Reviews by johanlefourbe

Even though this sequel didn’t get much love when it was released, since I always had a weak spot for ‘The Blair Witch Project’, I thought I might as well check it out. In fact, after all these years, I still haven’t watch ‘Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2’ but I should definitely check it out at some point, just to see how terrible it actually is. Anyway, to be honest, I don’t think this new sequel was bad at all after all. Indeed, it turned out to be a rather faithful follow-up to the classic horror feature, even though it has been a while since I have seen such nauseating found-footage scenes. Maybe they could have deviated from the original and gave a couple of scenes at the beginning to develop more the characters though. Instead, they developed more the last act which really did deviate from ‘The Blair Witch Project’. Of course, they still ended up with a house which was not supposed to be there, in fact, it was exactly the same house. However, they did add much more action scenes but I don’t think it was such a great idea. Indeed, that’s probably the only thing that they didn’t understand. Basically, the original movie did work because it focused on the psychological trauma experienced by the characters and they actually showed almost nothing which was just so creepy. By showing so much more basic horror stuff, this movie was therefore much less effective. And, yet, I have to admit it, it was actually pretty creepy and I needed a couple of minutes to shake this feeling away when it was finished which shows that, in spite of its obvious flaws, the damned thing actually did work. Anyway, to conclude, sure, this movie was probably another useless sequel (like 99% of all sequels) but I thought it was actually mildly entertaining and I guess it might be actually worth a look but only 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. First of all, I wonder if the English title was a literal translation of the Japanese title but it is probably one of the greatest titles I came across. It might sound cryptic but it completely made sense with this movie, especially during the very last scene. Concerning Sadao Yamanaka, I had never heard of the guy before, he apparently died pretty young but he was apparently a major influence on all the great Japanese directors that came afterwards such as Akira Kurosawa or Yasujirô Ozu. And, indeed, it was quite impressive how immersive the world created by Yamanaka was. He really gave you the feeling that you were transported 2 centuries ago in Feudal Japan and you basically spent most of the running time in some rather poor neighborhood with so many intriguing characters. It was also pretty neat how, even though the material was fairly dark and the hopes of the involved characters were rather bleak, there was still quite a lot of humor. And, yet, the damned thing was still missing something though. It might had to do with the fact that, since there were quite a lot of characters involved, many were not really developed whatsoever. There was also the fact that, even though Shinza was always intriguing and kept surprising me, I had a hard time to care about Matajuro Unno, the ronin. I mean, how many times do you need to get rejected before moving on? Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t completely blow me away, it was still a strong vintage Japanese drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was selected by IndieWire as one of the best movies released in 2022 so far and since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, except for IndieWire, this movie didn’t get much love after all if you check the ratings on IMDb but I thought it was not bad at all. Indeed, the beginning was basically a pitch-black satire of the current social media craze and it did work mostly because, even though it might seem far-fetched, I don’t think it was so removed from the truth. Indeed, what could be the percentage of fake stuff on social media platforms? 50%? Even more? Eventually, the bottom line is that nobody really cares if it is true or not, as long as it is a catchy story and I think it was perfectly displayed in this movie. The intriguing thing was that, after the main character had some lousy pathetic sex with another vapid influencer, they actually changed the mood and the focus of this tale. Indeed, it became suddenly a serious drama showing what someone could achieve if they use social media platforms for a righteous cause. It also displayed that, by interacting with ‘real’ people, by getting involved in something so profound as human trauma, the main character drastically changed. As a result, I think I actually preferred the 2^nd half of this movie. Unfortunately, this switch in the tone was just jarring though. Indeed, while both parts had merits, it felt almost like watching 2 completely different movies. Furthermore, even though they started with a cute warning stating that this movie was dealing with ‘an unlikable female protagonist’, it still seemed that they chickened out and tried to humanize her somehow, which completely clashed with how she was first presented. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in this subject. 

Since this movie seemed to have a solid reputation (it is included in the ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ list among other things), I was quite eager to check it out. I wonder if it was, after ‘Nosferatu’, only the 2^nd movie directed by Murnau that I have seen so far and it is quite impressive how the two movies were so different from each other. With this in mind, I’m not surprised that Murnau was considered as one of the great masters of silent movies and I should definitely check his other movies. Eventually, what I enjoyed the most about this movie was its visual aspect. Indeed, the vintage footage was quite beautiful to look at and, while ‘Nosferatu’ was a dark fantastical tale and still one of the best horror movies ever made, this movie was so luminous with some gorgeous natural landscapes. It also felt quite realistic (at least, it seemed to be) and I wonder if they made up all this ‘tabu’ stuff or if it was some actual tradition in Bora Bora back in those days. Anyway, they basically gave a mix of some realistic beautiful exotic footage from this remote island with a basic but efficient doomed love tale and this mix worked surprisingly well. Still, eventually, even if the damned thing was very well made, the story was still too basic for my taste though. The biggest issue was the fact that none of the characters was developed whatsoever. Sure, on one hand, it did give the character some ‘purity’ but, on the other hand, it also deprived them of any kind of complexity. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t completely blow me away, it was still a solid watch though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was selected by IndieWire as one of the best movies released in 2022 so far and since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. In fact, I did follow the same process with ‘Fresh’ and, in my opinion, this movie was actually vastly overrated by IndieWire. However, in this case, I had to admit that I wasn’t disappointed at all. First of all, I thought it was such a fun and charismatic group of friends. It was also really neat to see them in their own sheltered environment, even if my feelings were mixed on this matter. Indeed, one on hand, it is so great that they could get together, be themselves, enjoy being together, without being harassed by the usual bigots. However, it is also incredibly sad that a whole group of the population still has to hide themselves so they simply could live, not much more than that. Even though it was a point which wasn’t really developed here, it was also pretty obvious that most of them had barely or no contact anymore with their biological families making their bond even more meaningful. Even if I’m not gay myself, it seems that they did their best to be faithful and realistic regarding the gay community and it was quite interesting to dive into this world. Eventually, even if some of the characters were fairly well developed, I’m afraid it was still not enough to make them really fascinating though. The fact that they were stuck in a rather typical modern Jane Austen’s adaptation probably didn’t help. It’s not that it was such a terrible idea, it’s just that it was a rather unoriginal and safe option. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was missing something to be really a masterpiece, it was still a really solid romantic-comedy though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I had never heard of this movie before so I had no idea what to expect from it but since it was included in the ‘They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They?’ list, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, it was definitely one of the coolest movie names I have ever come across and, eventually, the damned thing turned out to be a really nice surprise after all. Indeed, it is probably one of the craziest and most freewheeling movies I have ever seen. It was apparently based on a very successful Broadway show and I can imagine how wild it must have been on stage back then. Obviously, they probably had to vastly modify this show to adapt it as a motion picture but I’m pretty sure this transition also allowed them to be really creative, at least, that’s what I would expect considering the end-result. Of course, the whole thing was really random and the endless succession of gags was also quite relentless but I was mostly entertained and even fairly impressed by the creativity displayed. In fact, they actually did include a plot involving a pretty basic love triangle. Well, to be honest, I have seen my share of classic vintage romantic-comedies with a similar plot and while many would argue that these movies are amazing, I always had a hard time to really care for them. Eventually, as far as I was concerned, I really did appreciate how they took such a typical romantic-comedy gimmick (especially back then in the 30’s and 40’s) and turned it completely upside down. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was probably not a masterpiece, it was a really entertaining flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially you are eager to watch something really original and pretty wild.