Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was included in the ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ list, I was really eager to check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that I had a rather hard time to get into this movie. Maybe it had to do with the fact that it was very late when I watched it so I might re-watch it at some point. Well, even though Carl Theodor Dreyer himself was Danish, this movie really felt like it belonged to the German expressionism. It was also pretty obvious that it was produced at the end of the silent movies era as there were very few sounds and dialogues and most of the story was told through some (rather massive) cards with caption and some whole pages of a book dealing with vampires. I don’t know, maybe the damned thing was too random for my taste but there is no doubt that the atmosphere was grim and quite mesmerizing at the same time. Indeed, it’s rather difficult to imagine a vampire movie nowadays without either a rather heavy script or some huge action scenes. This one was actually much more straightforward and, when you think about it, really simple and, yet, its stripped-down aspect was really intriguing. Concerning the actors, they were apparently almost all non-professionals but even though they all had a striking look, I had a rather hard time to connect with any of them. It probably had to do with the fact that most of what we learned about them was through some title cards and not through the dialogues or their performances. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn’t completely sold, it was still a solid watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I thought the damned thing was not bad at all. Indeed, I really liked the realistic approach they chose regarding the Bonnie and Clyde myth. For example, instead of glamorizing them, you never see them in close-up and usually even from afar which gave them such an ominous aura which was such a refreshing approach. Indeed, there is always a tendency to glamorize the famous crime couple (as displayed in this movie, they were apparently even some huge stars at the time) but, here, they felt more like some coldblooded psychopaths which was probably more accurate. It was also quite interesting to focus on the two ex-Texas Rangers who tracked them down and eventually killed them. On top of that Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson were some perfect choices to play these characters and they both gave some solid performances. There was also the intriguing fact that, even though Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow did kill about a dozen of people, Frank Hamer and Maney Gault apparently did kill many more during their respective careers. Eventually, it was probably the biggest issue, the fact that even though the material was pretty dark, the whole thing should have been even darker and while John Lee Hancock is definitely not the worst director in the world, I wonder what a stronger director could have done with this material. It’s too bad because with such an extensive running time and only 2 major characters, there was plenty of room to go deeper in this direction. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was maybe not really ground-breaking, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

So far, I haven’t been really impressed by the Pink Panther franchise but there was no way this instalment would be as awful as ‘Inspector Clouseau’ turned out to be so I thought I might as well check it out. Well, more than 10 years after ‘A Shot in the Dark’ was released, Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers were back on board with this franchise and it seems that it did pay off since they kept making other instalments, even after Sellers passed away. Well, to be honest, I actually struggled to care about the damned thing. Indeed, even though Sellers can be pretty funny playing his most iconic character, most of it was just too random for my taste. Half of the movie was also focusing on Sir Charles Litton (this time played by Christopher Plummer replacing David Niven) but even though Plummer was quite charismatic, his sub-plot felt unnecessary and, above all, terribly flat. Catherine Schell’s character was not much better but, at least, she did have a gorgeous smile and I loved the fact that she was constantly laughing at Sellers’s antics which was apparently completely unscripted. Her heist at the beginning was also pretty cool because it seemed fairly realistic but I wish they did use a stunt woman which was unfortunately obviously not the case. While watching this movie, I was also thinking that I might have enjoyed more these movies when I was a kid and I think most fans love this franchise mostly out of nostalgia. In fact, in my opinion, this character didn’t grow old well. Basically, the guy is supposed to be a complete idiot so it explains why he is a massive sexist and bigot (for example, he keeps calling Cato ‘my little yellow friend’) but while it doesn’t really bother me, I can’t say it’s really entertaining either. Anyway, to conclude, I think I was actually fairly generous with my rating here but it is still worth a look though, at least, if you really like the genre. 

I already saw this movie when it was released in the theaters but, since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out again. The first time around, of course, like everyone else, I was really eager to see this new Thor sequel directed by Taika Waititi. Well, to be honest, in my opinion, the damned thing turned out to be rather overhyped, which was in fact already the case with ‘Ragnarok’. I mean, there is no denying that it was still a lot of fun to see Waititi going nuts with so many wild ideas and many of them were just hilarious (I will probably never forget these screaming goats). It was also really neat to see Jane Foster making her great return and, at last, Natalie Portman was giving something interesting to do in this franchise. Indeed, her character was so badass and it was pretty awesome to see her fighting side by side with Thor. I also enjoyed that they focused on their romantic relationship. Unfortunately, the wild approach chosen by Waititi also had its downside, I’m afraid. Indeed, as a result, the whole thing was just so random. For example, at the end of ‘Endgame’, you see Thor leaving with the Guardians of the Galaxy so I expected them to have some awesome adventure together but it seemed that they dropped this idea at some point and the Guardians were reduced to some special guests who showed up just during the first 10 mins. However, a bigger issue was that the story was nothing really amazing. I mean, they made a big fuss that Christian Bale was entering the MCU but even though his character, Gorr the God Butcher, had an awesome name and even though they took their time to establish his motivations, this character was just not really interesting after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t completely blow me away, it was still an entertaining MCU instalment and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you enjoyed ‘Ragnarok' and Taika Waititi’s work in general.