Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie since I have a weak spot for Fernando Meirelles’s work and since it was available on Netflix, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, I really liked the damned thing and it has been a while since Meirelles had released such an enjoyable movie. First of all, even though I’m not a religious man, I think that religion is a fascinating subject but I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of the Pope though. However, this movie gave not one but two fascinating portraits of two completely different Popes. Above all, the conversation these two characters had were just really spellbinding, also thanks to Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce who gave some of their best performances for this movie. Of course, at first, you would probably be rooting for Jorge Bergoglio who was such a humble man, opened to the world and eager to reform the Catholic church but I was surprised by how much depth was also given to Ratzinger. Eventually, the success of the movie was to display these 2 men not only as spiritual leaders but also as full fledged human beings. The only issue I had was that the whole thing was probably too long. Indeed, in my opinion, the material didn’t require more than 2 hours of running time but it wasn’t a major issue though. Anyway, to conclude, it was easily one of the best movies I have seen dealing with this subject and  it is definitely worth a look. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Atom Egoyan’s work, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it is usually considered as a low point in Egoyan’s career and, unfortunately, I’m afraid I will have to agree on this. Seriously, it has been a while since I have seen such a convoluted thriller. The first issue was that they went for a random chronology which is usually a rather useless gimmick to make a movie look edgier than it actually is. On top of that, there was just so much stuff that didn’t make much sense. For example, why would this pedophile ring would go through so much trouble just to spy this mother? Why would this creepy guy have this poor girl act/read some cryptic text? Why would they allow her to see her father for a few minutes? To make things worse, the main plot was completely side-tracked by what happened to Rosia Dawson’s character. It’s too bad because the damned thing had some potential and it could have worked if they had chosen a more straightforward approach but, instead, the end-result was basically some lame mix of ‘Trust’ with ‘Room’. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, the damned thing was still pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look, even if you are interested in Atom Egoyan’s work like I do. 

To be honest, when I heard they were coming up with a 4^th version of this story, I can’t say I was really excited by this idea. However, since it had been very well received, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I was still not blown away by the story. Indeed, it was still rather generic and, above all, they could have removed the ‘evil’ producer who was just lame and unnecessary. Still, I have to admit that I still did enjoy the damned thing, in fact, I liked it even more than the classic version starring Judy Garland. Indeed, what made this movie really worked were the really strong performances from both Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga who had some great chemistry together. Concerning Bradley Cooper, I wasn’t really surprised as the guy has slowly became one of the most interesting actors at work nowadays, something I didn’t expect following his breakthrough with ‘The Hangover’. Above all, I was quite impressed by Lady Gaga. Of course, you might argue that to play a singer was not such a huge stretch for her but many singers tried something similar before and failed miserably (Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey,…). Eventually, I thought she was terribly convincing as Ally who was in fact nothing like Lady Gaga herself and, as I mentioned before, her chemistry with Bradley Cooper was really neat. Finally, I really loved many of the songs played during this movie which was a rare thing for me. While watching this flick, I couldn’t help thinking that it was a pity that Lady Gaga had spent much of her career with some rather annoying pop songs when she is in fact a really strong singer. Anyway, to conclude, even I still think it was nothing original, I have to admit that it was actually a really decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I have seen all the other movies directed by Gore Verbinski, I thought I might as well check his last directing effort. Well, from an aesthetic point of view, it was probably Verbinski’s most beautiful movie to look at with some really intriguing scenes and awesome camera set-up. Unfortunately, even though the story was fairly entertaining, it wasn’t really amazing though. Above all, the biggest mistake they made was that the damned thing was just too long. Indeed, 150 minutes for after all a rather basic thriller taking place in a spa was really way too much. As a result, there were a bunch of random and rather pointless scenes during which the movie was flirting with the mindf*ck genre (the best example would be when, out of nowhere, a female employee gets topless and her male co-worker starts to whack off in front of her). Unfortunately, Verbinski is no David Lynch and it was never really convincing.  So, in my opinion, they could have easily removed 1 hour of running time instead of getting lost on the way and creating some massive plot-holes. Concerning Dane DeHaan, he was a fine choice but it’s too bad that there was not much consistency in his character’s behaviour. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch, especially visually speaking, 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 there was a nice cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, even if the movie itself was not really amazing, I’m afraid, it still turned out to be a fascinating story though. Basically, as long as they were focusing on Gary Webb’s investigation, the whole thing was slightly difficult to follow because of the rapid-fire dialogues and the number of characters involved but it was ultimately quite spellbinding to behold. However, at least half of the movie was about vindicating Gary Webb’s name who definitely deserved it but, to be honest, it was not as interesting as what he had discovered which was truly quite mind-blowing. The main issue, as far as I was concerned, was that Webb himself complained that suddenly the focus was put on him instead of his investigation but that was in fact what this movie exactly did as well. Indeed, in the second half, it was only about how Webb had been mistreated and his actual investigation fell into the background which was too bad in my opinion. Still, I really liked the realistic approach they took and even if it never reached the level of ‘All the President's Men’, it was still probably one of the best movies I have seen in this genre. Anyway, to conclude, it was a really solid thriller dealing with investigative journalism and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.