Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a solid reputation (it is included in the ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ list among other things), I was quite eager to check it out. Well, eventually, it turned out to be a solid film noir, no doubt out it but, to be honest, the plot was slightly too thin for my taste. On the other hand, there is no denying that both Joan Bennett and James Mason gave some strong performances here. Indeed, I have to admit that I wasn’t really familiar with Bennett before watching this movie but she managed to be really convincing as a housewife and, yet, she was still quite charismatic at the same time and this balance act was trickier than it looked. It was also intriguing how she managed her whole household on her own and, at the same time, she constantly kept her cool while being involved with homicides, blackmail and gangsters. On the other hand, I was quite familiar with James Mason and the guy, as usual, didn’t disappoint me. Indeed, within a few seconds he appeared on the screen, Mason delivered one of the most unique blackmailer I have ever seen. On one hand, it was really obvious that the guy really meant business but, on the other hand, there was also something strikingly gentle and polite about him which would be the last thing you would expect from someone working in this line of business. Eventually, I was really on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen to these 2 very interesting characters. However, it was a rather short movie (not even 90 mins) so, after only 10 mins, Donelly was already in love with Lucia Harper. In my opinion, this development occurred way too soon and slightly ruined the whole thing for me because, among other things, the whole thing went on auto-pilot from this point on. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though 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 selected by IndieWire as one of the best movies released in 2022 so far, I thought I might as well check it out. I have to admit that I had no idea what it was about before watching the damned thing but, eventually, it turned out to be another appalling documentary dealing with the outrageous poor state of the healthcare system in the US today. This time, they focused on the staggering numbers of childbirth deaths among American black women and, well, these statistics were so bad, it made the US pretty much look like a third world country. Indeed, the death rate linked to childbirth is so much higher than any Western country and, when you focus on black women, the numbers goes up even more. It displayed once again that the excessive capitalism practiced in the United States is such a broken system (that it has inspired all the other countries in the world is such a pity, even a real shame, but that’s another discussion) as you get to see that the goal for many hospitals is to cut the costs by having a staggering number of C sections. However, C sections are not only really hazardous, even in the best case scenario, it is so traumatic for all the mothers involved. Basically, human lives, especially black lives, don’t really matter, only profits do. To be honest, even though the topic was really interesting, this movie was still missing something to become really fascinating though. On the other hand, you might wonder if a more artistical or fancy approach would have been really appropriate in this case though. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t completely blow me away, it was still a strong documentary dealing with a very important subject and it is definitely worth a look. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it kept hearing some pretty good things about it (it is included in the ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ list among other things), I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I don’t think it is really a great movie. Indeed, there was nothing visually really impressive about it, none of the characters involved were really interesting (except for Efrem and Old Ned) and the story was pretty much a random mess. And yet, the historical value of this movie is huge since it is considered as the earliest known surviving film directed by an African-American. As a result, it was quite intriguing to see such an old movie finally from a black perspective, focusing on black characters and directed by a black man, On top of that, the 3^rd act turned out to be actually quite mind-blowing. Indeed, instead of developing the story going on so far, they took a left-turn and ended up with a rather long flashback scene showing what happened back then when the main character was younger and the end-result was just so shocking. Indeed, you had a double lynching coupled with a grizzly rape scene and some little boy who got shot at but still managed to escape. Anyway, it was just so nightmarish but, in the contrary to most of your typical horror pictures, it was something that was really taking place back then in the South making the whole thing so much more horrible and frightening. Another unforgettable scene that occurred just before was when Efrem, a wretched weasel, also got lynched, not because he was accused of any wrongdoings but simply because this mob was apparently getting ‘impatient’. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it is still a really interesting movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in motion picture history. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by François Ozon, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, I have been following Ozon for more than 20 years (I have even seen his directorial debut ‘Sitcom’ in the movie theater when it was released) and I think it was his most sober film I have seen so far. It was also the first time he directed something based on true facts and, in fact, the movie was made and released while the trial was still ongoing at the same time. Eventually, I wonder what made him chose to direct this true tale. Anyway, the end-result was really solid and I believe that Ozon did deliver here one of his best movies. The first act was especially intriguing. Indeed, Melvil Poupaud (probably the most underrated French actor I know) gave another strong performance playing a really square guy with such deep wounds. On top of that, it was just so intriguing to see this man struggling with his traumatic past and, yet, always keeping his composure, in his emails but also in person, even when facing the man who ruined his childhood and pretty much his whole life. And, yet, the damned thing was still missing something to really blow me away though. I mean, the switch to Denis Ménochet’s character made sense since François Debord took over from Alexandre Guérin at some point but I’m not sure if it worked so well with the 3^rd character, Emmanuel Thomassin, played by Swann Arlaud. Even so, this movie gave a convincing glimpse on how the Catholic church in France but also in many other countries has always tried to conceal and minimize decades of abuse. Anyway, to conclude, it turned out to be a strong drama dealing with a horrible tragedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in François Ozon’s work.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Edgar Wright, I was of course eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I had a hard time to really care about this movie, even more than with ‘Baby Driver’ which already didn’t really impress me. However, it wasn’t a bad movie though, not all. Indeed, as usual with Wright, the damned thing was visually quite impressive, the soundtrack was really neat and I just loved the mood. I also did appreciate that he was once again doing something so completely different than his previous movies. Furthermore, Anya Taylor-Joy displayed once again that she is one of the most fascinating actresses at work nowadays and she definitely didn’t disappoint me here. For Thomasin McKenzie, she doesn’t have quite reach yet the same status as Taylor-Joy, at least, not for me (she is still very young though) but there is no denying that both actresses did deliver some strong performances here. However, from the moment the main character had her first ‘dream’ bringing her back in Soho in the 60’s, to be honest, they actually lost me. The first thing that bothered me was the fact it was obvious that both characters would actually never really interact with each other which was rather frustrating. On top of that, in spite of Taylor-Joy’s effort, her character was just not developed enough. I’m not surprised that the flashback scenes were originally supposed to be without dialogue but it shows how limited this character was from the start. Then, there was the issue that these flashback scenes, even though there were technically really neat, were actually quite redundant. Another narrative mistake they made was that Eloise chose not once but TWICE to escape a toxic environment (at the very beginning, when she decided to leave her dorm and, towards the end, when she decided to leave London all together) and it was just weird or, at least, never properly explained why Sandie wouldn't simply just leave this dreadful situation like the other main character did in this story. Finally, the link between the present day and the past was just too thin and, as result, you basically had two films constantly vampirizing each other. Anyway, to conclude, the more I think about it, the more I believe that my rating was actually too generous for this movie but I still think it was a decent watch because the damned thing was just so well made and the actresses involved gave such solid performances. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Sylvester Stallone, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it is rather disheartening that, 20 years after ‘Pulp Fiction’ was released, there were still making such shameless copycats. I mean, can you imagine ‘Pulp Fiction’ without its amazingly cool soundtrack, can you imagine if it would have been written by some hack instead of Quentin Tarantino and can you imagine if they would have added some lame self-help book to link somehow all the characters together? Well, this movie would have been pretty much the end-result. Concerning Stallone, I have to admit that it was actually probably one of the most interesting characters he had done in years but his character was not developed whatsoever (which could be said about every single character involved in this movie). It was also pretty neat to see the lovely Lauren Cohan finally in something else than ‘The Walking Dead’. Damned, she is really super charismatic but, unfortunately, pretty much like Stallone, she was given really nothing interesting to do here. Concerning the rest of the cast, there were quite a lot of B stars involved and they all did what they could with this material but I can’t say I cared about any of them. Coming back on the self-help book, the damned thing was unconvincing right from the start but it might have been slightly more efficient if Teddy Raymond would have remained an enigma. Instead, at some point, they decided to show his ‘skills’ and how he managed to cure another character of his nicotine addiction but it was just so pathetic and it made this book look even more idiotic than it already was. Anyway, to conclude, pretty much nothing worked in this movie, the damned thing was pretty bad and you should probably avoid it. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Eva Mendes and since it was on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it’s almost 10 years that Mendes retired to take care of her kids she had with Ryan Gosling and it had been a while since I saw one of her movies. Unfortunately, this movie was pretty weak, I’m afraid. Basically, it turned out to be one of these typical quirky indie comedies but, right from the start, the damned thing just didn’t work at all. In fact, I think it might have had some potential if they had chosen a completely different approach. Indeed, there was actually something rather sad, melancholic and genuine about this teenager and this single mother trying to figure out how to make sense of their respective lives. Unfortunately, for some reasons, the makers decided to make it ‘cheerful’ which was such a misguided choice and, as a result, it was rather annoying to see how they tried to force a light whimsical tone on this tale. To make things worse, all the characters were fairly pathetic and even rather unlikeable. Seriously, it was rather unbelievable that an obviously bright girl like Ansiedad would believe that such a convoluted plan would work and, above all, would have a positive impact on her life. The worst character was probably Dr. Harford though. Maybe this character would have worked if someone very handsome like George Clooney or Brad Pitt would have played him but, eventually, it was rarely bewildering that Grace wouldn’t dump the guy sooner. Eventually, I won’t blame Eva Mendes or Cierra Ramirez though, they were both really charismatic and I think they did what they could with the material that was provided. Anyway, to conclude, I really didn’t care about the damned thing and I don’t think it’s really worth a look, except maybe if you really like the genre.