Movies that you have enjoyed

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I came here for some ideas about what to watch next. :) My husband doesn't mind seeing movies repeatedly, I do. Especially if it seems like we just saw it and I know what's going to happen. He can watch a movie he likes several times in the same year. I need time to forget the plot line. So we sometimes bicker about that and I try to make a case for watching one we haven't seen yet. Netflix is running out of good options, though. My roommate likes silly movies. Like the Madea movies (by Tyler Perry). They get the odd laugh from me but they are over the top. I need a good one to suggest to both of them!
 
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Mendalla said:
Um, that's hardly what it is about and it is only mentioned as part of Valjean's backstory in the musical. The main theme in the musical is the conflict between legalism (symbolized by Javert's obsessive pursuit of Valjean) and compassion (symbolized by Valjean's various acts of kindness even as he struggles to keep out of Javert's way). There's a bit of a love story, too, in the second act but it is really only important for the role it plays in Valjean's story.
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He's being pursued because he stole the loaf of bread, and he's running away because he stole the loaf of bread, right?
 
No, he has actually done his time for stealing the loaf and extra for trying to escape. At the time of the story, he is on parole but parole in 19th century France means being a beggar because no one will hire you once they see the letter of parole that you must carry. Valjean, aided by a kindly gift from a bishop, tears up the letter and adopts a new identity (eventually becoming a successful businessman and, ironically, mayor of a town) to escape the unjust system, leading his former jailer Javert (who, equally ironically, become police chief of the town where Valjean is mayor, though he does not recognize Valjean at first) who essentially believes the system is just because it matches up with his legalistic conception of God's will, to hunt him down. Though Javert himself reveals in one of their confrontations that he was once as much a victim of the system as Valjean (he was born to an impoverished mother in jail).
 
Mendalla said:
No, he has actually done his time for stealing the loaf and extra for trying to escape. At the time of the story, he is on parole but parole in 19th century France means being a beggar because no one will hire you once they see the letter of parole that you must carry. Valjean, aided by a kindly gift from a bishop, tears up the letter and adopts a new identity (eventually becoming a successful businessman and, ironically, mayor of a town) to escape the unjust system, leading his former jailer Javert (who, equally ironically, become police chief of the town where Valjean is mayor, though he does not recognize Valjean at first) who essentially believes the system is just because it matches up with his legalistic conception of God's will, to hunt him down. Though Javert himself reveals in one of their confrontations that he was once as much a victim of the system as Valjean (he was born to an impoverished mother in jail).
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Ok... Thanks... That sounds better than what I had p re viously heard about it.
 
If you give the loaves away on the mount ... with some fishy accompaniment ... you may avoid the Ba Stele ... a head removing mode that can come with free'd passion ... where the ghost of Marie constantly reappears ... as a mental recall?:confused:
 
And finished Les Miserables tonight. Because of how the film juggles scenes and songs around, the "second act" is rather short but packs a hard punch, covering the 1832 revolution, the deaths of Eponine, Gavroche, and Javert, Valjean's rescue of Marius, and the finale of Marius and Cosette's wedding and Valjean's death. I love the powerful finale of this show dearly and the film does it justice. I had tears in my eyes a few times.

One change that caught my eye, and that I quite like, is Eponine's role in Valjean's death scene. In the play, Fantine and Eponine appear to guide Valjean into the next life. Here, it is Fantine and the Bishop, with Eponine instead appearing student revolutionaries in the final reprise of the revolutionary anthem "Do You Hear the People Sing?" Given that Eponine really doesn't have a strong connection to Valjean's story and the importance of the Bishop in that story, I think the change was merited and even an improvement of the ending.

Two performances that I failed to highlight in my post on the first part were those of Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as the Thenardiers. They nailed the comic relief villains of the story perfectly, both in the singing and performing. The Thenardiers need to be a mix of funny and sinister and these two pulled it off. The staging of the couples' big musical number "Master of the House" was also fantastic.
 
And one of the final act's great moments: Jean Valjean, having discovered his adopted daughter's love for the revolutionary Marius, prays for him as they both await the final attack by the French army on the barricades of the uprising. I was not sure if Hugh Jackman had the vocal chops for it but he handled it well (but I'll take Colm Wilkinson's version over his if push comes to shove).


And Russell Crowe, whose vocal skills I was even more dubious of, actually nailed "Stars", Javert's big "aria". His singing voice isn't quite up to the task (his previous singing experience is mostly fronting his old rock band and doing pop albums), but he puts some life into it.

 
I tried to get into that one. I kept falling asleep though. I don't know if it was my lack of knowledge of the history at the time, or if I was just really tired. Maybe I'll give it another try.
 
Saw The theory of everything Quite enjoyed it-but was left with some unanswered questions about relationships and caregiving etc.. Did some further reading about s. hawking and discovered a divorce from 2nd wife-and some other issues-makes me want to read more about Jane-probably her biography
 
I tried to watch it, but found it vaguely unsatisfying, and I kept on nodding off; Hawking's brain fascinates me, not his relatively prosaic life. In the way of biographical fiction, much preferred The Imitation Game.
 
I saw the wonderful news that Cnplx is going to be showing The Sound of Music on the big screen this year, to celebrate the film's 50th anniversary. This is a must-see for my family .
 
It would be nice to see more older movies doing visits to the cinemas. In the pre-video days, Disney would send their movies around every few years, rotating them, so each generation got a chance to see them. Doing the same with Gone With The Wind, Casablanca, Sound of Music, and other "classics" might actually work if you push it as an "event" rather than just another trip to the theatre.
 
Mendalla said:
It would be nice to see more older movies doing visits to the cinemas. In the pre-video days, Disney would send their movies around every few years, rotating them, so each generation got a chance to see them. Doing the same with Gone With The Wind, Casablanca, Sound of Music, and other "classics" might actually work if you push it as an "event" rather than just another trip to the theatre.
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Cnplx does offer a series of classic films - one each month.
 
BetteTheRed said:
I tried to watch it, but found it vaguely unsatisfying, and I kept on nodding off; Hawking's brain fascinates me, not his relatively prosaic life. In the way of biographical fiction, much preferred The Imitation Game.
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i hope you didn't have to pay very much for it
the last movie i fell asleep in was Quartet
it was like i was actually living in a retirement community already
 
Pinga said:
oh, I loved quartet, inannawhimsey.
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it was my all my fault -- burning the midnite oil
thus me feeling that i was already experiencing living in such a community
one moment i was in the theatre watching the movie
the next
the movie was ending up :3
 
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