving fighter. I thought it was also rather courageous from Tyson to talk about everything, even the most controversial subjects. Of course, it was completely biased but it didn't bother me. Basically, they decided to show one side of the story and it was fine with me. The biggest critic I had was that, even though Tyson's monologues were rather interesting, they tried to much to make him sound wise and really deep. Furthermore, it would have been nice if they interviewed some other people close to him to get a second opinion. Still, in spite of it flaws, it was a very interesting documentary and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in this subject.

To be honest, even though I'm not a fan of musicals, I still watch one from time to time, especially the classics, so I thought I might as well check this one out. It was in fact Bob Fosse's directing début. Fosse was basically some kind of legend in the musical world, responsible for classics such as 'Chicago'. Anyway, with his directing début, Fosse decided to make some kind of musical remake of 'The Nights of Cabiria' (which I haven't seen) and it starred Shirley MacLaine who gave here her typical quirky performance. I mean, I have nothing against her, she has had an impressive career going through 6 decades (!) but she basically always gives the same performance, half sparkling and half obnoxious. Back then, she was much younger and delivered here a decent performance and the songs and dances were not bad at all as well. Unfortunately, like most of the musicals, I thought the story was nothing really amazing, I didn't care much about the characters involved and, honestly, I was bored sometimes. Anyway, to conclude, even though it is far from being Fosse's best musical, it is still worth a look though, especially if you like the genre.

Since I have a weak spot for Sandra Bullock, I thought I should check this movie and I was also really curious to see if it was as bad as everybody was saying. Eventually, it turned out to be indeed pretty bad... It is not really that the directing was awfull and I do think that the actors did their best with this material but it's just that the whole thing was just so poorly written and misguided, it was rather unbelievable. I mean, the characters were basically a bunch of pathetic losers, especially the main character portrayed by Bullock. At first, I thought she was completely obnoxious with her annoying behavior and then later on, she was sad since she really seemed to be some kind of mentally retarted or impaired woman but, above all, I never thought she was at any moment funny or entertaining. Seriously, it has been a while since I have seen such an un-funny comedy. Basically, it was a long succession of irrational actions and behaviors which should make you laugh but, instead, it made the viewer despise or feel sorry for the characters involved. Anyway, to conclude, it was pretty bad and it must be one of the most embarrassing movies Sandra Bullock has made so far and, of course, it is not worth a look.