Reviews by johanlefourbe

I didn’t really have some high expectations regarding this movie but since I have a weak spot for Emilia Clarke and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, the damned thing was terribly generic and completely predictable… except for the ending but I will come back on this later on. Indeed, so many movies have already been made with some virtually identical plot. Eventually, in this genre, ‘Intouchables’ might be the most famous movie with pretty much exactly the same plot but, even though it was a huge box-office success, to be honest, this massive crowd-pleaser already didn’t really impress me. Anyway, I have to admit that this movie was still a decent watch though. First of all, after ‘Terminator Genisys’ which turned out to be a major flop, it was the 2^nd high-profile role for Emilia Clarke and I thought it was really neat how she gave a completely different performance than what she did in ‘Game of Thrones’. Furthermore, even though the whole thing was seriously predictable, I have to admit that I didn’t expect that, at the end, Will Traynor would choose to end his life. Apparently, this ending did generate a lot of dismay among the disabled community as many felt that this movie somehow might advocate suicide for disabled people but I don’t agree. This movie was actually more pro-choice in the sense that disabled people, especially if they are clearly constantly suffering like Will, should have the choice to end their life if that’s what they want. Anyway, even though the movie focused on their burgeoning love, they still ended up with Will choosing to die which was quite refreshing and I wish they focused more on this. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing ground-breaking, I have to admit that it was not bad after all and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I remember it very well, when I was growing up in the 90’s, Luciano Pavarotti was probably one of the biggest stars in the world but, to be honest, back then, I didn’t care much about the guy. Still, even I have never been really interested in Pavarotti, since this documentary was directed by Ron Howard, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have to admit that I had basically zero knowledge about opera so it was the first cool thing about this movie, the fact that I finally got the opportunity to discover this music genre. On top of that, there is no doubt that the guy had an incredible voice but it went much further than that. Indeed, Pavarotti was also actually terribly charismatic and I think that it, in combination with his voice and technical baggage, allowed him to have such a long and successful career. Of course, the Opera purists probably didn’t care that he did so many things which had barely anything to do with Opera. However, that’s a choice that Pavarotti made very early in his career which was to reach the biggest audience possible and I think you can say that he clearly did succeed. Eventually, the only issue I had was that there was virtually no controversial material regarding the maestro. I mean, it is pretty obvious that Pavarotti had many affairs while he was on the road but, in this movie, it was handled as if it was the most normal thing in the world when, even in Pavarotti’s case, it did result in the end of his first marriage. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing ground-breaking, I thought it was an interesting documentary and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Luciano Pavarotti’s work and life. 

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.