Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Mike Flanagan, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though it was a decent feature, you could see that, almost 10 years ago, Flanagan still had a long way to go before becoming one of the most interesting horror directors at work nowadays. The first thing that bothered was this major plot-hole about the fact that it seemed impossible that Kaylie would manage to get her hands on this mirror exactly when her brother Tim would get out of his psychiatric hospital. The other thing that bothered me, it’s not specific to this movie and it actually bugs me with many similar horror flicks, was that they developed some interesting ideas about the mental struggle faced by the main characters but, at some point, still decided to throw it all by the window for some paranormal stuff instead. Indeed, for once, you had a movie showing how messed up it was for this kid, but also his sister, to face such dramatic events at such a young age. Seriously, it took him 10 years to handle what happened and the message of this movie was basically that, not only it didn’t matter but what he learned in therapy was dealt with as if it was some major horsesh*t. I have to admit that I did like the approach chosen by Flanagan to mix up the timelines though, showing in the process what happened to Kaylie and Tim when they were kids and when they were older. In fact, it’s an approach he would further develop with ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ but it worked much better with this mini-series because he had more than 9 hours of running time at his disposal. Concerning Karen Gillan, sure, I have to admit that she was lovely as usual but I thought she was rather weak here and, in fact, except in comedies, I don’t think she is actually great in general (to be honest, Brenton Thwaites was probably even more underwhelming though). Anyway, to conclude, even though it was definitely a minor effort from Mike Flanagan, I have to admit that he did make the most of it though and it is worth a look, at least, if you really like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this movie but since it was included in the ‘They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They?’ list, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have seen a few Soviet movies during the last months and they were usually all rather hard to digest. Indeed, with such Soviet propaganda features, the characters are not developed whatsoever, instead, they focus more on such concepts like, for example, the proletariat was/is a specific entity. However, this movie turned out to be even more difficult to decipher though. Seriously, even though I saw it just yesterday, I’m still not sure what it was all about. The best I can come up with was that they wanted to display the last years of the Russian empire and how WWI was basically the last drop launching the first revolts and basically the whole Russian revolution. As a result, you get a fairly negative view on WWI which was basically a useless war during which  the Russian soldiers were fighting some poor German soldiers who had more in common with them than with the Tsar and aristocrats who sent them to this bloodbath. There were also some interesting artistic choices. Indeed, even though there was some sound, it was never, let’s say, complete. For example, if someone would talk, that’s the only thing you would hear. Or when there would be some crowd scenes, you would hear only the clopping of the horses’ hooves. There were also some really unexpected funny moments when some characters would pull out their tongues or would wink at the camera. Anyway, to conclude, even though I didn’t feel much connection with the damned thing, it was still an interesting watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Casey Affleck, I thought I might as well check it out. More than 10 years ago, Affleck’s directorial debut was the experimental and rather weird ‘I’m still Here’ starring his brother-in-law / best friend Joaquin Phoenix (I think they did loose contact since his divorce with Summer Phoenix though). Well, for his 2^nd directorial effort, he delivered here a decent post-apocalyptic thriller but, to be honest, not much more than that. Sure, the mood was not bad and Affleck did deliver another solid performance but, eventually, he didn’t do anything really new or interesting with the genre. There was also the issue that this project did feel like a ego-trip. Indeed, not only Affleck played the lead but he also produced, wrote and directed the damned thing. To make things worse, it didn’t help that his character was basically competing for the award of ‘Father of the Year’. Seriously, not only he had some mighty survival success but he was leading some philosophical debates with his 10 year old daughter and he was also able to tell some really cool bedtime stories. The funny thing is that some viewers were bothered that this movie did start with a 12 minute uncut opening scene about some bedtime story actually cooked up by Affleck himself but I thought it was a nice way to introduce this father and his daughter. All in all, the whole thing felt slightly pretentious but, even so, I always had a weak spot for such minimalist post-apocalyptic features (seriously, I think half of the movie was with this man and this kid roaming around in some woods) and Affleck is always a charismatic actor. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I’m usually not a huge fan of such vintage Westerns but since this one has a really solid reputation, I was quite eager to check it out. This movie is mostly famous for finally launching John Wayne’s career. In fact, Wayne had been around for quite a while already (he was already in his 30’s) but it was only after this movie that he became a massive movie star. It was also the real start of his partnership with John Ford, even if he did play in some minor parts in other movies directed by Ford before. This movie was also apparently a major inspiration for Orson Welles before he made ‘Citizen Kane’. Well, even though this movie is usually considered as a perfect example of textbook filmmaking, to be honest, I actually really struggled with the beginning scenes. Indeed, at a quick tempo, all the 9 characters were introduced and, to be honest, I had a hard time to figure out who was who and what the hell they were doing on this damned coach. Maybe it had to do with the fact that the version I saw on YouTube had some poor subtitles and maybe I should check it out again at some point. Anyway, from all the characters involved, even though I have to admit that John Wayne was indeed quite charismatic, I enjoyed above all Doc Boone played by a pitch-perfect Thomas Mitchell. Indeed, not only he was the most entertaining of the bunch, he was probably the most complex character as well. The funny thing is that the usual major complaint regarding this movie, the way it handled the Native Americans, didn’t bother me at all. Indeed, they were not the focus at all in this movie and since you didn’t know the motivation behind their actions, I think this depiction was actually fairly neutral and therefore acceptable. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow me away, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I was wondering for how long this movie was in my queue. Well, apparently, I did add it more than 4 years ago so it was really time to watch the damned thing. Well, it was definitely an interesting watch and, at least, this movie was really educational. Indeed, I had seen already a couple of movies dealing with Nelson Mandela but it was actually the first one I saw which covered almost his whole life. So, only therefore, it was definitely worth watching. To be honest, I wish they did go deeper into who was Mandela really as a man though but I have to admit that I did appreciate how they displayed how his relationship evolved and was dissolved with Winnie Mandela. Indeed, in just a couple of scenes, they displayed that their relationship never stood a chance after living so long apart, even if they both shared the same beliefs and fighting spirit. Eventually, what I was mostly missing was that they never managed to explain how Mandela went to jail and, 27 years later, came out as one of the greatest leaders of the 20^th century. Basically, the way it was displayed in this movie, it's that it just happened but I think it was a missed opportunity to go deeper in this process because, among all the great things achieved by this great man, it was probably the most fascinating aspect. As a result, you might wonder if spending all these years in prison was not the best thing that happened to him since he became so much wiser in the process. Of course, that’s not what the makers tried to tell us here but they didn’t give us much else to chew on. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was definitely not a masterpiece, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you want to learn more about Nelson Mandela. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really dying to watch yet another version of the classic fairy tale but since this movie had a really strong reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though I have to admit that it is indeed probably the best version I have seen, well, I still think that the story is/was rather boring though. Concerning the characters, it was pretty much the same. Sure, I have to admit that Jean Marais did manage to do a lot with the Beast but all the characters were, in my opinion, rather tedious. However, there is no denying that it was such a masterstroke to have a surrealist poet like Jean Cocteau to direct this classic fairy tale. Indeed, can you imagine if someone like David Lynch or Luis Buñuel would have been allowed to direct ‘Snow White’ or ‘Cinderella’? Well, it could have been brilliant but that’s actually what happened here. Indeed, instead of the usual sappy children story, here, Cocteau went for a completely  different vibe and the end-result was some kind of surreal gothic horror tale which was obviously really neat. Above all, the damned thing was visually quite amazing with some arms holding candelabras all over the place, some statues following you with their gaze and many other interesting visual stuff. Eventually, since everybody seemed to love the damned thing so much, I feel slightly bad that I didn’t care more about it, even if I really admired it. Maybe I should give it another try at some point, maybe I was too tired when I watched the damned thing. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn’t completely blow me away, I still agree that it must be the most definite version of this fairy tale and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.