Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I had it on DVD, I was really eager to check it out again. To be honest, I didn’t remember that this movie was so long (it would be in fact Akira Kurosawa’s longest directing effort) but it didn’t matter since the damned thing was so entertaining. Thanks to the long running time, we had indeed the opportunity to understand what was going on with this village, what was their struggle and how they would try to find a solution. In the following acts, they really took their time to show the strategy developed by the samurais instead of giving us some non-sensical action scenes like you usually get in a Michael Bay movie for example. Eventually, it is one of these rare movies which, even though it is more than 60 years old, still feels so modern and it was basically a major milestone in motion picture history as it is usually considered as the first action movie ever made. At the end of the day, even though it might not be my favorite movie directed by Kurosawa, I still really enjoyed the damned thing and it is much better than its remake which was still a worthy movie though. Anyway, to conclude, it is a major classic and it is pretty much a must-see for any decent movie buff. 

To be honest, it has been a while since I saw this flick and I should probably re-watch it at some point. First of all, when ‘The Hunger Games’ was released, many fans of this movie claimed that this new blockbuster starring Jennifer Lawrence was a huge rip-off of this cult-classic. Well, eventually, I did watch ‘The Hunger Games’ but, even though the 2 movies shared some elements, they were in fact vastly different in my opinion. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, of course, the plot was rather preposterous but there was definitely something quite spellbinding about the damned thing. One of the masterstroke was to have Takeshi Kitano playing the teacher and the guy was as usual pretty awesome. To be honest, I have to admit that the whole thing was slightly too over the top for my taste and I think it would have worked better if I would have been more straightforward. Anyway, they did make a sequel a few years later, I never saw it but since the ratings were really weak, I don’t think I did miss much. To conclude, it is now considered as a cult classic, it really deserves this status and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. Well, this flick is one of Akira Kurosawa’s most famous movies and probably his last masterpiece. In fact, the guy apparently spent decades prepping for this movie and I think it definitely shows on the screen. Indeed, he began writing the film 10 years before its release and he spent also ten years storyboarding every shot in the film as some paintings. This preparation went so far that ‘Kagemusha’, his previous directing effort, was actually some kind of 'practice' for the great Japanese master before creating this piece of Art. Still, I don’t think it is really one of his most accessible movies though. Indeed, even though it is definitely a gorgeous flick, I have to admit that it is also rather long and pretty slow. In fact, it is even a rather basic story about a ruthless Lord who has to deal with his legacy which ends up being pretty tricky since he has 3 sons. Still, if you are patient enough, it is a really rewarding experience with some beautiful scenes and some really strong performances. Anyway, to conclude, it is pretty much a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Kurosawa’s work.

If I recall it correctly, I saw this one in the movie theater when it was released back then when I was living in England and I was really impressed but, after all these years, I thought it was really time to watch again the damned thing. Well, first of all, this movie was really gorgeous and it was something really unexpected from Ang Lee, considering he just directed a Western (‘Ride with Devil’), a 70's drama (‘The Ice Storm’) and a periode piece (‘Sense and sensibility’). The first time I saw this movie, it was my first contact with the wuxia genre and I really liked this flick, it gave also a new international exposure to this genre and many really neat movies followed like 'Hero' and 'House of Flying Daggers' both directed by Zhang Yimou. To be honest, after all these years, I was actually rather surprised by how small the scope actually was. Indeed, except for a fight scene in a restaurant, you usually get only a handful of characters involved. It doesn't mean that it was an issue and I especially enjoyed the sweet and gentle relationship between Li Mu Bai an Yu Shu Lien. Eventually, they would release a sequel 16 years later, produced by Netflix, but I have some serious doubts if it is really worth a look but maybe I will check it out at some point. Anyway, it was another really strong feature from Ang Lee and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since I'm a huge fan of Danny Boyle's work, of course, I really wanted to check this check this flick. Furthermore, the buzz surrounding this movie was also quite intriguing so I was expecting a lot from the damned thing. First of all, this movie is based on an amazing story and even if the movie would have sucked, the story in itself would still be amazing. Then, my first impression was that I was actually rather distracted by the uplifting music at the beginning of the movie but I guess the music didn't represent the audience state of mood ("something terrible is going to happen...") but the main character's state of mood ("I'm going to have a great week-end!"). A part from that, the whole thing was rather quite impressive. Indeed, I'm still shaken up... The directing by Danny Boyle, as usual, was really good and, once again, James Franco showed that he is one of the most interesting actors at work nowadays. Basically, they succeeded in making you share Aaron's feelings in his terrible ordeal. However, it is definitely not for everyone because there were some really shocking scenes but still, it remains one of the best movies that came out in 2010, at least, that's my opinion.