Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I can’t say I was really dying to watch yet a new take on the caped crusader. Basically, pretty much like with Spider-Man, the issue with Batman is that they keep bringing so many new iterations at such a rapid pace and I wish they would just let it rest for at least a decade. However, I have to admit that I actually really enjoyed Matt Reeves’s approach after all. Indeed, somehow, he managed to get even grittier than Christopher Nolan and, at this point, the only way to be more realistic would be to drop the super-hero costume all together. Basically, it was some kind of neo-noir detective story, something which has been done many times in the Batman comic-books but never in the movie adaptations. Anyway, it was really cool to see this character playing detective with James Gordon and Catwoman as his sidekicks. I also really liked the idea of Bruce Wayne being a rich recluse as it made much more sense. Indeed, how can you go all night long fighting crime and during the day having another full agenda pretending to be a rich playboy? So, the approach and the tone were really neat but, unfortunately, the story was entertaining but not really great after all, I’m afraid. I mean, it started really promisingly but, to be honest, if you would remove the intricate mind-games of the Riddler, it was all rather pretty generic and straightforward after all. I’m not blaming Paul Dano (I wish I didn't know he would be the Riddler at least a full year before the movie was released though), he gave a really solid performance, but I wasn’t really impressed by his plan after all. The fact that the damned thing was too long (which was even more surprising since it wasn’t even an origin story) certainly didn’t help. Anyway, to conclude, I still thought it was an intriguing take on this character and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this movie and since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have to admit that I was definitely impressed by this movie. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for romantic comedies but, to be honest, most of them are either just too generic or really lame. In this case, they followed the usual template but it was actually dealing with something real for once. Indeed, I think it clearly displayed how life-shattering coming-out must be for most gays. Even in this case, when the main character actually had a very cool family and friends, it was still something huge, so you can imagine how excruciating it must be when you’re coming from a far less tolerant background. It also shows how the internet can be a great support for young isolated gay young men and women as it allows them to find some kindred spirits. I was also impressed by Nick Robinson who gave, in my opinion, a rather pitch-perfect performance. The fact that his character was charismatic but also flawed made him also so much more interesting. Indeed, what he did to his best friends was just so messed-up but the guy was just so desperate at this point that, his actions, even if they were terrible, were actually understandable. Eventually, the only thing that didn’t really work for me was the ending. Sure, it might seem romantic (however, to make out for the first time with your boyfriend in front of a huge crowd might be actually more awkward then what was displayed in this movie) but I was above all bothered by the fact that Simon was apparently supposed to hook up with the 1st gay guy he ever talked to. Anyway, to conclude, I really enjoyed the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are eager to watch a romantic comedy which is actually worth your time. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Julianne Moore and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even if it was maybe not the worst movie I have seen with Julianne Moore, it wasn’t far from it, I’m afraid. Basically, it started out with a mental patient with a multiple personalities disorder but, like so many other thrillers or horror films, instead of developing a realistic and rational portrait of such a disease, they went paranormal which is such a lame and predictable approach. In fact, in this case, it was actually even worse as they went for some religious mumbo-jumbo which became increasingly non-sensical. For example, how did Sammy, the little girl, get sick? Indeed, she was never in direct contact with David/Adam/Wesley/Whatever. If this curse could work somehow remotely, what happened to all the atheists living in this city or even in this country? Shouldn’t they get sick as well then and die? Towards the end, there was a flashback supposedly explaining what actually happened to Jonathan Rhys Meyers’s character but, even though I saw this movie only yesterday, I don’t think I would be able to explain how it all actually went down. The fact that I stopped caring about what was going on for at least 30 mins before this flashback probably didn’t help. Concerning Rhys Meyers, I can understand the appeal for him to play a character with multiple personalities but I’m afraid he didn’t have the acting chops to pull this off. By the way, the whole thing turned out to be pretty rough for the main character played by Julianne Moore as she started as a window and, as the movie ended, her whole family was pretty much wiped out (indeed, her father, daughter and brother all died before the end-credits). Anyway, to conclude, the whole thing was just pretty bad and you should probably avoid it. 

Since I’m a huge fan of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s work, I was thrilled to hear that his next movie would be available on Netflix and it immediately became a top priority for me this year. Well, it’s only after the watching the damned thing that I discovered that it had received some rather weak reviews and, unfortunately, I would have to agree with the critics on this one. Indeed, it turned out to be a huge disappointment and easily the weakest movie Jeunet has delivered so far. Sure, there were a couple of decent ideas but most of it was actually really weak. Concerning the story, it might have had some potential but, eventually, it was just too generic and not really interesting after all. And I shouldn't forget to mention that it was supposed to be a comedy but most of the jokes were just terribly lame. At least, Jeunet has always been a visionary film maker, especially visually speaking, and the idea of having him playing around with so much CGI was actually really neat. However, the whole thing looked just not convincing and was rather ugly so, even in this area, it turned out to be rather disappointing. Finally, the casting was not bad, at least, I won’t blame the actors, but there were probably too many characters involved as none of them was properly developed. In fact, most of these characters were rather obnoxious but, even if it was done on purpose, none of them was either interesting or really entertaining. Eventually, the more I think about it, the less I actually enjoyed the damned thing and, yet, with such a concept, with such a director, it could and should have been really cool. Anyway, to conclude, it’s only march 2022 and I think I already watched the most disappointing movie to be released this year, basically, the damned thing was just really weak and you should probably avoid it, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s work.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was included in the ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ list, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, I’m not usually not a huge fan of such old Westerns but I have to admit that this one was not bad at all. Indeed, I really liked how they mixed a rather generic vendetta with the odyssey of a precious stolen rifle. Indeed, while James Stewart’s character kept hunting for his nemesis, which was rather generic, it seemed that his stolen rifle was somehow cursed as every new owner managed to keep it only for a short while and most of them violently died in the process. As a result, it made the whole thing completely unpredictable and more entertaining than if it only focused on James Stewart’s character obsessively chasing some seemingly random dude. Eventually, we learned towards the end that he was actually chasing his own brother but, to be honest, it didn’t have much impact as he simply shot him down like any other guy. It’s too bad that they didn’t manage to do more with Shelley Winters’s character as she was such a charismatic actress. Indeed, in my opinion, she was more interesting than many pretty faces who were much more famous than her at the time. In fact, even Winters was not exactly impressed by what they had done with her character who basically waited on the side line until she could finally end up with the main character. Anyway, to conclude, even if I don’t think that it was anything really ground-breaking, it was still a solid vintage Western and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

When I first heard that Steven Spielberg was coming up with a remake of this legendary classic musical, I can’t say I was really excited by this idea. However, even though it was a box-office flop, it turned out to be a huge critical success and, since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out after all. Well, even though the original ‘West Side Story’ is one of the very few musicals that I really enjoyed, to be honest, I really struggled to care about this remake though. Sure, there was no doubt that it was technically fine, the whole thing was visually very well done and Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler had a solid chemistry. However, it still felt rather pointless to come up with another really faithful adaptation of the famous stage musical. Indeed, the 1961 version was already quite faithful but above all it was already pretty much downright amazing. Of course, they tweaked some elements, the most obvious and welcome update was to have a completely Latino cast to play the Sharks and other Puerto Rican characters. However, even in this case, they could have gone further by casting some actual teenagers as, except for Rachel Zegler, all the actors were still much older than their respective characters. Anyway, even though the critics were super enthusiast, as far as I was concerned, this new version felt rather redundant and the fact that this movie (and the older version) are really long probably didn’t help. I can understand the appeal for Spielberg to finally direct a musical, one of the very few genres he never tackled yet in his career but imagine if, in 2060, some heralded director would decide to remake the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy just because he loved it so much back then when he was a kid? Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn’t really sold by the damned thing, it was still a very well made old-fashioned musical and it is worth a look, even if the whole thing felt rather pointless, at least, to me. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a nice cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. On top of that, it was also Peter Bogdanovich’s final directorial effort but it seems that Bogdanovich’s career did end up with a whimper, I’m afraid. Basically, I turned out to be some kind of mix of a 30’s screwball comedy with a Woody Allen’s feature filled up with neurotic characters. Sure, it might sound appealing but not only it felt outdated but, above all, it was just rather boring. Furthermore, I thought that there was something rather misguided about handling the fact that this Broadway director was basically cheating on his wife with some escorts in every US city he did visit as if it was a big joke. It’s not that it was shocking, it’s just that it wasn’t really funny at all. Another issue was that even though some of the characters were not bad, there were just way too many involved and, with a running time of barely 90 mins, there was obviously no time to develop any of them. For example, the whole thing started with the connection between this Broadway director and this prostitute and, yet, they barely spent any time together, even after they started to work on the same play. Instead of developing this relationship, they kept bringing other escorts who were apparently also ‘inspired’ by him as if it was supposed to be hilarious but it made him rather sleazy. On top of that, it made the whole thing seriously random but that’s something that could be said about all the interactions involving any of these characters. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was rather harmless, it was also really tedious and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since the story sounded intriguing and since it was on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have to admit that it turned out to be quite an entertaining documentary. Sure, maybe it wasn’t really educational but it was a fun watch and the way they mixed the whole thing with some thriller elements was actually quite effective. First of all, I have never used Tinder (I’ve been in a relationship for almost 20 years so no need, I guess) but this documentary certainly didn’t make this app attractive, at least, not to me. Eventually, with Tinder but also similar apps, the issue is that it seems that most men are seriously distracted by sex or the idea of having sex while women are seriously distracted by materialism. Indeed, how could you otherwise explain that these 3 women (and probably countless others) fell for exactly the same pictures and exactly the same speeches? Concerning Simon Leviev A.K.A. Shimon Hayut, well, you can say whatever you want about the guy but I thought he was actually quite a brilliant con artist, even if there were some flaws in his scheme. Indeed, if I understand it correctly, it implied that he would have to constantly spend the money he was defrauding without building up a safety net in case everything would go south which was bound to happen at some point. Still, even though I understand why Cecilie Fjellhøy and Ayleen Charlotte would give him some money, I thought it was much more difficult to understand why Pernilla Sjöholm did it. I mean, Cecilie and Ayleen were after all completely in love with the guy so I think it’s understandable that you would do such a thing for your partner. However, why you would give so much money to a ‘good’ friend that you have known for maybe a few months? At least, it was actually pretty cool to see these 3 women teaming up to bring him down, even if he would then spend only 5 months in an Israeli jail. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was nothing really ground-breaking, it was still a solid documentary and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.