Last movie you watched......

Yep.

 

The existence of this film triggers, I think, some good general questions.

What defines success here? Does Hooper - not to mention the performers - have to bring something new to the table? Or, like I said, do they just not have to screw up material that has already been certified as brilliant many times over?

For some reason, I keep thinking, as a possible comparison, a non-musical: "Atonement." An adaptation, in that case, of a familiar modern classic set in war-time. And a home run, still, in many ways, though not the movie of the decade or even of its year.

 

I love Les Miserables. I saw it in London when I was in high school and a handful of other times over here... I'm sure the movie is great, but I have a hard time believing the movie is better than the play.

I could see it being "Best Picture" good, but I also can't imagine it being "best movie of the last 20+ years good"

That's hard to pull off when so many people already know the story... I can't wait to see it though...

 

The reason I'm skeptical of 'best movie in years' is because most people lack any perspective. They don't bother to really think about it.

Just looking at 2010: 'The King's Speech,' 'Blue Valentine,' 'True Grit,' 'Black Swan' and 'Winter's Bone.' That's two years ago and only looking at mainstream releases. And I'm intentionally leaving 'The Social Network' off that list because it doesn't measure up to the five I mentioned.

And 2010 isn't even the best year in movies of the past decade.

'Les Miserables' may be the best movie in years, but I'm very skeptical. I don't like musicals, but my distaste for the genre doesn't mean it can't be a great movie. However, when it comes to movies, a lot of people talk in superlatives.

 

Commerical success is increibly important from a business perspective but has little bearing on the aesthetic success of a movie, and I think the latter is the key ingredient for greatness.

Also, if they did a current version of 'Gone with the Wind' with George Clooney and Angelina Jolie the studio would insist that it was not a remake.

 

For the theater, you are correct. Wilkinson and Quast are the definitive Valjean and Javert.

At the same time, I'm interested to see this new version even if I have misgivings about some of the talent.

 

I'm going to have a hard time believing any movie that comes out this year will be better than Argo.

 

True Grit was a good, but not close to great, movie. The Social Network was definitely better than it.

 

I generally hate musicals, but I loved Les Miserables. I think the biggest issue will be that too many people already know the story... With that cast, I don't doubt that it will be great...

 

Just saw End of Watch... Damn good movie, even if the end was highly predictable...

 

I remember having an argument with a friend about The Social Network with King's Speech during that Oscar season. I liked both movies, but thought The Social Network was put over the top because as a story I believed it was harder to tell and make interesting than the King's Speech. My friend argued that the difficulty should have no bearing on the greatness, that Mozart is better than Wagner despite Mozart's music being technically simpler. You seem to be making the argument I was at the time, that the difficulty/risks involved in telling a story should play a part in whether it's considered a classic or not.

 

Saw Rise of the Guardians (with kids) and new Twilight (with wife). I need to see Lincoln!