Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Cecil B. DeMille and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it was actually a really obscure directorial effort from DeMille and, to be honest, it wasn’t really good, I’m afraid. The fact that the copy I saw was of a rather poor quality probably didn’t help but, as far as I was concerned, it was a rather typical romantic melodrama, a genre that seemed to be really popular at the time. In this case, I was rather amazed how convoluted the damned thing was. I mean, I have seen my share of romantic tales but it was probably one of the weirdest love triangles I have seen so far. Indeed, Marian Ramsay was more or less cheating with a deposed king instead of some average guy. The weird thing was how she was actually flirting with this guy so publicly. At some point, I thought this Jaromir was some kind of con artist who was trying to trick her husband into some fake wheat deal but it would be giving this movie too much credit. Instead, to get rid off the guy, Michael Ramsay actually broke a (real) wheat deal with the government of the country of this deposed king with the condition that they would give him back his throne. So, like I said, it was all pretty convoluted… To make the whole thing even more random, they had a daughter who was also involved in her own love story. In her case, it was at first weird and even cringe-inducing to see a 17 year-old girl chasing a guy who was probably in his 40’s but  I’m afraid it’s inherent to the time period. Another completely random scene was when this girl tried to explain something to her lover and they switched the scenery to the prehistoric age as if it would make her argument more potent this way. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was rather forgettable, I guess it might still be worth a look, at least, if you like the genre or if you are interested in Cecil B. DeMille’s work. 

Pretty much like with 'A Close Shave', I actually watched this movie for the first time in the movie theater which was a total blast and I do have it as well on DVD. So, I do have seen it couple of times, even many times, and, yet, it has been a while and I actually have a hard time to remember it in details so I guess I should re-watch it at some point. However, in my opinion, I think it is actually the best Wallace and Gromit feature or, at least, it is my favorite one. Indeed, it was with this movie that Nick Park did set most of the trademarks that would be running through all this franchise. Sure, they might have improved the clay-motion technique afterwards but, after all these years, this short still looks pretty awesome though and it is above all so damned entertaining.

It has been ages since I saw this short feature, to be honest, I have to admit that I don't remember much about it and maybe I should check it out again at some point. The other reason I forgot most of it was probably due to the fact that, after 'The Wrong Trousers', all the W & G features followed the same pattern and this one was not different, at least, not different enough. Still, there is no denying that the animation was gorgeous and awesome to look at but, at this point, I wouldn't expect less from Aardman and their best director. Eventually, it would take Nick Park 10 more years to finally come up with a new feature and it would take 6 more years finally see these iconic characters again. Anyway, to conclude, even though I wish Nick Park would manage to come up with something else to do for these guys, the damned thing was still terribly entertaining and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Since this movie had received some solid reviews, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I really enjoyed the damned thing, that's for sure. First of all, it is probably the best movie ever made about tennis which is actually not such an impressive achievement since there has never been a really great movie about this sport. However, the tennis thing was only half of the movie, which was fortunate because it would have been rather forgettable otherwise, and the other half was a really fascinating love triangle involving 3 tennis players. The best of them, I mean, regarding the tennis skills, was obviously the character played by Zendaya but nobody will know for sure since she got this tragic injury which destroyed her career even before it actually started. If it didn't have happened, I think she would have been totally consumed by her drive or obsession to become the best tennis player possible and I think she wouldn't have ended up with either of these 2 guys after all. Concerning Art Donaldson, he really loved her and still does and he was at first grateful that they had this deep connection through tennis and, by winning, they became even closer and the other guy then became just a distant memory. However, by focusing only on tennis through all these years, and also because the end of his career was coming nearer (at least, he would like it to end soon), he was wondering if tennis might have been the only connection they ever had. And, of course, there was the other guy, Patrick Zweig, the underdog we always like to root for. Potentially, from the 2 guys, he was actually the better player which was the reason why Tashi first did gravitate towards him. However, he was never passionate enough about the game and its stakes to fulfill any of her expectations as a tennis player but also as a man in general. However, his 'I-don't-give-a-f*ck' attitude (which basically did ruin his career on the long run) was also something Tashi, the biggest control freak you will ever encounter, couldn't resist even if she would completely deny it. The bottom line was that they all deeply loved each other and, yet, they couldn't be with each other either which was quite tragic. Finally, it was one of the really rare cases where the going back and forth in time actually worked really well. The way it all ended up was also quite pitch-perfect and so satisfactory. Anyway, to conclude, it turned out to be a really strong love story and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Luca Guadagnino's work.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Cédric Klapisch, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, the circumstances I have watched this movie were just so weird... Indeed, I was planning to go for a week on holiday in Cameroon but, because of some bad weather, I missed by connection flight in Paris and I got stuck there for... 3 days! Since my sister and her family live in Paris, I spent some time with them and I ended up watching this movie. Even though my brother-in-law really didn't like it because, according to him, nothing was happening at all (he wasn't wrong though), I actually felt a connection with this movie. Indeed, my own situation was rather depressing and I actually enjoyed spending some time with these 2 characters who were also going through some kind of depression. On top of that, I'm not a huge fan of Paris which is just too big and rather gloomy to me which was perfectly displayed in this movie. Finally, I really enjoyed François Civil's performance in this movie. Indeed, I thought he was pretty much pitch-perfect playing the dazed state of mind that you can reach when you are lonely, depressed and, above all, sleep-depraved. Indeed, I had been there at some point in my life, even got some of these panic attacks, and it was exactly as it was depicted in this movie. The fact that they managed to make it also fairly amusing and not seriously sad or even dramatic was also really neat. Concerning Ana Girardot, she was quite lovely and she was not bad at all but I felt less connection with her character. I mean, why should you feel so bad for someone who manage to sleep for 12 hrs? It doesn't sound so bad to me. Since they live next to each other, you expect them to have some kind of meet-cute early on making the whole thing such a typical annoying romantic-comedy but it didn't happen which was a nice surprise. However, of course, they did end up together at the very end but, unfortunately, I'm afraid it was inevitable. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was still a nice little movie and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Cédric Klapisch's work.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring Al Pacino and since it was available on HBO Max, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that I actually never heard of Joe Paterno before watching this movie and the scandal that ended up his stellar career. In fact, when I read that it was about a sex scandal, I assumed that Paterno was actually the perpetrator but it was obviously not the case after all, as it was another assistant coach who did these horrible things and Paterno was accused at the time of not reporting it properly. Well, even though Paterno was probably one of the best (American) football coaches that ever lived, after watching this movie, you might wonder if the guy was actually any good at anything else though. The biggest issue or even lie maybe was that Paterno constantly argued through his staggering 60 years career that football was not 'so' important, that the whole development of the students in general should be the main focus. However, how can you say something like that when you knew or, at least, heard that one of your colleagues was possibly molesting young children and did so very little about it after all? Eventually, even though they acted as if Paterno was some kind of God, he was actually a rather little man, like the most of us, who didn't dare shake things up just to protect the only things he really cared for after all, his team and its university. It was also pretty neat to see Al Pacino delivering for once a solid performance, especially compared to the garbage he has delivered lately. To be honest, even though the material had some potential, they kept spinning around in a circle for too long and, with a running time of barely of 100 mins, they didn't cover much ground after all. For example, Riley Keough was completely wasted here. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it turned out to be a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I do think that the story definitely had some potential. Indeed, even if many people might not agree, I do think that almost everybody should have another shot in life, whatever horrible things they might have done during their lifetime and I think it was well displayed in this movie. Still, even though the approach was fairly realistic, it probably should have been darker, at least, on the edges. I mean, the guy used to be basically a ruthless killer, he pretty much the ruined at least the childhood but probably most of the entire life of his daughter. However, they focused only on the fact that he was suddenly, at the very end of his life, becoming the father and the grand-father of the year, which was, I have to admit it, touching, but, in my opinion, it was actually only half of the story. It’s only afterward that I discovered that this movie was actually directed by Catherine Hardwicke and, if she could have used the same sharp edginess that she displayed in ‘Thirteen’, I think this movie could have been pretty awesome. On the other hand, she made this very strong directorial debut already 20 years ago and her career was not really stellar afterwards. Concerning the actors involved, I have noticed that Brian Cox got most of the praises (it’s true, the guy was pretty good here), Kate Beckinsale was actually not bad at all and I think she was actually quite convincing. To be honest, the way her character was telling how much she loved her father at the end was too much a stretch comparing with where she stood at the beginning of the movie but it wasn’t Beckinsale’s fault. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really ground-breaking, it turned out to be a decent drama and I think it is worth a look.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have to admit that I was actually really impressed by this movie and, in fact, it might even of the best silent features I have seen lately, no less than that. Since I always watch movies with as little information as possible, it took me about 10 mins to figure out what was actually going on but, then, I was completely into the damned thing. First of all, it was a pretty neat time capsule showing how life must have been back then in Sweden and I wonder if it was supposed to be a contemporary picture but I couldn’t figure this out, even after watching this movie. Furthermore, the version I saw on Netflix was restored, it looked really good and it made me realized that the movies from the 20’s I saw on YouTube lately were actually seriously messed up. However, what probably impressed me the most with this movie was how hilarious it actually turned out to be. By now, I have seen my share of silent comedies with Charles Chapin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy or Roscoe Arbuckle but this was something completely different though and, therefore, quite fascinating. Furthermore, in my opinion, the (silent) acting was also pretty good, especially from Einar Röd and Hildur Carlberg. It is also interesting how drastically different this movie was from ‘La passion de Jeanne d'Arc’ which is rightfully considered as Carl Theodor Dreyer’s magnum opus and easily one of the best silent movies ever made. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing might be quite obscure, I really loved it and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.