Reviews by johanlefourbe

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. 

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. After the runaway success of ‘The Notebook’, they kept making such Nicholas Sparks film adaptations and this one was actually the very last one. Apparently, it was a disappointment at the box office so they considered that the interest in this specific kind of romantic movies had seemingly vanished so they dropped the genre all together afterwards. Well, somehow, I have seen almost all the Nicholas Sparks adaptations (I have to admit that ‘The Notebook’ is actually pretty good) and I don’t think this last attempt was the worst of the bunch. At least, you have to admit it was really bold to have Alexandra Daddario playing second fiddle in one of the love triangles involved in this story. On the other hand, she never stood a chance against Teresa Palmer though. Indeed, while all the other characters were just bland and boring, she was just so charismatic and quite gorgeous to look at, and she really sparkled even if the material was actually pretty weak. The worst of the bunch was probably Benjamin Walker. Where did this guy come from? Apparently, I did see him in a couple of movies before. Anyway, he was some kind of weird mix of Liam Neeson with Andrew Garfield and, well, the guy definitely didn’t impress me. Considering the story itself, like I said before, even if it was more down-to-earth than some other really far-fetched Sparks stories, it was also terribly flat and predictable and, therefore, quite tedious to behold. At least, it was rather surprising that it actually ended up with a happy-ending as, with Sparks, someone usually has to die at the end. I’m not sure if it really gave the best example for people with relatives in coma though. Indeed, they might think that, if they keep waiting forever, some miracle might occur which is, unfortunately, usually not the case. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was rather harmless, it was still pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard of the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation (it was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award among other things), I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned out to be a piece of war propaganda which was released just before the US joined WWII and it was apparently a huge box-office success when it was released. Well, to be honest, I have to admit that I had a rather hard time to connect with the damned thing after all. On the other hand, I have to admit that the version I saw on YouTube was of very poor quality and the fact that it was without subtitles also didn’t help. Indeed, above all in the 1^st half, everyone was talking with such a thick Tennessee accent so I was barely able to figure out what they were actually saying. Coming back on the story itself, Alvin York was apparently a real famous war hero during WWI and they tried to be as accurate as possible because York himself was actually involved. On paper, the story of this poor barely literate farmer going from village drunkard to born-again Christian to finally most famous US decorated WWI soldier absolutely had some potential but, as far as I was concerned, I was hardly impressed with the end-result and the whole thing felt rather clunky. Eventually, this movie did remind me of ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ which didn’t become such a classic but I thought it was much more superior though. At least, there is no denying that Gary Cooper did deliver a really solid performance and, in the process, he managed to win his first Academy Award.  Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really work for me, it is actually a really popular movie 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 starring Chloë Grace Moretz, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, I really loved this title, even it did make the whole thing sound slightly pretentious. Well, I always had a weak spot for Moretz but, to be honest, it has been a while since she impressed me so much. Indeed, she gave such a strong performance, easily one of the best of her career so far, and I thought she was really convincing. Unfortunately, it’s too bad that they kept the main character in such a catatonic state through most of the duration. It’s not that it didn’t make sense, it just that it wasn’t really rewarding as a viewer. On top of that, the way she suddenly did open up during some school inspection felt more like some wishful thinking than something this character might actually say during such a conversation. Another issue was the fact that none of the supporting characters was developed at all. It’s too bad because most of them, if not all of them, seemed to be quite interesting. For example, at some point, Cameron’s roommate had sex with her in the middle of the night which was obviously to display that she also struggled so much. However, you spend so little time with this poor girl before and after this event that I had a hard time to really invest myself in this character, in fact, I would be really hard-pressed to actually remember her name when I actually saw this movie only yesterday. The last thing that bothered me was the ending. Indeed, seemingly out of nowhere, these 3 kids decided to run away which is something that happens, I’m afraid, on a regular basis for gay youth who are not accepted by their ‘loved’ ones but this movie, with its uplifting tune, completely failed to display the dreadful consequences such decision will probably have on their lives. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a really solid drama though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in this topic. 

Even though this movie apparently didn’t get much love when it was released, since it was directed by Sam Mendes, I was still eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I would have to agree with the critics on this one and it seems that Sam Mendes did deliver his least compelling movie so far, I’m afraid. It’s not that it was really bad though. First of all, it was shot by Roger Deakins, arguably one of the best cinematographers in the world, so the damned thing looked fine (he was actually even nominated for an Academy Award for this movie). Furthermore, Olivia Colman, who is slowly becoming one of the best actress at work nowadays, delivered a very strong performance here. Indeed, her character went through so many emotional states and Colman managed to display these emotions sometimes only through her eyes which was rather uncanny. Eventually, the main issue was with the writing provided by Sam Mendes himself. Indeed, for the first time in his career, Mendes got sole writing credits (he usually is not involved at all in the writing process) and, well, the end-result was not really impressive, I’m afraid. Basically, there was not a single moment during which this rather generic and not really thrilling love story was properly linked to this intriguing movie theater. To add the historical racial tensions going on at the time in the UK was also a mistake because it didn’t fit at all with this rather quaint love story. In fact, even this love story didn’t really work after all. I mean, why did these two individuals did fall in love after all? What did Stephen see in Hilary and what did Hilary see in Stephen beside a young hot black man? Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, Sam Mendes still can’t direct a bad movie though so I still think it is worth a look, even if it is probably his weakest movie so far. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but since it seemed to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, the whole thing was rather disjointed but it make sense since the production on this movie was rather chaotic. Indeed, if you think that this movie was rather dark and seedy, the play it was based on was so much worse involving a brothel instead of a casino and such fun things like nymphomania and drug addiction. As a result, it took more than a decade to adapt it and, after so many rewriting attempts, the end-result was slightly bewildering. Indeed, there was no real plot and too many characters involved which was probably not such a great idea since the damned thing lasted less than 100 mins. As a result, it was never really clear what the hell was going on with most of the characters. The best example would be the character played by the lovely Gene Tierney. Indeed, because of all the censorship going through all the script revisions, there wasn’t much left to characterize this woman so they never properly explained what was going on with her and what she was exactly doing in this casino. However, the other characters were probably even less developed than she was. And, yet, Josef von Sternberg who was working here on his final movie (he did work on some other movies such as ‘Macao’ in 1952 and ‘Jet Pilot’ in 1957 but he always managed to get fired) did create such a spellbinding mood. In fact, even though this movie was supposed to be about Shanghai, you actually almost never leaves this casino but it didn’t matter as, like all the players coming there, once you enter, you actually never ever want to leave this place. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. In fact, I just saw yesterday ‘Dark Victory’, another classic starring Bette Davis. Basically, back in those days, these movies were really tailor-made around her, and, to be honest, it takes a while to get used to the fact that these movies didn’t have much else to offer, at least, as far as I was concerned. Still, I was more able to enjoy this one though. Sure, the gimmick of the ugly duckling transforming into a gorgeous woman has never been really interesting but there is no doubt that Davis absolutely made the best of it. Indeed, she was so good when playing this fragile and psychologically disturbed young woman. Later on, when she played the same woman but as strong and independent, it was obviously not such a stretch for Davis who was basically being herself but I have to admit that she was so charismatic. This movie was also a perfect example of toxic narcissistic behavior and the character of the mother was actually quite fascinating, even if her behavior could have been slightly more subtle. At least, the main character didn't fell in love with her doctor like she did in ‘Dark Victory’, the romance was here more convincing here and I think Davis had some pretty good chemistry with Paul Henreid. I have to admit that I was really surprised that they didn’t end up together but it was actually a refreshing way to conclude this romance. Eventually, the whole thing was narratively too scattered though (I didn’t even mention that the main character suddenly ended up taking care of the child of the man she loved during the final act). Anyway, to conclude, even if I don’t think it was a masterpiece, it was still a solid vintage drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.