Reviews by johanlefourbe

Recently, I have been focusing on older movies and this one is one of the oldest I have seen so far. To be honest, the version I saw on YouTube was pretty nasty but it’s understandable since this movie is now more than 100 years old. Sure, it might all seem quite rudimentary but it was in fact at the time a big box office success and I can understand why. Indeed, it was probably one of the first movies with an actual plot and, in spite of its sheer simplicity or actually because of it, it worked surprisingly well. It’s also important to note that, even though it might look easy when you watch this movie, working with animals is usually considered as one of the hardest things when you make a movie. Anyway, this dog was pretty awesome and you wish they could have developed more the characters involved but, with a running time under 10 mins and no dialogues or title cards, I guess you shouldn’t expect much in this area. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really mind-blowing, I still think it was pretty neat and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in film history.

Recently, I have been focusing on older movies and this one is one of the oldest I have seen so far. To be honest, I still wonder what this first scene was all about. From a technical point of view, considering how old this movie is, it was pretty neat but I’m not sure what it was supposed to mean after all. Anyway, coming back on the movie itself, the end-result turned out to be some kind of hybrid feature. Indeed, since there was no plot, it wasn’t a fiction but, since everything was staged, I’m not sure if it should be considered as a documentary either (it probably is though). Especially when these firemen went to this house to put out this fire, it looked so fake. It’s too bad they didn’t go for something bigger regarding this fire but you should probably lower your expectations after watching for decades some massive Hollywood blockbusters with complex special effects which obviously didn't exist at the time. It was also rather funny to see a seemingly endless succession of vintage fire trucks driving in the streets when it turned out to be such a small fire after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really impress me, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in film history.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation (it is included in the ‘The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made’ list selected by the New York Times, among other things), I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, the historical background around the making-off this movie was quite intriguing. Indeed, it was based on a book written before WWII actually started and even though the action was taking place in Germany and in the UK, it was actually made in the US while the war was raging in Europe. At the time, the US were still isolationist but most Hollywood studios were supporting the involvement of their country in the war resulting in such movies. Well, in spite of all this, to be honest, this movie didn’t really impress me though. I mean, I really enjoyed the first part which was taking place in Germany and during which this man hunt was actually quite thrilling. Unfortunately, as soon as the main character got back to England, it was much less effective though. Indeed, they basically chased the guy all the way to his home country just to have him sign some confession? It did sound rather far-fetched. To make things worse, the whole thing was completely derailed from the moment Thorndike met Jerry Stokes. I don’t blame Joan Bennett, she actually gave a solid performance but it didn’t make sense that her character would tag along for so long with Thorndike who was basically a wanted man. I mean, I understand that they wanted to give the main character some kind of love interest (nothing much happened between them after all though) but it's as if they tried to combine a thriller with a romantic comedy which wasn’t really the greatest idea. At least, I have to admit that Walter Pidgeon who was channeling some kind of combination of James Bond with George Clooney was really good here. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch though 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 it was starring Diane Lane, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it seems that everybody in the Coppola family has to direct at least one film during their lifetime so why not Francis Ford Coppola’s wife as well? Of course, there was something pretty meta about this charming woman struggling to get the attention of her workaholic husband who was constantly being consumed by some obscure movie projects. However, this movie mostly focused on some seemingly endless road-trip from Cannes to Paris and, well, this movie didn’t have much else to offer, I’m afraid. Eventually, how much you will enjoy it will depend on how much you enjoy French culture, in particular ridiculously expensive fancy French food, like the two characters involved in this movie. The fact that I’m French probably made me skeptical and I’m afraid I never felt the same obsession as Jacques displayed with my own culture. Eventually, it seems that Eleanor Coppola tried to lean into a ‘Before Sunrise’ vibe and I must admit that she almost pulled it off. However, the big difference between Linklater’s marvelous trilogy and Coppola’s directorial debut was the fact that Linklater always put the focus on the two characters and never on their surroundings and, with Coppola’s harmless but after all rather empty movie, it was actually the other way around. The end-result then did feel like more like some pretty postcard than an actual movie. I was also missing some background info. I mean, both characters were acting like they didn’t know each other but Jacques and Anne’s husband had been business partner for quite some time apparently. Furthermore, French or not, Jacques’s behavior was pretty weird and even actually quite predatory. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really amazing, the damned thing was still cute and harmless and I think it might be worth a look, at least, if you really like the genre. 

I’m not a huge fan of the ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise but Nick, my step-son, was quite eager to check it out and I have to admit that it was a pretty cool idea to see an action flick together instead of the usual super-hero feature. Well, to be honest, even though this movie was apparently very well received, I actually a hard time to care about the damned thing after all. The circumstances were not ideal though. Indeed, I was actually exhausted when I watched this movie and, during the last hour, I really struggled not to fall asleep. Still, did this story really require more than 5 hours of running time? I mean, this movie was the longest installment so far and it was only the first part… Furthermore, the whole gimmick of the AI going rogue and threatening mankind might seem topical but, as far as I was concerned, it was just a typical MacGuffin which had been used so many times before. Another thing that bothered me was the fact that, instead of bringing some new faces, especially with such an extensive running time, Ethan worked again with Luther, Benji and Ilsa, exactly the same team he has been working with for almost a decade which felt like a missed opportunity. At least, the always charismatic Hayley Atwell was a nice addition and she had a pretty good chemistry with Tom Cruise. Furthermore, I think it’s pretty cool that Cruise does have the right age now to play Ethan Hunt and I hope he will keep making more of these for many years, even though they also say that these two parts might be the end of this franchise. Eventually, I think I will re-watch it again next year before watching part two and, hopefully, I would have this time a good night rest before. Anyway, to conclude, even though I don’t really understand why this franchise is so beloved, even by the critics, I have to admit that this installment was still a solid action flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Of course, any new directing effort from Christopher Nolan is always a huge event so this movie was definitely one of my top priorities for 2023. Well, to be honest, I’m afraid it won’t belong to his best movies (the guy has an insane track record though) but it was still pretty damned good and a nice rebound from the disappointing ‘Tenet’. To be honest, I didn’t see it in IMAX but the screen was big enough and I don’t think I missed much. Anyway, it was visually pretty neat though and the directing was top-notch. Above all, Oppenheimer was such a fascinating character, easily one of the best characters Nolan as ever worked with. His quest to create the first atomic bomb was also so interesting because it would change our world forever and its impact is still topical nowadays. Indeed, right now, we are at a tipping point where our worldwide climate is getting completely out of control and you could say that it has been the consequence of our obsession with progress and innovation. So, the story was great but I’m not sure Nolan’s approach completely worked. Indeed, at times, it felt as if you either needed to have read the book or have Wikipedia at all times open or that you had to be a massive history buff to keep track of everything and above all everybody involved. Concerning the cast, well, Cillian Murphy was rightfully praised, the guy was amazing and easily delivered one of the best performances of his career. I wish I could say the same about the rest of the cast though. It’s not that anyone was bad, I was more bothered by the fact that so many showed up for barely nothing. Seriously, it felt as if they all showed up with a tattoo on their forehead saying ‘Nolan is a God and I would do anything for him, even if I get only 2 lines of dialogues’. It was especially frustrating with Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh who all seemed to have some more substantial characters and, yet, they were given so little to do after all. Even Robert Downey Jr., after getting stuck playing Tony Stark for so many years, who was finally given the opportunity to do something else, didn’t really impress me because the focus on this conflict with Lewis Strauss was, in my opinion, a rather poor idea. Anyway, to conclude, even though my review might seem harsh, the damned thing was still really good though and, with Quentin Tarantino soon retiring, Nolan will be the only director left who can make such ambitious really expensive movies and above all based on something original instead of being linked to some famous IP so we should all support him.