Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since it was ages ago, I was quite eager to check it out again. Indeed, the first time I saw it, I must have been about 16-17 years and, at the time, I didn’t get this movie at all. Indeed, back then, I kept hearing some really great things about this flick and since I always had a weak spot fot Luchino Visconti’s work, I was expecting a masterpiece but, to be honest, I wasn't really blown away eventually. Well, I was hoping that, 20 years later, I was now mature enough and that I would be more able to enjoy this movie but, unfortunately, I still struggled to connect with this movie. Eventually, what bothered me the most with this flick was that nothing much really happened through the whole thing. Indeed, the main character was walking around in Venice, going to the beach, to the restaurant and, that was it basically. On top of that, I won’t blame Dirk Bogarde as he gave a really solid performance but I didn’t care much about this guy who was rather uncharismatic and even rather unlikable. Of course, the fact that he was basically a pedophile fantasizing on a very young boy obviously didn’t help. At least, as usual with Luchino Visconti, the whole thing was just really beautiful to look at but, to be honest, it did feel like watching paint dry. I mean, I understand that the whole thing was about the relationship between the main character and Art and also his relationship with mortality but I was never really convinced but, above all, I never really cared. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really work me, I still think it is worth a look though , especially if you are interested in Italian movies.

There was a time when I started to discover the great classics and, of course, at some point, I got intrigued by Federico Fellini. From all his movies, the one I loved the most was by far ‘La strada’ but, to be honest, I had a rather hard time to really connect with such huge classics like ‘La dolce vita’ and ‘8½’ (I’m actually planning to re-watch  at least ‘La dolce vita’ in the near future though since I have it on DVD). However, later on, I have also watched this flick as well and even though it is probably one of the least appreciated movies directed by this director, I thought it was actually pretty good. I have to admit it, the whole thing was maybe  too similar to '8 1/2' and it is probably why it was dismissed but I thought there was something quite mesmerizing about the damned thing (something I actually didn’t really feel with ‘8 1/2' to be honest). I don’t know, the fact that it was only focusing on his obsession about women seemed to work better for me somehow. Anyway, to conclude,  I think this movie is actually quite underrated, I really liked it and it think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Federico Fellini’s work. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Basically, it was one of these typical quirky indie comedies and I have noticed that I usually have a hard time to care about this genre but this one was not bad, at least, it was watchable. Indeed, some of the story lines were actually interesting and the cast was pretty good, especially Thomas Haden Church who stole the show everytime he was on the screen. Unfortunately, the whole thing never really took off and I thought, even though as I mentioned before the different story-lines were interesting, none of hem was actually properly developed. Above all, the relationship between Thomas Haden Church and Ellen Page was just disappointing. Concerning Ellen Page, after her breakthrough performances in ‘Hard Candy’ and even more in ‘Juno’, it seemed that she had a bright future ahead of her but, except for ‘Inception’, afterwards she was mostly involved in some really obscure and rather forgettable features. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, even if it was rather flawed and not really succesfull, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you like the genre. 

Well, since I'm a huge fan of the Doors, of course, I had to watch this movie at some point. By the way, what the hell happened to Tom DiCillo?!? Indeed, back in the 90’s, he became one of the most promising indie directors at work but during the last 20 years, he has directed only 3 movies including this documentary and 2 really weak and obscure movies (‘Double Whammy’ and ‘Delirious’). Anyway, coming to back our main feaure, to be honest, if you are a die-hard fan of the Doors, you won’t learn anything really new here. However, it was still pretty awesome to go back in time with these guys and go through the major events involving this legendary band. Eventually, the remaining members of the band were really happy with this movie because, according to them, it was much more faitfull than ‘The Doors’ directed by Oliver Stone but I believe that both movies are fine to watch side by side.  Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really ground-breaking, I thought it was a really neat documentary, it is definitely worth a look and it is even pretty much a must see for any decent Doors fan.