1792 - Les Miserables

 Years ago I saw Les Mis on a school trip to London, England.  I even want to say that Colm Wilkinson was playing the lead still, but I can't recall for certain.  We got last minute seats and so I we were in the sixth balcony of this huge theatre, and even through shared binoculars the actors seemed like ants on the stage.  Needless to say outside of some great music I didn't really enjoy the experience as it was less than ideal.  So that was a great place to enter into seeing the film - my expectations weren't really anything.
This is a really great story - it's epic in scope and yet small and personal.  The performances are fantastic and arguably flawless in some areas.  Tom Hooper made a solid choice to film the ballads in mostly unbroken medium shots and it's inspired and beautiful - really allowing a true performance - and none is more perfect and heart-breaking than Anne Hathaway's.  I'm not an oscar-whore, nor do I take much stock in them, but if she doesn't get some recognition for her supporting role then it's a damn shame, I say.  Jackman is pretty great but I have to say that role isn't all that exciting to me - the stand-out male role goes to Russel Crowe as the complicated and conflicted officer of the law.  What happens to him is heart-breaking in a very bizarre way.  I want to say a lot more, but I won't and will leave that for you to discover. 
If you like musicals of epic scope you'll dig this.  I did find it a touch long in some spots - and some of the sing-songy dialogue I could have done without - give me a proper song and music or just speak dialogue, I say! 
But all in all, a hell of a show well done!  See it on the big screen with the big sound if you're going to see it at all.

1649 - Mighty Aphrodite

Today is Woody's birthday and so I'm celebrating with a little mini-fest - helps that we've got a newborn and we're kind of planted into the house.  I wanted to watch some of his films that I haven't seen in awhile.  I've got all of his films, but a good chunk of them are only on VHS, which I hadn't hooked up to my big TV since I bought it over a year ago, so this was a good enough reason.
This is the story of a man who has an adopted son that is amazing and wonders where the good genes came from, so he goes in search of his natural mother and discovers a "hooker with a heart of gold" played brilliantly by Mira Sorvino in her Oscar Winning performance.  And to boot the whole thing is narrated by a greek choir.  It's awesome.  I'm the kind of guy who always finds something to like in anything Woody does, however I can't imagine how people could trash this one - it's nice and light, but smart and ridiculously funny.  I'd never be able to do a Woody top-ten last (that would only be a quarter of his films), but this one easily ranks high amongst his pure comedies.  It's solid gold.  If you've never seen it do yourself a favor and check it out.  It's another reminder of why I need to fully update my Woody Allen collection to DVD/Bluray.