Reviews by johanlefourbe

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. 

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.