Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick and, to be honest, I actually wonder how I actually ended up watching the damned thing. On top of that, I have to admit that I had never heard of Hans Richter before but, apparently, he was a major German artist who was one of the first who dabbed into abstract film making. Apparently, this movie was a follow-up to ‘Rhythmus 21’ which is considered as one of the very first abstract film and had therefore a huge impact. For some reason, I saw this one first but I will probably check ‘Rhythmus 21’ also at some point. Anyway, how was the movie itself? Well, even though it looked rather rudimentary (you have to keep in mind that it was made already 100 years ago though), it was still pretty neat and I wonder how it was done. The guy who uploaded the video on YouTube did also add his own music apparently but, while it was a decent effort, to be honest, it wasn’t really great though. Anyway, to conclude, I thought it was an intriguing watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in more experimental movies. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, the beginning was not bad at all. Sure, it was nothing original but it was gritty enough and Matt Dillon and Willem Dafoe were convincing. Especially Dafoe, arguably one of the best character actors that ever lived, never disappoints and it was impressive how much he managed to achieve once again with such material. Unfortunately, from the moment Jesse Weiland started to work with the police, the whole thing completely went off the rails. It’s not that it didn’t make sense anymore, the issue was that it became completely uncompelling, seriously generic and not much better than your average direct-to-VOD action flick from that point on. In fact, as soon as I saw that Tom Berenger was involved, I guess I should have been worried. Concerning the lovely Amy Smart, it had been a while since I saw her but, unfortunately, even if she was displayed prominently on all the promotional material, she was actually giving nothing interesting to do at all. While I was watching this movie and was bored out of my wits by the damned thing, I was wondering how a cute and seemingly nice girl like her could end up with such a thug covered with some Nazi tattoos. That would have been a really interesting and complex story but, of course, this movie didn’t care at all about pushing the envelop one way or another and focused instead on delivering the most generic undercover informant thriller that you could possible imagine. Anyway, to conclude, even if it might have had some potential, the damned thing turned out to be rather weak after all and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seems to have a decent reputation, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, eventually, I was really impressed by the damned thing. Of course, the first thing you might think is that it was a gimmick to tell a documentary as an animated feature but I think it worked so well to handle this sensitive material. It was something that they already did with ‘Vals Im Bashir’ which was also a really haunting movie. In both movies, the advantage with this approach is that it does create a surreal vibe which does fit with the traumas experienced by the main ‘character’. In this case, it also allowed to keep their identity strictly anonymous. In general, this approach provided a lot of flexibility for the makers and you might wonder why it’s not used more often. Indeed, it’s always a drag when a character has to be played by at least 3 different actors because there is no way that they will look a like. Furthermore, some scenes were so distressing, nightmarish would be actually a better word, you might wonder if it would be doable with some very young actors or if you should inflict this on such young actors. Eventually, this movie is not really an easy watch, it was in fact super intense and I think it will take me a while to let go of the whole thing. I wonder if people who are so against immigration would be able to watch this movie, listen to this dramatic tale and still decide afterwards to look the other way. The bottom line is that, no matter the drastic measures you might take, people will keep making such extremely hazardous journey because they basically have no hope. Most of them probably don’t realize how poorly they will be eventually received which is so heartbreaking and shameful for me. That this guy was also a homosexual on top of everything he already had to face was almost too much to handle. Anyway, to conclude, it turned out to be a really strong movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see something really different. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seems to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though I had never heard of this movie before, it is actually considered as one of the best movies delivered by Fritz Lang, no less than that, but I would have to agree with this assessment. Indeed, it must be the most intriguing film noir I have seen. What stroke me the most was the fact that all these characters were rather pathetic. Indeed, I don’t think this movie displayed much love towards its characters since it was basically about a couple of losers trying to con another loser, not really much more than that. To make the whole thing even darker, you had not one but two maybe even three really toxic ‘romantic’ relationships. It was also interesting to see Edward G. Robinson to play something else than his usual tough guys, in fact, he was actually playing exactly the opposite which was really unexpected but definitely neat. Concerning the rest of the cast, Joan Bennett was also pitch-perfect playing the most vapid and delusional femme fatale I have seen as she was desperately in love with her pimp who seemed to be really worthless. After all these, I have to admit that the whole thing might not sound really appealing and, indeed, it was all rather bleak, filled with some fairly unlikable characters and, yet, that’s probably why I liked the damned thing so much. A nice touch which was unexpected was when, towards the end, Christopher Cross’s boss fired him after he stole some money but didn’t press charges because, somehow, the guy understood that we are all capable of doing crazy things when we are in love. Anyway, to conclude, it was a really strong film noir and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I have finally started to dig into Buster Keaton’s work only recently but, since then, I have seen my share of movies starring the classic comedian and, by now, I think I have a good understanding of his work. Anyway, this short apparently does have a solid reputation and it turned out be pretty good indeed. Sure, as usual, it was all rather random and chaotic but that’s inherent with the genre, I’m afraid. At least, the title made sense since Keaton’s character kept getting into trouble with various cops and was even chased by 100’s of them towards the end. Eventually, the only thing that didn't really work for me and prevented this short from becoming really awesome was the horse. Sure, it was fun for a while but they got stuck too long on this running joke. When he brought it to some ‘goat gland specialist’, a really obscure reference to a quack doctor from back then, the whole joke was also completely lost on me. A part from that, it worked so well though with some non-stop jokes and slapstick and most of the damned thing was actually quite hilarious. Anyway, to conclude, even though the material was maybe too slight, it was still a really solid silent comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about W.C. Fields, I was quite eager to check one of his movies. Well, apparently, Fields didn’t have such a prolific career and this movie turned out to be one of his more obscure shorts. Still, I have to admit that I really enjoyed the damned thing. To be honest, the beginning scenes were rather clunky and, for some reason, they didn’t start with the main character played by W.C. Fields but instead focused on some other customer staying at his hotel. Then, they finally got to the fakest golf course you could imagine and, well, in spite of its title, not a single golf ball was actually hit by this so-called ‘specialist’. And, yet, I was really entertained. Indeed, in contrary to the other comedians of this time period (Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Laurel & Hardy),  Fields played his character as if the guy was, well, mentally deranged which was often quite hilarious. The fact that this partner was a promiscuous woman with some questionable habits made them an irresistible couple. Concerning the silent caddy, he was not bad but, considering how daft the other two characters already were, I think someone straight would have worked better as a counterbalance.  Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a solid vintage comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this movie, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, I was actually quite blown away by the damned thing which turned out to be even better than I expected. I have to admit that I always wondered why Jean Vigo had such a strong reputation since the guy managed to direct only one full-length feature film and a few shorts but, after watching 3 of them (pretty much his whole filmography), I really understand why now. In this case, it is amazing how much emotion he managed to generate in me with what was supposed to be a rather rather harmless travelogue about a touristic city on the French Rivera, with no story, no main characters and no dialogues. I know that many viewers focused on how it was satirical towards the wealthy people living in this city but, while it was definitely one of his goals, I think this description is actually too reductive. Indeed, there was also something soothing about this seemingly random mix of images and the fact that the score perfectly fit the visuals was also a great asset. I think it was also the oldest movie I have ever seen with some aerial shots of a city so the damned thing was also visually really neat. Anyway, to conclude, for some reason, this short was just spellbinding to watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Jean Vigo’s work. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have seen all the other movies directed by [Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see], I was quite eager to check this one as well. In fact, before watching this movie, I first re-watched ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back’ since it was ages ago that I saw the damned thing and, fortunately, I have to admit that it was slightly better than I remembered. However, even though I have always gave Kevin Smith some slack ever since I saw ‘Clerks’ almost 30 years ago when it was released, this movie was just too weak though. I mean, making another Jay and Silent Bob movie, why not? But why delivering a movie which was so similar to the previous installment? Sure, Smith argued that this movie was supposed to make fun of reboots, remakes, and sequels while simultaneously being all three at the same time but I think the damned thing was just lazy, way too random and barely entertaining at all. At least, the idea that Jay discovered he actually had a kid with Justice was pretty neat and, if the movie had focused more or only on this, I think it could have been actually neat. Unfortunately, pretty much nothing else did work though. The most annoying running joke was probably to see Silent Bob furiously tapping on his smartphone to show what he feels with some emoji’s. Furthermore, even if it was mildly amusing to see Chris Hemsworth welcoming people at Chronic-Con, it was just weird and random to see Matt Damon showing up out of nowhere as Loki who was/became, apparently, Jason Bourne following the events in Dogma. Anyway, to conclude, after the abysmal ‘Yoga Hosers’, I’m afraid it must be the weakest movie delivered by Kevin Smith so far and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of his work.