Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I’m a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I wasn’t really impressed by the damned thing after all. Indeed, they took a very generic story and, to make things worse, they told it in the dullest way possible. Basically, it was dealing with a lawyer falling in love with his client even if she might be guilty after all which was obviously nothing original whatsoever but it was rather surprising that pretty much nothing interesting or surprising happened through the whole thing. Apparently, the first cut delivered by Hitchcock was almost 3 hrs and maybe this version might have better worked but, then, it was cut several times by David O. Selznick and it is clear that something was missing with the final version. It’s too bad because there was actually a solid cast involved. I was especially intrigued by Alida Valli who was such a perfect choice to play this character but, unfortunately, she was given so little to do after all. It's a shame because Valli had such a fascinating screen presence but her character was basically sulking through the whole duration and not much else. It was a similar issue with Gregory Peck who was also a perfect choice to play this lawyer but you might wonder why this guy fell in love so fast with this woman he barely knew. Sure, you could argue that it was maybe a case of love at first sight but they could have developed more their relationship. However, it was even worse with Louis Jourdan who played his character as if he was constantly constipated. At least, the characters played by Ann Todd, Charles Laughton and Joan Tetzel did work but they were all some rather minor characters. Anyway, to conclude, it was definitely a minor effort from the great master but I still think it is worth a look, at least, if you are really interested in Alfred Hitchcock's work.

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. Well, to be honest, I really had a hard time to get a good grip on this movie. The fact that I was really exhausted when I watched the damned thing probably didn’t help but that’s a different story. Basically, it was an intriguing story with some solid directing and acting but the fact that nothing was told in a straightforward way was, at best, challenging, and, at worst, slightly frustrating. For example, at first, I thought that Jimmie and Montgomery were brothers and that Danny Glover was their father. At least, it was definitely a beautiful friendship and Jimmie Fails and Jonathan Majors both delivered some strong performances here. Eventually, I think it is one of these movies which are more rewarding to reflect on afterwards than actually watching them (Andrei Tarkovsky was easily the undisputed champion in this genre). In this case, I think this movie was a reflection about the loneliness and hopelessness faced by most black men in the US (for some reason, this movie did focus very little on black women). As a result, many of them end up like this group of young men, hanging in the streets, doing nothing, except being mean or worse to each other and every one that might cross their path. The only way out of this negative behavior might be fantasy and creativity which were embodied by the two main characters. However, even if Jimmie and Montgomery did manage to find some positive outlet, the actual rewards for them will be very little after all. On top of that, it’s easy to preach this from your comfortable couch but it’s a complete different story when you have to face such obstacles on a daily basis from the day you were born. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn’t completely sold, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially you like the genre. 

Since I really didn’t like ‘Escape Plan 2: Hades’ at all, I had some very low expectations regarding this sequel but since I have the bad habit of watching pretty much anything starring Sylvester Stallone, I still ended up watching this movie. Well, to be honest, I think it was actually a slight improvement on the previous instalment. However, it doesn’t mean much since its predecessor was just so abysmally bad and the damned thing was still really weak though. For starters, the intro was really clunky and you might wonder why something seemingly so simple narratively speaking could be so poorly written? For example, why did they bring 2 bodyguards? Sure, these guys were both some solid martial artists, I’ll give you that, but the whole thing would have probably worked better with only one of them. Concerning the jail, in contrary to the previous movies in this franchise, it wasn’t some fancy high-tech building but a good old and seemingly really dirty prison which wasn’t a bad idea at all. However, even though the building was supposed to be huge, it seemed to be rather empty with only a handful of inmates and even less guards so I'm afraid it was not convincing at all. Concerning Stallone, at least, he had more screen-time than what is usually the case with such direct-to-VOD hack jobs but, in my opinion, he did look either terribly bored and/or really tired through the whole duration. Eventually, at more than 70 years old, you might wonder if the guy shouldn’t stop playing the toughest guy in the room. Anyway, to conclude, there is a fair chance that I was actually too generous with my rating here, the damned thing was really weak and you should probably avoid it, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Sylvester Stallone’s work.

Even before this sequel turned out to be a box-office flop, I was already not really dying to see it but Nick, my step-son, was really interested to check it out so we went to see it together at the movie theater. For some reasons, Nick was convinced that we saw the first instalment together which was definitely not the case. Anyway, to be honest, with this sequel, I was slightly worried during the first scenes. Indeed, right from the start, the whole concept already started to show its limitations. Basically, instead of one teenager getting some super powers, suddenly, it was a whole group of them and it got old very fast. The fact that none of these kids, except for Freddy Freeman, and none of these super-heroes, including Freddy Freeman’s super alter-ego, was interesting or really entertaining certainly didn’t help. Seriously, I was wondering if Asher Angel was actually the same actor who played Billy Batson in the previous instalment because he was so bland this time around. On the other hand, he wasn’t helped by the fact that he had maybe 5 mins of screen time. Eventually, I’m not surprised that they removed Freddy’s super powers early on because he was easily the best character of the bunch and he actually pretty much single-handedly managed to make the damned thing still fairly entertaining to watch (Djimon Hounsou was not bad as well though). The ending was also solid and the conclusion, that kids can be heroes just like adults as long they are willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, had an emotional punch. Anyway, to conclude, the end-result was rather harmless and I guess it is worth a look if you really like the genre but I still think the damned thing was quite forgettable and I’m pretty sure it will be the end of this franchise, especially with DC being under a new regime with James Gunn. 

Recently, I have been focusing on watching older movies going from the 1950’s up to the 1900’s and I came across this really obscure stop-motion feature on YouTube by accident. It’s only afterwards that I discovered that the music had been added by the guy who put the video on YouTube but he did a nice job since the music did fit rather well with the rest. Anyway, the damned thing was pretty weird, that’s for sure, and to be honest, I’m not sure if I understood everything that what was going on. Basically, it centered on a love triangle which was fairly straightforward but all kind of inexplicable stuff constantly happened through the whole duration so I have to admit that I did struggle to get a good grip on the damned thing. Still, there was something quite mesmerizing about the damned thing and not only because the stop-motion itself was pretty good. Indeed, above all, it was so interesting that, back in those days, there was much less censorship and they would actually give money to film makers to be so creative which was quite inspiring. As a result, I can only wonder what creative wonders I will discover if I keep going back in time which is such an exciting thought. 

Since I have always been a huge fan of ‘Clerks’, of course, I was really eager to check this 3^rd instalment. Well, to be honest, for a while, I was actually really worried. Indeed, there were just so many things that really didn’t work. There were some details like the fact that Jay And Silent Bob looked really weird with Jay and his fake teeth and Silent Bob with his fake tan but it went much further than that, I'm afraid. Indeed, it seems that Kevin Smith’s writing and directing became actually weaker with each new instalment and, compared to how awesome ‘Clerks’ was, it was just rather disheartening that this sequel coming up almost 30 years later was so weak. Fortunately, even though the first act was indeed lame and really disappointing, the damned thing finally started to work from the moment that Randal decided to shoot his movie. Indeed, it was pretty meta but it made sense considering how this franchise started. On top of that, it was really awesome how they reproduced the same shots with the same actors almost 30 years later. If you are a die-hard ‘Clerks’ fan like me, you will definitely appreciate these scenes as well. Of course, if you’re familiar with Kevin Smith, you will be aware that he himself survived a massive heart attack back in 2018 so it’s not surprising that his beloved characters would have to face a similar fate, even if I’m not sure if it was such a great idea to have both of them having a heart attack. Still, it was a really solid approach because it displayed that these guys were getting older, it made them more vulnerable, more human, and as fascinating as they were 30 years ago. The ending was also quite unexpected, rather heartbreaking and a great way to finish up this franchise. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still enjoyed the damned thing and I think it is worth a look but probably only if you’re interested in Kevin Smith’s work. 

To be honest, I usually don’t care at all about Christmas movies but since this one was a classic and since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, at first, I was worried that this movie would be pretty cheesy but, slowly, I have to admit that the damned thing actually won me over. Indeed, even if you don’t believe in Santa Claus (I sure never did), it doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy Christmas, in the contrary, and I always loved this holiday. Eventually, the whole point of this movie was not if Santa Claus was real or not or if Kris Kringle was actually really Santa Claus or not, this movie was actually mostly about the Christmas spirit. I especially enjoyed this segment during which Macy’s owner discovered that the most profitable way to manage a store is by actually helping their customers, even if it meant sending them to their competitors. Of course, their best wild card was Edmund Gwenn who was just so pitch-perfect in this role. Without him, I’m not sure if the movie would have really worked, he was deservedly praised for his performance and, so far, he is the only actor to have ever won an Academy Award for playing Santa Claus. The fact that the lovely Maureen O'Hara was involved also definitely helped, even if the change of heart made by her character was probably too abrupt.  On the other hand, how it was handled with Susan Walker (I didn’t recognize Natalie Wood at all by the way) was much more subtle and so well done. Sure, the whole trial thing was rather silly and, above all, Granville Sawyer was a lame cartoonish bad guy but I understand that they needed to have some conflict at some point. Anyway, to conclude, even if I don’t think it is really a masterpiece, I have to admit that it is easily one of the best Christmas movies I have seen and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

First of all, I have to admit that I had never heard of this movie so I had no idea what to expect from it. I actually ended up watching the damned thing because, the last time I went to France, my sister gave me this movie on DVD. To be honest, it took me a while to figure out that it was shot with a single take, at least, the first 30 mins. Anyway, the end-result was not really amazing. I mean, thanks to the single take, you really get the feeling that you are actually witnessing a movie shoot, that’s for sure. However, even if it was probably supposed to be hilarious to see this movie crew struggling to shoot a very lame zombie movie while actually facing an actual zombie apocalypse, well, it was actually more pathetic than really entertaining, I’m afraid. However, it didn’t last long and, after around 30 mins, they went back in time and displayed how this project started. Well, this new development was not bad, at least, it was not as lame as this one-take zombie film was and it was nice to see these characters in their every day life but the damned thing still didn’t dazzle me. Then, you had the final act which turned out to be some kind of making-off of the one-take zombie flick displayed at the beginning and, then, it finally started to work for me. Indeed, the jokes started to land and the damned thing finally became really fun to watch. There was a major plot-hole though. Indeed, how did they manage to record the dialogues? Another thing that I enjoyed was how they displayed that making a movie, even a bad one, can be super stressful but also super fun. Eventually, I didn’t know this either, but my brother pointed out that it was actually a remake of a Japanese movie which, according to him, made this French version rather lame and really pointless. As far as I’m concerned, the meta concept had some potential and the final act was really entertaining but I didn’t care much about anything else though. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, it seemed to be a rather obscure movie but since it was directed by Kenji Mizoguchi and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, even though the video I saw on YouTube was fine visually speaking, the subtitles were however completely messed up though. Seriously, 50% of the time, I had to figure out what the hell they were trying to say which was just so frustrating. Well, even if the circumstamces to watch it were far from being ideal, I still liked the damned thing though. The first thing I enjoyed was its visual aspect. Indeed, I wonder where in Japan they shot this movie but Mizoguchi delivered here a beautiful movie with some really neat shots. Concerning the rest of the movie, I wonder if it was supposed to be some kind of allegory of Japan in general. Indeed, you could say that Yuki Shinano represented the past of Japan and was more noble, gentle but also weak, old-fashioned and seemingly out of touch. On the other hand, her husband Naoyuki could represent modern Japan with his brutal, arrogant even decadent behavior and, yet, even if his attitude was mostly reprehensible, he was also stronger, more straightforward and seemingly more efficient than his wife. Even the way they dressed underlined this idea. Eventually, even if the makers and viewers were rooting for Yuki Shinano/traditional Japan, she was bound to loose against Naoyuki/modern Japan, even if his future prospects didn’t seem to be really bright after she was gone. Of course, I might be completely wrong here and maybe it wasn’t at all what Mizoguchi intended here. However, even if it was all fairly intriguing, to be honest, it was also rather flat after all. I mean, from the start, Yuki was introduced as being terribly miserable and submissive and her husband was introduced as being a major *sshole and, from this point on, this circle of abuse was repeated endlessly until the very end but not much else happened after all. Eventually, you wish that these characters might evolve somehow but, instead, they got stuck and it felt rather redundant at some point. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t completely work, it was still an interesting watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Saoirse Ronan, I thought I might as well check it out. Usually, I try to know as little as possible before watching a movie and, in this case, I was really wondering what they were getting at for quite a long time. At first, I thought it was about a cute couple who was going to have sex for the very first time and I loved the way they took their time. It reminded me how it went down with me and I wish I handled it differently at the time. Anyway, there is probably nothing more magical than having sex for the very first time with someone you love. However, it turned out to be something completely different after all. Indeed, after all, Florence was actually repulsed somehow by the idea of having sex which pretty much ruined their wedding night and even ended their marriage before it even started. Well, this turn of events did slightly ruin my romantic fantasy but it did have some potential though. Still, I'm afraid the whole thing never really worked though. Indeed, first of all, instead of constantly giving us some quaint idyllic love scenes, they could have provided some scenes during which you could sense that this couple might have some problem in this area in the future. At first, I was also annoyed by the fact that Florence never talked about it before with Edward but, back in the 60’s, nobody talked about sex (in fact, I have to admit that I never talked about it with the first girls I slept with). A weird narrative choice was also to show 2 or 3 completely random scenes during which it was implied that Florence might have been molested by her father when she was a child which was pretty huge but the movie did nothing with this information and it should have been either properly developed or removed completely. The fact that Edward threw the towel right away while he was so in love with her was also rather bewildering. I mean, why didn’t he try to figure this out with her for at least a couple of weeks? The fact that 10 years later she got remarried and DID get two kids in the process was also unnecessarily cruel. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was really flawed, I still think it was an interesting movie though and it was a pretty good argument that you should always engage in pre-marital sex before making such a life changing commitment.